“It is true enough,” the landlord said.

“Pedro and Lopez, fetch pails of water and brooms, and get rid of this blood, otherwise we shall be having enquiries made in the morning.”

Mike returned to his master, at whose door the sergeant and the other troopers were standing.

“There is no occasion, sergeant,” Desmond had just said, “to keep a sentry at the door any longer.  We can be quite sure that we shall not be disturbed again before morning, and indeed, I am not likely to sleep after this.”

“Very well, sir; but if you don’t mind, I will keep a sentry on watch.”

“Just as you like, sergeant, but I feel sure there is no occasion for it.  Still, after what has happened, it may perhaps be wise to do so.”

“Well, Mike,” Desmond said, when they were again alone, “the campaign has opened with spirit.  This is something like that journey with the Baron de Pointdexter, when we expected to be attacked every minute.”

“Well, we got through that all right, your honour, and it is hard if we don’t get through this.”

At six o’clock, a volley of musketry was fired.

“They are practising early, sir,” Mike said.

“It can’t be that, Mike.  It is too close.  They would go beyond the outer works to practise, and, by the sound, it is certainly much nearer than that, though possibly just outside the walls.”

“I will go out and enquire, your honour.  When one is at war, it is as well to know exactly what the enemy are doing.”

“Take one of the troopers with you, Mike.  Pierre speaks Spanish well.”

Mike returned in an hour.

“They have shot all the prisoners we took yesterday,” he said.  “I hear they held a sort of court martial in the evening, at the governor’s.  It did not sit more than ten minutes.  They were all found guilty of fraud and treachery, and were shot this morning.”

“Worse and worse, Mike!  Evidently, the governor is determined to get rid of all whose evidence might throw any light on this matter.  After what has happened here, and these summary executions, I feel very uncomfortable as to Colonel Mendez.  Will you go to the artillery barracks with a message from me that, as I have my first report to write out, I shall not continue the investigations today?  Take Pierre with you again.”

When Mike returned, Desmond saw that his news was bad.

“The colonel had not been seen when I got there, and his servant went up to his room and found him lying dead, stabbed to the heart.”

“Another witness gone,” Desmond said.  “An honourable gentleman, and a pleasant one.  Well, Mike, the matter becomes more and more serious.  After this there is but one thing open to me, and that is to return to Madrid at once.  When I relate the circumstances to the duke, he will see that, had I endeavoured to carry out the rest of his instructions, the chance of my report ever coming to hand would have been slight indeed, and it is all important that he should get it.