“I saw that, sir; and as I learned that eight or ten troopers had been sent off, late the night before, I concluded that the road would be sure to be beset, for doubtless some of the contractors would feel it as essential as the governor did, that my mouth should be silenced and my report suppressed.  I therefore started early.  Keeping by byroads, we were not molested until we had nearly reached the summit of the sierra, when we found a party of some sixty men barring the road.  We had a fight with them, and succeeded in getting through with no further damage than a ball through the arm of one of my escort, and that, fortunately, was only a flesh wound.”

“But tell me how it was that so small a party escaped so easily?”

Desmond then recounted the incidents of the fight.

“Admirably contrived, sir!” the duke said warmly.  “Excellent generalship!  You first attack their centre and drive them off the road, then you compel them to weaken themselves by throwing out flanking parties.  You keep these out of musket shot, and then charge on their weakened centre after drawing their fire.  I am not surprised that, with such generalship, you got off almost scatheless.

“And now, sir, I must ask you to come with me to the king.  The matter is too serious for a moment’s delay.  I must lay the whole case before His Majesty.”

Leaving Desmond in the antechamber, he went in to the king, read the full report to him, and added the details he had heard from Desmond.

“I have met with many bad cases of Spanish corruption and peculation,” the king said, when he had finished, “but this is by far the worst.  Steps must be taken instantly to secure the governor, arrest the contractors, and fill up the magazines.  What do you propose?”

“I think, sir, that if we send forward, at once, a regiment of French soldiers from Toledo, accompanied by Colonel Crofton’s regiment of dragoons, there is no likelihood that any resistance will be offered—­indeed, I should imagine that the governor will have taken to flight, as soon as he learns that his plans for the assassination of Major Kennedy have failed.”

“So I should think,” the king said; “and certainly he will have warned his accomplices, the contractors; and probably, by this time, they are all on their way either into Andalusia or to the north.  Any that are found shall certainly be hanged.

“This young officer of yours must be a wonderfully shrewd fellow.  I should like to question him as to how he discovered these frauds.”

Desmond was called in.

“This is Major Kennedy, Your Majesty,” the duke said.  “That is his temporary rank, which I bestowed upon him in order to add weight to his mission.”

“I have noticed him before, cousin,” Philip said, “when I had gone to your quarters, and wondered to see so young a man in the uniform of a captain.

“Now, sir, will you give me an account of how you discovered these frauds?”