“So far as the governor goes, Colonel, there is no absolute proof.  I have not the smallest doubt that he was the prime mover in the matter, and that the commissaries only received a small portion of the bribes paid to him.  It is hardly possible that every one of them should have betrayed his trust, unless sure of the governor’s protection.  I cannot prove that he had all these men shot in order to silence them, employed men to assassinate Colonel Mendez, or set men to murder me in my hotel and afterwards to intercept us in crossing the sierra.  Still, I have no shadow of doubt in my mind that it was so.

“However, I do not think you will find him at Badajos.  No doubt, as soon as he heard I had got safely down into the valley of the Tagus, he made off.  There is just a possibility that the contractors, knowing that their lives will be forfeited by the discovery of the frauds, might at once have sent in supplies of powder, flour, and other things, to take the place of the casks and sacks of earth; in which case he would probably deny the truth of my statement altogether, and declare that I had simply invented it in order to do credit to myself.  But I hardly think that possible.  In the first place, there are the soldiers both of my escort and of Colonel Mendez, who assisted in the work of examination; besides which more than half the commissaries escaped while this was taking place, and, on an offer of pardon, would no doubt gladly come forward and give evidence, especially as the execution of their comrades will have shown them that the governor is determined to throw them over.”

“Yes; I don’t suppose we shall find the arch-scoundrel there, unless, indeed, he can rely upon the support of his garrison; in which case he may have ridden to Portugal, offering to surrender the place at once to them, and will close his gates against us.”

“I don’t think there is any chance of that, Colonel.  In the short time during which I was there, I was able to see that the troops were deeply discontented.  They were almost in rags, and the landlord of the inn told me that they were kept on the scantiest rations, and those of a very inferior kind.  So I do not think, for a moment, he could trust them to act against a royal force.”

Desmond’s anticipation proved to be correct.  As they descended into the valley of the Guadiana, they met an officer of the garrison, who was bearing a despatch from the senior military officer, saying that the governor and his family had suddenly left without issuing any orders, and, as he had taken all his portable property with him, it was supposed that he did not intend to return.  Under these circumstances he wrote to ask for orders.

Colonel Crofton sent him back with instructions, to the colonel commanding the troops, that he was coming with a regiment of dragoons and one of infantry, and had full authority from the king to take all measures that seemed to him desirable.  Accordingly, when they arrived at Badajos they were met, at the gate, by the colonel commanding the troops, and a party of his officers.