He carefully noted all the points at which work was required to render them in any degree practicable for the passage of troops, and reported fully to Colonel Crofton.  The latter, who was provided with full authority, despatched the greater portion of his troops, with a large number of peasants, with materials to fill up the deep ruts, repair the bridges, and make the roads, as far as possible, fit for the passage of an army.

In ten days, Desmond had surveyed all the roads down both the valley of the Guadiana and that of the Tagus, and had sent off his report to Madrid, together with his observations as to the points at which a defensive position could, in his opinion, be best taken up.  Having done this, he prepared to undertake the second part of his mission, and to investigate the roads on the Portuguese side of the frontier.

“Now we shall have to keep our eyes open, Mike,” he said.  “So far as we have heard, there are no bodies of the enemy’s troops anywhere in this neighbourhood, but there is a bitter enmity between the Spanish and Portuguese, and we shall be liable to be attacked by the peasants.”

“Are we to ride in our uniforms, your honour?”

“Certainly we are, Mike.  If we are captured in uniform, we should be dealt with as prisoners of war and have a right to fair treatment.  If we are taken in disguise, we shall be shot as spies.”

“Faith, your honour, the alternative is not a pleasant one.  If we go as civilians, we may be shot as spies; if we go in uniform, we may be murdered by the peasants.”

“That is so, Mike.  But, you see, we are not likely to fall into the hands of the peasants.  We are both well mounted, and the peasants will be on foot, and a great proportion of them unarmed; so that, beyond the chance of being hit by a ball, the risk is not great.”

Accordingly, on the following day they rode out, and for nearly a week examined the lines of route across the frontier.  They followed the roads between the foot of the mountains and the frontier, as far as Portalegre, but avoided the towns of Campo Mayor and Arronches; crossed the hills, and struck upwards by the bank of the Zarina to Frontiera, and thence west as far as Lavre.  They met with no interference by such peasants as they saw working in the fields, or by those in the small villages through which they passed, these supposing the uniforms to be those of English or Dutch officers.

They found that the roads were fully as bad as those of Spain, and would present great difficulty to any army with artillery and a long train of waggons.  In one of the places they heard from a peasant, with whom they conversed, that there was another pass over the mountains from Elvas.  Of course, the man spoke in Portuguese, but the language sufficiently resembled Spanish for Desmond to understand its meaning.

“We must investigate that road, Mike, for, if it is practicable, it would be the most direct for an army coming from Lisbon.  Of course, we shall have to make a wide circle round Elvas, as there is sure to be a strong garrison there, and any soldiers riding about the country would be certain to know that our uniform was French.  When we have done that road, we shall have finished our work.”