l cooked repast was soon on the table, and to this Jack and his
host did full justice.

"This wine is excellent; surely it does not grow on these hills!"

"No," the count said, laughing. "I am ready to run the risk of being
killed, but I do not want to be poisoned, so I sent up a score or two
of flasks from my own cellars. The vineyards of Cifuentes are reckoned
among the first in this part of Spain. And now," he said, when they had
finished and the table had been cleared, "we will take a look at the map
and talk over our plans. The enemy leave Lerida tomorrow. I have already
ordered that the whole country along their line of march shall be
wasted, that all stores of corn, wine, and forage which cannot be
carried off shall be destroyed, and that every horse and every head
of cattle shall be driven away. I have also ordered the wells to be
poisoned."

Jack looked grave. "I own that I don't like that," he said.

"I do not like it myself," the count replied; "but if an enemy invades
your country you must oppose him by all means. Water is one of the
necessaries of life, and as one can't carry off the wells one must
render them useless; but I don't wish to kill in this way, and have
given strict orders that in every case where poison is used, a placard,
with a notice that it has been done, shall be affixed to the wells."

"In that case," Jack said, "I quite approve of what you have done,
count; the wells then simply cease to exist as sources of supply."

"I wish I could poison all the running streams too," the count said;
"but unfortunately they are beyond us, and there are so many little
streams caused by the melting snow on the hills that I fear we shall not
be able greatly to straiten the enemy. At daybreak tomorrow I will mount
with you, and we will ride some twenty miles along the road and select
the spots where a sturdy resistance can best be made. By the time we get
back here most of the peasants who are coming will have assembled. These
we will form into bands, some to hold the passes and to dispute the
advance, others to hang upon the skirts and annoy them incessantly, some
to close in behind, cut off wagons that break down or lag by the way,
and to prevent, if possible, any convoys from the rear from joining
them."

This programme was carried out. Several spots were settled on where an
irregular force could oppose a stout resistance to trained troops, and
points were fixed upon where breastworks should be th