mishap had not been Trant's fault. He had been sent by the
Portuguese general on a tremendous detour and, when he arrived at
the position assigned to him, his troops were utterly exhausted by
their long and fatiguing march. A large proportion had deserted or
fallen out and, with but 1500 wearied and dispirited men, he could
offer but little resistance to the French advance and, being
attacked by their cavalry, had been driven away with loss. Terence
opened the note.

"You will march at once. Keep along on this side of the Mondego,
breaking up your command into small parties, who will visit every
village within reach. All of their inhabitants who have not obeyed
the proclamations, and retired, are to leave at once. Destroy all
provisions that you can find. Set fire to the mills and, where this
is not practicable, smash the machinery and, bearing south as you
go, spread out over the country between the Zezere and the sea, and
continue to carry on the duty assigned to you, compelling the
peasants to drive their animals before them, along the roads to
Lisbon."

"I understand, sir," Terence said, after reading the note, "and
will carry out the orders to the best of my ability."

Five minutes later the regiment was under arms. Terence called the
whole of the officers together, and explained the instructions that
he had received. The two battalions were broken up into half
companies which, as they marched along the Mondego, were to be left
behind, one by one; each party, when left, turning south, and
proceeding to carry out the orders received. In a few cases, only,
were companies to keep intact as, although a hundred men would be
ample for the duty at the large villages, two hundred would not be
too much in a town like Leiria.

On reaching Foz d'Aronce, half a battalion moved to the east, to
work down by the river Zezere. The rest turned to the right, to
follow the course of the Mondego down to the sea. For convenience,
and in order to keep the troops in hand, Bull, Macwitty, Ryan, and
Herrara each took the command of half a battalion; with orders to
supervise the work of the companies belonging to it, and to keep in
touch with the nearest company of the next battalion, so that the
two thousand men could advance, to a certain extent, abreast of
each other.

Foz d'Aronce had already been evacuated by its inhabitants, but in
all other villages the orders were carried out. By daybreak the
last company in the two battalio