ot quite, impassable; but we
might get a peasant to guide us."

"I don't like going near Banos, Herrara. The French are almost sure
to have left a strong body there, and the chances are against our
finding a peasant; for the inhabitants of all the villages, for ten
miles round, have almost certainly fled and taken to the hills.

"I think it would be safer to follow along this side of the Sierra,
cross the road a few miles above Plasencia, then make for the
mountains, and come down on the head of the river Coa. Beresford is
probably in the valley of that river. We are more likely to find a
guide, that way, than we are by going through Banos. We shall have
tough work of it whichever way we go, even if we are lucky enough
to get past without running against a single Frenchman."

"Would it not be better to wait till nightfall, Colonel?" Bull
asked.

Terence shook his head.

"There is no moon," he said; "and as to climbing about among these
mountains in the dark, it would be worse than running the risk of a
fight with the French. Besides, we should have no chance whatever
of coming across a peasant. No, I think we must try it as soon as
it gets light, tomorrow morning. We had better dress up a score of
men in peasant clothes; and send them off, in couples, to search
among the hills. Whoever comes across a man must bring him in,
whether he likes it or not. The Spaniards are so desperately afraid
of the French that they will give us no information, whatever,
unless forced to do so; and we shall have even more difficulty than
the British. There must have been thousands of peasants, and
others, who knew that Soult had come down upon Plasencia; and yet
Sir Arthur obtained no news.

"There is one comfort: there can be little doubt that Soult is just
as much in the dark as to the position of the British army."

By nightfall three peasants had been brought in. All shook their
heads stolidly, when questioned in Portuguese; but upon Terence
having them placed against a rock, and twelve men brought up and
ordered to load their muskets, one of them said, in Spanish:

"I know where a path across the mountains leaves the road, but I
have never been over the hills, and know nothing of how it runs."

"Ah! I thought you could make out my question," Terence said.
"Well, you have saved the lives of yourself and your comrades. Take
us to the path, tomorrow, and set us fairly on it; and you shall be
allowed to go free, and be paid fi