lly serve out the barrels
from the front row, as they were required, filling their places
with fresh ones as supplies came in."

The other storehouses were now examined. The number of cannonball
alone tallied with the account. There were large deficiencies in
the store of powder, and, indeed, among almost all the other
munitions.

"It is infinitely worse than I thought," the colonel said, "and I
fear that the storekeepers are not the only people concerned in
these frauds."

"Now, Colonel, if you do not mind, I should like to go to one of
the provision stores at once. Possibly, after what we have
discovered, some pretext to stop further examination may be
invented, if we wait till tomorrow."

Great as had been the fraud in the magazines, that in the supplies
of provisions was even greater. There was a deficiency of many
hundreds of sacks of flour and beans. The meat stores were
entirely empty, although they should have contained a large number
of tierces of salted beef. This was a matter of minor importance,
for in case of the approach of an enemy, the people of the country
round would drive their cattle into the town, and, indeed, the
allowance of meat to a Spanish soldier was so small that he could
do well without it, existing entirely upon bread and fried beans.
Of wine there was scarce half the amount indicated. A great number
of the barrels had been filled only with water.

It was late in the afternoon when the work ceased.

"I should require a fortnight," Desmond said, "to get accurate
figures. This, however, is comparatively unimportant. It is quite
sufficient to know that in no case is there half the amount,
either of ammunition or of provisions, given in the governor's
last report, and that fraud on a large scale has been carried on;
and I cannot but think that some men, at least, of higher rank
than these storekeepers must have been privy to the affair."

"There has certainly been something wrong in the supply of
clothes, Major Kennedy. My men have had no new ones served out to
them for the past year and a half, although I have made repeated
applications during the past two months."

"Yes; I noticed when I walked about in the town, yesterday, that
many of the troops were almost in rags, and I have no doubt there
has been fraud in the clothing department, as well as in all the
others."

"Well, sir, as a Spaniard I lament this terrible exposure. Blame,
however, must not be laid entirely upon the mil