I should not mind being impressed, if it were only for the march down to Badajoz; but once with an army, there is no saying how long one may be kept." "If we find any difficulty in crossing into Portugal this side of Badajoz, I shall not mind going down to Cadiz.

I should have no difficulty, there, in getting a ship to Lisbon." "Well, we shall see," the muleteer said.

"We will go the short way, if we can.

I hate the Portuguese, and they are no fonder of us; but with you with me, of course, I should not be afraid of interference from them." "But the Portuguese are fighting on our side, and aiding us to help you." "Yes, because they think it is better that the war should be carried on here than in their own country.

Besides, from what I hear, it is with no goodwill that they fight under your British general; but only because he tells them that, unless they furnish so many troops, he will have nothing more to do with them, but will sail away with his army to England." "That may be true, Garcia; but you know that when we were here--for I was with the British army that marched through Salamanca--the Spanish authorities were no more willing to assist than were the Portuguese; and not a single soldier--with the exception of two or three thousand half-armed men under Romana--joined, from the day we crossed the frontier to that on which we embarked to Corunna." "The authorities are all bad," Garcia said scornfully.