"It is a full confirmation of what you have told me," he said calmly.
"Then this," said Colonel Grant, and he placed upon the table a note in French of the approximate number and disposition of the British troops in Portugal at the time.

"The handwriting is Samoval's own, as those who know it will have no difficulty in discerning.

And now this, sir." He unfolded a small sketch map, bearing the title also in French: Probable position and extent of the fortifications north of Lisbon.
"The notes at the foot," he added, "are in cipher, and it is the ordinary cipher employed by the French, which in itself proves how deeply Samoval was involved.

Here is a translation of it." And he placed before his chief a sheet of paper on which Lord Wellington read: "This is based upon my own personal knowledge of the country, odd scraps of information received from time to time, and my personal verification of the roads closed to traffic in that region.

It is intended merely as a guide to the actual locale of the fortifications, an exact plan of which I hope shortly to obtain." His lordship considered it very attentively, but without betraying the least discomposure.
"For a man working upon such slight data as he himself confesses," was the quiet comment, "he is damnably accurate.