You
see, at present there are only 9,000 of us, and they say that Junot has at
least 50,000 in Portugal; but of course they are scattered about, and it
is hardly likely that he would venture to withdraw all his garrisons from
the large towns, so that the odds may not be as heavy as they look, when
we meet him in the field. And I suppose that at any rate some of the
Portuguese will join us. From what I hear, the peasantry are brave enough,
only they have never had a chance yet of making a fight for it, owing to
their miserable government, which never can make up its mind to do
anything. I hope that Sir Arthur has orders, as soon as he takes Lisbon,
to assume the entire control of the country and ignore the native
government altogether. Even if they are worth anything, which they are
sure not to be, it is better to have one head than two, and as we shall
have to do all the fighting, it's just as well that we should have the
whole control of things too."
For four days they sailed along quietly. On the morning of the fifth the
signal was run up from the _Sea-horse__ for the prizes to close up to her.
Mr. Woods, the mate on board the brig, at once sent a sailor up to the
mast-head.
"There is a large ship away to the south-west, sir," he shouted down.
"What does she look like?"
"I can only see her royals and top-sails yet, but by their square cut I
think that she is a ship-of-war.
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