"
"That would have been very much better, senior. You might have it done at
Torres Vedras."
"The money is in bags, each containing two hundred dollars. There will be
no trouble in transferring them to sacks filled with plenty of forage. Two
of your soldiers have behind them a bundle or two of faggots, a basket of
fowls, and other matters; these can be piled on the top of the sacks, so
that the fact that the principal load was forage would hardly be noticed.
You might mention to the muleteers that I thought that it would be a
considerable saving of weight if we used sacks instead of those heavy
cases, and that the ammunition would travel just as well in the one as the
other. We must arrange so that the muleteers do not suspect anything."
"As a rule," Herrara said, "they are very trustworthy. There is scarcely a
case known in which they have stolen goods intrusted to them, however
valuable; but it would be easy to place a few packets of ammunition in the
mouth of each sack, and call them in to cord them up firmly. The sight of
the ammunition would go far to lessen any suspicions they might have."
They reached Torres Vedras that night. Terence spoke to the officer in
command there, and was furnished with the sacks he required, and enough
forage to fill them. The boxes were put into a room in the barracks, and
here Terence, with his two orderlies, opened the cases and transferred the
bags of money to the centre of the sacks.
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