Two or three dozen packets of
ammunition were obtained, and a few put into the mouths of the sacks.
These were left open, and the room locked up, two of the Portuguese
soldiers being placed on guard before it. Terence and Lieutenant Herrara
were invited to dine at mess and had quarters assigned to them, and
Terence, after dinner, again, but much more briefly than before, gave the
officers at the station a sketch of the retreat and battle.
The next morning the muleteers were called in to fasten up the sacks. At
the suggestion of the officer in command, a tent was also taken.
"You may want it badly before you are done," he said. "If I were you I
should always have it pitched, except when you are at a village, for you
can have the sacks in as beds, and so keep them under your eye; and if, as
you tell me, you are giving out that they contain ammunition, it would
seem but a natural step, as you are so able to keep it dry."
The mules looked more heavily laden than upon the preceding day, but they
were carrying no heavier burden, for the weight of the tent, its poles,
the basket of fowls, Terence's valise, and other articles, were
considerably less than those of the eight heavy cases that had been left
behind. The two officers now rode at the head of the detachment, and two
only of the Portuguese soldiers kept in rear of the mules, which now
followed at a distance of thirty or forty yards behind them.
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