An hour later the two Portuguese regiments united on the road two miles in
advance of the village. Their loss had been eighty-four killed and a
hundred and fifty wounded, of which seventy were serious cases. These
were, as before, sent off to be cared for in the mountain villages. The
French loss, as Terence afterward heard, had been very heavy; three
hundred of the cavalry had been killed, and upwards of four hundred
infantry. Great was the enthusiasm when the two regiments met, and after a
short halt marched away together into the hills and encamped in a wood two
miles from the road.
"What next, Generalissimo?" Herrara, whose left arm had been broken by a
bullet, asked.
"I think that we have done enough for the present," Terence said. "We will
leave it to the rest of the army to do a little fighting now. We have
lost, in killed and wounded, some two hundred men, and I don't wish to see
the whole force dwindle away. I propose that we do not go near Braga. I
have no idea of putting myself under the command of Friere; I have seen
enough of him already. So we will travel by by-roads till we get near
Oporto, then we will find out how matters stand there. My own idea is that
when the French army approaches, the Junta's courage will ooze out of its
finger ends, and that the 50,000 peasants, which it calls an army, will
bolt at the first attack of the French.
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