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At first I felt sure he must be somewhere in the neighbourhood of Marmont's headquarters; but even in Sabugal itself no hint of him could I hear, and at length I concluded that having satisfied himself of the main lines of Marmont's campaign he had gone off to meet and receive fresh instructions from Wellington, now posting north to save the endangered magazines.
It was time for you to be taken; for really, you know, you could never have bettered it, and it is not for an artist to wind up by repeating inferior successes. "For a moment I thought the man daft. I had not been near Sabugal; as for the barber's shop it sounded to me like a piece out of the childish rigmarole about cutting a cabbage leaf to make an apple pie.
Come, what do you think of it?" "I do as you order," said I, "and that I suppose is to return to Sabugal and report the lie of the land. But since, general, you ask my opinion, and speaking without local knowledge, I should say " "Yes?" "Excuse me, but I will send you my opinion in four days' time." And I rose to depart. "Very good, but keep your seat. Drink another glass of wine."
Could Marmont be planning against Trant the very coup which Trant had planned against him? I do not know to this day if any leeches inhabit the pools outside Sabugal. It is very certain that I discovered none.
"As for Lord Wellington's silence," Captain Alan went on, after musing a while, "he has a great capacity for it, as you know; and perhaps he has persuaded himself that we work better apart. Our later performances in and around Sabugal might well excuse that belief." "But now I suppose you have some message for him. Is it urgent?
'At one time and another, sir, you have done our cause an infinity of mischief, and I prefer that the Duke of Ragusa should decide your fate. I shall send you therefore to Sabugal to await his return. "This gave me my first intimation that Marmont was neither in Sabugal nor with his main army.
Ney's division covered the rear, and several sharp fights took place which are known in history as the combats of Pombal, Redinha, Cazal Nova, Foz d'Aronce, and Sabugal.
"Sabugal is twenty miles off, and when I arrive I have yet to discover how to get into it," I protested. "That is just what am going to tell you." "Ah," said I, "so you have already been making arrangements?" He nodded while he poured out the wine. "You come opportunely, for I was about to rely on a far less rusé hand.
Travelling on mule-back now as a Portuguese drover out of work, I dodged a couple of marauding parties below Penamacor, found Marmont in force in Sabugal at the bend of the Coa, on the 9th reached Guarda, a town on the top of a steep mountain, and there found General Trant in position with about 6,000 raw militiamen.
Foreseeing that Trant must sooner or later retreat upon Celorico though ignorant, of course, of what was happening I was actually crossing the river at the time by a ford some four miles above, not in the French staff officer's uniform which I had worn out of Sabugal, but in an old jacket lent me by my friend the shepherd.
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