"Good evening, senor!" a voice said, as his feet touched the ground. "Here is your disguise. Nita is watching a short distance away, and will give us notice if anyone approaches. You had best change, at once."
Terence took off his uniform and, with the assistance of the muleteer, donned the garments that he had brought for him. Then he rolled the others into a bundle, and the muleteer gave a low whistle, whereupon Nita came running up.
"Thanks be to the saints that no one has come along!" she said, as the rope, which Terence had forgotten, fell at their feet; his companions having, as agreed, untied the upper end.
"That will come in useful," Garcia said, coiling it up on his arm. "Now, senor, do not let us stand talking. Nita will take the uniform and burn it."
"I will hide it, if you like," the girl said. "There can be no reason for their searching our house."
"Thank you, Nita, but it would be better to destroy it, at once. It may be a long time before I come this way again; besides, the things have seen their best days, and I have another suit I can put on, when I join my regiment. Thanks very much for your kindness, which I shall always remember."
"Goodbye, senor! May the saints protect you!" and without giving him time to say more, she took the bundle from Garcia's hand and sped away down the street.
"Now, senor, follow me," he said, and turned to go in the other direction.
"You had best call me Juan, and begin at once," Terence said. "If by accident you were to say senor, in the hearing of anyone, there would be trouble at once."
"I shall be careful, never fear," the man said. "However, there would only be harm done if there happened to be a Frenchman--or one of their Spaniards, who are worse--present. As to my own comrades, it would not matter at all. We muleteers are all heart and soul against the French, and will do anything to injure them. We are all obliged to work for them; for all trade is at an end, and we must live. Many have joined the partisans, but those who have good mules cannot go away and give up their only means of earning a living; for although the French pay for carriage by mules or carts, if they come upon animals that are not being used, they take them without a single scruple.