"This will not be new to you," said Don Felipe Navarro, as they shook hands.
"Oh no! Among you city men I feel like an old campaigner. You have much to learn yet, from what I could see as I came along. I fear some of your men will not be in very good fighting trim to-morrow."
"To-morrow is another day," said Lorea. "We shall pass the night badly, but it will pass."
Marcelino then gave them a detailed account of the events of the 27th and 28th June.
"My uncle," he added, "is encamped with part of his cavalry between this and Quilmes, a chasque has just come in from him. He says that the English have already marched a strong vanguard in this direction, but he believes that the main body is yet beyond Quilmes."
"So much the better," said Lorea. "We will beat their vanguard to-morrow and there will be so many the less to fight the day after."
"And what of the city? Have any preparations been made to resist an assault?"
"An assault! There is time enough to think about that. To-day, at a meeting of the Cabildo, your grandfather proposed that the city should be entrenched, and that we should let the English attack us there. Fortunately the Reconquistador was there. Here in the open camp, in face of the enemy, is the proper place for the defenders of the city."
"In any way," said Marcelino, looking gloomily at the fire, "this is not our proper position, with a river and a narrow bridge behind us. We ought to be on the other side the Riachuelo to defend the bridge and the passes higher up."
"Oh!" said Felipe Navarro impatiently, "the Reconquistador knows what he does."