"Gordon," said he, to one of the lieutenants, "you have been here before, and know something of the ground. We are close to Perdriel now, I believe."
"Yes, sir. It is just over the rise lying a little to the left of the road."
"Take twenty men with you and go forward, and see what you can make out."
The young officer touched his Highland bonnet, and then with twenty men, who carried their arms at the trail, marched swiftly away up the slope and disappeared. In about half-an-hour he returned alone.
"I have left my men hidden under the fence of a small quinta," he said. "The enemy are encamped just beyond in the open, to the left of the Quinta de Perdriel."
"Do they cover much ground?"
"They seem to have a great many horses picketed all about, they stretch as far as I could see, but they have not many bivouac fires, and those are close up to the quinta."
"Is the ground all open between here and there?"
"This small quinta where I have left the men is all that is in the way, and it will hide our approach. On both sides of it the ground is quite open."
"Have they no outposts or videttes?"