The men had, at Desmond's orders, loaded their pistols and short guns.
Avoiding the principal streets, they rode by narrow lanes until they emerged close to the eastern gate.

Through this he and his followers rode, without question, at a quiet pace until beyond the exterior fortifications, across the bridge over the Guadiana, and then broke into a canter.
The sergeant and men were not a little surprised at the sudden departure, for they had supposed that they would remain for some time at Badajos.

Desmond called the sergeant up to his side.
"I dare say you are surprised at this sudden move, but you know that two attempts were made upon my life last night, and I have no doubt that these would be repeated, and perhaps with greater success, had I stayed there.

You were present yesterday, with two of your men, when we discovered that large portions of the stores were mere dummies filled with earth.

Whether or not the governor was a party to the fraud I cannot say, but this morning he had all the storekeepers who were arrested shot, and Colonel Mendez, who was present at the investigation, was murdered during the night.
It is evident, therefore, that many people are interested in preventing the discovery we made from getting known.