‘The barber came from Oporto, sir. He crossed the river in a small rowing boat. He was quite excited and claimed to have discovered some unguarded wine barges on the far bank. There was a local priest and a handful of labourers nearby and I persuaded them to cross the river and help retrieve the barges.’ Waters paused as he noticed the impatient expression on his superior’s face. ‘Long and short of it is that we now have four wine barges hidden in the reeds on our side of the Douro, opposite that convent there. I searched that too, sir. It seems to have been abandoned.’

Arthur raised his telescope and examined the section of river Waters had indicated. It was perhaps as much as four hundred yards wide, and any attempt to cross it in full view of the French would have been suicidal. However, that part of the river was not in full view of the enemy, Arthur realised. It was very likely that it was obscured by the tall cliffs on the far side. As he scanned the bank by the empty convent, he did not see any sign of French soldiers.

Snapping the telescope shut Arthur turned to Waters with a faint smile. ‘Fine work. Well then, let the men cross.’

He turned to call Somerset to him and quickly explained the situation. ‘Get the third regiment of foot down there as quickly as you can, but find a route where they won’t be spotted by the French. They are to use the barges to cross and occupy that convent. As soon as that is done, we’ll start feeding more troops across. With luck we’ll be there in strength before Soult is aware of it.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Somerset hurried off.

Arthur turned back to Waters.‘I should imagine you will want to be involved in this?’

‘Indeed, sir.Yes.’

‘Very well, you may join the assault party. Good luck to you.’

Once Waters had made off Arthur turned to examine the far bank again through his telescope. There was still no sign of any life near the convent. None at all. It was something of a surprise that Soult had neglected to guard this stretch of river. But then perhaps Soult was the kind of officer who neglected to do a full reconnaissance of his position. Or perhaps he was so imbued with the contempt with which French commanders seemed to view their enemies that he was blind to the danger. Arthur smiled. If that was the case then Marshal Soult was about to receive a very rude shock indeed.