‘True enough,’ Arthur conceded. The French army was down there somewhere, in any case. Shortly after the British and Portuguese soldiers had stirred, the enemy drums had beaten the reveille and the bellowed orders of the sergeants had carried clearly up the slope. Since then, the only other sounds had been the rumble of iron-rimmed wheels, and the occasional neigh of a horse and crack of a whip as the French guns were moved forward. Now all was quiet, and it was hard to believe that Masséna’s army was formed up somewhere along the base of the ridge, ready to assault the British line. The latest intelligence put the size of the French forces at over sixty thousand. As Arthur had hoped, the enemy’s initial strength had been eroded by the sieges and the need to leave strong garrisons behind to protect Masséna’s communication lines.

Arthur was silent for a moment before he nodded his head and muttered, ‘Masséna will attack us here, I am sure of it. I dare say that he will see our riflemen and assume that there is nothing but a rearguard at Busaco. A force that he will be able to brush aside before continuing his advance into Portugal.’ Arthur smiled. ‘It is my intention to disabuse Masséna of that perception.’

Somerset returned the smile briefly. ‘As long as the men stay out of sight, sir.’

‘That is so. But I shall only reveal them when I must.’

‘Let us keep our French friends guessing for as long as we can, eh, sir?’

‘That is the idea,’ Arthur replied, and then gestured towards the mist obscuring the low ground in front of the ridge. ‘However, it plays both ways, Somerset. We have too few men to cover the entire length of the ridge. Until the French reveal the direction of their attack, I cannot know where to concentrate our fellows in order to repel the enemy. Still, I’m sure we will not have much longer to wait before Marshal Masséna reveals his hand.’

A faint popping of musket fire away to the right drew their attention. There was no sign of any movement above the edge of the mist. Arthur held out his hand.

‘My telescope, if you please. Quickly now.’