Rifleman Dodd

Dodd and his men watch from the hills with grim satisfaction as the French troops in the village suffer from their inadequate diet and begin to die of dysentery.

He hears cannon fire and reckons it to be 10 miles downriver. Santarem is the only town of interest that way. Dodd asks Bernardino how far it is; the boy responds with five fingers. Five leagues is 10 miles; Santarem it is, then. He decides to travel there, hoping the gunfire indicates the presence of friendly troops. He takes Bernardino with him. They load up their backpacks, sneak past sentries, and hike along a rise above the river: “The merest possibility that he might find a chance of rejoining his friends was enough to rouse passionate excitement in his breast” (127).

Halfway along the hike to Santarem, the hill ends, and there’s no convenient cover along the river or up on the open, flat plateau to their right. They backtrack, cross the high road, and enter a forest that might protect their progress. Moving along cautiously, they see another man nearby and duck, but he speaks Portuguese and comes forward.

Bernardino explains their quest and asks for his help.