At daybreak we moved on, accompanied by Captain Ross's[16] Horse Artillery, which now is to remain attached to the Light Division. We advanced across a plain in considerable force, the enemy retiring before us and crossing a causeway and bridge over the Rio Mayor, the whole country in the neighbourhood of the river being a boggy impassable swamp. Our cavalry had a piquet close to the bridge, the advanced vedettes from which were dismounted, and occasionally exchanging long-shots across the causeway with the enemy. These men were highly pleased to see me arrive with some Rifle Men and take the post of honour from them, as the company I belonged to was sent on piquet, with orders to remain at the bridge. The French sent a few men forward to commence a fire upon us. I crawled on the bridge with three men, and lay down by a dead mule, where we had a good rest and took deliberate aim. The Frenchmen soon became wary of showing themselves, which convinced me we had hit some of them. The company, having had a hard day's work, were relieved at night by a company of the 52nd, but we were ordered to remain near at hand during the night as a reserve to it. The weather was very rainy, but, fortunately for us, this part of the country was covered with olive-trees. This wood is very hard and so greasy that it is as inflammable as coal, so that, in spite of rain, we managed to have good fires. General Craufurd, over his wine, took it into his head that the enemy was moving off and he was anxious to be the first to find it out. He came to the piquet and took three soldiers and walked cautiously along the causeway until the French sentry challenged and fired. The General ordered his men to fire and retire. This circumstance created so much alarm in the enemy's camp, who imagined that the British army was passing the bridge and falling upon them, that they became panic-struck and commenced a tremendous fire in every direction for some time. The balls came rattling among the trees, and General Craufurd was sadly annoyed at being deceived in his conjectures and having caused such an uproar, with a great chance of foolishly throwing away his life. [Sidenote: 19th] As soon as the day cleared sufficiently to see what the enemy were about, we found that during the night they had been very busy cutting down olive-trees and forming _abatis_ on the position. This they had every appearance of occupying for some time; it was a most commanding one, the left upon the Tagus, the swampy Rio Mayor all along its front, with a _tête de pont_ at the end of the bridge over the river. The country was very bold and hilly, with the large town of Santarem about a league in the rear of their position, which Marshal Massena had made his headquarters. General Hill's Corps, about 12,000 British and Portuguese, crossed the Tagus at Vallada.