The sacrifice of the baggage was the preliminary to a desperate and fatiguing night march. The 2nd Corps started off first, then the 8th, leaving the 6th as usual to bring up the rear. After firing Miranda de Corvo, in order that the conflagration in the narrow street leading up from the bridge might delay the advance of the Allies, Ney followed the rest of the army at one in the morning. All marched slowly in the dark for ten miles of an uphill road, and before noon reached the long descent into the valley of the Ceira, at the village of Foz do Arouce[190]. The 2nd and 8th Corps crossed the stream with much delay, at a bridge which had been somewhat injured by the local Ordenança but was still serviceable. They deployed on a range of commanding heights on the further side, and encamped. Ney, always eager to carry on the detaining process which he had hitherto practised with such skill, only sent three of his six brigades across the river[191], though Masséna had ordered him to pass, and to destroy the bridge. He remained with the rest and Lamotte’s light cavalry, posted on two long hills with the village of Foz between them, on the hither side of the water. Though he had a good position, yet the defile to the rear was a dangerous thing for such a large body of troops, since the Ceira was in flood, and every man had to retire over the single damaged bridge. Moreover the troops, tired by the night march, guarded themselves badly; in especial the cavalry, which ought to have watched every road, with vedettes out for many miles to the front, huddled together near the river for the convenience of water and grazing: General Lamotte indeed crossed the Ceira with great part of his men, and seems to have kept no look-out whatever[192]. [190] Napier calls the village Foz de Aronce, and this spelling of it (probably caused by an uncorrected printer’s error) has been perpetuated by every English writer on the War. Yet Wellington has it rightly spelt with the ‘u’ in his dispatch (vii. p. 370) as ‘Foz de Arouce.’ Masséna, in his, calls it Foz d’Arunce, which is incorrect. Delagrave, Fririon, and other French narrators follow him, sometimes with the variants Aronce or Arounce. There is no doubt that the name is spelt with a ‘u,’ and always has been, by the Portuguese. [191] All Marchand’s division and a brigade of Mermet’s (25th Léger and 27th Ligne) remained behind. Only Labassée’s brigade of Mermet’s division crossed the water, with Loison’s division. [192] I studied the ground at Foz do Arouce on September 28, 1910. The bridge is only four and a half yards broad, and 107 long. It was approached in 1811 by the road in a sharp turn, which has now been straightened out, so was far more difficult to cross than it is now. The gap between the hills in which the village lies is about 200 yards broad. The heights on the French left are much higher than those on their right.