[241] Napier’s statements (iii. 129) are quite borne out by Tomkinson’s Diary: ‘In the rear of Pega is an open plain of two miles which the enemy had to pass: as usual we looked at them for half an hour: then the guns were ordered up, and in place of firing at the main body could only get within range of their pickets ... we continued to follow, and, although they had no cavalry, our general was afraid to go into the plain to get the guns in range of the infantry: they of course got clear off.’ (Diary, p. 91.) On the 31st the 8th Corps escaped from its dangers, reached Sabugal, and, passing behind Reynier, pushed on ten miles further to Alfayates, where it halted for a much-needed rest. The troops were reduced to the last extreme by exhaustion and hunger. At Alfayates, within three miles of the Spanish frontier, and only two marches from Ciudad Rodrigo, they at last began to receive regular provisions, and had nearly got out of the mountains into the rolling upland of southern Leon. Why Masséna, the moment that he knew that Junot was safe, did not continue to retreat on to his magazines it is hard to say. But he remained for two days more behind the upper Coa, and thereby exposed himself to continued danger, for his army was strung out on too thin a line, watching twenty miles of the river. Apparently he thought, from seeing no British infantry on the 30th and 31st, that Wellington had halted at Guarda, and did not intend to continue the pursuit on Sabugal. His own forces continued in their old positions throughout the 1st and 2nd of April, save that all Montbrun’s reserve cavalry was sent to the rear, to the valleys of the Agueda and the Azava, to rest and recover itself, the larger proportion of the surviving horses being quite unserviceable. The corps-cavalry of Reynier, Junot, and Loison also sent back many dismounted men, and hundreds more whose mounts were incapable of use for the present, so that the brigade of light horse attached to each was reduced to a few hundred sabres, many of the regiments having only one efficient squadron left, and none more than two[242]. The retreat from Santarem had practically disabled the French cavalry. [242] As late as May 1 the regimental statistics show that the 3rd Dragoons had only 139 available horses, sick or sound, and the 10th Dragoons only 233, They had started the campaign with 563 and 535 respectively.