When the 13th Light Dragoons and the 7th Portuguese went off on their mad escapade, General Long found himself left in front of the main French force, with only the three squadrons of the 1st Portuguese cavalry, which had formed his reserve, and the Heavy Brigade, distant half a mile from him, and on the other side of the French line. It was apparently his intention to charge the enemy with these troops, a most hazardous experiment, for the French with a regiment of 1,200 infantry in square, flanked by four squadrons of hussars, were dangerous to deal with. In all the Peninsular War there was only one occasion (at Garcia Hernandez in 1812) where formed squares of either side were broken by the cavalry of the other, and the 100th Ligne on this occasion had 500 hussars to support them. There was some delay while Long was sending an aide-de-camp to the Heavy Brigade to bid them prepare to attack[325], and, seeing him holding back, Latour-Maubourg started off his column once more along the high-road, the infantry marching in square, with two squadrons of hussars in front and two behind. To stop him from moving on, Long brought forward the 1st Portuguese to check the hussars. But when they advanced toward them, and were about to engage, the front side of the leading French battalion square opened a distant fire against their flank. Surprised by this, for they had not realized that they were within effective range of the hostile infantry, the three Portuguese squadrons broke and galloped off, pursued by the hussars for some little way[326]. [325] So, at least, I gather from Long’s narrative: he says that ‘he sent an order for the advance of De Grey’s brigade’ (p. 34), and in another place (p. 53), that ‘it was only necessary to charge and throw into confusion the cavalry at their (the French) head and rear, and the object was accomplished.’ The object is defined as the ‘annihilation’ of the French column, which Long thinks would have surrendered. [326] This regiment lost one officer and ten men killed, and thirty-two wounded, beside some prisoners, in the abortive advance. The French statement that the 2nd Hussars made ‘de belles charges’ is therefore evidently justified. But it was the flanking infantry fire which demoralized the Portuguese (Long’s _Vindication_, p. 49).