When he recovered his composure he called a council of war, which voted almost unanimously[58] that the city was indefensible, and that the army must try to cut its way out on the north side of the Guadalaviar. If the sally had been made on the 27th it might have succeeded, for it was not till late on that day that Suchet’s arrangements for the blockade of the north bank were complete. But the investing line had been linked up by the night of the 28th-29th, when Blake made his last stroke for safety. At six in the evening the field army issued from the gate of St. José and began to cross the bridge opposite it, the westernmost of the three of which the Spaniards were in possession. This led not to the great _chaussée_ to Saguntum and Tortosa, which was known to have been cut and entrenched by the enemy, but to the by-road to Liria and the mountains. Lardizabal headed the march, Zayas followed, escorting the artillery and a considerable train, Miranda brought up the rear. Charles O’Donnell was left to man the walls with the urban guards and the ‘Reserve Division,’ and was given permission to capitulate whenever he should be attacked. [58] Only Miranda voted against a sortie, and thought that nothing could be done, except to hold out for a while in the walls and then surrender. Arteche, xi. p. 241. Lardizabal’s vanguard, under a Colonel Michelena, swerved from the Liria road soon after passing the Guadalaviar, in order to avoid French posts, and successfully got as far as the canal of Mestalla before it was discovered or checked. The canal was too broad to be passed by means of some beams and planks which had been brought up. But Michelena got his men across, partly by fording and partly over a mill-dam, and presently got to the village of Burjasort, where the artillery of Palombini’s division were quartered. These troops, surprised in the dark, could not stop him, and he pushed on through them and escaped to the hills with his little force--one squadron, one battalion, and some companies of Cazadores--some 500 or 600 men[59]. Lardizabal, who should have followed him without delay, halted at the canal, trying to build a bridge, till the French all along the line were alarmed by the firing at Burjasort and began to press in upon him. He opened fire instead of pushing on at all costs, and presently found himself opposed by forces of growing strength. Blake thereupon made up his mind that the sally had failed, and gave orders for the whole column to turn back and re-enter Valencia. It seems probable that at least a great part of the army might have got away, if an attempt had been made to push on in Michelena’s wake, for the blockading line was thin here, and only one French regiment seems to have been engaged in checking Lardizabal’s exit. [59] Not 5,000 as Napier (probably by a misprint) says on page 31 of his 4th vol. Apparently a misprint in the original edition has been copied in all the later fourteen!