The French advanced guard consisted of Curto’s light cavalry division of the Army of Portugal, supported by Maucune’s infantry division. It had started at dawn, and found the British cavalry vedettes where they had been marked down on the preceding night, at the bridge of Villa Buniel. They retired without giving trouble, being in no strength, and the morning was wearing on when the French came upon Wellington’s rearguard, the horsemen of Anson and Julian Sanchez, and Halkett’s two German battalions, a mile or two east of Celada, holding the line of the Hormaza stream. Anson was in position behind its ravine, with a battalion of the light infantry dispersed along the bushes above the water, and the cavalry in support. Julian Sanchez was visible on the other side of the Arlanzon, which is not here fordable, beyond Anson’s right: on his left, hovering on hills above the road, was a small irregular force, the guerrilla band of Marquinez[90]. The ground along the Hormaza was strong, and the infantry fire surprised the enemy, who were stopped for some time. They came on presently in force, and engaged in a bickering fight: several attempts to cross the ravine were foiled by partial charges of some of Anson’s squadrons. Wellington says in his dispatch that the skirmishing lasted nearly three hours, and that Stapleton Cotton, who had recently come up from the Salamanca hospital cured of his wound, made excellent dispositions. But the odds--more than two to one--were far too great to permit the contest to be maintained for an indefinite period; and when, after much bickering, the French (O’Shee’s brigade of Curto’s division) at last succeeded in gaining a footing beyond the Hormaza, Anson’s squadrons went off in good order. The ground for the next five or six miles was very unfavourable for a small detaining force, as the valley of the Arlanzon widened out for a time, and allowed the enemy space to deploy his superior numbers. Nevertheless the light dragoons turned again and again, and charged with more or less success the pursuing Chasseurs. While Curto’s division was pressing back the British brigade in front, Merlin’s brigade, pushing out on the French right, ascended the hills beyond Anson’s left flank, and there found and drove off the partida of Marquinez. The fugitive guerrilleros, falling back for support towards the British, came in upon the flank of the 16th Light Dragoons with French hussars in close pursuit, and mixed with them. The left squadron of the 16th was thrown into confusion, and suffered heavily, having some thirty casualties; and the commander of the regiment, Colonel Pelly, and seven of his men were taken prisoners. As Curto was pushing on at the same time, Anson’s brigade was much troubled, and was greatly relieved when it at last came in sight of its support, Bock’s German Heavy Dragoons and Bull’s battery, posted behind a bridge spanning a watercourse near the lonely house called the Venta del Pozo. The two