The garrison ought to have been prepared for such an attack; for Marmont had apprehended it, and in that apprehension had marched a detachment to the Puerto del Pico, with the view of reinforcing Talavera in case the bridge should be lost. Sir Rowland retired by Truxillo to his former position in front of Badajos; and on the second day after his success, a division of the central army, under General d’Armagnac, crossed the Tagus by the Puente del Arzobispo, to relieve the isolated garrison at Miravete. Both Soult and Marmont had put their forces in motion as soon as they were informed of Sir Rowland’s march: the latter arrived upon the Tagus too late to prevent the evil, and without the means of repairing it; the former, when he found that the allies had passed Truxillo on their return, gave up the hope of intercepting them. He returned to Seville, and, regarding with uneasy apprehension the enterprising spirit of an enemy whom he had once affected to despise, gave directions for strengthening the line of the Guadalete, lest a force should be landed at St. Roque’s or at Algeziras, and endanger his communication with the besieging army before Cadiz. Bornos, as the most important point upon the line, was fortified with great care. Ballasteros ♦BALLASTEROS DEFEATED AT BORNOS.♦ thought to interrupt the progress of the works, and accordingly brought all the force he could muster, consisting of about 6,000, to attack the French division there of 4,500 under General Corroux. Collecting his troops at La Majada de Ruiz, and marching from thence early in the afternoon of one day, he succeeded in fording the Guadalete unperceived ♦JUNE 1.♦ at dawn on the next. The attack was made bravely, but, with the usual ill fortune and ill discipline of a Spanish army, some mistake led to confusion, and confusion was followed by panic: the French were not strong enough to pursue them beyond the river, and Ballasteros retired with the loss of about 1,000 killed and wounded, and half as many prisoners, ... a fourth of his whole force. ♦LORD WELLINGTON ADVANCES INTO SPAIN.♦ Meantime Badajoz had been fully supplied; the means of transport which had been used for that service were then employed in storing Ciudad Rodrigo; a month’s consumption for the whole army was deposited there; the bridge at Alcantara was repaired for a readier communication with Sir Rowland’s corps; and on the 13th of June the army broke up from its cantonments on the Agueda. On the 16th they came up with the enemy, about six miles from Salamanca, on the Valmusa, and there was a skirmish with their cavalry; in the evening the French withdrew across the Tormes, and the army bivouacked within a league of Salamanca. ♦SALAMANCA♦