Having posted general Acevedo with the Asturians and the second division at Orduña, he left a battalion at Miravelles, to preserve the communication with Bilbao, and the 24th of October marched himself at the head of seventeen thousand fighting men, divided in three columns, to attack Zornosa. The right ascended the valley of Durango by Galdacano, the centre by Larabezua, the left by Rigoytia; at the same time general Acevedo penetrated through the mountains of Gorbea by Ozoco and Villaro, with a view to seize Manares and St. Antonia d’Urquitiola. It was intended by this operation to cut the communication between Miranda on the Ebro, and the town of Durango, and thus to intercept the retreat of marshal Ney, and oblige him to surrender with sixteen thousand men; for Blake was utterly ignorant of his adversary’s position, and imagined that he had only two corps to deal with. He believed that the king, with one, was in his front at Durango and Mont Dragon, and that Ney, with the other, was at Miranda, when in fact, the latter was at that moment attacking Pignatelli at Logroña. As the Spanish army approached Zornosa, Merlin abandoned the town, and drew up on some heights in the rear. Bad weather, and the want of provisions, checked further operations until the 25th. On the evening of that day, the Spanish division at Rigoytia attempted to turn the right flank of the French. At the same time Blake marched against the centre and left, and Merlin fell back to Durango. [Sidenote: S. Journal of the king’s operations, MS.] The duke of Dantzic, alarmed by these movements, concentrated his whole force, consisting of two divisions of infantry (Sebastiani’s and Laval’s), and a Dutch brigade at Durango; his third division (Valence’s) being yet in France. The king reinforced him with a division of the first corps (Villatte’s), and ordered Merlin’s troops, which were composed of detachments, to join their respective regiments. From the 25th to the 30th the armies remained quiet; but at day-break on the 31st, the Spaniards were formed in order of battle, five miles beyond Zornosa, and close to the enemy’s position. The vanguard drew up across the road to Durango; the reserve at some distance in the rear. The third and fourth divisions occupied the intermediate space, so disposed as to outflank the others, in a chequer shape. The first division occupied a height on the left of the road, and behind the reserve. [Sidenote: Ibid.] [Sidenote: Carrol’s Correspondence.]