The flooding of the Tagus and the rocky nature of its bed had injured the raft-bridge near Almaraz, and delayed the passage of the artillery and stores; to remedy this inconvenience the marshal issued directions to have a boat-bridge prepared, and caused a field-fort to be constructed on the left bank of the Tagus, which he armed with three guns, and garrisoned with a hundred and fifty men to protect his bridge. These arrangements and the establishment of an hospital for two thousand men at Truxillo, delayed the first corps until the 24th of March. Meanwhile, the light cavalry reinforced by twelve hundred _voltigeurs_ were posted at Miajadas, and having covered all the roads branching from that central point with their scouting parties, reported that a few of Cuesta’s people had retired to Medellin, that from five to six thousand men were thrown into the Sierra de Guadalupe, on the left of the French; that four thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry were behind the river Guadiana, in front of Medellin, but that every thing else was over the Guadiana. The line of retreat chosen by Cuesta uncovered Merida, and, consequently, the great road between Badajos and Seville was open to the French; but Victor was not disposed to profit from this, for he was aware that Albuquerque was coming from La Mancha to Cuesta, and believing that he brought nine thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry--feared that Cuesta’s intention was either to draw him into a difficult country, by making a flank march to join Cartoajal in La Mancha, or by crossing the Guadiana, above Naval Villar, where the fords are always practicable, to rejoin his detachments in the Sierra de Guadalupe, and so establish a new base of operations on the left flank of the French army. This reasoning was misplaced; neither Cuesta nor his army were capable of such operations, his line of retreat was solely directed by a desire to join Albuquerque, and to save his troops, by taking to a rugged instead of an open country, and the duke of Belluno lost the fruits of his previous success, by over rating his adversary’s skill; for, instead of following Cuesta with a resolution to break up the Spanish army, he, after leaving a brigade at Truxillo and Almaraz, to protect the communications, was contented to advance a few leagues on the road to Medellin with his main body, sending his light cavalry to Merida, and pushing on detachments towards Badajos and Seville, while other parties explored the roads leading into the Guadalupe.