Scarcely were these arrangements completed when a Spanish officer, pretending to bear propositions for an exchange of prisoners, was stopped on the left bank of the Segre, and the French general detained him, suspecting his real object was to gain information; for rumours obtained, that O’Donnel was collecting troops at Momblanch, that Campo Verde was at Cervera, and that the Somatenes of the high valleys were in arms on the upper Segre. Suchet anxious to ascertain the truth of these reports, reinforced Harispe with three hundred hussars on the 19th of April, and carried the corps of observation to Balaguer. The governor of Lerida took that opportunity to make a sally, but was repulsed, and the 21st, the French general, to strengthen his position at Balaguer, caused the bridge of Camarasa, above that town, to be broken, and then advanced as far as Tarrega, forty miles on the road to Barcelona, to obtain intelligence; for he was still uncertain of Augereau’s movements, and like every other general, French or English, found it extremely difficult to procure authentic information. On this occasion, however, by a happy fortune, he ascertained that O’Donnel, with two divisions, was at Momblanch, ready to descend the mountains and succour Lerida; wherefore returning by one forced march to Balaguer, he directed Musnier to resume his former position at Alcoleletge. This rapidity was well-timed, for O’Donnel had passed the defiles of Momblanch, with eight thousand chosen infantry, and six hundred cavalry, and encamped at Vinaxa, about twenty-five miles from Lerida, on the 22d. There a note from Garcia Conde, saying that, the French reserve being drawn off, the investing force was weak, reached him, and he being willing to seize the favourable moment, immediately pushed forward, reached Juneda, fourteen miles from Lerida, by ten o’clock in the morning of the 23d, and, after a halt of two hours, resumed his march with the cavalry and one division of infantry, leaving the other to follow more leisurely. COMBAT OF MARGALEF. Four miles from Juneda, stood the ruined village of Margalef, and from thence to Lerida was an open country, on which O’Donnel could perceive no covering force. Hence, trusting implicitly to Conde’s information (already falsified by Suchet’s activity), the Spanish general descended the hills, and crossed the plain in three columns, one following the high road and the other two marching on the right and left. The centre outstripping the flankers, soon beat back the advanced posts of Harispe; but that general, charged with his three hundred hussars, upon the Spanish column, so suddenly, that it was thrown into confusion, and fled towards Margalef, to which place, the flank columns also retreated, yet in good order. During this skirmish, the garrison sallied over the bridge, but the French infantry stood firm, and the besieged, seeing the rout of O’Donnel’s column, returned to the town.