During his absence, the blockade of Almeida had been closely pressed, while the army was so disposed as to cut off all communication. The allied forces were, however, distressed for provisions, and great part of their corn came from the side of Ledesma; being smuggled by the peasants through the French posts, and passed over the Agueda by ropes, which were easily hidden amongst the deep chasms of that river, near its confluence with the Douro. Massena was, however, intent upon relieving the place. His retreat upon Salamanca had been to restore the organization and equipments of his army, which he could not do at Ciudad Rodrigo, without consuming the stores of that fortress. His cantonments extended from San Felices by Ledesma to Toro, his cavalry was in bad condition, his artillery nearly unhorsed: but from Bessieres he expected, with reason, aid, both of men and provisions, and in that expectation was prepared to renew the campaign immediately. Discord, that bane of military operations, interfered. Bessieres had neglected and continued to neglect the army of Portugal; symptoms of hostilities with Russia were so apparent, even at this period, that he looked rather to that quarter than to what was passing before him; his opinion that a war in the north was inevitable was so openly expressed as to reach the English army; and meanwhile, Massena vainly demanded the aid, which was necessary to save the only acquisition of his campaign. A convoy of provisions had entered Ciudad Rodrigo on the 13th of April; on the 16th a reinforcement and a second convoy also succeeded in gaining that fortress, although general Spencer crossed the Agueda, with eight thousand men, to intercept them; a rear-guard of two hundred men was indeed, overtaken; but, although surrounded by the cavalry in an open plain, they made their way into the place. Towards the end of the month, the new organization, decreed by Napoleon, was put in execution. Two divisions of the ninth corps joined Massena; and Drouet was preparing to march with the remaining eleven thousand infantry and cavalry, to reinforce and take the command of the fifth corps; when Massena, having collected all his own detachments, and received a promise of assistance from Bessieres, prevailed upon him to defer his march until an effort had been made to relieve Almeida. With this view the French army was put in motion towards the frontier of Portugal. The light division immediately resumed its former positions, the left at Gallegos and Marialva, the right at Espeja; the cavalry were dispersed, partly towards the sources of the Azava, and partly behind Gallegos, and, while in this situation, colonel O’Meara and eighty men of the Irish brigade were taken by Julian Sanchez; the affair having been, it was said, preconcerted, to enable the former to quit the French service.