A third time the handful of men were forced back by overwhelming numbers; but now the other brigade of the Light Division, attracted by the fire, came up; and the fog clearing off, the 3rd Division, under Picton, which had crossed the river lower down, came up on the enemy’s right; and the 5th Division, having crossed the bridge, appeared debouching from the town of Sabugal; thus reinforced, Beckwith drove the enemy at the point of the bayonet into and through his original position, and the French retreated in confusion. Unfortunately, Sir William Erskine with the cavalry had lost his way in the fog, and had gone too far to the right; so that advantage could not be taken of the loose manner in which the enemy left the field; yet some prisoners were made. In this action, in which, as Lord Wellington states, ‘the operations of the day were, by unavoidable accidents, not performed in the manner he intended they should be,’ nothing could be more daring or more characteristic of British courage, than the way in which Beckwith, with a handful of men (the Riflemen, Elder’s Caçadores, and the 43rd), withstood and thrice repulsed and pursued a whole _Corps d’Armée_ placed in a strong position. And deservedly does the great captain go on to say that he considered ‘the action fought by Colonel Beckwith’s brigade principally, to be one of the most glorious the British troops were ever engaged in.’[100] Beckwith’s own coolness and gallant bearing in it are recorded by all the narrators of the action. When obliged by the overwhelming numbers and fury of the French to give the order to retire, he rode among his own Riflemen; and seeing some disposition to quicken the pace he would say: ‘Don’t run; I did not mean that; we will go steadily, and give them a shot as we retire.’ When he had reached his supports and could make a stand, he faced them about, and led them forward again, and was obeyed and followed as calmly and steadily as if he was marching them up and down the barrack square. In this affair Lieutenant the Hon. Duncan Arbuthnot and 1 Rifleman were killed. Beckwith was wounded in the forehead, and had a horse shot under him; and Second Lieutenant William Haggup and 12 rank and file were wounded. And of the company of the 2nd Battalion present in this action, 1 man was killed and 2 wounded. During the fight, as the Riflemen were driving the enemy’s skirmishers through a chestnut-wood, a man of the 1st Battalion of the name of Flinn, was aiming at a Frenchman, when a hare started out of the fern with which the hill was covered. Flinn, leaving the Frenchman, covered the hare, and fired and killed his game. On the officer commanding the company remonstrating with him, his reply was, ‘Ah! your honour, sure we can kill a Frenchman any day; but it isn’t always I can bag a hare for your supper.’[101]