Major Rice had been unfortunate in his horses. One, it will be remembered, broke away and deserted to the enemy at Badajoz. The second was fated to be eaten by the allied troops. Probably the owner considered the end of his second horse no more dreadful than that of the first; and it is to be hoped that Government compensated him for the loss of his two chargers, though it is not probable that any such generosity was shown to the British officer, who, at that time, was even required to provide at his own expense beasts of burden to carry his baggage in the field. Five days after these events the Salamanca forts fell, and Marmont beat a retreat towards Valladolid. Wellington followed leisurely, keeping touch with the enemy's rearguard, and engaging it slightly at the bridge of Tordesillas on the 2nd July. But neither side yet felt inclined to give battle; and the British were by no means hopeful that their labours were going to be rewarded with a fight. Major Rice certainly took a gloomy view of the future when he wrote, on the 6th July, from _Camp near Medina del Campo_-- "Our lord, I am just told, is making up his dispatches, and we scrubs are graciously permitted to avail ourselves of the opportunity. Since I last communicated, nothing of importance has transpired. The army appears to have come to a _check_--rather, I think, than a _fault_. Marmont has earthed himself safe on the left bank of the Douro, and secured the bridge in front of Tordesillas. The fords are not good and are always precarious, but about these I know nothing, so I ought not to presume to give an opinion as to what is intended, or what can be done with safety to the army. His lordship only can know, as he must necessarily possess the best information as to the strength and resources of the enemy. For my part, I am not a bit more sanguine in this glorious cause than ever, and though we have dashed a few leagues in this patriotic ground among the _vivas_ of the mob, manœuvring seems to be the game that both parties are inclined to, and, if I may judge, both are equally shy as to general action. We have been wretchedly off for this some time; scanty fare, bad biscuit, &c. The weather dreadfully hot by day and cold by night--beyond what I ever experienced. We are lying in cornfields without the smallest covering. How the men stand this severe work is to me astonishing. A few days must soon bring to light our lord's gigantic plan for annihilating the foe. If we take water or form bridge, it will be a second Lodi. My brains are baking into a paste. It is just rumoured that the brutes won't fight; if so, the game must be up in this favourite peninsula."