The French restored the bridge as quickly as possible, but in the meanwhile Wellington had withdrawn to the left bank of the Douro by the Tudela bridge and by the Puente de Douro, and on the 30th October he marched towards Tordesillas in such strength as to prevent the enemy making use of the bridge which they had so nobly won. On this very spot Major Rice wrote his last letter of the year:-- "CAMP BEFORE THE BRIDGE OF TORDESILLAS, LEFT BANK OF THE DOURO, _5th November 1812_. "You will not fail to perceive, as per date, that our movements of late have been retrograde--I won't call it in this place _retreating_, because it is possibly only a little run on the part of our Most Noble and Gallant Marquis, whose judgment and military abilities are inferior _nulli_--not even Bony the Great. You will, however, see all in public print, and then you may call it what you like, and I think we shall be perfectly _d'accord_. My last short and hasty, though brilliant, display of matter was from Monasterio. The following day we were pushed in very gallantly (by _superior force_ understood); our loss not great, and we committed some havoc among the legions--hats and wigs cheap enough. The great superiority of the enemy in all the arms of war, I suppose, upon reconnaissance, decided his lordship on raising the siege of Burgos and falling back. The fact of the matter is, we were doing too much for our means, and, _entre nous_, are lucky in getting clear off. Our movements have been rapid, and not a little pressed; fine destruction of bridges, &c.; in fact, all the agreeables attending retrograde movements, or, as Soult calls them, _to the flank_. "Our division defended the front of Valladolid, to retard the enemy. Our regiment lost a few men; a poor woman, singularly enough, was killed by the first cannon ball fired, and an officer minus an arm. Two officers of ours have also died this week. Our sufferings have not been a little; the weather horridly cold and wet; not once under cover for these last two months. The poor soldiers dreadfully off; but I must not depict all the miseries; the truth must not be told at all times. And why tell you, or talk on subjects which you cannot understand? I often think how ridiculous one of my compositions would appear in print, under the head of 'Intercepted Correspondence from Spain!'