The reserve at length reached Nogales, having by a forced march of thirty-six miles gained twelve hours’ start of the enemy: but at this period of retreat the road was crowded with stragglers and baggage; the peasantry, although armed, did not molest the French, but, fearing both sides alike, drove their cattle and carried away their effects into the mountains on each side of the line of march. Under the most favourable circumstances, the drooping portion of a retreating force indicates sensible distress; and on the road near Nogales the followers of the army were dying fast from cold and hunger. The soldiers, barefooted, harassed, and weakened by their excesses at Bembibre and Villa Franca, were dropping to the rear by hundreds. 59Broken carts, dead animals, and the piteous appearance of women with children struggling or falling in the snow, completed the picture of war and its desolating results. On the evening of the 4th the French recovered their lost ground, and passed Nogales, galling the rearguard with a continual skirmish. Here it was that dollars to the amount of twenty-five thousand pounds were abandoned. This small sum was kept near headquarters to answer sudden emergencies; and the bullocks that drew it being tired, the general, who could not save the money without risking an ill-timed action, had it rolled down the side of a mountain. Part of it was gathered by the enemy, and part by the Gallician peasantry. After exchanging several shots with the enemy, wherever appearances called for resistance, the army retired to Lugo, in front of which the entire force was assembled; and on the 7th of January Sir John Moore announced his intention to offer battle. Scarcely was the order issued, when the line of battle, hitherto so peeled and spread abroad, was filled with vigorous men, full of confidence and courage. At day-break on the 8th the two armies were still embattled. On the French side seventeen thousand infantry, four thousand cavalry, and fifty pieces of artillery were in line; but Soult deferred the attack till the 9th. On the English side sixteen thousand infantry, eighteen hundred cavalry, and forty pieces of artillery awaited the assault. No advance was, however, made; darkness fell without a shot being fired; and with it the English general’s hope of engaging his enemy on equal terms.