So far did he carry this that the British general, finding that in no
other way could he get the Portuguese to advance with him, proposed that
they should follow behind him and wait the result of the battle, to which
Friere at last consented. The Portuguese, in fact, had no belief whatever
that the British troops would be able to withstand the onslaught of the
French, whom they regarded as invincible. Colonel Trant, however, one of
our military agents, succeeded in inducing Friere to place 1,400 infantry
and 250 cavalry under the command of Sir Arthur.

The addition of the cavalry was a very useful one, for the English had
with them only 180 mounted men; the country was entirely new to them,
scarcely an officer could speak the language, and there was no means,
therefore, of obtaining information as to the movements of the enemy.
Moving forward through Batalha, and regaining the coast road at Alcobaca,
the British forces arrived at Caldas on the 15th; and on the same day
Junot quitted Lisbon with a force of 2,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and
ten pieces of artillery, leaving 7,000 to garrison the forts and keep down
the population of the city. His force was conveyed to Villa Franca by
water, and the general then pushed forward to Santarem, where he found
Loison, and took command of his division.

The British advanced guard, after arriving at Caldas, pushed forward,
drove the French pickets out of Brilos, and then from Obidos. Here,
however, a slight reverse took place. Some companies of the 95th and 60th
Rifles pressed forward three miles farther in pursuit, when they were
suddenly attacked in flank by a greatly superior force, and had it not
been that General Spencer, whose division was but a short distance behind,
pressed forward to their assistance, they would have suffered heavily; as
it was they escaped with the loss of two officers and twenty-seven men
killed and wounded. Their rashness, however, led to the discovery that