midday
Many stragglers of the retreating force were picked up and handed over to the peasantry to be sent as prisoners into Catalonia . For the most part the little parties of cavalry were well received by the populace ; the majority of Valencians were in favor of King Charles , and that night , when they halted , the weary horses obtained ample supplies of grain and forage , and the troopers were made welcome to the best the villages afforded . A few extra horses were purchased by Peterborough during the day , and it was well for his aides de camp that it was so , for scarcely had they finished their meal than Peterborough ordered them again into the saddle . They were to ride by crossroads right and left to the villages where the different detachments had been ordered to halt , and to tell them the routes marked out for them by which they would again concentrate at midday , so as to ride in comparatively strong force through a small town on the main road , whence news might , not improbably , be sent on to Las Torres . After that they were again to disperse and pervade the country . Jack and Graham carried out these orders , taking guides from each village through which they passed to the next , and it was near midnight before they had finished their work . At four in the morning every detachment was in motion , and at noon the troop was again concentrated .