They came too late for this; the commander at Borghetto had retreated before they arrived.

They, however, came unexpectedly; and, such was the chance, reached Valleggio after the French army had pursued the Austrians through it and onwards--and, at the moment when Buonaparte and a few friends, considering the work of the day to be over, and this village as altogether in the rear of both armies, were about to sit down to dinner in security.

Sebetendorff, who commanded the Puzzuolo division, came rapidly, little guessing what a prize was near him, into the village.

The French general's attendants had barely time to shut the gates of the inn, and alarm their chief by the cry "To arms." Buonaparte threw himself on horseback, and galloping out by a back passage, effected the narrowest of escapes from the most urgent of dangers.

Sebetendorff was soon assaulted by a French column, and retreated, after Beaulieu's example, on the line of the Adige.
Buonaparte, profiting by the perilous adventure of Valleggio, instituted a small corps of picked men, called _Guides_, to watch continually over his personal safety.