Before we departed from the place, we called to see a brother officer, Lieut. McCarthy, who, while serving as Engineer, was severely wounded in the assault.[20] Having enlivened the poor fellow by our visit, we bade farewell to Badajos, and with feelings excited in no small degree by the effect of all that we had witnessed, we set forth from the gates of that fortress in rather a sorrowful tone of mind. In this wood we retraced our path along the banks of the Guadiana, and found the regiment encamped in the woods where we had left them posted. [20] McCarthy's conduct on this occasion is recorded in the life of the late Sir Thomas Picton, who commanded the 3rd Division. "Arrived in the ditch, the leading engineer, Lieut. McCarthy, 50th Regt. who had volunteered his services, found that the ladders had been laid upon the paling of the ditch. This brave officer finding that these palings had not yet been removed, and that they formed a considerable barrier to the advance of the men, cried out--'Down with the palings!' and immediately applying his own hands to effect this, with the assistance of a few others, he succeeded in forcing them down. Through this gap rushed Picton, followed by his men, but so thick was the fire upon this point, that death seemed inevitable."--Life of Picton, vol. ii., p. 96. McCarthy's injury was a compound fracture of the thigh. CHAPTER XI. The troops broke up from the neighbourhood of the Guadiana about the 12th of April, and, after remaining at Almendralejo and other places, without the occurrence of any thing strange or interesting, the 1st brigade of the 2nd Division arrived at Truxillo, in Spain, on the 15th of May.