About midnight, when two thousand brave men had fallen, Wellington, who was on a height close to the quarries, sent orders for the remainder to retire, and reform for a second assault; for he had just then heard that the castle was taken, and, thinking the enemy would still hold out in the town, was resolved to assail the breaches again. This retreat from the ditch, however, was not effected without further carnage and confusion; for the French 175fire never slackened, and a cry arose that the French were making a sally from the distant flanks, which caused a rush towards the ladders. Then the groans and lamentations of the wounded, who could not move, and expected to be slain, increased; many officers, who had not heard of the order, endeavoured to stop the soldiers from going back, and some would even have removed the ladders, but were unable to break through the crowd. All this time the third division was lying close to the castle; and, either from the fear of risking the loss of a point which ensured the capture of the place, or that the egress was too difficult, made no attempt to drive away the enemy from the breaches. On the other side, however, the fifth division had commenced the false attack on the Pardaleras; and on the right of the Guadiana the Portuguese were sharply engaged at the bridge. Thus the town was begirt; for General Walker’s brigade, having pressed on during the feint on the Pardaleras, was escalading the distant bastion of San Vincente. His troops had advanced along the banks of the river, and reached the French guardhouse at the barrier gate undiscovered, for the ripple of the waters smothered the sound of their footsteps; but just then the explosion at the breaches took place, the moon shone out, and the French sentinels, discovering the columns, fired. The British troops immediately springing forward under a sharp cover of musketry, began to hew down the wooden barrier at the covered way, while the Portuguese, being panic-stricken, threw down the scaling-ladders. Nevertheless, the others snatched them up again, and forcing the barrier, jumped into the ditch; but the guiding engineer officer was killed; and when the foremost man succeeded in reaching the ladders, the latter were found too short, for the walls were generally above thirty feet high. Meanwhile the fire of the French was deadly, a small mine was sprung beneath the soldiers’ feet, 176beams of wood and live shells were rolled over on their heads, showers of grape from the flank swept the ditch, and man after man dropped dead from the ladders. Fortunately, some of the defenders having been called away to aid in recovering the castle, the ramparts were not entirely manned; and the assailants, having discovered a corner of the bastion where the scarp was only twenty feet high, placed three ladders there, under an embrasure which had no gun, and was only stopped with a gabion. Some men with extreme difficulty got up, for the ladders were still