CHAPTER XVII.
QUATRE BRAS.
At ten o'clock Captain O'Connor returned and Lieutenant Desmondhurried off.
"Were you sorry to leave, O'Connor?" Ralph asked that officer.
"No; I was glad to get away," he replied. "Knowing as I do that inanother twenty-four hours we may be engaged, and that in forty-eightthe greatest battle of the age may take place, it was horribly sad tolook on at the scene and wonder how many of the men laughing andflirting and dancing so gayly there would be so soon lying stark andcold, how many broken hearts there would be among the women. I feltheartily glad that I had neither wife nor sweetheart there. It is notoften I feel in low spirits, but for once one could not help thinking.Here it is a different thing; we are all soldiers, and whatever comeswe must do our duty and take our chance. But the gayety of that scenejarred upon me, and I could see there were many, especially the oldermen, who were thinking as I did. I dare say if I had found anypartners and gone in for dancing I should have thought but littleabout it; but standing looking on the thoughts came. I think you wereright, Conway, not to go."
"Have you heard any news of what has taken place to-day?"
"Yes. I was standing by the colonel when Picton came up to him andsaid:
"'There's been sharp fighting on the frontier. Zieten gave the Frencha deal of trouble, and only fell back about six miles. The othercorps, except Bulow's, will all join them to-night.
"'It is a thousand pities that Zieten did not send off a mountedmessenger to us directly he became engaged. If he had done so we mighthave started at one o'clock to-day, and should have been in line withthe Prussians to-morrow. I suppose he thought Blucher would send, andBlucher thought he had sent; and so between them nothing was done, andwe only got the news at seven o'clock this evening. Nine precioushours thrown away. It is just a blunder of this sort that makes allthe difference between failure and success in war. Had the messagebeen sent, we and the Dutch divisions and the troops from Brainele-Comte might all have been up by the morning. As it is, Blucher,with only three out of his four army corps, has the whole of theFrench army facing him, and must either fall back without fighting orfight against superior numbers--that is, if Napoleon throws his wholeforce upon him, as I suppose he will. It is enough to provoke asaint."
"'Which will Blucher do, do you think, general?" the colonel asked.
"'He sends word that he shall fight where he is; and in that case, ifNapoleon throws his whole force on him, he is nearly certain to bebeaten, and then we shall have Napoleon on us the next day."
"And now, Conway, I think it better to get a few hours' sleep if wecan; for to-morrow will be a heavy day for us, unless I am mistaken."
It was some time before Ralph slept, but when he did so he sleptsoundly, waking up with a start as the sound of a bugle rang out inthe night air. It was taken up by the bugles of the whole division,and Brussels, which had but an hour before echoed with the sound ofthe carriages returning from the ball, woke with a start.
With the sound of the bugle was mingled that of the Highland pipes,and in a few minutes the streets swarmed with the soldiers; for therewas scarce a house but had either officers or men quartered in it. Theupper windows were thrown up and the inhabitants inquired the cause ofthe uproar, and soon the whole population were in the streets. Therewas no delay. The soldiers had packed their knapsacks before lyingdown to sleep, and in a quarter of an hour from the sound of a buglethe regiments were forming up in the park. They were surrounded by ananxious crowd. Weeping women were embracing their husbands and lovers;the inhabitants looked pale and scared, and the wildest rumors werealready circulating among them; mounted officers dashed to and fro,bugles kept on sounding the assembly; and the heavy rumble of guns washeard as the artillery came up and took up their appointed position.
In half an hour from the sound of the first warning bugle the head ofthe column began to move, just as daylight was breaking. Comparativelyfew of the officers of Ralph's regiment were married men, and therewere therefore fewer of those agonizing partings that wrung the heartsof many belonging to regiments that had been quartered for some timeat home; but Ralph saw enough to convince him that the soldier shouldremain a single man at any rate during such times as he is likely tobe called upon for serious service in the field. It was a relief whenthe bands of the regiment struck up, and with a light step the troopsmarched away from the city where they had spent so many pleasantweeks.
As the troops marched on their spirits rose--and indeed the Britishsoldier is always at his gayest when there is a prospect offighting--the hum of voices rose along the column, jokes wereexchanged, and there was laughter and merriment. The pace was notrapid, and there were frequent stoppages, for a long column cannotmarch at the same pace as a single regiment; and it was ten o'clockwhen they halted at Mount St. Jean, fourteen miles from Brussels. Herethe men sat down by the roadside, opened their haversacks, and partookof a hasty meal. Suddenly there was a cheer from the rear of thecolumn. Nearer and nearer it grew, and the regiment leaped to theirfeet and joined in the shout, as the Duke of Wellington, with abrilliant staff, rode forward on his way to the front.
Already a booming of guns in the distance told that the troops wereengaged, and there was another cheer when the order ran along the lineto fall in again.
Fighting had indeed begun soon after daylight. Prince Bernhard whocommanded the division of Dutch troops at Quatre Bras, had commencedhostilities as soon as it was light by attacking the French in frontof him; and the Prince of Orange, who had ridden to Nivelles, directlythe ball was over, brought on the Dutch troops from that town, andjoining Prince Bernhard drove back the French to within a mile ofFrasnes.
The Duke of Wellington reached Quatre Bras soon after eleven, andfinding that there was no immediate danger there, galloped away tocommunicate with Blucher.
He found that the latter had gathered three of his corps, and occupieda chain of low hills extending from Bry to Tongres. The rivulet ofLigny wound in front of it, and the villages of St. Armand and Lignyat the foot of the slope were occupied as outposts. These villageswere some distance in front of the hills, and were too far off for thetroops there to be readily reinforced from the army on the heights.The Duke of Wellington was of opinion that the position was not a goodone, and he is said to have remarked to Blucher: "Everyman knows hisown people best, but I can only say that with a British army I shouldnot occupy this ground as you do."
Had the duke been able to concentrate his force round Quatre Bras intime, he intended to aid the Prussians by taking the offensive; butthe unfortunate delay that had taken place in sending the news of theFrench advance on the previous morning rendered it now impossible thathe should do so, and he therefore rode back to Quatre Bras to arrangefor its defence against the French corps that was evidently gatheringto attack it.
It was well for the allies that Napoleon was not in a position toattack in force at daybreak. His troops, instead of being concentratedthe night before at Fleurus, were scattered over a considerable extentof country, and many of them were still beyond the Sambre. MarshalNey, who had been appointed to the command of the corps, intended topush through Quatre Bras and march straight on Brussels, had onlyarrived the evening before, and was ignorant of the position of thevarious divisions under his command. Therefore it was not until twoo'clock in the afternoon that Napoleon advanced with sixty thousandmen to attack the Prussians at Ligny, while at about the same hour thecolumn under Ney advanced from Frasnes against Quatre Bras. The delaywas fatal to Napoleon's plans.
Had the battles commenced at daybreak, Ney could have brushed asidethe defenders of Quatre Bras, and would have been at Mount St. Jean bythe time the English came up. The Prussians would have been beaten bynoon instead of at dusk, and before nightfall their retreat would havebeen converted into a rout, and on the following day Napoleon's wholearmy would have been in a position to have fallen upon the onlyBritish divisions that Wellington could by that time have collected tooppose him, and would probably have b
een in possession of Brusselsbefore night.
Thus, while the delay in sending news to Wellington prevented theallies combining against the French on the 16th of June, the delay ofNapoleon in attacking that morning more than counterbalanced theerror. There was the less excuse for that delay, inasmuch as he hadhimself chosen his time for fighting, and should not have advanceduntil he had his whole force well up and ready for action; and as theadvance during the first day's fighting had been so slow, the wholearmy might well have been gathered at nightfall round Fleurus ready togive battle at the first dawn of day.
Fighting as he did against vastly superior forces, Napoleon's one hopeof success lay in crushing the Prussians before the English--who, ashe well knew, were scattered over a large extent of country--couldcome up, and his failure to do this cost him his empire.
The artillery fire ceased in front before the column continued itsmarch for Mount St. Jean. The Prince of Orange had paused in hisadvance when he saw how strong was the French force round Frasnes, andNey was not yet ready to attack. Therefore from eleven until two therewas a cessation of operations, and the ardor of the troops flaggedsomewhat as they tramped along the dusty road between Mount St. Jeanand Genappe.
The Prince of Orange was having an anxious time while the Britishcolumn was pressing forward to his assistance. As the hours went by hesaw the enemy's forces in front of him accumulating, while he knewthat his own supports must be still some distance away. Nevertheless,he prepared to defend Quatre Bras to the last. He had with him sixthousand eight hundred and thirty-two infantry and sixteen cannon,while Ney had gathered seventeen thousand men and thirty-eight guns toattack him. The latter should have had with him D'Erlon's corps oftwenty thousand men, and forty-six guns, but these were suddenlywithdrawn by Napoleon when the latter found that the Prussian forcewas stronger than he had expected. They had just reached the field ofLigny when an order from Ney again caused them to retrace their stepsto Quatre Bras, where they arrived just after the fighting there hadcome to an end. Thus twenty thousand men with forty-six guns wereabsolutely thrown away, while their presence with either Napoleon orNey would have been invaluable.
Soon after two o'clock Picton's division, which headed the column,heard several cannon shots fired in rapid succession, and in anotherminute a perfect roar of artillery broke out. The battle had evidentlybegun; and the weary men, who had already marched over twenty miles,straightened themselves up, the pace quickened, and the divisionpressed eagerly forward. A few minutes later an even heavier and morecontinuous roar of cannon broke out away to the left. Napoleon wasattacking the Prussians. The talking and laughing ceased now. Even theoldest soldiers were awed by that roar of fire, and the younger onesglanced in each other's faces to see whether others felt the samevague feeling of discomfort they themselves experienced; and yetterrible as was evidently the conflict raging in front, each manlonged to take his part in it.
The officers' orders to the men to step out briskly were given incheerful and confident voices, and the men themselves--with theirfingers tightening on their muskets, and their eyes looking intentlyforward as if they could pierce the distance and realize the sceneenacting there--pressed on doggedly and determinedly. Messenger aftermessenger rode up to General Picton, who was marching at the head ofthe column, begging him to hurry on, for that the Prince of Orange wasstep by step being driven back. But the troops were already doingtheir best.
The Dutch and Belgian troops had fought with considerable bravery, andhad held the village of Piermont and a farm near it for some timebefore they fell back to the wood of Bossu. Here they make a stoutstand again, but were at length driven out and were beginning to loseheart, and in a few minutes would have given way when they saw on thelong straight road behind them the red line of Picton's column. Theglad news that help was at hand ran quickly through the wood, and theBelgians met their foes with fresh courage.
Picton's force consisted of the Eighth and Ninth British Brigades, theformer under General Sir James Kempt, the latter under Sir Denis Pack.With them were the Fourth Brigade of Hanoverians, with two batteriesof artillery--the one Hanoverian, the other British. The excitement ofthe troops increased as they neared Quatre Bras, and a loud cheer ranalong the line as they neared the wood, and took their place by theside of the hardly pressed Dutch and Belgians. Pack's brigade consistedof the first battalion Forty-second, second Forty-fourth, firstNinety-second, and first Ninety-fifth, while Kempt had under him thefirst Twenty-eighth, first Thirty-second, first Seventy-ninth, andThird Royals.
The aspect of the fight was speedily changed now. The French, who hadbeen advancing with shouts of triumph, were at once hurled back, andthe defenders a few minutes later were strengthened by the arrival ofthe greater part of the Duke of Brunswick's corps. In point of numbersthe combatants were now nearly equal, as the allies had eighteenthousand infantry, two thousand cavalry, and twenty-eight guns on thefield. Of these, however, but eight thousand at most were British.Picton at once sent forward the first battalion of the Ninety-fifth,and these cleared a little wood in the front of Piermont of the Frenchlight troops, and restored the communication between Quatre Bras andLigny.
Ney, however, was preparing to advance again in force. His front wascovered with a double hedgerow, which afforded admirable shelter tohis skirmishers, while his artillery were so placed on rising groundin the rear of his position as to sweep the whole country over whichhis column would advance to the attack. At this moment the dukereturned from his conference with Blucher. He at once saw that theenemy had gathered a heavy column behind the wood of Bossu, anddirected the Prince of Orange to withdraw the guns that were too faradvanced, and to gather the Dutch and Belgian troops to oppose theadvance, at the same time he sent forward the Twenty-eighth to theirassistance.
They arrived, however, too late; for the French swept the Belgiansbefore them and advanced steadily, while their artillery from the highground opened a furious cannonade upon Picton's division. One of theBrunswick regiments now joined the Belgians, but in spite of thisreinforcement the latter were driven from the wood of Bossu, whichthey had occupied when the British first came up. The British troopswere suffering heavily from the artillery fire to which their own gunscould make no effectual reply.
"Pretty hot this, Conway," Captain O'Connor said to Ralph. "It's notpleasant standing here being made a target of."
"That it's not," Ralph said heartily. "I call it horribly unpleasant.I shouldn't mind it so much if we were doing something."
It was indeed trying for young soldiers under fire for the first time.The French had got the range accurately, and every moment gaps weremade in the line as the round shot plowed through them. The officerswalked backward and forward in front of their men with exhortations tostand steady.
"It will be our turn presently, lads," Captain O'Connor saidassuringly. "We will turn the tables on them by and by, never fear."
There was not long to wait. Clouds of French skirmishers were seenadvancing through the hedgerows, and stealing behind the thickets andwoods that skirted the road, and a moment later the orders came forthe light companies of all the regiments of Picton's division toadvance.
"Forward, lads!" Captain O'Connor said. "It's our turn now. Keep cooland don't waste your ammunition."
With a cheer his company followed him. Every hedge, bank, and treethat could afford shelter was seized upon, and a sharp crackling fireat once replied to that of the French skirmishers. The light companieswere then armed with far better weapons than those in use by the restof the troops, and a soldier could have told at once by the sharpcrackling sound along the front of the British line that it was thelight companies that were engaged. But now a heavy column of troopswas seen advancing from the village held by the French; and this, asit approached the part of the line held by the Brunswickers, broke upinto several columns. The Germans were falling back, when the dukesent Picton's two brigades to meet the enemy halfway. TheNinety-second were left behind in reserve on the road, the lightcompanies were called
in, Picton placed himself in front of the longline, and with a tremendous cheer this advanced to meet the heavyFrench columns.
It was thus through the wars of the period that the English and Frenchalways fought: the French in massive column, the English in long line.Once again, as at Albuera and in many a stricken field, the lineproved the conqueror. Overlapping the columns opposed to it, pouringscathing volleys upon each flank, and then charging on the shaken masswith the bayonet, the British regiments drove the enemy back beyondthe hedgerows, and were with difficulty restrained from following themup the face of the opposite hill.
On the right, however, the Brunswickers were suffering heavily fromthe cannonade of the French, and were only prevented from breaking bythe coolness of their chief. The Duke of Brunswick rode backward andforward in front of them, smoking his pipe and chatting cheerfullywith his officers, seemingly unconscious of the storm of fire: andeven the most nervous of his young troops felt ashamed to show signsof faltering when their commander and chief set them such an example.Four guns, which at his request Wellington had sent to him, came upand opened fire; but so completely were they overmatched that in fiveminutes two were disabled and the other two silenced.
As soon as this was done two French columns of infantry, preceded by abattalion in line, advanced along the edge of the wood, while a heavymass of cavalry advanced along the Ghent road, and threatened theBrunswickers with destruction. The Brunswick, Dutch, and Belgianskirmishers fell back before those of the French. The Duke ofBrunswick placed himself before a regiment of lancers and charged theFrench infantry; but these stood steady, and received the lancers withso heavy a fire that they retreated in confusion on Quatre Bras. Theduke now ordered the infantry to fall back in good order, but by thistime they were too shaken to do so. The French artillery smote themwith terrible effect; the infantry swept them with bullets; thecavalry were preparing to charge. No wonder then that the young troopslost their self-possession, broke, and fled in utter confusion, somethrough Quatre Bras others through the English regiments on the leftof the village.
At this moment the gallant Duke of Brunswick, while striving to rallyone of his regiments, received a mortar wound. He died a few minuteslater, as his father had died on the field of Jena. The Brunswickhussars were now ordered to advance and cover the retreat of theinfantry; but as they moved toward the enemy they lost heart, turned,and fled from the field, the French lancers charging hotly among them.So closely were the two bodies mixed together that the Forty-secondand Forty-fourth which were posted on the left of the road, could notdistinguish friend from foe.
Before the former regiment had time to form square the French wereupon them, and for two or three minutes a desperate hand-to-handconflict took place between bayonet and lance. The Forty-fourth didnot attempt to form a square. Its colonel faced the rear rank about,and these poured so tremendous a volley into the French cavalry thatthey reeled back in confusion. Two companies of the Forty-second whichhad been cut off from the rest were almost annihilated; but the restof the square closed in around French cavalry who had pierced them anddestroyed them to a man. The Twenty-eighth also repulsed the enemy.
"What do you think of it now, Conway?" Captain O'Connor asked as theFrench retreated.
"I feel all right now," Ralph said; "though I thought just now that itwas all over with me. A big Frenchman was just dealing a sweeping cutat me when a musket shot struck him. Still this is a thousand timesbetter than standing still and being pounded by their artillery. Iconfess I felt horribly uncomfortable while that was going on."
"I dare say you did, lad."
The Duke of Wellington had, upon the fall of their commander, in vainendeavored to rally the flying Brunswickers. As he was so engaged thecavalry column swept down upon him. He put spurs to his horse andgalloped to the spot where the Ninety-second were lying behind a ditchbordering the road. The French were close to his heels. He shouted tothe men of the Ninety-second in front of him to throw themselves down,and setting spurs to his horse leaped the ditch and the men behind it,and instantly the Highlanders poured so terrible a volley into theFrench cavalry that a hundred saddles were emptied.
The cavalry recoiled for a moment in confusion, but then reformed andretired in good order. Some of the leading squadrons, however, hadgalloped on into the village, and cut down some stragglers there; butthe Highlanders closed round them, and, being pent up in a farmyardfrom which there was but one outlet, scarce a man who had enteredescaped.
The French had now received heavy reinforcement--Kellermann's heavyhorse having come upon the field--and as neither the Dutch nor Belgiancavalry would face the French troopers they were free to employ theirwhole cavalry force against the British infantry.
Again and again they charged down upon the Twenty-eighth,Forty-second, Forty-fourth, and First Royals. The Twenty-eighth andthe Royals did not indeed wait to be attacked, but led by Picton andKempt in person resolutely advanced to charge the French cavalry. Thisfeat, seldom exampled in military history, was rendered necessary inorder to cover the flank of the Forty-second and Forty-fourth, now, bythe flight of the Brunswickers, Dutch, and Belgians, open to theattacks of the French cavalry. The fields here were covered with agrowth of tall rye, that concealed the approach of the French cavalrytill they were within a few yards of the infantry, and it was only bythe tramp of the horses as they rushed through the corn that theBritish square knew when their foes would be upon them.
Picton in the center of the Twenty-eighth encouraged them by hispresence, and they stood firm, although the cavalry again and againcharged down until their horse's chests touched the close line ofbayonets. They were every time repulsed with heavy loss. TheThirty-second, Seventy-ninth, and Ninety-fifth were also exposed tosimilar attacks; but everywhere the British soldiers stood firmlyshoulder to shoulder, and nowhere did the French succeed in breakingtheir ranks.
At five o'clock fresh guns and cavalry reinforced Ney, and hisinfantry again advanced in great force through the wood of Bossu. TheBritish squares were decimated by the fire of the artillery, andseveral batteries were advanced to comparatively short range, andopened with destructive effect.
Stoutly as the eight thousand British had fought--deserted though theywere by their allies--against Ney's overpowering numbers, they couldnot much longer have stood their ground, when at the critical momentGeneral Alten's division came up by the Nivelles road to their aid.Halket's British brigade advanced between the wood of Bossu and theCharleroi road; while the Hanoverian brigade took up ground to theleft, and gave their support to the hardly-pressed British.
Ney now pushed forward every man at his disposal. His masses ofcavalry charged down, and falling upon the Sixty-ninth, one of theregiments just arrived, cut it up terribly, and carried off one of itscolors. The Thirty-second, however, belonging to the same brigade,repulsed a similar attempt with terrible slaughter. The Frenchinfantry, supported by a column of cuirassiers, advanced against theHanoverians, and driving them back approached the spot where theNinety-second were lying. Major-General Barnes rode up to theHighlanders taking off his hat, and shouted: "Now, Ninety-second,follow me!"
The Highlanders sprang from the ditch in which they were lying, thebagpipes struck up the slogan of the regiment, and with leveledbayonets they threw themselves upon the French column. In vain itsleading companies attempted to make a stand. The Highlanders drovethem back in confusion, and they broke and fled to the shelter of thehedgerows, where they tried to resist the advance, but the Highlandersburst through without a pause. Their colonel, John Cameron, fell dead;but his men, more furious than before, flung themselves on the French,and drove them back in confusion into the wood.
Ney still thought of renewing the attack; but D'Erlon's corps had notyet arrived, while at this moment two light battalions ofBrunswickers, with two batteries of artillery, came up, and almostimmediately afterward General Cooke's division, comprising twobrigades of the guards, reached the spot. The latter at once advancedagainst the French skirmishers, just as they
were issuing afresh fromthe wood of Bossu. The guards had undergone a tremendous march; butall thought of fatigue was lost in their excitement, and they sweptthe French before them and pressed forward. As they did so the wholeBritish line advanced, Halket's brigade on the one flank the guards onthe other.
In vain the French cavalry charged again and again. In vain the Frenchinfantry strove to stem the tide. One after another the positions theyhad so hardly won were wrested from them. Picton's division retook thevillage; Piermont was carried by the Ninety-fifth and the Germanlegion; while the guards drove the enemy entirely out of the wood ofBossu. Night was now falling, and Ney fell back under cover ofdarkness to his original position in Frasnes; while the Britishlighted their fires, and bivouacked on the ground they had so bravelyheld.
As soon as the order came for the troops to bivouac where they werestanding, arms were piled and the men set to work. Parties choppeddown hedges and broke up fences, and fires were soon blazing. Owing tothe late hour at which the fight terminated, and the confusion amongthe baggage wagons that were now beginning to arrive from the rear, noregular distribution of rations could be made. Most of the men,however, had filled their haversacks before leaving their quarters onthe previous evening, and a party sent down the road obtained asufficient supply of bread for the rest from a commissariat wagon.While the fires were being lighted the light company were ordered toaid in the work of collecting the wounded. The other regiments hadalso sent out parties, and for hours the work went on. Owing to thefrequent movements of the troops, and the darkness of the night, itwas difficult to discover the wounded, and there were no materials athand from which torches could be made.
No distinction was made between friend and foe. The bodies found to becold and stiff were left where they lay; the rest were lifted andcarried to one or other of the spots where the surgeons of the forcewere hard at work giving a first dressing to the wounds, or, whereabsolutely necessary, performing amputations. After an hour's work thelight company was relieved by the grenadiers, and these in turn by theother companies, so that all might have a chance of obtaining as muchsleep as possible.
The troops were indeed terribly fatigued, for they had had a thirtymiles' march, and nearly six hours continuous fighting; but they werein high spirits at their success, although suffering severely fromwant of water. They had started in the morning with full canteens, butthe dusty march had produced such thirst that most of these wereemptied long before they reached the field of battle; and no water wasto be found near the spot where the Twenty-eighth were bivouacked, andindeed with the exception of the regiments in the village, whoobtained water from the wells, the whole army lay down without adrink. Water had, however, been fetched for the wounded, whose firstcry as their comrades reached them had always been for it; and evenwhen the search had ceased for the night, there were numbers stilllying in agony scattered over the field. Ralph had before startingfilled a canteen with brandy and water at the suggestion of CaptainO'Connor.
"The less you drink, lad, while on the march the better; but thechances are you will find by night that every drop is worth its weightin gold. If you have the bad luck to be wounded yourself, the contentsof the canteen may save your life; and if you don't want it yourself,you may be sure that there will be scores of poor fellows to whom amouthful will be a blessing indeed."
So Ralph had found it. He had drunk very sparingly on the way,scarcely permitting himself to do more than to wet his lips; but whenhe set about the work of collecting the wounded, he felt more thanamply rewarded for his little self-sacrifice by the grateful thanks ofthe poor fellows to whom he was able to give a mouthful of his hoardedstore. It was not until his return to the bivouac, after his hour'sturn of duty, that he learned the extent of the loss of the regiment.He knew by the smallness of the number who mustered for the search howmuch his own company had suffered, and in the brief intervals in thestruggle he had heard something of what was doing elsewhere.Lieutenant Desmond had fallen early in the fight, shot through theheart as the light companies went out to oppose the Frenchskirmishers. Captain O'Connor had received a lance wound through hisarm; but had made a sling of his sash, and had kept his place at thehead of his company.
The officers were all gathered round a fire when Ralph returned to thebivouac.
"I see you have your arm in a sling, O'Connor," he said. "Nothingserious, I hope?"
"No, I think not; but it's confoundedly painful. It was a Frenchlancer did it. Fortunately one of the men bayoneted him at the veryinstant he struck me, and it was only the head of the lance that wentthrough my arm. Still, it made a hole big enough to be uncommonlypainful; the more so because it gave it a frightful wrench as the mandropped the lance. However, there is nothing to grumble at; and I mayconsider myself lucky indeed to have got off with a flesh wound whenso many good fellows have fallen."
"Yes, considering the number engaged, the losses have been terriblyheavy," the major said. "It looked very bad for a time."
"That it did," O'Connor agreed. "That's what comes of fighting withlittle mongrels by the side of you. It's always been the case when weget mixed up with other nationalities. Look at Fontenoy, look atTalavera. If I were a general I would simply fight my battles in myown way with my own men. If any allies I had liked to come up andfight on their own account, all the better; but I wouldn't rely uponthem in the very slightest."
"The Belgians and Dutch fought very fairly at the beginning,O'Connor."
"Yes, I will admit that. But what's the good of fighting at thebeginning if you are going to bolt in the middle of a battle? If wehad had two or three regiments of our own cavalry, it would have madeall the difference in the world; but when they went off, horse andfoot and left our division alone to face the whole force of the enemy,I hardly even hoped we should hold our ground till Alten came up."
"Yes, he was just in the nick of time; but even with him we shouldhave had to fall back if Cooke had not arrived with the guards. By theway, has any one heard what has taken place on our left?"
"We have heard nothing; but I think there is no doubt the Prussiansmust have been thrashed. One could hear the roar of fire over thereoccasionally, and I am sure it got farther off at the end of the day;beside, if Blucher had beaten Napoleon, our friends over there wouldbe falling back, and you can see by their long lines of fire they havenot done so. I dare say we shall hear all about it to-morrow. Anyhow,I think we had better lie down and get as much sleep as we can, we mayhave another hard day's work before us."