QUATRE BRAS.
At ten o'clock Captain O'Connor returned and Lieutenant Desmond
hurried 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 in
another twenty-four hours we may be engaged, and that in forty-eight
the greatest battle of the age may take place, it was horribly sad to
look on at the scene and wonder how many of the men laughing and
flirting and dancing so gayly there would be so soon lying stark and
cold, how many broken hearts there would be among the women. I felt
heartily glad that I had neither wife nor sweetheart there. It is not
often 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 comes
we must do our duty and take our chance. But the gayety of that scene
jarred upon me, and I could see there were many, especially the older
men, who were thinking as I did. I dare say if I had found any
partners and gone in for dancing I should have thought but little
about it; but standing looking on the thoughts came. I think you were
right, 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 and
said:
"'There's been sharp fighting on the frontier. Zieten gave the French
a deal of trouble, and only fell back about six miles. The other
corps, except Bulow's, will all join them to-night.
"'It is a thousand pities that Zieten did not send off a mounted
messenger to us directly he became engaged. If he had done so we might
have started at one o'clock to-day, and should have been in line with
the Prussians to-morrow. I suppose he thought Blucher would send, and
Blucher thought he had sent; and so between them nothing was done, and
we only got the news at seven o'clock this evening. Nine precious
hours thrown away. It is just a blunder of this sort that makes all
the difference between failure and success in war. Had the message
been sent, we and the Dutch divisions and the troops from Braine
le-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 the
French army facing him, and must either fall back without fighting or
fight against superior numbers--that is, if Napoleon throws his whole
force upon him, as I suppose he will. It is enough to provoke a
saint."
"'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, if
Napoleon throws his whole force on him, he is nearly certain to be
beaten, 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 we
can; 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 slept
soundly, waking up with a start as the sound of a bugle rang out in
the 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 of
the 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 there
was scarce a house but had either officers or men quartered in it. The
upper windows were thrown up and the inhabitants inquired the cause of
the uproar, and soon the whole population were in the streets. There
was no delay. The soldiers had packed their knapsacks before lying
down to sleep, and in a quarter of an hour from the sound of a bugle
the regiments were forming up in the park. They were surrounded by an
anxious crowd. Weeping women were embracing their husbands and lovers;
the inhabitants looked pale and scared, and the wildest rumors were
already circulating among them; mounted officers dashed to and fro,
bugles kept on sounding the assembly; and the heavy rumble of guns was
heard 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 of
the column began to move, just as daylight was breaking. Comparatively
few of the officers of Ralph's regiment were married men, and there
were therefore fewer of those agonizing partings that wrung the hearts
of many belonging to regiments that had been quartered for some time
at home; but Ralph saw enough to convince him that the soldier should
remain a single man at any rate during such times as he is likely to
be called upon for serious service in the field. It was a relief when
the bands of the regiment struck up, and with a light step the troops
marched away from the city where they had spent so many pleasant
weeks.
As the troops marched on their spirits rose--and indeed the British
soldier is always at his gayest when there is a prospect of
fighting--the hum of voices rose along the column, jokes were
exchanged, and there was laughter and merriment. The pace was not
rapid, and there were frequent stoppages, for a long column cannot
march at the same pace as a single regiment; and it was ten o'clock
when they halted at Mount St. Jean, fourteen miles from Brussels. Here
the men sat down by the roadside, opened their haversacks, and partook
of a hasty meal. Suddenly there was a cheer from the rear of the
column. Nearer and nearer it grew, and the regiment leaped to their
feet and joined in the shout, as the Duke of Wellington, with a
brilliant staff, rode forward on his way to the front.
Already a booming of guns in the distance told that the troops were
engaged, and there was another cheer when the order ran along the line
to fall in again.
Fighting had indeed begun soon after daylight. Prince Bernhard who
commanded the division of Dutch troops at Quatre Bras, had commenced
hostilities as soon as it was light by attacking the French in front
of him; and the Prince of Orange, who had ridden to Nivelles, directly
the ball was over, brought on the Dutch troops from that town, and
joining Prince Bernhard drove back the French to within a mile of
Frasnes.
The Duke of Wellington reached Quatre Bras soon after eleven, and
finding that there was no immediate danger there, galloped away to
communicate with Blucher.
He found that the latter had gathered three of his corps, and occupied
a chain of low hills extending from Bry to Tongres. The rivulet of
Ligny wound in front of it, and the villages of St. Armand and Ligny
at the foot of the slope were occupied as outposts. These villages
were some distance in front of the hills, and were too far off for the
troops there to be readily reinforced from the army on the heights.
The Duke of Wellington was of opinion that the position was not a good
one, and he is said to have remarked to Blucher: "Everyman knows his
own people best, but I can only say that with a British army I should
not occupy this ground as you do."
Had the duke been able to concentrate his force round Quatre Bras in
time, he intended to aid the Prussians by taking the offensive; but
the unfortunate delay that had taken place in sending the news of the
French advance on the previous morning rendered it now impossible that
he should do so, and he therefore rode back to Quatre Bras to arrange
for its defence against the French corps that was evidently gathering
to attack it.
It was well for the allies that Napoleon was not in a position to
attack in force at daybreak. His troops, instead of being concentrated
the night before at Fleurus, were scattered over a considerable extent
of country, and many of them were still beyond the Sambre. Marshal
Ney, who had been appointed to the command of the corps, intended to
push through Quatre Bras and march straight on Brussels, had only
arrived the evening before, and was ignorant of the position of the
various divisions under his command. Therefore it was not until two
o'clock in the afternoon that Napoleon advanced with sixty thousand
men to attack the Prussians at Ligny, while at about the same hour the
column under Ney advanced from Frasnes against Quatre Bras. The delay
was fatal to Napoleon's plans.
Had the battles commenced at daybreak, Ney could have brushed aside
the defenders of Quatre Bras, and would have been at Mount St. Jean by
the time the English came up. The Prussians would have been beaten by
noon instead of at dusk, and before nightfall their retreat would have
been converted into a rout, and on the following day Napoleon's whole
army would have been in a position to have fallen upon the only
British divisions that Wellington could by that time have collected to
oppose him, and would probably have been in possession of Brussels
before night.
Thus, while the delay in sending news to Wellington prevented the
allies combining against the French on the 16th of June, the delay of
Napoleon in attacking that morning more than counterbalanced the
error. There was the less excuse for that delay, inasmuch as he had
himself chosen his time for fighting, and should not have advanced
until he had his whole force well up and ready for action; and as the
advance during the first day's fighting had been so slow, the whole
army might well have been gathered at nightfall round Fleurus ready to
give battle at the first dawn of day.
Fighting as he did against vastly superior forces, Napoleon's one hope
of success lay in crushing the Prussians before the English--who, as
he well knew, were scattered over a large extent of country--could
come up, and his failure to do this cost him his empire.
The artillery fire ceased in front before the column continued its
march for Mount St. Jean. The Prince of Orange had paused in his
advance when he saw how strong was the French force round Frasnes, and
Ney was not yet ready to attack. Therefore from eleven until two there
was a cessation of operations, and the ardor of the troops flagged
somewhat as they tramped along the dusty road between Mount St. Jean
and Genappe.
The Prince of Orange was having an anxious time while the British
column was pressing forward to his assistance. As the hours went by he
saw the enemy's forces in front of him accumulating, while he knew
that his own supports must be still some distance away. Nevertheless,
he prepared to defend Quatre Bras to the last. He had with him six
thousand eight hundred and thirty-two infantry and sixteen cannon,
while Ney had gathered seventeen thousand men and thirty-eight guns to
attack him. The latter should have had with him D'Erlon's corps of
twenty thousand men, and forty-six guns, but these were suddenly
withdrawn by Napoleon when the latter found that the Prussian force
was stronger than he had expected. They had just reached the field of
Ligny when an order from Ney again caused them to retrace their steps
to Quatre Bras, where they arrived just after the fighting there had
come to an end. Thus twenty thousand men with forty-six guns were
absolutely thrown away, while their presence with either Napoleon or
Ney 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 another
minute a perfect roar of artillery broke out. The battle had evidently
begun; and the weary men, who had already marched over twenty miles,
straightened themselves up, the pace quickened, and the division
pressed eagerly forward. A few minutes later an even heavier and more
continuous roar of cannon broke out away to the left. Napoleon was
attacking the Prussians. The talking and laughing ceased now. Even the
oldest soldiers were awed by that roar of fire, and the younger ones
glanced in each other's faces to see whether others felt the same
vague feeling of discomfort they themselves experienced; and yet
terrible as was evidently the conflict raging in front, each man
longed to take his part in it.
The officers' orders to the men to step out briskly were given in
cheerful and confident voices, and the men themselves--with their
fingers tightening on their muskets, and their eyes looking intently
forward as if they could pierce the distance and realize the scene
enacting there--pressed on doggedly and determinedly. Messenger after
messenger rode up to General Picton, who was marching at the head of
the column, begging him to hurry on, for that the Prince of Orange was
step by step being driven back. But the troops were already doing
their best.
The Dutch and Belgian troops had fought with considerable bravery, and
had held the village of Piermont and a farm near it for some time
before they fell back to the wood of Bossu. Here they make a stout
stand again, but were at length driven out and were beginning to lose
heart, and in a few minutes would have given way when they saw on the
long straight road behind them the red line of Picton's column. The
glad news that help was at hand ran quickly through the wood, and the
Belgians met their foes with fresh courage.
Picton's force consisted of the Eighth and Ninth British Brigades, the
former under General Sir James Kempt, the latter under Sir Denis Pack.
With them were the Fourth Brigade of Hanoverians, with two batteries
of artillery--the one Hanoverian, the other British. The excitement of
the troops increased as they neared Quatre Bras, and a loud cheer ran
along the line as they neared the wood, and took their place by the
side of the hardly pressed Dutch and Belgians. Pack's brigade consisted
of the first battalion Forty-second, second Forty-fourth, first
Ninety-second, and first Ninety-fifth, while Kempt had under him the
first Twenty-eighth, first Thirty-second, first Seventy-ninth, and
Third Royals.
The aspect of the fight was speedily changed now. The French, who had
been advancing with shouts of triumph, were at once hurled back, and
the defenders a few minutes later were strengthened by the arrival of
the greater part of the Duke of Brunswick's corps. In point of numbers
the combatants were now nearly equal, as the allies had eighteen
thousand infantry, two thousand cavalry, and twenty-eight guns on the
field. 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 French
light troops, and restored the communication between Quatre Bras and
Ligny.
Ney, however, was preparing to advance again in force. His front was
covered with a double hedgerow, which afforded admirable shelter to
his skirmishers, while his artillery were so placed on rising ground
in the rear of his position as to sweep the whole country over which
his column would advance to the attack. At this moment the duke
returned from his conference with Blucher. He at once saw that the
enemy had gathered a heavy column behind the wood of Bossu, and
directed the Prince of Orange to withdraw the guns that were too far
advanced, and to gather the Dutch and Belgian troops to oppose the
advance, at the same time he sent forward the Twenty-eighth to their
assistance.
They arrived, however, too late; for the French swept the Belgians
before them and advanced steadily, while their artillery from the high
ground opened a furious cannonade upon Picton's division. One of the
Brunswick regiments now joined the Belgians, but in spite of this
reinforcement the latter were driven from the wood of Bossu, which
they had occupied when the British first came up. The British troops
were suffering heavily from the artillery fire to which their own guns
could make no effectual reply.
"Pretty hot this, Conway," Captain O'Connor said to Ralph. "It's not
pleasant 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 were
made in the line as the round shot plowed through them. The officers
walked backward and forward in front of their men with exhortations to
stand steady.
"It will be our turn presently, lads," Captain O'Connor said
assuringly. "We will turn the tables on them by and by, never fear."
There was not long to wait. Clouds of French skirmishers were seen
advancing through the hedgerows, and stealing behind the thickets and
woods that skirted the road, and a moment later the orders came for
the light companies of all the regiments of Picton's division to
advance.
"Forward, lads!" Captain O'Connor said. "It's our turn now. Keep cool
and don't waste your ammunition."
With a cheer his company followed him. Every hedge, bank, and tree
that could afford shelter was seized upon, and a sharp crackling fire
at once replied to that of the French skirmishers. The light companies
were then armed with far better weapons than those in use by the rest
of the troops, and a soldier could have told at once by the sharp
crackling sound along the front of the British line that it was the
light companies that were engaged. But now a heavy column of troops
was seen advancing from the village held by the French; and this, as
it approached the part of the line held by the Brunswickers, broke up
into several columns. The Germans were falling back, when the duke
sent Picton's two brigades to meet the enemy halfway. The
Ninety-second were left behind in reserve on the road, the light
companies were called in, Picton placed himself in front of the long
line, and with a tremendous cheer this advanced to meet the heavy
French columns.
It was thus through the wars of the period that the English and French
always fought: the French in massive column, the English in long line.
Once again, as at Albuera and in many a stricken field, the line
proved the conqueror. Overlapping the columns opposed to it, pouring
scathing volleys upon each flank, and then charging on the shaken mass
with the bayonet, the British regiments drove the enemy back beyond
the hedgerows, and were with difficulty restrained from following them
up the face of the opposite hill.
On the right, however, the Brunswickers were suffering heavily from
the cannonade of the French, and were only prevented from breaking by
the coolness of their chief. The Duke of Brunswick rode backward and
forward in front of them, smoking his pipe and chatting cheerfully
with his officers, seemingly unconscious of the storm of fire: and
even the most nervous of his young troops felt ashamed to show signs
of faltering when their commander and chief set them such an example.
Four guns, which at his request Wellington had sent to him, came up
and opened fire; but so completely were they overmatched that in five
minutes two were disabled and the other two silenced.
As soon as this was done two French columns of infantry, preceded by a
battalion in line, advanced along the edge of the wood, while a heavy
mass of cavalry advanced along the Ghent road, and threatened the
Brunswickers with destruction. The Brunswick, Dutch, and Belgian
skirmishers fell back before those of the French. The Duke of
Brunswick placed himself before a regiment of lancers and charged the
French infantry; but these stood steady, and received the lancers with
so heavy a fire that they retreated in confusion on Quatre Bras. The
duke now ordered the infantry to fall back in good order, but by this
time they were too shaken to do so. The French artillery smote them
with terrible effect; the infantry swept them with bullets; the
cavalry were preparing to charge. No wonder then that the young troops
lost their self-possession, broke, and fled in utter confusion, some
through Quatre Bras others through the English regiments on the left
of the village.
At this moment the gallant Duke of Brunswick, while striving to rally
one of his regiments, received a mortar wound. He died a few minutes
later, as his father had died on the field of Jena. The Brunswick
hussars were now ordered to advance and cover the retreat of the
infantry; 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-second
and Forty-fourth which were posted on the left of the road, could not
distinguish friend from foe.
Before the former regiment had time to form square the French were
upon them, and for two or three minutes a desperate hand-to-hand
conflict took place between bayonet and lance. The Forty-fourth did
not attempt to form a square. Its colonel faced the rear rank about,
and these poured so tremendous a volley into the French cavalry that
they reeled back in confusion. Two companies of the Forty-second which
had been cut off from the rest were almost annihilated; but the rest
of the square closed in around French cavalry who had pierced them and
destroyed them to a man. The Twenty-eighth also repulsed the enemy.
"What do you think of it now, Conway?" Captain O'Connor asked as the
French retreated.
"I feel all right now," Ralph said; "though I thought just now that it
was all over with me. A big Frenchman was just dealing a sweeping cut
at me when a musket shot struck him. Still this is a thousand times
better than standing still and being pounded by their artillery. I
confess 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 vain
endeavored to rally the flying Brunswickers. As he was so engaged the
cavalry column swept down upon him. He put spurs to his horse and
galloped to the spot where the Ninety-second were lying behind a ditch
bordering the road. The French were close to his heels. He shouted to
the 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 the
French cavalry that a hundred saddles were emptied.
The cavalry recoiled for a moment in confusion, but then reformed and
retired in good order. Some of the leading squadrons, however, had
galloped on into the village, and cut down some stragglers there; but
the Highlanders closed round them, and, being pent up in a farmyard
from which there was but one outlet, scarce a man who had entered
escaped.
The French had now received heavy reinforcement--Kellermann's heavy
horse having come upon the field--and as neither the Dutch nor Belgian
cavalry would face the French troopers they were free to employ their
whole 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 and
the Royals did not indeed wait to be attacked, but led by Picton and
Kempt in person resolutely advanced to charge the French cavalry. This
feat, seldom exampled in military history, was rendered necessary in
order to cover the flank of the Forty-second and Forty-fourth, now, by
the flight of the Brunswickers, Dutch, and Belgians, open to the
attacks of the French cavalry. The fields here were covered with a
growth of tall rye, that concealed the approach of the French cavalry
till they were within a few yards of the infantry, and it was only by
the tramp of the horses as they rushed through the corn that the
British square knew when their foes would be upon them.
Picton in the center of the Twenty-eighth encouraged them by his
presence, and they stood firm, although the cavalry again and again
charged down until their horse's chests touched the close line of
bayonets. They were every time repulsed with heavy loss. The
Thirty-second, Seventy-ninth, and Ninety-fifth were also exposed to
similar attacks; but everywhere the British soldiers stood firmly
shoulder to shoulder, and nowhere did the French succeed in breaking
their ranks.
At five o'clock fresh guns and cavalry reinforced Ney, and his
infantry again advanced in great force through the wood of Bossu. The
British squares were decimated by the fire of the artillery, and
several batteries were advanced to comparatively short range, and
opened with destructive effect.
Stoutly as the eight thousand British had fought--deserted though they
were by their allies--against Ney's overpowering numbers, they could
not much longer have stood their ground, when at the critical moment
General Alten's division came up by the Nivelles road to their aid.
Halket's British brigade advanced between the wood of Bossu and the
Charleroi road; while the Hanoverian brigade took up ground to the
left, and gave their support to the hardly-pressed British.
Ney now pushed forward every man at his disposal. His masses of
cavalry charged down, and falling upon the Sixty-ninth, one of the
regiments just arrived, cut it up terribly, and carried off one of its
colors. The Thirty-second, however, belonging to the same brigade,
repulsed a similar attempt with terrible slaughter. The French
infantry, supported by a column of cuirassiers, advanced against the
Hanoverians, and driving them back approached the spot where the
Ninety-second were lying. Major-General Barnes rode up to the
Highlanders taking off his hat, and shouted: "Now, Ninety-second,
follow me!"
The Highlanders sprang from the ditch in which they were lying, the
bagpipes struck up the slogan of the regiment, and with leveled
bayonets they threw themselves upon the French column. In vain its
leading companies attempted to make a stand. The Highlanders drove
them back in confusion, and they broke and fled to the shelter of the
hedgerows, where they tried to resist the advance, but the Highlanders
burst 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 not
yet arrived, while at this moment two light battalions of
Brunswickers, with two batteries of artillery, came up, and almost
immediately afterward General Cooke's division, comprising two
brigades of the guards, reached the spot. The latter at once advanced
against the French skirmishers, just as they were issuing afresh from
the wood of Bossu. The guards had undergone a tremendous march; but
all thought of fatigue was lost in their excitement, and they swept
the French before them and pressed forward. As they did so the whole
British line advanced, Halket's brigade on the one flank the guards on
the other.
In vain the French cavalry charged again and again. In vain the French
infantry strove to stem the tide. One after another the positions they
had so hardly won were wrested from them. Picton's division retook the
village; Piermont was carried by the Ninety-fifth and the German
legion; while the guards drove the enemy entirely out of the wood of
Bossu. Night was now falling, and Ney fell back under cover of
darkness to his original position in Frasnes; while the British
lighted their fires, and bivouacked on the ground they had so bravely
held.
As soon as the order came for the troops to bivouac where they were
standing, arms were piled and the men set to work. Parties chopped
down hedges and broke up fences, and fires were soon blazing. Owing to
the late hour at which the fight terminated, and the confusion among
the baggage wagons that were now beginning to arrive from the rear, no
regular distribution of rations could be made. Most of the men,
however, had filled their haversacks before leaving their quarters on
the previous evening, and a party sent down the road obtained a
sufficient supply of bread for the rest from a commissariat wagon.
While the fires were being lighted the light company were ordered to
aid in the work of collecting the wounded. The other regiments had
also sent out parties, and for hours the work went on. Owing to the
frequent movements of the troops, and the darkness of the night, it
was difficult to discover the wounded, and there were no materials at
hand from which torches could be made.
No distinction was made between friend and foe. The bodies found to be
cold and stiff were left where they lay; the rest were lifted and
carried to one or other of the spots where the surgeons of the force
were hard at work giving a first dressing to the wounds, or, where
absolutely necessary, performing amputations. After an hour's work the
light company was relieved by the grenadiers, and these in turn by the
other companies, so that all might have a chance of obtaining as much
sleep as possible.
The troops were indeed terribly fatigued, for they had had a thirty
miles' march, and nearly six hours continuous fighting; but they were
in high spirits at their success, although suffering severely from
want of water. They had started in the morning with full canteens, but
the dusty march had produced such thirst that most of these were
emptied long before they reached the field of battle; and no water was
to be found near the spot where the Twenty-eighth were bivouacked, and
indeed with the exception of the regiments in the village, who
obtained water from the wells, the whole army lay down without a
drink. Water had, however, been fetched for the wounded, whose first
cry as their comrades reached them had always been for it; and even
when the search had ceased for the night, there were numbers still
lying in agony scattered over the field. Ralph had before starting
filled a canteen with brandy and water at the suggestion of Captain
O'Connor.
"The less you drink, lad, while on the march the better; but the
chances are you will find by night that every drop is worth its weight
in gold. If you have the bad luck to be wounded yourself, the contents
of 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 a
mouthful 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 when
he set about the work of collecting the wounded, he felt more than
amply rewarded for his little self-sacrifice by the grateful thanks of
the poor fellows to whom he was able to give a mouthful of his hoarded
store. It was not until his return to the bivouac, after his hour's
turn 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 how
much his own company had suffered, and in the brief intervals in the
struggle he had heard something of what was doing elsewhere.
Lieutenant Desmond had fallen early in the fight, shot through the
heart as the light companies went out to oppose the French
skirmishers. Captain O'Connor had received a lance wound through his
arm; but had made a sling of his sash, and had kept his place at the
head of his company.
The officers were all gathered round a fire when Ralph returned to the
bivouac.
"I see you have your arm in a sling, O'Connor," he said. "Nothing
serious, I hope?"
"No, I think not; but it's confoundedly painful. It was a French
lancer did it. Fortunately one of the men bayoneted him at the very
instant he struck me, and it was only the head of the lance that went
through my arm. Still, it made a hole big enough to be uncommonly
painful; the more so because it gave it a frightful wrench as the man
dropped the lance. However, there is nothing to grumble at; and I may
consider myself lucky indeed to have got off with a flesh wound when
so many good fellows have fallen."
"Yes, considering the number engaged, the losses have been terribly
heavy," the major said. "It looked very bad for a time."
"That it did," O'Connor agreed. "That's what comes of fighting with
little mongrels by the side of you. It's always been the case when we
get mixed up with other nationalities. Look at Fontenoy, look at
Talavera. If I were a general I would simply fight my battles in my
own way with my own men. If any allies I had liked to come up and
fight on their own account, all the better; but I wouldn't rely upon
them 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 the
beginning if you are going to bolt in the middle of a battle? If we
had had two or three regiments of our own cavalry, it would have made
all the difference in the world; but when they went off, horse and
foot 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 should
have had to fall back if Cooke had not arrived with the guards. By the
way, has any one heard what has taken place on our left?"
"We have heard nothing; but I think there is no doubt the Prussians
must have been thrashed. One could hear the roar of fire over there
occasionally, and I am sure it got farther off at the end of the day;
beside, if Blucher had beaten Napoleon, our friends over there would
be falling back, and you can see by their long lines of fire they have
not 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 may
have another hard day's work before us."