The Connecticut labor press., 1920-10-09
CHAPTER xiiI-continued.

and in an instant we could turn into huddle of bayonets if his horse came down again. But behind the thunder of the guns there arose a sharper, shriller noise, whirring and rattling. the widest, jauntiest, most stirring kind of sound.
 Its the pas-de-charge !' cried an officer. 'They mean business this time''
 And as he spoke we saw strange thing. A Frenchman, dressed as an officer of hussars, came galloping to- ward us on little bay horse. He was screeching "Vive le Roi! Vive le Roi!' at the pitch of his lungs, which was as much as to say that he was deserter, since we were for the king and they for the emperor. AS he passed us he roared out in English: !: is comingr' and so vanished away to the rear like a leaf blown before a storm. At the same instant up there rode an afde-de-camp with the reddest face that ever saw upon mortal man.
 "You must stop 'ern, or we are done," he cried to General Adams, so that all our company could hear him.
 How is it going?" asked the gen. eral.
 1.-Two weak squadrons left out of six regiments of heayies," said he, and be- gan to laugh like a man whose nerves are overstrung.
 Perhaps you would care to join in our advance. Pray consider your self quite one of us,'' said the general, lowing and smiling as if he were ask ing him to dish of tea.
 "I shall have much pleasure" said the other, taking off his hat, and moment afterward our three regiments closed up and the brigade advanced in four lines over the hollow where we had lain in square, and out beyond the point whence we had seen the French army.
 There was little of it to be seen now, only the red belching of the guns flashing quickly out of the cloud-bank. and the black figures, stopping, strain ing, mopping, sponging, working like devils and at devilish work. But through the cloud that rattle and whir rose louder and louder, with a deep mouthed shouting and the stamping of thousands of feet. Then there came broad black blur through the haze. which darkened and darkened, until we could see that it was hundred men abreast, marching swiftly toward us, with high fur hats upon their heads and a gleam of brasswork over their brows. And behind that hundred came another hundred, and behind that an- other, and so on, coiling and writhfng out of the cannon-smoke, like mon- strous snake, until there seemed to be no end to the mighty column. In front ran spray of skirmishers and be- hind them the drummers, and up they all came together at kind of trip ping step, with the officers clustering thick1y at the sides and waving their swords and cheering. There were dozen mounted men, too, at their front, all shouting together, and one with his hat held aloft upon his sword-point. l say again that no men upon this earth could have fought more manfuily than the French did upon that day.
 It was wonderful to see them, for, as they came onward, they got ahead of their own guns, so that they had no longer any help from them. while they got in front of the two batteries which had been on either side of us all day. Every gun had their range to a foot, and we saw long red lines scored right down the dark column as it advanced. So near were they, and so closely did they march, that every shot plowed through ten files of them, and yet they closed up, and came on with swing and dash that was fine to see. The1r head was turned straight for ourselves, while the Ninety-ffth overlapped them on one side and the f1fty-second on the other.
 shall always think that, if we had waited so, the Guard would have broken us, for how could four-deep line stand against such a column? But at that moment Colburne. the colonel of the Fifty-second, swung his right flank around so as to bring it on the side of the column, which brought the Frenchmen to a ha1t. Their front line was forty paces from us at the mo- inent, and we had good look at them. It was funny to me to remember that had always thought of Trenchmen as small men, for there was not one of that first company who could not have picked me up as if had been child, and their great hats made them look taller yet. They were hard, wizened, wiry fellows, too, with fierce, puckered eyes and bristling mustaches-old sol diers who had fought and fought week l in, week out, for many a year. And 1 then, as I stood with a finger upon l the trigger, waiting for the word to 1 fire, my eye fell upon the mounted off l cer. with his hat upon his sword, and I saw that it was De Lissac.
 | I saw it, and Jim did, too. I heard l a shout. and saw him rush forward madly at the French column. And. l as quick as a thought, the whole l brigade took their cue from him, off
 cers and all, and flung themselves upon the Guard in front, while our comrades charged them on the Hanks. ! We had been waiting for the order, and they all thought now that it had been given; but, you may take my word for it, Jim Horscroft was the real leader of the brigade when we 1 charged the Old Guard.
 God knows what happened during