The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-10-14

itue hriuB utter tne nrSt Sputter, but
there was the crash Of butt against
barrel. the short cries of stricken men,
and the roaring of the officers. And
then, suddenly, they began to give
ground. slowly. sullenly. step by step,
but still to give ground. All, It was
worth all we had gone through, the
thrill Of that moment, when we felt
that they were going to break. There
was one Frenchman before me,
sharp-faced. dark-eyed man, who was
loading and firing as quietly as II he
were at practice. dwelling upon his
aim, and looking round first to try and
pick Off an officer. remember that It
struck me that to kill so cool n man as
that would he good service, and
rushed at him, and drove my bayonet
into him. He turned as struck him.
and fired full into my face, and the
bullet left veal across my cheek
which will mark me to my dying day.
/ tripped over him as he fell, and.
two others tumbling over me, l was
half smothered in the heap. When at
last struggled out and cleared my
eyes. which were full of powder. saw
that the column had fairly broken,
and was shredding into groups of men
who were either running for their lives
or lighting back to back. in vain at
tempt to check the brigade which was
still sweeping onward. My face felt
as If red-hot iron had been laid
across it. but / had the use of my
limbs SO, jumping over the litter of
dead and mangled men. scampered
after my regiment. and fell In upon
the right flank.
Old Major Elliott was here, limping
along, for his horse had been shot, but
none the worse in himself. He saw
me come up, and nodded, but 1t was
too busy a time for words. The bri-
gade was still advancing, but the gen.
eral rode IN front of me. with his chin
upon his shoulder. looking back at the
British position.
"There is no general advance" said
he. But I'm not going back"
"The duke of Wellington has won q
great victory" cried the aide-de-cam
In solemn voice. and then, his feel
lngs getting the better of him, he
push on (which set us all laughing
In the flank company.
But now anyone could see that the
French army was breaking up. The
columns and squadrons which had
stood so sQuarely all day were now all
ragged at the edges. and where there
had been thick fringes Of skirmishers
In front there were now spray of
stragglers in the rear. The Guard
thinned out in front of US as we
pushed on. and we found twelve guns
looking us In the face, but we were
over them in moment. and saw our
youngest subaltern, next to him who
had been killed by the lancer, scrib-
bling great Ills" with lump of
chalk upon them, like the schoolboy
he was. 1t was at that moment that
we heard noise of cheering behind
us, and saw the whole British army
flood over the crest of the ridge. and
come pouring down upon the remains
Of their enemies. The guns. too, came
our light cavairy-as much as was left
Of it-kept pace with our brigade upon
the right. There was no battle after
that. The advance went on without
check, until our army stood lined up
on the very ground which the French
had held In the morning. Their guns
were ours, their foot were rabble.
spread over the face Of the country.
and their gallant cavalry alone was
able to preserve some sort Of order.
and to draw off unbroken from the
field. Then at last, just as the night
began to gather, our weary and starv-
ing men were able to let the Prussians
take the job over. and to stack their
arms upon the ground that they had
won. That was as much as l saw or
can tell you about the battle of Water
loo, except that I ate two-pound rye
loaf for my supper that night, with as
much salt meat as they would let me
have, and good pitcher Of red wine.
until l had to bore new hole at the
end Of my belt. and then 1t fitted me
as tight as hoop to barrel. After
that lay down In the straw. where
the rest of my company were sprawl
ing. and In less than a minute I was
In 4 dead sleep.
CHAPTER XIV.