Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1920-09-17

Mt that moment Colburne. the colonel
Of the Fifty-second. swung his right
flank around so as to bring II on the
side OF the column, which brought the
Frenchmen to halt. Their front line
was forty PAGES from us ut the mo-
ment. and we had good look mt them.
II was funny to me to remember that
I had always thought Of Frenchmen as
small men, for there was not one Of
that first company who could not have
picked me up as II I 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
1iers who had fought and fought week
In, week out for many year. And
then, as I stood with q finger upon
the trigger, waiting for the word to
fire, my eye fell upon the mounted on
Ger, with his hat upon his sword. and
| saw that II was De Lissac.
saw IT, and Jim did, too. heard
shout, and saw him rush forward
madly at the French column. And,
as quick as thought, the whole
brigade took their cue from him. Off
GERS and all, and flung themselves
upon the Guard In front, while our
comrades charged them on the TANKS.
We had been waiting for the order.
and they all thought now that II had
been given; but, you may take my
word for II, Jim Horscroft was the
real leader of the brigade when we
charged the Old Guard.
God knows what happened during
that mad five minutes. / remember
putting my musket against blue-coat,
and pulling the trigger, and that the
man could not fall, because he was so
wedged In the crowd; but saw
horrid blotch upon the cloth, and thin
curl Of smoke from IL, as If It had
taken fire. Then I found myself
thrown up against two big Frenchmen,
and so squeezed together, the three Of
US, that we could not raise weapon.
One Of them, fellow with a very
large nose, got his hand up to my
throat. and felt that was chicken
In his grasp. Rendezvous, coquin,
rendezvous said he, and then sud
denly doubled up with scream, for
some one had stabbed him In the bow
els with bayonet. There was very
little firing after the first 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, 1t 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 IL he
were at practice, dwelling upon his
aim, and looking round first to try and
pick Off an officer ] remember that II
struck me that to kill so cool man ms
that would be q good service, and |
rushed at him, and drove my bayonet
into him. He turned as / struck him.
and fred full into my face, and the
bullet left veal across my cheek
which will mark me to my dying day.
trlpped over him as he fell, and,
two others tumbling over me, was
half smothered In the heap. When at
last l 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 fighting back to back, in a vain at
tempt to check the brigade, which was
still sweeping onward. My face felt
as IL red-hot iron had been laid
across 1t, 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 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
ne. "But I'm not going back"
"The duke Of Wellington has won a
great victory" cried the aide de camp
IN solemn voice, and then, his feel
ngs getting the better of him, he
added, ''if the ID fool would only
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 al
ragged at the edges, and where there
had been thick fringes OF skirmisher.
In front there were now spray Of
stragglers In the rear. The Guart
thlnned 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 l saw oul
youngest subaltern, next to him who
had been killed by the lancer, scrib
bling great IT'S" with a lump Of
chalk upon them, like the schoolboy
he was. II was at that moment that