The Yale expositor., 1920-11-18

as quick as a 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 it, Jim Horscroft was the
real leader of the brigade when we
charged the Old Guard.
God knows what happened during
that mad five minutes. l remember
putting my musket against a blue-cOat,
and pulling the trigger, and that the
man could not fall, because he was so
wedged In the crowd; but l saw
horrid blotch upon the cloth, and thin
curl OF smoke from IL, as IL il had
taken fire. Then l found myself
thrown up against two big Frenchmen,
and so squeezed together, the three of
us. that we could not raise a weapon.
One of them, a fellow with very
large nose, got his hand up to my
throat, and felt that l was a 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 a 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. II 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 If he
were at practice. dwelling upon his
aim. and looking round first TO try and
pick Off an officer. / remember that 1t
struck me that to kill so cool a man as
that would be 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 a veal across my cheek
which will mark me to my dying day.
! tripped over him as he fell, and,
two others tumblng over me, | 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 shreddlng 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 II a red-hot iron had been laid
across II, but | had the use of my
limbs so jumping over the litter Of
dead and mangled men. l 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 bril-
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 a
great victory" cried the aide-de-camp
In a solemn voice, and then, his feel
lngs getting the better OF him, he
added ''lf the ID fool would only
push onr-whlch 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 a spray Of
stragglers In the rear. The Guard
thinned out in front Of us ms we
pushed on, and we found twelve guns
looking us In the face, but we were
over them In moment. and I 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
ne was. IL was at that moment that
we heard a 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
bounding and rattling forward. and
our light cavalry-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 a
check. until our army stood lined up
on the very ground which the French
had held In the morning. Their guns
we're ours. their foot were rnbble.
spread over the face Of the country.
and their gallant cavalry alone was
able 70 preserve some sort OF order.
and TO draw on unbroken from the
field. Then NJ last. Just as the night
hegan 10 gather. our weary and starv.
ing men 'rerc able ~ lef the PrussIans