Middletown transcript., 1920-10-02
CHAPTER XlI-Continued.

| CHAPTER XII-Contlnueo.
H.
had expected to find half that reg
iment of horse lying on the ground
but whether it was that their breast
plates had shielded them, or whether
being young and a little shaken al
their coming, we had fired high, oul
volley had done no very great harm
About thirty horses lay about, three OF
them together within ten yards OF
me, the middle one right on its back
with its four legs in the air. and II
was one of these that had seen flap
ping through the smoke. Then there
were eight or ten dead men, and about
as many wounded, sitting dazedly on
the grass for the most part, though
one was shouting "Vive rEmpereur! y
at the top Of his voice. Another fel-
low who had been shot in the thigh
a great, black-mustached chap he was
too-leaned his back against his dead
horse, and, picking up his carbine,
fired as coolly as If he had been shoot
ing for a prize, and hit Angus Myres,
who was only two feet from me, right
through the forehead. Then he out
with his hand to get another carbine
that lay near, but before he could
reach it big Hodgson, who was the
pivot-man of the grenadier company,
ran out and passed his bayonet
through his throat, which was a pity,
for he seemed to be very fine man.
At first thought that the cuirassiers
had run away in the smoke, but they
were not men who did that very cas-
lily. Their horses had swerved at our
volley, and they had raced past our
square and taken the fire of the two
other ones beyond. Then they broke
through hedge, and coming on a regi-
ment of Hanoyerians who were In line,
they treated them as they would have
treated us If we had not been so quick,
and cut them to pieces in an instant.
It was dreadful to see the big Germans
running and screaming, while the
cuirassiers stood up in their stirrups
to have q better sweep for their long,
heavy swords, and cut and stabbed
without mercy. I do not believe that
a hundred men of that regiment were
left alive, and the Frenchmen came
back across our front, shouting at us
and waving their weapons, which were
crimson down to the hilts. This they
did to draw our fire, but the colonel
was too old a soldier, for we could
have done little harm at the distance,
and they would have been among us
before we could reload.
These horsemen got behind the ridge
on our right again, and we knew very
well that If we opened up from the
squares they would be down upon us
in a twinkle. On the other hand, it
was hard to bide as we were, for they
had passed the word to a battery Of
twelve guns which formed up a few
hundred yards away from US, but out
Of our sight, sending their balls just
over the brow and down into the midst
Of US, which is called a plunging fire.
And one of their gunners ran up to
the top of the slope and stuck hand
spike into the wet earth, to give them
guide, under the very muzzles of the
whole brigade, none of whom fred a
shot at him, each leaving him to the
other. Ensign Samson, who was the
youngest subaltern in the regiment.
ran out from the square and pulled
down the handspike, but quick as a
jack after a minnow lancer came fly
ing over the ridge, and he made such
thrust from behind that not only his
point but his pennon, too, came out be-
tween the second and third buttons Of
the lads tunic. "Helen! Helen!" he
shouted, and fell dead on his face,
while the lancer, blown half to pieces
with musket balls, toppled over beside
him, still holding on to his weapon, so
they lay together with that dreadful
bond still connecting them.
But when the battery opened there
was no time for us to think Of any
thing else. A square is very good
way of meeting horseman, but there
Is no worse one Of taking a cannon.
ball, so we soon learned when they
began to cut red seams through US,
until our ears were weary Of the slosh
and splash when hard iron met living
flesh and blood. After ten minutes
Of it we moved our square a hundred
PAGES to the right, but we left an
other square behind us, for hundred
and twenty men and seven officers
showed where we had been standing.
Then the guns found US again, and we
tried to open out into line, but in an
instant the hOrsemen-lancers they
were this time-were upon us from
over the brae. I tell you we were glad
to hear the thud Of their hoofs, for
we knew that that must stop the can
non for a minute. and give us chance
of hitting back. And we hit back
pretty hard, too, that time, for we were
cold and vicious and savage, and 1,
for one, felt that I cared no more for
the horsemen than If they had been
so many sheep on Corriemuir. One
gets past being afraid or thinking of
ones own skin after while, and you
just feel that you want to make some
one pay for all you have gone through.
We took our change out of the lancers
that time. for they had no breastplates
to shield them, and we cleared seventy
Of them out of their saddles at vol
ley. Maybe if we could have seen sew
enty mothers weeping for their lads
we should not have felt so pleased
over 1t, but then men are just brutes
when they are fighting, and have as
much thought as two bull-pups when
they've got one another by the throt-
flo