Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-08-12

There were a dozen Officers sat his
heels, all as merry as If it were a fox
hunt; but Of the dozen there was not
one left in the evening.
warm work, Adams said he as
he rode up.
"very warm. your grace" said our
general.
But we a outstay them at 1t, I
think! Tut! tut! we cannot let Skin
mishers silence a battery. Just drive
those fellows out of that, Adams"
Then first I knew what a devils
thrill run through a man when he is
given a bit Of fighting to do. Up to
now we had just lain and been killed,
which is the weariest kind of work.
Now it was our turn, and, my word,
we were ready for 1t. Up we jumped,
the whole brigade, in a four-deep line,
and rushed at the cornfield as hard as
we could tear. The skirmishers snap
ped at us as we came, and then away
they bolted like c~orn-crakes, their
heads down, their backs rounded, and
their muskets at the trail. Half of
them got away, but we caught up the
others, the officer first, for he was a
very fat man who could not run fast.
1t gave me quite a turn when I saw
Rob Stewart on my right stick his
bayonet into the mans broad back and
heard him howl like a lost soul. There
was no quarter. in that field, and it
was butt or point for all of them. The
mems blood was aflame, and little Won
der, for those wasps had been sting
ing all morning without our being able
so. much as see them.
And now, as we broke through the
farther edge of the cornfield we got
in front of the smoke, and there was
the whole French army in position be-
fore us, with only two meadows and
a narrow lane between us. We set up
a yell as we saw them, and away we
should have gone, slap at them, if we
had been left to ourselves, for silly
young soldiers never think that harm
can come to them until it is there in
their midst. But the Duke had can
tered his horse beside us as we adj
vanced. and now he roared something
to the general, and the officers all
rode in front of our line, holding out
their arms for us to stop. There was
a blowing of bugles, a pushing and a
showing, with the sergeants cursing
and digging us with their halberts,
and in less time than it takes me to
write it there was the brigade in
three neat little squares, all bristling
with bayonets and in echelon, as they
call it, so that each could fire across
the face Of the other.
1t was the saving of us, as even so
young a soldier as I was could very
easily see. And we had none too
much time, either. There was a low,
rolling hill on our right flank, and
from behind this there came a sound
like nothing on this earth so much
as the beat of the waves on Berwick
coast when the wind blows from the
east. The earth was all shaking with
that dull, roaring sound, and the air
/ was full of it. "Steady, Seventy-first
for Gods sake, steady" shrieked the
voice Of our colonel behind us, but in
front was nothing but the green, gen
tie slope of the grassland, all notified
with daisies and dandelion.
And then suddenly, over the curve,
we saw eight hundred brass helmets
rise up, all in a moment, each with a
long tag of horsehair flying from its
enty mothers weeping for their lads
we should not have felt so pleased
over it, 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-
tie.
Then the colonel did a wise stroke,
for he reckoned that this would stave
off the cavalry for five minutes, so he
wheeled us into line and got us back
into a deeper hollow, out of reach
of the guns, before they could
open again. This gave us time to
breathe, and we wanted it, too, for
the regiment had been melting away
like an icicle in tile sun. But bad
as it was for us, it was a deal worse
for some Of the others. The whole
Of the Dutch-Belgians were cut off by
this time heller SHELTER, fifteen thou
sand Of them, and there were great
gaps left in our line, through which
the French cavalry rode as pleased
them best. Then the French guns had
been too many and too good for ours
and our heavy horse had been cut to
bits, so that things were none toe
merry with us. On the other hand,
Hougoumont, a blood-soaked ruin, was
still ours, and every British regiment
was firm, though, to tell the honest
truth, as a mar is bound to do, there
We're a %sprinkling of red coats among
the blue ones who made for the rear.
But these were lads and stragglers,
the faint hearts that are found every
where, and I say again that no regi-
ment fiinched. 1t was little we could
see of the battle, but a man would be
blind not to know that all the fields
behind us were covered with flying
men. But then, though we on the
1 ~ nh gt xufn~ 1yrouu nnthirO af If tho