Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1920-10-09

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 I saw a
horrid blotch upon the cloth, and a thin
curl of smoke from it, 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, a fellow with 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 a 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. 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 If 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 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 veal across my cheek
which will mark me to my dying day.
l tripped over him as he fell, and,
two others tumbling 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 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 if red-hot iron had been laid
across it, but 1 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 it 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
he. "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
ings getting the better of him, he
added, "if the ID fool would only
push n!"-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 We're now all
ragged at the edges, and where there
had been thick fringcs 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 a moment, and saw our
youngest subaltern, next to him who
had been killed by the lancer, scrib-
bling great "71's" with a lump of
chalk upon them, like the schOolboy
he was. It 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 rafting 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
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 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 saw or
can tell you about the battle Of Water
loo. except that ate a twO-pOund rye
loaf for my supper that night, with as
much salt meat as they would let me
have, and a good pitcher of red wine.
until had to bore new hole at the
end of my belt, and then it fitted me
as tight as hoop to barrel. After
that l lay down in the straw, where
the rest Of my company were sprawl
ing, and in less than minute was
in dead sleep.
CHAPTER XIV.