ders to march in line on the right of the highway,
the second in the rear of the first, the third behind the second, and
the fourth following in file.

We had not time to form in column, but we were solidly arrayed after
all, one behind the other, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
men in line in front, the captains between the companies, and the
commandants between the battalions. But the balls instead of carrying
off two men at a time would now take eight. Those in the rear could
not fire because those in front were in the way and we found too that
we could not form in squares. That should have been thought of
beforehand, but was overlooked in the desire to break the enemy's line
and gain all at a blow.

Our division marched in the same order: as the first battalion
advanced, the second followed immediately in their steps, and so on
with all the rest. I was pleased to see, that, commencing on the left,
we should be in the twenty-fifth rank, and that there must be terrible
slaughter before we should be reached.

The two divisions on our right were also formed in close column, at
three hundred paces from each other.

Thus we descended into the little valley, in the face of the English
fire. We were somewhat delayed by the soft ground, but we all shouted,
"To the bayonet!"

As we mounted on the other side, we were met by a hail of balls from
above the road at the left. If we had not been so crowded together,
this terrible volley would have checked us. The charge sounded and the
officers shouted, "Steady on the left!"

But this terrible fire made us lengthen our right step more than our
left, in spite of ourselves, so that when we neared the road bordered
by the hedges, we had lost our distances and our division formed a
square, so to speak, with the third.

Two batteries now swept our ranks, and the shot from the hedges a
hundred feet distant pierced us through and through; a cry of horror
burst forth and we rushed on the batteries, overpowering the redcoats
who vainly endeavored to stop us.

It was then that I first saw the English close at hand. They were
strong, fair, and closely shaved, like well-to-do bourgeois. They
defended themselves bravely, but we were as good as they. It was not
our fault--the common soldiers--if they did defeat us at last, all the
world knows that we showed as much and more courage than they did.

It has been said that we were not the soldiers of Austerlitz and Jen