eturned his sword
to the scabbard. The balls whistled round our ears by hundreds, and
the roar of cannon from Hougoumont and on our left and right in the
rear was so incessant, that it was like the ringing of an immense bell,
when you no longer hear the strokes, but only the booming. One and
another sank down from among us, but we passed right on over them.

Two or three times the marshal turned round to see if we were marching
in good order; he looked so calm, that it seemed to me quite natural
not to be afraid, his face inspired us all with confidence, and each
one thought, "Ney is with us, the others are lost!" which only shows
the stupidity of the human race, since so many others besides us
escaped.

As we approached the buildings the report of the musketry became more
distinct from the roar of cannon, and we could better see the flash of
the guns from the windows, and the great black roof above in the smoke,
and the road blocked up with stones.

We went along by a hedge, behind which crackled the fire of our
skirmishers, for the first brigade of Alix's division had not quitted
the orchards; and on seeing us filing along the road, they commenced to
shout, "Vive l'Empereur."

The whole fire of the German musketry was then turned on us, when
Marshal Ney drew his sword and shouted in a voice which reached every
ear, "Forward!"

He disappeared in the smoke with two or three officers, and we all
started on a run, our cartridge-boxes dangling about our hips, and our
muskets at the "ready."

Far to the rear they were beating the charge; we did not see the
marshal again till we reached a shed which separated the garden from
the road, when we discovered him on horseback before the main entrance.

It appeared that they had already tried to force the door, as there was
a heap of dead men, timbers, paving stones, and rubbish piled up before
it, reaching to the middle of the road. The shot poured from every
opening in the building, and the air was heavy with the smell of the
powder.

"Break that in," shouted the marshal. Fifteen or twenty of us dropped
our muskets, and seizing beams we drove them against the door with such
force, that it cracked and echoed back the blows like thunder. You
would have thought it would drop at every stroke; we could see through
the planks the paving stones heaped as high as the top inside. It was
full of holes, and when it fell it might have crushed us, but fury had
rendered us bli