an it was in
the morning; and as we had already failed in our attack on their left
wing, and the Prussians had fallen on our flank, the idea occurred to
me, for the first time, that we were not sure of gaining the battle.

I imagined the horrible rout that would follow in case we lost the
battle--shut in between two armies, one in front and the other on our
flank, and then the invasion which would follow; the forced
contributions, the towns besieged, the return of the emigres, and the
reign of vengeance.

I felt that my apprehension had made me grow pale.

At that moment the shouts of "_Vive l'Empereur_" broke from thousands
of throats behind us. Buche, who stood near me in a corner of the
loft, shouted with all the rest of his comrades, "_Vive l'Empereur!_"

I leaned over his shoulder and saw all the cavalry of our right wing;
the cuirassiers of Milhaud, the lancers and the chasseurs of the Guard,
more than five thousand men--advancing at a trot. They crossed the
road obliquely and went down into the valley between Hougoumont and
Haie-Sainte. I saw that they were going to attack the squares of the
English, and that our fate was to be decided.

We could hear the voices of the English artillery officers, giving
their orders, above the tumult and the innumerable shouts of "_Vive
l'Empereur_."

It was a terrible moment when our cuirassiers crossed the valley; it
made me think of a torrent formed by the melting snows, when millions
of flakes of snow and ice sparkle in the sunshine. The horses, with
the great blue portmanteaux fastened to their croups, stretched their
haunches like deer and tore up the earth with their feet, the trumpets
blew their savage blasts amidst the dull roar as they passed into the
valley, and the first discharge of grape and canister made even our old
shed tremble. The wind blew from the direction of Hougoumont, and
drove the smoke through all the openings; we leaned out to breathe, and
the second and third discharges followed each other instantly.

I could see through the smoke that the English, gunners had abandoned
their cannon and were running away with their horses, and that our
cuirassiers had immediately fallen upon the squares, which were marked
out on the hill-side by the zig-zag line of their fire.

Nothing could be heard but a grand uproar of cries, incessant clashing
of arms and neighing of horses, varied with the discharge from time to
time, and then new shouts, new tumult