antry
battalions tumbled into ruin. Napoleon had an entire light cavalry
brigade still untouched; but this, too, was caught in the reflux of the
broken masses, and swept away. The wreck of the Old Guard and the
spectacle of the general advance of the British--cavalry, artillery,
and infantry--seemed to be the signal for the dissolution of the whole
French army.

Two squares of the French Guard yet kept their formation. Some
squadrons of the 10th Hussars, under Major Howard, rode fiercely at
one. Howard himself rode home, and died literally on the French
bayonets; and his men rivalled his daring, and fought and died on two
faces of the square. But the Frenchmen kept their ranks, and the
attack failed. The other square was broken. The popular tradition
that Cambronne, commanding a square of the Old Guard, on being summoned
to surrender, answered, "La Garde meurt, et ne se rend pas," is pure
fable. As a matter of fact, Halkett, who commanded a brigade of
Hanoverians, personally captured Cambronne. Halkett was heading some
squadrons of the 10th, and noted Cambronne trying to rally the Guard.
In his own words, "I made a gallop for the general. When about cutting
him down, he called out he would surrender, upon which he preceded me
to the rear. But I had not gone many paces before my horse got shot
through his body and fell to the ground. In a few seconds I got him on
his legs again, and found my friend Cambronne had taken French leave in
the direction from which he came. I instantly overtook him, laid hold
of him by the aiguillette, and brought him back in safety, and gave him
in charge of a sergeant of the Osnabruckers to deliver to the Duke."

Napoleon himself, from a spot of rising ground not far from La Haye
Sainte, had watched the advance of his Guard. His empire hung on its
success. It was the last fling of the dice for him. His cavalry was
wrecked, his infantry demoralised, half his artillery dismounted; the
Prussian guns were thundering with ever louder roar upon his right. If
the Guard succeeded, the electrifying thrill of victory would run
through the army, and knit it into energy once more. But if the Guard
failed----!

VIII. THE GREAT DEFEAT.

"And while amid their scattered band
Raged the fierce riders' bloody brand,
Recoil'd in common rout and fear,
Lancer and Guard and Cuirassier,
Horsemen and foot--a mingled host,
Their leaders fall'n, their standards lost."