first up with the enemy. But
St. Hilaire's grenadiers have got the start of them, and are already at
the foot of the hill. It is a race between them!"

And so had it become. The two columns advanced, cheering wildly; while
the officers, waving their caps, led them on, and others rode along the
flanks urging the men forward.

The order now came for our squadrons to form in charging sections,
leaving spaces for the light artillery between. This done, we moved
slowly forward at a walk, the guns keeping step by step beside us. A few
minutes after, we lost sight of the attacking columns; but the crashing
fire told us they were engaged, and that already the great struggle had
begun.

For above an hour we remained thus; every stir, every word loud spoken,
seeming to our impatience like the order to move. At last, the squadrons
to our right were seen to advance; and then a tremulous motion of
the whole line showed that the horses themselves participated in the
eagerness of the moment; and, at last, the word came for the cuirassiers
to move up. In less than a hundred yards we were halted again; and
I heard an aide-de-camp telling General d'Auvergne that Davoust had
suffered immensely on the right; that his division, although reinforced,
had fallen back behind Reygern, and all now depended on the attack of
Soult's columns.

I heard no more, for now the whole line advanced in trot, and as our
formation showed an unbroken front, the word came,--"Faster!" and
"Faster!" As we emerged from the low ground we saw Soult's column
already half way up the ascent; they seemed like a great wedge driven
into the enemy's centre, which, opening as they advanced, presented two
surfaces of fire to their attack.

"The battery yonder has opened its fire on our line," said D'Auvergne;
"we cannot remain where we are."

"Forward!--charge!" came the word from front to rear, and squadron after
squadron dashed madly up the ascent. The one word only, "Charge!" kept
ringing through my head; all else was drowned in the terrible din of the
advance. An Austrian brigade of light cavalry issued forth as we came
up, but soon fell back under the overwhelming pressure of our force.
And now we came down upon the squares of the red-brown Russian infantry.
Volley after volley sent back our leading squadrons, wounded and
repulsed, when, unlimbering with the speed of lightning, the horse
artillery poured in a discharge of grapeshot. The ranks wavered, and
throu