ho can hope to make
another see that of which he himself carries away so vague and dim an
impression? One who has acted in such a scene gathers no general sense
of the whole combat, such as might be gained by a mere onlooker, but
he has stamped for ever upon his mind just the few incidents which may
chance to occur before his own eyes. Thus my memories are confined to a
swirl of smoke with steel caps and fierce, eager faces breaking through
it, with the red gaping nostrils of horses and their pawing fore-feet
as they recoiled from the hedge of steel. I see, too, a young beardless
lad, an officer of dragoons, crawling on hands and knees under the
scythes, and I hear his groan as one of the peasants pinned him to the
ground. I see a bearded, broad-faced trooper riding a grey horse just
outside the fringe of the scythes, seeking for some entrance, and
screaming the while with rage. Small things imprint themselves upon a
man's notice at such a time. I even marked the man's strong white teeth
and pink gums. At the same time I see a white-faced, thin-lipped man
leaning far forward over his horse's neck and driving at me with his
sword point, cursing the while as only a dragoon can curse. All these
images start up as I think of that fierce rally, during which I hacked
and cut and thrust at man and horse without a thought of parry or
of guard. All round rose a fierce babel of shouts and cries, godly
ejaculations from the peasants and oaths from the horsemen, with Saxon's
voice above all imploring his pikemen to stand firm. Then the cloud
of horse-men recoiled, circling off over the plain, and the shout of
triumph from my comrades, and an open snuff-box thrust out in front of
me, proclaimed that we had seen the back of as stout a squadron as ever
followed a kettledrum.

But if we could claim it as a victory, the army in general could scarce
say as much. None but the very pick of the troops could stand against
the flood of heavy horses and steel-clad men. The Frome peasants were
gone, swept utterly from the field. Many had been driven by pure weight
and pressure into the fatal mud which had checked our advance. Many
others, sorely cut and slashed, lay in ghastly heaps all over the ground
which they had held. A few by joining our ranks had saved themselves
from the fate of their companions. Further off the men of Taunton still
stood fast, though in sadly diminished numbers. A long ridge of horses
and cavaliers in front of them sho