“Excellent!” cried the captain, who saw that he had found an interested and imaginative listener. “You see it’s from this side that we have to expect the Prussians.”
Cousin Hans noticed that the captain picked up a stone and placed it in the grass with an air of mystery.
“Here at Hougoumont,” the old man continued, “the battle began. It was Jerome who made the first attack. He took the wood; but the château held out, garrisoned by Wellington’s best troops.
“In the mean time Napoleon, here at Belle-Alliance, was on the point of giving Marshal Ney orders to commence the main attack upon Wellington’s centre, when he observed a column of troops approaching from the east, behind the bench, over there by tree.”
Cousin Hans looked round, and began to feel uneasy: could Blücher be here already?
“Blü—Blü—” he murmured, tentatively.
“It was Bülow,” the captain fortunately went on, “who approached with thirty thousand Prussians. Napoleon made his arrangements hastily to meet this new enemy, never doubting that Grouchy, at any rate, was following close on the Prussians’ heels.
“You see, the Emperor had on the previous day detached Marshal Grouchy with the whole right wing of the army, about fifty thousand men, to hold Blücher and Bülow in check. But Grouchy—but of course all this is familiar to you—” the captain broke off.
Cousin Hans nodded reassuringly.
“Ney, accordingly, began the attack with his usual intrepidity. But the English cavalry hurled themselves upon the Frenchmen, broke their ranks, and forced them back with the loss of two eagles and several cannons. Milhaud rushes to the rescue with his cuirassiers, and the Emperor himself, seeing the danger, puts spurs to his horse and gallops down the incline of Belle-Alliance.”