Peggy in Toyland

by Archibald Marshall

Peggy watched the Colonel, who was always in front, fight his way steadily on, dealing lightning blows to right and left of him. But at last he went down, and the red coats were almost as thick as before, and still more were always coming up from the fort.

It was then that Colonel Jim rallied his little troop for a last gallant charge. Teddy had galloped back through the wood, while the Lancers were charging, to hurry up the guns. He now came tearing back, and said to Colonel Jim in a hurried voice, “The guns will be here in a couple of minutes. If you can keep them back till then we shall have them beaten.”

“I’ll try,” said Colonel Jim, looking at his little troop, which seemed almost nothing at all compared to the masses of soldiers advancing on them; and then he gave the word to charge.

It was a desperate effort. The shock of the Lancers’ charge had now spent itself. The wooden soldiers, who had been kept back by it for a time which was short measured by minutes, but of inestimable value to the defenders of the wood, were now forming at the foot of the hill. If they succeeded in getting to the top of it, the little party in the wood would be surrounded and taken prisoners. Could Colonel Jim’s handful of men save them?

The troopers were given instructions to form themselves into a line at the edge of the wood, and then to charge down the hill all together. They rode out of the shelter of the trees, and formed their line with as much coolness as if they were on parade. The foot-soldiers began firing again, and the bullets pattered on their cuirasses like hail, but had no effect upon these heroes, except to sting them up when they caught them in their faces, and to make their horses restive. Peggy could hear the bullets whistling and pattering amongst the leaves of the trees over her head, but she and the dolls had been withdrawn a little into the wood. Owing to the angle at which the wooden soldiers fired, there was no danger for them as long as the firing was from the bottom of the hill.

It took the life-guardsmen a very short time to form into line, and, as the wooden soldiers had halted to fire at them, the time was not wasted. The moment they were in line, Colonel Jim, who was in the middle, slightly in advance of the rest, gave the word to charge.

Down swept the splendid little band, in an irresistible charge. It was no good firing at them any longer, and the wooden soldiers stood with bayonets fixed to receive the shock. Wooden’s aunt, who had been getting more and more excited at what was happening, ran forward to the edge of the wood to watch, and Peggy and the others went with her.

The sudden leaving off of the firing made a lull, in which the noise of the horses’ hoofs could be heard thundering down the hill. When they reached the bottom, the shock of the encounter was just like hammer blows, as wood met metal.

The front line of wooden soldiers seemed to waver a little as the horsemen approached them. And no wonder! The wooden soldiers were brave enough, and they did not yet know that they were fighting in a bad cause, so there was nothing to make them cowards. But the first line of them, at least, must have known that they would all go down before the irresistible charge, and it spoke well for them that they stood and waited for it, instead of running away.

It was not only the front line that went down under the weight, but the second and third. It really looked for a moment as if that single line of heavy cavalry would push the opposing host back all by itself. And, so far, not a single man or horse of them had fallen.