That which had engaged my attention as a spectator I was about to take part in as an actor.
Two battalions were advancing at the double across the plain, and others had formed up in support.
We held one of the keys of the position, and Görgei himself, trusting to Rakoczy's influence, had placed us there.
If we retreated, the battle would be lost; and no subsequent victory could ever wipe out our disgrace.
Looking at the men's faces, I did not much fear the result. The time had gone by when the 9th would run away at the first shot, as this very battle was to prove.
Steadily the men waited, trusting implicitly in their colonel, while the two battalions crossed the plain and dashed at the heights.
"Fire!"
Sharp and clear the word rang out, and every trigger was pulled at the same instant, as if the regiment had been a machine.
Down below, the slaughter was terrible; but we had to deal with some of the best fighting men who had ever followed the Austrian eagle into the battlefield.
Only the dead stopped at the foot of the heights; all the others, even the wounded, pressed on, and the arrival of the second battalion more than made up for those who had fallen.