Suddenly an officer dashed up, hatless, bleeding, and holding his reins in his right hand. He spoke to the colonel, who, without a moment's delay, gave orders that the regiment should advance at the double.
From that moment the horror of the fight began for us.
Moving out from the low sand-hills that had hitherto sheltered us, we found ourselves very shortly in the thick of it.
The Austrians had placed their batteries in such an admirable position that not only were our guns partly silenced, but the head of the column was blown clean away.
One battery pumped shot and shell into our flank as we went by, while another continued to draw lines through the troops in front of us.
I concluded that we were required to support an attack on the guns, when a loud cry from the men announced that something was happening.
I have never seen a more peculiar sight.
The remnant of the column began to bend from one side to the other, for all the world like a boat rocking in the water. The movement was slow at first, but it soon increased in speed, and then the column broke in pieces.
At this the Austrians, plying the guns with renewed vigour, literally swept the plain with their fire, which put an end to the shattered column.
In an instant a fine body of disciplined soldiers was changed into a fear-stricken mob flying for dear life.