Before he recovered I had pricked him in the arm. It was a slight wound, but it drew blood and made him angry.
This was all in my favour, as he lost his caution, and, throwing away the advantage of his superior skill, attacked furiously.
Again and again I avoided his weapon almost by a miracle; but at last I made a fierce cut which he failed to parry, and my sword slashed him right across the face.
He threw up his hands with a cry of pain, falling in a heap on his horse's back.
At the same instant a shout of alarm was raised; the hussars in advance, wheeling about, came dashing back, separating me from Von Theyer.
Since I had left Görgei the aspect of the battle had entirely changed.
While we had broken the Austrian battalions, our centre, fearfully weakened by a heavy cannonade from twenty-four guns, and furiously assailed by two brigades on its right flank, had given way.
Worse still, the Russian general, seeing that the tide was turning, sent a splendid body of cuirassiers and two field-batteries to change the retreat into rout.
It was the rapid approach of these famous horsemen that made us turn back.
The colonel was angry, but he could not hope to pit his broken regiment successfully against the cuirassiers, while a prompt retreat might enable him to cover the flight of the infantry.