WELLINGTON [to Uxbridge]
Manoeuvring does not seem to animate
Napoléon’s methods now. Forward he comes,
And pounds away on us in the ancient style,
Till he is beaten back in the ancient style;
And so the see-saw sways!
[The din increases. WELLINGTON’S aide-de-camp, Sir A. GORDON,
a little in his rear, falls mortally wounded. The DUKE turns
quickly.]
But where is Gordon?
Ah—hit is he! That’s bad, that’s bad, by God.
[GORDON is removed. An aide enters.]
AIDE
Your Grace, the Colonel Ompteda has fallen,
And La Haye Sainte is now a bath of blood.
Nothing more can be done there, save with help.
The Rifles suffer sharply!
[An aide is seen coming from KEMPT.]
WELLINGTON
What says he?
DE LANCEY
He says that Kempt, being riddled through and thinned,
Sends him for reinforcements.
WELLINGTON [with heat]
Reinforcements?
And where am I to get him reinforcements
In Heaven’s name! I’ve no reinforcements here,
As he should know.
AIDE [hesitating]
What’s to be done, your Grace?
WELLINGTON
Done? Those he has left him, be they many or few,
Fight till they fall, like others in the field!
[Exit aide. The Quartermaster-General DE LANCEY, riding by
WELLINGTON, is struck by a lobbing shot that hurls him over
the head of his horse. WELLINGTON and others go to him.]
DE LANCEY [faintly]
I may as well be left to die in peace!
WELLINGTON
He may recover. Take him to the rear,
And call the best attention up to him.
[DE LANCEY is carried off. The next moment a shell bursts close
to WELLINGTON.]
HILL [approaching]
I strongly feel you stand too much exposed!