Soon after two o'clock Picton's division, which headed the column,
heard several cannon shots fired in rapid succession, and in another
minute a perfect roar of artillery broke out. The battle had evidently
begun; and the weary men, who had already marched over twenty miles,
straightened themselves up, the pace quickened, and the division
pressed eagerly forward. A few minutes later an even heavier and more
continuous roar of cannon broke out away to the left. Napoleon was
attacking the Prussians. The talking and laughing ceased now. Even the
oldest soldiers were awed by that roar of lire, and the younger ones
glanced in each others, faces to see whether others felt the same
vague feeling of discomfort they themselves experienced; and yet
terrible as was evidently the conflict raging in front, each man
longed to take his part in it.
The officers' orders to the men to step out briskly were given in
cheerful and confident voices, and the men themselves--with their
fingers tightening on their muskets, and their eyes looking intently
forward as if they could pierce the distance and realize the scene
enacting there--pressed on doggedly and determinedly. Messenger after
messenger rode up to General Picton, who was marching at the head of
the column, begging him to hurry on, for that the Prince of Orange was
step by step being driven back.
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