"
"Yes, he was just in the nick of time; but even with him we should
have had to fall back if Cooke had not arrived with the guards. By the
way, has any one heard what has taken place on our left?"
"We have heard nothing; but I think there is no doubt the Prussians
must have been thrashed. One could hear the roar of fire over there
occasionally, and I am sure it got farther off at the end of the day;
beside, if Blucher had beaten Napoleon, our friends over there would
be falling back, and you can see by their long lines of fire they have
not done so. I dare say we shall hear all about it to-morrow. Anyhow,
I think we had better lie down and get as much sleep as we can, we may
have another hard day's work before us."
CHAPTER XVIII.
WATERLOO.
The Prussians indeed had been beaten at Ligny. Their three corps,
numbering eighty thousand men, with two hundred and twenty-four guns,
had been attacked by Napoleon with sixty thousand men, with two
hundred and four guns. The battle was contested with extraordinary
obstinacy on both sides. The villages of Ligny and St. Armand were
taken and retaken over and over again, and for hours the desperate
strife in and around them continued without cessation. Both parties
continued to send down reinforcements to these points, but neither
could succeed in obtaining entire possession of them.
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