The French shells again set Hougoumont on fire, and all the
badly wounded who had been carried inside perished in the flames.
At the end of an hour fresh columns of attack moved against the
chateau, while at the same moment forty squadrons of cavalry advanced
across the valley toward the English position.
The English batteries played upon them with round shot, and, as they
came near, with grape and canister; but the horsemen rode on, and at a
steady trot arrived within forty yards of the English squares, when
with a shout they galloped forward, and in a moment the whole of the
advanced batteries of the allies were in their possession; for
Wellington's orders had been that the artillerymen should stand to
their guns till the last moment, and then run for shelter behind the
squares. The French cavalry paused for a moment in astonishment at the
sight that met their eyes. They had believed that the British were
broken and disorganized, but no sooner had they passed over the slope
than they saw the British and German squares bristling with bayonets
and standing calm and immovable.
The artillery on both sides had ceased their fire, and a dead silence
had succeeded the terrible din that had raged but a moment before.
Then with a shout the cavalry again charged, but in no case did they
dash against the hedges of bayonets, from which a storm of fire was
now pouring.
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