charged with thunder, and gathering wrath
as it hurried by, before it burst in tempest on the beholders. They did
not pause till they reached the farther extremity of the village: there
the Spanish infantry were already formed into two squares. "Halt!" cried
the French commander: the troop suddenly stopped confronting the nearer
square. There was one brief pause-the moment before the storm. "Charge!"
said D' Argout, and the word rang throughout the line up to the clear
and placid sky. Up flashed the steel like lightning; on went the troop
like the clash of a thousand waves when the sun is upon them; and
before the breath of the riders was thrice drawn, came the crash--the
shock--the slaughter of battle. The Spaniards made but a faint
resistance to the impetuosity of the onset: they broke on every side
beneath the force of the charge, like the weak barriers of a rapid and
swollen stream; and the French troops, after a brief but bloody victory
(joined by a second squadron from the rear), advanced immediately upon
the Spanish cavalry. Falkland was by the side of Riego. As the
troop advanced, it would have been curious to notice the contrast of
expression in the face of each; the Spaniard's features lighted up with
the daring enthusiasm of his nature; every trace of their usual languor
and exhaustion vanished beneath the unconquerable soul that blazed
out the brighter for the debility of the frame; the brow knit; the
eye flashing; the lip quivering:--and close beside, the calm, stern;
passionless repose that brooded over the severe yet noble beauty of
Falkland's countenance. To him danger brought scorn, not enthusiasm: he
rather despised than defied it. "The dastards! they waver," said Riego,
in an accent of despair, as his troop faltered beneath the charge of the
French: and so saying, he spurred his steed on to the foremost line. The
contest was longer, but not less decisive, than the one just concluded.
The Spaniards, thrown into confusion by the first shock, never recovered
themselves. Falkland, who, in his anxiety to rally and inspirit the
soldiers, had advanced with two other officers beyond the ranks, was
soon surrounded by a detachment of dragoons: the wound in his left arm
scarcely suffered him to guide his horse: he was in the most imminent
danger. At that moment D'Aguilar, at the head of his own immediate
followers, cut his way into the circle, and covered Falkland's retreat;
another detachment of the enemy came up