come the first rumour that
Bluecher and his body of Prussians are nigh--still several hours' march
from Waterloo but advancing--advancing. For hours Wellington has been
watching for them, until wearily he has sighed: "Bluecher or nightfall
alone can save us from annihilation now."

The rumour--oh! it was merely the whispering of the wind, but still a
rumour nevertheless--means fresh courage to tired, half-spent troops.
Even deeds of unparalleled heroism need the stimulus of renewed hope
sometimes.

The rumour has also come to the ears of the Emperor, of Ney and of all
the officers of the staff. They all know that those magnificent British
troops whom they have fought all day must be nigh to their final
desperate effort at last--with naught left to them but their stubborn
courage and that tenacity which has been ever since the wonder of the
world.

They know, these brave soldiers of Napoleon--who have fought and admired
the brave foe--that the 1st and 2nd Life Guards are decimated by now;
that entire British and German regiments are cut up; that Picton is
dead, the Scots Greys almost annihilated. They know what havoc their
huge cavalry charges have made in the magnificent squares of British
infantry; they know that heroism and tenacity and determination must
give way at last before superior numbers, before fresh troops, before
persistent, ever-renewed attacks.

Only a few fresh troops and Ney declares that he can conquer the final
dogged endurance of the British troops, before they in their turn
receive the support of Bluecher and his Prussians, or before nightfall
gives them a chance of rest.

So he sends Colonel Heymes to his Emperor with the urgent message: "More
troops, I entreat, more troops and I can break the English centre before
the Prussians come!"

None knew better than he that this was the great hazard on which the
life and honour of his Emperor had been staked, that Imperial France was
fighting hand to hand with Great Britain, each for her national
existence, each for supremacy and might and the honour of her flag.

Imperial France--bold, daring, impetuous!

Great Britain--tenacious, firm and impassive!

Wellington under the elm-tree, calmly scanning the horizon while bullets
whiz past around his head, and ordering his troops to hold on to the
last man!

The Emperor on horseback under a hailstorm of shot and shell and bullets
riding from end to end of his lines!

Ney and his division of cuiras