wo infantry and sixteen cannon,
while Ney had gathered seventeen thousand men and thirty-eight guns to
attack him. The latter should have had with him D'Erlon's corps of
twenty thousand men, and forty-six guns, but these were suddenly
withdrawn by Napoleon when the latter found that the Prussian force
was stronger than he had expected. They had just reached the field of
Ligny when an order from Ney again caused them to retrace their steps
to Quatre Bras, where they arrived just after the fighting there had
come to an end. Thus twenty thousand men with forty-six guns were
absolutely thrown away, while their presence with either Napoleon or
Ney would have been invaluable.

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. But the troops were already doing
their best.

The Dutch and Belgian troops had fought with considerable bravery, and
had held the village of Piermont and a farm near it for some time
before they fell back to the wood of Bossu. Here they make a stout
stand again, but were at length driven out and were beginning to lose
heart, and in a few minutes would have given way when they saw on the
long straight road behind them t