k towards La Belle Alliance. This took place between 5.30 and 6
o'clock, and accounts for Napoleon's lack of attention to the great
cavalry charges. To break the British squares was highly desirable;
but to ward off the Prussians from his rear was an imperative
necessity. He therefore ordered Duhesme with the 4,000 footmen of the
Young Guard to regain Planchenoit. Gallantly they advanced at the
charge, and drove their weary and half-famished opponents out into the
open.

Satisfied with this advantage, the Emperor turned his thoughts to the
British and bade Ney capture La Haye Sainte at all costs. Never was
duty more welcome. Mistakes and failures could now be atoned by
triumph or a soldier's death. Both had as yet eluded his search. Three
horses had been struck to the ground under him, but, dauntless as
ever, he led Donzelot's men, with engineers, against the farm.
Begrimed with smoke, hoarse with shouting, he breathed the lust of
battle into those half-despondent ranks; and this time he succeeded.
For five hours the brave Germans had held out, beating off rush after
rush, until now they had but three or four bullets apiece left. The
ordinary British ammunition did not fit their rifles; and their own
reserve supply could not be found at the rear. Still, even when firing
ceased, bayonet-thrusts and missiles kept off the assailants for a
space, even from the half-destroyed barn-door, until Frenchmen mounted
the roof of the stables and burst through the chief gateway: then
Baring and his brave fellows fled through the house to the garden. "No
pardon to these green devils" was now the cry, and those who could not
make off to the ridge were bayoneted to a man.[519]

This was a grave misfortune for the allies. French sharpshooters now
lined the walls of the farm and pushed up the ridge, pressing our
front very hard, so that, for a time, the space behind La Haye Sainte
was practically bare of defenders. This was the news that Kennedy took
to Wellington. He received it with the calm that bespoke a mighty
soul; for, as Sir A. Frazer observed, however indifferent or
apparently careless he might appear at the beginning of battles, as
the crisis came he rose superior to all that could be imagined. Such
was his demeanour now. Riding to the Brunswickers posted in reserve,
he led them to the post of danger; Kennedy rallied the wrecks of
Alten's division and brought up Germans from the left wing; the
cavalry of Vandeleur and Vivian,