s promptly obeyed as if he had been their favourite leader,
himself. They saw, too, that he knew exactly what he wanted done,
and gave every order with firmness and decision; and their
confidence in him became profound.

It was three hours after he arrived at the river when a party of
horse came down the opposite slope. Leigh had ordered that not a
shot was to be fired, until he gave the signal. He waited until the
enemy came to the severed bridge, when they halted suddenly; and as
they did so he gave the word and, from the long line of greenery,
fifty muskets flashed out. More than half the troop of horse fell;
and the rest, turning tail, galloped up the hill again, while a
shout of derision rose from the peasants.

[Illustration: A scattered fire broke out from the defenders.]

Half an hour passed, then the head of the column was seen
descending the road. It opened out as it came, forming into a thick
line of skirmishers, some two hundred yards wide. Moving along,
Leigh spread the musketeers to a similar length of front. At first,
the enemy were half hidden by the wood at the other side of the
slope; but as they issued from this, some twenty yards from the
stream, a scattered fire broke out from the defenders.

The Blues replied with a general discharge at their invisible foes,
but these were crouching behind the stumps or trunks of the felled
trees, and the fire was ineffectual. Leigh's own band were lying in
a little hollow, twenty yards behind the abattis; their pistols
would have been useless, until the enemy won their way up to the
trees, and until then they were to remain as a first reserve.

Exposed as they were to the steady fire of the peasants, the
assailants suffered heavily and, at the edge of the stream, paused
irresolutely. It was some fifteen yards wide, but they were
ignorant of the depth, and hesitated to enter it; urged, however,
by the shouts of their officers, who set the example by at once
entering the stream, and by seeing that the water did not rise
above their shoulders, the men followed. But as they gained the
opposite bank, they fell fast. At so short a distance, every shot
of the peasants told; and it was some time before a sufficient
number had crossed to make an assault against the wall of foliage
in their front.

Fresh troops were constantly arriving from behind and, encouraged
by this, they at last rushed forward. As they did so, Leigh called
up his own band; and these, crawling