artillery now discharged shells upon
Hougoumont; the tower and chapel were soon in a blaze, and in these
many wounded men met a dreadful fate. Still, though surrounded by
flames and bursting shells, with the heavy shot ploughing through wall
and window, the Guards held their post, nor could Hougoumont be taken.

"How beautifully these English fight! But they must give way,"
exclaimed Napoleon to Marshal Soult. But evening came, and yet they
held their ground. The men, maddened by seeing their comrades falling
around them, longed ardently for the moment to advance; but Wellington
felt that the crisis was not yet come. It required all his authority
to restrain the troops; but he knew their powers of endurance.

"Not yet, my brave fellows," said the duke; "be firm a little longer,
and you shall have at them by-and-by." This homely appeal kept each
man in his place in the ranks. But now the superior officers
remonstrated, and advised a retreat.

"Will the troops stand?" demanded Wellington.

"Till they perish!" was the reply.

"Then," added the duke, "I will stand with them to the last man."

Yet Wellington was not insensible of the critical nature of his
position, and longed for night or Bluecher. It was now seven, and the
Prussians had been expected at three. In less than an hour, the sound
of artillery was heard in the expected direction, and a staff officer
brought word that the head of the Prussian column was at Planchenoit,
nearly in the rear of the French reserve. Bonaparte, when told of
their advance, maintained that it was Grouchy's long-expected force
coming up; but when he saw them issue from the wood, and perceived the
Prussian colors, he turned pale, but uttered not a word.

Napoleon's Imperial Guards--his veteran troops--were now advancing,
covered by a tempest of shot and shells, toward the ridge behind which
lay the British infantry to gain a shelter from the fire. Wellington
eagerly watched the dense cloud as it approached; and when it arrived
within a hundred yards, advancing on horseback to the brow of the
ridge, he exclaimed, "Up, Guards, and at them!"

In a moment the men were on their feet--the French closed on them,
when a tremendous volley drove the whole mass back; but the old
Imperial Guard recovered, yet only to receive a second volley as
deadly as the first, followed by a bold charge with the bayonet, which
forced them down the slope, and up the opposite bank. In vain the
French attempte