[64] Had the enemy’s cavalry really been at hand, the remaining few fine fellows under Halkett must have been annihilated. This confusion and giving way, together with that on the immediate left of the brigade, as well as the disorder on its immediate right, at about the same time, and at so critical a juncture, might have caused the most serious consequences; but, thanks to the zeal and energy of the superior officers, as well as to the coolness, alacrity and discipline of our troops, they soon reformed with much steadiness and regularity, and aided by Vandersmissen’s and Bolton’s iron hail from their double-charged guns, the withering fire of Adam’s light-bobs upon the enemy’s left flank, together with that of our guards upon their front, our struggle terminated most satisfactorily. [65] Their advance proves that this momentary confusion but little affected them. [66] A portion of this force might have been advantageously employed against us with their cavalry. Husbanding them so long, was, I suspect, an error of no small magnitude. [67] For positions of all the armies at this period, _see_ Plan. [68] Some French writers state that this hitherto victorious column was seized with a panic. If so, it was not to be wondered at: a crowd of men, heaped helplessly together, exposed to an incessant cross-fire of musketry, round and grape-shot poured in like hail upon both front and flank, and our lines converging to enclose and bayonet them, was enough to occasion a panic. We may here observe, that the attack of the Imperial column is almost incredible, unaccompanied as it was and entirely unsupported by cavalry, with the flanks perpetually exposed, and never attempting to deploy into line, till fired into; halting to engage with musketry against troops in line. They sealed their own doom; for while utterly incapable of deploying or returning their enemy’s fire with any effect, they were attacked by our infantry and turned by our cavalry. I must leave to the talented military historians to prove that this attack displayed Napoleon’s former genius. The cause of the interval of some minutes between the two attacking columns, or why the attacks were not simultaneous, I am at a loss to explain; but it certainly was the cause of their being beaten in detail. [69] It is to be regretted that this gallant but inconstant soldier did not meet death here. It would have been far preferable to the end he afterwards found under the walls of the Luxemburg. [70] The French reserves were, for the most part, drawn up in chequer, presenting an irregular front, from la Belle-Alliance to the nearest enclosures of Hougoumont. CHAPTER VIII.