Flushed with his first success, Montbrun, at the head of his victorious squadrons, now thought to ride through the 5th and 77th, but this handful of heroes threw themselves into square, and received the attack with unflinching steadiness. Nothing but the greatest discipline, the most undaunted bravery, and a firm reliance on their officers, could have saved these devoted soldiers from total annihilation; they were attacked with a fury unexampled on three faces of the square. The French horsemen rode upon their bayonets, but, unshaken by the desperate position in which they were placed, they poured in their fire with such quickness and precision that the cavalry retired in disorder. While this was taking place on the left, the regiments of the right brigade were posted on a height parallel to that occupied by the 5th and 77th. We had a clear and painful view of all that was passing, and we shuddered for our companions; the glittering of the countless sabres that were about to assail them, and the blaze of light which the reflection of the sun threw across the brazen helmets of the French horsemen, might be likened to the flash of lightning that preceded the thunder of Arentschildt’s artillery—but we could do nothing. A few seconds passed away; we saw the smoke of the musketry—it did not recede, and we were assured that the attack had failed; in a moment or two more we could discern the brave 5th and 77th following their beaten adversaries, and a spontaneous shout of joy burst from the brigade. What would we have given at that moment to have been near them? They were not only our companions in arms, but our intimate friends (I mean the 5th, for the 77th had but just joined the army, and were, comparatively, strangers to us). But we were now menaced ourselves. From the great space that intervened between the regiments that had been engaged and those that had hitherto been unoccupied, it was not easy, taking into account the mass of French cavalry that covered the plain, to reunite the 3rd Division. Lord Wellington, it is true, was on the spot, but the _spot_ was a large one, with but few troops to cover it, and had the French cavalry done their duty on that day, I doubt much if the 3rd Division would not have ceased to exist! Meanwhile the time was passing away without the enemy undertaking anything serious; but the 5th and 77th, and the other troops under General Colville, seeing the danger of their position, and profiting by the inaction of the French troopers, who seemed to be paralysed after their failure, made one of the most memorable retreats on record, across the plain, surrounded by three times their own number of horse, and exposed to the fire of a battery of eight-pounders. But the 45th, 74th, and 88th had not yet been able to disentangle themselves from the rugged ground and vineyards to the rear of El Bodon, and their junction with the remainder of the division might be said to be at this moment (three o’clock) rather problematical,