noon
Can Napoleon be there ? See , there they come ! '' As he spoke , the head of a column emerged from the wood , and deploying as they came , poured into the plain . For above an hour that mighty tide flowed on , and before noon a force of sixty thousand men was collected in the space beneath us . I was not long to remain an unoccupied spectator of this brilliant display , for I soon received orders to move down with my squadron to the support of the Eleventh Light Dragoons , who were posted at the base of the hill . The order at the moment was anything but agreeable , for I was mounted upon a hack pony , on which I had ridden over from Crawfurd 's Division early in the morning , and suspecting that there might be some hot work during the day , had ordered Mike to follow with my horse . There was no time , however , for hesitation , and I moved my men down the slope in the direction of the skirmishers .