about four o'clock in the afternoon
But how did he get the step , sir ? '' `` Why , as to the company , that was remarkable enough ! '' said I , quaffing off a tumbler of champagne , to assist my invention . `` You know it was about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th that Napoleon ordered Grouchy to advance with the first and second brigade of the Old Guard and two regiments of chasseurs , and attack the position occupied by Picton and the regiments under his command . Well , sir , on they came , masked by the smoke of a terrific discharge of artillery , stationed on a small eminence to our left , and which did tremendous execution among our poor fellows -- on they came , Sir ; and as the smoke cleared partially away we got a glimpse of them , and a more dangerous looking set I should not desire to see : grizzle-bearded , hard-featured , bronzed fellows , about five-and-thirty or forty years of age ; their beauty not a whit improved by the red glare thrown upon their faces and along the whole line by each flash of the long twenty-fours that were playing away to the right . Just at this moment Picton rode down the line with his staff , and stopping within a few paces of me , said , ` They 're coming up ; steady , boys ; steady now : we shall have something to do soon . ' And then , turning sharply round , he looked in the direction of the French battery , that was thundering away again in full force , ` Ah , that must be silenced , ' said he , ` Where 's Beamish ? '