six o'clock
_ '' in tones which reached the clouds . At each new charge it seemed as if the squares must be overthrown ; but when the trumpets sounded the signal for rallying and the squadrons rushed pell-mell back to the edge of the plateau to re-form , pursued by the showers of shot , there were the great red lines , steadfast as walls , in the smoke . Those Englishmen are good soldiers , but then they knew that Blücher was coming to their assistance with sixty thousand men , and no doubt this inspired them with great courage . In spite of everything , at six o'clock we had destroyed half their squares , but the horses of our cuirassiers were exhausted by twenty charges over the ground soaked with rain . They could no longer advance over the heaps of dead . As night approached , the great battle-field in our rear began to be deserted ; at last the great plain where we had encamped the night before was tenantless , only the Old Guard remained across the road with shouldered arms , all had gone -- on the right against the Prussians , on the left against the English . We looked at each other in terror .