Every one knows the rest，——the irruption of a third army；the battle broken to pieces；eighty-six months of fire thundering simultaneously；Pirch the first coming up with Bulow；Zieten's cavalry led by Blucher in person，the French driven back；Marcognet swept from the plateau of Ohain；Durutte dislodged from Papelotte；Donzelot and Quiot retreating；Lobau caught on the flank；a fresh battle precipitating itself on our dismantled regiments at nightfall；the whole English line resuming the offensive and thrust forward；the gigantic breach made in the French army；the English grape-shot and the Prussian grape-shot aiding each other；the extermination；disaster in front；disaster on the flank；the Guard entering the line in the midst of this terrible crumbling of all things.
Conscious that they were about to die，they shouted，'Vive l'Empereur！'History records nothing more touching than that agony bursting forth in acclamations.
The sky had been overcast all day long.
All of a sudden，at that very moment，——it was eight o'clock in the evening——the clouds on the horizon parted，and allowed the grand and sinister glow of the setting sun to pass through，athwart the elms on the Nivelles road.They had seen it rise at Austerlitz.
Each battalion of the Guard was commanded by a general for this final catastrophe.
Friant，Michel，Roguet，Harlet，Mallet，Poret de Morvan，were there.
When the tall caps of the grenadiers of the Guard，with their large plaques bearing the eagle appeared，symmetrical，in line，tranquil，in the midst of that combat，the enemy felt a respect for France；they thought they beheld twenty victories entering the field of battle，with wings outspread，and those who were the conquerors，believing themselves to be vanquished，retreated；but Wellington shouted，'Up，Guards，and aim straight！'The red regiment of English guards，lying flat behind the hedges，sprang up，a cloud of grape-shot riddled the tricolored flag and whistled round our eagles；all hurled themselves forwards，and the final carnage began.
In the darkness，the Imperial Guard felt the army losing ground around it，and in the vast shock of the rout it heard the desperate flight which had taken the place of the'Vive l'Empereur！'and，with flight behind it，it continued to advance，more crushed，losing more men at every step that it took.There were none who hesitated，no timid men in its ranks.The soldier in that troop was as much of a hero as the general.Not a man was missing in that suicide.
Ney，bewildered，great with all the grandeur of accepted death，offered himself to all blows in that tempest.
He had his fifth horse killed under him there.
Perspiring，his eyes aflame，foaming at the mouth，with uniform unbuttoned，one of his epaulets half cut off by a sword-stroke from a horseguard，his plaque with the great eagle dented by a bullet；bleeding，bemired，magnificent，a broken sword in his hand，he said，'Come and see how a Marshal of France dies on the field of battle！'
But in vain；he did not die.He was haggard and angry.
At Drouet d'Erlon he hurled this question，'Are you not going to get yourself killed？'
In the midst of all that artillery engaged in crushing a handful of men，he shouted：'So there is nothing for me！
Oh！
I should like to have all these English bullets enter my bowels！'
Unhappy man，thou wert reserved for French bullets！
BOOK FIRST.-WATERLOO
XIII THE CATASTROPHE
The rout behind the Guard was melancholy.
The army yielded suddenly on all sides at once，——Hougomont，La Haie-Sainte，Papelotte，Plancenoit.
The cry'Treachery！'was followed by a cry of'Save yourselves who can！'
An army which is disbanding is like a thaw.
All yields，splits，cracks，floats，rolls，falls，jostles，hastens，is precipitated.
The disintegration is unprecedented.
Ney borrows a horse，leaps upon it，and without hat，cravat，or sword，places himself across the Brussels road，stopping both English and French.
He strives to detain the army，he recalls it to its duty，he insults it，he clings to the rout.He is overwhelmed.
The soldiers fly from him，shouting，'Long live Marshal Ney！'
Two of Durutte's regiments go and come in affright as though tossed back and forth between the swords of the Uhlans and the fusillade of the brigades of Kempt，Best，Pack，and Rylandt；the worst of hand-to-hand conflicts is the defeat；friends kill each other in order to escape；squadrons and battalions break and disperse against each other，like the tremendous foam of battle.
Lobau at one extremity，and Reille at the other，are drawn into the tide.In vain does Napoleon erect walls from what is left to him of his Guard；in vain does he expend in a last effort his last serviceable squadrons.Quiot retreats before Vivian，Kellermann before Vandeleur，Lobau before Bulow，Morand before Pirch，Domon and Subervic before Prince William of Prussia；Guyot，who led the Emperor's squadrons to the charge，falls beneath the feet of the English dragoons.Napoleon gallops past the line of fugitives，harangues，urges，threatens，entreats them.
All the mouths which in the morning had shouted，'Long live the Emperor！'remain gaping；they hardly recognize him.The Prussian cavalry，newly arrived，dashes forwards，flies，hews，slashes，kills，exterminates.
Horses lash out，the cannons flee；the soldiers of the artillery-train unharness the caissons and use the horses to make their escape；transports overturned，with all four wheels in the air，clog the road and occasion massacres.Men are crushed，trampled down，others walk over the dead and the living.
Arms are lost.
A dizzy multitude fills the roads，the paths，the bridges，the plains，the hills，the valleys，the woods，encumbered by this invasion of forty thousand men.Shouts despair，knapsacks and guns flung among the rye，passages forced at the point of the sword，no more comrades，no more officers，no more generals，an inexpressible terror.
Zieten putting France to the sword at its leisure.