126 APPENDIX. ' front of the liu.ssiau square and an attack on the tower of ' the Telegraph, the centre and culminating point of the
- enemy's line. It is upon this last ])lan that he decides ;
' and, going forward in advance of the angle formed by
- the regiments, and putting his horse into a gallop, he
' cries out, "To me, my Zouaves ! To the tower! to the ' " tower ! " ' All precipitate themselves at the same time — that ' is, the 2d Zouaves, the 1st Zouaves, with Colonel Bour- ' baki at their head, the foot Chasseurs, the 39th IJegi-
- mcnt, which comes up ^vith Colonel Beuret and General
« d'Aurelle.
- It is a human torrent which nothing stops. Colonel
Cler comes the first to the tower ; all have followed him ;
- all arrive ardent, impetuous, irresistible. The struggle
' was short, but it was one of those bloody, terrible strug- ' gles in which man fights body to body with his enemy ' — in which the looks devour each other [oh les regards se ' ddvorent, whatever that may mean] — in which the hands
- grapple each other — in which arms dashed against arms
' are made to yield sparks of fire.* Dead and dying are
- heaped together, and the combatants trample upon them
' and smother them.
- The Kussians received tiiis formidable shock on the
- points of their bayonets ; they ask each otlu-r if these are
' indeed but men [si ce sont des homines] who thus dare ' to rush u{)on death. They fight, but soon they stagger ; ' and these formidable masses, menaced on all sides by the
- two divisions which advance in close columns, become
- broken, and operate their retreat.
' Colonel Cler seized the eagle of his regiment, which he ' plants on the tower to the cry of, " May the Emperor ' " live ! " Sergeant-major Fleury of the 1st Zouaves rushes
- upon the up})er scafToIding of this partly-built building
- I Lave observed this pheiionieiion in figlits upou the stage.
