Suddenly he heard musket fire quite close in front of him and behind our troops, where he could never have expected the enemy to be.

"What can it be?" he thought.

" The enemy in the rear of our army? Impossible!" And suddenly he was seized by a panic of fear for himself and for the issue of the whole battle.

" But be that what it may," he reflected, "there is no riding round it now.

I must look for the commander in chief here, and if all is lost it is for me to perish with the rest.