132 WHIP AND SPUR. 



ing over our heads of our own shells, together 

 with the sharp rattle of musketry in our rear, 

 hastened and saddened the ignominious flight of 

 the head of our column, though, for some reason, 

 the enemy's advance upon us was slow. 



All that long night we marched on, without 

 food and without rest. At early dawn we reached 

 Ripley, where we paused for breath. Max had 

 been ridden almost uninterruptedly for twenty- 

 four hours, and for four hours had done the con- 

 stant hard work that the supervision of a long 

 line in active engagement had made necessary; 

 and he was glad to be unsaddled and turned for 

 fifteen minutes into a scantily grown paddock, 

 where he rolled and nibbled and refreshed him- 

 self as much as ordinary horses do with a whole 

 night's rest. The ambulances with our groaning 

 wounded men came pouring into the village, and 

 to our surprise, those women, who had so recently 

 given only evidence of a horrified hatred, pressed 

 round to offer every aid that lay in their power, 

 and to comfort our suffering men as only kind- 

 hearted women can. 



