The
situation now seemed to him critical and, glancing around, he found the
same feeling expressed in the looks and faces of the other officers.
But the colonel had already beckoned to his orderly and sprung into the
saddle. The trumpets sounded the first signal, a sudden movement ran
through the ranks of the dragoons, in an instant all were in the
saddle, sabre-sheaths clanked against stirrups, the chains and bars of
the bits rattled as the horses tossed their heads, then there was a
second blare of trumpets, a shrill neighing, a loud snorting, the
pawing and stamping of hoofs, swords flew from their sheaths, and the
troop of horsemen was in motion.
Prince Louis looked at his watch--it was half-past six o'clock. As, at
the head of the first squadron, he rode a short distance behind the
colonel, the aides of the regiment, and the trumpeters, a strange mood
which he had never before experienced came over him. The painful
excitement and quivering impatience, which, during the last half-hour,
had made his veins throb to his finger-tips, merged into a joyous
consciousness of purposeful activity, which restored his calmness.
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