Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/177

Rh

The French continued their fire for nearly three hours without cessation. Then they stopped almost as suddenly as they began, in order to give the guns a chance to cool. The Russians instantly took advantage of the lull in the fire by coming out to repair damages. They emptied bags of sand and earth on the outside of their parapets, rolled out gabions, and did other work usual in the reparation of artillery fire. Their artillerymen also took advantage of the lull by opening fire on the batteries of the naval brigade in the English lines, and delivered their shot with such precision as to cause the English in that locality a good deal of trouble. About 10 o'clock the French renewed their fire quite as rapidly as at first, and they preceded it by exploding some fougasses. With the same object as before, this fire was maintained until midnight, and succeeded in dismounting so many of the Russian guns that they had only a few remaining with which they could reply. They were sending men and carts with great rapidity back and