With a swoop, the reinforcements fell upon
the Irishmen, and, almost for the first time, Matthew found himself
engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter. He did not know how long the
conflict lasted, but presently he found the enemy in full flight, his
comrades cheering lustily around him. Marlborough's promptitude had
saved the situation.
"You fought like a very fiend, Blackett," remarked the major,
laughingly, a little later on, when for the moment operations had
ceased, to which Matthew replied simply, "Did I, sir? I don't remember
anything about it," whereat the major laughed again.
It was five in the afternoon, and there was a lull on the field. Up to
the present neither side could be said to have gained any real
advantage over the other. All the allied cavalry had crossed the
stream, and the men wondered what would come next.
They were not left long in doubt. The order came to mass the horse in
preparation for a grand charge. For a time the field was a scene of
rapid and puzzling movement, but order was quickly evolved out of the
seeming confusion.
Then the trumpet rang out, and there bore down upon Tallard a
magnificent body of eight thousand cavalry. Bore _down_, we have
written; the course was slightly upwards, as a matter of fact, from
the stream.
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