Immediately upon this I caused two men to fire their pistols in the
wood, at two different places, as far asunder as I could. This I did
to give them an alarm, and amuse them; for being in the lane, they
would otherwise have got through before we had been ready, and I
resolved to engage them there, as soon as 'twas possible. After this
alarm, we rushed out of the wood, with about a hundred horse, and
charged them on the flank in a broad lane, the wood being on their
right. Our passage into the lane being narrow, gave us some difficulty
in our getting out; but the surprise of the charge did our work; for
the enemy, thinking we had been a mile or two before, had not the
least thoughts of this onset, till they heard us in the wood, and then
they who were before could not come back. We broke into the lane just
in the middle of them, and by that means divided them; and facing to
the left, charged the rear. First our dismounted men, which were near
fifty, lined the edge of the wood, and fired with their carabines upon
those which were before, so warmly, that they put them into a great
disorder. Meanwhile fifty more of our horse from the farther part of
the wood showed themselves in the lane upon their front.
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