produced.

What a pity! They had fallen a bit short. We distinctly saw four small
white puffs on the side of the hill just below the group of German
officers. Ah! They didn't wait for another! I saw them make off in hot
haste whilst the troopers, stationed behind the stack, galloped off
the horses. The man with the flag was the last to go, closing the
procession with rather more dignity. But in ten seconds the whole lot
had decamped, and the only men we could see were the dragoons of the
patrol, who rode back to the ridge at full speed.

But just as they reached it the second battery opened fire, and this
time the sighting was just right. The four white puffs appeared
exactly over the spot where the Staff had stood a minute before--two
to the right and two to the left of the stack. And all we now saw of
the patrol was two riderless horses galloping madly towards the woods.
Then the two batteries pounded away with a will.

When I had received orders to resume the forward movement and my good
Chasseurs had taken up the pursuit again, the gunners had lengthened
their range with mathematical precision, and the shells burst on the
farther side of the ridge. I took a grim pleasure in imagining what
must have been happening there, where, no doubt, the division was
drawn up, and whilst I continued to direct my vigilant and expert
scouts I amused myself by picturing the brilliant troopers of the
Prussian Guard in headlong flight.