He at once saw that the enemy had gathered a heavy column behind the wood of Bossu, and directed the Prince of Orange to withdraw the guns that were too far advanced, and to gather the Dutch and Belgian troops to oppose the advance, at the same time he sent forward the Twenty-eighth to their assistance.
They arrived, however, too late; for the French swept the Belgians before them and advanced steadily, while their artillery from the high ground opened a furious cannonade upon Picton's division.

One of the Brunswick regiments now joined the Belgians, but in spite of this reinforcement the latter were driven from the wood of Bossu, which they had occupied when the British first came up.

The British troops were suffering heavily from the artillery fire to which their own guns could make no effectual reply.
"Pretty hot this, Conway," Captain O'Connor said to Ralph.

"It's not pleasant standing here being made a target of." "That it's not," Ralph said heartily.

"I call it horribly unpleasant.
I shouldn't mind it so much if we were doing something." It was indeed trying for young soldiers under fire for the first time.
The French had got the range accurately, and every moment gaps were made in the line as the round shot plowed through them.