our, and the lively aide-de-camp and I became from that
moment, fast friends. After a long and fatiguing march, about noon, in one
of the most sultry days of a British autumn, our advanced guard reached
the front of the enemy's position. The outposts were driven in at once,
and the whole army, as it came up, was formed in order of battle. Rumours
had been spread of large reinforcements being on their way; and the clouds
of dust which rose along the plain, and the confused sound of
baggage-wagons, and heavy guns behind the hills, rendered it probable.
Still the country before us was clear to the eye, and our whole force
moved slowly forward to storm a range of heights, in the shape of a
half-moon, which commanded the field. This was one of the sights which
nothing but war can furnish, and to which no other sight on earth is equal.
The motion, the shouts, the rapidity of all things--the galloping of the
cavalry--the rolling of the parks of artillery--the rush of the light
troops--the pressing march of the battalions--and all glittering with all
the pomps of war, waving standards, flashing sabres, and the blaze thrown
back from the columns' bayonets, that looked like sheets of steel, made me
almost breathless. The aide-de-camp evidently enjoyed the sight as much as
myself, and gave way to that instinct, by which man is a wolf, let the
wise say what they will, and exults in war. But when he heard shots fired
from the range of hills, his countenance changed.

"There must be some mistake here," he said, with sudden gravity.
"Dumourier could never have intended to hold his position so far in
advance, and so wholly unprotected. Those troops will be lost, and the
whole campaign may be compromised."

The attack now commenced along the line, and the resistance was evidently
serious. A heavy fire was sustained for some time; but the troops
gradually established themselves on the lower part of the range. "I know
it all now!" exclaimed my agitated companion, after a long look through my
glass: "it is Kellerman's corps," said he, "which ought to have been a
league to the rear of its present position at this moment. He must have
received counter orders since I left him, or been desperately deceived;
another half hour there, and he will never leave those hills but a
prisoner or a corpse." From the shaking of his bridle, and the nervous
quivering of his manly countenance, I saw how eagerly he would have
received permission to bring the F