received orders to
continue our march without stopping.

I thought I should drop every moment from weakness, but it was worse
still when we overtook the baggage, for then we were obliged to march
on the sides of the road, and the farther from it we went the more
deeply we sank in the soft soil.

About eleven o'clock we reached a large village called Genappe, which
lies on both sides of the route.

The crowd of wagons, cannon, and baggage was so great that we were
forced to turn to the right and cross the Thy by a bridge, and from
this point we continued to march through the fields of grain and hemp,
like savages who respect nothing. The night was so dark that the
mounted dragoons, who were placed at intervals of two hundred paces
like guide-posts, kept shouting, "This way, this way!"

About midnight we reached a sort of farm-house thatched with straw,
which was filled with superior officers. It was not far from the main
road, as we could hear the cavalry and artillery and baggage wagons
rushing by like a torrent.

The captain had hardly got into the house, when we jumped over the
hedge into the garden. I did like the rest, and snatched what I could.
Nearly the whole battalion followed this example in spite of the shouts
of the officers, and each one began digging up what he could find with
his bayonet. In two minutes there was nothing left. The sergeants and
corporals were with us, but when the captain returned we had all
regained our ranks.

Those who pillage and steal on a campaign ought to be shot; but what
could you do? There was not a quarter enough food in the towns through
which we passed to supply such numbers. The English had already taken
nearly everything. We had a little rice left, but rice without meat is
not very strengthening.

The English troops received sheep and beeves from Brussels, they were
well fed and glowing with health. We had come too late, the convoys of
supplies were belated, and the next day when the terrible battle of
Waterloo was fought the only ration we received was brandy.

We left the village, and on mounting a little elevation we perceived
the English pickets through the rain. We were ordered to take a
position in the grain fields with several regiments which we could not
see, and not to light our fires for fear of alarming the English, if
they should discover us in line, and so induce them to continue their
retreat.

Now just imagine us lying in the grain under