trace out
the vast columns, as they lay thickly strewn along the plain. The old
general, wrapped in his cloak, slept soundly on his straw couch; his
deep-drawn breathing showed that his rest was unbroken. How slowly did
the time seem to creep along! I thought it must be nigh morning, and it
was only a little more than midnight.

Our position was a small rising ground about a mile in front of the left
centre, and communicating with the enemy's line by a narrow road between
the marshes. This had been defended by a battery of four guns, with
a stockade in front; and along it now, for a considerable distance, a
chain of sentinels were placed, who should communicate any movement that
they observed in the Russian lines, of which I was charged to convey
the earliest intelligence to the quartier-general. This duty alone would
have kept me in a state of anxiety, had not the frame of my mind already
so disposed me; and I could not avoid creeping out from time to time, to
peer through the gloom in the direction of the enemy's camp, and listen
with an eager ear for any sounds from that quarter. At last I heard the
sound of a voice at some distance off; then, a few minutes after, the
hurried step of feet, and a voltigeur came up, breathless with haste:
"The Russians were in motion towards the right. Our advanced posts could
hear the roll of guns and tumbrels moving along the plain, and it was
evident their columns were in march." I knelt down and placed my ear to
the ground, and almost started at the distinctness with which I could
hear the dull sound of the large guns as they were dragged along; the
earth seemed to tremble beneath them.

I awoke the general at once, who, resting on his arm, coolly heard my
report; and having directed me to hasten to headquarters with the news,
lay back again, and was asleep before I was in my saddle. At the top
speed of my horse I galloped to the rear, winding my way between the
battalions, till I came to a gentle rising ground, where, by the
light of several large fires that blazed in a circle I could see the
dismounted troopers of the _chasseurs a cheval_, who always formed the
Imperial Bodyguard. Having given the word, I was desired by the officer
of the watch to dismount, and following him, I passed forward to a space
in the middle of the circle, where, under shelter of some sheaves of
straw piled over each other, sat three officers, smoking beside a fire.

"Ha! here comes news of some sort,