since not only would the
speedy failure of light have compelled a halt, whether the ground
chanced to be favourable or the reverse, but even before darkness
had come on scarcely two-thirds of the soldiers would have been
found in their places.

The ground upon which we bivouacked, though not remarkable for
its strength, was precisely such as might tempt a General to
halt, who found his men weary and in danger of being
benighted. It was a gentle eminence, fronted by an open and
cultivated country, and crowned with two or three houses, having
barns and walled gardens attached to them. Neither flank could be
said to rest upon any point peculiarly well defended, but they
were not exposed; because, by extending or condensing the line,
almost any one of these houses might be converted into a
protecting redoubt. The outposts, again, were so far arranged
differently from those of yesterday, that, instead of covering
only the front and the two extremities, they extended completely
round the encampment, enclosing the entire army within a
connected chain of sentinels; and precluding the possibility of
even a single individual making his way within the lines
unperceived.

These precautions were, however, like those of the preceding day,
unnecessary; no enemy making his appearance, even to reconnoitre:
and yet it cannot be said that the night was passed in
uninterrupted quiet, for the troops had scarcely lain down when
they were disturbed by a tremendous storm of thunder and
lightning, accompanied by a heavy fall of rain. The effect of
the lightning, as it glanced for a moment upon the bivouac, and
displayed the firelocks piled in regular order, and the men
stretched like so many corpses beside them, was extremely fine.
The effect of the rain, however, was not so agreeable, for, being
perfectly destitute of shelter, we were speedily wet to the skin;
and the remainder of our resting-time was rendered thereby the
reverse of comfortable. But the feeling of fretfulness, natural on
such an occasion, lasted no longer than till the day dawned, and
the line of march was again formed; when their former good-humour
returning, and seasoned in some degree by the fatigues of
yesterday, the troops moved on in excellent order and in the
highest spirits.

The route to-day was different, in many respects, from that of
yesterday. In the first place, we had now got beyond the stretch
of cultivation, and were proceeding through forests of