IN BELGIUM.
There was a general feeling of depression in the regiment when it was
known that the transports had arrived in harbor. As a rule regiments
embarking for service abroad start in high spirits, and whatever
private regrets are felt at parting from friends, the troops march
gayly down to the point of embarkation. But this was not the case as
the Twenty-eighth with the band at its head playing "The girl I left
behind me," passed through the streets of Cork on its march down to
the spot ten miles away where the transports were lying. There was not
one from the colonel down to the youngest drummer-boy but felt that he
had been deprived of the chance of taking part in a stirring campaign,
and that he was going into a sort of exile. The baggage had been sent
on the previous day, and the regiment on arriving at the harbor was
speedily transferred in large lighters to the two transports.
"They are two fine ships, anyhow," Captain O'Connor said to Ralph as
the barge carrying his company approached the side of one of them.
"Rather different craft to that in which we made our last voyage
together. We shall have comfortable quarters on board her, and ought
to make a pleasant passage if we have but decent weather."
"Yes, if anything could make our voyage pleasant under the
circumstances," Ralph replied dismally.
"Oh, it's no use thinking any more about that," O'Connor said
cheerfully. "We must make the best of matters, and hope that we shall
soon be on our way back again; if not, I dare say we shall have a
pleasant time in Canada. With your knowledge of French, Conway, you
will make a great hit among the fair Canadians."
"I didn't think of that," Ralph laughed. "Yes, the prospect is a
cheering one. I promise you, O'Connor, that I will do the best I can
for you. Well, here we are alongside."
"Good afternoon, captain. When are we going to sail?" O'Connor asked
the master of the vessel as he stepped on deck.
"You must ask the clerk of the weather," the skipper replied. "At
present there is not a breath of wind stirring, and from the look of
the sky I see no chance of a change at present."
Day after day passed, and still the vessels remained at anchor. Not a
breath of wind stirred the water, and the troops had nothing to do but
to lounge idly about the decks and whistle for a breeze. Whenever a
vessel came in from England boats were lowered and rowed alongside to
get the latest news. This was little enough. It was, however, known
that all the powers had determined to refuse to recognize Napoleon as
Emperor of France, and that a great coalition against him was being
arranged. There were rumors that Belgium was likely to be the scene of
operations.
Already, by the terms of the late treaty, several English regiments
were stationed on the Belgian frontier, and three or four more were
already under orders to embark for that country. It was reported that
Russia, Austria, and Prussia were taking steps to arm. The militia had
been called out at home, and high bounties were offered for volunteers
from these regiments into the line. Recruiting was going on vigorously
all over the country. Horses were being bought up, and efforts made to
place the attenuated regiments on a war footing. All this was
tantalizing news to the Twenty-eighth. The colonel was known to have
written to influential friends in London, begging them to urge upon
the authorities the folly of allowing a fine regiment like his to
leave the country at such a moment. But little was hoped from this,
for at any moment a change in the weather might place them beyond the
possibility of a recall.
Three weeks passed and then the barometer fell, and there were signs
of a change. There was bustle and movement on board the ships, and
even the soldiers were glad that the monotony of their imprisonment on
board was about to come to an end, and their voyage to commence. The
sails were loosed from their gaskets, and the sounds of the drum and
fifes struck up as the capstans were manned, the soldiers lending a
hand at the bars, and the chains came clanking in at the hawse-holes.
"There is a vessel coming in round the point," O'Connor said. "But we
shall hardly get the last news; we shall be under way before she
anchors."
"She is signaling to the fort on the hill," Ralph said, as he watched
the flags run up on the signal-staff on the summit of Spike Island;
"and they are answering down below there at the station in front of
the commandant's house."
A moment later a gun was fired.
"That's to call our attention, I think," the skipper said, taking up
his glass and directing it to the shore. "Yes, there is our number
flying. Get the signal-book, boy. Mr. Smith, run up the answering
pennant."
As soon as this ascended the flags on shore were lowered, and a fresh
set run up--3. 5. 0. 4.
"Give me the book. 'The vessels are not to sail until further
orders,'" he read aloud.
"Hooray, lads!" Captain O'Connor shouted at the top of his voice. "We
are stopped until further orders."
A loud cheer broke from the troops, which was echoed by a roar from
the other vessel; and for a few minutes the greatest excitement
reigned. The men threw their caps into the air, and shouted until they
were hoarse. The officers shook each other by the hand, and all were
frantic with delight at the narrow escape they had had.
As soon as the brig had dropped anchor boats rowed off to her, but
nothing further was learned. Just as she was leaving Plymouth an
officer had come on board with dispatches, and instructions to the
captain to signal immediately he arrived at Cork that if the
Twenty-eighth had not already sailed they were to be stopped. Owing to
the lightness of the wind the brig had been eight days on her passage
from Plymouth.
For another fortnight the regiment remained on board ship. The
imprisonment was borne more patiently, now they felt sure that they
were not at any rate to be sent across the Atlantic. Then a vessel
arrived with orders that the Twenty-eighth were at once to proceed to
Ostend, and two hours afterward the transports set sail.
Belgium was hardly the spot which the troops in general would have
approved of as the scene of operations, for the disastrous expedition
to Walcheren was still fresh in mens' minds. They would, moreover,
have preferred a campaign in which they would have fought without
being compelled to act with a foreign army, and would have had all the
honor and glory to themselves. Still Belgium recalled the triumphs of
Marlborough, and although every mail brought news of the tremendous
efforts Napoleon was making to reorganize the fighting power of
France, and of the manner in which the veterans of his former wars had
responded to the call, there was not a doubt of success in the minds
of the Twenty-eighth, from the colonel down to the youngest
drummer-boy.
Ralph was sorry that he had not been able to pay a flying visit to his
mother before his departure on active and dangerous service.
He had been somewhat puzzled by her letters ever since he had been
away. They had been almost entirely devoted to his doings, and had
said very little about herself beyond the fact that she was in
excellent health. She had answered his questions as to his various
friends and acquaintances in Dover; but these references had been
short, and she had said nothing about the details of her daily life,
the visits she paid, and the coming in of old friends to see her. She
had evidently been staying a good deal, he thought, with the Withers,
and she kept him fully informed about them, although she did not
mention when she went there or when she had returned.
She frequently spoke about the missing will, and of her hopes it would
some day be recovered; and had mentioned that the search for it was
still being maintained, and that she felt confident that sooner or
later it would come to light. But even as to this she gave him no
specific details; and he felt that, even apart from his desire to see
his mother, he should greatly enjoy a long talk with her, to find out
about everything that had been going on during his absence.
Mrs. Conway had indeed abstained from giving her son the slightest
inkling of the work upon which she was engaged; for she was sure he
would be altogether opposed to her plan, and would be greatly
disturbed and grieved at the thought of her being in any menial
position. Whether if, when he returned, and she had not attained the
object of her search she would let him know what she was doing she had
not decided; but she was determined that at any rate until he came
home on leave he should know nothing about it.
"So we are going to fight Bony at last, Mister Conway," Ralph's
servant said to him. "We've never had that luck before. He has always
sent his generals against us, but, by jabbers, he will find that he
has not got Roosians and Proosians this time."
"It will be hot work, Denis; for we shall have the best troops of
France against us, and Napoleon himself in command."
"It's little we care for the French, your honor. Didn't we meet them
in Spain and bate them? Sure, they are are hardly worth counting."
"You will find them fight very much better now they have their emperor
with them. You know, Wellington had all his work to beat them."
"Yes, but he did bate them, your honor."
"That's true enough, Denis; but his troops now are old soldiers, most
of whom have been fighting for years, while a great part of our force
will be no better than militia."
"They won't fight any the worse for that, your honor," Denis said
confidently. "We will bate them whenever we meet them. You see if we
don't."
"We will try anyhow, Denis; and if all the regiments were as good as
our own I should feel very sure about it. I wish, though, we were
going to fight by ourselves; we know what we can do, but we do not
know how the Belgians and Dutch and Germans who will be with us can be
depended upon."
"If I were the duke I wouldn't dipend on them at all, at all, your
honor. I would just put them all in the rare, and lave our fellows to
do the work. They are miserable, half-starved cratures all them
foreigners, they tells me; and if a man is not fed, sure you can't
expect him to fight. I couldn't do it myself. And I hope the duke
ain't going to put us on short rations, because it would be murther
entirely on the boys to make them fight with impty stomachs."
"I fancy we shall be all right as to that, Denis. I expect that we
shall wait quiet till the French attack us, and waiting quiet means
getting plenty of food."
"And dacent food, I hope, your honor; not the sort of thing they say
them foreigners lives on. Denis Mulligan could live on frogs and
snails as well as another, no doubt; but it would go sorely against
me, your honor."
"I don't think there's much chance of your having to live on that
Denis. You will get rations there just the same as you did in Spain."
"What! beef and mutton, your honor? I suppose they will bring them
across from England?"
"They may bring some across, Denis; but I suppose they will be able to
buy plenty for the supply of the army out there."
"What! have they got cattle and sheep there, your honor?" Denis asked
incredulously.
"Of course they have, Denis; just the same as we have."
"The hathens!" Denis exclaimed. "To think that men who can get beef
and mutton should feed upon such craturs as snails and such like. It's
downright flying in the face of Providence, your honor."
"Nonsense, Denis; they eat beef and mutton just the same as we do. As
to the frogs and snails, these are expensive luxuries, just as game is
with us. There is nothing more nasty about snails after all than there
is about oysters; and as to frogs they were regarded as great dainties
by the Romans, who certainly knew what good eating was."
"Sure, I am a Roman myself, your honor--so are most of the men of the
regiment--but I never heard tell of sich a thing."
"Not that sort of Roman, Denis," Ralph laughed. "The old
Romans--people who lived long before there were any popes--a people
who could fight as well as any that ever lived, and who were as fond
of good living as they were of fighting."
"Well, your honor, there is no accounting for tastes. There was
Bridget Maloney, whom I courted before I entered the regiment. Well,
your honor, if you would believe it, she threw over a dacent boy like
myself, and married a little omadoun of a man about five feet high,
and with one shoulder higher than the other. That was why I took to
soldiering, your honor. No, there is no accounting for tastes anyhow.
There's the mess-bugle, your honor. Next time we hear it, it will be
at say, and maybe there won't be many ready to attind to it."
Denis' prediction was verified. The vessel sailed at two o'clock in
the afternoon, and by six was rolling heavily, and a brisk wind was
blowing. The Twenty-eighth had not long before made the voyage from
the south of France, but they had been favored by exceptionally fine
weather, and had experienced nothing like the tossing they were now
undergoing. The consequence was that only about half a dozen officers
obeyed the bugle call to mess.
There was a general feeling of satisfaction when the low coast round
Ostend was sighted, for the voyage throughout had been a rough one.
Under certain circumstances a sea voyage is delightful, but
confinement in a crowded transport in rough weather is the reverse of
a pleasant experience. The space below decks was too small to
accommodate the whole of the troops, and a third of their number had
to be constantly on deck; and this for a ten days' voyage in a heavy
sea, with occasional rain-showers, is not, under ordinary
circumstances, calculated to raise the spirits of troops. But men
bound on active and dangerous service are always in the highest
spirits, and make light of disagreeables and hardships of all kinds.
They had expected to find Ostend full of troops, for several regiments
had landed before them; but they soon found they were to be marched
inland. As soon as the regiment had landed they marched to a spot
where a standing camp had been erected for the use of troops on their
passage through. Their baggage was at once sent forward, and the men
had therefore nothing to do but to clean up their arms and
accoutrements, and to wander as they pleased through the town. They
started early next morning, and after two days' marching arrived at
Ghent, where several regiments were quartered, either in the town
itself or in the villages round it. Ralph's company had billets
allotted to them in a village a mile from the town, a cottage being
placed at the disposal of the captain and his two subalterns. The next
morning, after the parade of the regiment was over, most of the
officers and many of the men paid a visit to the town, where the
fugitive King of France had now established his court.
Ralph, who years before had read the history of Ghent, was greatly
interested in the quaint old town; though it was difficult to imagine
from the appearance of its quiet streets that its inhabitants had once
been the most turbulent in Europe. Here Von Artevelde was killed, and
the streets often ran with the blood of contending factions. Was it
possible that the fathers of these quiet workmen in blouses, armed
with axes and pikes, had defeated the chivalry of France, and all but
annihilated the force of the Duke of Anjou? What a number of convents
there were! The monks seemed a full third of the population, and it
was curious to hear everyone talking in French when the French were
the enemy they were going to meet. The populace were quite as
interested in their English visitors as the latter were with them. The
English scarlet was altogether strange to them, and the dress of the
men of the Highland regiment, who were encamped next to the
Twenty-eighth, filled them with astonishment.
For a fortnight the regiment remained at Ghent, then they with some
others of the same division marched to Brussels, and took up their
quarters in villages round the town. The Twenty-eighth belonged to
Picton's division, which formed part of the reserve concentrated round
Brussels. The first army corps, consisting of the second and third
divisions of Dutch and Belgians, and the first and third of the
British, extended from Enghien on the right to Quatre Bras on the
left. The first British division were at the former town, the third
between Soignies and Roeulx, while the Belgians and Dutch lay between
Nivelles and Quatre Bras.
The second army corps held the ground on the right of the first, and
extended to Oudenarde on the Scheldt. The cavalry, with the exception
of the Brunswick brigade, were posted at Grammont, Mons, and Roeulx,
their outposts being thrown forward as far as Maubeuge and Beaumont.
The Prussians were on the left of Wellington's force, and extended
from Ligny through Namur toward Liege, their advanced posts being at
Charleroi, where Zieten's division had their headquarters. But
although the allied armies thus formed together the arc of a large
circle covering Brussels, they were entirely distinct. The British
drew their supplies from Ostend, on the right of their position, while
Liege on the extreme left was the base of the Prussians.
Napoleon's movements were uncertain. He might either advance upon
Namur and cut off the Prussians from their base, or between Grammont
and Oudenarde, by which measure he would similarly cut the British off
from Ostend; or he might advance from Charleroi direct upon Brussels,
breaking through at the point where Wellington's left joined the
Prussian right. The Duke of Wellington believed that he would attempt
the second of these alternatives, as in that case he would fall upon
the British before the Prussians could come up to their assistance,
and if successful would not only cut them off from the base of
supplies, but would be able to march straight upon Brussels. It was to
defeat this plan that the duke posted the largest proportion of his
British troops along the frontier, holding, however, two British
divisions and the Brunswick and Nassau troops in and round Brussels,
where they were nearly equidistant from any point that could be
attacked, and could be moved forward as soon as the enemy's intentions
became manifest.
By the time that the whole of the forces were assembled Wellington had
ninety thousand men under his orders; Blucher, the Prussian general,
had one hundred and sixteen thousand; while Napoleon had one hundred
and twenty-five thousand with which to encounter this vastly superior
force. Upon the other hand, Napoleon's were all veteran troops, and
the French had for a long time been accustomed to victory over the
Prussians. Of Wellington's force fully a half were of mixed
nationalities: Belgians, Dutch, Brunswickers, and Hessians; while his
British division consisted chiefly of young troops, so hastily raised
that a great number of them absolutely fought at Waterloo in the
uniforms of the militia regiments from which they had been drafted.
It seemed, however, a well-nigh desperate enterprise for Napoleon to
attack so greatly superior a force. But he had, in fact, no choice but
to do so; for Russia and Austria were arming, and their forces would
soon be advancing upon France, and it was therefore necessary if
possible to defeat the British and Prussians before they could arrive.
Could he succeed in doing this the enthusiasm that would be excited in
France would enable him vastly to increase his army. In the meantime
his confidence in his own military genius was unbounded, and the
history of his past was contained many triumphs won under
circumstances far less favorable than the present.
During the weeks that elapsed while the three great armies were
assembling and taking up their positions, the troops stationed round
Brussels had a pleasant time of it. The city itself was crowded with
visitors. Here were a number of the wives and friends of the officers
of the various armies. Here were many of the French nobility, who had
abandoned France upon the landing of Napoleon. Here were numbers of
people attracted by curiosity, or the desire of being present at the
theater of great events, together with a crowd of simple
pleasure-seekers; for Europe had for many years been closed to
Englishmen, and as soon as peace had been proclaimed great numbers had
crossed the Channel to visit Paris, and had traveled in Germany,
Italy, and Switzerland.
The news of Napoleon's return to France had occasioned a great scare
among the tourists. A very few days sufficed for the desertion of
Paris and other French towns, and so great was the crowd that the
packet-boats between Calais and Dover were insufficient to carry them.
Many of the visitors to Paris instead of leaving for England made for
Belgium, and were joined there by travelers hurrying back from
Austria, Germany, and other parts of Europe; for none could say what
course the events that would follow Napoleon's return from Elba might
take. At Brussels, however, they felt safe; the distance to England
was short, and they could, if necessary, leave at any time. Beside,
between Belgium and France twelve thousand British troops had been
stationed in the strong places, in accordance with the terms of the
treaty of Fontainebleau and an agreement made with her allies after
the fall of Napoleon.
The streets of Brussels were ablaze with bright colors. Staff-officers
in the uniforms of a number of nationalities dashed through the
streets, followed by their orderlies. Now and then two or three
general officers, riding at a slower pace and engaged in earnest talk,
passed along, while the pavements were occupied by crowds of men and
officers in all the varieties of British, Dutch, Belgian, Brunswick,
Hanoverian, Hessian, and Prussian uniforms. Although Belgium had cast
in her lot with the allies the people were by no means unanimous in
their sympathies; and, indeed, the majority, from their similarity
both in religion and tongue to the French, sympathized with them
rather than with the allies, who were for the most part both
Protestant and foreigners.
Those who entertained these sentiments, however, kept them to
themselves, while the rest fraternized to the best of their power with
the troops, many of whom were quartered in the town. As for
amusements, there were for the officers the theaters and an opera,
while many of the ladies staying in Brussels kept almost open houses;
races and athletic sports were got up for the men. The weather at the
latter end of May and during the early days of June was delightful;
and although all knew that the storm might at any moment burst, it was
difficult to believe while so enjoying themselves that to-morrow they
might be called upon to meet the enemy in deadly conflict. Even Denis
Mulligan had nothing to complain about in his rations, and allowed to
Ralph that the Belgians were much more decent people than he had
expected to find them.
The months of April and May had passed quietly on the frontier. The
cavalry of the allied army on one side, and the French mounted
gendarmerie on the other, maintained a vigilant watch over each
others' movements, and each endeavored to prevent the passing out of
persons who might carry news of the intentions and position of their
armies. But the line was far too long to be strictly watched, and
French loyalists on the one side and Belgian sympathizers with France
on the other, managed to pass with sufficient regularity to keep the
generals informed of the movements of their opponents.
Wellington, then, was perfectly aware of the gathering of Napoleon's
forces upon the other side of the frontier; but they, like his own
troops were scattered over a long front, and yet there was no
indication whatever as to the point where Napoleon was likely to break
through. During the past three months large bodies of men had labored
to restore the ruined fortifications of the frontier towns. The moats
had been cleared out and deepened, the walls repaired, and the sluices
restored, so that in case of necessity a wide tract of country could
be laid under water.
These precautions had been specially taken on the right of the British
position where Wellington expected Napoleon's attack, and the general
calculated that with the aid of the obstacles so interposed to
Napoleon's advance, the troops stationed there would be able to check
the tide of invasion until the whole army arrived to their assistance.
The country between Brussels and the frontier was reconnoitered, and
engineer officers were employed in making sketches of all the
positions that appeared likely to offer special advantages as
battlefields for an army standing on the defense.
Among others the fields lying in front of the village of Waterloo were
mapped, and the spot was specially marked by the duke as one to be
occupied in case the enemy forced a way between the British and
Prussian armies. On the 12th of June the Duke of Wellington learned
that Napoleon and the guards had left Paris for the North, and the
next day the officer in command of the cavalry outposts reported that
the pickets of French cavalry which had so long faced him had
disappeared, and that he had learned from some French custom-house
officers that hostilities were about to commence.
On the 15th of June, Ralph Conway had gone with Stapleton into
Brussels as usual. Everything was going on with its accustomed
regularity. A military band was playing in the park. Numbers of
well-appointed carriages, filled with well-dressed ladies, drove to
and fro, and crowds of officers and civilians strolled under the
trees, greeting their acquaintances and discussing the latest gossip
of the town. As to the coming of the French, the topic was so
threadbare that no one alluded to it; and no stranger could have
imagined from the aspect of the scene that three great armies were
lying thirty or forty miles away in readiness to engage at any moment
in a desperate struggle. The great subject of talk was the ball that
was to be given that evening by the Duchess of Richmond; this was
expected altogether to outshine any of the other festivities that had
taken place in Brussels during that gay season. It was about half-past
four in the afternoon that the young men saw Captain O'Connor
approaching.
"Can you young fellows keep a secret?" he asked.
"I think so," Ralph laughed.
"I suppose you are both going to the ball?"
"Of course we are. We are both off duty, and Stapleton here is quite
absorbed in the thought of the conquests he intends to make."
"Well, the secret is this. It is quite probable you will not go to the
ball at all."
"Why! How it that?" the young officers exclaimed simultaneously. "Is
the regiment ordered away?"
"Not yet, lads; but it may be. I have just seen the colonel. He dined
with the duke at three o'clock. There were a lot of officers there,
and the Prince of Orange, who had just come in from the outposts for
the ball, told him that the Prussians at Thuin were attacked this
morning, and that a heavy cannonade was going on when he left. Orders
were issued half an hour ago for the whole of the troops to be in
readiness to march at a moment's notice. There's no saying yet which
way the French may come, and this attack upon the Prussians may be
only a feint; so not a soldier can be moved till more is known. The
first division is ordered to collect at Ath to-night, the third at
Braine-le-Comte, and the fourth at Grammont. The fifth--that is
ours--with the Eighty-first and the Hanoverian brigade, and the sixth
division, of course collect here. All are to be in readiness to march
at a moment's notice. The Prince of Orange is to gather the second and
third Dutch divisions at Nivelles. Of course this first skirmish may
only be intended to feel our force and positions; but at any rate, it
is a sign that the game is going to begin."
"But if the orders are issued, and the troops are to collect to-night,
the secret cannot be kept long."
"No; by this time the divisional orders will be published, and
everyone will know it in an hour or two. There is really no secret
about it, lads. If there had been the colonel wouldn't have told me,
and I shouldn't have told you. See, the news is circulating already."
A change was indeed taking place in the position of the scene. The
loungers were gathering in little groups, talking eagerly and
excitedly. The orders for the concentration of the divisions had
become known, though as yet all were in ignorance as to the reason for
their issue. The three officers joined some of the groups and listened
to the talk. The general idea was that the duke had heard that the
French were gathering for an attack, and these measures were merely
precautionary. It might be days yet before the affair really began.
Still it was important news; and there were pale faces among the
ladies at this sudden reminder that the assembly at Brussels was not a
mere holiday gathering, but that war, grim, earnest, and terrible, was
impending.
"We had better be getting back to our quarters," Captain O'Connor
said. "Everything will have to be packed up this evening."
"But does this mean that the troops are to be under arms all night?"
Stapleton asked.
"That it does, Stapleton. Of course they won't be kept standing in
line; but when troops are ordered to be in readiness to march at a
moment's notice, on such a business as this, it means that they will
all be assembled. Then probably they will be allowed to lie down, and
perhaps will light bivouac fires. But it means business, I can tell
you."
"Then I for one shan't go to the ball," Ralph said. "No doubt it will
be a pretty sight; but there have been lots of balls, and this bivouac
will be a new experience altogether."
"I don't know that you are wrong, Conway," Captain O'Connor said.
"Beside, you will probably find the colonel will issue orders that
only a certain number of officers may go. I shall look in for an hour
or two just to see the scene. But I don't know many people, and with a
room full of generals and colonels, and three or four men to each
lady, there won't be much chance of getting partners."
When they reached the village Stapleton said good-by to them, as his
company lay half a mile further on; and Captain O'Connor and Ralph
entered their quarters. They found their servants busy packing up the
baggage.
"What is this all about, O'Connor?" Lieutenant Desmond asked.
"It is in orders that the whole division is to assemble to-night in
readiness to march at a moment's notice. News has come that the French
have attacked the Prussian outposts, and the duke is not to be caught
napping. Of course it may be nothing but an outpost skirmish; still it
may be the beginning of operations on a grand scale."
"And there is an order," Desmond said dolefully, "that only one
officer in each company is to go to the ball."
"You want to go--eh, Desmond?"
"Well, of course I should like to go, and so would everyone I suppose,
however, it can't be helped; for of course you will go yourself."
"Well, I have made up my mind to look in for an hour or two. Conway
doesn't wish to go. I'll tell you how we will arrange, Desmond. What
the order means is that two officers must stop with their company. It
doesn't matter in the least who they are; so that there are two out of
the three with the men. Dancing will begin about eight o'clock. I will
look in there at nine. An hour will be enough for me; so I will come
back to the company, and you can slip away and stop there till it's
over."
"Thank you very much," Desmond said gratefully.
"And look here, Desmond. You had better arrange with your man to leave
your undress uniform out; so that when you get back from the ball you
can slip into it and have the other packed up. That's what I am going
to do. I can't afford to have my best uniform spoiled by having to
sleep in it in the mud. A captain's pay doesn't run to such
extravagance as that."
"What will be done with the baggage if we have to march?"
"Oh, I don't suppose we shall march to-night. But if we do, the
quartermaster will detail a party to collect all the baggage left
behind and put it in store. We needn't bother about that; especially
when, for aught we know, we may never come back to claim it."
But although O'Connor did not know it, the duke had by this time
received news indicating that the attack upon the Prussian outpost was
the beginning of a great movement, and that the whole French army were
pressing forward by the road where the Prussian and British army
joined hands.
At daybreak the French had advanced in three columns--the right upon
Chatelet, five miles below Charleroi, on the Sambre; the center on
Charleroi itself; the left on Marchienne. Zieten, who was in command
of the Prussian corps d'armée, defended the bridges at these three
points stoutly, and then contested every foot of the ground, his
cavalry making frequent charges; so that at the end of the day the
French had only advanced five miles. This stout resistance enabled
Blucher to bring up two out of his other three corps, Bulow, whose
corps was at Liege, forty miles away, receiving his orders too late to
march that day. The rest of the Prussian army concentrated round the
villages of Fleurs and Ligny.
Accordingly at ten o'clock in the evening orders were issued by
Wellington for the third division to march at once from
Braine-le-Comte to Nivelles, for the first to move from Enghien to
Braine-le-Comte, and for the second and fourth divisions to march from
Ath and Grammont on Enghien. No fresh orders were issued to the troops
round Brussels; and although it was known at the ball that the troops
were in readiness to march at a moment's notice, there were none
except the generals and a few members of the staff who had an idea
that the moment was so near at hand. The regiments stationed at a
distance from Brussels were assembled in the park by ten o'clock in
the evening; then arms were piled, and the men permitted to fall out.
Only a few lighted fires, for the night was warm. The artillery,
however, who had all along been bivouacked in the park, had their
fires going as usual, and round these many of the troops gathered, but
the greater part wrapped themselves in their cloaks and went quietly
to sleep. Ralph strolled about for an hour or two, chatting with other
officers and looking at the groups of sleepers, and listening to the
talk of the soldiers gathered round the fires. Among them were many
old Peninsular men, whose experience now rendered them authorities
among the younger soldiers, who listened eagerly to the details of the
desperate struggle at Albuera, the terrible storming of the
fortresses, and lighter tales of life and adventure in Spain. Many of
the men whose quarters lay near the scene of assembly had been
permitted to return to them, with strict orders to be ready to join
the ranks should the bugle sound.