ep; every instant of that night was marked by a joy for him.
He traversed the line of the principal outposts, halting here and there to talk to the sentinels.
At half-past two, near the wood of Hougomont, he heard the tread of a column on the march; he thought at the moment that it was a retreat on the part of Wellington.
He said:
"It is the rear-guard of the English getting under way for the purpose of decamping.
I will take prisoners the six thousand English who have just arrived at Ostend." He conversed expansively; he regained the animation which he had shown at his landing on the first of March, when he pointed out to the Grand-Marshal the enthusiastic peasant of the Gulf Juan, and cried, "Well, Bertrand, here is a reinforcement already!" On the night of the 17th to the 18th of June he rallied Wellington. "That little Englishman needs a lesson," said Napoleon.
The rain redoubled in violence; the thunder rolled while the Emperor was speaking.
At half-past three o''clock in the morning, he lost one illusion; officers who had been despatched to reconnoitre announced to him that the enemy was not making any movement.
Nothing was stirring; not a bivouac-fire had been extinguished; the English army was asleep. The silence on earth was profound; the only noise was in the heavens. At four o''clock, a peasant was brought in to him by the scouts; this peasant had served as guide to a brigade of English cavalry, probably Vivian''s brigade, which was on its way to take up a position in the village of Ohain, at the extreme left.