Dinner over the
infantry marched off in two columns, the cavalry remaining until four
o'clock in the afternoon, when upon the advance of Ney in front and
Napoleon on the left they fell back, and after some sharp skirmishes
with the enemy's light cavalry joined the infantry before nightfall in
their position near Mount St. Jean and Waterloo. Rain had fallen for a
time during the afternoon of the battle, and now at four o'clock it
again began to come down heavily, soaking the troops to the skin.
"This is miserable, Stapleton," Ralph said to his friend, after the
regiment had piled arms on the ground pointed out to them by the
officers of the quartermaster's department.
"I am rather glad to hear you say it is miserable, Ralph. I was
certainly thinking so myself; but you always accuse me of being a
grumbler, so I thought I would hold my tongue."
Ralph laughed. "I don't think any one could deny that it is miserable,
Stapleton; but some people keep up their spirits under miserable
circumstances and others don't. This is one of the occasions on which
it is really very hard to feel cheerful. There is not a dry thing in
the regiment; the rain is coming down steadily and looks as if it
meant to keep it up all night. The ground is fast turning into soft
mud, and we have got to sleep upon it, or rather in it; for by the
time we are ready to lie down it will be soft enough to let us sink
right in.
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