The gardener, his son, and Mdlle. Mon-père-dit, with her pale face rendered still paler by the agitation of the morning, stand drawn up in the court, precisely in the same order and on the same ground as on the day of our arrival. With a profusion of blessings, &c., they thank me for the great care we have taken of the chateau, and for the very liberal gratuity which our paymaster, the doctor (Hitchins), had bestowed upon them. They wish me all manner of success, but fear we shall have bloody work. The old man mutters something about Buonaparte _capôte_, which I do not understand, but take for granted is something friendly, so return thanks, mount my horse, and, once more, adieu Strytem. We had cleared the village and marched some miles well enough, being within the range of my daily rides; but, this limit passed, I was immediately sensible of another error--that of having started without a guide, for the roads became so numerous, intricate, and bad, often resembling only woodmen’s tracks, that I was sorely puzzled, spite of the map I carried in my _sabretache_, to pick out my way. But a graver error still I had now to reproach myself with, and one that might have been attended with fatal consequences. Eager to get on, and delayed by the badness of the roads, I left all my ammunition-waggons behind, under charge of old Hall, my quartermaster-sergeant, to follow us, and then pushed on with the guns alone, thus foolishly enough dividing my troops into three columns--viz., the guns, ammunition-waggons, and the column of provision waggons under the commissary. For this piece of folly I paid dearly in the anxiety I suffered throughout this eventful day, which at times was excessive.