The Battalion had now fallen back, and, the French advancing, this picquet retreated also; and came up with the Battalion at Genappe, where it was halted in column at the entrance to the town. The Duke and his Staff were on the rising ground near; the Duke watching intently through his telescope the advance of the enemy. At this moment rain began to fall heavily, and the men were ordered to shelter themselves in the houses on each side of the village street; but they had not been long in them when some shots which were heard between the enemy’s advancing and our retreating cavalry, soon produced the order to ‘fall in;’ and passing with the cavalry through Genappe, they reformed column on some high ground at the end of that village. While they were so posted they had the satisfaction of witnessing that charge of the Life Guards down from that height, which rolled up the French Lancers, and jammed them up with the cuirassiers in the narrow street of Genappe. The retreat continued, through incessant torrents of rain, which made the ground and the trampled corn so difficult to move over, that the Riflemen did not reach the position of Waterloo till a couple of hours before dark. There they bivouacked, with the right wing of the Battalion resting on the Charleroi road, behind La Haye Sainte, and near a small cottage where Sir Andrew Barnard had established his quarters, and where he dispensed the provisions he had received from Brussels to many of his officers. The enemy coming up on the opposite heights opened a cannonade, but without effect, at least on the Battalion; and at nightfall they discontinued it. While the Battalion lay by their arms, the rain still fell in torrents; there was a thunderstorm in the evening; and through the night it rained heavily; but towards morning dwindled to a thin small rain, and finally ceased before daybreak. The morning of the 18th dawned heavily; the heavy moisture of the night rose from the heated ground in mist and haze; which, as the sun gained power, ascended and left the ground and prospect clear, yet kept the day cloudy. At daylight the men sprang to their feet, and took their arms; cleaning them and their accoutrements, moistened and rusted by so many hours of wet. This done, the Battalion took up its position.