As soon as the morrow's early parade was dismissed, and I perceived that no indication was given of farther movements, I took my gun and set off to the woods, where I hoped to find game enough to furnish out a comfortable repast in the evening. Nor was I disappointed. Hares and woodcocks abounded here; there were, moreover, numerous flocks of golden plovers; and of these I contrived to bring home a sufficient number to satisfy my own wants and the wants of others. But it was not alone because I chanced to be particularly successful in shooting that the day's excursion gave me pleasure; the country round was more romantic and striking than any which I had yet seen, and came nearer to a realisation of my previously-conceived notions respecting scenery in the south of France. All was hill and dale, sweeping groves and green meadows, with here and there a vineyard, already beginning to give signs of vegetation, and to put forth its delicate fibres, like our hop-plant in the month of May. The proximity of the Nive, too, added not a little to the beauty of the prospect, as it flowed gently and quietly on, winding for a while between sloping grass fields, and then eluding the eye amid the thick groves which overhung its banks. It would have been altogether as sweet and pastoral a landscape as the imagination can very well picture, but for the remote view of the intrenched camp which from various points might be obtained, and the nearer glimpse of numerous watch-fires, round which groups of armed men were swarming. But to me these were of course precisely the most interesting objects in the panorama.