Twenty or thirty pioneers, who had been carried forward behind as
many of the cavalry, were now seen busily employed in filling up the
ditch, and cutting down the short scrubby hedge; and presently, the
artillery coming up also, filed off sharply to the right, and formed on
the very summit of the hill, distinctly visible between us and the grey
cold streaks of morning. By the time we had noticed, this, the clatter in
our immediate neighbourhood was renewed, and a group of mounted officers
dashed past us, up the path, like a whirlwind, followed at a distance of
twenty yards, by a single cavalier, apparently a general officer. These
did not stop, as they rode at speed past the spot where the artillery were
in position, but, dipping over the summit, disappeared down the road, from
which they did not appear to diverge, until they were lost to our view
beyond the crest of the hill. The hum and buzz, and, anon, the "measured
tread of marching men," in the valley between us and Hamburgh, still
continued. The leading files of a light infantry regiment, now appeared,
swinging along at a round trot, with their muskets poised in their right
hands--no knapsacks on their backs. They appeared to follow the route of
the group of mounted officers, until we could see a puff of white smoke,
then another and a third from the field--pieces, followed by thudding
reports, there being no high ground nor precipitous bank nor water in the
neighborhood to reflect the sound, and make it emulate Jove's thunder.
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