FORMING IN LINE. 247 



and I did not see any object to be gained by 

 remaining with the retiring pickets, 1 returned 

 towards the camp, and found that about two 

 thousand men of different regiments of the 

 second division, chiefly the 30th, 55th, 41st, 47th, 

 49th, and 95th, were formed in line behind the 

 stone wall previously alluded to, which number 

 was increased by small parties who ran up from all 

 directions in companies, tens, and even single men. 

 Regiments had but little time to form, for the 

 heavy tread of the enemy was heard as they 

 approached nearer and nearer, driving back our 

 outposts, who fell in with our line. Then a rattling 

 of arms was heard, and almost immediately clouds 

 of dusky tigures appeared looming largely through 

 the fog, whose long gray coats and flat caps left us 

 no doubt as to whom they were. Through breaks 

 in the drifting vapour, behind these swarms of 

 skirmishers, we could perceive the head of an 

 immense column closely following in steady and 

 compact order. 



A deadly silence reigned ; men peered through 

 the gloom at the advancing foe, then looked 



