WATERLOO DIARY. 
317 
on one occasion a squadron formed to repel some skirmishers who 
seemed inclined to make a dash at the rear of our troop of guns, but 
the very heavy rain caused the roads and ground to be so poached and cut 
up, that they soon ceased to follow us altogether after that demonstra¬ 
tion, and I deliberately halted the rear gun of my division and had the 
wheel horse shod, under the protection of a few Dragoons, while the 
rest of the Brigade and the Troop were still galloping and trotting off in 
retreat. This enabled me to look about a little, and I then saw that 
the regiments to our right on the Pave road were engaged. There was 
much charging and cheering, but I could not distinguish which had the 
best or worst of it. At dusk we came upon the Infantry who had al¬ 
ready reached their bivouac and were in the positions assigned them. 
The Troop took up its quarters in the hamlet of Conconbert. On our 
right a cannonade was kept up till dark and I imagine the French con¬ 
tinued their pursuit of the centre column until they felt our Infantry 
in position. We soon after heard the 7th Hussars had suffered severely 
in the charge on the Pave road and been brought out of difficulty by 
the Household troops. It continued to rain, but as in a hovel the 
the officers got into, we found plenty of potatoes and a barrel of beer, 
we did very well. The only inconvenience I suffered was from having 
lent my cloak to the Doctor who was ill and had none, by which I got 
so thoroughly soaked I could get nothing dried, having no change, 
and my feet began to swell so that I was afraid to take off my boots, 
fearing I might not be able to get them on again. All this made me 
so feverish that I could get no sleep and became so thirsty I could do 
nothing but suck the beer barrel with a straw to try and allay the 
parching of my mouth. I was, however, instructed to set off by times 
in the morning and find a practicable road from our bivouac, through 
the wood of Soignies, to Brussels, by which to conduct the brigade in 
case of a further retreat, which was to protect the left flank of the 
main body of the army on the great road through Waterloo to Brussels, 
the road I was to discover therefore was to be parallel to that road. 
I left Conconbert, the bivouac of the troop, a little before dawn. 
The occasional cannonade which soon after began, became once or 
twice so strong that I thought a battle must have been begun. It still 
continued to rain and I was very uncomfortable in my feet, which were 
very painfully swollen. I had no map or a guide and I could only 
guess the position of the high road, and I knew as much of the direc¬ 
tion in which Brussels laid, so that I had to try by riding along a 
great many different turns and roads. However, I at last succeeded 
iu emerging out of the w^ood upon Brussels (just in front of me) and 
by a road that was practicable both for Artillery and Cavalry, by allow¬ 
ing the former before it should have become poached to precede the 
latter. On the Namur road I found about 400 or 500 Prussians 
parading and forming into column, they appeared to be of different 
regiments indiscriminately mixed and were debris of or runaways from 
the battle of Fleurus. I pointed to the direction in which our army 
lay, which an officer said it was their intention to join. I found the 
streets in Brussels, which I had seen only a few days before thronged 
with inhabitants and our troops, deserted excepting by the wounded 
1815. 
June 18th, 
