‘The men with the yellow facings?’

’Precisely.  Those are Oudinot’s famous grenadiers.  And the other grenadiers, with the red shoulder-knots and the fur hats strapped above their knapsacks, are the Imperial Guard, the successors of the old Consular Guard who won Marengo for us.  Eighteen hundred of them got the cross of honour after the battle.  There is the 57th of the line, which has been named “The Terrible,” and there is the 7th Light Infantry, who come from the Pyrenees, and who are well known to be the best marchers and the greatest rascals in the army.  The light cavalry in green are the Horse Chasseurs of the Guard, sometimes called the Guides, who are said to be the Emperor’s favourite troops, although he makes a great mistake if he prefers them to the Hussars of Bercheny.  The other cavalry with the green pelisses are also chasseurs, but I cannot tell from here what regiment they are.  Their colonel handles them admirably.  They are moving to a flank in open column of half-squadrons and then wheeling into line to charge.  We could not do it better ourselves.  And now, Monsieur de Laval, here we are at the gates of the Camp of Boulogne, and it is my duty to take you straight to the Emperor’s quarters.’

CHAPTER X

THE ANTE-ROOM

The camp of Boulogne contained at that time one hundred and fifty thousand infantry, with fifty thousand cavalry, so that its population was second only to Paris among the cities of France.  It was divided into four sections, the right camp, the left camp, the camp of Wimereux, and the camp of Ambleteuse, the whole being about a mile in depth, and extending along the seashore for a length of about seven miles.  On the land side it was open, but on the sea side it was fringed by powerful batteries containing mortars and cannon of a size never seen before.  These batteries were placed along the edges of the high cliffs, and their lofty position increased their range, and enabled them to drop their missiles upon the decks of the English ships.

It was a pretty sight to ride through the camp, for the men had been there for more than a year, and had done all that was possible to decorate and ornament their tents.  Most of them had little gardens in front or around them, and the sun-burned fellows might be seen as we passed kneeling in their shirt-sleeves with their spuds and their watering-cans in the midst of their flower-beds.  Others sat in the sunshine at the openings of the tents tying up their queues, pipe-claying their belts, and polishing their arms, hardly bestowing a glance upon us as we passed, for patrols of cavalry were coming and going in every direction.  The endless lines were formed into streets, with their names printed up upon boards.  Thus we had passed through the Rue d’Arcola, the Rue de Kleber, the Rue d’Egypte, and the Rue d’Artillerie Volante, before we found ourselves in the great central square in which the headquarters of the army were situated.