The snow, which during an hour or two in the afternoon had ceased, began again to fall in increased quantities after dark. The wind, too, grew more and more boisterous every moment; it roared in the woods, and whistled fearfully through the ruined houses; and at every pause I could distinctly hear the wolf's long howl, and the growl and short bark of the wild dogs, as they quarrelled over the mangled carcasses scattered round me. Near the margin of the right-hand lake, in particular, this horrible din was constantly audible. There lay there, apart from each other, about ten bodies, of whom seven wore the fragments of a British uniform; and on these a whole troop of animals, from the thickets beyond, gorged themselves. Close beside one of these bodies I had been under the necessity of planting a sentinel; and the weakness of my party would not permit me to allow him a companion. He was rather a young man, and had selected the post for himself, in order to show that superstitious terrors had no power over him; but he bitterly lamented his temerity, as the situation in which I found him showed.
I visited his post about half an hour after he had assumed it—that is to say, a little before midnight: he was neither standing nor sitting, but leaning against a tree, and was fairly covered with a coat of frozen snow. His firelock had dropped from his hand, and lay across the chest of the dead man beside whom he had chosen to place himself. When I spoke to the sentry, and desired to know why he had not challenged as I approached, he made no answer; and on examining more closely, I found that he was in a swoon. Of course I despatched my orderly for a relief, and kept watch myself till he returned, when, with the assistance of my comrades, I first dragged the dead body to the lake, into which it was thrown, and then removed the insensible but living man to the picket-house. There several minutes were spent in chafing and rubbing him before he opened his eyes; but being at length restored to the use of speech, he gave the following account of his adventure:—
He said that the corporal had hardly quitted him when his ears were assailed with the most dreadful sounds, such as, he was very certain, no earthly creature could produce; that he saw through the gloom a whole troop of devils dancing beside the water's edge; and that a creature in white came creeping towards his post, groaning heavily all the way. He endeavoured to call out to it, but the words stuck in his throat, nor could he utter so much as a cry. Just then he swore that the dead man sat up and stared him in the face; after which he had no recollection of anything, till he found himself in the picket-house. I have no reason to suspect that man of cowardice; neither, as my reader will easily believe, did I treat his story with any other notice than a hearty laugh; but in the absolute truth of it he uniformly persisted, and, if he be alive, persists I daresay to this hour.
After this adventure with my foolhardy and at the same time superstitious follower, nothing occurred during the night which seems to deserve special notice. As I have already mentioned, I took care to visit the sentinels so often that danger of surprisal was effectually averted. That these constant perambulations would have been undertaken as a matter of choice I by no means pretend to say, for it was a night of storm and intense cold: but I felt my situation to be a critical one; and feeling so, I should have been less at ease by the side of a comfortable fire than I was while forcing my way against the wind and snow. Nor had I any reason to find fault with the conduct of my men. Being warned of their danger in good time, they were thoroughly on the alert to guard against it. I found each sentry more watchful than his neighbour—in other words, one and all of them completely on the qui vive.
I recollect, indeed, on one occasion being put a little upon my mettle. It was about two in the morning when I was informed by a soldier, who kept watch at the extremity of the hamlet, that he had heard within the last ten minutes a more than usual noise in a large house about a hundred and fifty yards in front of his post. He described it to me as if people were tearing up boards, or thumping down heavy weights upon the floor; and he himself seemed to think that a body of infantry had arrived and established themselves within the building. I listened attentively in order to catch any sound which might proceed from that quarter, but none reached me. He persisted, however, in his story; and added, that if the noise which he had heard proceeded not from men, it must come from spirits. "And why not from dogs or wolves?" said I. "Because dogs and wolves cannot split wood," said he; "and I will swear, that if ever I heard planks torn asunder, I heard it now." Being little inclined to leave the matter in doubt, I remained with the sentinel, and despatched my orderly to bring up half-a-dozen men for the purpose of making a reconnaissance.
The reader has probably anticipated that I found the house empty. It was so; for, after stealing through the street with the utmost caution—stopping every two minutes and applying my ear to the ground, in order to catch the slightest noise—after peeping over the garden wall, listening at the entrance, and creeping up the front steps with the pace of a burglar, I found that the chateau was wholly tenantless; and what was more, that not a trace of its having been recently visited, at least by human beings, could be discovered. Nevertheless I commended the soldier for his watchfulness, advised him to continue equally vigilant as long as he should remain on duty, and leaving it to himself to decide whether the sounds which he had reported proceeded from ghosts or more tangible creatures, I quitted him.
It may not be amiss if I state here, what I have already more than hinted, that on all these occasions I was accompanied by a spaniel bitch. I had brought the creature with me from England when she was a puppy of only nine months old; and she became attached to me in a degree such as would not in all probability have been the case had my mode of life being more settled, and she in consequence less my companion. Nor was it only because I was fond of the animal that I taught her to follow my fortunes thus closely. A well-trained dog is no bad helpmate to an officer who has charge of an outpost; indeed I was never greatly alarmed, notwithstanding the communications of my vedettes, unless my four-footed patrol confirmed their statements. If she barked or growled, then I felt assured that something dangerous was near; if she continued quiet, I was comparatively easy. To that dog, indeed, I owe my life; but the circumstance under which she preserved it occurred in a different quarter of the world, and has no right to be introduced into my present narrative.
In this manner was the night of the 24th of January spent. About an hour before daybreak on the 25th I mustered my picket, according to custom, and kept them standing under arms in front of the house till dawn appeared. This measure was necessary, not only because it is a standing order in the British army for advanced corps to get under arms thus early, but because experience has proved that the first of the morning is the favourite moment of attack, inasmuch as, by commencing hostilities at that young hour of the day, good hopes are held out of effecting something decisive before the day shall have ended. On the present occasion, however, no attack was made; and hence, after waiting the usual time, I prepared again to shift my ground, and to take post at the more advanced station which I held yesterday, and which I had evacuated solely for the purpose of making myself less insecure during the hours of darkness.
We had returned to our daylight position about a quarter of an hour, when a patrol of light cavalry arrived, and proposed to plant a vedette upon the top of an eminence about a mile in our front. The person who commanded the party, however, appeared to be a little in doubt as to the practicability of performing the orders which he had received. He said that the enemy were not willing to allow that height to be occupied by us; that the last relief which had attempted to establish itself there was driven off; and that he was not without apprehension of an ambuscade, and of being taken with his whole party;—in a word, he begged that I would allow a portion of my men to follow him, and that I would support him in case he should be attacked either by infantry or cavalry.
To say the truth, I was a good deal puzzled how to act, for nothing had been communicated to me on the subject; nevertheless I determined to lend as much assistance as I could spare, and accordingly directed about a dozen men to follow the dragoons. Not deeming it right, however, to intrust a detachment of my own people entirely to the charge of a stranger, I resolved to accompany them; and perhaps it was well that I did.