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.
The Emperor at this time used to sleep at a village called Pont de
Briques, some four miles inland, but his days were spent at the camp,
and his continual councils of war were held there.
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