eight o'clock
`` They 're excellent fellows , these cuirassiers of ours , and I know you 'll like them . '' With this promise we parted , hoping to meet on the morrow . At an early hour on the morning of the 4th came orders for the `` Garde à Cheval '' to hold themselves in readiness , with two squadrons of the carabineers , on the road to Holitsch ; part of this force being under the command of General d'Auvergne . We found ourselves fully equipped and in waiting soon after eight o'clock . From the `` tenue '' and appearance of the troops , it was evident that no measure of active service was contemplated ; yet , if a review were intended , we could not guess why so small a force had been selected . As usual on such occasions , many conjectures were hazarded , and a hundred explanations passed current , -- one scarcely a whit better than the other , when at last we perceived a peloton of dragoons advancing towards us at a brisk trot . The word was passed to close up and draw swords ; and scarcely was it obeyed when the staff of the Emperor came up .