about eight o'clock in the evening
`` It 's twelve to fifteen mile off , '' said he . `` You may be sure the general knows we are not wanted , or we should not be resting here at Hal . '' What he said proved to be true , for a minute later down came the colonel with orders that we should pile arms and bivouac where we were ; and there we stayed all day , while horse and foot and guns , English , Dutch , and Hanoverians , were streaming through . The devil 's music went on till evening , sometimes rising into a roar , sometimes sinking into a grumble , until about eight o'clock in the evening it stopped altogether . We were eating our hearts out , as you may think , to know what it all meant , but we knew that what the Duke did would be for the best , so we just waited in patience . Next day the brigade remained at Hal in the morning , but about mid-day came an orderly from the Duke , and we pushed on once more until we came to a little village called Braine something , and there we stopped ; and time too , for a sudden thunderstorm broke over us , and a plump of rain that turned all the roads and the fields into bog and mire . We got into the barns at this village for shelter , and there we found two stragglers -- one from a kilted regiment , and the other a man of the German Legion , who had a tale to tell that was as dreary as the weather .