About midnight
About eleven o'clock we reached a large village called Genappe , which lies on both sides of the route . The crowd of wagons , cannon , and baggage was so great that we were forced to turn to the right and cross the Thy by a bridge , and from this point we continued to march through the fields of grain and hemp , like savages who respect nothing . The night was so dark that the mounted dragoons , who were placed at intervals of two hundred paces like guide-posts , kept shouting , `` This way , this way ! '' About midnight we reached a sort of farm-house thatched with straw , which was filled with superior officers . It was not far from the main road , as we could hear the cavalry and artillery and baggage wagons rushing by like a torrent . The captain had hardly got into the house , when we jumped over the hedge into the garden . I did like the rest , and snatched what I could .