midday
The Poles were our friends , it was true , but out of a hundred thousand men , only the Guard had waggons , and the rest had to live as best they might . It did not surprise me , therefore , to see no signs of cattle and no smoke from the silent houses . A weal had been left across the country where the great host had passed , and it was said that even the rats were starved wherever the Emperor had led his men . By midday I had got as far as the village of Saalfeldt , but as I was on the direct road for Osterode , where the Emperor was wintering , and also for the main camp of the seven divisions of infantry , the highway was choked with carriages and carts . What with artillery caissons and waggons and couriers , and the ever-thickening stream of recruits and stragglers , it seemed to me that it would be a very long time before I should join my comrades . The plains , however , were five feet deep in snow , so there was nothing for it but to plod upon our way . It was with joy , therefore , that I found a second road which branched away from the other , trending through a fir-wood towards the north .