midnight
I sat in my little hovel of straw , -- my mind far too much excited for sleep , -- watching the stars as they peeped out one by one , piercing the gray mist , until at last the air became thin and clear , and a frosty atmosphere succeeded to the weighty fog ; and now I could trace out the vast columns , as they lay thickly strewn along the plain . The old general , wrapped in his cloak , slept soundly on his straw couch ; his deep-drawn breathing showed that his rest was unbroken . How slowly did the time seem to creep along ! I thought it must be nigh morning , and it was only a little more than midnight . Our position was a small rising ground about a mile in front of the left centre , and communicating with the enemy 's line by a narrow road between the marshes . This had been defended by a battery of four guns , with a stockade in front ; and along it now , for a considerable distance , a chain of sentinels were placed , who should communicate any movement that they observed in the Russian lines , of which I was charged to convey the earliest intelligence to the quartier-général . This duty alone would have kept me in a state of anxiety , had not the frame of my mind already so disposed me ; and I could not avoid creeping out from time to time , to peer through the gloom in the direction of the enemy 's camp , and listen with an eager ear for any sounds from that quarter .