about five o'clock
In the middle of the broad , fertile plain that stretches away in the direction of the Rhine , a mile and a quarter from Mulhausen , the camp was pitched . In the fitful light of the overcast August day , beneath the lowering sky that was filled with heavy drifting clouds , the long lines of squat white shelter-tents seemed to cower closer to the ground , and the muskets , stacked at regular intervals along the regimental fronts , made little spots of brightness , while over all the sentries with loaded pieces kept watch and ward , motionless as statues , straining their eyes to pierce the purplish mists that lay on the horizon and showed where the mighty river ran . It was about five o'clock when they had come in from Belfort ; it was now eight , and the men had only just received their rations . There could be no distribution of wood , however , the wagons having gone astray , and it had therefore been impossible for them to make fires and warm their soup . They had consequently been obliged to content themselves as best they might , washing down their dry hard-tack with copious draughts of brandy , a proceeding that was not calculated greatly to help their tired legs after their long march . Near the canteen , however , behind the stacks of muskets , there were two soldiers pertinaciously endeavoring to elicit a blaze from a small pile of green wood , the trunks of some small trees that they had chopped down with their sword-bayonets , and that were obstinately determined not to burn .