The smoke of the campfires, into which they were throwing everything superfluous, made the eyes smart.

It was cold and dark.

The officers were hurriedly drinking tea and breakfasting, the soldiers, munching biscuit and beating a tattoo with their feet to warm themselves, gathering round the fires throwing into the flames the remains of sheds, chairs, tables, wheels, tubs, and everything that they did not want or could not carry away with them.

Austrian column guides were moving in and out among the Russian troops and served as heralds of the advance.