These two pieces on one side, and the sharpshooters on the other, began to make the enemy uneasy.
In the meantime, General Marmont proposed a plan to the First Consul, so bold that the enemy could not suspect it.

It was nothing less than to move the artillery along the highroad, notwithstanding that the enemy could rake it.
Manure and wool from the mattresses were found in the villages and were spread upon the road.

The wheels and chains, and all the jingling portions of the gun-carriages were swathed in hay.

The horses belonging to the guns and caissons were taken out, and fifty men supplied their places.

This latter precaution had two advantages: first, the horses might neigh, while the men had every interest in keeping dead silence; secondly, a dead horse will stop a whole convoy, whereas a dead man, not being fastened to the traces, can be pushed aside and his place taken without even stopping the march.