Uncle Bernac by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — Read

The camp of Boulogne contained at that time one hundred and fifty / thousand infantry, with fifty thousand cavalry, so that its population / was second only to Paris among the cities of France. It was divided / into four sections, the right camp, the left camp, the camp of Wimereux, / and the camp of Ambleteuse, the whole being about a mile in depth, and / extending along the seashore for a length of about seven miles. On the / land side it was open, but on the sea side it was fringed by powerful / batteries containing mortars and cannon of a size never seen before. / These batteries were placed along the edges of the high cliffs, and / their lofty position increased their range, and enabled them to drop / their missiles upon the decks of the English ships.

It was a pretty sight to ride through the camp, for the men had been / there for more than a year, and had done all that was possible to / decorate and ornament their tents. Most of them had little gardens in / front or around them, and the sun-burned fellows might be seen as we / passed kneeling in their shirt-sleeves with their spuds and their / watering-cans in the midst of their flower-beds. Others sat in the / sunshine at the openings of the tents tying up their queues, / pipe-claying their belts, and polishing their arms, hardly bestowing a / glance upon us as we passed, for patrols of cavalry were coming and / going in every direction. The endless lines were formed into streets, / with their names printed up upon boards. Thus we had passed through the / Rue d'Arcola, the Rue de Kleber, the Rue d'Egypte, and the Rue / d'Artillerie Volante, before we found ourselves in the great central / square in which the headquarters of the army were situated.