`` that damned infantry is creeping along again , i dare say , '' laurence said , squinting northward himself ; he could just make out the lights of prince louis 's carriage , swaying along the road towards the encampment around the town , and beyond that nothing but darkness , far into the distance ; while in the south , small smoky campfires were winking in and out of view , like fireflies , brilliant in the thickening dark : the french were less than a mile away .