Sevastopol Page 18

Mercy, who was applying a bandage to him, a dyingman, and weeping over him, then of his mother, accompanying him tothe provincial town, and praying, amid burning tears, before thewonder-working images, and once more sleep appeared an impossibility tohim.

  But suddenly the thought of Almighty God, who can do all things, andwho hears every supplication, came clearly into his mind. He kneltdown, crossed himself, and folded his hands as he had been taught to doin his childhood, when he prayed. This gesture, all at once, broughtback to him a consoling feeling, which he had long since forgotten.

  "If I must die, if I must cease to exist, 'thy will be done, Lord,'"he thought; "let it be quickly; but if bravery is needed, and thefirmness which I do not possess, give them to me; deliver me from shameand disgrace, which I cannot bear, but teach me what to do in order tofulfil thy will."

  His childish, frightened, narrow soul was suddenly encouraged; itcleared up, and caught sight of broad, brilliant, and new horizons.During the brief period while this feeling lasted, he felt and thoughtmany other things, and soon fell asleep quietly and unconcernedly, tothe continuous sounds of the roar of the bombardment and the rattlingof the window-panes.

  Great Lord! thou alone hast heard, and thou alone knowest those ardent,despairing prayers of ignorance, of troubled repentance, thosepetitions for the healing of the body and the enlightenment of themind, which have ascended to thee from that terrible precinct of death,from the general who, a moment before, was thinking of his cross of theGeorge on his neck, and conscious in his terror of thy near presence,to the simple soldier writhing on the bare earth of the Nikolaevskybattery, and beseeching thee to bestow upon him there the reward,unconsciously presaged, for all his sufferings.

  XIV.

  The elder Kozeltzoff, meeting on the street a soldier belonging to hisregiment, betook himself at once, in company with the man, to the fifthbastion.

  "Keep under the wall, Your Honor," said the soldier.

  "What for?"

  "It's dangerous, Your Honor; there's one passing over," said thesoldier, listening to the sound of a screaming cannon-ball, whichstruck the dry road, on the other side of the street.

  Kozeltzoff, paying no heed to the soldier, walked bravely along themiddle of the street.

  These were the same streets, the same fires, even more frequent now,the sounds, the groans, the encounters with the wounded, and the samebatteries, breastworks, and trenches, which had been there in thespring, when he was last in Sevastopol; but, for some reason, all thiswas now more melancholy, and, at the same time, more energetic, theapertures in the houses were larger, there were no longer any lights inthe windows, with the exception of the Kushtchin house (the hospital),not a woman was to be met with, the earlier tone of custom and freedomfrom care no longer rested over all, but, instead, a certain impress ofheavy expectation, of weariness and earnestness.

  But here is the last trench already, and here is the voice of a soldierof the P---- regiment, who has recognized the former commander of hiscompany, and here stands the third battalion in the gloom, clingingclose to the wall, and lighted up now and then, for a moment, by thedischarges, and a sound of subdued conversation, and the rattling ofguns.

  "Where is the commander of the regiment?" inquired Kozeltzoff.

  "In the bomb-proofs with the sailors, Your Honor," replied the soldier,ready to be of service. "I will show you the way, if you like."

  From trench to trench the soldier led Kozeltzoff, to the small ditch inthe trench. In the ditch sat a sailor, smoking his pipe; behind him adoor was visible, through whose cracks shone a light.

  "Can I enter?"

  "I will announce you at once," and the sailor went in through the door.

  Two voices became audible on the other side of the door.

  "If Prussia continues to observe neutrality," said one voice, "thenAustria also...."

  "What difference does Austria make," said the second, "when the Slaviclands ... well, ask him to come in."

  Kozeltzoff had never been in this casemate. He was struck by itselegance. The floor was of polished wood, screens shielded the door.Two bedsteads stood against the wall, in one corner stood a largeikon of the mother of God, in a gilt frame, and before her burned arose-colored lamp.

  On one of the beds, a naval officer, fully dressed, was sleeping. Onthe other, by a table upon which stood two bottles of wine, partlyempty, sat the men who were talking--the new regimental commander andhis adjutant.

  Although Kozeltzoff was far from being a coward, and was certainlynot guilty of any wrongdoing so far as his superior officers wereconcerned, nor towards the regimental commander, yet he felt timidbefore the colonel, who had been his comrade not long before, soproudly did this colonel rise and listen to him.

  "It is strange," thought Kozeltzoff, as he surveyed his commander, "itis only seven weeks since he took the regiment, and how visible alreadyis his power as regimental commander, in everything about him--in hisdress, his bearing, his look. Is it so very long," thought he, "sincethis Batrishtcheff used to carouse with us, and he wore a cheap cottonshirt, and ate by himself, never inviting any one to his quarters, hiseternal meat-balls and curd-patties? But now! and that expression ofcold pride in his eyes, which says to you, 'Though I am your comrade,because I am a regimental commander of the new school, yet, believe me,I am well aware that you would give half your life merely for the sakeof being in my place!'"

  "You have been a long time in recovering," said the colonel toKozeltzoff, coldly, with a stare.

  "I was ill, colonel! The wound has not closed well even now."

  "Then there was no use in your coming," said the colonel, castingan incredulous glance at the captain's stout figure. "You are,nevertheless, in a condition to fulfil your duty?"

  "Certainly I am, sir."

  "Well I'm very glad of that, sir. You will take the ninth company fromEnsign Zaitzoff--the one you had before; you will receive your ordersimmediately."

  "I obey, sir."

  "Take care to send me the regimental adjutant when you arrive," saidthe regimental commander, giving him to understand, by a slight nod,that his audience was at an end.

  On emerging from the casemate, Kozeltzoff muttered something severaltimes, and shrugged his shoulders, as though pained, embarrassed,or vexed at something, and vexed, not at the regimental commander(there was no cause for that), but at himself, and he appeared to bedissatisfied with himself and with everything about him.

  XV.

  Before going to his officers, Kozeltzoff went to greet his company, andto see where it was stationed.

  The breastwork of gabions, the shapes of the trenches, the cannonswhich he passed, even the fragments of shot, bombs, over which hestumbled in his path--all this, incessantly illuminated by the lightof the firing, was well known to him, all this had engraved itselfin vivid colors on his memory, three months before, during the twoweeks which he had spent in this very bastion, without once leavingit. Although there was much that was terrible in these reminiscences,a certain charm of past things was mingled with it, and he recognizedthe familiar places and objects with pleasure, as though the two weeksspent there had been agreeable ones. The company was stationed alongthe defensive wall toward the sixth bastion.

  Kozeltzoff entered the long casemate, utterly unprotected at theentrance side, in which they had told him that the ninth companywas stationed. There was, literally, no room to set his foot in thecasemate, so filled was it, from the very entrance, with soldiers. Onone side burned a crooked tallow candle, which a recumbent soldierwas holding to illuminate the book which another one was spellingout slowly. Around the candle, in the reeking half-light, heads werevisible, eagerly raised in strained attention to the reader. The littlebook in question was a primer. As Kozeltzoff entered the casemate, heheard the following:

  "Pray-er af-ter lear-ning. I thank Thee, Crea-tor ..."

  "Snuff that candle!" said a voice. "That's a splendid book." "My ...God ..." went on the reader.

  When Kozeltzoff asked for the
sergeant, the reader stopped, thesoldiers began to move about, coughed, and blew their noses, as theyalways do after enforced silence. The sergeant rose near the groupabout the reader, buttoning up his coat as he did so, and stepping overand on the feet of those who had no room to withdraw them, and cameforward to his officer.

  "How are you, brother? Do all these belong to our company?"

  "I wish you health! Welcome on your return, Your Honor!" replied thesergeant, with a cheerful and friendly look at Kozeltzoff. "Has YourHonor recovered your health? Well, God be praised. It has been verydull for us without you."

  It was immediately apparent that Kozeltzoff was beloved in the company.

  In the depths of the casemate, voices could be heard. Their oldcommander, who had been wounded, Mikhail Semyonitch