Sevastopol Page 8

George, who entered the casemate at that moment, and asked thegeneral to give him some men, that he might repair the two embrasureson his battery, which had been demolished. "The general ordered me toinquire," continued Kalugin, when the commander of the battery ceasedto address the general, "whether your guns can fire grape-shot intothe trenches."

  "Only one of my guns will do that," replied the captain, gruffly.

  "Let us go and see, all the same."

  The captain frowned, and grunted angrily:--

  "I have already passed the whole night there, and I came here to tryand get a little rest," said he. "Cannot you go alone? My assistant,Lieutenant Kartz, is there, and he will show you everything."

  The captain had now been for six months in command of this, one of themost dangerous of the batteries--and even when there were no casemateshe had lived, without relief, in the bastion and among the sailors,from the beginning of the siege, and he bore a reputation among themfor bravery. Therefore his refusal particularly struck and amazedKalugin. "That's what reputation is worth!" he thought.

  "Well, then, I will go alone, if you will permit it," he said, in asomewhat bantering tone to the captain, who, however, paid not theslightest heed to his words.

  But Kalugin did not reflect that he had passed, in all, at differenttimes, perhaps fifty hours on the bastion, while the captain had livedthere for six months. Kalugin was actuated, moreover, by vanity, bya desire to shine, by the hope of reward, of reputation, and by thecharm of risk; but the captain had already gone through all that: hehad been vain at first, he had displayed valor, he had risked hislife, he had hoped for fame and guerdon, and had even obtained them,but these actuating motives had already lost their power over him, andhe regarded the matter in another light; he fulfilled his duty withpunctuality, but understanding quite well how small were the chancesfor his life which were left him, after a six-months residence in thebastion, he no longer risked these casualties, except in case of sternnecessity, so that the young lieutenant, who had entered the batteryonly a week previous, and who was now showing it to Kalugin, in companywith whom he took turns in leaning out of the embrasure, or climbingout on the ramparts, seemed ten times as brave as the captain.

  After inspecting the battery, Kalugin returned to the casemate, and ranagainst the general in the dark, as the latter was ascending to thewatch-tower with his staff-officers.

  "Captain Praskukhin!" said the general, "please to go to the firstlodgement and say to the second battery of the M---- regiment, which isat work there, that they are to abandon their work, to evacuate theplace without making any noise, and to join their regiment, which isstanding at the foot of the hill in reserve.... Do you understand? Leadthem to their regiment yourself."

  "Yes, sir."

  And Praskukhin set out for the lodgement on a run.

  The firing was growing more infrequent.

  X.

  "Is this the second battalion of the M---- regiment?" asked Praskukhin,hastening up to the spot, and running against the soldiers who werecarrying earth in sacks.

  "Exactly so."

  "Where is the commander?"

  Mikhailoff, supposing that the inquiry was for the commander of thecorps, crawled out of his pit, and, taking Praskukhin for the colonel,he stepped up to him with his hand at his visor.

  "The general has given orders ... that you ... are to be so good as togo ... as quickly as possible ... and, in particular, as quietly aspossible, to the rear ... not to the rear exactly, but to the reserve,"said Praskukhin, glancing askance at the enemy's fires.

  On recognizing Praskukhin and discovering the state of things,Mikhailoff dropped his hand, gave his orders, and the battalion startedinto motion, gathered up their guns, put on their cloaks, and set out.

  No one who has not experienced it can imagine the delight which a manfeels when he takes his departure, after a three-hours bombardment,from such a dangerous post as the lodgements. Several times in thecourse of those three hours, Mikhailoff had, not without reason,considered his _end_ as inevitable, and had grown accustomed to theconviction that he should infallibly be killed, and that he no longerbelonged to this world. In spite of this, however, he had greatdifficulty in keeping his feet from running away with him when heissued from the lodgements at the head of his corps, in company withPraskukhin.

  "Au revoir," said the major, the commander of another battalion, whowas to remain in the lodgements, and with whom he had shared hischeese, as they sat in the pit behind the breastworks--"a pleasantjourney to you."

  "Thanks, I hope you will have good luck after we have gone. The firingseems to be holding up."

  But no sooner had he said this than the enemy, who must have observedthe movement in the lodgements, began to fire faster and faster. Ourguns began to reply to him, and again a heavy cannonade began. Thestars were gleaming high, but not brilliantly in the sky. The night wasdark--you could hardly see your hand before you; only the flashes ofthe discharges and the explosions of the bombs illuminated objects fora moment. The soldiers marched on rapidly, in silence, involuntarilytreading close on each other's heels; all that was audible through theincessant firing was the measured sound of their footsteps on the dryroad, the noise of their bayonets as they came in contact, or the sighand prayer of some young soldier, "Lord, Lord! what is this!" Now andthen the groan of a wounded man arose, and the shout, "Stretcher!"(In the company commanded by Mikhailoff, twenty-six men were killedin one night, by the fire of the artillery alone.) The lightningflashed against the distant horizon, the sentry in the bastion shouted,"Can-non!" and the ball, shrieking over the heads of the corps, tore upthe earth, and sent the stones flying.

  "Deuce take it! how slowly they march," thought Praskukhin, glancingback continually, as he walked beside Mikhailoff. "Really, it will bebetter for me to run on in front; I have already given the order....But no, it might be said later on that I was a coward. What will bewill be; I will march with them."

  "Now, why is he walking behind me?" thought Mikhailoff, on his side."So far as I have observed, he always brings ill-luck. There it comes,flying straight for us, apparently."

  After traversing several hundred paces, they encountered Kalugin, whowas going to the casemates, clanking his sword boldly as he walked, inorder to learn, by the general's command, how the work was progressingthere. But on meeting Mikhailoff, it occurred to him that, instead ofgoing thither, under that terrible fire, which he was not ordered todo, he could make minute inquiries of the officer who had been there.And, in fact, Mikhailoff furnished him with a detailed account of thework. After walking a short distance with them, Kalugin turned into thetrench, which led to the casemate.

  "Well, what news is there?" inquired the officer, who was seated aloneat the table, and eating his supper.

  "Well, nothing, apparently, except that there will not be any furtherconflict."

  "How so? On the contrary, the general has but just gone up to the topof the works. A regiment has already arrived. Yes, there it is ... doyou hear? The firing has begun again. Don't go. Why should you?" addedthe officer, perceiving the movement made by Kalugin.

  "But I must be there without fail, in the present instance," thoughtKalugin, "but I have already subjected myself to a good deal of dangerto-day; the firing is terrible."

  "Well, after all, I had better wait for him here," he said.

  In fact, the general returned, twenty minutes later, accompanied by theofficers, who had been with him; among their number was the yunker,Baron Pesth, but Praskukhin was not with them. The lodgements had beencaptured and occupied by our forces.

  After receiving a full account of the engagement, Kalugin and Pesthwent out of the casemates.

  XI.

  "There is blood on your cloak; have you been having a hand-to-handfight?" Kalugin asked him.

  "Oh, 'tis frightful! Just imagine...."

  And Pesth began to relate how he had led his company, how the commanderof the company had been killed, how he had spitted a Frenchman, andhow, if it had not been
for him, the battle would have been lost.

  The foundations for this tale, that the company commander had beenkilled, and that Pesth had killed a Frenchman, were correct; but, ingiving the details, the yunker had invented facts and bragged.

  He bragged involuntarily, because, during the whole engagement, he hadbeen in a kind of mist, and had forgotten himself to such a degree thateverything which happened seemed to him to have happened somewhere,sometime, and with some one, and very naturally he had endeavoredto bring out these details in a light which should be favorable tohimself. But what had happened in reality was this:--

  The battalion to which the yunker had been ordered for the sortie hadstood under fire for two hours, near a wall; then the commander ofthe battalion said something, the company commanders