Chương Chương 34 · 第34章

Kutúzov fell back toward Vienna, destroying behind him the bridges over

the rivers Inn (at Braunau) and Traun (near Linz). On October 23 the

Russian troops were crossing the river Enns. At midday the Russian

baggage train, the artillery, and columns of troops were defiling

through the town of Enns on both sides of the bridge.

It was a warm, rainy, autumnal day. The wide expanse that opened out

before the heights on which the Russian batteries stood guarding the

bridge was at times veiled by a diaphanous curtain of slanting rain, and

then, suddenly spread out in the sunlight, far-distant objects could

be clearly seen glittering as though freshly varnished. Down below,

the little town could be seen with its white, red-roofed houses, its

cathedral, and its bridge, on both sides of which streamed jostling

masses of Russian troops. At the bend of the Danube, vessels, an island,

and a castle with a park surrounded by the waters of the confluence of

the Enns and the Danube became visible, and the rocky left bank of the

Danube covered with pine forests, with a mystic background of green

treetops and bluish gorges. The turrets of a convent stood out beyond a

wild virgin pine forest, and far away on the other side of the Enns the

enemy’s horse patrols could be discerned.

Among the field guns on the brow of the hill the general in command of

the rearguard stood with a staff officer, scanning the country through

his fieldglass. A little behind them Nesvítski, who had been sent to

the rearguard by the commander in chief, was sitting on the trail of a

gun carriage. A Cossack who accompanied him had handed him a knapsack

and a flask, and Nesvítski was treating some officers to pies and real

doppelkümmel. The officers gladly gathered round him, some on their

knees, some squatting Turkish fashion on the wet grass.

“Yes, the Austrian prince who built that castle was no fool. It’s

a fine place! Why are you not eating anything, gentlemen?” Nesvítski

was saying.

“Thank you very much, Prince,” answered one of the officers, pleased

to be talking to a staff officer of such importance. “It’s a lovely

place! We passed close to the park and saw two deer... and what a

splendid house!”

“Look, Prince,” said another, who would have dearly liked to take

another pie but felt shy, and therefore pretended to be examining the

countryside—“See, our infantrymen have already got there. Look there

in the meadow behind the village, three of them are dragging something.

They’ll ransack that castle,” he remarked with evident approval.

“So they will,” said Nesvítski. “No, but what I should like,”

added he, munching a pie in his moist-lipped handsome mouth, “would be

to slip in over there.”

He pointed with a smile to a turreted nunnery, and his eyes narrowed and

gleamed.

“That would be fine, gentlemen!”

The officers laughed.

“Just to flutter the nuns a bit. They say there are Italian girls

among them. On my word I’d give five years of my life for it!”

“They must be feeling dull, too,” said one of the bolder officers,

laughing.

Meanwhile the staff officer standing in front pointed out something to

the general, who looked through his field glass.

“Yes, so it is, so it is,” said the general angrily, lowering the

field glass and shrugging his shoulders, “so it is! They’ll be fired

on at the crossing. And why are they dawdling there?”

On the opposite side the enemy could be seen by the naked eye, and from

their battery a milk-white cloud arose. Then came the distant report of

a shot, and our troops could be seen hurrying to the crossing.

Nesvítski rose, puffing, and went up to the general, smiling.

“Would not your excellency like a little refreshment?” he said.

“It’s a bad business,” said the general without answering him,

“our men have been wasting time.”

“Hadn’t I better ride over, your excellency?” asked Nesvítski.

“Yes, please do,” answered the general, and he repeated the order

that had already once been given in detail: “and tell the hussars

that they are to cross last and to fire the bridge as I ordered; and the

inflammable material on the bridge must be reinspected.”

“Very good,” answered Nesvítski.

He called the Cossack with his horse, told him to put away the knapsack

and flask, and swung his heavy person easily into the saddle.

“I’ll really call in on the nuns,” he said to the officers who

watched him smilingly, and he rode off by the winding path down the

hill.

“Now then, let’s see how far it will carry, Captain. Just try!”

said the general, turning to an artillery officer. “Have a little fun

to pass the time.”

“Crew, to your guns!” commanded the officer.

In a moment the men came running gaily from their campfires and began

loading.

“One!” came the command.

Number one jumped briskly aside. The gun rang out with a deafening

metallic roar, and a whistling grenade flew above the heads of our

troops below the hill and fell far short of the enemy, a little smoke

showing the spot where it burst.

The faces of officers and men brightened up at the sound. Everyone got

up and began watching the movements of our troops below, as plainly

visible as if but a stone’s throw away, and the movements of the

approaching enemy farther off. At the same instant the sun came fully

out from behind the clouds, and the clear sound of the solitary shot

and the brilliance of the bright sunshine merged in a single joyous and

spirited impression.