Chương Chương 44 · 第44章

Having ridden round the whole line from right flank to left, Prince

Andrew made his way up to the battery from which the staff officer had

told him the whole field could be seen. Here he dismounted, and stopped

beside the farthest of the four unlimbered cannon. Before the guns an

artillery sentry was pacing up and down; he stood at attention when the

officer arrived, but at a sign resumed his measured, monotonous pacing.

Behind the guns were their limbers and still farther back picket ropes

and artillerymen’s bonfires. To the left, not far from the farthest

cannon, was a small, newly constructed wattle shed from which came the

sound of officers’ voices in eager conversation.

It was true that a view over nearly the whole Russian position and the

greater part of the enemy’s opened out from this battery. Just facing

it, on the crest of the opposite hill, the village of Schön Grabern

could be seen, and in three places to left and right the French troops

amid the smoke of their campfires, the greater part of whom were

evidently in the village itself and behind the hill. To the left from

that village, amid the smoke, was something resembling a battery, but it

was impossible to see it clearly with the naked eye. Our right flank was

posted on a rather steep incline which dominated the French position.

Our infantry were stationed there, and at the farthest point the

dragoons. In the center, where Túshin’s battery stood and from which

Prince Andrew was surveying the position, was the easiest and most

direct descent and ascent to the brook separating us from Schön

Grabern. On the left our troops were close to a copse, in which smoked

the bonfires of our infantry who were felling wood. The French line was

wider than ours, and it was plain that they could easily outflank us

on both sides. Behind our position was a steep and deep dip, making it

difficult for artillery and cavalry to retire. Prince Andrew took

out his notebook and, leaning on the cannon, sketched a plan of the

position. He made some notes on two points, intending to mention them to

Bagratión. His idea was, first, to concentrate all the artillery in the

center, and secondly, to withdraw the cavalry to the other side of the

dip. Prince Andrew, being always near the commander in chief, closely

following the mass movements and general orders, and constantly studying

historical accounts of battles, involuntarily pictured to himself the

course of events in the forthcoming action in broad outline. He

imagined only important possibilities: “If the enemy attacks the right

flank,” he said to himself, “the Kiev grenadiers and the Podólsk

chasseurs must hold their position till reserves from the center

come up. In that case the dragoons could successfully make a flank

counterattack. If they attack our center we, having the center battery

on this high ground, shall withdraw the left flank under its cover, and

retreat to the dip by echelons.” So he reasoned.... All the time

he had been beside the gun, he had heard the voices of the officers

distinctly, but as often happens had not understood a word of what they

were saying. Suddenly, however, he was struck by a voice coming from the

shed, and its tone was so sincere that he could not but listen.

“No, friend,” said a pleasant and, as it seemed to Prince Andrew, a

familiar voice, “what I say is that if it were possible to know

what is beyond death, none of us would be afraid of it. That’s so,

friend.”

Another, a younger voice, interrupted him: “Afraid or not, you can’t

escape it anyhow.”

“All the same, one is afraid! Oh, you clever people,” said a third

manly voice interrupting them both. “Of course you artillery men are

very wise, because you can take everything along with you—vodka and

snacks.”

And the owner of the manly voice, evidently an infantry officer,

laughed.

“Yes, one is afraid,” continued the first speaker, he of the

familiar voice. “One is afraid of the unknown, that’s what it is.

Whatever we may say about the soul going to the sky... we know there is

no sky but only an atmosphere.”

The manly voice again interrupted the artillery officer.

“Well, stand us some of your herb vodka, Túshin,” it said.

“Why,” thought Prince Andrew, “that’s the captain who stood up

in the sutler’s hut without his boots.” He recognized the agreeable,

philosophizing voice with pleasure.

“Some herb vodka? Certainly!” said Túshin. “But still, to

conceive a future life...”

He did not finish. Just then there was a whistle in the air; nearer and

nearer, faster and louder, louder and faster, a cannon ball, as if it

had not finished saying what was necessary, thudded into the ground near

the shed with super human force, throwing up a mass of earth. The ground

seemed to groan at the terrible impact.

And immediately Túshin, with a short pipe in the corner of his mouth

and his kind, intelligent face rather pale, rushed out of the shed

followed by the owner of the manly voice, a dashing infantry officer who

hurried off to his company, buttoning up his coat as he ran.