Left, left... Left, left... Left, left... Close in! Battalion, halt! Down knapsacks! God be with us!What is it? I don't move, I fell, I'm killed. There are people coming. They will help me. Who are these people? They can't be the French. O God, You who's in this sky, forgive, save and protect me. Are they coming to me? Why? To kill me? Yes, they may kill me. Me, who is loved by everyone? It's impossible that they would want to kill me! Captain Tushin's battery had been forgotten. The troops assigned to cover it had withdrawn. The enemy could not conceive that anyone would be so foolhardy as to go on fighting with four unprotected guns. On the contrary, the French supposed that it was here, in the center, that the main Russian forces were concentrated. - Gentlemen, everyone fall back. - Fall back everyone! - What shall we fire, Captain? - Nothing. A shell! Fire! All right, my little old lady, don't let me down! What do you know! Firing again. Captain Tushin! Captain! Have you gone mad? Haven't you been ordered twice to fall back? I just... I... Fall back! Everybody fall back! Your Excellency! Here are two trophies. I've captured a French officer, the whole company's a witness! Very well. Remember, Your Excellency, I'm Dolokhov, reduced in rank! I received a bayonet wound! Stayed right up at the front! Remember, Your Excellency! Captain Tushin, you've been ordered to fall back. Well, goodbye. Goodbye, my friend. Goodbye, dear man. Captain, for God's sake, I've been contused in the arm. For God's sake, I can't walk. Give orders to put me on the cart. Put him on. Spread the coat, man. Get on. The thirty-five thousand men of Kutuzov's army were saved. The next day the French army did not renew its assault and what was left of Bagration's detachmentjoined Kutuzov's army. - Does it hurt? - Cut it out, for Christ's sake. That's a lot of cripples for one day's action. Captain, you're wanted by the general. He's in that house. I thank you all, gentlemen. How did it happen that the gun was abandoned? I don't know, Your Excellency. I had no men, Your Excellency. You might have picked some up in the column that was covering you. Tushin did not say that he had no covering troops, although this was the absolute truth. He was afraid of getting some other officer into trouble. Your Excellency! You sent me to Captain Tushin's battery today. I found two thirds of his men and his horses knocked out, two of his guns disabled, and no covering troops at all. And if Your Excellency will permit me to give my opinion, we owe today's success mainly to the action of that battery and the heroic endurance of Captain Tushin and his company. Captain Tushin, you can go. Thank you very much, my friend. You really saved me. Thanks very much. Yesterday at the meeting of the Imperial Council, our new governor-general, Sergei Kuzmich, was reading the Czar's rescript from the army. The rescript starts with the words: "Sergei Kuzmich, I have been hearing rumors on all sides..." Poor Count, he managed to get as far, that's all. He never got any further than "Sergei Kuzmich"? No, not one iota further. "Sergei Kuzmich"... On all sides, "Sergei Kuzmich"... Everything is going well. He would try again several times, but as soon as he said "Sergei", he would choke, at "Kuzmich", he would sob, and "on all sides" would be drowned in tears. Then he'd start again... It's time I understood her, and made up my mind what she really is. Was I mistaken before? Or am I mistaken now? No, she's not stupid. She's beautiful. Are you pleased with this evening? This celebration of my name-day was one of the most pleasant. It's quite late, I... Well, Helen? "Sergei Kuzmich on all sides..." Of course, it's a very brilliant match, but happiness, my dear... Marriages are made in heaven. "Sergei Kuzmich..." What's the point of that story? I
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