" Those little stars! They dart through the sky like stars, like stars! " said the little girl, breaking the silence which succeeded Nikita's words. " There, there! another has dropped! Why do they do it, mamma? "
" They will ruin our little cabin entirely," said the old woman, sighing, and not replying to her little daughter's question.
"And when uncle and I went there to-day, mamma," continued the little girl, in a shrill voice, " there was such a big cannon-ball lying in the room, near the cupboard; it had broken through the wall and into the room... and it is so big that you couldn't lift it.'*
"Those who had husbands and money have gone away," said the old woman, " and now they have ruined my last little house. See, see how thqy are firing, the wretches. Lord, Lord! "
" And as soon as we came out, a bomb flew at us, and burst and scattered the earth about, and a piece of the shell came near striking uncle and me."
VII.
Prince Galtsin met more and more wounded men, in stretchers and on foot, supporting each other, and talking loudly.
" When they rushed up, brothers," said one tall soldier, who had two guns on his shoulder, in a bass voice, " when they rushed up and shouted, * Allah, Allah! ' * they pressed each other on. You kill one, and another takes his place — you can do nothing. You never saw such numbers as there were of them...."
But at this point in his story Galtsin interrupted him.
" You come from the bastion } '*
" Just so. Your Honor! "
" Well, what has been going on there? Tell me.
" Why, what has been going on t They attacked in force. Your Honor; they climbed over
* The Russian soldiers, who had been fighting the Turks, were so accustomed to this cry of the enemy that they always declared that the French also cried "Allah." — Author's Note.
N MAY,
the wall, and that's the end of it. They conquered completely, Your Honor."
" How conquered } You repulsed them, surely } "
" How could we repulse them, when he came up with his whole force? They killed all our men, and there was no help given us."
The soldier was mistaken, for the trenches were behind our forces; but this is a peculiar thing, which any one may observe: a soldier who has been wounded in an engagement always thinks that the day has been lost, and that the encounter has been a frightfully bloody one.
*' Then, what did they mean by telling me that you had repulsed them?" said Galtsin, with irritation. "Perhaps the enemy was repulsed after you left? Is it long since you came away? "
"I have this instant come from there. Your Honor," repHed the soldier. " It is hardly possible. The trenches remained in his hands... he won a complete victory."
** Well, and are you not ashamed to have surrendered the trenches? This is horrible! " said Galtsin, angered by such indifference.
" What, when he was there in force? " growled the soldier.
" And, Your Honor," said a soldier on a stretcher, who had just come up with them, "how could we help surrendering, when nearly all of us had been killed? If we had been in force, we would only have surrendered with our lives. But what was there to do? I ran one man through, and then I was struck... O-oh! softly, brothers! steady, brothers! go more steadily!... O-oh! " groaned the wounded man.
** There really seem to be a great many extra men coming this way," said Galtsin, again stopping the tall soldier with the two rifles. " Why are you walking off } Hey there, halt! "
The soldier halted, and removed his cap with his left hand.
" Where are you going, and why } " he shouted at him sternly. "He..."
But, approaching the soldier very closely at that moment, he perceived that the latter's right arm was bandaged, and covered with blood far above the elbow.
"I am wounded. Your Honor!"
" Wounded } how t "
** It must have been a bullet, here! " said the soldier, pointing at his arm, " but I cannot tell yet. My head has been broken by something," and, bending over, he showed the hair upon the back of it all clotted together with blood.
" And whose gun is that second one you have?".
"A choice French one, Your Honor! I captured it. And I should not have come away if it had not been to accompany this soldier; he might fall down," he added, pointing at the soldier, who was walking a little in front, leaning upon his gun, and dragging his left foot heavily after him.