" Well, here we are at last! " said the elder brother, when they arrived at the Mikha'flovsky battery, and dismounted from their cart. " If they let us pass the bridge, we will go directly to the Nikolaevsky barracks. You stay there until morning, and I yvill go to the regiment and find
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out where your battery is stationed, and to-morrow I will come for you."
" But why? It would be better if we both went together," said Volodya; '' I will go to the bastion with you. It won't make any difference; I shall have to get used to it. If you go, then I can too." • ** Better not go."
" No, if you please; I do know, at least, that..."
*' My advice is, not to go; but if you choose..."
The sky was clear and dark; the stars, and the fires of the bombs in incessant movement and discharges, were gleaming brilliantly through the gloom. The large white building of the battery, and the beginning of the bridge stood out in the darkness. Literally, every second several discharges of artillery and explosions, following each other in quick succession or occurring simultaneously, shook the air with increasing thunder and distinctness. Through this roar, and as though repeating it, the melancholy dash of the waves was audible. A faint breeze was drawing in from the sea, and the air was heavy with moisture. The brothers stepped upon the bridge. A soldier struck his gun awkwardly against his arm, and shouted: —
*' Who goes there? "
"A soldier."
" The orders are not to let any one pass! "
" What of that! We have business! We must pass! "
" Ask the officer."
The officer, who was drowsing as he sat on an anchor, rose up and gave the order to let them pass.
** You can go that way, but not this. Where are you driving to, all in a heap! " he cried to the transport wagons piled high with gabions, which had clustered about the entrance.
As they descended to the first pontoon, the brothers encountered soldiers who were coming thence, and talking loudly.
" If he has received his ammunition money, then he has squared his accounts in full — that's what it is! "
" Eh, brothers! " said another voice, " when you get over on the Severnaya you will see the world, by heavens! The air is entirely different."
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** You may say more! " said the first speaker. " A cursed shell flew in there the other day, and it tore the legs off of two sailors, so that..."
The brothers traversed the first pontoon, while waiting for the wagon, and halted on the second, which was already flooded with water in parts. The breeze, which had seemed weak inland, was very powerful here, and came in gusts; the bridge swayed to and fro, and the waves, beating noisily against the beams, and tearing at the cables and anchors, flooded the planks. At the right the gloomily hostile sea roared and darkled, as it lay separated by an interminable level black line from the starry horizon, which was light gray in its gleam; lights flashed afar on the enemy's fleet; on the left towered the black masts of one of our vessels, and the waves could be heard as they beat against her hull; a steamer was visible, as it moved noisily and swiftly from the Severnaya.
The flash of a bomb, as it burst near it, illuminated for a moment the lofty heaps of gabions on the deck, two men who were standing on it, and the white foam and the spurts of greenish waves, as the steamer ploughed through them. On the edge of the bridge, with his legs dangling m.t in the water, sat a man in his shirt-sleeves, who was repairing something connected with the bridge. In front, over Sevastopol, floated the same fires, and the terrible sounds grew louder and louder. A wave rolled in from the sea, flowed over the right side of the bridge, and wet Volodya's feet; two soldiers passed them, dragging their feet through the water. Something suddenly burst with a crash and lighted up the bridge ahead of them, the wagon driving over it, and a man on horseback. The splinters fell into the waves with a hiss, and sent up the water in splashes.
**Ah, Mikhaflo Semyonitch! " said the rider, stopping, reining in his horse in front of the elder Kozeltzoff, "have you fully recovered already } "
" As you see. Whither is God taking you } "
" To the Severnaya, for cartridges; I am on my way to the adjutant of the regiment... we expect an assault to-morrow, at any hour."
** And where is Martzoff.? "
** He lost a leg yesterday; he was in the town, asleep in his room.... Perhaps you know it.^ "
" The regiment is in the fifth bastion, isn't it } '*