" But you see that they always cease the bombardment at twelve o'clock, just as I said. It is the same to-day. Let us go and get some breakfast... they are already waiting for us... there's nothing to see."
" Stop, don't interfere," said the officer with the glass, gazing at Sevastopol with peculiar eagerness.
" What's going on there } What is it t "
"There is a movement in the trenches, and heavy columns are marching."
"Yes, that is evident," said the other. "The columns are under way. We must give the signal."
" See, see! They have emerged from the trenches."
In truth, it was visible to the naked eye that dark masses were moving down the hill, across the narrow valley, from the French batteries to the bastions. In front of these specks, dark streaks were visible, which were already close to our lines. White puffs of smoke of discharges burst out at various points on the bastions, as though the firing were running along the line.
The breeze bore to them the sounds of musketry-shots, exchanged briskly, like rain upon the window-pane. The black streaks moved on, nearer and nearer, into the very smoke. The sounds of firing grew louder and louder, and mingled in a lengthened, resounding roar.
The smoke, rising more and more frequently, spread rapidly along the line, flowed together in one lilac-hued cloud, which dispersed and joined again, and through which, here and there, flitted flames and black points — and all sounds were commingled in one reverberating crash.
" An assault," said the officer, with a pale face, as he handed the glass to the naval officer.
Orderlies galloped along the road, officers on horseback, the commander-in-chief in a calash, and his suite passed by. Profound emotion and expectation were visible on all countenances.
" It cannot be that they have taken it! " said the mounted officer.
, " By Heavens, there's the standard! Look, look! " said the other, sighing and abandoning the glass. **The French standard on the Malakoff!"
"It cannot be!"
XXIV.
The elder Kozeltzoff, who had succeeded in winning back his money and losing it all again that night, including even the gold pieces which were sewed into his cuffs, had fallen, just before daybreak, into a heavy, unhealthy, but profound slumber, in the fortified barracks of the fifth battalion, when the fateful cry, repeated by various voices, rang out: —
**The alarm!"
" Why are you sleeping, Mikha'fl Semyonitch! There's an assault! " a voice shouted to him.
"That is probably some school-boy," he said, opening his eyes, but putting no faith in it.
But all at once he caught sight of an officer running aimlessly from one corner to the other, with such a pale face that he understood it all. The thought that he might be taken for a coward, who did not wish to go out to his company at a critical moment, struck him with terrible force. He ran to his corps at the top of his speed. Firing had ceased from the heavy guns; but the crash of muske'try was at its height. The bullets whistled, not singly like rifle-balls, but in swarms, like a flock of birds in autumn, flying past overhead. The entire spot on which his battalion had stood the night before was veiled in smoke, and the shouts and cries of the enemy were audible. Soldiers, both wounded and unwounded, met him in throngs. After running thirty paces further, he caught sight of his company, which was hugging the wall.
** They have captured Schwartz," said a young officer. *' All is lost! "
" Nonsense! " said he, angrily, grasping his blunt little iron sword, and he began to shout: —
" Forward, children! Hurrah! "
His voice was strong and ringing; it roused even Kozeltzoff himself. He ran forward along the traverse; fifty soldiers rushed after him, shouting as they went. From the traverse he ran out upon an open square. The bullets fell literally like hail. Two struck him, — but where, and what they did, whether they bruised or wounded him, he had not the time to decide.
In front, he could already see blue uniforms and red trousers, and could hear shouts which were not Russian; one Frenchman was standing on the ^l)reastworks, waving his cap, and shouting something. Kozeltzoff was convinced that he was about to be killed; this gave him courage.