Volodya looked round at this shout. Twenty Frenchmen made their appearance in the rear. One of them, a handsome man with a black beard, was in front of all; but, after running up to within ten paces of the battery, he halted, and fired straight at Volodya, and then ran towards him once more.
For a second, Volodya stood as though turned to stone, and did not believe his eyes. When he recovered himself and glanced about him, there were blue uniforms in front of him on the ramparts; two Frenchmen were even spiking a cannon not ten paces distant from him.
There was no one near him, with the exception of Melnikoff, who had been killed by a bullet beside him, and Viang, who, with a handspike clutched in his hand, had rushed forwards, with an expression of wrath on his face, and with eyes lowered.
" Follow me, Vladimir Semyonitch! Follow me! " shouted the desperate voice of Viang, as he brandished his handspike over the French, who were pouring in from the rear. The yunker's ferocious countenance startled them. He struck the one who was in advance, on the head; the others involuntarily paused, and Viang continued to glare about- him, and to shout in despairing accents: " Follow me, Vladimir Semyonitch! Why do you stand there? Run! " and ran towards the trenches in which lay our infantry, firing at the French. After leaping into the trench, he came out again to see what his adored ensign was dong. Something in a coat was lying prostrate where Volodya had been standing, and the whole place was filled with Frenchmen, who were firing at our men.
XXVI.
Viang found his battery on the second line of defence. Out of the twenty soldiers who had been in the mortar battery, only eight survived.
At nine o'clock in the evening, Viang set out with the battery on a steamer loaded down with soldiers, cannon, horses, and wounded men, for Severnaya.
There was no firing anywhere. The stars shone brilliantly in the sky, as on the preceding night; but a strong wind tossed the sea. On the first and second bastions, lightnings flashed along the earth; explosions rent the atmosphere, and illuminated strange black objects in their vicinity, and the stones which flew through the air.
Something was burning near the docks, and the red glare was reflected in the water. The bridge, covered with people, was lighted up by the fire from the Nikolaevsky battery. A vast flame seemed to hang over the water, from the distant promontory of the Alexandrovsky battery, and illuminated the clouds of smoke beneath,
as it rose above them; and the same tranquil, insolent, distant lights as on the preceding evening gleamed over the sea, from the hostile fleet.
The fresh breeze raised billows in the bay. By the red light of the conflagrations, the masts of our sunken ships, which were settling deeper and deeper into the water, were visible. Not a sound of conversation was heard on deck; there was nothing but the regular swish of the parted waves, and the steam, the neighing and pawing of the horses, the words of command from the captain, and the groans of the wounded. Viang, who had had nothing to eat all day, drew a bit of bread from his pocket, and began to chew it; but all at once he recalled Volodya, and burst into such loud weeping that the soldiers who were near him heard it.
" See how our Vlang^ * is eating his bread and crying too," said Vasin.
" Wonderful! " said another.
" And see, they have fired our barracks," he continued, with a sigh. " And how many of our brothers perished there; and the French got it for nothing! "
* The feminine form, as previously referred to.
" At all events, we have got out of it alive — thank God for that! " said Vasin.
'' But it's provoking, all the same! "
" What is there provoking about it? Do you suppose they are enjoying themselves there? Not exac.tly! You wait, our men will take it away from them again. And however many of our brethren perish, as God is holy, if the emperor commands, they will win it back. Can ours leave it to them thus t Never! There you have the bare walls; but they have destroyed all the breastworks. Even if they have planted their standard on the hill, they won't be able to make their way into the town."
" Just wait, we'll have a hearty reckoning with you yet, only give us time," he concluded, addressing himself to the French.
"■ Of course we will! " said another, with conviction.