《War And Peace》Book14 CHAPTER IX

《War And Peace》　Book14 　CHAPTER IX
　　　　by Leo Tolstoy

PETYA AND DOLOHOV, after dressing up in French uniforms and shakoes, rode to
the clearing from which Denisov had looked at the French camp, and coming out of
the wood, descended into the hollow in the pitch darkness. When they had ridden
downhill, Dolohov bade the Cossacks accompanying him to wait there, and set off
at a smart trot along the road towards the bridge. Petya, faint with excitement,
trotted along beside him.

“If we are caught, I won't be taken alive. I have a pistol,” whispered
Petya.

“Don't speak Russian,” said Dolohov, in a rapid whisper, and at that moment
they heard in the dark the challenge: “Who goes there?” and the click of a
gun.

The blood rushed into Petya's face, and he clutched at his pistol.

“Uhlans of the Sixth Regiment,” said Dolohov, neither hastening nor
slackening his horse's pace.

The black figure of a sentinel stood on the bridge.

“The password?”

Dolohov reined in his horse, and advanced at a walking pace.

“Tell me, is Colonel Gerard here?” he said.

“Password?” repeated the sentinel, making no reply and barring their
way.

“When an officer makes his round, sentinels don't ask him for the password …”
cried Dolohov, suddenly losing his temper and riding straight at the sentinel.
“I ask you, is the colonel here?”

And not waiting for an answer from the sentinel, who moved aside, Dolohov
rode at a walking pace uphill.

Noticing the black outline of a man crossing the road, Dolohov stopped the
man, and asked where the colonel and officers were. The man, a soldier with a
sack over his shoulder, stopped, came close up to Dolohov's horse, stroking it
with his hand, and told them in a simple and friendly way that the colonel and
the officers were higher up the hill, on the right, in the courtyard of the
farm, as he called the little manor-house.

After going further along the road, from both sides of which they heard
French talk round the camp-fires, Dolohov turned into the yard of the
manor-house. On reaching the gate, he dismounted and walked towards a big,
blazing fire, round which several men were sitting, engaged in loud
conversation. There was something boiling in a cauldron on one side, and a
soldier in a peaked cap and blue coat, kneeling in the bright glow of the fire,
was stirring it with his ramrod.

“He's a tough customer,” said one of the officers, sitting in the shadow on
the opposite side of the fire.

“He'll make them run, the rabbits” (a French proverb), said the other, with a
laugh.

Both paused, and peered into the darkness at the sound of the steps of Petya
and Dolohov approaching with their horses.

“Bonjour, messieurs!” Dolohov called loudly and distinctly.

There was a stir among the officers in the shadow, and a tall officer with a
long neck came round the fire and went up to Dolohov.

“Is that you, Clément?” said he. “Where the devil …” but becoming aware of
his mistake, he did not finish, and with a slight frown GREeted Dolohov as a
stranger, and asked him what he could do for him. Dolohov told him that he and
his comrade were trying to catch up with their regiment, and asked, addressing
the company in general, whether the officers knew anything about the Sixth
Regiment. No one could tell them anything about it; and Petya fancied the
officers began to look at him and Dolohov with unfriendly and suspicious
eyes.

For several seconds no one spoke.

“If you're reckoning on some soup, you have come too late,” said a voice from
behind the fire, with a smothered laugh.

Dolohov answered that they had had supper, and wanted to push on further that
night.

He gave their horses to the soldier who was stirring the pot, and squatted
down on his heels beside the officer with the long neck. The latter never took
his eyes off Dolohov, and asked him again what regiment did he belong to.

Dolohov appeared not to hear the question. Making no answer, he lighted a
short French pipe that he took from his pocket, and asked the officers whether
the road ahead of them were safe from Cossacks.

“The brigands are everywhere,” answered an officer from behind the
fire.

Dolohov said that the Cossacks were only a danger for stragglers like himself
and his comrade; “he supposed they would not dare to attack large detachments,”
he added inquiringly.

No one replied.

“Well, now he will come away,” Petya was thinking every moment, as he stood
by the fire listening to the talk.

But Dolohov took up the conversation that had dropped, and proceeded to ask
them point-blank how many men there were in their battalion, how many battalions
they had, and how many prisoners.

When he asked about the Russian prisoners, Dolohov added:

“Nasty business dragging those corpses about with one. It would be better to
shoot the vermin,” and he broke into such a strange, loud laugh, that Petya
fancied the French must see through their disguise at once, and he involuntarily
stepped back from the fire.

Dolohov's words and laughter elicited no response, and a French officer whom
they had not seen (he lay rolled up in a coat), sat up and whispered something
to his companion. Dolohov stood up and called to the men, who held their
horses.

“Will they give us the horses or not?” Petya wondered, unconsciously coming
closer to Dolohov.

They did give them the horses. “Bonsoir, messieurs,” said
Dolohov.

Petya tried to say “Bonsoir,” but he could not utter a sound. The
officers were whispering together. Dolohov was a long while mounting his horse,
who would not stand still; then he rode out of the gate at a walking pace. Petya
rode beside him, not daring to look round, though he was longing to see whether
the French were running after him or not.

When they came out on to the road, Dolohov did not turn back towards the open
country, but rode further along it into the village.

At one spot he stood still, listening. “Do you hear?” he said. Petya
recognised the sound of voices speaking Russian, and saw round the camp-fire the
dark outlines of Russian prisoners. When they reached the bridge again, Petya
and Dolohov passed the sentinel, who, without uttering a word, paced gloomily up
and down. They came out to the hollow where the Cossacks were waiting for
them.

“Well now, good-bye. Tell Denisov, at sunrise, at the first shot,” said
Dolohov, and he was going on, but Petya clutched at his arm.

“Oh!” he cried, “you are a hero! Oh! how splendid it is! how jolly! How I
love you!”

“That's all right,” answered Dolohov, but Petya did not let go of him, and in
the dark Dolohov made out that he was bending over to him to be kissed. Dolohov
kissed him, laughed, and turning his horse's head, vanished into the
darkness.