Pagina 864 de 3800

Having passed the Guards and traversed an empty space, Rostov, to

avoid again getting in front of the first line as he had done

when the Horse Guards charged, followed the line of reserves,

going far round the place where the hottest musket fire and

cannonade were heard. Suddenly he heard musket fire quite close

in front of him and behind our troops, where he could never have

expected the enemy to be.

"What can it be?" he thought. "The enemy in the rear of our army?

Impossible!" And suddenly he was seized by a panic of fear for

himself and for the issue of the whole battle. "But be that what

it may," he reflected, "there is no riding round it now. I must

look for the commander in chief here, and if all is lost it is

for me to perish with the rest."

The foreboding of evil that had suddenly come over Rostov was

more and more confirmed the farther he rode into the region

behind the village of Pratzen, which was full of troops of all

kinds.