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"It can't be an attack, for they are not moving; it can't be a

square-for they are not drawn up for that."

The commander of the regiment, a thin, feeble-looking old man

with a pleasant smile-his eyelids drooping more than half over

his old eyes, giving him a mild expression, rode up to Bagration

and welcomed him as a host welcomes an honored guest. He reported

that his regiment had been attacked by French cavalry and that,

though the attack had been repulsed, he had lost more than half

his men. He said the attack had been repulsed, employing this

military term to describe what had occurred to his regiment, but

in reality he did not himself know what had happened during that

half-hour to the troops entrusted to him, and could not say with

certainty whether the attack had been repulsed or his regiment

had been broken up. All he knew was that at the commencement of

the action balls and shells began flying all over his regiment

and hitting men and that afterwards someone had shouted

"Cavalry!" and our men had begun firing.