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And really another French soldier, trailing his musket, ran up to

the struggling men, and the fate of the red-haired gunner, who

had triumphantly secured the mop and still did not realize what

awaited him, was about to be decided. But Prince Andrew did not

see how it ended. It seemed to him as though one of the soldiers

near him hit him on the head with the full swing of a bludgeon.

It hurt a little, but the worst of it was that the pain

distracted him and prevented his seeing what he had been looking

at.