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In the village of Hosjeradek there were Russian troops retiring

from the field of battle, who though still in some confusion were

less disordered. The French cannon did not reach there and the

musketry fire sounded far away. Here everyone clearly saw and

said that the battle was lost. No one whom Rostov asked could

tell him where the Emperor or Kutuzov was. Some said the report

that the Emperor was wounded was correct, others that it was not,

and explained the false rumor that had spread by the fact that

the Emperor's carriage had really galloped from the field of

battle with the pale and terrified Ober-Hofmarschal Count

Tolstoy, who had ridden out to the battlefield with others in the

Emperor's suite. One officer told Rostov that he had seen someone

from headquarters behind the village to the left, and thither

Rostov rode, not hoping to find anyone but merely to ease his

conscience.