mple as saying good-day, is it not? Then there are battles in which
your horse casts a shoe at the outset, and lands you in a quandary; and
as far as you are concerned, that is the whole of it. In short, I have
seen so many countries, that seeing them has come to be a matter of
course; and I have seen so many men die, that I have come to value my
own life at nothing."

"But you yourself must have been in danger at times, and it would be
interesting to hear you tell of your personal adventures."

"Perhaps," answered the commandant.

"Well, then, tell me about the adventure that made the deepest
impression upon you. Come! do not hesitate. I shall not think that
you are wanting in modesty even if you should tell me of some piece of
heroism on your part; and when a man is quite sure that he will not be
misunderstood, ought he not to find a kind of pleasure in saying, 'I did
thus'?"

"Very well, then, I will tell you about something that gives me a pang
of remorse from time to time. During fifteen years of warfare it never
once happened that I killed a man, save in legitimate defence of self.
We are drawn up in a line, and we charge; and if we do not strike down
those before us, they will begin to draw blood without asking leave, so
you have to kill if you do not mean to be killed, and your conscience is
quite easy. But once I broke a comrade's back; it happened in a singular
way, and it has been a painful thing to me to think of afterwards--the
man's dying grimace haunts me at times. But you shall judge for
yourself.

"It was during the retreat from Moscow," the commandant went on.
"The Grand Army had ceased to be itself; we were more like a herd of
over-driven cattle. Good-bye to discipline! The regiments had lost sight
of their colors, every one was his own master, and the Emperor (one need
not scruple to say it) knew that it was useless to attempt to exert his
authority when things had gone so far. When we reached Studzianka,
a little place on the other side of the Beresina, we came upon human
dwellings for the first time after several days. There were barns and
peasants' cabins to destroy, and pits full of potatoes and beetroot;
the army had been without victual, and now it fairly ran riot, the first
comers, as you might expect, making a clean sweep of everything.

"I was one of the last to come up. Luckily for me, sleep was the one
thing that I longed for just then. I caught sight of a barn and went
into it. I l