uadrons put themselves in motion, and in an instant
surrounded these bold fellows, who immediately formed, and kept facing
and firing at them in all directions; but they were so few in the midst
of a large plain, and the number of cavalry about them was so great,
that they soon disappeared from our eyes. A general exclamation of
sorrow burst from the whole of our lines. Every one of the soldiers with
his neck stretched, and his eye fixed, followed the enemy's movements,
and endeavoured to distinguish the fate of his companions in arms. Some
were lamenting the distance they were at, and wishing to march; others
mechanically loaded their muskets or crossed their bayonets with a
threatening air, as if they had been near enough to assist them. Their
looks were sometimes as animated as if they were fighting, and at other
times as much distressed as if they had been beat. Others advised and
encouraged them, forgetting that they were out of reach of hearing.

Several volleys of smoke, ascending from amidst the black mass of
horses, prolonged the uncertainty. Some cried out, that it was our men
firing, and still defending themselves, and that they were not yet beat.
In fact, a Russian commanding officer had just been killed by the
officer commanding these _tirailleurs_. This was the way in which he
replied to the summons to surrender. Our anxiety lasted some minutes
longer, when all at once the army set up a cry of joy and admiration at
seeing the Russian cavalry, intimidated at this bold resistance,
separate in order to escape their well-directed fire, disperse, and at
last allow us to see once more this handful of brave fellows master of
this extensive field of battle, of which it only occupied a few feet.

When the Russians saw that we were manoeuvring seriously to attack
them, they disappeared without leaving us any traces to follow them.
This was the same they had done at Witepsk and Smolensk, and what was
still more remarkable, the second day after their great disaster. At
first there was some uncertainty whether to follow the road to Moscow or
that to Kalouga, after which Murat and Mortier proceeded, at all
hazards, towards Moscow.

They marched for two days, with no other food than horse-flesh and
bruised wheat, without finding a single person or thing by which to
discover the Russian army. That army, although its infantry only formed
one confused mass, did not leave behind it a single fragment; such was
the national