Book Nine: 1812 - Chapter XII

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Before the beginning of the campaign, Rostov had received a letterfrom his parents in which they told him briefly of Natasha's illnessand the breaking off of her engagement to Prince Andrew (which theyexplained by Natasha's having rejected him) and again asked Nicholasto retire from the army and return home. On receiving this letter,Nicholas did not even make any attempt to get leave of absence or toretire from the army, but wrote to his parents that he was sorryNatasha was ill and her engagement broken off, and that he would doall he could to meet their wishes. To Sonya he wrote separately.

　　"Adored friend of my soul!" he wrote. "Nothing but honor couldkeep me from returning to the country. But now, at the commencement ofthe campaign, I should feel dishonored, not only in my comrades'eyes but in my own, if I preferred my own happiness to my love andduty to the Fatherland. But this shall be our last separation. Believeme, directly the war is over, if I am still alive and still loved byyou, I will throw up everything and fly to you, to press you foreverto my ardent breast."

　　It was, in fact, only the commencement of the campaign thatprevented Rostov from returning home as he had promised and marryingSonya. The autumn in Otradnoe with the hunting, and the winter withthe Christmas holidays and Sonya's love, had opened out to him a vistaof tranquil rural joys and peace such as he had never known before,and which now allured him. "A splendid wife, children, a good packof hounds, a dozen leashes of smart borzois, agriculture, neighbors,service by election..." thought he. But now the campaign wasbeginning, and he had to remain with his regiment. And since it had tobe so, Nicholas Rostov, as was natural to him, felt contented with thelife he led in the regiment and was able to find pleasure in thatlife.

　　On his return from his furlough Nicholas, having been joyfullywelcomed by his comrades, was sent to obtain remounts and brought backfrom the Ukraine excellent horses which pleased him and earned himcommendation from his commanders. During his absence he had beenpromoted captain, and when the regiment was put on war footing with anincrease in numbers, he was again allotted his old squadron.

　　The campaign began, the regiment was moved into Poland on doublepay, new officers arrived, new men and horses, and above all everybodywas infected with the merrily excited mood that goes with thecommencement of a war, and Rostov, conscious of his advantageousposition in the regiment, devoted himself entirely to the pleasuresand interests of military service, though he knew that sooner or laterhe would have to relinquish them.

　　The troops retired from Vilna for various complicated reasons ofstate, political and strategic. Each step of the retreat wasaccompanied by a complicated interplay of interests, arguments, andpassions at headquarters. For the Pavlograd hussars, however, thewhole of this retreat during the finest period of summer and withsufficient supplies was a very simple and agreeable business.

　　It was only at headquarters that there was depression, uneasiness,and intriguing; in the body of the army they did not ask themselveswhere they were going or why. If they regretted having to retreat,it was only because they had to leave billets they had grownaccustomed to, or some pretty young Polish lady. If the thought thatthings looked bad chanced to enter anyone's head, he tried to be ascheerful as befits a good soldier and not to think of the generaltrend of affairs, but only of the task nearest to hand. First theycamped gaily before Vilna, making acquaintance with the Polishlandowners, preparing for reviews and being reviewed by the Emperorand other high commanders. Then came an order to retreat to Sventsyaniand destroy any provisions they could not carry away with them.Sventsyani was remembered by the hussars only as the drunken camp, aname the whole army gave to their encampment there, and because manycomplaints were made against the troops, who, taking advantage ofthe order to collect provisions, took also horses, carriages, andcarpets from the Polish proprietors. Rostov remembered Sventsyani,because on the first day of their arrival at that small town hechanged his sergeant major and was unable to manage all the drunkenmen of his squadron who, unknown to him, had appropriated five barrelsof old beer. From Sventsyani they retired farther and farther toDrissa, and thence again beyond Drissa, drawing near to the frontierof Russia proper.

　　On the thirteenth of July the Pavlograds took part in a seriousaction for the first time.

　　On the twelfth of July, on the eve of that action, there was a heavystorm of rain and hail. In general, the summer of 18l2 wasremarkable for its storms.

　　The two Pavlograd squadrons were bivouacking on a field of rye,which was already in ear but had been completely trodden down bycattle and horses. The rain was descending in torrents, and Rostov,with a young officer named Ilyin, his protege, was sitting in ahastily constructed shelter. An officer of their regiment, with longmustaches extending onto his cheeks, who after riding to the staff hadbeen overtaken by the rain, entered Rostov's shelter.

　　"I have come from the staff, Count. Have you heard of Raevski'sexploit?"

　　And the officer gave them details of the Saltanov battle, which hehad heard at the staff.

　　Rostov, smoking his pipe and turning his head about as the watertrickled down his neck, listened inattentively, with an occasionalglance at Ilyin, who was pressing close to him. This officer, a lad ofsixteen who had recently joined the regiment, was now in the samerelation to Nicholas that Nicholas had been to Denisov seven yearsbefore. Ilyin tried to imitate Rostov in everything and adored himas a girl might have done.

　　Zdrzhinski, the officer with the long mustache, spokegrandiloquently of the Saltanov dam being "a Russian Thermopylae," andof how a deed worthy of antiquity had been performed by GeneralRaevski. He recounted how Raevski had led his two sons onto the damunder terrific fire and had charged with them beside him. Rostov heardthe story and not only said nothing to encourage Zdrzhinski'senthusiasm but, on the contrary, looked like a man ashamed of whathe was hearing, though with no intention of contradicting it. Sincethe campaigns of Austerlitz and of 1807 Rostov knew by experience thatmen always lie when describing military exploits, as he himself haddone when recounting them; besides that, he had experience enough toknow that nothing happens in war at all as we can imagine or relateit. And so he did not like Zdrzhinski's tale, nor did he likeZdrzhinski himself who, with his mustaches extending over hischeeks, bent low over the face of his hearer, as was his habit, andcrowded Rostov in the narrow shanty. Rostov looked at him insilence. "In the first place, there must have been such a confusionand crowding on the dam that was being attacked that if Raevski didlead his sons there, it could have had no effect except perhaps onsome dozen men nearest to him," thought he, "the rest could not haveseen how or with whom Raevski came onto the dam. And even those whodid see it would not have been much stimulated by it, for what hadthey to do with Raevski's tender paternal feelings when their ownskins were in danger? And besides, the fate of the Fatherland didnot depend on whether they took the Saltanov dam or not, as we aretold was the case at Thermopylae. So why should he have made such asacrifice? And why expose his own children in the battle? I wouldnot have taken my brother Petya there, or even Ilyin, who's a strangerto me but a nice lad, but would have tried to put them somewhere undercover," Nicholas continued to think, as he listened to Zdrzhinski. Buthe did not express his thoughts, for in such matters, too, he hadgained experience. He knew that this tale redounded to the glory ofour arms and so one had to pretend not to doubt it. And he actedaccordingly.

　　"I can't stand this any more," said Ilyin, noticing that Rostovdid not relish Zdrzhinski's conversation. "My stockings and shirt...and the water is running on my seat! I'll go and look for shelter. Therain seems less heavy."

　　Ilyin went out and Zdrzhinski rode away.

　　Five minutes later Ilyin, splashing through the mud, came runningback to the shanty.

　　"Hurrah! Rostov, come quick! I've found it! About two hundredyards away there's a tavern where ours have already gathered. We canat least get dry there, and Mary Hendrikhovna's there."

　　Mary Hendrikhovna was the wife of the regimental doctor, a prettyyoung German woman he had married in Poland. The doctor, whetherfrom lack of means or because he did not like to part from his youngwife in the early days of their marriage, took her about with himwherever the hussar regiment went and his jealousy had become astanding joke among the hussar officers.

　　Rostov threw his cloak over his shoulders, shouted to Lavrushka tofollow with the things, and- now slipping in the mud, now splashingright through it- set off with Ilyin in the lessening rain and thedarkness that was occasionally rent by distant lightning.

　　"Rostov, where are you?"

　　"Here. What lightning!" they called to one another.