The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [76]
From this time on a shot from our side followed every shot of theirs, until the earth shook, while the white smudge on the highroad grew larger. At the same time, smoke gleamed on the opposite hill, and a snarling shell flew in the direction of our battery. Another smoke-cloud…a third…a fourth…‘Clever devils!’ the corporal muttered. ‘Battalion, forward march!’ our major roared in a tremendous voice…‘Company, forward march!…Platoon, forward march!…’ officers echoed in different tones.
Again they deployed us differently. The four central platoons remained in the rear, four went ahead to the right and left respectively. We pulled out our knapsacks and took up our arms as we pleased. ‘Up and at ’em!’ Katz exclaimed. At this moment a shell flew high over our heads and burst with a great bang somewhere in the rear. Then a peculiar notion came to me: surely battles are merely noisy spectacles, arranged by armies for the benefit of people at home, but not intended to harm anyone. For what I could see before me looked very fine, as though it was not so terrible after all.
We went down into the plain. A hussar flew from our battery to report that one of the cannons had been blown to bits. At the same time a shell fell to the left of us; it ploughed into the earth without going off. ‘They are beginning to get our scent,’ said the old corporal. A second shell exploded overhead, and a piece of shrapnel fell at Kratochwil’s feet. He went pale, then laughed. ‘Aha!…Ah!’ men shouted in the ranks.
Confusion started in the platoons which were marching about a hundred yards ahead of us, to the left; when the column moved on, we saw two men, one lying face downwards, stretched out like a piece of cord, the other sitting up, holding his stomach with both hands. I caught the stench of gun-powder: Katz said something to me, but I did not hear him, for there was a roaring in my right ear as if a drop of water had got into it.
The corporal went over to the left, we followed. Our column separated into two long lines. Smoke was boiling up a few hundred feet ahead. They trumpeted something but I did not understand the signal; however, I heard shrill screaming overhead and past my left ear. Something hit the ground a few feet away, bespattering me with sand on my face and chest. My neighbour fired: two men behind, almost at my back, levelled their rifles and fired, one after the other. Entirely deafened, I fired too. I loaded and fired again. In front, someone’s helmet and rifle fell, but we were surrounded by such a dense cloud of smoke that I could see nothing more. All I could see was Katz, who kept on firing, looking like a madman, with froth in the corners of his mouth. The roaring in my ears intensified so that finally I could hear neither the rattling of rifles nor the cannons.
Finally the smoke grew so thick and intolerable that I felt I had to get out of it at any price. I moved away, slowly at first, then running, surprised to see that other men were doing the same. Instead of two long lines I now saw a mass of fleeing men. ‘Why the devil are they running away?’ I thought, hastening my step. It was no longer a run but a gallop. We paused half-way up the hill, and not until now did we notice that our position on the battle-field had been taken by another battalion, and they were firing cannons from the hill-top.
‘Reserves into action!…Forward, you scoundrels!…You swine-herds, you sons of dogs!’ the officers were shouting, black with smoke, furious, aligning us into ranks again and striking anyone who came within reach.
The major was not among them. Gradually the soldiers who had been bewildered by the retreat found they were back in their platoons; the deserters were caught and the battalion returned to order. However, some forty men were missing.
‘Where have they gone?’ I asked the corporal.
‘Ah, they’ve bolted,’ he replied gloomily. I dared not think they had been killed.
Two soldiers came driving down from the hill-top: