al he had sent by mistake, and sent there no other than Dohturov, who as said to be lacking in decision and penetration. And unpretentious ttle Dohurov went there, and Borodino became the greatest glory of le Russian arms. And many of its heroes have been celebrated in prose pd verse, but of Dohturov hardly a word. Again Dohturov was sent to ominskoe, and from there to Maley Yaroslavets, the place where the st battle was fought with the French, and where it is plain the final sstruction of the French army really begun. And again many heroes id men of genius are described to us in accounts of this period of the impaign, but of Dohturov nothing is said, or but few words of dubious -aise. This silence in regard to Dohturov is the plainest testimony to Is merits.
It is natural that a man who does not understand the working of a lachine should suppose, when he sees it in action, that a shaving that is fallen into it by chance, and flaps about in it, hindering its progress, the most important part of the mechanism. Any one who does not un- erstand the construction of the machine cannot conceive that this shav- ig is only clogging and spoiling it, while the little cog-wheel, which turns Uselessly, is one of the most essential parts of the machine.
On the 10th of October Dohturov had marched halfway to Fominskoe, hd halted at the village of Aristovo, making every preparation for ex- btly carrying out the orders given him. On the same day the whole rench army, after reaching in its spasmodic rush as far as Murat’s osition, seemingly with the object of giving battle, suddenly, with no iparent cause, turned off to the left to the new Kaluga road, and began arching into Fominskoe, where Broussier had before been alone. Doh- irov had under his command at the time only Dorohov’s troops and the vo small detachments of Figner and Seslavin.
On the evening of the nth of October, Seslavin came to the general L Aristovo with a French prisoner of the Guards. The prisoner said lat the troops that had reached Fominskoe that day were the advance iard of the whole army; that Napoleon was with them; that the whole my had marched out of Moscow five days before. The same evening house-serf coming from Borovsk brought word that he had seen an im- ense army entering that town. Dorohov’s Cossacks reported that they id seen the French guards marching along the road to Borovsk. From all lis it was evident that where they had expected to find one division there as now the whole army of the French, marching from Moscow in an lexpected direction—along the old Kaluga road. Dohturov was un- illing to take any action, as it was not clear to him now where his duty y. He had received instructions to attack Fominskoe. But there had iien been only Broussier at Fominskoe, and now the w'hole French army as there. Yermolov wanted to act on his own judgment, but Dohturov sisted that he must have instructions from his highness the commander- -chief. It was resolved to send a report to the staff.
For this purpose they chose a capable officer, Bolhovitinov, who was take a written report, and to explain the whole matter verbally. At
midnight Bolhovitinov received his despatch and his verbal instructions and galloped off to headquarters, accompanied by a Cossack with spar horses.
XVI
It was a dark, warm autumn night. Rain had been falling for the las four days. Changing horses twice, Bolhovitinov galloped in an hour am a half thirty versts over a muddy, slippery road. He reached Letashevki after one o’clock in the night. Dismounting at a hut, on the hurdli fence of which was the inscription ‘Headquarters of the Staff,’ and lettin; his horse go, he walked into the dark entry.
‘The general on duty at once! Very important!’ he cried to som one, who jumped up, wheezing in the darkness.
‘His honour has been very unwell since the evening; he has not slep for three nights,’ an orderly’s voice whispered, interposing. ‘You mus wake the captain first.’
‘Very important from General Dohturov,’ said Bolhovitinov, feeling fo the opened door and going in.
The orderly went in before him, and began waking some one up. ‘You honour, your honour, a courier.’
‘What? what? from whom?’ said a sleepy voice.
‘From Dohturov and from Alexey Petrovitch. Napoleon is at Fomin skoe,’ said Bolhovitinov, not seeing the speaker in the darkness, but as suming from the voice that it was not Konovnitsyn.
The man who had been waked yawned and stretched. ‘I don’t want t< wake him,’ he said, fumbling for something. ‘He’s ill! Perhaps it’s onh a rumour.’
‘Here is the report,’ said Bolhovitinov. ‘My instructions are to give i at once to the general on duty.’
‘Wait a minute, I’ll strike a light. What do you do with things, dami you!’ said the sleepy voice addressing the orderly. The speaker wa: Shtcherbinin, Konovnitsyn’s adjutant. ‘I have found it, I have found it. he added.
The orderly struck a light, Shtcherbinin felt for a candlestick.
‘Ah, the nasty beasts! ’ he said with disgust.
