Kutuzov turned away. There was a gleam in his eyes of the same smile with which he had turned away from Captain Timohin. He turned away and frowned, as though to express that all Dolohov had said to him and all he could say, he had known long, long ago, that he was sick to death long ago of it, and that it was not at all what was wanted. He turned away and went towards the coach.
The regiment broke into companies and went towards the quarters assigned them at no great distance from Braunau, where they hoped to find boots and clothes, and to rest after their hard marches.
‘You won’t bear me a grudge, Proho Ignatitch?’ said the commanding general, overtaking the third company and riding up to Captain Timohin, who was walking in front of it. The general’s face beamed with a delight he could not suppress after the successful inspection. ‘It’s in the Tsar’s service . . . can’t be helped . . . sometimes one has to be a little sharp at inspection. I’m the first to apologise; you know me. . . . He was very much pleased.’ And he held out his hand to the captain.
‘Upon my word, general, as if I’d make so bold,’ answered the captain, his nose flushing redder. He smiled, and his smile revealed the loss of two front teeth, knocked out by the butt-end of a gun at Ismail.
‘And tell Dolohov that I won’t forget him; he can be easy about that. And tell me, please, what about him, how’s he behaving himself . . . I’ve been meaning to inquire . . .’
‘He’s very exact in the discharge of his duties, your excellency . . . but he’s a character . . .’ said Timohin.
‘Why, what sort of a character?’ asked the general.
‘It’s different on different days, your excellency,’ said the captain; ‘at one time he’s sensible and well-educated and good-natured. And then he’ll be like a wild beast. In Poland, he all but killed a Jew, if you please. . . .’
‘Well, well,’ said the general, ‘still one must feel for a young man in trouble. He has great connections, you know. ... So you . . .’
‘Oh, yes, your excellency,’ said Timohin, with a smile that showed he understood his superior officer’s wish in the matter.
‘Very well, then, very well.’
The general sought out Dolohov in the ranks and pulled up his horse.
‘In the first action you may win your epaulettes,’ he said to him.
Dolohov looked round and said nothing. There was no change in the lines of his ironically-smiling mouth.
‘Well, that’s all right then,’ the general went on. ‘A glass of brandy to
every man from me/ he added, so that the soidiers could hear. ‘I thank you all. God be praised!’ And riding round the company, he galloped off to another.
‘Well, he’s really a good fellow, one can get on very well under him/ said Timohin to the subaltern officer walking beside him.
‘The king of hearts, that’s the only word for him/ the subaltern said, laughing. (The general was nicknamed the king of hearts.)
The cheerful state of mind of the officers after the inspection was shared by the soldiers. The companies went along merrily. Soldiers’ voices could be heard on all sides chatting away.
‘Why, don’t they say Kutuzov’s blind in one eye?’
‘To be sure he is. Quite blind of one eye.’
‘Nay . . . lads, he’s more sharp-eyed than you are. See how he looked at our boots and things.’ . . .
‘I say, mate, when he looked at my legs . . . well, thinks I . . .’
‘And the other was an Austrian with him, that looked as if he’d been chalked all over. As white as flour. I bet they rub him up as we rub up our guns.’
‘I say, Fedeshou . . . did he say anything as to when the battles are going to begin? You stood nearer. They did say Bonaparte himself was in Brunovo.’
‘Bonaparte! What nonsense the fellow talks! What won’t you know next! Now it’s the Prussian that’s revolting. The Austrian, do you see, is pacifying him. When he’s quiet, then the war will begin with Bonaparte. And he talks of Bonaparte’s being in Brunovo! It’s plain the fellow’s a fool. You’d better keep your ears open.’
‘Those devils of quartermasters! . . . The fifth company’s turned into the village by now, and they’re cooking their porridge, and we’re not there yet.’
‘Give us a biscuit, old man.’
‘And did you give me tobacco yesterday? All right, my lad. Well, well, God be with you.’
‘They might have made a halt, or we’ll have to do another four miles with nothing to eat.’
‘I say, it was fine how those Germans gave us carriages. One drove along, something like.’
‘But here, lads, the folks are regularly stripped bare. There it was all Poles of some sort, all under the Russian crown, but now we’ve come to the regular Germans, my boy.’
