their shattered
ranks. Ney, ignorant that Napoleon had already left Krasnoi, and that
the whole Russian army barred his way, made another effort to force a
passage. He planted his twelve guns on a height above the ravines, and
sent forward several companies of sappers and miners to endeavour to
carry the battery again. Gallantly they made their way up the hill
through a storm of fire. But the Russians again fell upon them in great
force, and few indeed were enabled to make the descent of the hill and
rejoin their comrades.

Darkness had set in now, and Ney, finding it impossible to make his way
further, and feeling sure that had the Emperor been still at Krasnoi he
would have sent a force to his assistance, fell back into the forest.
His position was a desperate one; the scanty supply of provisions with
which they had started was exhausted, and they were in an unknown
country, surrounded by foes, without a guide, without carriage for the
wounded, without an idea of the direction in which to march. The Russian
general sent in two flags of truce, offering him terms of capitulation
which would save the life of himself and of his brave soldiers. Ney,
however, was not yet conquered. He detained the messengers with the
flags of truce, lest they might take news to their general of the
position of his force, and then, with all capable of the exertion,
continued his march. They passed in silence within half a mile of the
Cossack fires, and reaching a village on the Dnieper, attempted the
passage; but the ice broke under the first gun, and it was necessary to
abandon the whole of the artillery and every vehicle.

Before the entire body had passed, the Cossacks, attracted by the sound
made by the troops marching across the ice, arrived and captured several
hundred prisoners, for the most part stragglers. In a village further on
they found temporary rest, surprising a few Cossacks and capturing their
horses, which afforded a ration to the troops; but on the next morning a
great swarm of Cossacks appeared on the plain and opened a heavy
artillery fire. Unable to advance in that direction the column turned
towards a wood on its left, but as it was about to enter the refuge, a
battery concealed there poured a volley of grape into them. The column
hesitated, but Ney dashed to the front, and they rushed forward and
drove the battery from the wood. All day they continued their march
through the forest, until, coming upon a village, the