loaded in the same way and gave over to
Buzzard.

More yagers arrived, fell into disorder, and knocked against one another;
the gentry in the tumult could not cut and slash; the yagers could not
shoot, for they were fighting hand to hand. Like tooth on tooth, steel on
steel clashed and snapped; bayonet broke on sabre and scythe on sword
hilt; fist met fist and arm met arm.

But Rykov, with a part of the yagers, ran up to where the barn adjoined
the fence; there he made a stand and called to his soldiers that they
should stop so disorderly a fight, since, without having a chance to use
their weapons, they were falling beneath the fists of the enemy. Angry
that he himself could not fire, for in the press he could not distinguish
Muscovites from Poles, he shouted, "Fall in" (which means form in line);
but his command could not be heard in the midst of the shouting.

Old Maciek, who was not good at hand to hand combat, retreated, clearing a
place before him to the right and to the left; now with the tip of his
sabre he sheared a bayonet from a gun barrel as a wick from a candle; now
with a slashing blow from the left he cut or stabbed. Thus the cautious
Maciek retired to the open field.

But an old corporal, who was the instructor of the regiment, a great
master of the bayonet, pressed upon him with the utmost obstinacy; he
gathered himself together, bent down, and grasped his carbine with both
hands, holding the right on the lock and the left at the middle of the
barrel; he dodged and skipped, and at times crouched down; he let go with
his left hand, and thrust forward the weapon with his right, like the
sting from the jaws of a serpent; and again he withdrew it and rested it
on his knees; and thus dodging and jumping he pressed upon Maciek.

Old Maciek appreciated the skill of his adversary, and with his left hand
adjusted his spectacles on his nose; with his right he held the hilt of
his switch close to his breast, and withdrew, following the motions of the
corporal with his eyes; he himself tottered on his legs as though he were
drunk. The corporal pressed on the more quickly; sure of his triumph, and
in order the more easily to reach his retiring foe, he arose and stretched
forward his right arm at full length, pushing forward his carbine; he made
such an effort in thrusting with his heavy weapon, that he even leaned
forward. Maciek shoved the hilt of his sword just under the spot where the
bayonet is set upon the