e slowly and by cutting down. The crowd having at last
dispersed, discovered to the Russians, Maison and his soldiers waiting
for them with a determined countenance. But in its flight, the crowd had
drawn along with it a portion of our combatants. Maison, in an open
plain, and with seven or eight hundred men against thousands of enemies,
lost all hope of safety; he was already seeking only to gain a wood not
far off, in order to sell their lives more dearly, when he saw coming
out of it eighteen hundred Poles, a troop quite fresh, which Ney had met
with and brought to his assistance. This reinforcement stopped the
enemy, and secured the retreat as far as Malodeczno.

On the 4th of December, about four o'clock in the afternoon, Ney and
Maison got within sight of that village, which Napoleon had quitted in
the morning. Tchaplitz followed them close. Ney had now only six hundred
men remaining with him. The weakness of this rear-guard, the approach of
night, and the prospect of a place of shelter, excited the ardour of the
Russian general; he made a warm attack. Ney and Maison, perfectly
certain that they would die of cold on the high-road, if they allowed
themselves to be driven beyond that cantonment, preferred perishing in
defending it.

They halted at its entrance, and as their artillery horses were dying,
they gave up all idea of saving their cannon; determined however that it
should do its duty for the last time in crushing the enemy, they formed
every piece they possessed into a battery, and made a tremendous fire.
Tchaplitz's attacking column was entirely broken by it, and halted. But
that general, availing himself of his superior forces, diverted a part
of them to another entrance, and his first troops had already crossed
the inclosures of Malodeczno, when all at once, they there encountered a
fresh enemy.

As good luck would have it, Victor, with about four thousand men, the
remains of the ninth corps, still occupied this village. The fury on
both sides was extreme; the first houses were several times taken and
retaken. The combat on both sides was much less for glory than to keep
or acquire a refuge against the destructive cold. It was not until
half-past eleven at night that the Russians gave up the contest, and
went from it half frozen, to seek for another in the surrounding
villages.

The following day, December 5th, Ney and Maison had expected that the
Duke of Belluno would replace them at the rear-guard;