they did no more, either from doubt as to what they saw, for
they were still deceived, or from prudence, as it frequently halted, and
presented a determined front to them.

At last, after two hours most anxious march, they again reached the high
road, and the viceroy was actually in Krasnoe on the 17th of November,
when Miloradowitch, descending from his heights in order to seize him,
found the field of battle occupied only by a few stragglers, whom no
effort could induce the night before to quit their fires.

CHAP. V.

The Emperor on his side had waited for the viceroy during the whole of
the preceding day. The noise of his engagement had irritated him. An
effort to break through the enemy, in order to join him, had been
ineffectually attempted; and when night came on without his making his
appearance, the uneasiness of his adopted father was at the height.
"Eugene and the army of Italy, and this long day of baffled expectation,
had they then terminated together?" Only one hope remained to Napoleon;
and that was, that the viceroy, driven back towards Smolensk, had there
joined Davoust and Ney, and that the following day they would, with
united forces, attempt a decisive effort.

In his anxiety, the Emperor assembled the marshals who remained with
him. These were Berthier, Bessieres, Mortier, and Lefebvre; these were
saved; they had cleared the obstacle; they had only to continue their
retreat through Lithuania, which was open to them; but would they
abandon their companions in the midst of the Russian army? No,
certainly; and they determined once more to enter Russia, either to
deliver, or to perish with them.

When this resolution was taken, Napoleon coolly prepared the
dispositions to carry it into effect. He was not at all shaken by the
great movements which the enemy were evidently making around him. He saw
that Kutusoff was advancing in order to surround and take him prisoner
in Krasnoe. The very night before, he had learned that Ojarowski, with a
vanguard of Russian infantry, had got beyond him, and taken a position
at Maliewo, in a village in the rear of his left. Irritated, instead of
depressed, by misfortune, he called his aide-de-camp, Rapp, and
exclaimed, "that he must set out immediately, and proceed during the
night and the darkness to attack that body of infantry with the bayonet;
that this was the first time of its exhibiting so much audacity, and
that he was determined to make it repent it