rely covered with rime, again opposed their landing. Many were
thrown back upon the ice which they broke in their fall, or which
bruised them. By their account, this Russian river and its banks
appeared only to have contributed with regret, by surprise, and as it
were by compulsion, to their escape.

But what seemed to affect them with the greatest horror in their
relation, was the trouble and distraction of the females and the sick,
when it became necessary to abandon, along with the baggage, the remains
of their fortune, their provisions, and in short, their whole resources
against the present and the future. They saw them stripping themselves,
selecting, throwing away, taking up again, and falling with exhaustion
and grief upon the frozen bank of the river. They seemed to shudder
again at the recollection of the horrible sight of so many men scattered
over that abyss, the continual noise of persons falling, the cries of
such as sunk in, and, above all, of the wailing and despair of the
wounded, who, from their carts, which durst not venture on this weak
support, stretched out their hands to their companions, and intreated
not to be left behind.

Their leader then determined to attempt the passage of several waggons,
loaded with these poor creatures; but in the middle of the river, the
ice sunk down and separated. Then were heard, on the opposite bank,
proceeding from the gulf, first, cries of anguish long and piercing,
then stifled and feeble groans, and last of all an awful silence. All
had disappeared!

Ney was looking stedfastly at the abyss with an air of consternation,
when through the darkness, he imagined he saw an object still moving; it
turned out to be one of those unfortunate persons, an officer, named
Briqueville, whom a deep wound in the groin had disabled from standing
upright. A large piece of ice had borne him up. He was soon distinctly
seen, dragging himself from one piece to another on his knees and hands,
and on his getting near enough to the side, the marshal himself caught
hold of, and saved him.

The losses since the preceding day amounted to four thousand stragglers
and three thousand soldiers, either killed, dead, or missing; the cannon
and the whole of the baggage were lost; there remained to Ney scarcely
three thousand soldiers, and about as many disbanded men. Finally, when
all these sacrifices were consummated, and all that had been able to
cross the river were collected, they resumed