Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/255

Rh the top of his silver cuirass, and passed through his right shoulder. Faint and dizzy, he still pressed on. To be stopped now would be intolerable. But in another moment his senses reeled; all things grew dim about him. He had barely time to thrust the colours which he held into the hand of the comrade nearest him; then, after clutching vainly at the mane of his horse, he found himself lying under its hoofs. Immeasurably bitter was the thrill of disappointment that flashed through him ere consciousness departed. "I shall not enter Paris with my Czar," he murmured with his failing voice. After that he knew nothing.

When he came to himself he was still lying on the ground where he had fallen. Blood was flowing freely from the wound in his shoulder, but no hoof of horse had grazed him as he lay—all had passed him by, sparing the fallen, as those noble and gentle creatures so often do. He heard voices near him, and to his joy they spoke in Russian. Then the Butte de Chaumont was theirs yet! He raised himself with an effort, and looked about him. It was night, but lights were blazing all around. A party of artillery occupied the height which he and his comrades had won for them, and the gunners were standing, match in hand, beside their loaded pieces. It was evident that the word of command to fire upon the city that lay outspread beneath them was expected every instant. Fierce and eager was the excitement. The passionate, exulting anticipation which kindled every eye and throbbed in every heart resounded on all sides in "houras" and "vivas," while from lip to lip along the ranks the cry was echoed and re-echoed, "Father Paris, you shall pay for Mother Moscow!"

A voice near Ivan—a voice that Ivan knew—exclaimed, in tones of deepest emotion, "Thank God and the saints, we have our revenge this night for our beautiful and holy city, laid in ashes—ay, and for our dead, our murdered! Anna Popovna, in thy name I send the messenger of Death into the homes of the infidel Nyemtzi."