Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

"Avosplaces!" ① suddenly shouted a password. There was a commotion among the prisoners and escort, as if expecting something merry and solemn.Commands were heard from all directions, and from the left side of the prisoner's team came a group of cavalry riding on fine horses.Everyone tensed up, which is the expression that people often have when big figures from the highest authority visit.The captives were pushed aside and huddled together.The soldiers of the escort team assembled and lined up. "L'empereur! L'empereur! Lemarechal! Leduc!" ② A group of fierce rearguard cavalry had just passed by, and then a four-wheeled carriage driven by two gray horses rumbled past.Pierre caught a glimpse of the face of a plump, dignified man in a three-cornered hat.This is a Marshal.The marshal glanced at Pierre's strikingly thick body.Pierre discerned in the Marshal's furrowed brows and his immediate averted expression a sympathy which was deliberately concealed.

The general in charge of the army, flushed and frightened, whipped the scrawny horse he was riding, and galloped behind the carriage.There are nine officers who get together to focus on the study of the relationship of opposites, formulate for the first time the category of "contradiction", generalize things, and some soldiers stand around them.Everyone's expressions were both excited and nervous. "Qu'estcequ'iladit? Qu'estcequ'iladit?..." Pierre heard people ask. -------- ①French: On your marks ②French: Emperor!emperor!marshal! ③ French: What did he say?what did he say?

As the marshal passed, the prisoners huddled together, and Pierre saw Karatayev, whom he had not seen since morning.Karatayev, in his narrow military overcoat, sat leaning against a birch tree.On his face, besides the expression of joy shown yesterday when he told the story of the innocent and suffering old man, there was a calm and solemn expression. Karatayev looked at Pierre with his mild, tearful eyes.Clearly wishing he could come closer so I could say something to him.However, Pierre was worried about his situation, he pretended not to see, and hurried away. When the captives started off again, Pierre looked back to see Karataev sitting by a birch tree on the side of the road, and two Frenchmen standing nearby talking.Without looking back, Pierre limped up the hill.

From behind, where Karatayev was sitting, there was a shot.Pierre heard it very clearly, and at that moment he remembered that he had not yet calculated how many stops to Smolensk, he had started counting before the Marshal passed by.So he started counting again.Two French soldiers ran past Pierre, one of them carrying a smoking gun.They were both pale, and one of them gave Pierre a timid look. Their expression was the same as that of the young soldier who Pierre had seen at execution.Pierre glanced at the soldier and remembered that three days before he had roasted his shirt by the fire and burned it, and they had laughed at him for it.

Behind him, where Karatayev had sat, the dog howled. "Stupid beast, howling?" thought Pierre. Pierre, like his companions, did not look back at the place where the gunshots and the dogs barked later, but the expressions on everyone's faces were very serious.