THE NOTE submitted by Bennigsen, and the report sent in by the Cossacks of the enemy's left flank being unguarded, were simply the last straws that showed the inevitability of giving the signal for advance, and it was arranged to advance to attack on the 5th of October.

On the morning of the 4th, Kutuzov signed the disposition of the forces. Toll read it to Yermolov, proposing that he should superintend the further instructions for carrying it out.

“Very good, very good, I haven't time just now,” said Yermolov, and he hurried out of the cottage. The arrangement of the troops as drawn up by Toll was an excellent one. The disposition had been written out, as at Austerlitz, though not in German:

“The First Column marches here and there, the Second Column occupies this place,” and so on.

On paper all these columns were in their proper place at a fixed time and annihilated the enemy. Everything had been, as in all such cases, carefully thought of, and as in all such cases not a single column did reach its right place at the right time. When a sufficient number of copies of the disposition were ready, an officer was summoned and sent off to give them to Yermolov, that he might see that instructions were given in accordance with them. A young officer of the horseguards, in waiting on Kutuzov, set off for Yermolov's quarters, delighted at the importance of the commission with which he was intrusted.

“Not at home,” Yermolov's servant told him. The officer of the horseguards set off to the quarters of the general, with whom Yermolov was often to be found.

“Not here, nor the general either,” he was told.

The officer mounted his horse again and rode off to another general's.

“No, not at home.”

“If only I don't get into trouble for the delay! How annoying!” thought the officer.

He rode all over the camp. One man told him he had seen Yermolov riding away in company with some other generals; another said he was sure to be at home again by now. The officer was hunting him till six o'clock in the evening without stopping for dinner. Yermolov was nowhere to be found, and no one knew where he was. The officer took a hasty meal at a comrade's, and trotted back to the advance guard to see Miloradovitch. Miloradovitch, too, was not at home, but there he was told that he was at a ball at General Kikin's and that, most likely, Yermolov was there too.

“But where is that?”

“At Etchkino, that way,” said an officer of the Cossacks, pointing out to him a country house in the far distance.

“Out there! beyond our lines!”

“Two regiments of our fellows have been sent out to the outposts, and there is a spree going on there now, fine doings! Two bands, three choruses of singers.”

The officer rode out beyond our lines to Etchkino. While yet a long way off, he heard the gay sounds of a soldier's dance tune sung in chorus.

“In the meadows … in the meadows,” he heard with a whistle and string music, drowned from time to time in a roar of voices. The officer's spirits, too, rose at these sounds, but at the same time he was in terror lest he should be held responsible for having so long delayed giving the important message intrusted to him. It was by now nearly nine o'clock. He dismounted and walked up to the entrance of a big manor-house that had been left uninjured between the French and the Russian lines. Footmen were bustling about with wines and edibles in the vestibule and the buffet. Choruses were standing under the windows. The officer was led up to a door, and he saw all at once all the most important generals in the army, among them the big, impressive figure of Yermolov. All the generals were standing in a semicircle, laughing loudly, their uniforms unbuttoned, and their faces flushed and animated. In the middle of the room a handsome, short general with a red face, was smartly and jauntily executing the steps of the trepak.

“Ha, ha, ha! Bravo, Nikolay Ivanovitch! ha, ha! …”

The officer felt doubly guilty in breaking in at such a moment with important business, and he would have waited; but one of the generals caught sight of him, and hearing what he had come for, told Yermolov. The latter, with a frowning face, came out to the officer, and hearing his story, took the papers from him without a word.

“Do you suppose it was by chance that he was not at home?” said a comrade of the officer's who was on the staff, speaking of Yermolov that evening. “That's all stuff and nonsense; it was all done on purpose. To play a trick on Konovnitsyn. You see, there'll be a pretty kettle of fish to-morrow!”

贝尼格森所呈交的有关必须发动进攻的意见书和那个哥萨克所做的关于法军左翼未设防的报告，只不过是必需下达进攻命令的最后迹象罢了，于是决定十月五日开始进攻。

十月四日早晨，库图佐夫在作战命令上签了字。托尔对叶尔莫洛夫宣读了那个作战命令，请他作进一步的部署。

“好的，好的，我现在没有时间，”叶尔莫洛夫说道，随即离开了那间农舍小屋。由托尔起草的作战命令写得很漂亮，和在奥斯特利茨写的作战命令一样，不过这一次不是用德文写的。

“DieersteColonnemarschiert①要向某某地点和某某地点进发，dirzweiteColonnemarschiert②要向某某地点和某某地点进发，”等等。在纸面上，所有这些纵队都在指定时间到达指定位置并消灭敌人。正如所有的作战计划一样，一切都想得很美满，也正如执行所有的作战计划一样，没有一个纵队在所指定的时间抵达所指定的地点。

①法语：第一纵队。

②法语：第二纵队。

当作战计划准备好应有的份数之后，就叫来一位军官，并派他把文件送给叶尔莫洛夫，要他去执行。这个年轻的骑兵军官，库图佐夫的传令官，对交付给他的任务的重要性感到满意，他立即驰往叶尔莫洛夫的住处去了。

“出去了。”叶尔莫洛夫的勤务兵回答道。

骑兵军官又前往什尔莫洛夫常去的一位将军那里。

“不在，将军不在。”

骑兵军官骑上马，又前往另外一个人那里。

“不在，都出去了。”

“可别让我承担这种延迟的责任！这多恼火！”那个军官想道。他骑着马走遍了整个营地。有些人说，他们看到叶尔莫洛夫和另外一些将军向某处去了，有的说，他大约回家去了。那个军官连午饭也没有吃，一直找到下午六点钟。哪里都没有叶尔莫洛夫，谁也不知道他在哪里。军官在一位同事处匆忙吃了点东西，然后又到前已去找米洛拉多维奇。米洛拉多维奇也不在家，那里的人对他说，米洛拉多维奇去参加基金将军举行的舞会，叶尔莫洛夫大概也在那里。

“那舞会在哪里呢？”

“嘿，在哪里，在叶奇金。”一个哥萨克军官指着远处的一所地主的房子，说。

“怎么在那里，在防线以外？”

“他们派了两个团去防卫，他们在那里寻那么大的开心，简直吓人！有两个乐队，三个合唱队。”

那个军官驰往防线以外去找叶奇金。他向那所房子驰去，老远就听见和谐而欢乐的士兵舞曲。

“在草地上……在草地上！……”口笛声和托尔班琴①琴声伴着舞曲，时而被喊叫声淹没，那个军官听到这些声音，心中也很高兴，但是同时他又有点害怕，惟恐这么久没有把交付给他的重要的命令送到，因此而获罪。已经过了八点钟了。他下了马，走进这所地处俄国人和法国人之间而仍然保存完好的地主住宅的门廊，在餐厅和过厅里，听差们正忙碌着端酒上菜，歌手们站在窗子外面。那个军官被让了进去，他立刻就看见军队所有的重要的将军们，其中就有叶尔莫洛夫那高大而显赫的身形。所有的将军们站成半圆形，都解开了上衣，脸色通红，兴高采烈，高声大笑。在大厅中央，一个满脸通红、个子不高、容貌俊秀的将军敏捷地跳特列帕克舞。

“哈，哈，哈！尼古拉·伊凡诺维奇，好啊！哈，哈，哈！

……”

①托尔班琴是旧时波兰和乌克兰的一种双颈拨弦乐器。

那个军官觉得，在此时此刻，他带着重要的命令进来，会受到双重责备，因此，他宁可等上一会；然而有一位将军看见了他，获悉他来的原因之后，就告诉了叶尔莫洛夫。叶尔莫洛夫听到后阴沉着脸走向那个军官，从他手中接过文件，没有对他说一句话。

“你以为他是偶然走开的吗？”参谋部里的一个同事那一天晚上在谈到叶尔莫洛夫的时候对那个骑兵军官说道。“这是一种手段。这全都是故意的。跟科诺夫尼岑过不去。你看吧，明天会乱成什么样子！”