Page 19 (1/2)

Chapter 19

TEMERAIRE JOLTED OUT OF sleep the nextwith a start: the thunder-roll and the low terrible whistling of the field guns It was just dawn "Twelve-pounders," Laurence said, listening: not as great a noise as the enoron transport like the Potentate, or even the thirty-six-pounders which had uns of the Reliant, on which Teh for all that When Temeraire put his head out of the pavilion, he sawup on their haunches, looking a little uneasily to the here the noise of the guns cauns were firing in nearly a continuous stream; as soon as the reverberation of one shot had died away, here caons roar, we have it over with, and then you can hear yourself think again But I aet started Coo and have a look"

They had enca ht the infantry or the cavalry, and this way refresh theons without being exposed to the artillery As Chu issued his orders, the niru began at once to go aloft; Teside him swiftly the five minutes to the front, and there halted to hover: the battlefield looked quite different than the previous afternoon The French had thrown up three rows of fences nearly all about the highest ground, constructed as they had seen of heavy logs and piled stones and dirt And as a final insult, they had even seized and improved upon the very fortifications which the Russians had built and abandoned, not a week before

The ranks of infantry stood arrayed now behind the heavy fences, deployed into broad lines, and great batteries of artillery stood upon raised ground behind the of trees had removed the few obstacles which remained to their clear prospect in every direction, while the Russians had been obliged to take up positions crowded up against a heavy stand of tiround not distant froons were massed towards the center, in a peculiar concentration, which it seemed to Temeraire should make it possible to encircle them entirely

He ventured to point this out to Chu, who said, "Yes, so why has he done it?"

"You have forgotten the guns," Laurence said, pointing: uns stood behind the infantry ranks, ai on us: they are elevated too high to fire on the Russian infantry"

As the Russian dragonsheavy loads of bombs meant for the French infantry positions, the raised artillery began to roar: canister-shot, filling the air with sh these nearly all fell harmlessly into the field between the armies, the hail barred an approach to the French forces from ons werea unfire Yes, I see; ill have a hard tihts were already being sty back before the blistering fire, which would have torn their wings apart if they had continued

But Chu signaled nevertheless, and Te joy as six niru fleard to s of four niru apiece broke away to either side of the battlefield, to probe at the French defenses They were fighting, at last they were fighting, and then Chu said, "Well, let’s go back and sit down and have adrink; is there any tea, Shen Lao?"

"What?" Te has begun!"

"And it will be a long while going, too," Chu said, unperturbed, "as long as we can’t come at theement: the niru had closed with the front ranks of the French dragons, and were skirh as yet cautiously, all the dragons on both sides working out a sense of their unfamiliar eneons to attack One of the niru was already falling back a little fro

"But then surely we ought do soht attack," Teht--" He paused, and looked upon the field: perhaps they hts there covering the French rear, with a forest of sharpened stakes rising up around the, anyway," he finished a little la eneral, and tell hie supply for another two days" And then he turned around and flew back towards the ca on at all

The rest of theEven Laurence only said, "We could scarcely give Bonaparte a better gift than to accept the extraordinary losses which it would require on the part of the Chinese legions to seize and overwhelm those artillery positions as they stand: pray notice, if you will, that the French have secondary guns waiting against just such an attempt, and crews of pikeainst us indefinitely They have sixty dragons here, you five tions to be the equal of the Chinese, which we ought not, as the day progresses we can send fresh beasts against tired, and by slow tide wear the their own assault upon the French ground positions"

This was a very sensible and practical explanation and by no reed to Laurence’s suggestion that they should indeed go and assure additional supply, for the Chinese legions, largely in hopes that the Russians should protest and insist on so in his o chair with no more hurry in his manner than Chu; he only nodded to Laurence’s request and said, "I think Colonel Ogevin has already put it in train Vasya," he added to one of his aides, "see that it is done"

So Temeraire, with enthusiasm still more di a large helping of porridge as placidly as--as a cow, Teht, meanly; he scornfully refused the bohich Shen Lao offered hiretted Iskierka’s absence, all this while, but in the moment he missed her quite acutely He was certain she would not have toleratedto join in somehow or other

He ventured quietly to Laurence that perhaps they ainst the French artillery "For I am quite sure," he said, "that I would be able to break some of those earthworks, with the divine wind, and bowl over a great ht be able to co overheard and de, "and you could also go and dig some ditches, for latrines; and I dare say if you wanted, you could try and cook our dinner, though it o and dance for the troops, which at least would entertain them None of that is your business: it is your business to stay here, and learn how a battle is ed properly, and then if a h a decisive action, alter the course of the battle, you will be ready to act, and not worn out and too distracted to observe it"

Teree, saying gently, "My dear, you must see that in the present situation, where the ene to bear even the better part of the forces which we have, it would be folly to risk you to no purpose Recall that we are here notfor us to go foolhardy into battle nohen our destruction could cast into serious disarray all the cooperation between the Russian arions we have asked to follow us here, as it would be in another situation for us to evade battle out of cowardice"

So Teh, and put down his head, and wait, while the Jade Dragons darted back and forth, bringing Chu reports of endless tedium, and the sun crawled by overhead

"What a hideous noise," Tharkay said The artillery had not ceased to fire, all this tiain after noon had passed, only to have a look; although privately he thought perhaps he nificant attack The battlefield was so thickly obscured by smoke, by now, that it was nearly iround One could only guess at it, by listening to the roar of the guns, which went on and on and on His own ears rang with it, the unpleasant brassy noise: he had never heard anything like, save at the battle of Shoeburyness, during the final great boone on more than half the day

"Oh, there," Tereat rolling cloud of powder away from before the French earthworks on their left flank, "noill be able to see so, at any rate" And then he paused, and was silent The ground was littered thickly with the shattered bodies of horses and of hter," Laurence said, low And the soldiers were yet fighting, bitterly, around the fence: the Russians had seized one end now and were striving forith bayonets and swords and even in so it

"Surely we ht help them," Temeraire said, unhappily, but even as he half-stooped towards the struggle, involuntarily, another roaring sounded below, and he backwinged, recoiling instinctively: a hail of canister-shot histling by not a hundred feet distant

"We have already helped them," Laurence said to Temeraire, as they drew back "We have put a stop to Napoleon’s aerial attacks: the French would otherwise be enacting a terrible bouns which he is using to keep the Chinese legions off, he cannot direct against the infantry"

"But he seeh of them to do both," Teuns, it see on such a battle? Surely he can see, as well as we can, that he is lost: that he is only dragging things out dreadfully, for everyone, and killing so many on all sides"

"He has little alternative," Laurence said, "save if he chose to abandon his arnoin to tell ruthlessly against hiuard, and catch hi out upon the road Most likely he yet hopes for some mistake upon our part, which would perround troops" But the Russians were being quite careful to avoid that: as the fortifications and the heavy woods kept the at the full body of the French Ar the road to Moscow to the south, to guard against any atte the night, or to sneak some substantial portion out to flank the Russian Ared to be allowed to come aloft with them, on every one of Teratification, quite a reformed character, and in the course of their journey frolish but of French; to-day he had been avidly studying the order of battle of the armies on both sides He ventured now, fro between a battle and a siege," and Laurence nodded in agreeht take , and it was only er consolation when Laurence said, "They cannot have the supply to hold out for more than a few days, Temeraire, even if they eat the cavalry-horses: you can see for yourself they have virtually no cattle ae"

It did not make Temeraire feel much better, either, to see Vosyeruntled in their own enca at one another, when he caenerals hinting that perhaps it would be easier for the Chinese legions to operate if they were not being fouled and harassed by their own allies The Russian heavy-weights had several tie the ene but ill-effect all around

Teuns had begun roaring etically The front row of the fences had at last fallen, but the French had got away their guns, and raced back behind the shelter of the second row; the artillery were now pounding away at the Russian troops who had seized the first row, before those ht even have enjoyed a moment’s respite froainst the sky were yet sheltered behind a third row of fences, and overlooking them were the massed ranks of Napoleon’s I But aloft, the niru were battering steadily and systeons

"Ah, there you are," Chu said, when Temeraire came down in the encampment "This is Colonel Zhao Lien, co Tereen, with a bristling spine of tendrils and a mane not unlike Chu’s own, in scarlet; she bowed her head politely before continuing her report

"The quantity of suns hasof the organization of the enemy’s forces," she said, "but their reserves are substantial, and I have deterreat deal better than we have supposed to be the case I sent a sround, which was repulsed swiftly by the repositioning of their guns, but one of ons--"

She indicated this, a large square bundle which had been hastily rewrapped; when one of her crew down to sniff found it full of long hard strips of soly of spice; pieces were handed around, and when Teh and dry and salty, but perfectly good to eat

"H it "That is very clever: they do not need cattle, then"

"No," Zhao Lien said, "and they had fifty pallets of a sirunt "Well, then they can hold out at least a week," he said, "but ould they have had so ons--" He fell silent, scratching at the ground ruminatively

"I will say, General," Zhao Lien said, "that it see very conservatively"

"Hm," Chu said "Colonel, I wish you to take four niru and scout--where are those maps? What is to the north of our position?"

Temeraire looked back and forth between them, conscious that he had not quite followed their train of thought, and wondering how helow over hisof thunder erupted, a cannonball-whistling Temeraire looked up and around, in surprise, and then recoiled with a cry as so his side Roars of pain went up on all sides of hi down all over the rear of the cah his speaking-trumpet "All aloft, at once! Get into the air!"

Te, and took up the cry hi it out as loudly as he could; as soon as he was up, and out of the flight path of the balls, he could see the guns firing upon the, some four hundred yards to the north, where the French had established a s at a furious pace: not even pulling their guns back into place after they fired, nor even trying to aiain; all they cared for was to hit anything in the Russian rear at all, and even ed out fro-fire, nor aerial defenders; Temeraire hissed in fury and circled towards the towards them, he drew in his breath, once and twice and three ti fell upon the line of guns, sweeping theround before the divine wind, while he caught at the hot guns and tipped theainst his flank, hot stinging bursts of pain, but he was through and pulling up and away, the guns silenced, their crews shattered Looking back he saw the wreckage they had already ed with dirt and s upon the ground, bleeding, ain also; and near the half-collapsed pavilion--

Tereat scarlet side was heaving, and with each breath a gush of blood rose up and spilled black fro wounds, clustered near the top of his back; his wings lay liainst his sides "No, no," Teeons were already at work, digging their ars to be brought Another ed to draw out one, which had struck upon a rib; the ball had burst like a star, and another torrent of blood followed it when the surgeon pulled it out

Chu’s eyes were closed; he coughed, rattling, and blood trickled froeons was thrown from his back Temeraire almost nosed at him, but timidly held back; he did not knohat to do Zhao Lien landed beside him and said, "I have ordered five niru to the north, acco to flank us, as General Chu directed What are your co to hi hi hot in his breast; he i hiions to fall in behind him and overturn the French defenses, shter all their ranks, no matter what the cost He would drive thee--

"Temeraire," Laurence said softly, a hand on his neck, and Teed in a breath; he looked at Zhao Lien, and saw her regarding hiht do He sed and said to Laurence, in English, "Laurence, what ought I do, now?"

"If you will be counseled by me," Laurence said, "ill determine which of the three jalan commanders is senior, and appoint them to the command"