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Chapter 15 - Nikolai rejoins his regiment1
When returning from his leave, Rostov felt, for the first time, how close was the bond that united him to Denisov and and the whole regiment.
On approaching it, Rostov felt as he had done when approaching his home in Moscow. When he saw the first hussar with the unbuttoned uniform of his regiment, when he recognized red-haired Dementyev and saw the picket2 ropes of the roan horses, when Lavrushka gleefully shouted to his master, “The count has come!” and Denisov, who had been asleep on his bed, ran all disheveled out of the mud hut to embrace him, and the officers collected round to greet the new arrival, Rostov experienced the same feeling his mother, his father, and his sister had embraced him, and tears of joy choked him so that he could not speak. The regiment was also a home, and as unalterably dear and precious as his parents’ house.
When he had reported himself to the commander of the regiment and had been reassigned to his former squadron, had been on duty and had gone out foraging3, when he had again entered into all the little interests of the regiment and felt himself deprived of liberty and bound in one narrow, unchanging frame, he experienced the same sense of peace, of moral support, and the same sense being at home here in his own place, as he had felt under the parental4 roof. But here was none of all that turmoil5 of the world at large, where he did not know his right place and took mistaken decisions; here was no Sonya with whom he ought, or ought not, to have an explanation; here was no possibility of going there or not going there; here there were not twenty-four hours in the day which could be spent in such a variety of ways; there was not that innumerable crowd of people of whom not one was nearer to him or farther from him than another; there were none of those uncertain and undefined money relations with his father, and nothing to recall that terrible loss to Dolokhov. Here, in the regiment, all was clear and simple. The whole world was divided into two unequal parts: one, our Pavlograd regiment; the other, all the rest. And the rest was no concern of his. In the regiment, everything was definite: who was lieutenant6, who captain, who was a good fellow, who a bad one, and most of all, who was a comrade. The canteenkeeper gave one credit, one’s pay came every four months, there was nothing to think out or decide, you had only to do nothing that was considered bad in the Pavlograd regiment and, when given an order, to do what was clearly, distinctly, and definitely ordered — and all would be well.
Having once more entered into the definite conditions of this regimental life, Rostov felt the joy and relief a tired man feels on lying down to rest. Life in the regiment, during this campaign, was all the pleasanter for him, because, after his loss to Dolokhov (for which, in spite of all his family’s efforts to console him, he could not forgive himself), he had made up his mind to atone7 for his fault by serving, not as he had done before, but really well, and by being a perfectly8 first-rate comrade and officer — in a word, a splendid man altogether, a thing which seemed so difficult out in the world, but so possible in the regiment.
After his losses, he had determined9 to pay back his debt to his parents in five years. He received ten thousand rubles a year, but now resolved to take only two thousand and leave the rest to repay the debt to his parents.
Our army, after repeated retreats and advances and battles at Pultusk and Preussisch-Eylau, was concentrated near Bartenstein. It was awaiting the Emperor’s arrival and the beginning of a new campaign.
The Pavlograd regiment, belonging to that part of the army which had served in the 1805 campaign, had been recruiting up to strength in Russia, and arrived too late to take part in the first actions of the campaign. It had been neither at Pultusk nor at Preussisch-Eylau and, when it joined the army in the field in the second half of the campaign, was attached to Platov’s division.
Platov’s division was acting10 independently of the main army. Several times parts of the Pavlograd regiment had exchanged shots with the enemy, had taken prisoners, and once had even captured Marshal Oudinot’s carriages. In April the Pavlograds were stationed immovably for some weeks near a totally ruined and deserted11 German village.
A thaw12 had set in, it was muddy and cold, the ice on the river broke, and the roads became impassable. For days neither provisions for the men nor fodder13 for the horses had been issued. As no transports could arrive, the men dispersed14 about the abandoned and deserted villages, searching for potatoes, but found few even of these.
Everything had been eaten up and the inhabitants had all fled — if any remained, they were worse than beggars and nothing more could be taken from them; even the soldiers, usually pitiless enough, instead of taking anything from them, often gave them the last of their rations15.
The Pavlograd regiment had had only two men wounded in action, but had lost nearly half its men from hunger and sickness. In the hospitals, death was so certain that soldiers suffering from fever, or the swelling16 that came from bad food, preferred to remain on duty, and hardly able to drag their legs went to the front rather than to the hospitals. When spring came on, the soldiers found a plant just showing out of the ground that looked like asparagus, which, for some reason, they called “Mashka’s sweet root.” It was very bitter, but they wandered about the fields seeking it and dug it out with their sabers and ate it, though they were ordered not to do so, as it was a noxious17 plant. That spring a new disease broke out among the soldiers, a swelling of the arms, legs, and face, which the doctors attributed to eating this root. But in spite of all this, the soldiers of Denisov’s squadron fed chiefly on “Mashka’s sweet root,” because it was the second week that the last of the biscuits were being doled18 out at the rate of half a pound a man and the last potatoes received had sprouted19 and frozen.
The horses also had been fed for a fortnight on straw from the thatched roofs and had become terribly thin, though still covered with tufts of felty20 winter hair.
Despite this destitution21, the soldiers and officers went on living just as usual. Despite their pale swollen22 faces and tattered23 uniforms, the hussars formed line for roll call, kept things in order, groomed24 their horses, polished their arms, brought in straw from the thatched roofs in place of fodder, and sat down to dine round the caldrons from which they rose up hungry, joking about their nasty food and their hunger. As usual, in their spare time, they lit bonfires, steamed themselves before them naked; smoked, picked out and baked sprouting25 rotten potatoes, told and listened to stories of Potemkin’s and Suvorov’s campaigns, or to legends of Alesha the Sly, or the priest’s laborer26 Mikolka.
The officers, as usual, lived in twos and threes in the roofless, half-ruined houses. The seniors tried to collect straw and potatoes and, in general, food for the men. The younger ones occupied themselves as before, some playing cards (there was plenty of money, though there was no food), some with more innocent games, such as quoits and skittles. The general trend of the campaign was rarely spoken of, partly because nothing certain was known about it, partly because there was a vague feeling that in the main it was going badly.
Rostov lived, as before, with Denisov, and since their furlough they had become more friendly than ever. Denisov never spoke27 of Rostov’s family, but by the tender friendship his commander showed him, Rostov felt that the elder hussar’s luckless love for Natasha played a part in strengthening their friendship. Denisov evidently tried to expose Rostov to danger as seldom as possible, and after an action greeted his safe return with evident joy. On one of his foraging expeditions, in a deserted and ruined village to which he had come in search of provisions, Rostov found a family consisting of an old Pole and his daughter with an infant in arms. They were half clad, hungry, too weak to get away on foot and had no means of obtaining a conveyance28. Rostov brought them to his quarters, placed them in his own lodging29, and kept them for some weeks while the old man was recovering. One of his comrades, talking of women, began chaffing Rostov, saying that he was more wily than any of them and that it would not be a bad thing if he introduced to them the pretty Polish girl he had saved. Rostov took the joke as an insult, flared30 up, and said such unpleasant things to the officer that it was all Denisov could do to prevent a duel31. When the officer had gone away, Denisov, who did not himself know what Rostov’s relations with the Polish girl might be, began to upbraid32 him for his quickness of temper, and Rostov replied:
“Say what you like. . . . She is like a sister to me, and I can’t tell you how it offended me . . . because . . . well, for that reason. . . . ”
Denisov patted him on the shoulder and began rapidly pacing the room without looking at Rostov, as was his way at moments of deep feeling.
“Ah, what a mad bweed you Wostovs are!” he muttered, and Rostov noticed tears in his eyes.
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1
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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2
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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3
foraging
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| v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西） | |
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4
parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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5
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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6
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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7
atone
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| v.赎罪，补偿 | |
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8
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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9
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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10
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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11
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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12
thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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13
fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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14
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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15
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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16
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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17
noxious
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| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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18
doled
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| 救济物( dole的过去式和过去分词 )； 失业救济金 | |
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19
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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20
felty
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| adj.毡状的 | |
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21
destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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22
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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23
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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24
groomed
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| v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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25
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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26
laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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27
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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28
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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29
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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30
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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31
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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32
upbraid
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| v.斥责，责骂，责备 | |
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