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part three xv at eight oclock kutuxov rode to pratx at the head of miloradovichs fourth column the one which was to take the place of the columns of prxebysxewski and langeron which had already gone down he greeted the men of the head regiment and gave the order to move thus showing that he intended to lead the column himself having ridden to the village of pratx he halted prince andrei one of the enormous number of persons constituting the commander in chiefs suite stood behind him prince andrei felt excited irritated and at the same time restrainedly calm as a man usually is when a longdesired moment comes he was firmly convinced that this was the day of his toulon or his bridge of arcole how it would happen he did not know but he was firmly convinced that it would be so the locality and position of our troops were known to him as far as they could be known to anyone in our army his own strategic plan which there obviously could be no thought of carrying out now was forgotten now entering into weyrothers plan prince andrei pondered the possible happenstances and came up with new considerations such as might call for his swiftness of reflection and decisiveness article continues after sponsor message to the left below in the fog exchanges of fire between unseen troops could be heard there it seemed to prince andrei the battle would concentrate there an obstacle would be encountered and its there that ill be sent with a brigade or division and there with a standard in my hand ill go forward and crush everything ahead of me prince andrei could not look with indifference at the standards of the battalions going past him looking at a standard he thought maybe it is that very standard with which ill have to march at the head of the troops by morning the nights fog had left only hoarfrost turning into dew on the heights but in the hollows the fog still spread its milkwhite sea nothing could be seen in that hollow to the left into which our troops had descended and from which came the sounds of gunfire over the heights was a dark clear sky and to the rightthe enormous ball of the sun far ahead on the other shore of the sea of fog one could make out the jutting wooded hills on which the enemy army was supposed to be and something was discernible to the right the guards were entering the region of the fog with a sound of tramping and wheels and an occasional gleam of bayonets to the left beyond the village similar masses of cavalry approached and disappeared into the sea of fog in front and behind moved the infantry the commander in chief stood on the road out of the village letting the troops pass by him kutuxov seemed exhausted and irritable that morning the infantry going past him halted without any command apparently because something ahead held them up but tell them finally to form into battalions and go around the village kutuxov said angrily to a general who rode up dont you understand your excellency my dear sir that to stretch out in a defile through village streets is impossible when were marching against an enemy overtaking all the advancing battalions he stopped the third division and ascertained that there was in fact no line of riflemen in front of our columns the regimental commander of the front regiment was very surprised by the order conveyed to him from the commander in chief to send out riflemen the regimental commander stood there in the full conviction that there were more troops ahead of him and that the enemy was no less than six miles away in fact nothing could be seen ahead but empty terrain sloping away and covered with thick fog having ordered on behalf of the commander in chief that the omission be rectified prince andrei galloped back kutuxov still stood in the same place and his corpulent body sagging over the saddle in old mans fashion yawned deeply closing his eyes the troops were no longer moving but stood at parade rest very good very good he said to prince andrei and turned to a general who stood there with a watch in his hand saying it was time to move on because all the columns of the left flank had already descended we still have time your excellency kutuxov said through a yawn we have time he repeated