In order to reach the bomb-proof occupied by the commander of the bastion, Kalouguine had only one more open space to pass when he felt himself again overcome by a stupid fear. His heart beat as if it would burst, the blood rushed to his head, and it was only by a violent effort of self-control that he reached the shelter at a run. “Why are you so out of breath?” asked the general, after he had delivered the order he brought. “I walked very quickly, Excellency.” “Can I offer you a glass of wine?” Kalouguine drank a bumper and lit a cigarette. The engagement was finished, but a violent cannonade continued on both sides. The commander of the bastion and several officers, among them Praskoukine, were assembled in the bomb-proof; they were talking over the details of the affair. The interior, covered with figured paper with a blue ground, was furnished with a lounge, a bed, a table covered with papers, and decorated with a clock hanging on the wall and an image, before which burned a small lamp. Seated in this comfortable room, Kalouguine saw all the marks of a quiet life; he measured with his eye the great beams of the ceiling half a yard thick; he heard the noise of the cannonade, deafened by the bomb-proofs, and he could not understand how he could have yielded twice to unpardonable attacks of weakness. Angry with himself, he would have liked to expose himself to danger again to put his courage to the proof. A naval officer with a great mustache and a cross of Saint George on his staff overcoat came at this moment to beg the general to give him some workmen to repair two sand-bag embrasures in the battery. “I am very glad to see you, captain,” said Kalouguine to the new-comer; “the general charged me to ask you if your cannon can fire grape into the trenches.” “One single gun,” replied the captain, with a morose air. “Let’s go and look at them!” The officer frowned and growled out, “I have just passed the whole night there, and I have come in to rest a little; can’t you go there alone? You will find my second in command, Lieutenant Kartz, who will show you everything.” The captain had commanded this same battery for full six months, and it was one of the most dangerous posts. He had not left the bastion, indeed, since the beginning of the siege, and even before the construction of the bomb-proof shelters. He had gained among the sailors a reputation for invincible courage. On this account his refusal was a lively surprise to Kalouguine. “That’s what reputations are!” thought the latter. “Then I will go alone, if you allow me,” he added aloud, in a mocking tone, to which the officer paid no attention.