And still, harassed by shot and shell, they pushed on.
All this time the road led by the water's edge; but presently they left it, and, crossing the head of a creek, mounted a steep hill, which brought them to the Karabel suburb, as it was called, a detached part of the main town, now utterly wrecked and ruined by the besiegers' fire.
The Cossack officer made his way to a large barrack occupying a central elevated position, and dismounted at the principal doorway.
"Is it thou, Stoschberg?" cried a friend who came out to meet him. "Here, in Sebastopol?"
"To my sorrow. Where is the general? I have news for him. The enemy are moving in force upon the Tchernaya."
"Ha! is it so? And that has brought you here?"
"That, and the escort of yonder villain—a rascally spy, whom we caught last night in our lines."
"Bring him along too; the general may wish to question him."
McKay was unbound, ordered to dismount, and then, still under escort, was marched into the building. It was roofless, but an inner chamber had been constructed—a cellar, so to speak—under the ground-floor, with a roof of its own of rammed earth many feet thick, supported by heavy beams. This was one of the famous casemates invented by Todleben, impervious to shot and shell, and affording a safe shelter to the troops.
McKay was halted at the door or aperture, across which hung a common yellow rug. The officers passed in, and their voices, with others, were heard in animated discussion, which lasted some minutes; then the one called Stoschberg came out and fetched McKay.