'What's happened? Your face is covered with blood. Are you wounded?'
'No, sir, I am—I am not wounded. It's not my blood; it's Captain Veselovsky's brains,' was the stammering reply jerked out.
'What! Veselovsky killed?'
'Yes, sir. His head was carried away—only not quite: the lower jaw and beard were left—and I was covered with his brains, right in my face. It almost blinded me. I thought I was wounded. Can I go and rest a little?'
'Yes, go, and God be with you. Go and rest, but remember we are short of officers.'
After a few hours a message was received that Obolensky had been killed with a bullet in the head. There was now not a single officer left in the 5th Company of the 26th Regiment; there was only the sergeant-major. He was promoted by telephone to be acting ensign, and Rafalovitch was sent for.
The telephone rang.
'Sir, General Kondratenko wants to speak to you.'
Semenoff took the receiver and listened.
'I think the position so serious that Colonel Butusoff should be sent there.'