The White Guard
From the album “Illustrations by Sergei Chepik”
On a purebred argamak covered with a royal saddlecloth with monograms, rearing the argamak, shining with a smile, in a tricorn hat cocked to one side, with a white plume, a balding and dazzling Alexander galloped in front of the artillerymen. Sending them smile after smile, full of treacherous charm, Alexander waved his saber and with its point indicated the Borodino regiments to the cadets. The Borodino fields were cloaked in little balls of cannonballs, and the distance on the two-yard canvas was covered by a black cloud of bayonets.