Behind us came twenty wagons with the sanitars; the evening was very still, plum-colour in the woods, misty over the river; the creaking of our carts was the only sound, save the "brum-brum" and the "tap-tap-tap"....
I lay on my back and thought of Semyonov and myself.

I had in my mind two pictures.

One was of Semyonov sitting on the stone under the cross, looking up at me with comfortable and ironical insolence, Semyonov so strong and resolute and successful.

Semyonov who got what he wanted, did what he wanted, said what he wanted.
The other picture was of myself, as I had been the other night when I had gone with the wagons to Nijnieff to fetch the wounded.

I saw myself standing in a muddy little lane just outside the town, under pouring rain.