Pierre glanced round at the first cloud, which he had seen as a round compact ball, and in its place already were balloons of smoke floating to one side, and⁠—“ puff ” (with a pause)⁠—“ puff, puff! ” three and then four more appeared and then from each, with the same interval⁠—“ boom⁠—boom, boom! ” came the fine, firm, precise sounds in reply. It seemed as if those smoke clouds sometimes ran and sometimes stood still while woods, fields, and glittering bayonets ran past them. From the left, over fields and bushes, those large balls of smoke were continually appearing followed by their solemn reports, while nearer still, in the hollows and woods, there burst from the muskets small cloudlets that had no time to become balls, but had their little echoes in just the same way. “ Trakh-ta-ta-takh! ” came the frequent crackle of musketry, but it was irregular and feeble in comparison with the reports of the cannon.