once appear in answer to the sound of the guns, and that he would thus be caught between two fires; so he hastily directed his men to entrench themselves beneath their sledges in the road, and left two hundred infantry with two guns to defend them, whilst with the remaining troops he made his way towards the town of Csernakuka, whither Csika’s troops had fled.  Michelson saw that he had no time to lose.  He placed himself at the head of his hussars, sounded the charge, and attacked the bulk of his opponents.  For this they were not prepared.  The bold attack caused confusion amongst them, and in a few moments the centre of the camp was cut through, and the first battery captured.  He then immediately turned his attention to the two wings of the camp.  After this, flight became general, and Csika’s troops were dispersed like a cloud of mosquitos, leaving behind them forty-eight cannon and eight small guns.  The victor now returned with his small body of troops to the sledges they had left behind, and he then entirely surrounded the 3,000 rebels.  Those who were not slaughtered were captured.  The victorious hero sent word to the commander of the Ufa garrison that the road was clear, and that the cannon taken from his opponents should be drawn thither.  A hundred and twenty versts from Ufa he reached the flying Csika.  The Generalissimus then had only forty-two officers, whilst his privates had disappeared in every direction of the wind.  Michelson got hold of them all, and if he did not hang them it was only because on the six days’ desert march not a single tree was to be found.  In the meantime, Prince Galiczin, whose troops consisted of 6,000 men, went in pursuit of Pugasceff.  On this miserable route he did not encounter the mock Czar until the beginning of March.  Pugasceff waited for his opponent in the forest of Taticseva.  This so-called stronghold had only wooden walls, a kind of ancient fencing.  It was good enough to protect the sheep from the pillaging Baskirs, but it was not suitable for war.  The genius of the rebel leader did not desert him, and he was well able to look after himself.  Round the fences he dug trenches, where he piled up the snow, on which he poured water.  This, after being frozen, turned almost into stone, and was, at the same time, so slippery that no one could climb over it.  Here he awaited Galiczin with a portion of his troops, while the remainder occupied Orenburg.  The Russian general approached the hiding-place of the mock Czar cautiously.  The thick fog was of service to him, and the two opponents only perceived one another when they were standing at firing distance.  A furious hand-to-hand fight ensued.  The best of the rebel troops were there.  Pugasceff was always in the front and where the danger was greatest, but finally the Russians climbed the ice-bulwarks, captured his guns, and drove him out of the forest.  This victory cost the life of 1,000 heroic Russians, but it was a complete one!  Pugasceff abandoned the field