an absurdly long amount of time was required to make kutuzov believe that chu was indeed their commander ; the russians looked increasingly disdainful , and several of them began to speak in low voices to kutuzov , again proposing that the whole force was imaginary , until temeraire , still smarting at middle-weight-he was by no means middle-weight ; no-one could possibly have called twenty tons middle weight even if he were not as enormous and lumpen as the russian beasts-broke in .