illuminated in the yellow blaze of iskierka 's fire , a twenty-four-pound ball of round-shot flew past them and took the pou-de-ciel full in the chest ; he folded around it like paper as it drove through his ribs , and crumpled out of the air , falling to the rocks below : they were over the shore , they were over the land , and thick-fleeced sheep were fleeing before them across the snow-matted grass .