THE COSSACKS 
 
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 ANNA KAR^NINA 
 
 CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, AND 
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 MY RELIGION 
 
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 THE LONG EXILE 
 
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 •THE COSSACKS 
 
 
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 WHAT MEN LIVE BY (booklet) 
 THE TWO PILGRIMS (booklet) 
 WHERE LOVE IS (booklet) . . 
 
 
 
 L & CO., 
 
 YORK. 
 
 THOMAS Y CROWEL 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 13 ASTOR PLACE, NEW 
 
The Cossacks 
 
 A TALE OF THE CAUCASUS IN THE ' 
 YEAR 1852 
 
 BY 
 COUNT LYOF N. TOLSTOI 
 
 FROM THE RUSSIAN BY 
 NATHAN HASKELL DOLE 
 
 AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION- 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 
 13 AsTOR Place 
 
'RESERVATION 
 
 ;OPYA05E0 , ^y^ 
 
 jRiGiNAL TO BE 
 DETAINED 
 
 6EP19 1994 , \ 
 
 
 qO; 
 
 c 
 
 A 
 
 U 
 
 Copyright, 1888, by 
 Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 
 
 Electrotyped by 
 C. J. Peters and Son, Boston. 
 
P(r3344 
 
 K^ 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 All has become silent in Moscow. 
 
 Only now and then is heard the creaking of 
 wheels over the snow. The windows are dark, 
 the street lamps already extinguished. 
 
 From the churches the sounds of bells are 
 borne abroad, and, as they go swelling over the 
 slumbering city, they bring promise of the morn- 
 ing. 
 
 The streets are deserted. Occasionally a night 
 cab ploughs its way on narrow runners through the 
 sand and snow, and the driver, drawing up at the 
 next corner, drops into a doze as he waits for a 
 fare. 
 
 An old woman passes into the church, where 
 the wax tapers, unsymmetrically disposed, burn, 
 casting ruddy reflections here and there on the 
 golden background of the holy pictures. 
 
 The long winter's night has begun to wane, and 
 the working populace arise and go to their toil. 
 
 hA^rk*?G^ y^ 
 
2 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 But for men of fashion it is still "the evening." 
 
 At Chevalier s there is a light shining under 
 the closed shutters of one of the windows, con- 
 trary to the police ordinance. At the door, a 
 carriage and a sledge are drawn up ; the drivers 
 huddle together with their backs to the wall. A 
 three-span from the post-station also stands there 
 in waiting. The well muffled doorkeeper crouches 
 down behind the corner of the house, as though 
 he were trying to hide. 
 
 " I wish they would finish threshing their chaff 
 in there ! " is the mental exclamation of a sleepy- 
 faced lackey sitting in the anteroom. " And it 
 keeps me up all night on duty ! " 
 
 From the small, brightly lighted chamber ad- 
 joining are heard the voices of three young men 
 at supper. They are sitting at a table whereon 
 are strewed empty bottles, wine-glasses, and the 
 remains of their banquet. 
 
 One of them — a small, lean, homely man, 
 neatly dressed — sits looking with affectionate, 
 weary eyes at the friend who is evidently bound 
 on a journey. 
 
 The second has stretched out his long limbs 
 near the table, and is toying with his watch-key. 
 
 The third, in a new, fur-trimmed coat, is strid- 
 ing up and down the room, occasionally pausing 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 3 
 
 to crack an almond between his rather plump, 
 muscular, and carefully tended fingers. A smile 
 hovers over his lips, his eyes flash, and his face is 
 aglow. He is talking with animation, and makes 
 frequent gestures, but it is evident that words 
 fail him, or, rather, that whatever words leap to 
 his lips are insufficient to express the thoughts 
 that fill his heart. And yet he smiles constantly. 
 
 " The whole thing can be told now ! " he ex- 
 claims. "I don't pretend to justify myself, but I 
 should think that you, at least, might understand 
 me in the same way as I understand myself, and 
 not as the vulgar herd look upon this affair. You 
 say that I am to blame toward her," he adds, 
 addressing the one who is looking at him with 
 affectionate eyes. 
 
 "Yes, you are to blame," replies the little, 
 homely man, and it seems as though his eyes 
 expressed more weariness and affection than ever. 
 
 " I know why you say so," continued the other. 
 "The happiness of being loved, according to your 
 notion, is precisely the same as of being in love, 
 and is sufficient to fill one's whole life, if one only 
 chance to meet with it." 
 
 " Indeed, it is quite sufficient, dear heart. It is 
 more than a necessity," insists the homely little 
 man, blinking his eyes. 
 
4 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " But why should not a man be able to recipro- 
 cate such love ? " suggests the other, in a musing 
 tone, and looking at his friend with a sort of com- 
 miseration. " Fall in love ? It is not a question 
 of will. No ! to be loved is a misfortune, a mis- 
 fortune, when you " are conscious that you are 
 guilty of not giving what is beyond your power to 
 give. Oh, my God ! " — He made an abrupt ges- 
 ture with his hand. " You see, if all this hap- 
 pened according to reason, — but everything is at 
 sixes and sevens, as though it all took place not as 
 we would have it, but arbitrarily — it looks ex- 
 actly as though I had stolen this lady's love ! 
 Even you think so ; don't deny it ; you cannot 
 help thinking so. But would you believe that, of 
 the many foolish and detestable things which I 
 have succeeded in doing in my life, this is the 
 only one which I do not regret and which I cannot 
 regret ? Neither at first nor last have I been 
 false to myself or to her. At one time I did 
 think that at last I was going to fall in love, but I 
 soon came to see that this was a mistake for 
 which I was not responsible, and that men do not 
 love in any such way, and that I must stop where 
 I was. . . . But she went further. Now, how was 
 I to blame for my inability } What was left for 
 me to do } " 
 
THE COSSACKS. t 
 
 "Well, it is all over now," said his friend, puff- 
 ing at his cigar so as to keep awake. " Only 
 there's one thing ; you have never yet been in 
 love, and you have not the faintest idea what it 
 means to love." 
 
 The young man in the fur-lined coat had the 
 impulse to say something more, and flung his 
 hands to his head. But he refrained from saying 
 what he had in his mind to say. 
 
 " Yes ! you are right ! I have never been in 
 love. And yet I have the desire to love, and it is 
 stronger than any other desire. And then, again, 
 I question if there is any such love possible. 
 There is always something incomplete and unsat- 
 isfactory about it. But what is the use of talk- 
 ing ? All my life long I have missed the right 
 track, missed the right track. But now that is all 
 over, as you say. And I have a consciousness 
 that a new life is opening for me." 
 
 " You will make a muddle of it just the same," 
 said the tall man, who was lying on the sofa and 
 toying with his watch-key ; but the traveller did 
 not hear what he said. 
 
 " I feel both sad and glad at the thought of go- 
 ing," he went on to say. " Why sad } I am sure 
 I don't know." And the young man proceeded to 
 talk about himself, to the exclusion of everything 
 
5 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 else, not noticing that this was not as interesting 
 to his companions as it was to himself. 
 
 A man is never so much of an egotist as at the 
 moment when his whole being is stirred with 
 spiritual exaltation. It seems to him that there is 
 nothing in the world more beautiful, more inter- 
 esting, than himself at such a moment. 
 
 "Dmitri Andreyevitch, the driver won't wait 
 any longer," said a young body-servant, in a sheep- 
 skin coat, and muffled up in a scarf, coming in at 
 this moment. "The horses were ready at twelve, 
 and now it is four." 
 
 Dmitri Andreyevitch looked at his Vanyusha. 
 In the folds of his scarf, in his felt boots, in his 
 sleepy face, he seemed to hear the voice of a new 
 life summoning him — a life of toil, privation, ac- 
 tivity. 
 
 " Well, this time it is good-bye in earnest," he 
 said, trying to fasten a neglected button. 
 
 Paying no heed to the suggestion to give an ex- 
 tra fee to the impatient driver, he put on his cap, 
 and then paused in the middle of the room. The 
 young men kissed each other once and again ; 
 paused, and then exchanged still a third kiss. The 
 one who had been called Dmitri went to the table, 
 drained a champagne glass, seized the homely little 
 man by the hand, and a flush spread over his face. 
 
THE COSSACKS. j 
 
 It is no use, I will tell you — I must be frank 
 toward you, and I can be, because I am your friend. 
 You love her, do you not ? I always thought so — 
 am I not right ? " 
 
 " Yes," assented his friend, with a still more af- 
 fectionate smile. 
 
 "And possibly — " 
 
 " If you please, I am ordered to put out the can- 
 dles," said the sleepy servant, who had been listen- 
 ing to the last part of the conversation, and was 
 wondering why these gentlemen confined them- 
 selves always to one and the same subject. "To 
 whom shall this account be charged.? To you } " 
 he added, addressing the tall young man, as 
 though knowing beforehand with whom he had to 
 deal. 
 
 ** Yes," replied the tall man ; " how much is 
 it > " 
 
 " Twenty-six rubles." 
 
 The tall man pondered for a moment, but made 
 no objection, and stuffed the score into his pocket. 
 
 Meantime the other two kept on with their own 
 affairs. 
 
 " Farewell, my dear old fellow," said the homely 
 little gentleman, with the affectionate eyes. 
 
 The tears started to the eyes of both of them. 
 They came out on the porch. 
 
8 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Oh ! see here," exclaimed the traveller, red- 
 dening, and turning to the tall young man. " You 
 settle the account with Chevalier, and then write 
 me." 
 
 "All right," replied the other, drawing on his 
 gloves, and then, as they stood on the steps, he 
 added most unexpectedly : " How I envy you ! " 
 
 The traveller had taken his seat in the sledge, 
 and wrapped himself up in his furs ; but when he 
 heard those last words he said : ** Well, then, come 
 along with me," and moved along in the sledge, so 
 as to make room for him. His voice trembled. 
 
 But the other replied, " Good-bye, Mitya ; God 
 grant you . . ." He had no other wish for him ex- 
 cept that he should start as soon as possible, and 
 that was why he did not finish his sentence. 
 
 They were all silent. Then one of them said, 
 "Good-bye." A voice rang out, "Go on." And 
 the driver started up his horses. 
 
 "Yelizar, bring up my team," cried one of the 
 friends left behind. The cab-drivers and coach- 
 man started up, clucked, and twitched on their 
 reins. The frozen wheels creaked over the 
 snow. 
 
 " Splendid young fellow, that Olyenin ! " ex- 
 claimed one of the young men. " But what an 
 odd freak to go off to the Caucasus, and as a 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 9 
 
 yunker^ too ! I wouldn't be hired to do it ! Are 
 you going to dine at the club to-morrow ? " 
 
 '*I am." 
 
 And the friends separated. 
 
 It seemed warm to the traveller ; his furs were 
 oppressive. He sat on the bottom of the sledge 
 and threw back his furs, and the hired three-span, 
 with their bristling manes, dashed from one dark 
 street into another, past houses which he had 
 never seen before. It seemed to Olyenin that 
 only those bound on long journeys ever rode 
 through these streets. 
 
 All about was dark, silent, and melancholy, and 
 his soul was so full of recollections, of love, of 
 regrets, and of pleasant, oppressive tears. . . . 
 
 * A yunker (German, y««/vr) is a young man of noble family 
 attached to the army as non-commissioned officer. Count Tolstoi 
 himself passed his examination at Tiflis and became a yunker 
 in 1851. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 " I AM in love ! Very much in love ! Splendid 
 fellows ! It is good ! " He repeated these words 
 over and over, and felt a strong inclination to 
 shed tears. 
 
 But he had not a very distinct idea of what he 
 should weep about, nor who were splendid fel- 
 lows, nor with whom he was in love. 
 ^ From time to time he cast a fleeting glance at 
 some house, and wondered why it was built in 
 such a strange way ; and then again he wondered 
 why the driver and Vanyusha, who were such 
 complete strangers to him, were riding so near 
 to him, and swaying and jolting, just as he him- 
 self did, as the off horses twitched on the frozen 
 traces. And once more he exclaimed : — 
 
 " Splendid fellows ! I am in love ! " and this 
 time, he added : " How well that suits ! Admi- 
 rable ! " 
 
 And now he began to wonder for what purpose 
 he had said that, and he asked himself : *' It can't 
 be that I am drunk, can it ? " 
 
 10 
 
THE COSSACKS. II 
 
 The fact was, Olyenin had taken two whole 
 bottles of champagne, but it was not the wine 
 alone that served to stimulate him. He recalled 
 all the apparently cordial words of friendship 
 which were shyly, perhaps even unexpectedly, said 
 to him, before his departure. He recalled the 
 warm pressure of hands, the glances, the mo- 
 ments of silence that spoke louder than words, 
 the tone of voice in which his friend had said, 
 "Good-bye, Mitya," just as he had taken his seat 
 in the sledge. He recalled his own resolute 
 frankness. 
 
 And all this had a softening influence upon 
 him. Before his departure, not only his friends. 
 and his relatives, not only those who were indif- 
 ferent to him, but also uncongenial, unfriendly 
 people, without exception, as it were with one 
 consent, had seemed to manifest a sudden affec- 
 tion for him, and bid him farewell as though he 
 were going to the confessional or to death. 
 
 *' It may be that I am destined not to return 
 from the Caucasus," he said to himself. And it 
 seemed to him that his heart was overflowing 
 with love for his friends, and for some one else 
 beside. And a feeling of self-pity came over him. 
 
 But it was not love for his friends that thus 
 softened and elevated his soul, and prevented him 
 
12 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 from keeping back the thoughtless words that 
 sprang to his lips of their own accord — nor was 
 it love for any woman — for he had never, as yet, 
 been in love — that induced this state of mind. 
 
 It was love for himself, the warm, sanguine love 
 of youth toward all that was good in his heart 
 (and now it seemed to him that there was nothing 
 but good there) ; this it was that started the 
 fountains of his tears, and caused him to mutter 
 disconnected words. 
 
 Olyenin was a young man who had left the uni- 
 versity before his graduation, who had never been 
 in active service, — having merely had his name 
 registered in some government office, — who had 
 squandered half of his patrimony, and who, though 
 he was now twenty-four years old, had never 
 chosen any career, and had never done anything. 
 He had been what is called a " young man " in 
 Moscow society. 
 
 Since his eighteenth year, Olyenin had been as 
 absolutely free from restraint as was possible only 
 for the rich young men of Russia during " the 
 forties," especially when they had lost their par- 
 ents in childhood. He had not been troubled by 
 any kind of fetters, either physical or moral. He 
 could do whatever he pleased ; he had no need of 
 anything whatever ; he recognized no claims upon 
 
THE COSSACKS. j^ 
 
 him. He was independent of family and country 
 and religion and want. He was utterly lacking 
 in faith ; he held himself accountable to no one. 
 But, though he had these characteristics, he was 
 far from being a gloomy, life-weary, logical young 
 man, but, on the contrary, he was forever being 
 carried away by impulses. He would argue that 
 love did not exist, and the mere presence of a 
 handsome young woman threw him into uncon- 
 trollable emotion. 
 
 He had been long convinced that rank and 
 honors were absurdities, yet he could not help 
 feeling gratified when Prince Sergyei', at the 
 ball, came over to him and made flattering 
 remarks. 
 
 But, though he gave his impulses free rein, he 
 did not allow them to run away with him. In any 
 case when he had taken up some new enthusiasm, 
 as soon as he began to suspect that toil and strife, 
 even the petty struggles of life, were at hand, 
 he instinctively made haste to get rid of the feel- 
 ing or affair, and to regain his freedom. 
 
 In this way he had begun to devote himself to a 
 life of pleasure, to service of his country, to over- 
 seeing his estate, to music, which he had at one 
 time seriously thought of adopting as his profes- 
 sion. He had even made some experiments in 
 
14 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 love toward women, but he had no belief in such a 
 thing. 
 
 He had been in a quandary as to the question 
 where — whether in art or in science, in love or in 
 practical activity — it was best for him to exercise 
 all the youthful energy which a man possesses 
 only once in his life, not the energy of intellect, 
 of heart, of imagination, but rather the fresh spon- 
 taneity which, when once lost, can never return, 
 the virtue only once given to a man, to make 
 himself whatever he wishes or seems best to him, 
 and to make of the whole world all that his heart 
 desires. 
 
 It is true, there are men lacking this potency, 
 and these, entering life, accept the first harness 
 that is put on them, and work soberly in it to the 
 end of their days. But Olyenin was too power- 
 fully conscious in himself of the presence of this 
 omnipotent divinity of youth, this capacity of being 
 absorbed in one desire, in one thought, the capac- 
 ity of willing and of doing, of throwing himself 
 head first into any bottomless abyss without 
 knowing why or wherefore. He carried with him 
 this consciousness, was proud of it, and, without 
 himself knowing it, was made happy by it. Hith- 
 erto the only object of his affection had been him- 
 self, and this was inevitable because he expected 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 15 
 
 from himself nothing but what was good, and he 
 had not as yet lost his illusions about himself. 
 
 Now that he was taking his departure from 
 Moscow, he found himself in that happy youthful 
 frame of mind in which, recognizing the mistakes 
 that he has made, a young man suddenly confesses 
 that he has not been on the right track, that all 
 his previous actions have been undirected and 
 meaningless, that hitherto he has not even had 
 the desire to live rightly, — but that now, as he 
 leaves his former haunts, a new life is beginning, 
 in which he will avoid his old mistakes, his old re- 
 grets, and beyond a peradventure find nothing but 
 happiness. 
 
 It always happens, when you take a long jour- 
 ney, that, even after the horses have been changed 
 two or three times, the imagination lags behind in 
 the very place whence you started, and then sud- 
 denly, on the first morning that finds you on the 
 road, leaps forward to the goal and there begins 
 to build the air-castles of the future. This was 
 what happened to Olyenin. 
 
 As soon as he was beyond the city limits and 
 saw the wide stretch of snow-covered fields, he 
 rejoiced in the sense of solitude ; he wrapped his 
 furs around him, stretched himself out comfortably 
 in the bottom of the sledge, and dozed. The part- 
 
1 5 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 ing with his friends had stirred him deeply, and 
 his mind began to call up all the events of the 
 past winter which he had spent in Moscow ; — 
 pictures of what had happened, mingled with con- 
 fused thoughts and regrets, began to throng 
 through his irriagination. 
 
 He remembered the friend from whom he had 
 taken leave, and his relations to the young girl of 
 whom they had been speaking. This young girl 
 was rich. 
 
 " How was it possible for him to love her when 
 he knew that she was in love with me }'' he asked 
 himself, and unworthy suspicions arose in his 
 mind. "Men are so dishonorable, when one comes 
 to search into their motives. But why is it that 
 I have never yet really fallen in love } " 
 
 The question presented itself fairly before him. 
 " They all tell me that I have never been in love. 
 Can it be that I am a moral monster.?'* 
 
 And he began to recall his former flames. His 
 memory took him back to his first entry into so- 
 ciety, and the sister of one of his friends, with 
 whom he used to spend whole evenings at the 
 'table, near the lamp, which cast its light on her 
 slender fingers, busied with her embroidery, and 
 on the lower part of her pretty, delicate face ; and 
 he remembered their conversations, as intermina- 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 7 
 
 ble as the game of " Fox," ' and his general sense 
 of awkwardness and constraint, and his constant 
 ' sense of effort to overcome this diffidence. But a 
 voice kept whispering in his ear, " Not this one, 
 not this one," and indeed it had proved to be not 
 this one. 
 
 Then he recalled a ball, and how he danced the 
 mazurka with the beautiful D . 
 
 " How deeply in love I was that eventng, and 
 how happy ! And what a sense of pain and vexa- 
 tion came over me the next morning when I awoke 
 and realized that I was still free ! Why is it that 
 love has eluded me ? Why has she not held me 
 captive hand and foot ? " he asked himself. ** No ! 
 there is no such thing as love ! Our young neigh- 
 bor, who used to tell me and Dubrovin and the 
 marshal that she loved the stars, — she also was 
 not the one'' 
 
 And then he recalls his experiment in managing 
 his estate in the country, and again finds no cause 
 for self-congratulation. The question comes into 
 his mind whether "they " will have much to say 
 about his going off to the Caucasus, but he him- 
 self has no clear idea of whom he means by tJiey, 
 and this thought is followed by another, that makes 
 him frown and utter inarticulate sounds ; it is the 
 
 » " Zhif-zhif kurilka;* " The fox is alive." 
 
1 8 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 recollection of his tailor, M.-Capel, and the unpaid 
 account of six hundred and seven-eight rubles ; 
 he even recalls the words that he had used in 
 urging the tailor to wait another year, and the ex- 
 pression of perplexity and submission to fate that 
 came into the tailor's face. 
 
 *' Oh ! my God ! my God ! " he exclaims again 
 and again, winking his eyes and trying to banish 
 the unwelcome thought. " And yet she loved me 
 in spite of all that," he says, trying to comfort 
 himself with the thought of the young girl of 
 whom they had been speaking that evening. 
 " Yes, if I had married her, I should have got out 
 of debt, but now my tailor's bill is still unpaid, and 
 Vasflyef holds my note of hand." 
 
 He passed in review the last evening that he had 
 played cards with Mr. Vasflyef at the club, where 
 he went directly after leaving her house, and he 
 remembered his humiliating entreaties to be al- 
 lowed to play one more hand, and. his opponent's 
 haughty refusal. 
 
 " A year of economy and I shall clear it all off, 
 and — the devil take 'em." 
 
 But, in spite of this assurance, he begins once 
 more to calculate his debts, the periods that they 
 had to run, and the possible time for their redemp- 
 tion. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 9 
 
 " Let me see ! I have an account at Morel's, as 
 well as at Chevalier's." And he recalls that whole 
 night in which he had run up such an account. It 
 was for a carouse with the gypsies, which had 
 been arranged in honor of visitors from Peters- 
 burg, — Sashka B , one of the Emperor's staff, 
 
 and Prince D , and a certain elderly gentleman 
 
 of some note. 
 
 " I wonder why it was that they were so self- 
 satisfied, and what ground they have for the forma- 
 tion of that select circle, admission to which, ac- 
 cording to their conceit, is such an honor. Is it 
 because they are attached to the Emperor's staff? 
 Why ! it is perfectly disgusting the way they look 
 down upon other men, as blockheads and boors ! 
 I made it evident to them that I had no wish to 
 become one of them. Nevertheless, Andr6Y, my 
 overseer, I suppose, would have been mightily im- 
 pressed at seeing me on such intimate terms with 
 
 gentlemen like Sashka B , colonel and aid to 
 
 the Emperor. . . . And, besides, no one drank 
 more than I did that evening ; I taught the gyp- 
 sies a new song, and they all listened. Supposing 
 I have done all sorts of foolish things, still I am 
 at heart a very, very worthy young man." 
 
 This was his honest conviction. 
 
 Morning found Oly^nin at the third post-station. 
 
20 . THE COSSACKS. 
 
 He drank his tea, helped Vanyusha rearrange his 
 parcels and trunks, and then took his place in the 
 sledge in accordance with all reason, good order, 
 and comfort, knowing where his belongings were 
 disposed — where his money was, and how much 
 he had, and with his necessary documents ready 
 to show — and all this seemed to him to have 
 been done in such a practical way that it filled his 
 heart with joy, and the long journey assumed the 
 aspect of a perpetual pleasure excursion. 
 
 During the whole course of the morning he was 
 busy with arithmetical calculations ; how many 
 versts he had already gone ; how far it was to the 
 next post-station, to the next city ; how much dis- 
 tance he should accomplish before dinner, before 
 tea ; how far it was to Stavropol ; and what pro- 
 portion of the whole journey was represented by 
 the part already accomplished. 
 
 Then he also calculated how much money he 
 had, how much he had spent, how much was 
 needed to settle all his debts, and what portion of 
 his whole income he should be obliged to disburse 
 each month. 
 
 In the evening, while drinking his tea, he made 
 the calculation that he was seven-elevenths of the 
 whole distance from Moscow to Stavropol and 
 that his debts demanded seven months of close 
 
THE COSSACKS, 21 
 
 economy and one-eighth of all his fortune, — and, 
 having thus satisfied his mind, he wrapped himself 
 up in his furs, stretched out in the sledge, and 
 once more fell into a doze. 
 
 This time his imagination began to picture what 
 lay before him in the Caucasus. All his dreams 
 of the future were woven with visions of such 
 heroes as Amalat-bek, of Circassian maids, moun- 
 tain gorges, tremendous torrents, and perils. 
 There was nothing clear and definite in all this ; 
 but glory, alluring, and death, threatening, consti- 
 tuted the interest of this unknown future. Now 
 he imagined himself with unheard-of bravery and 
 amazing prowess killing and conquering a count- 
 less multitude of mountaineers ; now that he him- 
 self was a mountaineer, taking sides with his 
 countrymen to defend his independence against 
 the Russians. 
 
 As soon, however, as he began to fill out the 
 picture with details, then his old Moscow acquaint- 
 ances made their appearance. Sashka B 
 
 seemed to be there fighting against him with the 
 Russians or the mountaineers. In some inexpli- 
 cable way even his tailor, M. Capel, takes part in 
 the triumphs of the victor. If, meantime, he 
 recalls his old humiliations, weaknesses, errors, 
 still the recollection has its pleasant side. It is 
 
22 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 clear that there, amid the mountains, Circassian 
 maids, and perils, such errors cannot be repeated. 
 He has once for all made confession of them 
 before the shrine of his own soul, and they are 
 done with forever. 
 
 There is one other very precious vision that 
 constantly rises in the young man's conceptions of 
 the future. 
 
 This dream is about a woman. 
 
 And now she presents herself to his imagination 
 in the guise of a Circassian slave among the moun- 
 tains, a maiden of graceful form, with long braids 
 of hair and deep, submissive eyes. He beholds 
 the lonely hut among the mountains, and at the 
 door she stands waiting and watching for him to 
 return to her, weary, covered with dust, with 
 blood, with glory ; and he marvels at her kiss, her 
 shoulders, her witching voice, her submissiveness. 
 She is lovely but uncultivated, wild, and rough. 
 During the long winter evenings he lays the first 
 foundations of her education. She is clever, re- 
 ceptive, gifted, and quickly adapts herself to all 
 the indispensable requirements of knowledge. 
 Why should it not be so } She has great capacity 
 for acquiring a new language, for reading the mas- 
 terpieces of French literature and understanding 
 them. " Notre Dame de Paris,'^ for exam2:)le, will 
 
THE COSSACKS. 23 
 
 surely be a delight to her. She will even be able 
 to speak French, and in the drawing-room she 
 will be able to show more natural dignity than any 
 lady of the highest society- She can sing too — 
 simply, powerfully, passionately. 
 
 ** Ah, what rubbish ! " he said to himself, and 
 just then they arrived at some post-station, and he 
 was obliged to transfer his luggage from one 
 sledge to another and give the men vodka money. 
 But once more his mind was filled with the same 
 imaginations which he had just called rubbish, and 
 again he seemed to see the Circassian maids, him- 
 self returning to Russia crowned with glory, be- 
 coming the Emperor's aid, winning a lovely wife ! 
 
 "But there ! I don't believe that there is such a 
 thing as love," he found himself saying, "and 
 honors are rubbish. . . . And how about that six 
 hundred and seventy-eight rubles ? . . . But will 
 not a conquered province put more wealth into my 
 hands than I shall need for my whole life ? . . . 
 Besides it will not be right to make use of such 
 wealth for myself alone. I shall have to share it. 
 . . . But with whom ? . . . Six hundred and 
 seventy-eighty rubles to Capel, and then we can 
 see about the rest, . . ." 
 
 And now his thought becomes entirely confused 
 with disconnected visions, and only Vanyusha's 
 
24 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 voice and the consciousness of arrested motion 
 disturb his healthy young sleep, and in a daze he 
 crawls into a fresh sledge at another station, and 
 thus his journey proceeds. 
 
 The next morning the same thing takes place — 
 the same post-stations, the same tea, the same 
 horses with their energetic motions, the same 
 brief colloquies with Vanyusha, the same indefi- 
 nite visions as the day closes, and the same 
 healthy young sleep of fatigue through the night. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The farther Olyenin travelled from the centre 
 of Russia, the more distant all his recollection 
 seemed ; the nearer he came to the Caucasus, the 
 more light-hearted he grew. The idea of going 
 away entirely, of never returning, of never again 
 appearing in society, kept recurring to his mind. 
 
 ** Now, these men whom I see here are not peo- 
 ple ; not one of them knows me and not one of 
 them can have ever been in the same society in 
 Moscow in which I moved, or knows about my 
 past. And no one in that society will know what 
 I have been doing during my life among those 
 people." 
 
 A hitherto unexampled sense of freedom from 
 all his past life came over him, as he found 
 himself amid all the coarse beings whom he en- 
 countered on the way and whom he did not dream 
 of calling /^^//^ in the same sense as his old ac- 
 quaintances in Moscow. The rougher they were, 
 the less they were marked by the characteristics 
 of civilized life, the greater became his sense of 
 freedom. 
 
 25 
 
26 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Stavropol, through which he was forced to pass, 
 vexed his spirit. The signboards, — even sign- 
 boards in French, — the ladies in barouches, the 
 hacks drawn up along the square, the boulevards, 
 a gentleman in cloak and cap, who was promenad- 
 ing along the boulevard and staring at the i^assers- 
 by, — all had an unpleasant effect upon him. 
 
 " Who knows but these people know some of 
 my acquaintances } " And again he recalls the 
 club, the tailor, the cards, gay society. . . . 
 
 After he had left Stavropol behind him, he 
 began, therefore, to feel in a better frame of mind ; 
 it became wild, and, what was better than all, 
 picturesque and warlike. And Olyenin's heart 
 grew lighter and lighter. All the Cossacks, the 
 drivers, the station-keepers, seemed to him artless 
 beings with whom one could artlessly jest or con- 
 verse, without any thought of making class dis- 
 tinctions. They all belonged to the whole human 
 race, which Olyenin loved without knowing it, and 
 they all showed a friendly disposition toward him. 
 
 Even before they passed out of the country of 
 the Don Cossacks, the sledge was exchanged for a 
 wheeled vehicle, and beyond Stavropol it became 
 so warm that Olyenin no longer wore his fur coat. 
 
 He had met the spring, and it came to Olyenin 
 like a joyful surprise. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 2/ 
 
 At night they were cautioned not to leave the 
 station-house, and it began to be remarked toward 
 evening that they were on dangerous ground. 
 Vanyusha began to be a little alarmed ; a loaded 
 musket lay ready for instant use. This made 
 Oly^nin still more light-hearted. At one station 
 the superintendent related a terrible story of a 
 murder that had recently occurred on the high- 
 way. They began to meet with men carrying 
 weapons. 
 
 " Now, this is the beginning," said Oly^nin, and 
 he began to long for a view of the snow-covered 
 mountains of which so many had spoken to him. 
 
 One time, toward evening, the NogaY driver 
 pointed with his whip toward the mountains ap- 
 pearing above the clouds. Olyenin eagerly began 
 to strain his sight, but it was growing dark and the 
 clouds half concealed the mountains. It seemed 
 to Olyenin that there was something gray, white, 
 and curly, and in spite of all his endeavor he 
 could not distinguish anything beautiful in the 
 aspect of the mountains of which he had read and 
 heard so much. 
 
 It seemed to him that the mountains and the 
 clouds were absolutely alike, and that the peculiar 
 beauty of the snow-capped mountains, about which 
 he had been told, was as much a figment of the 
 
28 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 imagination as the music of Bach, or love for a 
 woman, in which he had no belief, and so he 
 ceased to have any longing for the mountains. 
 
 But the next day, early in the morning, he was 
 waked up by the coolness in his post-carriage, and 
 looked out indifferently. The air was wonderfully 
 clear. 
 
 Suddenly he saw, twenty paces distant from 
 him, as it seemed at the first moment, the pure 
 white mountain masses, with their tender curves, 
 and the marvellous perfect aerial outlines of the 
 summits against the far-off sky. 
 
 And when he comprehended all the distance be- 
 tween him and the mountains and the sky, all 
 the majesty of the mountains, and when he real- 
 ized all the endlessness of that beauty, he was 
 alarmed lest it were an illusion, a. dream. He 
 shook himself so as to wake up. 
 
 But the mountains were still there ! 
 
 "What is that? Tell me what that is!" he 
 asked of the driver. 
 
 *' Oh ! the mountains ! " replied the Nogayets, 
 indifferently. 
 
 " And so have I been looking at them for a long 
 time ! aren't they splendid ! They won't believe 
 me at home ! " said Vanyusha. 
 
 As the three-span flew swiftly over the level 
 
THE COSSACKS. 2Q 
 
 road, it seemed as if the mountains ran along the 
 horizon, shining in the sunrise with their rosy 
 summits. 
 
 At first the mountains roused in Olyenin's mind 
 only a sentiment of wonder, then of delight ; but 
 afterward, as he gazed at this chain of snowy 
 mountains, not piled upon other, dark mountains, 
 but growing and rising straight out of the steppe, 
 little by little he began to get into the spirit of 
 their beauty, and h^fell the mountains. 
 
 From that moment all that he had seen, all that 
 he had thought, all that he had felt, assumed for 
 him the new, sternly majestic character of the 
 mountains. All his recollections of Moscow, his 
 shame and his repentance, all his former illusions 
 about the Caucasus, — all disappeared and never 
 returned again. 
 
 " Now life begins," seemed to be sounded into 
 his ear by some solemn voice. And the road, the 
 distant outline of the Terek, now coming into 
 sight, and the post-stations, and the people, — all 
 seemed to him no longer insignificant. 
 
 He looks at the sky and remembers the moun- 
 tains, he looks at himself, at Vanyusha, and again 
 the mountains ! 
 
 Here two Cossacks appear on horseback, their 
 muskets balanced over their backs, and rythmically 
 
30 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 swinging as their horses gallop along with brown 
 and gray legs intermingling ; but the moun- 
 tains ! . . . 
 
 Beyond the Terek, smoke seems to be rising from 
 some aul or native village ; but the mountains! 
 
 The sun stands high and gleams on the river 
 winding among the reeds ; but the mountains ! . . . 
 
 From a Cossack station comes an arba, or na-* 
 tive cart — pretty women are riding in it, young 
 women ; but the mountains ! . . . 
 
 Abreks' gallop across the steppe, and I am 
 coming, I fear them not, I have weapons and 
 strength and youth ; but the mountains ! . . . 
 
 * The hostile mountaineer who crosses over to the Russian side 
 of the Terelc for the purpose of theft or rapine is called abrek. — 
 Autkor^s note. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The whole line of the Terek, along which, for 
 some eighty versts, are scattered the outposts of 
 the Grebensky Cossacks, has a distinctive charac- 
 ter, not only by reason of its situation, but also of 
 population. 
 
 The river Terek, which separates the Cossacks 
 from the mountaineers, flows turbid and swift, but 
 still in a broad and tranquil current, constantly 
 depositing gray silt on the low, reed-grown right 
 bank, and undermining the steep but not lofty 
 left bank, with its tangled roots of century-old 
 oaks, decaying plane trees, and underbrush. 
 
 On the right bank lie auls, or native villages, 
 subject to Russian rule, but restless ; along the 
 left bank, half a verst from the river, and seven 
 or eight versts apart, stretch the Cossack posts. 
 In former times, the majority of these villages 
 were on the very edge of the river, but the Terek 
 each year, sweeping farther away from the moun- 
 tains toward the north, has kept undermining them, 
 and now there remain in sight only the old ruins, 
 gardens, pear trees, poplars, limes, thickly over- 
 
 31 
 
32 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 grown, and twined about with blackberries and 
 wild grapevines. No one any longer lives there, 
 and the only signs of life are the tracks on the 
 sand, made by deer, wolves, hares, and pheasants, 
 which haunt such places. 
 
 A road runs from village to village, cut in a bee 
 line, through the forest. Along the road are 
 the military stations or cordons, guarded by Cos- 
 sacks. Between the cordons are watch-towers 
 with sentinels. Only a narrow strip of fertile 
 forest-land — say seven hundred yards wide — 
 constitutes the Cossacks' domain. 
 
 On the north begin the sandy dunes of the 
 NogaY, or Mozdok steppe, stretching far away, and 
 commingling, God knows where, with the Trukh- 
 mensky, Astrakhan, and Kirgiz-KaTsak steppes. 
 
 On the south, beyond the Terek, is the Great 
 Chechnya, the ridge of the Kotchkalosof range, 
 the Black Mountains, then still another sierra, and 
 finally the snow-covered mountains which rise high 
 in the air, — as yet untrodden by the foot of man. 
 
 On the fertile strip of forest-land, producing all 
 kinds of vegetables, have lived, since immemorial 
 times, a warlike, handsome, and wealthy Russian 
 population, professing the " old faith," and called 
 the Grebensky or Border Cossacks. 
 
 Very, very long ago, their ancestors, the " Old 
 
THE COSSACKS. 33 
 
 Believers," fled from Russia and settled beyond 
 the Terek among the Chechens on the Ridge 
 (Greben) or the first spur of the wooded range 
 of the Great Chechnya. These Cossacks inter- 
 married with their new neighbors, the Chechens, 
 and adopted the habits, mode of life, and man- 
 ners of the mountaineers ; but they succeeded in 
 maintaining even there the Russian language 
 and their old belief in their pristine purity. A 
 tradition, still preserved among them, declares 
 that the Tsar Ivan the Terrible came to the 
 Terek, invited the elders of the Cossacks from 
 the Ridge to meet him, gave them the land on 
 that side of the river, charged them to live in 
 peace, and promised not to demand their alle- 
 giance nor to change their belief. 
 
 Ever since that time the Cossack families have 
 kept up their relations with the mountaineers, 
 and the chief traits of their character are love of 
 liberty, laziness, brigandage, and war. The influ- 
 ence of Russia has been exerted only in a detri- 
 mental way, by forced conscriptions, removal of 
 bells, and the presence of troops quartered among 
 them. The Cossack is inclined to have less detes- 
 tation for the mountaineer brave who has killed 
 his brother than for the soldier who is quartered 
 on him for the sake of protecting his village, but 
 
34 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 who scents up his hut with tobacco smoke. He 
 respects his mountain enemy ; but he disdains the 
 soldier, whom he regards as an alien oppressor. 
 
 In the Cossacks' eyes, the Russian peasant is a 
 nondescript creature, uncouth, and beneath con- 
 tempt, the type of which they find in the peri- 
 patetic Little Russian pedlar or emigrant, called 
 by the Cossacks Shapoval, or tile-wearer. 
 
 The height of style among them is to dress like 
 the Circassian. He procures his best weapons 
 from the mountaineers ; from them also he buys 
 or steals his best horses. The young Cossack 
 brave prides himself on his knowledge of the 
 Tatar language, and, when he is on a drunken 
 spree, he speaks Tatar even with his brother. 
 
 And yet this petty Christian population, barri- 
 caded in a little corner of the world, surrounded 
 by semi-civilized Mahometan tribes and by sol- 
 diers, regards itself as having attained the highest 
 degree of culture, looks upon the Cossack as 
 alone worthy of the name of man, affecting to 
 despise everybody else. He spends the most of 
 his time at the cordons, in expeditions, hunting, 
 and fishing. He very rarely condescends to stay 
 at home. His presence in the village is an excep- 
 tion to the rule : but when he is there he lounges. 
 Wine is a common commodity among all the 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 35 
 
 Cossacks, and drunkenness is not so much a uni- 
 versal propensity as it is a rite, the non-fulfilment 
 of which would be regarded as apostasy. 
 
 The Cossack looks upon a woman as the in- 
 strument of his well-being. As long as she is 
 unmarried she is allowed to make merry, but once 
 a wife she must put aside the pleasures of youth 
 and work even till the end of her days to add to 
 his comfort ; he is thoroughly oriental in his 
 demand upon her obedience and toil. 
 
 As the result of this state of things, the 
 women, though to all appearances in subjection, 
 become powerfully developed both physically and 
 morally, and, as is commonly the case in the 
 East, possess incomparably more influence and 
 consequence in domestic affairs than in the West. 
 Their seclusion from society, and their habitua- 
 tion to hard manual labor give them still more 
 authority and command in domestic affairs. The 
 Cossack, who, in the presence of strangers, regards 
 it as unbecoming to talk affectionately or gossip 
 with his wife, cannot help feeling her superiority 
 when he is left alone with her. His whole house, 
 his whole estate, his whole establishment, have 
 been acquired by her, and are maintained solely 
 by her labors and exertions. And though he is 
 obstinately convinced th*at toil is degrading for a 
 
36 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 Cossack, and is the proper occupation only of a 
 Nogai' laborer or a woman, yet he has a dim con- 
 sciousness that everything that redounds to his 
 comfort, and that he calls his own, is the result of 
 this toil, and that it is in the power of his mother 
 or his wife, even though he looks upon her as 
 his serf^ to deprive him of all that makes his life 
 agreeable. 
 
 Moreover, the constant hard field labor, and the 
 duties intrusted to them, give a peculiarly inde- 
 pendent, masculine character to the Greben 
 women, and have served to develop in them, to a 
 remarkable degree, physical powers, healthy minds, 
 decision and stability of character. The women 
 are for the most part stronger and more intelli- 
 gent, better developed, and handsomer than the 
 men. 
 
 The beauty of the women among the Grebensky 
 Cossacks is due to the striking union in them of 
 the purest type of the Circassian with the full and 
 powerful build of the northern woman. Their 
 usual dress is Circassian : the Tatar shirt, the 
 beshmet or under-tunic, and the footgear called 
 c/iHvydki, but they wear their kerchiefs in the Rus- 
 sian way. The wearing of clean, rich, and elegant 
 attire, and the decoration of the cottages, belong 
 to the inseparable conditions of their existence. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 37 
 
 In their relations to the men, the women, and 
 especially the girls, enjoy unlimited freedom. 
 
 The Cossacks subsist largely from the products 
 of their vineyards and fruit gardens, their melon 
 and gourd patches, their fishing and hunting, their 
 fields of maize and millet, and from the spoils of 
 war. The village of Novo-Mlinsk is considered 
 to be the metropolis of the Grebensky Cossacks. 
 Here more than elsewhere are preserved the 
 manners and customs of the old Grebentsui, and 
 the women of this village have always been famous 
 throughout the Caucasus for their beauty. 
 
 It stands about three versts from the Terek, 
 from which it is separated by dense woods. On 
 one side of the principal village street is a stream ; 
 on the other are green vineyards and orchards, be- 
 yond which can be seen the sand dunes of the 
 Nogar steppe. 
 
 The village is surrounded by earthworks and 
 a thorn hedge. At each end of the street there 
 are lofty gates, hung between high posts and pro- 
 tected by a narrow reed-thatched roof ; near each 
 one there stands, on a wooden platform, a mon- 
 strous cannon, which has not been fired for a 
 century ; it is the relic of some Cossack victory. 
 
 A Cossack in uniform, with cap and gun, is 
 sometimes found and sometimes not found stand- 
 
38 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 ing at the gates on sentinel duty ; sometimes he 
 salutes and sometimes he forgets to salute the 
 officer passing by. 
 
 Under the gate roof, on a white board, is 
 painted, in black letters : — 
 
 266 houses. 
 897 males. 
 1012 females. 
 
 The Cossacks' houses are all raised on posts 
 two or three feet from the ground, are neatly 
 thatched with reeds, and have high ridgepoles. 
 The houses, without exception, even though they 
 are not new, are neat and well cared for, and with 
 their variegated steep gables present a comforta- 
 ble and picturesque appearance as they stand in 
 ample grounds along the wide streets and lanes. 
 
 In front of the bright, commodious windows of 
 many of the houses, behind the fences, grow dark 
 green poplars, delicate, bright-leaved acacias, with 
 their fragrant white blossoms, or else the boldly 
 flaunting yellow of the sunflower, and the twining 
 tendrils of the peas and grapevines. 
 
 On the wide square can be seen two or three 
 shops with gay-colored wares, seeds, gourds, and 
 gingerbread ; and behind a high fence, through a 
 
TJIE COSSACKS. 39 
 
 row of ancient poplar, stands, looking down upon 
 the rest, the colonel's house, with its folding win- 
 dows. 
 
 The streets, especially in summer, during work- 
 ing hours, are generally deserted ; the Cossacks 
 are away on duty, the young men at the cordons 
 and on expeditions, the old men off hunting or 
 fishing or helping the women in the gardens or 
 orchards. Only the entirely decrepit, the chil- 
 dren, and the sick remain at home. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 It was one of those wonderful evenings such as 
 are found only in the Caucasus. The sun had 
 sunk behind the mountains, but it was still light. 
 The twilight glow embraced a third of the sky, and 
 against its brilliancy stood out in sharp contrast 
 the dull white masses of the -mountains. The 
 atmosphere was rare, calm, and full of distant 
 sounds. The mountains cast their long shadows 
 for versts across the steppe. 
 
 Everywhere it is deserted — on the steppe, 
 across the river, along the roads. If now and 
 then horseback riders make their appearance any- 
 where, then instantly the Cossacks from the cor- 
 dons and the Chechens from the aul alike gaze in 
 wonder and curiosity and try to guess who such 
 suspicious people may be. 
 
 At the first approach of evening, the people, in 
 dread of each other, hasten to their dwellings, and 
 only wild beasts or birds of prey, having no fear 
 of men, are left to raven freely through the 
 wilderness. 
 
 Even before the sun has set, the Cossack 
 40 
 
THE COSSACKS. 4 1 
 
 women, who have been making wattles in the 
 gardens, are on their way home, gayly talking as 
 they hasten along ; and the gardens soon become 
 deserted, like all the rest of the region. 
 
 But the streets at this hour of the day become 
 extremely animated. From all sides the populace 
 move toward the village — on foot, on horseback, 
 and in squeaking, two-wheeled arbas. Maidens, 
 with their skirts tucked up, and carrying fagots, 
 come merrily chattering and hasten to the gates 
 to meet the cattle, which throng in from the 
 steppe, enveloped in a cloud of dust and gnats. 
 The plump cows and buffaloes scatter through the 
 streets, and the Cossack women, in their bright- 
 colored beshmets, circulate among them. Their 
 sharp repartees, their merry laughter and shrieks, 
 are heard, mingled with the lowing of the cattle. 
 
 Here comes a mounted Cossack, armed, on 
 leave of absence from the cordon ; he rides up to 
 a hut, and, tapping on the window, leans down to 
 it ; immediately after appears the pretty young 
 head of a Cossack maiden, and you hear the mur- 
 mur of their gay, affectionate banter. 
 
 Yonder a ragged Nogaf laborer, with high 
 cheek-bones, is bringing reeds from the steppe ; 
 he drives his squeaking arba across the clean, 
 wide yard and takes off the yoke from the oxen, 
 
42 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 which shake their heads ; then he exchanges some 
 words in Tatar with his master. 
 
 In one place, almost the whole width of the 
 street is occupied by a great puddle, which, year 
 in and year out, obliges people to go out of their 
 way and pass it by laboriously, clinging to the 
 fences ; along the edge of this comes a bare-legged 
 Cossack woman, with a bundle of fagots on her 
 back ; she lifts her skirt very high above her 
 white ankles, and a Cossack huntsman, riding by, 
 flings his merry jest at her, " Hold it up a little 
 higher, hussy!" and aims his gun at her; the 
 young woman drops her skirt in her confusion, 
 and off tumbles the bundle of fagots. 
 
 An old Cossack, with pantaloons tucked up and 
 his gray chest bare, on his way home from his 
 day's fishing, carries over his shoulder a sanetkay 
 or mesh, full of silvery herring, still flapping ; in 
 order to make a shorter cut, he crawls through 
 his neighbor's broken hedge, and, in the oper- 
 ation, catches his coat on a thorn and tears it. 
 
 Yonder an old woman drags along a dry branch, 
 and the blows of an axe are heard echoing around 
 the corner. The Cossack children shout at the 
 top of their voices, as they whip their tops 
 wherever there is a level spot on the street. 
 Women can be seen climbing through the fences, 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 43 
 
 so as to save extra steps. From all the chimneys 
 rises the pungent smoke from burning cow-dung. 
 In every yard is seen the increased bustle that 
 precedes the silence of the night. 
 
 Dame' Ulitka, the wife of the Cossack ensign 
 and school-teacher, comes out to the gate of her 
 yard and stands there waiting for her cattle, which 
 her daughter Marydnka is driving down the street. 
 She has barely time to open the wicket gate when 
 a huge cow buffalo, with gnats swarming about 
 her, rushes lowing into the yard. Behind her 
 saunter the fat kine, seeming with their big eyes 
 to acknowledge the dignity of their mistress, and 
 switch their sides lazily with their tails. 
 
 The buxom beauty, Maryanka approaches the 
 yard, and, throwing down her stick, closes the 
 gate, and, with frolicsome feet, hastens to separate 
 and drive the cattle to their stalls. 
 
 " You devil's own girl, you'll spoil your chu- 
 vyaki ; take them off instantly." 
 
 Maryanka is not in the least affronted by being 
 called " the devil's own child," and regards these 
 words as a sort of subtile flattery ; she gayly 
 goes on with her chores. Her face is enveloped 
 in a twisted kerchief; she wears a rose-colored 
 shirt and a green beshmet. She disappears under 
 
 » Bdbuka. 
 
44 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 the shed where the fat cattle have already 
 hastened, and soon her voice is heard, as she 
 caressingly talks with the cow buffalo. 
 
 "Won't you stand still! — There, there, now ! 
 there, old lady ! " ^ 
 
 Soon after the young girl goes with her mother 
 from the stable to the dairy,^ both carrying two 
 brimming crocks of milk, the product of the even- 
 ing's milking. From the clay chimney of the 
 dairy pours the dense smoke ; the milk is quickly 
 boiled into cream. 
 
 While the young girl is busy with the fire, the 
 old mother goes down again to the gate. Twilight 
 settles down over the village. The air is filled 
 with the odor of vegetables, of cattle, and the pun- 
 gent smoke of the dung. 
 
 Everywhere along the street hasten the Cossack 
 women with lighted rags in their hands. In the 
 yards can be heard only the sound of the cattle 
 puffing and peacefully chewing the cud, and the 
 voices of women and children ringing through the 
 streets. It is a work day, and it is a rare thing 
 when the drunken voice of a man is heard. 
 
 A Cossack woman, old and tall and masculine, 
 
 ^ Mdtushka, little mother. 
 
 ^ Dairy, literally little hut : the izbtishka, among the Cossacks, is 
 a low, cool, wooden structure where the milk is boiled and kept. — 
 Author's note. 
 
THE COSSACKS, 45 
 
 with her rag torch in her hand, comes across the 
 street from the opposite house, and asks Dame 
 Ulitka for a light. 
 
 " Well, mother, got your work done up ? " is her 
 first question. 
 
 " The girl is tending the fire. Why, d'ye want 
 a light } " asks Dame Ulitka, proud of being able 
 to confer a favor. 
 
 The two old women go to the cottage together ; 
 Dame Ulitka's clumsy hands, not used to handling 
 delicate objects, tremble as she takes off the cover 
 of the precious match-box, for matches are a rarity 
 in the Caucasus. The visitor sits down on the 
 step, with the evident intention of having a little 
 gossip. 
 
 " Well, Dame, is your man at the school } " she 
 asks. 
 
 **Yes, he's always teaching the young ones, 
 mother. He writes that he'll be here for the fes- 
 tival," replies Dame Ulitka. 
 
 " There's a learned man for you ! There's some 
 good in that ! " 
 
 " Of course there is ! " 
 
 " And my Lukasha is at the outpost ; he 
 can't get leave of absence." Now, the visitor 
 knows that this is no news to Dame Ulitka, but 
 still she can't refrain from telling her, for she must 
 
46 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 say something about her Lukasha, who has just 
 been enrolled as a Cossack. She makes no secret 
 of her wish to arrange a match between him and 
 the cornet's daughter, Maryanka. 
 
 '' Does he have to stay at the outpost ? " 
 
 *' Indeed he does, mother. He has not been 
 home since Christmas. The other day I sent him 
 some shirts by Fomushkin. He brought back 
 word, all was well ; the officers are pleased with 
 the lad. They expect another attack of the abreks, 
 they say. Lukashka, says he, is happy, all right." 
 
 ** Well, thank the Lord for that," says the cor- 
 net's wife. " In one word, he is the Urvan ! " 
 
 Lukashka had gained the name of tu-vaii, or the 
 seizer, because of his bravery in seizing a young 
 Cossack from the water just as he was drowning, 
 and Dame Ulitka called him by this name, so as to 
 have something agreeable ' to say to Lukashka's 
 mother. 
 
 " I bless the Lord for it every day — he is a good 
 son ; he is a brave lad ; they all like him," says 
 Lukashka's mother. " Only I wish he were mar- 
 ried, then I could die contented." 
 
 " Well, aren't there girls enough in the village ! " 
 demanded the shrewd Dame Ulitka, awkwardly 
 fumbling with her crooked fingers in her attempt 
 to put the cover on the match-box. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 47 
 
 " Plenty of them, mother, plenty of them," says 
 Lukashka's mother, and shakes her head. " Your 
 girl, Marianushka, there's a girl for you, one won't 
 find her like in the whole region ! " 
 
 Dame Ulitka saw through her visitor's insinua- 
 tion, and, though she approved of Lukashka, and 
 thought him a promising Cossack, she wanted to 
 turn the conversation, — in the first place, because 
 she was the ensign's wife and was 'rich, while 
 Lukashka — well, he was the son of a mere Cos- 
 sack, and his father was dead ; in the second place, 
 because she did not want to lose her daughter too 
 soon. But the chief reason was that propriety 
 demanded such a course. 
 
 " Yes," says she, warily and discreetly, " Marya- 
 nushka is growing up ; by and by we shall think 
 of getting her married." 
 
 ** I will send the match-makers, yes, I will send 
 them ; come, let us arrange about the gardens ; 
 we will come and formally ask your favor," says 
 Lukashka's mother. " We will go and pass the 
 compliments to Ilya Vasily^vitch." 
 
 ** What has Ilyas to do with it ! " says Dame 
 Ulitka, haughtily. " I am the one who is to be 
 spoken to. But there is time enough for all 
 that." 
 
 Lukashka's mother sees, by the proud look on 
 
48 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Dame Ulitka's face, that it would be inexpedient 
 to say anything more, lights the match and sets 
 fire to her rag torch, and, as she rises to go, she 
 adds, " Don't forget, mother ; remember what I 
 have said. I am going now, I must get my fire 
 started." 
 
 As she steps down toward the street and waves 
 her lighted torch in her outstretched hand she 
 meets Maryanka, who greets her with a cour- 
 tesy. 
 
 "She's a queenly maiden, a regular worker," 
 she says to herself, as she looks at the beauty. 
 *' How much more has she got to grow, I should 
 like to know ! It's high time for her to be married, 
 yes, and in a nice house of her own, and Lukashka 
 is the husband for her ! " 
 
 Dame Ulitka had still some work to do, but her 
 heart was heavy within her, and she sat on the 
 threshold without stirring until Maryanka came 
 to call her. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The men of the village spend their time in ex- 
 peditions and at the cordon or " posts," as the Cos- 
 sacks call them. 
 
 This same Lukashka the Urvan, of whom the 
 two old women had been talking at the cottage, 
 was standing just before sunset on the watch-tower 
 of the Nizhni-Prototsky " post," which is situated 
 on the very bank of the Terek. As he leaned on 
 the railing, he gazed with blinking eyes, now far 
 away across the Terek, then down on his comrades, 
 the Cossacks, but it was seldom that he had any- 
 thing to say to them. 
 
 The sun was already nearing the snow-covered 
 crest of the mountains, gleaming white from un- 
 derneath the feathery clouds, which, as they rolled 
 down into the ravines at their feet, took on darker 
 and darker shadows. 
 
 The transparent evening air seemed to open out 
 into wider vistas. From the thick wild forest 
 breathed a fresh coolness, but at the post it was 
 still hot. The voices of the Cossacks as they 
 
 49 
 
50 
 
 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 chatted rang clear and loud, and seemed to hover 
 in the air. The swift tawny Terek, swerving di- 
 rectly from its immovable banks, rolled on its irre- 
 sistible mass. It was now beginning to fall, and 
 here and there the damp sand showed brown and 
 gray along the banks and shallows. The shore 
 directly opposite the outpost was a perfect wil- 
 derness ; only endless stretches of low desert 
 reeds lay between the river and the mountains. 
 A little to one side could be seen on the low bank 
 the clay-built houses of a Chechen aul, with 
 their flat roofs and funnel-shaped chimneys. 
 From the height of his watch-tower, the Cossack's 
 keen eyes could make out through the evening 
 smoke the blue and red dresses of the women as 
 they moved about in the distant village. 
 
 Although the Cossacks were expecting that at 
 any moment the hostile abreks would cross over 
 from the other shore and attack them ; although 
 it was the month of May, when the forests along 
 the Terek are so dense that it is extremely diffi- 
 cult for a person to force his way through them, 
 and the river is so low that it can be waded al- 
 most anywhere ; and although, only two days be- 
 fore, a Cossack messenger had galloped up from 
 the colonel with a circular letter to all the posts, 
 informing them that spies had brought word that 
 
THE COSSACKS. 5 I 
 
 a band of abreks, divided into squads of eight, 
 were preparing to cross the Terek, so that especial 
 caution was demanded, — still it could not be ob- 
 served that there was any special caution taken at 
 the " posts " along the line. 
 
 The Cossacks were engaged as though they 
 were safe at home, one in fishing, another in tip- 
 pling, another in hunting ; their horses were not 
 saddled, their arms were not even in reach. Only 
 one horse was saddled and allowed to browse with 
 its feet hobbled, along the edge of the forest ; this 
 precaution was taken by the officer of the day. 
 And only the sentinel on guard was in uniform 
 and armed with musket and dagger. The ser- 
 geant, a tall, haggard Cossack, with an extraordi- 
 narily long back and short legs and arms, in an un- 
 buttoned beshmet, was sitting on the bank of the 
 hut, his eyes closed with an expression of sovereign 
 laziness and tedium, and rolling his head from 
 one hand to the other. 
 
 An aged Cossack, with a wide, grayish black 
 beard and dressed in nothing but a shirt belted 
 with a black leather strap, was stretched out at 
 the edge of the river and lazily watching the 
 Terek as it monotonously rolled by its turbid, 
 swirling waters. 
 
 All the rest were overcome by the heat and 
 
52 I^^^E COSSACKS. 
 
 were half undressed ; one was washing his shirt 
 by the water's edge, another plaiting a pair of 
 reins ; a third was purring a song, as he lay 
 stretched out on the hot sand along the 
 bank. 
 
 One of the Cossacks, with a thin face burned 
 black by the sun, was apparently dead-drunk 
 and lay under one wall of the hut ; two hours 
 before it had been in the shadow, but was now 
 exposed directly to the oblique rays of the glar- 
 ing sun. 
 
 Lukashka, who was standing on the watch- 
 tower, was a tall, handsome youth, twenty years 
 old, the very picture of his mother. His face and 
 his whole build, in spite of the angularity of 
 youth, expressed the greatest strength of body 
 and of will. He had only recently been enrolled, 
 yet, by the broad lines of his face and the stead- 
 fast assurance of his attitude, it was plain to see 
 that he had already succeeded in acquiring that 
 martial and haughty carriage peculiar to Cossacks 
 and to men generally who are in the habit of 
 being constantly armed, that he was a Cossack 
 and regarded himself at the very highest valua- 
 tion. His wide cherkeska was ragged, his cap was 
 set on awry, in the fashion of the mountaineers, 
 his leggings loosely twisted below the knees. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 53 
 
 His attire was not rich, but it fitted him with that 
 peculiar Cossack grace which arises from the imi- 
 tation of the Chechen jigit or brave. 
 
 The genuine jigit has a fine unconcern for 
 ragged and careless dress ; but he is careful to 
 have His weapons of the richest description. But 
 the adjustment, the fit, and the belting of his 
 torn and ragged clothes, and the general equip- 
 ment, unite to give a distinguished appearance, 
 which not every one is able to command, and 
 which catches the eye of the Cossack or moun- 
 taineer. 
 
 Lukashka had the air of the;genuine jigit ; with 
 his hand resting on his dagger, and blinking his 
 eyes, he kept gazing at the distant aul. Taken 
 separately, his features were not handsome ; but 
 afterward, as you saw his superb physique, his 
 intelligent face with its dark brows, you could not 
 help exclaiming, " A brave lad ! " 
 
 "Why are all the women pouring out of yonder 
 aul, I wonder } " he said, in a clear voice, lazily 
 separating his gleaming, white teeth, and not 
 addressing any one in particular. 
 
 Nazarka, who was stretched out below, instantly 
 lifted his head and remarked : — 
 
 " They are probably going after water." 
 
 ** It would be good spprt to scare them with a 
 
54 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 shot ! " said Lukashka, laughing. " How it would 
 make them scatter ! " 
 
 "You couldn't shoot so far." 
 
 " Nonsense ! mine would shoot clear over them ! 
 You just wait a bit ! when their festival comes, I 
 am going to visit Girei'-khan, and drink beer ' with 
 him ! " exclaimed Lukashka, testily, driving away 
 the mosquitoes that insisted on paying him too 
 close attention. 
 
 A rustling in the thicket attracted the Cos- 
 sacks' attention. A spotted mongrel setter, with 
 his nose to the ground, and wagging his hairless 
 tail, came running up toward the post. Lukashka 
 recognized the dog as belonging to Uncle 
 Yeroshka, a huntsman of his neighborhood, and 
 shortly after he caught sight of the man himself, 
 making his way through the underbrush. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka was a colossal Cossack with 
 a wide, silver-white beard and tremendous, broad 
 shoulders and chest, but so well proportioned 
 withal that in the woods, where there was no one 
 with whom to compare him, he did not seem huge. 
 
 He wore a ragged, half-buttoned peasant coat ; 
 his legs were wrapped up in buckskin porshniy^ 
 
 ^ Buza, an appropriately named Tatar beverage, made of millet. 
 ^ Forshni, leggings made of undressed leather, that must be 
 well soaked before they can be put on. — Author^ s note. 
 
THE COSSACKS, 55 
 
 tied with twine ; also a rumpled white lambskin cap. 
 Across one shoulder he carried a decoy for pheas- 
 ants and a bag with a chicken for alluring hawks ; 
 over his other shoulder a wild-cat that he had 
 killed was slung by a cord ; at the back of his 
 belt were fastened a pouch with bullets, powder, 
 and bread, a horsetail to flap away the gnats, a 
 great dagger in a battered, blood-stained sheath, 
 and a pair of pheasants. 
 
 When he saw the " post," he paused. 
 
 ** Hey, Lyam ! " he shouted to the dog, in such 
 an exuberant voice that the woods far and near 
 echoed with the sound. Then, shifting over his 
 shoulder his clumsy percussion musket, called 
 flinta by the Cossacks, he lifted up his cap. 
 
 " Here's to your health, good friends ! Hey ! '* 
 he shouted, addressing the Cossacks in his jovial, 
 powerful voice, which, without any effort, sounded 
 as loud as though he were trying to talk with 
 some one across the river. 
 
 ** How are you, uncle } How are you t " cheer- 
 ily sounded the voices of the Cossacks, from all 
 sides. 
 
 ,** What is the good word t Tell us the news } " 
 shouted Uncle Y^roshka, wiping the sweat from 
 his broad, red face with the sleeve of his 
 cherkeska. 
 
56 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 "See here, uncle! You don't know what a 
 hawk lives up in yonder plane tree ! As soon as 
 evening comes, then he swoops down ! " said 
 Nazarka, with a wink, and a twitch of his leg and 
 shoulder. 
 
 " What's that you say ! " exclaimed the old man, 
 incredulously. 
 
 " It's a fact, uncle ! you just sit up and watch 
 for him ! " insisted Nazarka, with a laugh, in which 
 the other Cossacks joined. 
 
 The jester had not seen any hawk, but it had 
 long been the habit of the young Cossacks of the 
 cordon to banter Uncle Yeroshka and play tricks 
 on him every time that he came to see them. 
 
 " Oh, you fool ! what do you want to tell such 
 a lie for t " shouted Lukashka, from the watch- 
 tower, to Nazarka. 
 
 Nazarka instantly relapsed into silence. 
 
 ** If there's anything to be got by watching, 
 why, then, I'll watch," rejoined the old man, to 
 the great satisfaction of all the Cossacks. " But 
 have you seen any wild-boars .'*" 
 
 "What does that amount to — looking after 
 wild-boars ! " exclaimed the sergeant, very well 
 content at the opportunity of having a little diver- 
 sion. He turned over and scratched his long 
 back with both hands. "Here we have abreks 
 
THE COSSACKS. 57 
 
 to catch, and not such small game as wild-boars ! 
 You haven't heard the news, hey, have you, 
 uncle ? " he went on to say, for some reason or 
 other blinking his eyes and showing a solid set 
 of white teeth. 
 
 " Abreks, indeed ? " replied the old man. 
 "Nay, I hadn't heard anything about them. 
 But, say, have you got any red wine } Give us a 
 drink, my dear boy ! I'm fagged out ; that's a 
 fact. Let me have a little time and I'll bring you 
 some fresh pork ; I promise you I will ! Come, 
 let me have some.'* 
 
 '* So you want to watch for game here, do 
 you ? " pursued the sergeant, as though he had 
 not heard the other's request. 
 
 "I should like to watch for one night," replied 
 Uncle Y^roshka. " Maybe I might shoot some- 
 thing for the festival ; whatever I get, I'll give it 
 to you. Fact ! " 
 
 " Uncle, say, uncle ! " shouted Luka, from the 
 watch-tower. All the Cossacks looked to see 
 what he wanted. " Go to the upper brook ; there 
 you'll find a great drove. I am not guying. 
 Fact ! The other day one of our Cossacks shot 
 one. I am telling you the honest truth," he 
 added, setting his carbine behind him. His tone 
 made it evident that he was not jesting. 
 
58 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Ah, SO Lukashka urvan is here ? " said the old 
 man, looking up. " Where did he shoot him ? " 
 
 " And so it seems you did not see me, I am so 
 small ! — Right by the run, uncle," he continued, 
 earnestly, shaking his head. "We were going 
 along by the run, when we heard a crackling in 
 the bushes, but my gun was in its case. Then 
 Ilyaska let fly. . . . Yes, and I will show you the 
 place, uncle. It isn't very far off. Just wait a 
 spell ! I tell you, brother, I know all their ways. 
 Uncle Mosyef," he added, in a resolute and almost 
 imperative tone, addressing the sergeant, "it's 
 time to relieve the guard," and, picking up his 
 gun, without awaiting the word of command, he 
 started to come down from the tower. 
 
 " Come down," said the sergeant, although his 
 command came too late. " It's your turn,-isn't it, 
 Gurka } " he asked, looking around. " Go on, 
 then." Then, turning to the old huntsman, " Your 
 Lukashka has become an expert. He is going to 
 follow in your footsteps ; you can't keep him at 
 home ; the other day he killed one ! " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The sun had now set, and the shades of night 
 were swiftly sweeping over from the forest. 
 
 The Cossacks had finished their duties about 
 the post and were collecting for supper. Only 
 the old man, still in expectation of the hawk, sat 
 under the tree, twitching the falcon attached to his 
 foot. The hawk remained in the tree, and was 
 not tempted down to the chicken. 
 
 Lukashka was taking his time in setting snares 
 for pheasants in the bramble thicket, where the 
 birds were wont to run, and singing song after 
 song. In spite of his tall form and his big hands, 
 it was plain to see that any sort of work, coarse 
 or fine, prospered if he undertook it. 
 
 " He ! Luka ! the Cossacks have gone in to sup- 
 per ! " rang Nazarka's shrill voice from the thicket, 
 a few steps away. It was Nazarka who with a 
 live pheasant under his arm struggled out from 
 amid the brambles and stood on the footpath. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Lukashka, ceasing his song, 
 " where did you find the bird ^ It must have 
 been in one of my snares." 
 
 59 
 
6o ^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 " I don't know whose it was. I guess it was 
 yours." 
 
 " Behind the well, near the chinar tree ? Cer- 
 tainly it was mine ! I set it yesterday evening." 
 
 Nazarka was of the same age as Lukashka, and 
 had also been enrolled in the company that same 
 spring. He was a little, ugly, lean, puny man, 
 with a squeaking voice, which made one's ears 
 ring. He was Luka's neighbor and chum. 
 
 Lukashka was sitting Tatar fashion on the grass 
 and arranging his snare. He got up and looked at 
 the captured pheasant. Smoothing with his hand 
 the dark blue head, which the bird stretched out 
 in terror, rolling its eyes, he took it into his hand. 
 
 " This time we'll have it made into pilaf ; you 
 kill it and pluck it." 
 
 " Say, shall we eat it ourselves, or give it to the 
 sergeant ? " 
 
 "There'll be enough for him, too." 
 
 " I don't like to kill it," said Nazarka. 
 
 "Give it to me." 
 
 Lukashka drew out the knife from under his 
 dagger and quickly cut the bird's throat. The 
 bird fluttered, but before it had time to spread 
 its wings the bleeding head lay lifeless on the 
 ground. 
 
 "That's the way to do it!" exclaimed Lukash- 
 
THE COSSACKS. 6 1 
 
 ka, flinging down the bird. ** It will make a fat 
 pilaf." 
 
 Nazarka shuddered as he looked at it. 
 
 " Listen, Luka, that devil is going to send us 
 out into ambush again," he remarked, as he picked 
 up the pheasant. And by the term " that devil " 
 he meant the sergeant. " He has sent Fomush- 
 kin after red wine. It was his turn. We shall 
 have to go every night. He always picks us out." 
 
 Lukashka began to whistle and walked toward 
 the post. 
 
 " Bring along the twine," he called back. 
 
 Nazarka did as he was told. 
 
 " I am going to tell him, I am going to fling the 
 truth in his face," continued Nazarka. " Let us 
 tell him that we won't go ; that we are tired out, 
 and that's the end of it ! You tell him ; it's a 
 fact : he'll listen to you. If you don't, what will 
 become of us ? " 
 
 ** Now, what has he found to growl about ! " ex- 
 claimed Lukashka, who was evidently thinking of 
 something else. " What rubbish ! if we were 
 at the village and he sent us off for the night, 
 that would be hard luck ! There we should be 
 having a good time, but here what difference does 
 it make whether we are at the post or in ambush ? 
 It's all one ! What a lad you are ! " 
 
62 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " And are you going to the village ? " 
 
 ** I am going for the festival." 
 
 " Gurka declares that your Duna'fka has taken 
 up with Fomushkin," said Nazarka, with a sudden 
 burst of frankness. 
 
 " Let her go to the devil ! " snarled Lukashka, 
 displaying his solid white teeth, but not smiling. 
 ** Don't you suppose I can find another one ? " 
 
 ** Well, this is what Gurka tells. He went to her 
 house, says he, and her husband was away. Fo- 
 rnushkin was sitting there, eating pirogi. He sat 
 for a while and then took his leave ; but he 
 stopped and listened under the window, and heard 
 her say, * Has that devil gone t Why, my dear, 
 don't you eat another little pirog .? ' And then 
 said she, * Don't go home to sleep.' And Gurka, 
 under the window, said, ' Bravo ! ' " 
 
 ** You lie!" 
 
 " It's a fact, by God ! " 
 
 Lukashka made no reply. After a little, he 
 said, " Well, if she has found another lover, the 
 devil take her ! There are plenty of girls, aren't 
 there } Any way, I was getting tired of her." 
 
 " What a devil of a fellow you are ! " said 
 Nazarka. " You'd like to get in with the cornet's 
 Maryanka ! She isn't going about with any one 
 yet, is she? " 
 
THE COSSACKS. 63 
 
 Lukashka frowned. *' What's Maryanka ? It's 
 all the same to me." 
 
 " Well, now, you'd better try it . . ." 
 
 " You think so, do you ? Aren't there enough 
 of them in the village ? " 
 
 And Lukashka again began to whistle, and went 
 to the "post," pulling the leaves from the twigs. 
 As he passed by one bush he suddenly stopped 
 short, drew out his knife and cut off a smooth 
 stick that had caught his eye. " There, that will 
 make a good ramrod," said he, making the stick 
 whistle through the air. 
 
 The Cossacks were at supper in the plastered 
 entry of the hut, sitting on the earth floor, around 
 a low Tatar table, and talking about whose turn 
 it was to go into the ambush. " Who is going to- 
 night t " shouted one of the Cossacks, addressing 
 the sergeant, who was at the opened door of the hut. 
 
 " Let's see ! whose turn is it to go } " mused the 
 sergeant. " Uncle Burlak is off, Fomushkin is 
 off," he said, with some little hesitation. " Now, 
 who among you will go.-* You and Nazar go," 
 said he, addressing Luka. ..." And let Yer- 
 gushof go too ; he will probably be awake by that 
 time." 
 
 " You yourself wouldn't, if you were in his 
 case ! " said Nazarka, in an undertone. 
 
64 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 The Cossacks laughed. 
 
 Yergushof was the same Cossack who had been 
 lying under the wall of the hut, in a drunken 
 sleep. Just at that moment he made his appear- 
 ance in the entry, rubbing his eyes. 
 
 Lukashka now got up and began to put his gun 
 in order. 
 
 " And start as soon as you can ; start right 
 after supper ! " said the sergeant, and, without 
 waiting for any expression of opinion, he shut the 
 door, having, evidently, little faith in the obedi- 
 ence of the Cossacks. " If it had not been 
 especially ordered, I would not have sent them ; 
 but, then, you see, the captain may be here any 
 minute, and, besides, they say that eight abreks 
 are trying to cross the river," he muttered to him- 
 self. 
 
 " Well, I suppose we must go," says Yergushof. 
 " It's the order ! You must obey the authorities 
 in such times. I say we must go." 
 
 Lukashka, in the meantime, holding a great 
 chunk of pheasant before his mouth, in both 
 hands, and glancing, now at the sergeant, now at 
 Nazarka, seemed to be perfectly indifferent to 
 what was going on, and laughed at both. 
 
 Before the Cossacks had as yet started for their 
 ambush, Uncle Yeroshka, who, since nightfall, 
 
THE COSSACKS. 65 
 
 Had been vainly sitting under the plane tree, came 
 into the dimly lighted entry. 
 
 " Well, boys," he said, in his deep voice, which 
 rang through the low room, drowning the other 
 voices, " I am going to join you. You may watch 
 for Chechens, but I am going to watch for pigs !" 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 It was already perfectly dark when Uncle 
 Yeroshka and the three Cossacks, in . felt cloaks 
 and with their muskets over their shoulders, went 
 down along the Terek to the place selected for 
 the ambuscade. 
 
 Nazarka was very loath to go, but Luka called 
 to him and they quickly got under way. After 
 they had gone a few steps in silence, the Cossacks 
 turned aside from the ditch and went down to the 
 Terek by a scarcely noticeable footpath among the 
 reeds. On the bank lay a big, black log that had 
 been left by the falling waters, and the reeds 
 around it were freshly pressed down. 
 
 " Well, shall we watch here ? " asked Nazarka. 
 
 "Why shouldn't we.-*" replied Lukashka. "You 
 wait here ; I'll be right back, but I want to show 
 uncle the way." 
 
 " This is the best place there is ; no one can 
 see us, but we get a good outlook," said Yer- 
 gushof. " So we'll stay here ; we hit first time." 
 
 Nazarka and Yergushof spread down their felt 
 cloaks and made themselves comfortable behind 
 
 66 
 
THE COSSACKS. 67 
 
 the log, while Lukashka went on with Uncle 
 Yeroshka. 
 
 " Not very far from here, uncle," said he, 
 noiselessly walking on in advance of the old man. 
 " I will show you where they went. I am the 
 only one who knows the place, brother ! " 
 
 " Show it to me ; you are a fine young fellow, 
 Urvan," replied the old man, also in a whisper. 
 
 After they had gone a few steps, Lukashka 
 halted, bent over to a pool, and whistled. 
 
 " Here is where they came to drink ; do you 
 see ? " said he, almost inaudibly, pointing to fresh 
 tracks. 
 
 " Christ save you ! " replied the old man. " The 
 old boar has been scratching himself in this 
 hole ! " he continued. " You go back ; I'll watch 
 here." 
 
 Lukashka pulled up his felt burka and walked 
 back alone along the bank, quickly glancing, 
 now at the left at the wall of reeds, now at the 
 Terek rolling by under the bank. 
 
 " Who knows } Perhaps he too is watching or 
 slinking about somewhere near ! " said Lukashka 
 to himself, meaning by " he " the Circassian. 
 
 Suddenly a tremendous rushing and splashing 
 in the river startled him and made him grasp his 
 carbine. From the shore dashed a wild-boar, 
 
68 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 panting, and the black form, for an instant parting 
 the gleaming surface of the water, disappeared 
 among the reeds. Luka quickly cocked his mus- 
 ket and aimed it, but, before he had time to shoot, 
 the boar was out of range in the thicket. Spit- 
 ting angrily, he continued his way. When he 
 reached the place of ambuscade, he again halted 
 and lightly whistled. The signal was returned, 
 and he joined his comrades. 
 
 Nazarka, comfortably wrapped up, was already 
 asleep. Yergushof was sitting up, with his legs 
 curled under him, and he hitched along a little so 
 as to make room for Lukashka. 
 
 *' It's jolly to sit here ! Fact, this is a fine 
 place ! " said he. " Did you show him the way 1 " 
 
 " I found it for him," replied Lukashka, spread- 
 ing out his burka. " But I just started up such a 
 healthy boar from out of the river ! It must have 
 been the very same. Of course, you heard what 
 a crashing he made." 
 
 " Yes, I heard the crashing of some wild beast, 
 and I knew in a minute that it was a wild beast. 
 And so I said to myself, * Lukashka has been 
 scaring him,' " said Yergushof, wrapping himself 
 up in his burka. " I'll get a little sleep now," he 
 continued. *'Wake me up after cock-crowing, 
 because we must have some system. I will sleep, 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 69 
 
 and then afterwards you may sleep and I will 
 stand guard. That's the way we'll do it." 
 
 "Thank you, I don't care to sleep," replied 
 Lukashka. 
 
 The night was dark, warm, and calm. Only in 
 one quarter of the- sky the stars were shining ; 
 the larger part was covered with one vast cloud 
 that rested on the mountains. This black cloud, 
 coalescing with the mountains, slowly moved far- 
 ther and farther away, though there was no wind, 
 and its curving edge was sharply outlined against 
 the deep, starry sky. 
 
 In front of the Cossack only the Terek and the 
 dim distance were to be seen ; behind him and on 
 both sides was the circular wall of the reeds. 
 Occasionally these reeds, apparently without 
 cause, would begin to bend and rustle against 
 each other. Seen from below, the waving rushes 
 seemed like downy branches of trees against the 
 unclouded portion of the sky. 
 
 In front of him, at his very feet, was the bank 
 under which the current was sweeping. Farther 
 away the gleaming, rushing mass of cinnamon- 
 colored water monotonously rippled along the 
 sand banks and bars. Still farther, the same 
 masses of water and banks and the cloud, all con- 
 fused in indistinguishable darkness. 
 
70 
 
 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 Over" the surface of the water stretched black 
 shadows, which the Cossack's experienced eyes 
 made out to be logs floating down the stream. 
 Once in a while the lightning, reflected in the 
 water as in a black mirror, flashed forth the out- 
 line of the shelving shore on the other side. 
 
 The various sounds of the night, the murmur- 
 ing of the reeds, the snoring of the Cossacks, the 
 humming of mosquitoes, and the rippling of the 
 stream, were now and again interrupted by some 
 far distant musket-shot, tt\e caving-in of the bank, 
 undermined by the water, now by the leaping of a 
 big fish, now by the crashing of some wild beast 
 in the thick, wild forest. 
 
 Once an owl flew down the Terek, regularly 
 between each two strokes of its wings flapping 
 them together. Straight over the Cossacks' heads 
 it turned toward the forest, and, circling round a 
 tree, flapped its wings together more quickly and 
 then for a long time scrambled about trying to 
 get foothold on the old chinar. 
 
 At every such unwonted sound, the watchful 
 Cossack listened with all his ears, strained his 
 sight, and impatiently fingered his carbine. 
 
 The larger part of the night had passed. The 
 black cloud, which had passed off toward the west, 
 now disclosed above its broken edges the clear 
 
THE COSSACKS. 7 1 
 
 starry sky, and above the mountains brightly 
 gleamed the canted horns of the golden moon. 
 
 It began to feel cool. 
 
 Nazarka woke up, muttered a few words, and 
 went to sleep again. Lukashka, finding it dull, 
 got up, drew his knife from under his dagger, 
 and began to whittle his stick into a ramrod. 
 His mind was filled with thoughts of how the Che- 
 chens lived in the mountains ; how their braves 
 might cross to this side, how fearless of the Cos- 
 sacks they were, and how it was possible that they 
 would cross in some other place. 
 
 And he stretched himself and scanned the 
 river, but nothing was to be seen. Afterwards 
 paying less heed to the river and the distant bank, 
 indistinctly rising above the water in the faint 
 light of the moon, he ceased to think about the 
 Chechens, and merely began to long for the hour 
 to wake his comrades, and the day when he could 
 visit the village. The thought of the village 
 called up to mind Dunka, his duskenka, darling, as 
 the Cossacks call their mistresses, and his thought 
 of her was mingled with bitterness. 
 
 There were now indications that morning was 
 near : silvery mist began to rise over the river, and 
 young eagles screamed and flapped their wings 
 near him. At last the call of the first cock was 
 
72 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 heard in the distant village, followed by a second, 
 long and loud, and then answered by others in all 
 directions. 
 
 "It's time to wake them," thought Lukashka, 
 who had now finished his ramrod and felt a con- 
 sciousness that his eyes were heavy. He turned 
 to his comrades and was trying to make out which 
 pair of legs belonged to which ; but suddenly it 
 seemed to him that something splashed on the 
 other side of the Terek, and once more he scanned 
 the brightening horizon of the mountains, over 
 which still hung the horned crescent of the moon ; 
 he saw the outline of the bank, and the river, and 
 the pieces of driftwood now clearly distinguishable 
 as they floated down. It seemed to him that he 
 was moving, while the Terek and the logs were 
 stationary ; but this illusion lasted only an instant. 
 
 Once more he began to gaze attentively. 
 
 One great black log, with a projecting limb, 
 especially attracted his attention. Strangely 
 enough, this log swam along the stream without 
 rolling or swerving. It even seemed to him that 
 it was not floating with the current, but was cross- 
 ing the Terek along the shallows. 
 
 Lukashka craned his neck and followed its mo- 
 tions eagerly. The log ran aground on a sand- 
 bank, stopped, and then moved in a peculiar way. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 73 
 
 Lukashka became convinced that he saw an arm 
 behind the log. 
 
 " Here's a chance for me to shoot an abrek on 
 my own account ! " he said to himself, grasping 
 his musket and securely but hastily setting up a 
 support and resting the barrel upon it. He noise- 
 lessly raised the hammer, and, holding his breath, 
 began to take aim at the log. 
 
 " I won't wake them," he thought ; but his 
 heart throbbed so violently in his breast that he 
 stopped and listened. The log suddenly rolled 
 over, and again, causing a wake through the water, 
 made its way toward our shore. 
 
 "Only that it don't miss ! " was his thought, and 
 lo ! there in the pale light of the moon gleamed 
 the head of a Tatar at the front end of the log. 
 He aimed his musket straight at the head. It 
 seemed to him very near, right at the muzzle ! 
 He glanced along the barrel. *' Yes, it is indeed 
 an abrek," was his joyful thought, and, suddenly- 
 dropping heavily on one knee, he again adjusted 
 his musket and aimed at the foe, who was, appar- 
 ently, almost within reach of his long barrel ; then, 
 in accordance with the Cossack usage, to which he 
 had been accustomed since childhood, murmuring, 
 " To the Father and the Son ! " he pulled the trig- 
 ger. 
 
74 I^^E COSSACKS. 
 
 A blinding flash gleamed for a moment over the 
 reeds and the river. A sharp, short report rang 
 out, and the echo rumbled far away. The log no 
 longer swam across the current, but floated down, 
 swerving and swaying. 
 
 "Hold him, I say! " cried Yergushof, grasping 
 for his carbine, and coming out from behind the 
 log. 
 
 ** Hold your tongue, you devil ! " whispered 
 Luka, with set teeth. " Abreks ! " 
 
 ** Whom did you shoot } " asked Nazarka. 
 ** Whom did you shoot, Lukashka } " 
 
 Lukashka made no reply. He reloaded his 
 gun, and watched the log as it floated down the 
 river. Before it had gone far, it ran aground on a 
 sandbank, and from under it a large body seemed 
 to be moving in the water. 
 
 " What did you shoot .? Why don't you tell } " 
 insisted the Cossacks. 
 
 " Abreks ! How many times do you need to be 
 told ! " snarled Luka. 
 
 "What's that nonsense you're giving us .-* Did 
 your gun go off .? " 
 
 " I have shot an abrek. Look there ! That's 
 what I shot ! " rejoined Lukashka, his voice 
 breaking in his excitement. He leaped to his 
 feet. " A man was swimming across," said he. 
 
THE COSSACKS. ^^ 
 
 pointing to the sandbar. — "I killed him. Look 
 yonder ! " 
 
 " What a story that is ! " repeated Yergushka, 
 rubbing his eyes. 
 
 " Don't you believe it ? Just you look ! Look 
 yonder ! " cried Lukashka, seizing him by the 
 shoulder, and drawing him so violently to himself 
 that Yergushka groaned. 
 
 He looked in the direction indicated by Luka, 
 and, seeing the body, suddenly changed his tone. 
 
 " Ena ! I assure you there must be more of 
 them ! I assure you ! " he said, timidly, and began 
 to look around for his musket. " That one swam 
 over first ; perhaps they are here already ; perhaps 
 they are up a little way along the shore ; I tell 
 you it must be so." 
 
 Lukashka unbuckled his belt and began to take 
 off his cherkeska. 
 
 " Where are you going ? you fool ! " cried 
 Yergushka. " It's sheer foolhardiness ! What do 
 you want to throw away your life for ? 1 assure 
 you, if he's dead, he won't run away. Give us 
 a little powder. Have you got any .? Nazar ! you 
 make for the * post ' lively, but don't go along the 
 shore ; they would kill you, I am sure they would." 
 
 " What ! Expect me to go alone ? Go your- 
 self ! " said Nazarka, testily. 
 
76 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Lukashka, having taken off his cherkeska, had 
 gone down to the water's edge. 
 
 *' Don't run the risk, I tell you ! " insisted 
 Y^rgushka, engaged in pouring powder into the 
 pan of his gun. "You see he doesn't move,, 
 that's plain enough. By morning, he won't have 
 got any farther ; so let's send to the * post.' 
 Hurry up, Nazar ! Eka ! what a coward you are ! 
 Don't be a coward, I tell you ! " 
 
 " But Luka, Luka ! " cried Nazar. — " Just tell 
 us how you killed him." 
 
 Luka changed his mind about going instantly 
 into the water. 
 
 " Hurry up to the station and I will wait here. 
 Tell the Cossacks to send out the horse patrol. 
 If they have crossed over to this side, we must 
 take them. . . ." 
 
 " I tell you they must have crossed over," said 
 Y^rgushkof, getting up ; " of course we must take 
 them." 
 
 And Y^rgushkof and Nazarka got up, and, 
 crossing themselves, started for the cordon, not 
 along the shore, but, taking the forest path, and 
 breaking their way through the brambles. 
 
 " See here, Luka, don't you stir ! " was Yergu- 
 shof's injunction, "or else they'll cut you off. 
 Don't you go into the water, I warn you." 
 
THE COSSACKS. 77 
 
 " Go on, I know what I am about," replied 
 Luka, and took his place again behind the log, 
 examining his gun. 
 
 He sat there alone, gazing at the sandbar, and 
 listening for the sound of the Cossacks ; but it 
 was a long distance to the cordon, and he began 
 to be tormented by impatience. It occurred to 
 him that the abreks who had accompanied the 
 dead one might make their escape. He felt the 
 same feeling of vexation against the abreks who 
 were escaping now as he had felt the evening 
 before at the loss of the boar. He glanced rest- 
 lessly now on this side, now on that, expecting 
 to see some one appear, and, with his musket 
 on the rest, he was ready to fire. It never en- 
 tered his head that there was any chance of being 
 killed himself. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 It was now growing quite light. The abrek's 
 whole body was now plainly in sight, as it rested 
 on the sandbar, scarcely moving. 
 
 Suddenly, not far from the Cossack, the reeds 
 crackled, steps were heard, and the tops of the 
 reeds were bent. The Cossack cocked the second 
 barrel, and muttered his " To the Father and the 
 Son." As soon as the gun clicked the steps 
 came to a stop. 
 
 " H6y ! Cossacks ! Don't shoot your uncle ! " 
 rang out the imperturbable bass, and Uncle 
 Yeroshka, parting the reeds, came directly to 
 him. 
 
 " By God ! I nearly killed you," said Lukashka. 
 
 " What have you shot ? " asked the old man. 
 
 The old man's sonorous voice, echoing in the 
 woods and along the river, suddenly broke in upon 
 the silence of the night and the mystery surround- 
 ing the Cossack. It seemed as though it grew 
 suddenly lighter and brighter. 
 
 " You did not see anything at all, uncle, but I, 
 — I killed a wild beast ! " said Lukashka, uncock- 
 
 78 
 
THE COSSACKS. 79 
 
 ing his gun and rising with assumed composure. 
 The old man gazed steadily at the abrek's back, 
 now plainly in sight, with the Terek rippling 
 around it. 
 
 " He was swimming on his back with the log. 
 I caught sight of him. . . . Just look there ! 
 Look ! He's in blue drawers ; he's dropped his 
 musket. ... Do you see ? What t " exclaimed 
 Lukashka. 
 
 " Do you think I'm blind } " growled the old 
 man, and a strange mixture of seriousness and 
 sternness appeared on his face. " You have killed 
 a jigit ! " he said, in a tone that seemed to express 
 pity. 
 
 ** I was sitting this way and looking and I saw 
 something dark on the other side. And I looked 
 again ; it was just as though a man came down 
 and made a splash. How strange ! And then 
 the log, a healthy-looking log, was swimming 
 along, but didn't swim with the current, but 
 struck across. I looked ; a head was on the other 
 side. How strange ! I lay low, but couldn't see 
 anything for the rushes ; then I stood up, but the 
 rascal — he must have heard, I think, for he crept 
 up on a sandbar and looked around. ' You're 
 mistaken,' thinks I, ' you don't escape me.' Well, 
 he crept out and looked around. (Oh ! it choked 
 
So THE COSSACKS. 
 
 me to see him !) I got my gun ready, didn't stir, 
 and waited. Well, I stood and stood, and then he 
 started off swimming again; and when he swam 
 out into the moonlight, then I got a glimpse of his 
 back. 'To the Father and the Son and the Holy 
 Ghost!' As soon as the smoke cleared up a little, 
 I saw that he was floundering. He groaned, unless 
 I am much mistaken. 'Well, thank the Lord,' 
 thinks I, ' I have killed him.' And when he 
 reached the sandbar I could see him plainly ; he 
 tried to get up, and hadn't strength enough. He 
 staggered, staggered and fell. I could see it as 
 plain as day. . . . There ! he has stopped mov- 
 ing ! he must be dead ! The Cossacks have gone 
 up to the cordon, so that the rest of the lot may 
 not get away." 
 
 " And so you got him ! " said the old man. 
 "He's quite a distance, brother, even now. . . ." 
 And again he shook his head sadly. 
 
 At this moment, loud talking and the crackling 
 of dry branches were heard along the shore, and 
 the Cossacks, mounted and on foot, made their 
 appearance. 
 
 " Have you got a boat } Say ! " shouted Luka. 
 
 "You're a hero, Luka; bring him to shore," 
 cried one of the Cossacks. 
 
 Lukashka, without waiting for the boat, began 
 
THE COSSACKS. 8 1 
 
 to undress, keeping his eyes all the time on his 
 booty. 
 
 " Hold on ! Nazarka is bringing the boat," cried 
 the sergeant. 
 
 " Fool ! Maybe he is still alive ! feigning ! 
 Take your dagger ! " shouted another Cossack. 
 
 " Rubbish ! " cried Luka, flinging down his 
 drawers. It did not take him long to undress ; 
 then he crossed himself, and with a bound dashed 
 into the water with a splash, wet himself all over, 
 and then, making wide sweeps with his white 
 arms and lifting his back high out of the water at 
 every stroke, he struck out across the current and 
 made for the sandbar where the abrek lay. The 
 band of Cossacks stood on the bank loudly con- 
 versing in many voices. Three men on horseback 
 started to ride along the trail. The boat heaved 
 in sight around the bend. Lukashka climbed up 
 on the bar, bent down to the body, rolled it over 
 two or three times. "He's dead, fast enough!" he 
 cried, in a loud voice. 
 
 The Chechenets had been shot through the 
 head. He wore a pair of blue drawers, a shirt, 
 cherkeska, a gun and a dagger fastened to his 
 back. . . . Above all was tied the big branch 
 which had at first deceived Lukashka. 
 
 ** That's the way the carp was caught ! " cried 
 
82 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 one of the Cossacks standing round in a circle, 
 as the body of the Chcchenets, brought ashore in 
 the boat, was laid down on the bank in the thick 
 grass. 
 
 " How yellow he is ! " exclaimed another. 
 
 " Where have our men gone to search for 
 them } Probably they are all on the other side. 
 If this one had not been their leader, he would 
 not have swum over in that way. Why should 
 one come over alone } " asked a third. 
 
 " He must have been a foxy one to try it before 
 all the others. He is evidently a genuine jigit," 
 said Lukashka, derisively, wringing the water out 
 of his wet garments, and shivering with the cold 
 as he stood on the shore. ** His beard is dyed 
 and clipped." 
 
 '' And he has a coat in the bag on his back. 
 He would have swum easier without it," said 
 some one. 
 
 " Listen, Lukashka ! " said the sergeant, hold- 
 ing in his hands the abrek's dagger and gun : 
 " You keep the dagger and keep the coat, but, 
 see here, let me have the gun ; I will give you 
 three silver rubles for it. See, the vent-hole is 
 clear," he added, blowing down the muzzle. " I 
 should like to have it as a memento." 
 
 Lukashka made no reply ; evidently this re- 
 
THE COSSACK'S. 
 
 83 
 
 quest was not at all to his mind ; but he knew 
 that there was no escape from it. " Just look, . 
 what devilish trash ! " he said, frowning, and 
 flinging the Circassian coat to the ground — " if 
 only the zipun had been good for anything ; but 
 it's such a beggarly rag ! " 
 
 ** It'll be useful in going after wood," remarked 
 some one. 
 
 " Mosyef ! Fd like to go home," said Lukashka, 
 evidently forgetting his vexation, and finding it a 
 good chance to turn the superior's request to 
 advantage. 
 
 *' All right, go then ! " 
 
 " Bring him up to the cordon, boys ! " cried the 
 sergeant to the Cossacks, examining the while his 
 prize. " And we must have a shelter built over 
 him, to keep the sun from him. Perhaps they 
 will come down from the mountains to ransom 
 him." 
 
 " It isn't hot yet," was the comment of one. 
 
 " But the jackals might get hold of him. That 
 wouldn't be good, now, would it } " replied one of 
 the Cossacks. 
 
 " We will set a watch, and then they will come 
 to ransom him ; it would be bad if anything 
 should happen to him." 
 
 ** Well, Lukashka, just as you please; but you 
 
84 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 must set up a bucketful for the boys," said the 
 sergeant, gayly. 
 
 " Yes, that's the proper thing to do," assented 
 the Cossacks. *' See what luck God has sent him ! 
 he has killed an abrek without even seeing him ! " 
 
 " Buy the dagger and the zipun. Let me 
 have money for them. And I will throw in the 
 drawers. God be with you," said Luka, *' they 
 won't fit me ; he was a lean devil ! " 
 
 One Cossack bought the zipun for a silver 
 ruble, or monet as it is called in the Caucasus. 
 
 Another gave two buckets of vodka for the 
 dagger. 
 
 " Now, boys, you can have a drink, I will set 
 up a bucketful," said Luka ; '' I myself will bring 
 it from the village." 
 
 " Say, why not cut up the drawers into ker- 
 chiefs for the girls } " cried Nazarka. 
 
 The Cossacks burst into a laugh. 
 
 " Quit your laughing ! " said the sergeant, 
 "and bring along the body. We must lay the 
 carrion near the hut." . . . 
 
 "What are you waiting for .f* Carry him along, 
 boys," cried Lukashka, peremptorily ; and the Cos- 
 sacks, though they did not relish touching the 
 body, obeyed his word as though he had been 
 their commander. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 85 
 
 Having lugged the body a few steps, they laid 
 him down with the legs collapsing lifelessly, and 
 stood for some time in silence. 
 
 Nazarka went to the body, and lifted the head, 
 which had fallen back, so as to see the round, 
 gory bullet-hole in the man's very temple. 
 
 " It marked him well, didn't it t Went right 
 through his brain," he observed. '* No danger of 
 his being lost, his folks will know him when they 
 see him." 
 
 No one had anything to say, and again the angel 
 of silence spread her wings over the Cossacks. 
 
 The sun had now risen, and its broken rays 
 flecked the dewy green. The Terek murmured 
 as it flowed not far away through the awakening 
 forest. On all sides the pheasants cried to each 
 other, greeting the morn. 
 
 The Cossacks, silent and motionless, stood 
 around the dead man and looked at him. The 
 cinnamon-colored body, in blue drawers alone, 
 now made darker by the water, and belted tight 
 about the hollow belly, was well proportioned and 
 beautiful. . . . His muscular arms lay rigidly 
 along his ribs. His livid, closely shaven, round 
 head, with the clotted wound in the temple, was 
 bent back. The smooth, sunburnt brow was 
 sharply defined against the line where the shaven 
 
S6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 hair began. . . . The glassy, open eyes, with deep- 
 set pupils, gazed up, as if beyond them. A good- 
 natured, shrewd smile seemed still to hover over 
 the thin, curling lips, half covered by the red, 
 clipped moustache. The small finger joints were 
 covered with reddish hairs ; the fingers were 
 doubled in and the nails were tinged with red. 
 
 Lukashka was not yet dressed ; he was dripping 
 wet ; his neck was redder and his eyes gleamed 
 brighter than usual ; his wide, broad cheeks 
 trembled ; from his fair, healthy body arose a 
 scarcely perceptible vapor into the cool morning 
 air. 
 
 " He also was a man," he observed, evidently 
 admiring the abrek. 
 
 "Yes, if you had fallen into his hands, he 
 wouldn't have shown you any mercy," replied one 
 of the Cossacks. The angel of silence took her 
 flight. The Cossacks started on their way, talk- 
 ing as they went. Two of them went to cut 
 branches for the shelter. The others sauntered 
 along toward the cordon. Luka and Nazarka 
 hastened to prepare for their visit home. 
 
 Half aif hour later, the two young Cossacks 
 were on their way home, talking all the time and 
 almost running through the thick forest, that sep- 
 arates the Terek from the village. 
 
THE COSSACKS. %'j 
 
 "Don't say a word that I sent you, but just go 
 and find out if her husband is at home, will you ? " 
 said Luka, in a sharp voice. 
 
 " I am going to Yamka's, — we'll have a spree, 
 won't we ? " asked the devoted Nazarka. 
 
 " When should we have a spree if not to-day ? " 
 replied Luka. , 
 
 As soon as. they reached the village, the two 
 Cossacks filled themselves with drink and flung 
 themselves down to sleep till evening. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 On the third day after the events above 
 described, two companies of the Caucasus infan- 
 try regiment came to be stationed at Novo- 
 Mlinsk. 
 
 The baggage wagons already stood unhitched in 
 the middle of the square. The cooks had dug a 
 trench, and dragged from various house yards any 
 logs that they happened to find lying about^ and 
 were busy in preparing kasha gruel. The men 
 were driving in stakes for fastening the horses. 
 
 The sergeants were calling the roll. The bil- 
 leters, as though they were at home, sauntered 
 through the streets and lanes, assigning quarters 
 to officers and men. Here were green caissons 
 set in martial array. Here were the company 
 wagons and horses. . . . Here were kettles, in 
 which the oatmeal was boiling. Here were the 
 captain and the lieutenant, and Onisim Mikhdilo- 
 vitch, the sergeant-major. 
 
 And all this array found itself in the village, 
 the very same village, where, according to report, 
 
 88 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 89 
 
 the companies had been ordered to encamp, hence 
 the companies were at home. 
 
 "Why are they stationed here? What sort of 
 men are these Cossacks ? Are they pleased at 
 the idea of having the men quartered on them ? 
 Are they dissenters or not ? " 
 
 This is none of their concern. The soldiers, 
 released from duty, tired and dusty, scatter in 
 noisy disorder, like a swarm of bees, over the 
 streets and squares, resolutely paying no heed to 
 the unfriendly disposition of the Cossacks ; in 
 groups of twos and threes, with rollicking banter 
 and clattering of muskets, they scatter about ; 
 they force their way into the houses ; they hang 
 up their trappings ; they select places, and banter 
 the women. 
 
 A great group is collected in the place so loved 
 by the soldiers — around the kasha-kettle — and, 
 with pipes between their teeth, they watch the 
 smoke as it rises into the burning sky and floats 
 away like white clouds, or at the camp-fires, quiver- 
 ing like melted glass in the clear air, or else they 
 make witty remarks about the Cossack men and 
 women because they differ in some respects from 
 the Russians in their way of living. 
 
 In all the yards soldiers are to be seen ; their 
 laughter rings out and the sharp, angry cries of 
 
go THE COSSACKS. 
 
 the Cossack women trying to protect their homes, 
 and refusing to give water or utensils. 
 
 The little boys and girls, clinging to their 
 mothers or to each other, follow with affright and 
 amazement all the movements of these men, 
 whom they have never seen before, or tag after 
 them at a respectful distance. The old Cossacks 
 come forth from their huts, sit down on the 
 embankments, and look in gloomy silence at the 
 hubbub of the soldiers, — as it were, scorning it 
 all and not understanding what is to be the result 
 of it all. 
 
 Olyenin, who for the last three months had 
 been enrolled as a yunker in the Caucasus 
 regiment, was assigned quarters in one of the 
 best houses of the village, with the Ensign 
 Ilya Vasilyevitch, in other words, at Dame 
 Ulitka's. 
 
 " What do you think of this, Dmitri Andr^ye- 
 vitch } " asked the panting Vanyusha of Olyenin, 
 who, after a five-hour ride on his Kabarda horse, 
 bought in Groznaya, joyfully galloped into the 
 yard of his new home. 
 
 "What's the matter now, Ivan Vasilyevitch.?" 
 he asked, in return, soothing his horse and glan- 
 cing gayly at Vanyusha, who, with hair in disorder 
 and with the sweat pouring down his dejected 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 91 
 
 face, was unpacking the things brought on the 
 baggage train with which he had come. 
 
 Oly^nin appeared an entirely different man. 
 Instead of smoothly shaven cheeks, he wore a 
 moustache and a young beard. Instead of the 
 pale, unhealthy complexion of one whose nights 
 are spent in dissipation, he showed a fresh and 
 ruddy tan over his cheeks, forehead, and ears. 
 Instead of a perfectly new black coat, he wore a 
 dirty white cherkeska, or Circassian coat, with 
 wide lapels, and carried a rifle. Instead of a stiff, 
 starched collar, his sunburned neck was clasped 
 by the red circlet of a Persian beshmet. He was 
 dressed in the Circassian style, but he did not 
 wear it well ; every one would have known that he 
 was a Russian and not a jigit. It was all right 
 and yet all wrong ! But his whole person was 
 radiant with health, happiness, and self-satisfaction. 
 
 ** It may be very laughable to you here," 
 exclaimed Vanyusha, "but just you try to talk 
 with these people ; they won't let you near them, 
 and that's the end of it. You can't get a word 
 out of them. They aren't any kind of Russians!" 
 and Vanyusha angrily flung an iron pail on the 
 threshold. 
 
 " Well, you should have complained to the head 
 of the village." 
 
92 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 "I don't know where to find him," replied 
 Vanyusha, testily. 
 
 " Who has insulted you so here ? " demanded 
 Olyenin, looking around. 
 
 '^The devil take them! Tf u ! The actual 
 owner isn't here ; gone down to the Kriga,^ they 
 say, and the old woman is such a devil ! The 
 Lord preserve us ! " ejaculated Vanyusha, grasp- 
 ing his head. " How we are going to live here is 
 more than I can tell ! Worse than Tatars, by 
 God ! The idea of calling them Christians ! 
 Why, in comparison to them, the Tatar is a 
 gentleman ! * Gone down to the Kriga ! ' What 
 do they mean by the Kriga, I should like to 
 know ? " cried Vanyusha, in conclusion, as he 
 turned away. 
 
 " So they aren't like our people at home } " 
 said Olyenin, bantering his man and not offering 
 to dismount. 
 
 " Let me have the horse, please," said Vanyu- 
 sha, who was wholly upset by this new order of 
 things, but submissive to fate. 
 
 " So they are worse than Tatars } Hey, Van- 
 yusha } " repeated Olyenin, slipping off from his 
 horse and slapping the saddle with his hand. 
 
 * Kriga means the place on the river-bank were the nets are 
 set for fish : the weirs. — Author'' s note. 
 
THE COSSACKS. q3 
 
 " Yes, laugh as much as you like. You'll find 
 enough to laugh at," said Vanyusha, in a tone of ^ 
 vexation. 
 
 "Just wait; don't lose your temper, Ivdn 
 Vasflyitch," said Olyenin, still smiling. " Just let 
 me go the people here ; you wait ; I will make 
 everything all straight. You'll see how fine we 
 will live here ! Only don't get so stirred up ! " 
 
 Vanyusha made no reply, but, blinking his 
 eyes, gazed contemptuously after his master and 
 shook his head. Vanyusha looked upon Olyenin - 
 merely as upon a master. Olyenin looked upon 
 Vanyusha only as upon a servant. And both of 
 thet^ would have been much surprised if any one 
 had told them that they were friends. But they 
 were friends, even though they did not know it. 
 
 Vanyusha had been taken into the house when 
 he was a lad of eleven, and Olyenin was just 
 about the same age. When Olyenin was fifteen, 
 he at one time undertook to give Vanyusha some 
 lessons and taught him to read French, and Van- 
 yusha was very proud of this accomplishment. 
 Even now, when he felt particularly well disposed, 
 he made use of French words, and when he did 
 so always laughed like a ninny. 
 
 Olyenin mounted the steps of the cottage and 
 pushed open the door into the entry. 
 
94 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Maryana, in nothinsj but a pink shirt, such as 
 the Cossack girls usually wear when at home, 
 sprang back from the door in affright, and, 
 crouching against the partition, hid the lower 
 part of her face in the flowing sleeve of the 
 Tatar garment. 
 
 When Olyenin opened the door still wider, he 
 saw in the dim light the Cossack maiden's tall 
 and well proportioned form. With the quick and 
 eager curiosity of youth, he was irresistibly 
 impelled to notice the full, virgin lines, in full 
 relief under the thin chintz shirt, and the hand- 
 some black eyes fixed upon him with infantile 
 terror and wild wonder. 
 
 "There she is !" said Olyenin to himself. "I 
 wonder if there are many of them like her," was 
 the next thought that occurred to him, and . he 
 opened the door and entered the cottage. . . . 
 Old Dame Ulitka, likewise in a single garment, 
 was bending over and sweeping the floor, with her 
 back turned to him. 
 
 " Good afternoon, matushka. Here I have 
 come to arrange about my quarters . . ." he 
 began. 
 
 The Cossack dame, without straightening up, 
 bent on him her stern but still handsome eyes. 
 
 " What have you come for t Are you trying to 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 95 
 
 turn us into ridicule ? Hey ? I'll teach you ! 
 The black pest take you ! " she screamed, looking 
 askance and frowning darkly at the new-comer. 
 
 Olyenin had thought hitherto that the toil- 
 worn, heroic army of the Caucasus, to which he 
 belonged, would be received with a warm welcome 
 everywhere, especially by the Cossacks, their com- 
 rades in the war ; and therefore such a reception 
 as this puzzled him. Not allowing himself to be 
 bluffed, however, he began to explain that it was 
 his intention to pay for his accommodations, but 
 the old dame did not give him a chance to speak. 
 
 " What have you come for } Who wants such 
 scabs as you } A pox on your ugly mug ! You 
 just wait till my man comes ! He'll show you 
 your place. I don't want your cursed money. 
 Do you suppose we've never seen any such thing } 
 Stench up the house with tobacco smoke and 
 expect to settle for it with money ! Was there 
 ever such impudence t Pity they didn't shoot 
 your heart out ! " screamed the old dame, in a 
 piercing voice, utterly confounding Olyenin. 
 
 " It seems that Vanyushka was right," thought 
 he. "The Tatar is better," and he went out of 
 the cottage, followed by Dame Ulitka's billings- 
 gate. 
 
 As he went, Maryana, still in nothing but her 
 
^6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 pink shirt, but with her face, all except the eyes, 
 wrapped up in a white kerchief, unexpectedly 
 dashed by him out of the entry. Her bare feet 
 pattered down the steps, and she darted away, then 
 stopped suddenly, and, after looking with laughing 
 eyes at the young man for a brief moment, disap- 
 peared around the corner of the house. 
 
 The beautiful maiden's firm, youthful bearing, 
 the untamed look of her eyes gleaming out from 
 the white kerchief, and the fine proportions of her 
 lithe form made now an even more powerful 
 impression on Olyenin. 
 
 ** She is the one ! It must be ! " he said to 
 himself, and, forgetting all about his trouble with 
 the old dame, and still having Maryanka in mind, 
 he went back to Vanyusha. 
 
 " Did you ever see such a wild girl ! " said Van- 
 yusha, still busy unpacking, but by this time in a 
 better frame of mind. " She's a regular colt ! La 
 famr he added, in a loud, enthusiastic voice and a 
 burst of laughter. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Toward evening the master of the house 
 returned from his fishing, and, finding that he 
 could get pay for his lodgings, he pacified his wife, 
 and satisfied Vanyusha's demands. 
 
 Everything was soon in order in the new quar- 
 ters. The man and his wife retired to their win- 
 ter rooms, and allowed the yunker, for the consid- 
 eration of three monetae or silver rubles, a month, 
 to instal himself in the cool cottage. 01y6nin ate 
 a little lunch and lay down for a nap. He awoke 
 toward evening, washed himself, brushed his hair, 
 ate his dinner, and, lighting a cigarette, sat down 
 by the window facing the street. The heat had 
 somewhat abated. The oblique shadow of the 
 cottage, with its carved ridgepole, lay across the 
 dusty street, and even broke on the lower part of 
 the opposite house, the slanting roof of which, 
 thatched with reeds, gleamed in the rays of the 
 setting sun. The air was growing cool. The 
 village was still. The soldiers had found their 
 quarters and were on their good behavior. 
 
 The cattle had not yet been driven in, and the 
 97 
 
98 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 people of the village were still out in the gardens 
 at work. 
 
 Olyenin's lodgings were almost at the end of 
 the village. Occasionally, in the distance beyond 
 the Terek, in the very direction from which 
 Olyenin had come, could be heard the sounds of 
 shots — on the Chechnya heights or the Kumit- 
 sky plain. Olyenin felt in good spirits after his 
 three months of camp life ; his face, soaped and 
 rinsed, felt cool and fresh ; his strong body was 
 clean and comfortable after the dust and fatigue 
 of the campaign ; all his limbs felt rested and 
 full of serenity and strength. 
 
 His mind was also clear and free from troubles. 
 He recalled the incidents of the expedition, 
 — the perils which he had undergone. He recol- 
 lected that while he was in peril he had behaved 
 well, that he had been as courageous as the 
 others, and that he had been received into the 
 good fellowship of the heroic Kavkaztsui. 
 
 His recollections of Moscow were — God knows 
 where^! His old life was wiped out and a new, a 
 wholly new life had begun ; in this there was as 
 yet no error to be set down against him. Here, 
 like a new man among new men, it was possible 
 for him to win a new and good report. He expe- 
 rienced a youthful sensation of unreasonable 
 
THE COSSACKS. qq 
 
 enjoyment of life, and, as he looked out of the 
 window at the boys spinning their tops in the 
 shadow near the house, or inspected the new 
 lodgings which had been assigned to him, he 
 thought how pleasantly he was situated in this 
 new life in the village. . . . He gazed over toward 
 the mountains and the sky, and there was min- 
 gled with all his recollections and dreams the 
 stern realization of fKe majesty' of nature. 
 
 His lite here had not begun as he nad expected 
 when -he first set out from Moscow, but far better 
 than he had expected. 
 
 The mountains, the mountains, the mountains 
 made the background of all his thoughts, of all 
 his feeline:s ! 
 
 " He's kissed his dog ! He has licked the jug ! 
 Uncle Yeroshka ! He's kissed his dog!" suddenly 
 cried the children, driving their tops under the 
 window, and they ran to the corner of the street. 
 ** He has kissed his dog ! He has swapped his 
 dagger for drink ! " cried the urchins, crowding 
 together and scampering about. 
 
 These cries were directed to Uncle Yeroshka, 
 who, with his gun over his shoulders and a bunch 
 of ph asants at his belt, was returning from the 
 hunt. 
 
 " It's my sin, children ! it's my sin ! " he 
 
lOO THE COSSACKS. 
 
 replied, wildly waving his arms and glancing at 
 the windows of the cottages on both sides of the 
 street. ** I let the dog go for drink ! It's my 
 sin ! " he reiterated, evidently angry, but pretend- 
 ing that it was all the same to him, 
 
 Olyenin was surprised at the way the urchins 
 behaved toward the old huntsman, but he was 
 still more astonished at the strong, intelligent 
 face and powerful build of the man whom they 
 called Uncle Y^roshka. 
 
 " Uncle ! ' Cossack ! " he called to him. " Come 
 in here ! '* 
 
 The old man looked at the window and paused. 
 " Good evening, my worthy friend ! " said he, lift- 
 ing his cap from his closely shaven head. 
 
 " Good evening, my worthy friend ! " continued 
 Olyenin. " What are those little rascals shouting 
 at you for } " 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka came up to the window. 
 
 "They make sport of an old chap like me. 
 That's nothing. I like 'em. Let 'em get their 
 sport out of their old uncle," said he,^with those 
 decisive, harmonious tones in which dignified old 
 people are wont to speak. *' Are you the com- 
 mander of the force 1 Hey } " 
 
 * Dvddushka, affectionate diminutive of dyadya, uncle. 
 
THE COSSACKS. lOI 
 
 " No, I am a yunker. But where did you kill 
 those pheasants ? " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " I killed the three hens in the woods," replied 
 the old man, turning his broad back to the win- 
 .dow. The three pheasants, which had stained his 
 cherkeska with blood, were fastened by their 
 heads to his belt. 
 
 " Haven't you seer any yet ? " he asked. " If 
 you like 'em, take' a brace. Na ! " and he thrust 
 the two pheasants in through the window. 
 " What } are you fond of hunting too t " he went 
 on to inquire. 
 
 "Indeed I am. On the expedition I shot 
 four." 
 
 *' Four ? That's a good many ! " said the old 
 man, ironically. "But do you drink ? Do you like 
 Caucasian wine ? " ^ 
 
 " What do you suppose ? Of course, I enjoy 
 drinking ! " 
 
 " Hey ! Yes, I see you are a fine young fellow! 
 You and I must be chums," said Uncle Yeroshka. 
 
 " Come in," said Olyenin. " Here, we'll try 
 some of your red wine." 
 
 "Well, I might come in," said the old man. 
 " But here, take your pheasants." 
 
 * The red Caucasian wine, called Chikhir, which also means 
 green wine. 
 
102 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 It was plain to see by the old man's face that 
 the yimker had got into his good graces, and he 
 had instantly perceived that it would not cost him 
 anything to get drunk at his expense, and there- 
 fore it would be good policy to give him the brace 
 of pheasants. 
 
 In a moment Uncle Yeroshka's form appeared 
 at the door of the cottage. Here Olyenin first 
 realized the man's real size and powerful build, 
 although his red, cinnamon-colored countenance, 
 framed in a bushy beard perfectly white, was fur- 
 rowed with the wrinkles of old age and of a labo- 
 rious life. 
 
 The muscles of his legs, arms, and shoulders 
 were as full and solid as would be expected only 
 in a far younger man. Deep scars could be seen 
 on his head, under his short hair. His thick, 
 sinewy neck was covered with checkered folds 
 like that of an ox. His freckled hands were 
 bruised and scratched. 
 
 He stepped easily and lightly across the thresh- 
 old, took off his gun, stood it up in the corner, 
 cast a quick glance around, taking in the general 
 aspect of things, and came into the middle of the 
 room, making no noise with his feet, which were, 
 as usual, wrapped up in buckskin porslmi. He 
 brought with him a strong but not disagreeable 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 103 
 
 odor, compounded of wine, vodka, powder, and 
 clotted blood. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka bowed toward the holy picture, 
 smoothed his beard, and then, going straight up 
 to Olyenin, gave him his black, stout hand. 
 
 '' Koshkildui r' said he. This is a Tatar ex- 
 pression, which means, "Wishing you good 
 health," or, " Peace be with you." 
 
 " Koshkildtd ! I know ! " replied Olyenin, giv- 
 ing him his hand. 
 
 " E ! you know nothing about it ; you don't 
 know our ways, you fool ! " said Uncle Y6roshka, 
 reproachfully, shaking his head. " If any one 
 says, * Koshkilduiy \.\\Qn you must reply, ^ Allah 
 razi bo sun ! God save you ! ' That's the way, 
 my father, and not, * Koshkildui ! ' I will teach 
 you all about it. That's the way with your 
 Russian Ilya Moseylftch here ; he and I were great 
 chums. He was a fine young fellow. Tippler, 
 thief, hunter! oh, what a hunter he was! I 
 taught him all about it." 
 
 " What will you teach me } " asked Olyenin, 
 becoming: more and more interested in the old 
 
 *C3 
 
 man. 
 
 " I will take you out hunting ; I will teach you 
 to catch fish ; I will show you the Chechens ; and, 
 if you want a dushenka, I will get one for you. 
 
104 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 That's the kind of a man I am — a regular 
 joker ! " And the old man laughed. ** I will sit 
 down, my father ; I am tired. Karga ? " he 
 asked, with a questioning look. 
 
 " What does karga mean t " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " That means * good,' in the Georgian speech. 
 I am always saying that. It's a byword of mine ; 
 my favorite expression, — karga ; when I say that, 
 it means that I am joking. How is it, my father.? 
 will you send out and get some red wine } Do 
 you keep a man 1 do you } his name Ivan .-* " 
 cried the old huntsman. " All your men are 
 named Ivan, aren't they } Is yours Ivan t " 
 
 '* Certainly he's Ivan. . . . Vanyusha ! please, 
 get some red wine of Dame Ulitka and bring it 
 here." 
 
 "Ivan and Vanyusha ! It's all the same thing. 
 Why are your body-men all called Ivan .'* Ivan ! " 
 said the old man, rolling the name over and 
 over. ..." Young man,' be sure and get it 
 from a cask that has been opened. Ah ! they 
 have the best red wine in the village. But don't 
 give more than thirty kopeks a quart for it ; the 
 old hag, she'd like to . . . Our people are a 
 cursed, stupid lot," continued Uncle Yeroshka, in 
 a confidential tone, after Vanyusha had gone out. 
 
 * Bdtiushka. 
 
THE COSSACKS. IO5 
 
 " They don't call you people at all. In their eyes, 
 you are worse than the Tatars. The Russians 
 they hold to be low trash. But, in my opinion, 
 though you are a soldier, still you are a man ; 
 you've got a good soul in your body. That's my 
 idea, now. There was Ilya Moseyitch ; he was a 
 soldier, but what a golden fellow he was ! Isn't 
 that so, my father } And that's one reason why 
 our people don't like me. But it makes no differ- 
 ence to me. I'm a jolly fellow ; I like everybody 
 that comes along ; my name's Y6roshka ; that's 
 what it is, my father." 
 
 And the old man caressingly slapped the young 
 Russian on the shoulder. 
 
CHAPTER XIL 
 
 Vanyusha, meantime, who had succeeded in 
 getting his housekeeping arrangements in running 
 order, had been trimmed up by the regimental 
 barber, and, as a sign that the company was in 
 more commodious quarters, had pulled his trou- 
 sers out of his boot legs, was now in the most 
 amiable frame of mind. He gazed at Uncle 
 Yeroshka attentively but not at all benevolently, 
 as though he were some sort of strange wild 
 beast, shook his head at the floor which he had 
 tracked over, and, pulling out from under the 
 bench two empty bottles, went off to the mistress 
 of the house. 
 
 " Good evening, worthy people," said he, deter- 
 mining to be particularly sweet. ** The barin 
 sent me to buy some red wine. Be kind enough 
 to fill these." 
 
 The old dame made no reply. Mary ana was 
 standing before a little Tatar mirror and arrang- 
 ing her kerchief over her head. She said nothing, 
 but gazed at Vanyusha. 
 
 " I will pay the money down, honored people," 
 io6 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 107 
 
 said Vanyusha, rattling the coins in his pocket. 
 " You be polite and we will be polite too ; that's 
 the best way," he added. 
 
 " How much you want ? " demanded the old 
 dame, curtly. 
 
 " A couple of quarts." 
 
 "Go, dear, draw it for him," said Dame Ulitka, 
 turning to her daughter. " Draw it from the 
 opened cask, darling." 
 
 The maiden took the key and a jug, and, 
 accompanied by Vanyusha, left the room. 
 
 ** Tell me, please, what sort of a young woman 
 that is," asked the, young officer, pointing to 
 Maryanka, who just then passed by the window. 
 
 The old man winked and nudged Olyenin's 
 elbow. 
 
 "Wait a bit," said he, and thrust his head out 
 of the window. " K-khm ! K-khm ! " he coughed 
 and reared. " Maryanushka, ah, sister Mary- 
 anka ! Love me, dushenka ! . . . I am a joker ! " 
 he said, in a whisper, addressing Olyenin. 
 
 The girl, evenly and vigorously swinging her 
 arms, passed by the window with the dashing, 
 jaunty gait peculiar to the Cossack women. She 
 did not turn her head, but merely gave the old 
 man a deliberate glance from her dark eyes, from 
 under their long lashes. 
 
I08 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Love me and you will be happy," cried 
 Yeroshka, winking at the officer and looking at 
 him questioningly. " I am a bravo ; I am a 
 joker," he went on to say. " She's a queenly 
 girl, hey ! " 
 
 " She's a beauty," exclaimed Olyenin. *' Bring 
 her in ! " 
 
 "Nay, nay," replied the old man. ''She's to be 
 married to Lukashka, — Luka, a Cossack bravo, a 
 jigit. He killed an abrek a day or two ago. I'll 
 find you a better one. I'll get you one who dresses 
 all in silks ; yes, and in silver too. What I prom- 
 ise, I perform. I'll have a beauty for you." 
 
 *' Old man, what are you saying } " demanded 
 Olyenin. " Didn't you know that was a sin } " 
 
 " A sin } Where's the sin ? Is it a sin to look 
 at a pretty girl ? Is it a sin to go about with 
 one ? Is it a sin to love one ? Is it so with you 
 there .-* No, my father, that isn't a sin, but a sav- 
 ing grace ! God made you, and God made the 
 wench. He made all things, my dear boy.' And 
 so it's no sin to look at a pretty little wench. 
 That's what she's made for, to be loved and to 
 have a good time with ! That's my idea of it, my 
 good man." 
 
 Passing through the courtyard and coming into 
 
 » Bdtiushka, little father. 
 
THE COSSACKS. IO9 
 
 the dark, cool wine-cellar filled full of casks, 
 Maryana, with the usual prayer, went to one of 
 them and filled her dipper from it. Vanyusha, 
 standing at the door, grinned as he looked at her. 
 It seemed to him terribly ridiculous that she wore 
 nothing but a shirt, fitting tightly behind and 
 loosely in front, and still more ridiculous that she 
 had a string of half-ruble pieces around her neck. 
 His feeling was that this was un-Russian, and 
 that the people at home would have had a hearty 
 laugh could they have seen such a damsel. " La 
 fil kom si tri bye,^ for a variety," he said to 
 himself. " I shall have to tell the barin about 
 her." 
 
 ** What are you standing there for, you devil } " 
 suddenly cried the girl. "Here, give me the 
 
 jug!" 
 
 Having filled the jug full of cool, red wine, 
 Maryana handed it to Vanyusha. 
 
 " Give the money to mamuka," said she, push- 
 ing back the hand that held out the coins to her. 
 
 Vanyusha laughed outright. 
 
 ** Why are you so touchy, my dear ? " said he, 
 good-naturedly, waiting while the girl shut up the 
 cask. 
 
 She began to laugh. 
 
 * Meaning Lafille comme c'est trh belle, the girl is very pretty. 
 
no THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " But are you polite ? " 
 
 "The master and I are very polite," replied 
 Vanyusha, with conviction. " We are so polite 
 that wherever we have lived they have liked us. 
 You see, he's a nobleman." 
 
 The girl stopped and listened. 
 
 " And is he married, your master there.-*" she 
 asked. 
 
 " No ! Our barin is young and a bachelor. 
 Because, of course, the nobility can't get married 
 while they are young," explained Vanyusha, 
 didactically. 
 
 " You don't say ! A man gets to be a fat 
 buffalo like that and yet too young to marry ! Is 
 he the captain of all of you t " she went on to 
 ask. 
 
 " My gentleman is only a yunker ; that means 
 he isn't a regular officer yet. But he's of more 
 consequence than a general — he's a big man. 
 Because not only our colonel but the Tsar himself 
 knows him," explained Vanyusha, proudly. "' We 
 aren't like the rest of the poor trash in the army, 
 but our papenka is a senator himself ; he has 
 more than a thousand serfs, and he sends us 
 thousands of rubles. And so they like us every- 
 where. And sometimes even a captain hasn't 
 any money. So what is the use ? . . ." 
 
THE COSSACKS. HI 
 
 " Come, I am going to lock up," said the girl, 
 interrupting. 
 
 Vanyusha brought in the wine and explained to 
 Olyenin that '' la fil sHre zhuli^' and immediately 
 went out with his silly laugh. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 In the meantime, they were beating the tattoo 
 in the square. The people were returning from 
 their labors. The herds were lowing in the gates, 
 raising a cloud of dust that looked like gold, and 
 the girls and women were bustling about through 
 the streets and yards, getting their cattle home. 
 The sun had entirely sunk behind the distant, 
 snowy crests. A dove-colored shadow rested along 
 the earth and sky. Over the darkening gardens 
 the stars began faintly to glisten, and the village 
 was slowly relapsing into silence. After they had 
 housed their cattle, the Cossack women collected 
 on the street corners or sat down on the terraces, 
 cracking melon seeds. Maryanka, who had al- 
 ready milked the two cows and the buffalo, was 
 to be found in one such group, composed of 
 several women and girls and one old Cossack. 
 
 The talk ran on the killing of the abrek. The 
 Cossack was telling the story ; the women lis- 
 tened, occasionally asking questions. 
 
 " Well, his reward, I suppose, will be very large ; 
 won't it ? " asked one Cossack girl. 
 
THE COSSACKS. II3 
 
 " If it isn't it ought to be ! They say they will 
 send him a cross." 
 
 " And that Mosyef tried to insult him. He 
 took away his gun, but the officers in Kizlyar 
 have heard about it," 
 
 " He's a mean fellow, that Mosyef." 
 
 "They say Lukashka is in town," said one 
 young girl. 
 
 " He and Nazarka are spreeing it at Yamka's. 
 They say they have drunk a whole gallon." 
 
 Yamka was a dissolute, unmarried Cossack 
 woman who kept a dramshop. 
 
 "That's just the Urvan's luck!" said some 
 one. "Truly he's the Urvan ! Fact! he's a fine 
 young fellow I shrewd ! Truly he's a fine lad ! 
 And so was his father before him, batyaka 
 Kiryak ; he's just like his father. When he was 
 killed, the whole village mourned for him. See ! 
 there they are coming now I " continued the 
 speaker, pointing to three Cossacks who were 
 walking toward them down the street. " Yer- 
 gushof has been drinking with them. What a tip- 
 pler he is ! " 
 
 Lukashka, Nazarka, and Yergushof, all of 
 whom had been drinking heavily, came up to the 
 girls. Their faces were redder than usual, espe- 
 cially the old Cossack's. Yergushof was stagger- 
 
I ,4 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 ing along and, all the time laughing noisily, was 
 punching Nazarka in the ribs. 
 
 " Say, you wenches, won't you sing us a song?" 
 cried one of them to the girls. " I say, you sing, 
 for we're having a spree ! " 
 
 ** How are you to-day } How are you to-day } " 
 exclaimed the women, giving them welcome. 
 
 "The idea of singing! It isn't a holiday, is 
 it } " asked one of the women. '* You are full ; 
 sing yourself ! " 
 
 Yergushof burst into a laugh and punched 
 Nazarka. ** You sing, will you .-* And I'll sing 
 too. I'm a fine hand at singing, I tell you." 
 
 "Well, you pretty girls, are you all asleep.^" 
 exclaimed Nazarka. " We have come in from the 
 cordon to have a celebration ; we have been drink- 
 ing to Lukashka's good luck ! " 
 
 Lukashka, joining the group, slowly pushed 
 back his Cossack cap and stood before the girls. 
 His wide cheeks and his neck were red. He 
 stood there talking in a low tone, gravely ; but in 
 the deliberation and gravity of his motions there 
 was more life and strength than in Nazarka's 
 chatter and bustle. He reminded one of a sport- 
 ive stallion, which raises his tail and snorts, and 
 then stands as though his feet were fastened to the 
 ground. Lukashka stood quietly in front of the 
 
THE COSSACKS. II5 
 
 girls ; his eyes were full of merriment ; he said 
 little, but glanced now at his drunken comrades, 
 now at the girls. When Maryana came to the 
 corner, he raised his cap with a slow, deliberate 
 motion, moved back a little, and stood in front of 
 her, with one leg slightly advanced, thrusting his 
 thumbs into his belt, and toying with his dagger. 
 Maryana, in reply to his salutation, slowly bent 
 her head, sat down on the terrace, and pulled 
 some melon seeds out from the bosom of her 
 shirt. Lukashka, not turning his eyes away, gazed 
 at her, and, cracking a seed between his teeth, 
 spit out the shell. No one was speaking when 
 Maryana joined the group. 
 
 "Well, have you come for a long stay? " asked 
 one of the women, breaking the silence. 
 
 "Till to-morrow," replied Lukashka, gravely. 
 
 "Well, then, God grant you good fortune!" 
 exclaimed the Cossack. " I am glad, as I was 
 just saying." 
 
 " And so say I," replied the drunken Yergushof, 
 laughing. " So we have some strangers here, 
 have we 1 " he added, pointing to a soldier who 
 was passing by. " Soldiers' vodka is good ; I like 
 it!" 
 
 "They sent three of their devils to us," said 
 one of the Cossack women. " My old man went 
 
Il6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 to headquarters, but they say there's nothing to 
 be clone about it." 
 
 ** Aha ! it bothers you, does it ? " 
 
 *' Do they smoke everything up with their 
 tobacco ? " suggested another Cossack woman. 
 " Let 'em smoke as much in the yard as they 
 please, but I won't have it in the house. Not 
 even if the head of the village interfered would I 
 allow it. And, then, they will steal." ' 
 
 "It's plain you don't like 'em," said Yergushof 
 again. 
 
 " And, then, they say too that the order has 
 been given for the girls to make the beds for the 
 soldiers and give them red wine and honey! " said 
 Nazarka, imitating Lukashka's attitude, and also 
 in the same way pushing his hat back on the back 
 of his head. 
 
 Yergushof, bursting into a loud laugh, seized 
 and hugged the girl who stood nearest to him. 
 *' I believe that's so." 
 
 ** Now, none of your nonsense," shrieked the 
 girl. " I will tell my ma ! " 
 
 " Tell her ! " cried the drunken fellow. " And, 
 faith, Nazarka speaks the truth. It was in a 
 note ; he knows enough to read it. Fact ! " 
 And he tried to hug another of the maidens, in 
 regular sequence. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 117 
 
 " What are you trying to do, you rascal ? " 
 laughingly exclaimed the moon-faced, rosy Usten- 
 ka, giving him a push. 
 
 The Cossack staggered back and almost fell. 
 
 "There, they pretend that girls have no 
 strength ; she almost knocked me down ! " 
 
 '* There, now, you rascal ! the devil brought you 
 from the cordon," exclaimed Ustenka, and, as she 
 turned away from him, she laughed like a colt. 
 " So you were asleep when the abrek came. He 
 might have cut you off, and it would have been 
 good riddance." 
 
 ** You'd have cried though ! " exclaimed Na- 
 zarka. 
 
 " Yes, just as I should have cried for you ! " 
 
 ** There, you see she hasn't any heart ! Would 
 she have cried for you, Nazarka, hey } " exclaimed 
 Yergushof. 
 
 Lukashka all this time was gazing silently at 
 Maryanka. His steady gaze evidently confused 
 the girl. 
 
 " Well, Maryanka, I hear they have quartered 
 one of the officers with you," said he, moving 
 nearer to her. 
 
 Maryanka, as usual, did not instantly reply, but 
 slowly lifted her eyes to the Cossack. Lukashka's 
 eyes had a gleam of a smile in them, as though 
 
Il8 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 something out of the ordinary and apart from the 
 others were passing between him and the maiden. 
 
 " Yes, it is all right for them, as they have two 
 cottages," said an old woman, taking the word 
 out of Maryanka's mouth. " But there at 
 Fomushkin's they have had to take one of the 
 officers, and they say he has taken their best 
 room and they haven't any room left for their own 
 family. Did you ever hear of such a thing ! — 
 quartering a whole horde of them in the village ! 
 What are you going to do about it } " said she. 
 " And what a black plague they bring on us ! " 
 
 "They say they are going to build a bridge 
 across the Terek/' said one of the girls. 
 
 " And I was told," interrupted Nazarka, going 
 up to Ustenka, " that they are going to dig a well 
 and bury you girls in it, because you won't love 
 these young lads." And again he made his fa- 
 vorite bow and scrape, at which they all laughed, 
 and Yergushof immediately began to hug the old 
 Cossack woman, passing by Maryanka, though 
 she was next in order. 
 
 "Why don't you take Maryanka.^ She would 
 be the next," said Nazarka. 
 
 " Nay, my old woman is sweeter ! " cried the 
 Cossack, smacking the old dame, who struggled 
 to escape. 
 
THE COSSACKS. Ug 
 
 " He's choking me ! " cried she, with a laugh. 
 
 The measured tread of footsteps at the end of 
 the street interrupted the laughter. Three sol- 
 diers, in overcoats, with rifles over their shoulders, 
 were on their way to relieve the guard over the 
 regimental chest. The corporal, an old cavalry- 
 man, looked sternly at the Cossacks, and led the 
 soldiers in such a way as to oblige Lukashka and 
 Nazarka to make room. Nazarka stepped aside, 
 but Lukashka only blinked his eyc^s, turned his 
 head and his broad back, and did not stir from the 
 place. 
 
 "When people are standing, you can turn out," 
 he muttered, shaking his head contemptuously 
 toward the soldiers. 
 
 The soldiers silently marched by, keeping step 
 along the dusty road. 
 
 Maryana laughed, and so did all the other 
 girls. " Eki ! what smart boys ! " said Nazarka. 
 " Just like long-skirted choir-singers ! " and he 
 started to march down the street, in imitation of 
 their manner. 
 
 Once more the crowd burst into a laugh. 
 Lukashka slowly walked up to Maryana. 
 
 "And where is your officer lodged } " he asked. 
 
 Maryana deliberated before she spoke. 
 
 " He has been put into the new room." 
 
I20 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Say, is he young or old ? " demanded Lu- 
 kashka, sitting down near the girl. 
 
 " Well, do you suppose I have asked him ? " 
 replied the girl. " I went to get some red 
 wine for him, saw him sitting in the window 
 talking with Uncle Yeroshka : a reddish-look- 
 ing fellow. And he brought a whole cart-load 
 of things." 
 
 And she dropped her eyes. 
 
 " How glad I am that I had a chance to come 
 in from the cordon ! " exclaimed Lukashka, mov- 
 ing nearer along the terrace toward the girl, and 
 looking straight into her eyes. 
 
 " How long can you stay ? " asked Maryanka, 
 slightly smiling. 
 
 " Till to-morrow. Give me some seeds," he 
 added, stretching out his hand. 
 
 Maryana laughed outright and opened the fold 
 of her shirt bosom. 
 
 " Only don't take them all," said she. 
 
 "Truly, I was very lonesome without you, by 
 God ! " said Luka, in a low, wary whisper, taking 
 the seeds from the girl's bosom ; and then, mov- 
 ing still closer to her, he began to whisper some- 
 thing in her ear, with smiling eyes. 
 
 " I will not come ; that's the end of it," said 
 Maryana, suddenly, aloud, turning from him. . . . 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 121 
 
 " Truly. . . . This is what I meant," whispered 
 Lukashka. "By God! Come, Mashenka." 
 
 Maryanka shook her head decisively, but still 
 she smiled. 
 
 " Sister Maryanka ! Hey, sister ! Mamuka 
 sends for you to come home to supper," cried 
 Maryanka's younger brother, running up to the 
 group of Cossacks. 
 
 "I'm coming," replied the maiden. "You go 
 on, my boy ; ' I will follow ; you go on by your- 
 self." 
 
 Lukashka stood up and straightened his hat. 
 "It's time for me to be going home; that's the 
 better way," said he, pretending to be indifferent, 
 but finding it hard to repress a smile ; and he 
 disappeared around the corner of the house. 
 
 Meantime, night had entirely settled down upon 
 the village. The bright stars were scattered over 
 the vault of heaven. The streets were dark 
 and empty. Nazarka stood with the Cossack 
 women on the terrace, and their laughter was 
 still heard. Lukashka, going with a light step 
 from the girls, turned like a cat, and, holding his 
 rattling dagger, suddenly began to run noise- 
 lessly, not in the direction of his home, but 
 toward the ensign's house. After he had run 
 
 » Bdtiushka. 
 
122 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 along two streets, he turned into a side street, 
 and, gathering up his cherkeska, sat down on the 
 ground in the shadow of the fence. 
 
 ** What a girl the ensign's daughter is ! " he 
 said to himself. " She isn't willing to have a little 
 fun ! Well, the time will come ! " 
 
 The steps of a woman approaching were heard. 
 He listened and laughed .to himself. Maryana, 
 with her head bent, came straight toward him 
 with quick and even steps, letting her switch clat- 
 ter against the palings of the fence. Lukashka 
 stood up. Maryanka was startled and stopped 
 short. 
 
 *' There, the cursed devil ! He frightened me ! 
 So he did not go home after all," said she, with a 
 merry laugh. 
 
 Lukashka threw one arm around the girl and 
 with the other hand clasped her face. " What 
 was I going to say to you .'*... By God ! " 
 
 His voice trembled and broke. 
 
 " What kind of talk is this for the night ! " 
 replied Maryana. " Mamuka is waiting ; you go 
 to your mistress ! " 
 
 And, freeing herself from him, she ran a few 
 steps away. When she reached the hedge that 
 separated her own yard from the street, she 
 paused and turned to the Cossack, who had run 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 33 
 
 alongside of her, still trying to persuade her to 
 stay a little while with him. 
 
 " Well, what is it you want, you owl ? " and 
 again she laughed. 
 
 " Don't make sport of me, Maryana. By God ! 
 What if I have a mistress } The devil take her ! 
 Only say the word and I will love you so ! I will 
 do anything you wish. Do you hear.**" (And he 
 jingled the coins in his pocket.) *' We will have 
 a jolly life. Men enjoy themselves, and why 
 shouldn't I } You don't give me any joy at all, 
 Marydnushka ! " 
 
 The girl made no reply, but stood in front of 
 him, and, with quick-moving fingers, broke her 
 switch into little fragments. 
 
 Lukashka suddenly doubled his fists and set his 
 teeth. 
 
 " Yes, and why should we be always waiting 
 and waiting } You can't imagine how I love you, 
 matushka ! Do with me what you please," said 
 he, suddenly, frowning wrathfully and seizing 
 both of her hands. 
 
 Maryana did not change the calm expression of 
 her face and voice. 
 
 ** Don't get excited, Lukashka, but hear what I 
 have to say," she replied, not withdrawing her 
 hands, but pushing the Cossack a little from her. 
 
124 ^-^-^ COSSACKS. 
 
 , . . " Of course, I am a girl, but you listen to 
 me. It is not for me to say, but if you love me, 
 then, this is what I will tell you. Let go of my 
 hands and I will tell you. I am willing to marry 
 you, but you must not expect any follies from me 
 — never," said Maryanka, looking him straight in 
 the face. 
 
 *' What do you mean — get married } Mar- 
 riage is not in my power. No, I want you 
 to love me, Maryanushka," said Lukashka, 
 his gloomy and excited mood, by an abrupt 
 change, becoming sweet, complaisant, and affec- 
 tionate, while he looked close into her eyes 
 and smiled. 
 
 Maryana pressed close to him and gave him a 
 loud kiss on the lips. 
 
 ** Dear brother," she whispered, impetuously 
 hugging him. Then, suddenly tearing herself 
 away, she started to run, and, without looking 
 around, darted into her own gate. . Notwithstand- 
 ing the Cossack's entreaties to wait just one min- 
 ute more, and hear what he had to say, Maryana 
 did not stop. 
 
 " Go away ! We shall be seen ! " she said, 
 imperatively. '' There is that devil of a lodger, I 
 think, walking in the yard." 
 
 "The ensign's daughter," said Lukashka to 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 25 
 
 himself. "She likes the idea of marriage. 
 Marriage is well enough, but only love me ! " 
 
 He found Nazarka at Yamka's, and, after 
 drinking awhile with him, he went to Dtinyashka 
 and spent the night there in spite of her unfaith- 
 fulness. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Olyenin was really walking in the yard at the 
 time when Maryanka came into ,the gate, and he 
 had heard what she said about " that devil of a 
 lodge^." 
 
 Air that evening he had spent with Uncle 
 Yeroshka on the steps of his new domicile, lie 
 had ordered a table, the samovar, the wine, and a 
 lighted candle to be brought out, and, over a glass 
 of tea and his cigar, he had listened to the tales 
 told by the old man, who was sitting at his feet, 
 on one of the steps. Although the air was calm, 
 the candle flickered and the flame bent this way 
 and that, now lighting up the newel-post, now the 
 table and the tea service, now the old man's 
 white, closely cropped head. 
 
 Night moths fluttered about, scattering the dust 
 from their wings as they dashed against the table 
 and the glasses ; some flew through the flame 
 and disappeared in the blackness outside of the 
 charmed circle of the light. 
 
 Olyenin and Yeroshka had drunk together 
 
 five bottles of red wine. Every time that the old 
 
 126 
 
THE COSSACKS. 12/ 
 
 man filled his glass, he held it up to Olycnin, 
 drank to his health, and talked without relaxation. 
 He told about the former life of the Cossacks, 
 about his father, ** Broad-back," who carried, sin- 
 gle-handed on his shoulders, the carcass of a wild- 
 boar weighing three hundred and sixty pounds, 
 and used to drink at one sitting more than twenty 
 quarts of red wine. He told about the days of 
 his prime, and about his friend Girchik, with 
 whom, at the time of the plague, he had brought 
 felt-saddled horses from the other side of the 
 Terek. He told about his hunting, and how one 
 morning he had killed two stags. He told about 
 his dushenka, who used to creep out at night to 
 see him at the cordon. . . . And his whole narra- 
 tion was so eloquent and animated that Olyenin 
 did not observe how time was passing. 
 
 "But you see, my father," said he, "you did 
 not know me at my golden time ; I'd have shown 
 you everything. To-day Yeroshka * has licked 
 the pot,' but then Yeroshka's fame was spread 
 throughout the whole army. Who had the best 
 horse? Who had a genuine Gurda' sabre .<* Who 
 used to be sought for drinking bouts } Who was 
 
 * The sabres and daggers prized above all others in the Cau- 
 casus are called after the name of the manufacturer, Gurda. — 
 Author's note. 
 
128 ^^^ COSSACA^S. 
 
 sent to the mountains to kill Akhmet-Khan ? 
 Always Yeroshka ! Whom did the girl like ? 
 Always and forever Yeroshka ! Because I was a 
 genuine jigit. Carouser, thief, skilful in driving 
 the herds down from the mountains ! a singer ! I 
 could turn my hand to anything. To-day there's 
 nothing like me among the Cossacks. It makes 
 me sick to see them. About so tall (Yeroshaka 
 raised his hand a yard or so above the ground) ; 
 they wear fools' boots, and if they can get any 
 one to look at them they are happy. Or if they 
 get drunk, they feel all puffed up ; and they 
 don't drink like men, but like I don't know what. 
 But who was I .'* I was Yeroshka, the thief ; I 
 was better known in the mountains than in the 
 villages. The mountain princes came to see me 
 as friends ; I vi^as kunak ' with them all. Tatar 
 or Armenian, soldier or officer, — it was all the 
 same to me, provided only he could drink. ' You 
 must keep yourself from contact with the world 
 in general,' says he. * Drink not with a soldier ; 
 eat not with a Tatar.' " 
 
 *' Who said that "i " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " Oh, it was our head men. But listen once to 
 a Tatar mulla or a kadi. He will say, * You unbe- 
 lieving giaours, why do ye eat pork ? ' That means 
 
 * Guest-friend. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 29 
 
 every one has his own customs. But, in my opin- 
 ion, it's all one. God made everything for man's 
 enjoyment. There's no sin in anything. Now, 
 just take the wild beast, for instance. He lives 
 in the Tatar reeds and in ours. Wherever he 
 goes he is at home. Whatever God gives he 
 devours. But our people say that we shall lick 
 the frying-pan for that. I think that all that is 
 false," he added, after a pause. 
 
 " What is false t " 
 
 "Why, what the head men say. My father, 
 there used to be with us in the Cherovlenaya an 
 army leader — he was my kunak. He was just 
 the same sort of bravo that I was. He was 
 killed on the Chechnya. He used to say that 
 the priests get all such things out of their own 
 heads. * You will die,' he used to say, 'and the 
 grass will grow over you, and that's all there is of 
 it.' " (The old man laughed.) " He was a des- 
 perate fellow." 
 
 " How old are you 1 " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " Ah, but God knows that. Must be about 
 seventy. We had a tsaritsa when I was a little 
 lad. Now, you can reckon it up how much that 
 makes me. Must be about seventy." 
 
 "That's so, and you're still a bravo." 
 
 "Well, thank God, I'm sound, sound all 
 
I30 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 through ; only a woman, a witch, spoiled it all 
 for me. ..." 
 
 " How was that } " 
 
 "Yes, she spoiled it so that . . .'* 
 
 ** When you die the grass will grow over you t " 
 asked Olyenin, repeating his words. 
 
 Yeroshka evidently could not express his 
 thought clearly. He was silent for a little. 
 
 " Well, how do you suppose it was .•* Drink ! " 
 he cried, smiling and filling the glass. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "Let us see ; what were we talking about?" he 
 went on to say, trying to collect his thoughts. 
 " This is the kind of a man that I am. I am a 
 huntsman. There's no one to be compared with 
 me in the whole host. I will find and show you 
 every sort of animal, every kind of bird, and how 
 and where — I know it all. I have dogs and two 
 fowling-pieces and nets and decoys and a falcon ; 
 I have everything, thank the Lord. If you are a 
 real huntsman and not a mere boaster, I will 
 show you all about it. That's the kind of man 
 that I am. I will find the trail of a wild beast — I 
 know it already. I know where he comes to his 
 lair and where he comes to drink or to wallow. I 
 make a * lopazik,' ^ and there I sit and watch the 
 whole night long ; why should I stay at home } 
 There you fall into sin, you get drunk. The 
 women are always buzzing around there, belter 
 skelter; the children are screeching. You are 
 choked with charcoal smoke. It's quite another 
 
 * Lopazik means the place where one sits in waiting on a 
 scaffolding or a tree. — Author^s note. 
 
 131 
 
132 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 thing to go and watch ; you select a nice little 
 place, you stamp down the rushes, and there you 
 sit and wait — good fellow that you are ! And 
 you come to know everything that takes place in 
 the woods. You look at the sky. The stars pass 
 over; you follow them and judge what time of 
 the night it is. You gaze around you. The for- 
 est stirs, and, as you wait, you hear a crashing ; 
 it's a boar come to roll in the mire ! You hear 
 the young eagles scream, or the roosters in the 
 village answering, or the geese. When you hear 
 the geese, you know that it's midnight. And I 
 know all about such things. And then a gun 
 goes off somewhere in the distance, and that sets 
 you to thinking. You ask yourself, ' Who fired 
 that } Was it a Cossack like me } Was he wait- 
 ing for a wild beast, and did he hit him, or did he 
 merely wound him, and will the poor thing rush 
 into the reeds to roll in his blood, and all for 
 nothing } I don't like it, okh ! I don't like it ! 
 Why lame a poor beast t Fool ! Fool ! ' Or you 
 say to yourself, * Can it be that an abrek has shot 
 some stupid little Cossack t ' All these thoughts 
 go through your head. And then once I was 
 watching down by the river, and I saw a cradle 
 floating down stream, perfectly whole, only the 
 rim a little injured. Then the thought came, 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 33 
 
 * Whose cradle is that ? Some of your devilish 
 soldiers,' I say to myself, * must have been at a 
 Chechen aul, carried off the women, and some 
 devil killed the baby : catch him by the leg, dash 
 him into a corner ! That's the way they do it, 
 isn't it ? Ekh ! men have no souls.' When such 
 thoughts came to me I felt sorry. I say to my- 
 self, * The cradle thrown away and the mother 
 carried off ; the house burnt, but the jigit has his 
 gun, and he will come over to our side to plunder.' 
 And so you' sit and think. And then, as you are 
 listening, a little drove of pigs breaks through the 
 thicket, and something in you throbs and throbs. 
 
 * Come on, my darlings ! They will get scent of 
 you,' you say to yourself, and you sit and don't 
 stir, but your heart goes, ' Dun, dun, dun.' Then 
 they come into sight. This very spring such a 
 splendid drove came along, making a black line! 
 'To the Father and the Son ! ' I was just going 
 to shoot. Then the old mother sow sniffed and 
 called to her little pigs, ' Children, look out ! 
 there's danger ; a man sits there on the watch ! ' 
 and the whole drove rushed off into the bushes. 
 And so vexatious it was, when you felt as though 
 you were already biting into one of them ! " 
 
 " How did the sow tell her little pigs that a 
 man was on the watch } " asked Olyenin. 
 
134 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " And how do you suppose ? You have an 
 idea that a wild beast is a fool. No, he is wiser 
 than a man, even though he bears the name of 
 pig. He knows everything. Take this for exam- 
 ple. A man comes across a trail and does not 
 notice it, but a hog, as soon as he stumbles on 
 your track, snuffs, and makes off ; that means that 
 he's got sense in him ; he knows that you haven't 
 sensed him, but he has you. And that is equiva- 
 lent to saying, *You want to kill him, but he 
 prefers to go wandering about the forest alive.' 
 You have your laws and he has his as well. 
 He's a hog, but, for all that, he's no worse than 
 you are, is just as much one of God's creatures. 
 Ekh ma ! Man is stupid, stupid ! man is stupid ! " 
 reiterated the old huntsman, and, dropping his 
 head, he sank into thought. 
 
 Olyenin also pondered, and, getting up from 
 the steps, he went down from the steps, and 
 began silently to walk up and down the yard, with 
 his hands behind his back. Yeroshka suddenly 
 came out of his brown study and raised his head 
 and began attentively to look at the moths, which 
 were attracted by the flickering candle flame and 
 falling into it. 
 
 "Little fool! Fool!" he muttered. ''Where 
 did you fly from } Fool ! Fool ! " He got up, and, 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 135 
 
 with his huge fingers, began to drive away the 
 moths. " You will burn yourself, you little fool ; 
 here, fly this way, there's room enough," he said, 
 in his affectionate voice, trying to lift one tenderly 
 by the wings in his clumsy fingers, and to let it 
 go. "You are ruining yourself, and I am sorry 
 for you." 
 
 He sat there long, chattering and taking an 
 occasional drink from the bottle. And Olyenin 
 walked back and forth through the yard. Sud- 
 denly his attention was attracted by a rustling on 
 the other side of the fence. Involuntarily hold- 
 ing his breath, he caught the sound of a woman's 
 laugh, a man's voice, and the sound of kisses. 
 Purposely scuffling his feet on the grass, he went 
 across to the other side of the yard. In a short 
 time the gate creaked. A Cossack, in a dark 
 cherkeska and with a white lambskin cap, went 
 along by the fence (it was Luka), and a tall 
 woman in a white shawl passed by Olyenin. 
 Maryanka's deliberate pace seemed to say, ** I 
 have nothing to do with you and you have nothing 
 to do with me." His eyes followed her to the 
 steps of the Cossack cottage ; through the win- 
 dow he saw how she took off her shawl and sat 
 down upon the bench. And suddenly a feeling of 
 painful loneliness, of indefinite longings and hopes. 
 
136 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 and a certain degree of envy toward some one 
 took hold of the young man's soul. 
 
 The last lights were extinguished in the cot- 
 tages. The last sounds died away in the village. 
 And the hedges and the dim forms of the cattle 
 in the yards, and the roofs of the houses, and the 
 graceful poplars, everything seemed to be asleep 
 with the healthy, gentle sleep of weariness. Only 
 the constant piping of the frogs came to the 
 attentive ear from the distant swamps. In the 
 east the stars were less abundant and seemed to 
 be melting away in the advancing light. Over- 
 head, however, they were more brilliant than ever 
 and more abundantly scattered. The old Yer- 
 oshka, leaning his head on his hand, was begin- 
 ning to doze. A cock crowed in some neighboring 
 yard. But Olyenin still walked up and down, back 
 and forth, busy with his thoughts. The sound of 
 voices singing in chorus was borne to his ears. 
 He went down to the fence and listened. Young 
 Cossacks were trolling a gay song, and one young 
 voice was plainly distinguishable. 
 
 " Do you know who that is singing } " asked 
 the old man, rousing from his nap. ** That's the 
 jigit Lukashka. He has killed a Chechenets. 
 And so he's having a spree. But is that any- 
 thing to rejoice over } Fool, fool ! " 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 137 
 
 " But you have killed men ? " asked Olyenin. 
 
 The old man suddenly lifted himself on both 
 elbows and brought his face close to Olyenin's. 
 " You devil ! " he cried. ** What are you asking ? 
 It must not be spoken of. It is strange, ol'h ! 
 strange to kill a human being ! Good night, my 
 father ; I am full and contented," said he, getting 
 up. " Shall I take you to hunt to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " See that you are up early, for if you oversleep 
 you will get punished ! " 
 
 " Never you fear ; I shall be up before you 
 are," replied Olyenin. 
 
 The old man went off. The song had ceased. 
 Footsteps and merry talking were heard. After a 
 little the song broke forth again, but farther away 
 and Yeroshka's big voice joined the other voices. 
 
 " What men ! what a life ! " thought Olyenin, 
 sighing ; and he went back alone to his cottage. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka was not in active service, and 
 he lived alone. Twenty years before, his wife had 
 deserted him, and, after being baptized into the 
 Orthodox communion, had married a Russian 
 quartermaster. He had no children. It was no 
 idle boast when he declared that in old times he 
 had been the first bravo in the village. Among 
 all the Cossacks he was famous for his old-fash- 
 ioned bravery. The death of more than one 
 Chechenets and of more than one Russian was on 
 his soul. He used to make forays in the moun- 
 tains, and he had also stolen from the Russians, 
 and twice he had been put in the guard-house. 
 The larger part of his life had been spent in the 
 woods, hunting, where he often subsisted for 
 whole days on a crust of bread, drinking nothing 
 but water. But, when he came back to the vil- 
 lage, he made up for it by tippling from morning 
 till night. 
 
 After he went home from Olyenin's, he slept 
 for a couple of hours, and then, waking some 
 time before daylight, he lay on his bed and tried 
 
 138 
 
THE COSSACKS. ly^ 
 
 to form a judgment about the man whose acquaint- 
 ance he had made the evening before. He was 
 much pleased with Olyenin's simplicity ^ but he 
 understood by simplicity his generosity with the 
 wine. And Oleynin himself pleased him. He 
 wondered why the Russians were all simple and 
 rich, and why they knew nothing at all and yet 
 were all so learned. He thought over all these 
 questions and wondered what he might get out of 
 Olyenin. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka's cottage was tolerably large 
 and not old, but the absence of a woman's hand 
 was very noticeable in it. The Cossacks are 
 usually very scrupulous about neatness, but his 
 whole apartment, on the contrary, was filthy and 
 in the greatest disorder. On the table were flung 
 his blood-stained coat, a half of a milk cake, and 
 next to it a plucked and torn jackdaw. Scattered 
 about on the benches lay h\s porshjii, a gun, a dag- 
 ger, a bag, wet garments, and rags. In the corner, 
 in a tub full of dirty, ill-smelling water, another 
 pair of porshni were soaking ; there also stood a 
 carbine and a pheasant-lure. On the dirty floor 
 were thrown a net and* a few dead pheasants, and 
 a hen wandered about pecking, with its leg fastened 
 to the table leg. In the cold oven stood a potsherd, 
 filled with some sort of milk-like liquid. On the 
 
I^O ^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 oven screamed a falcon, trying to tear itself 
 away from its cord, and on the edge quietly sat a 
 moulting hawk, looking askance at the chicken 
 and occasionally tipping his head to one side or 
 the other. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka himself, in a single shirt, lay 
 on his back on his short bed, placed between the 
 wall and the oven, so that he could brace his 
 solid legs on the latter, and he was engaged in 
 picking with his clumsy fingers the scabs on the 
 scratches made on his hands by the hawk, which 
 he had carried without gloves. The air of the 
 whole room, and especially the corner where the 
 old man lay, was filled with that strong but not 
 disagreeable conglomeration of odors which the 
 old man carried about him. 
 
 " Uidye-ma, dyddya } " (that is, " Are you at home, 
 uncle } ") he heard a clear voice saying through 
 the window, and he instantly recognized it as the 
 voice of his neighbor Lukashka. 
 
 '* Uidye, tiidye, uidye. Yes, come in," cried the 
 old man. *' Neighbor Marka, Luka Marka, have 
 you come to see your uncle.? On your way to 
 the cordon } " 
 
 The hawk was alarmed at the voices, shook its 
 wings, and tugged at its leash. 
 
 The old man was fond of Lukashka; he was 
 
THE COSSACKS. I4I 
 
 almost the only one whom he excepted from the 
 general contempt in which he held all the younger 
 generation of Cossacks, Moreover, Lukashka 
 and his mother, who were neighbors of his, often 
 gave him wine, curds, and other things from their 
 larder, such as Yeroshka did not have. Uncle 
 Yeroshka, who all his life long had followed his 
 own inclinations, always explained his impulses in 
 the most practical way. " Well, why not } " he 
 would reason with himself. " They are well-to-do. 
 I will bring them fresh pork or a fowl and they 
 will not forget their uncle. A pie or milk cake 
 they will give me occasionally." 
 
 " How are you, Marka } Glad to see you ! " 
 merrily shouted the old man, and, with a quick 
 motion, set down his bare feet from the bed, 
 leaped up, took a step or two over the creaking 
 floor, glanced at his legs, and suddenly something 
 seemed to amuse him in the sight of his crooked 
 legs, so that he burst into a laugh, stamped with 
 his bare toes once and then again, and made a 
 shuffle. " Some skill, hey ? " he demanded, mak- 
 ing his little eyes flash. 
 
 Lukashka barely smiled. 
 
 ** Well, are you on your way to the cordon t " 
 
 " I've brought you the red wine, uncle, which I 
 promised you." 
 
142 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 *' Christ be your salvation ! " replied the old 
 man ; he picked up his leggings and beshmet 
 from the floor, put them on, tightened his belt, 
 poured a little water from a crock over his hands, 
 rubbed them on his old leggings, ran a piece of a 
 comb through his beard, and then presented him- 
 self before Lukashka. 
 
 "All ready!" said he. 
 
 Lukashka got a dipper, wiped it, filled it with 
 wine, and, setting it on a stool, brought it to the 
 old man. 
 
 " Here's to your health ! To the Father apd 
 the Son ! " said Uncle Yeroshka, taking the wine 
 with triumphal solemnity. " May all your wishes 
 be realized ! may you be a bravo ! may you get 
 your cross ! " 
 
 Lukashka also drank, using the same solemn 
 formula, and set the wine on the table. The old 
 man got up, fetched a dried fish, laid it on the 
 threshold, beat it with a switch, so as to soften 
 it, and then, taking it in his shrivelled hands, 
 put it in his one blue plate, and set it on the 
 table. 
 
 " I always have something for a bite, thank 
 God !" he exclaimed proudly. "Well, how about 
 Mosyef .<* " he asked, changing the subject. 
 
 Lukashka told him how the sergeant had 
 
THE COSSACKS. I^o 
 
 taken the gun from him, and evidently wanted the 
 old man's opinion. 
 
 " Don't stand on the matter of the gun ; if you 
 don't give it up, you won't get your reward." 
 
 '* Yes, but what difference does that make, 
 uncle ? They will say, * What reward should we 
 give to a green lad? ' ' But the gun was splen- 
 did, a Crimean one, worth seventy-eight rubles." 
 
 ** Eh ! let it go ! I had such a quarrel once 
 with a captain ; he asked me for my horse. 
 * Give me your horse,' says he, * and I will make 
 you an ensign.' I didn't let him have it, and so 
 got nothing myself." 
 
 " But see here, uncle, I must buy me a horse, 
 and they say that I can't get one on the other side 
 of the river for less than fifty silver rubles. And 
 mother hasn't sold the wine yet." 
 
 " Ekh ! we didn't lay it to heart," exclaimed 
 the old man. ** When Uncle Yeroshka was your 
 age he had already got a whole herd from the 
 Nogar and driven them across^ the Terek. I'd 
 always sell a good horse for three pints of vodka 
 or for a felt cloak." 
 
 " What made you sell so cheap } " 
 
 " Fool, fool ! Marka ! " exclaimed the old man, 
 
 * Green lad : malolyetka means a Cossack not yet enrolled in 
 the cavalry service. — Author's note. 
 
44 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 contemptuously. " You could't help it ; what 
 made you steal horses unless to keep from grow- 
 ing stingy ! But I reckon you never have seen 
 how we steal horses. Why don't you speak t " 
 
 " What should I say, uncle ? " exclaimed Lukash- 
 ka. " It seems that we aren't such men as you 
 were." 
 
 " Fool ! fool ! Marka ! Not such men ! " re- 
 joined the old man, mimicking the young Cos- 
 sack. *' No, no such Cossack was I when I was 
 of your age ! " 
 
 " But how was it } " asked Lukashka. 
 
 The old man contemptuously shook his head. 
 
 '* Uncle Yeroshka was simple ; he wasted no 
 time in regrets. And that was the reason all the 
 Chechnya was * hail fellow well met ' with me. 
 If any of my kunaki came to see me, we got 
 drunk together on vodka ; I'd make him happy, 
 I'd give him a place to sleep, and, when I took 
 him home, he'd give me always a gift : peskkeshy 
 they called it. That's the way men do, but it's 
 all different now ; it's only childish fun, cracking 
 seeds and spitting out the shells ! " said the old 
 man, scornfully, in conclusion, imitating the way 
 the Cossacks of the present day crunch melon 
 seeds and spit out the shells. 
 
 *' Yes, I know it ; that's so," said Lukashka. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 145 
 
 "Yon want to be a bravo ; then be a jigit and 
 not a muzhik ! The peasant buys horses ; throw 
 away your money and get a horse ! " 
 
 They were both silent. 
 
 ** But it is so dull, uncle, in the village or at the 
 cordon ; you can't go anywhere to have some 
 sport. The whole people are timid ! Take 
 Nazar for example. The other day we were at an 
 aul. GireY-Khan invited us to go with him to the 
 NogaY after horses ; but no one would go, and 
 how could I go alone } " 
 
 *' But here's your uncle : what's he for } Do 
 you think that I am dead wood .-* No, I am not 
 dried up ! Give me a horse and I will ride off 
 to the NogaY." 
 
 " Why this idle talk .? " exclaimed Luka. " Tell 
 me how to act with Girei'-Khan. He says, * Only 
 just bring one horse down to the Terek and if 
 you go with me you shall have a whole stud ! ' 
 He's so wily-looking it's hard to have any con- 
 fidence in him." 
 
 " You can trust Gir^Y-Khan ; all his family are 
 good men ; his father was a faithful kunak of 
 mine. Only heed your uncle, I won't give you 
 any bad advice : make him take an oath, then 
 you can trust him ; but if you go off with him, 
 have your pistol ready, especially when you come 
 
146 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 to divide the horses. Once a 'Chechenets came 
 within an ace of killing me : I asked him ten 
 rubles for a horse. Trust him certainly ; but 
 don't go to sleep without your gun ! " 
 
 Lukashka listened attentively to what the old 
 man said. 
 
 " Well, uncle, they say you have a magic herb. 
 Is that so ? " asked the young Cossack, after a 
 pause. 
 
 " No such thing, but I will teach you how to 
 get one ; you're a fine young fellow, won't for- 
 get your uncle. Shall I tell you ? '* 
 
 '* Tell me, uncle ! " 
 
 " You know what a tortoise is } Well, she's a 
 devil, the tortoise is ! " 
 
 ** Of course I know what a tortoise is ! " 
 
 " Well, then, find her nest and plait a little 
 hedge around it so that she can't get through 
 it. Then she will come, will go round it and 
 then back again ; then she will find the magic 
 herb, will bring it and will break the hedge. 
 Then you must go the next morning and look 
 round : where it was broken you'll find your 
 magic herb lying. Take it and carry it wher- 
 ever you please. No lock and no wall can keep 
 you ! " 
 
 " Did you ever try it, uncle ? " 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 47 
 
 " No, never tried it myself, but good people say 
 so. I only used to have a charm beginning ' all 
 hail,' which I used to repeat when I mounted my 
 horse. No one ever killed me ! " 
 
 " What was this * all hail ' charm, uncle 1 " 
 " Is it possible you don't know it t Ekh ! what 
 people ! Only ask your uncle ! Now, listen and 
 repeat it after me : — 
 
 " * ZdravstTmitya zhivtuhi v Sioni. 
 Se tsar tvot. 
 Mm syadem na koni. 
 Sofoniye vopiye. 
 Zakhariye glagolye. 
 Otche Mandruiche. 
 Chelovyiko-vyeko-liubche^ " * 
 
 " Vyeko-vy^ko-liubche," repeated the old man. 
 " Do you get it. Well, then, repeat it ! " 
 
 Lukashka laughed. 
 
 "Do you mean to say, uncle, that that's the 
 reason they didn't kill you } Is it possible } " 
 
 " Oh, you've cut your wisdom teeth ! You just 
 learn it and always repeat it. It won't do any 
 harm. Well, now, then, sing * Mandriche * and get 
 along all right," and the old man himself laughed. 
 " But don't go to the NogaY, Luka ; don't go, that's 
 what I say." 
 
 * " All hail, ye inhabitants of Zion. Behold your tsar. We 
 sit on horseback. The cries of Sophonius. The words of Zak- 
 har. Father Mandriche. The lover-over of man." 
 
148 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " It isn't the time, and you aren't the people. 
 You Cossacks are regular muckers. Then, be- 
 sides, they have brought the Russians here. They 
 would bring you into court. Truly, give it up. 
 What do you want 1 Once Girchik and I . . ." 
 and the old man went on to tell one of his never 
 ending stories. But Lukashka glanced out of the 
 window. 
 
 " It's broad daylight, uncle," he exclaimed, in- 
 terrupting him. " I must go ; come and see us 
 sometime !*" 
 
 " Christ save us ! I must go to the army man ; 
 I promised to take him out hunting. He seems 
 like a fine fellow." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 From Yeroshka's Lukashka went home. As 
 he walked along, a damp misty vapor was rising 
 from the ground and enveloping the whole village. 
 The cattle, unseen, began to stir in the various 
 yards. The cocks crowed noisily and more fre- 
 quently. It grew lighter and the people were 
 beginning to arise. As he came nearer, Lu- 
 kashka saw the hedge of his own yard, wet with 
 mist, and the steps leading up to the cottage, 
 and the open gate. The sound of some one 
 splitting wood was heard in the yard. Lukashka 
 went into the cottage. His mother was already 
 up and was standing in front of the oven, throw- 
 ing kindling into it. His little sister was still 
 asleep. 
 
 " Well, Lukasha, are you through with your 
 spree ? " asked his mother, gently. " Where 
 were you last night } " 
 
 ** I was in the village," replied Lukashka, reluc- 
 tantly, while he took his carbine out of its case 
 and examined it. 
 
 149 
 
ISO 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 The mother shook her head. 
 
 After putting some powder on the pan, Lukashka 
 got down a pouch, took out a number of empty 
 shells, and began to fill cartridges, carefully ram- 
 ming down the bullet wrapped in a rag. If there 
 happened to be too much, he bit it off with his 
 teeth, and, after, examining his work, put up the 
 pouch. 
 
 " Well, matushka, I told you to mend my bag ; 
 have you done it .-* " said he. 
 
 "I reckon so. The dumb girl was mending 
 something last evening. But must you go right 
 back to the cordon t I have scarcely seen you 
 at all." 
 
 "Well, I've only just come, but I must go 
 back," replied Lukashka, tying up his powder. 
 " Where is the dumb girl 1 Has she gone 
 out.?'' 
 
 "Certainly; she's splitting wood. She has 
 been greatly distressed about you. * Here, I shall 
 not have a chance to see him at all,' she said.- 
 Then she pointed with her hand to her face, 
 clucked her tongue, and then pressed her hand 
 against her heart ; it was touching to see, indeed 
 it was. Shall I go and fetch her, hey } And 
 she understood all about the abrek." 
 
 "Fetch her," said Lukashka. "I must have 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 151 
 
 some tallow there with me ; bring me some. I 
 want to grease my sabre.'* 
 
 The old woman went out and in a few minutes 
 came Lukashka's deaf and dumb sister *over the 
 creaking steps into the cottage. She was six 
 years his elder and would have borne a remarka- 
 ble resemblance to him, had it not been for the 
 stupid and coarsely stolid expression of face 
 characteristic of the deaf and dumb. Her dress 
 consisted of a coarse, patched shirt ; her feet 
 were bare and dirty ; she wore an old blue ker- 
 chief on her head. Her neck, hands, and face 
 were as muscular as a man's. By her dress and 
 all it was evident that she had always been used 
 to hard manual labor. She lugged an armful of 
 wood and threw it down by the oven. Then she 
 went to her brother with a smile of joy, which 
 wrinkled up her whole face, patted him on the 
 shoulder, and began, with her hands, her face, and 
 all her body, to make him rapid signs. 
 
 "Good, good ! Fine girl, Stepka ! " replied the 
 brother, nodding his head. "You have done 
 finely ; you have mended it well. Here is some- 
 thing for you." He drew out of his pocket two 
 pieces of gingerbread and gave them to her. 
 
 Stepka's face flushed and she made a strange, 
 wild noise expressive of her joy. Seizing the 
 
152 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 gingerbread, she again began to make signs, even 
 more rapidly than before, pointing frequently in 
 one direction and drawing her stout finger over 
 her brows and face. Lukashka understood what 
 she meant and kept nodding his head, with a 
 slight smile. She meant that her brother gave 
 the girls good things to eat ; she meant that the 
 girls all liked him, and that one girl — Maryanka 
 — was better than the rest, and that she loved 
 him. She indicated Maryanka by pointing 
 quickly in the direction of her house, then to 
 her eyebrows and her face, smacking her lips and 
 shaking her head. She signified ** love " by 
 pressing her hand to her bosom, kissing her hand, 
 and pretending to hug some one. The mother 
 came back into the room, and, perceiving what 
 the dumb girl was trying to talk about, smiled and 
 shook her head. Stepka showed her the ginger- 
 bread, and again she squealed with joy. 
 
 " I had a talk with Dame Ulitka the other day ; 
 I told her I was going to send the match-makers," 
 said the mother. " She took my suggestion very 
 kindly." 
 
 Lukashka looked at his mother without speak- 
 ing. 
 
 *' Well, matushka, you must sell the wine ; I 
 need a horse." 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 53 
 
 " I will dispose of it when the time comes ; I 
 am mending the casks," said the mother, evidently- 
 resenting it that her son meddled with her domes- 
 tic arrangements. ** When you go away," she 
 went on to say, " then take the bag that's in the 
 entry. I have borrowed of friends, and looked 
 out for your well-being at the cordon. Will you 
 put it in your sakvui ? " ' 
 
 "That's first-rate," rejoined Lukashka. "Now, 
 if Girei-Khan should come across the river, send 
 him to the * post,' since they won't give me leave 
 of absence for a long time to come. I have some 
 business with him." 
 
 " I will send him, Lukashka, I will send him. 
 What makes you always waste your time at 
 Yamka's } " asked the old mother. " Last night, 
 when I got up to go out to the cattle, I listened, 
 and I thought I heard your voice singing a 
 song." 
 
 Lukashka made no reply. He went into the 
 entry, threw the saddle-bags over his shoulder, 
 flung his coat over them, took his gun, and paused 
 on the threshold. 
 
 " Good-bye, matushka," said he to his mother, 
 as he closed the gate behind him. " Send a little 
 
 * Sakvui means the double sack, or bag, which the Cossacks 
 carry behind their saddles. — Author^ s note. 
 
154 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 cask by Nazarka ; I promised some to the boys. 
 He will come after it." 
 
 " Christ save you, Lukashka ! God be with 
 you ! I will send it ; I will send Some from the 
 new cask," replied the old mother, coming down 
 to the hedge. " Oh, here's something I want to 
 say to you," she added, leaning over the hedge. 
 
 The Cossack paused. 
 
 " You have had your spree here. Well, glory to 
 God ! Why shouldn't a young man enjoy him- 
 self } For it was God himself who gave you 
 good luck. That is good. But still just see here, 
 my dear son, don't, above all, carry it to excess ; 
 • be obedient to your superior officer — -one must! 
 And I will send the wine and I will get you 
 money enough for a horse and I will have the girl 
 betrothed to you." 
 
 "Very good ! " replied the son, scowling. 
 
 The dumb girl made a noise to attract his 
 attention. She pointed to her head and her 
 hand; that meant, " shaven head — Chechenets." 
 Then, puckering up her eyebrows, she made 
 believe aim with a gun, squealed, and ended in a 
 queer noise, shaking her head. 
 
 She was telling Lukashka to kill more Circas- 
 sians. Lukashka understood her, smiled, and, 
 with quick, light steps, and carrying his musket 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 55 
 
 behind his back, under his felt, disappeared in the 
 thick mist. 
 
 After standing silently for a moment at the 
 door sill, the old mother went to her dairy and 
 forthwith began her daily toil. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 LuKASHKA Started back to the cordon, and 
 Uncle Yeroshka at the same time whistled to his 
 dogs, and, crawling through the hedge, went by 
 the back way to Olyenin's lodgings. When he 
 was going on a hunting expedition he disliked to 
 meet women. Olyenin was still asleep and Van- 
 yusha, who had waked up, was still lying in bed, 
 looking around and wondering if it were time or 
 not, when Uncle Yeroshka, with his gun slung 
 behind his back and with his hunting apparatus, 
 opened the door. 
 
 " A switch ! A cane ! " he cried, in his bluff 
 voice. ** To arms ! The Chechens have come ! 
 — Ivan ! Put on the samovar for your master ! 
 And get up ! Lively ! " he cried. " That's the 
 way it is with us, my good man ! Even the girls 
 are up by this time. Look, look out of the win- 
 dow there ; she's going after water, and here you 
 are asleep ! " 
 
 Olyenin woke up and leaped out of bed. And 
 how pleasant and jolly it was to see the old man 
 and to hear his voice ! 
 
 156 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 157 
 
 " Lively ! lively there, Vanyusha ! " he cried. 
 
 " And this is the way you go hunting ! People 
 have had their breakfast, but you are asleep ! 
 Lyam ! where are you ? " he shouted to the dog. 
 
 " Is your gun all ready "i Hey } " screamed the 
 old man, making as much noise as if a whole 
 troop were in the cottage. 
 
 " Well, I am to blame for not having done a 
 single thing. Powder, Vanyusha! and the gun- 
 wads ! " exclaimed Olyenin. 
 
 "A fine ! " cried the old man. 
 
 ^^ Du t^ voulevoii f '' asked Vanyusha, laughing. 
 
 *' You aren't one of us ; you don't talk in our 
 language, you devil ! " cried the old man, showing 
 the roots of his teeth at Vanyusha. 
 
 "This is the first offence; you must let me off," 
 laughed Olyenin, as he drew on his great boots. 
 
 "Excused the first time," replied Yeroshka, 
 " but, if you sleep late a second time, you will 
 have to pay a fine of a gallon of red wine. After 
 the heat of the day begins, you won't see any 
 more stags." 
 
 " And if you find one, even then he will be 
 wiser than we men, I suppose," said Olyenin, 
 quoting the old man's words of the evening 
 before. " You won't get him by trickery." 
 
 " Oh, you're laughing at me. Kill one first and 
 
158 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 then talk ! Now, lively ! Ah, see there ! the 
 master of the house is coming to see you," said 
 Yeroshka, looking out of the window. "Ah, see ! 
 he's all dressed up, got on a new zipun, so as to 
 show you that he is an officer ! Ekh ! what a 
 people ! what a people ! " 
 
 At that moment Vanyusha came to report to 
 his master that the ensign wanted to see him. 
 
 " L'arzhan ! " said he, significantly, preparing 
 Olyenin for the object of the ensign's visit. A 
 moment after, the ensign himself, in a new 
 cherkeska with an officer's shoulder-straps and 
 in polished boots, — a rare thing among the Cos- 
 sacks, — came into the room, smiling and swag- 
 gering, and offered them the salutations of the 
 day. 
 
 Ilya Vasflyevitch, the ensign, was a cultivated 
 Cossack ; that is, he had been in Russia, was a 
 school-teacher, and, above all, was aristocratic. 
 He was anxious to seem an aristocrat ; but it 
 was impossible to avoid the conclusion that, 
 under the fictitious guise of his clumsy polish, 
 his uneasy self-assurance, and his coarse speech, 
 he felt himself just the same as Uncle Yeroshka. 
 It was evident, alike, in his sunburned face and 
 his hands and his red nose. 
 
 Olyenin begged the ensign to be seated. He 
 
THE COSSACKS. I^g 
 
 was a lean, slender, handsome man, forty years 
 of age, with a gray, wedge-shaped beard, and yet 
 very hearty for his forty years. As he came 
 into Olyenin's presence he was evidently ap- 
 prehensive lest he should be mistaken for an 
 ordinary Cossack, and was anxious to make his 
 importance instantly appreciated. 
 
 " Good morning, Ilya Vasilyevitch," said Ye- 
 roshka, standing up and making what seemed 
 to Olyenin an ironically low bow. 
 
 " How are you, uncle t You here already } " 
 replied the ensign, giving him a careless nod. 
 " This is our Egyptian Nimrod," he went on 
 to say, turning to Olyenin with a self-satisfied 
 smile and pointing to the old man. "^ mighty 
 hunter before the Lord. The first among us in 
 everything. Have you got acquainted with him 
 already } " 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka, looking at his leg wrapped 
 up in wet porshni, thoughtfully shook his head, 
 as though in amazement at the ensign's shrewd- 
 ness and learning, and repeated to himself : 
 ^^ ^ Gipshn Niinvrod' — what does he mean by 
 that ? " 
 
 " Well, we are going off hunting," said Olyenin. 
 
 ** That's very good," observed the ensign, ** but 
 I have a little business with you." 
 
l6o THE COSSACKS. 
 
 *' What is your pleasure? " 
 
 *' As you are a nobleman," the ensign began, 
 " and, as I am able to understand it, we both 
 have the rank of officer, and therefore we can 
 gradually and always treat each other as noble- 
 men." (He paused and glanced, with a smile, 
 at the old man and the officer.) " Now, if you 
 would only be good enough to talk things over 
 with me, — for my wife is a little dull of com- 
 prehension and she could not quite make out 
 at present what your words of yesterday's date 
 meant. Because I could easily let my lodgings, 
 without stable, for six silver rubles to the adju- 
 tant of the regiment ; but, as a man of aristo- 
 cratic birth, I can't think of such a thing as 
 moving permanently out of my rooms. And, 
 since you were very anxious about it, then, as 
 a man having myself the rank of officer, I could 
 very easily have a personal talk with you and 
 come to some agreement, and, as a native of 
 this district, though it is not in accordance with 
 our usual custom, but still in all respects I can 
 comply with the conditions . . ." 
 
 " Very clearly expressed," muttered the old 
 man. 
 
 The ensign went on for some time to speak in 
 the same strain. Olyenin not without some diffi- 
 
THE COSSACKS. l6l 
 
 culty was able to make out of it all that the 
 ensign was anxious to obtain six silver rubles a 
 month for his lodgings. He complied with his 
 desire and begged his guest to take a glass of 
 tea. The ensign declined. 
 
 ** According to our stupid customs," he says, 
 "we consider it a sin to use a worldly glass. 
 Now, though I, owing to my having had some 
 culture, might be able to understand this, yet 
 my wife, owing to human weakness . . .'* 
 
 " Well, will you send for some tea t " 
 
 *' If. you will permit me, I will bring my own 
 glass, my special one t " replied the ensign, and 
 he went to the steps. " My glass, bring my 
 glass," he cried. 
 
 In a few moments the door opened and a 
 sunburned young arm in a pink sleeve held the 
 glass into the room. The ensign went to the 
 door, took the glass, and whispered a word or 
 two to his daughter. Olyenin filled his visitor's 
 special glass ; Yeroshka drank out of the worldly 
 one. 
 
 " However, I do not wish to detain you," said 
 the ensign, making haste to drain the glass, and 
 burning his lips. " I have a great fondness for 
 fishing and I am here just for a little, as a sort 
 of vacation from my duties. So I have a sort of 
 
1 62 ^^^ COSSACA^S, 
 
 desire to try my luck and see if some of the 
 Terek's gifts will not fall to my lot. I hope 
 that you will come and visit me some time and 
 drink a * brotherly cup,' as we Cossacks call it," 
 he added. 
 
 Then he made a low bow, pressed Olyenin's 
 hand, and went out. 
 
 While the young officer was getting ready, he 
 heard the ensign's imperative voice giving direc- 
 tions to his family. Then, in a few minutes, 
 Olyenin saw him dressed in trousers rolled up to 
 the knees, and in a ragged beshmet, go past the 
 window, with his net on his shoulder. 
 
 " The cheat ! " exclaimed Uncle Yeroshka, 
 drinking his tea from the ivorldly glass. " Tell 
 me, are you going to pay six silver rubles } Who 
 ever heard of such a thing } You can get the best 
 room in the village for two moneta. The rascal ! 
 Why, I'll give you mine for three." 
 
 " No, I'll stay here where I am," said Olyenin. 
 
 " Six silver rubles ! what a foolish waste of 
 money ! E-ekh ! " grunted the old man. ** Give 
 me some wine, Ivan ! " - 
 
 After they had taken a bite of breakfast, and 
 drunk some vodka for their journey, Olyenin 
 and the old man went out together into the street. 
 It was about eight o'clock in the morning. In 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 163 
 
 front of the gate they met an ox cart. Maryana, 
 her face enveloped to the eyes in a white kerchief, 
 wearing a beshmet over her shirt and boots, and 
 with a long stick in her hand, was guiding the 
 oxen by a cord attached to their horns. 
 
 ** Ah, loveliest! "' exclaimed the old man, mak- 
 ing believe hug her. 
 
 Maryanka raised her stick at him, and looked 
 gayly at them both from her handsome eyes. 
 
 Olyenin's heart felt lighter than ever. 
 
 " Well, come on, come on," he cried, throwing 
 his gun over his shoulder and feeling the girl's 
 gaze resting on him. 
 
 Maryanka's voice, addressing the oxen, rang out 
 behind them, and immediately after the two- 
 wheeled arba went creaking on its way. Olyenin 
 kept glancing back toward the ox cart, in which 
 sat the girl, holding her switch and goading on the 
 oxen. 
 
 The mist had partly lifted, disclosing the 
 wet, thatched roofs, and had partly changed to 
 dew, which stood in big drops on the paths and 
 foliage around the fences. The smoke from all 
 the chimneys hung low. The people were pouring 
 out from the village ; some to work, some on their 
 way to the river, some to the cordon. 
 * Matnushka^ little mother. 
 
164 ^-^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 While their road lay along back of the houses 
 in the village and across the pastures, Yeroshka 
 chattered incessantly. He could not keep the 
 ensign out of his thoughts, and kept abusing him. 
 
 " But why are you down on him ? " asked Olye- 
 nin. 
 
 " Stingy ! I don't like him ! " exclaimed the 
 old man. " When he dies, he will have to leave 
 everything behind him. Whom is he hoarding 
 for } He's built two houses already. He sued 
 his brother and got away another garden from 
 him. And then you know what a dog he is about 
 writing all sorts of documents ! They come to him 
 from other villages to get him to write for them. 
 And when he writes he finishes it right up and 
 done with it. That's the way he always does. 
 Who's he laying up for .? He's only one boy and 
 the girl ; when she's married, there's no more." 
 
 "Perhaps he's hoarding for the dowry," sug- 
 gested Olyenin. 
 
 " What dowry ? They'll be glad enough to take 
 the girl ; she's a fine girl. Yes, and you see he's 
 such a devil that he'll want to give her to a rich 
 man. He'll want to skin him out of a lot of 
 money. Now, Luka is a Cossack, he's a neighbor 
 of mine, and my nephew, and a fine young fellow ; 
 he killed the Chechenets ; he's been after her for a 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 65 
 
 long time, but he won't give her to him. This, 
 that, and the other excuse he finds against it ; the 
 girl's too young, he says. But I know what his 
 ideas are. He wants them to come with formal 
 gifts. But it would be too bad as far as the girl is 
 concerned. But they'll give her to Lukashka yet. 
 Because he is the first Cossack in the village, a 
 jigit ; he killed the abrek, he's going to have a 
 cross." 
 
 " But what does this mean t Last evening, as I 
 was walking in the yard, I saw this same girl kiss- 
 ing a Cossack," said Olyenin. 
 
 " You're mistaken," screamed the old man, stop- 
 ping short. 
 
 " As God lives ! " said Olyenin. 
 
 "A woman's a devil," was Uncle Yeroshka's 
 sententious answer. *' But what Cossack was it?" 
 
 " I could not see." 
 
 " But what sort of stuff did he have on his cap ? 
 Was it white lambskin t " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And a red zipun } Was he about your size ? " 
 
 ** No, taller." 
 
 "It was he," cried Yeroshka, laughing boister- 
 ously. " It was he, my Marka. It was Lukashka. 
 I call him Marka, for I am a joker. He was the 
 one ! I love him. I used to be just like him, my 
 
1 66 ^^^^^ COSSACKS, 
 
 father. How I used to love the women ! Well, 
 my dushenka used to sleep with her mother and 
 her sister, and still I got in where she was. She 
 used to live upstairs. The mother was a witch, a 
 perfect devil, and she hated me. I would go with 
 Girchik, my 7tydnya (that does not mean oldest 
 sister, but friend). I'd come under the window, 
 then climb up on his shoulders, open the window, 
 and then grope my way in. And there she would 
 be asleep on the bench. Once I woke her up that 
 way. How she squealed ! She didn't know me. 
 * Who's there } ' and I hadn't the power to say a 
 word. Her mother was beginning to stir. I took 
 my cap and stuck it into her snout. Then she 
 knew by the rim who it was. She jumped up. In 
 those days I got anything I wanted. She used to 
 bring me curds and grapes and everything," added 
 Uncle Yeroshka, giving a practical turn to his 
 anecdotes. ** Yes, and there were others beside 
 her ! Life was life then ! " 
 
 *' But how is it now } " 
 
 "Ah ! now we will follow the dog, we will tree 
 a pheasant ; then you shoot ! " 
 
 "Wouldn't you like to court Maryana.?"«f 7d.' 
 
 " You watch the dog ! I will show you before 
 evening," said the old man, pointing to his beloved 
 Lyam, 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 6/ 
 
 Both were silent. They proceeded a hundred 
 paces, occasionally exchanging a word, and then 
 the old man again paused and pointed to a dead 
 limb that lay across their path. 
 
 ** What think you that is } " he asked. " Do you 
 suppose it is right ? No. That stick lies in 
 the wrong way." 
 
 "Why is it wrong.?" 
 
 He smiled scornfully. " You don't know any- 
 thing. Listen to me. When a stick lies that 
 way you must not step over it, but go around 
 it or fling it this way out of the road and 
 repeat the prayer, *To the Father and the Son 
 and the Holy Ghost,' and go with God's blessing. 
 It won't do any harm then. So the old men have 
 always told me." 
 
 ** Now, what nonsense that is ! " exclaimed 
 Olyenin. " Tell me rather about Maryanka. So 
 she goes round with Lukashka ? " 
 
 " Sh ! now keep quiet," and again the old man 
 interrupted the conversation with a whisper. 
 " Just listen. Now we come into the thick woods." 
 
 And the old man, stepping noiselessly in his 
 porshni, went along over the narrow path which 
 led into the thick, wild forest with its dense 
 undergrowth. Occasionally he looked scowlingly 
 at Olyenin, who tramped noisily along in his 
 
1 68 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 heavy boots, and, as he carried his gun carelessly, 
 oftentimes got it entangled in the overhanging 
 branches of the trees. 
 
 " Don't make such a noise ; go softly, soldier ! " 
 said Yeroshka, in an angry whisper. 
 
 There was a feeling in the air that the sun was 
 trying to break through the mist. It was thinner, 
 but still concealed the tops of the trees. The 
 forest seemed monstrously high. At each step 
 forward the view changed. What seemed a tree 
 proved to be a bush, a bunch of rushes had the 
 aspect of a tree. 
 
•CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The two huntsmen went along together over 
 the damp herb-grown path. The dogs, wagging 
 their tails and occasionally glancing at their 
 masters, trotted along by their side. Myriads of 
 gnats darted about them and followed them, 
 covering their backs, their faces, and their hands. 
 The air was redolent of vegetation and the 
 dampness of the woods. It was warm. The 
 village noises, which they had heard before, now 
 no longer reached the huntsmen, only the dogs 
 made their way through the brambles, and occa- 
 sionally the birds twittered. Olyenin knew that 
 it was unsafe in these woods, that abreks were 
 always apt to be lurking in such places. He also 
 felt a strong reliance on the protection afforded 
 by his gun. He was not exactly afraid, but he 
 was conscious that another in his place might 
 have been afraid, and, as he gazed with strained 
 attention into the misty, damp forest and listened 
 to the faint, distant sounds, he grasped his gun 
 firmly and experienced a feeling that was new and 
 at the same time agreeable to him. 
 
 169 
 
I70 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka, taking the lead, halted at each 
 pool where double tracks were to be seen, exam- 
 ined them attentively and pointed them out to 
 Olyenin. He scarcely spoke a word, only occa- 
 sionally making his whispered observations. The ' 
 path which they took had some time previously 
 been traversed by an arba, but had been long 
 overgrown by grass. The forest of cork elms and 
 chinar trees was so dense on both sides and so 
 overgrown that it was impossible for the eye to 
 penetrate its depths. Almost every tree was 
 draped from top to bottom with wild grapevines ; 
 the underbrush was a perfect thicket of black- 
 thorn. Every smallest clearing was overgrown 
 with blackberry vines, with rushes crowned with 
 gray waving flowers. Here and there great paths 
 made by animals and small ones like the tunnels 
 of pheasants led off from the wood road into the 
 depths of the thicket. Olyenin, who had never 
 seen anything like it, was amazed at the exuber- 
 ance of this virgin forest. The dense vegetation, 
 the peril, the old man with his mysterious whis- 
 pers, Maryanka with her strong superb figure, and 
 the mountains, — all seemed to Olyenin like a 
 klream. 
 
 "A pheasant has just alighted," said the old 
 man in a whisper, glancing around and drawing 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 171 
 
 his cap down over his face. " Hide your snout, 
 it's a pheasant." He frowned sternly at Olyenin, 
 and crept on almost on his hands and knees. ** It 
 doesn't like a man's face." 
 
 Olyenin was still in the rear when the old man 
 suddenly rose to his full height and began to 
 scrutinize a tree. A fowl was clucking down at 
 the dog which was barking at him, at the foot of a 
 tree, and Olyenin saw the pheasant. But, just as 
 he was taking aim, Uncle Yeroshka's fowling-piece 
 went off with a report like a cannon, and the bird, 
 which had started to fly up, fell earthward, scatter- 
 ing its feathers as it fell. As he went toward 
 the old man, Olyenin started up another. Putting * 
 his gun to his shoulder, he aimed and fired. The 
 pheasant flew up, then fell like a stone into the 
 thicket. 
 
 " Bravo ! " cried Uncle Yeroshka, who was not a 
 crack shot at a bird on the wing. Picking up the 
 pheasants, they went on. Elated by the exertion 
 and the praise, Olyenin kept talking with the old 
 man. 
 
 " Hold on, we will go in here ! " cried the old 
 man, interrupting him. " Yesterday I saw the 
 tracks of a stag there." 
 
 Turning off into the thicket and proceeding 
 three hundred paces, they reached a clearing 
 
172 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 overgrown with reeds, and in places overflowed 
 with water. Olyenin followed the old huntsman, 
 and was about twenty paces behind him when he 
 saw him bend over, shake his head significantly, 
 and beckon with his hand. Hastening to join 
 him, Olyenin saw human footprints. Uncle 
 Yeroshka called his attention to them: — 
 
 *' Do you see t " 
 
 " Yes, I see ; what of it t " replied Olyenin, 
 trying to speak as calmly as possible. "A man 
 has been here." 
 
 The thought of Cooper's "Pathfinder" and of 
 abreks flashed through his mind, and, as he no- 
 ticed the precaution with which the old man went 
 on, he could not make up his mind to ask about 
 it, and was therefore in doubt whether this air of 
 mystery resulted from peril or the exigencies of 
 sport. 
 
 " Nay, that's my own track," replied the old 
 man, simply, and then pointed to the grass over 
 which could be seen the almost obliterated tracks 
 of a wild animal. 
 
 The old man went on. Olyenin kept now 
 abreast of him. After they had gone twenty 
 paces farther, they descended to a lower level and 
 reached a thicket where there was a spreading 
 pear tree, under which the grass did not grow, 
 
I THE COSSACKS. 1 73 
 
 and the fresh lesses of a wild animal could be 
 plainly seen on the black soil. The place, all 
 surrounded by wild grapevines, was like a snug 
 covered arbor, dark and cool. 
 
 ** He has been here this morning," said the 
 old man, with a sigh. " See, the lair shows he 
 has been lying here." 
 
 Suddenly a tremendous crashing was heard in 
 the forest, not ten paces away. Both were 
 startled, and grasped their muskets, but nothing 
 was to be seen ; only there was a sound of break- 
 ing twigs. The regular, swift beat of a gallop 
 was heard for an instant, then the crashing 
 changed into a dull rumble, ever farther and 
 farther away, echoing through the still forest. 
 Something seemed to give way in Olyenin's heart. 
 With a dazed expression he gazed at the green 
 depths of the wood, and at last turned and looked 
 at the old man. Uncle Yeroshka, with his gun 
 still at his shoulder, stood motionless ; his hat was 
 on the back of his head, his eyes gleamed with an 
 unusual light, and his opened mouth, showing the 
 stumps of his yellow teeth, had an angry expres- 
 sion ; he seemed petrified in that position. 
 
 " A big horn ! " he cried. And, throwing down 
 his gun in despair, he began to tear his white 
 beard. — " Here he was standino:. In a moment 
 
174 
 
 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 we should have been on him. Fool ! fool ! ** — 
 and he wrathfully clutched his beard. " Fool ! 
 Hog ! " he repeated, still twitching his beard. 
 Something seemed to be flying through the for- 
 est in the mist ; farther and farther away, more 
 and more dimly echoed the hoofs of the escaping 
 stag. 
 
 It was growing dark when Olyenin returned 
 with the old man, weary, famished, and full of 
 vigor. Dinner was waiting for him. He ate and 
 drank with the old huntsman, and his heart was 
 full of warmth and joy when they went out on the 
 steps. Again before his eyes arose the moun- 
 tains against the sunset. Again the old man 
 related his endless stories about the chase, about 
 the abreks, about his mistresses, about his wild 
 adventurous life. Again the superb maiden 
 Maryana, the beauty, went by, in and out and 
 across the yard. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 On the following day Olyenin went alone to 
 the place where they had started up the stag. 
 Instead of taking the longer way through the vil- 
 lage gates, he followed the example of all the 
 others, and crept through the bramble hedge. 
 And he had scarcely got loose from the thorns 
 that caught in his cherkeska when his dog, which 
 had run on ahead, started up two pheasants. 
 
 As soon as he had got fairly into the black- 
 thorn thicket, the pheasants began to fly up at 
 every step. The old huntsman had not showed 
 him this place the day before, intending to keep 
 it for hunting with the decoy. Olyenin shot five 
 pheasants in twelve shots, and, in trying to crawl 
 after them through the thicket, he exerted him- 
 self so vigorously that the sweat poured from 
 him. He called back his dog, uncocked his gun, 
 loaded it with a bullet instead of shot, and, driv- 
 ing away the gnats with the sleeves of his cher- 
 keska, he noiselessly made his way to where they 
 had been the day before. But it was impossible 
 to restrain the dog, which kept finding fresh 
 
 175 
 
176 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 trails, and he killed still another brace of pheas- 
 ants, and the delay caused by this prevented him 
 from reaching the place before it was noon. 
 
 The day was remarkably clear, calm, and hot. 
 The morning coolness had entirely vanished from 
 the forest, and myriads of midges literally covered 
 his face, his back, and his hands. They settled 
 down so upon the dog's back that they changed 
 his color from black to gray, and the same with 
 the cherkaska, through which they thrust their 
 stings. Olyenin was ready to make his escape 
 from his tormentors ; it even seemed to him 
 that it would be impossible for him to spend 
 the summer in the village. He started to go 
 home, but, remembering that men live through 
 such things, he resolutely made up his mind to 
 put up with it, and allowed the gnats to sting him 
 as much as they pleased. And, strangely enough, 
 toward noon, this sensation began to be agreeable 
 to him. It even seemed to him that if this at- 
 mosphere of gnats surrounding him on all sides, 
 this paste of gnats which rolled up as he passed 
 his hand over his face, and this intolerable itch- 
 ing over his whole body, were absent, then the 
 forest there would have lost for him its char- 
 acter and its charm. These myriads of insects 
 were so appropriate to the wildness of the vege- 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 177 
 
 tation, luxuriant almost to ugliness, this wilder- 
 ness of beasts and birds, this dark green forest, 
 this fragrant heated air, these channels of muddy 
 water everywhere oozing through from the Terek 
 and bubbling up under the hanging leaves, that 
 what had before seemed terrible and unendurable 
 now began to be even agreeable. 
 
 Going to the spot where he had found the stag 
 the day before, and finding nothing there, he felt 
 an inclination to rest. The sun stood directly 
 above the forest and scorched his head and 
 neck whenever he came out into a clearing 
 or went along a path. His seven pheasants 
 dragged down upon his belt with a painful 
 weight. He hunted for the trail of the stag, 
 crept through the bushes to the thicket, to the 
 very place where the stag had lain the day be- 
 fore, and stretched himself out in his retreat. 
 He saw all around him the dark green wall of 
 leaves, he saw the nest where he had been ly- 
 ing, the dried fumets, the impression of the 
 stag's knees, the lumps of earth torn up by 
 his hoofs, and his latest tracks. It seemed 
 cool and comfortable ; he had no anxieties, no 
 desires. 
 
 And suddenly there came over him such a 
 strange feeling of unreasonable joy and love 
 
1^8 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 toward everything that he began to cross him- 
 self and offered thanks, just as he used to do 
 when he was a child. Suddenly this thought 
 came into his mind with extraordinary clear- 
 ness : — 
 
 "Here I, Dmitri Olyenin, an entity distinct 
 from all others, am lying all alone, God knows 
 where, in the very place where lives a stag, 
 an old stag, a handsome fellow, which has per- 
 haps never even seen the face of man, and in 
 a place, likewise, where no human being has 
 ever been before, or thought of being. Here 
 I sit and around me rise old trees and young 
 trees and each one of them is twined about by 
 the tendrils of the wild grape ; around me 
 swarm the pheasants, chasing each other, and, 
 perhaps, scenting their dead companions." 
 
 He felt of his pheasants, examined them, and 
 wiped his blood-stained hand on his cherkeska. 
 
 " Perhaps the jackals also smell them, and, 
 with fierce faces, are sneaking about me on 
 the other side. Around me, flying among the 
 leaves, which must seem to them like vast 
 islands, the gnats are hovering in the air, and 
 buzzing : one, two, three, four, a hundred, a 
 thousand, a million gnats, and each one of 
 them is buzzing something for some special 
 
THE COSSACKS. I^n 
 
 reason around me, and each one of them is a 
 Dmitri Olyenin, an entity distinct from all the 
 others as much as I am." 
 
 He began to get a clear idea of what the 
 gnats were thinking and buzzing about : '* Here, 
 this way, children. Here's something good to 
 eat," they sing, as they settle down upon him. 
 
 And it became clear to him that he was not 
 in the least a Russian nobleman, a member of 
 high Moscow society, the friend and relative of 
 this person and that, but a mere gnat, like these 
 others, or a pheasant, or a stag, like those that 
 now have their haunts in the woods around him. 
 
 "Just like them, just like Uncle Yeroshka, I 
 live my little life and shall die like them. He 
 was right when he said : * Only grass will be 
 the aftergrowth.* — And supposing it is only 
 grass } " his thoughts ran on, " still I must 
 live all the same, must be happy : because I 
 have only one wish — happiness. It would be 
 all the same, whatever I was : whether an ani- 
 mal, like all the rest, over which the grass 
 will grow and nothing more, or a frame in 
 which a part of all-embracing Godhead is set : 
 still I must live in the best way possible. 
 How, then, must I live so as to be happy, 
 and why have I not been happy hitherto?" 
 
l80 ■ THE COSSACKS. 
 
 And he began to review his past life, and it 
 seemed to him disgusting. He seemed in his 
 own eyes such an exacting egotist, even while 
 in reality he had no real needs at all. And all 
 the time he was gazing at the brilliant green of 
 the foliage, at the descending sun and the clear 
 sky, and he realized that his happiness still kept 
 at the same high level. 
 
 "What makes me happy.? And what has been 
 the aim of my past life.-*" he asked himself. 
 " How exacting I have been for my own interests, 
 how whimsical I have been, and what have been 
 the results of my actions? — only shame and 
 suffering ! And now how little I find is essential 
 for happiness." 
 
 And suddenly it seemed as though a new world 
 were revealed to him. ** This is what happi- 
 ness is," he said to himself. " Happiness con- 
 sists in living for others. This also is clear. 
 Man is endowed with a craving for happiness ; 
 therefore it must be legitimate. If he satisfies 
 it egotistically — that is, if he bends his energies 
 toward acquiring wealth, fame, physical comforts, 
 love — it may happen that circumstances will make 
 it impossible to satisfy this craving. In fact, 
 these cravings are illegitimate, but the craving 
 for happiness is not illegitimate. What cravings 
 
THE COSSACKS. l8i 
 
 can always he satisfied independently of external 
 conditions ? — Love, self-denial." 
 
 The discovery of this, which seemed to him a 
 new truth, so delighted and satisfied him that he 
 sprang up and began impatiently to consider whom 
 he might as quickly as possible sacrifice himself for, 
 to whom he might do good, whom he might love. 
 
 " Since I need nothing for myself," he kept 
 thinking, " why should I not live for others ? " 
 He took his gun, and, with the intention of re- 
 turning home as soon as possible so as to think 
 this all over and find a chance to do good, he 
 crept out of the thicket. When he came into the 
 clearing he looked around : the sun was hidden 
 behind the tree-tops ; it had grown cooler, and the 
 locality seemed to him perfectly unknown and un- 
 like that surrounding the village. Everything had 
 suddenly undergone a change, the weather and 
 the character of the forest ; the sky was covered 
 with clouds, the wind soughed through the tops of 
 the trees ; all around him were to be seen only the 
 reeds and the decaying forest primeval. He started 
 to call back his dog, which had run from him after 
 some animal, and his voice reechoed through the 
 solitude. And suddenly a terrible dread came 
 upon him. He began to be afraid. His memory 
 called up the abrcks, and their murderous deeds of 
 
1 82 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 which he had been told, and he began to imagine 
 that a Chechenets was hiding behind every bush, 
 ready to leap out at him, and he saw himself de- 
 fending his life, or dying or playing the coward. 
 The thought of God and of the future life came to 
 him with a vividness long unexperienced. But all 
 around him was the same dusky, stern, wild nature. 
 
 "And is it any use," he asked himself, "to 
 have lived for self, when here you may die, and 
 die not having accomplished any good, and die 
 here, far away from all human eyes } " 
 
 He struck off in the direction where he sup- 
 posed the village lay. He had entirely forgotten 
 about his hunting ; he felt desperately tired ; he 
 glanced with apprehension, almost with horror, at 
 every clump of bushes and tree, expecting that 
 his life might be required of him at any second. 
 After making a pretty wide circuit, he struck a 
 canal through which flowed the sandy, cold water 
 from the Terek, and he resolved to keep along 
 beside this so as not to get turned around. Even 
 now he did not know where the canal would bring 
 him out. Suddenly there was a crashing in the 
 reeds behind him. He was startled and grasped 
 his gun. It was only his heated and heavily pant- 
 ing dog jumping into the cold water of the ditch 
 and beginning to lap it. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 183 
 
 Olyenin felt a sense of shame. 
 
 He stooped down and drank with him, and then 
 he followed in the direction of the canal, expect- 
 ing that it would bring him to the village. But, 
 in spite of the dog's companionship, it suddenly 
 seemed to him more gloomy than ever. The for- 
 est was filled with shadows ; the wind played 
 more and more violently in the tops of the 
 ancient, decaying trees. Great birds flew crying 
 around their nests in these trees. The vegetation 
 grew less luxuriant ; he came more and more fre- 
 quently ^upon clumps of murmuring rushes and 
 bare, sandy reaches, marked by the tracks of wild 
 animals. Mingled with the whispering of the 
 wind came a melancholy, monotonous murmur. 
 His whole soul was filled with gloom. He felt 
 after his pheasants behind him and found that one 
 was gone. The bird had been torn off and lost, 
 and only the bloody neck and head stuck to his 
 belt. It seemed to him that never before in his 
 life had he felt so overwhelmed with terror. 
 He tried to offer a prayer to God ; his one fear 
 was that he should be killed without having done 
 any good in the world, and his desire was so 
 strong to live, to live so as to accomplish some 
 great exploit of self-renunciation ! 
 
CHAPTER XXL 
 
 Suddenly it seemed as though the sun shone 
 into his heart. He heard the sounds of Russian 
 talk ; he heard the swift, regular rushing of the 
 Terek, and, within two steps, there opened out 
 before him the tawny, hurrying surface of the 
 river, with its damp, brown sands along the 
 shores and bars, the distant steppe, the roof of 
 the " post " a short distance above the water, a 
 saddled horse, with its feet hobbled, grazing, — 
 -and the mountains. The red sun peered for an 
 instant from under the clouds, and its last rays 
 shot cheerfully across the river, over the reeds, 
 and gleamed on the roof and a group of Cossacks 
 standing about. Among them Lukashka's vigor- 
 ous form involuntarily attracted Olyenin's atten- 
 tion. 
 
 He felt himself again, and, without any appar- 
 ent cause, perfectly happy. He had come to the 
 Nizhni-Prototsky post on the Terek, and over 
 against the pacific aul on the Chechen side. He 
 greeted the Cossacks, but, finding as yet no 
 chance to do any one good, he went into the 
 
 184 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 85 
 
 house. No opportunity offered in the house 
 either. The Cossacks received him coldly. He 
 looked about in the clay-plastered room and 
 smoked his cigarette. The Cossacks paid no 
 attention to him ; in the first place, because he 
 smoked cigarettes, and, secondly, because they 
 had something else to distract them that evening. 
 
 Some hostile Chechens, relatives of Lukashka's 
 abrek, had come down from the mountains, with 
 a dragoman, to ransom the body. The Cossack 
 commander was expected from the village. 
 
 The dead man's brother, a tall, finely propor- 
 tioned man, with a beard trimmed and dyed red, 
 was as dignified and haughty as a tsar, though he 
 was dressed in a torn cherkeska and lambskin 
 cap. His features bore a striking resemblance to 
 the dead abrek. He did not deign to glance at 
 any one ; not once did he turn his eyes upon the 
 dead man^ but, squatting on his heels in the 
 shade, he smoked his pipe, spat upon the ground, 
 and, from time to time, gave imperious commands 
 in a guttural tone, and his fellow listened deferen- 
 tially and obeyed them. It was plain that this 
 was a jigit, who had more than once seen the 
 Russians in entirely different circumstances, and 
 that he found nothing to surprise him or attract 
 attention in them now. 
 
1 86 "^^HE COSSACKS. 
 
 Olyenin went near to the dead man and began 
 to gaze at him, but the brother cast a calm, con- 
 temptuous glance at him and said something in an 
 angry staccato. The dragoman hastened to cover 
 the dead man's face with a cloak. Olyenin was 
 dumfounded by the dignity and sternness of the 
 jigit's face ; he greeted him and asked from what 
 aul he came, but the Chechenets barely glanced 
 at him, spat contemptuously, and turned away. 
 
 Olyenin was so surprised at the mountaineer's 
 indifference or lack of interest in him that he 
 explained it to himself as due to stupidity or not 
 understanding him. 
 
 He addressed himself to his comrade. 
 
 His comrade, the emissary and dragoman, was 
 likewise ragged ; he was not sandy, like the other, 
 but dark and vivacious, and had exceedingly white 
 teeth and flashing black eyes. He was not at all 
 averse to conversation, and begged for a cigar- 
 ette. 
 
 "There were five brothers of them," related 
 the interpreter, in broken Russian ; " now the 
 Russians already shot three ; there were only two 
 left ; he's a jigit, very jigit," said the interpreter, 
 indicating the Chechenets. " When Akhmet- 
 Khan — that was the name of the dead abrek — 
 was killed, this one was on the other side, hiding 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 87 
 
 in the reeds ; he saw the whole thing, and how 
 they got Akhmet-Khan in a boat and how they 
 brought him ashore. He sat there till night ; he 
 wanted to shoot the old man, but the others would 
 not let him.'* 
 
 Lukashka came where Olyenin was and sat 
 down. 
 
 "Well, what aul are you from } " he asked. 
 
 "Yonder in those mountains," replied the inter- 
 preter, pointing across the Terek toward a bluish, 
 misty defile. " Do you know Suyuk-su t It's 
 ten versts beyond that." 
 
 " Do you know Girei-Khan in Suyuk-su } " 
 asked Lukashka, evidently proud of this acquaint- 
 ance. " He's my kunak ! " 
 
 " He's a neighbor of mine," replied the inter- 
 preter. 
 
 " He's a brave man," and Lukashka, evidently 
 very much interested, began speaking in the Ta- 
 tar tongue with the mountaineer. 
 
 Before long, the sotnik or captain and the vil- 
 lage elder came riding up, followed by a suite of 
 two Cossacks. The sotnik, one of the new offi- 
 cers, greeted the Cossacks, but there was no 
 return greeting of, " We hope you are well, your 
 Honor," as in the army, and a bow here and there 
 was all that any one gave him. A few, and Lu- 
 
1 88 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 kashka among the number, stood up and formed 
 in line. The sergeant reported that all was 
 satisfactory at the " post." 
 
 All this seemed ridiculous to Olyenin, like 
 Cossacks playing soldier. But the formalities 
 quickly assumed more simplicity, and the sotnik, 
 who was a clever Cossack, like all the rest, was 
 soon briskly talking Tatar with the delegate. A 
 paper was drawn up and given to the delegate, 
 and money taken in exchange, and then they 
 approached the corpse. 
 
 " Gavrilof Luka, — which one of you is he ? " 
 asked the sotnik. 
 
 Lukashka took off his cap and advanced. 
 
 " I have sent a report about you to the colonel. 
 What will come of it, I do not know ; I have 
 recommended you for a cross ; we'll soon make 
 you a sergeant. Can you read and write } '* 
 
 "Not at all." 
 
 " But what a superb fellow ! " exclaimed the 
 sotnik, continuing to play commander. *' Put on 
 your cap. What family of Gavrilofs } Any rela- 
 tion to the ' Broad-back ' .? " 
 
 " His nephew," replied the sergeant. 
 
 " I know, I know. — Well, take it away ; lend a 
 hand there," said he, turning to the Cossacks. 
 
 Lukashka's face grew radiant with pleasure, 
 
THE COSSACKS. l8g 
 
 and seemed handsomer than usual. Ke turned 
 from the sergeant, and, putting on his cap, again 
 sat down near Olyenin. 
 
 After the body had been laid in the canoe, the 
 Chechenets, the brother of Akhmet-Khan, went 
 down to the shore. The Cossacks involuntarily 
 made way for him. Giving a powerful spring 
 from the shore, he leaped into the boat. Then, 
 for the first time, as Olyenin noticed, he cast a 
 fleeting glance over all the Cossacks, and again 
 asked some abrupt question of his companion. 
 The dragoman replied, and pointed to Lukashka. 
 The Chechenets gazed at him, and then, slowly 
 turning around, looked toward the other shore. 
 
 Not so much hatred as chilling scorn was ex- 
 pressed in his face. He said a few words more. 
 
 " What did he say t " asked Olyenin of the 
 lively dragoman. 
 
 " Yours kill ours, ours will kill yours. Always 
 the same coil ! " said he, evidently answering at 
 haphazard; then, laughing and showing his white 
 teeth, he sprang into the canoe. 
 
 The dead man's brother sat motionless, and 
 gazed steadily at the farther shore. He was so 
 filled with hate and scorn that he found nothing 
 worthy of his attention on this side. The drago- 
 man, standing at the stern of the canoe, paddling 
 
190 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 now on this side, now on that, skilfully drove it 
 across, and talked incessantly. As the current 
 bore them obliquely down stream, the canoe 
 grew smaller and smaller, the sounds of the voices 
 were ahnost lost, and at last they were seen to 
 run. on the farther shore, where their horses were 
 in waiting. There they disembarked the body, 
 and laid it across the saddle in spite of the res- 
 tiveness of the horse ; then mounting, they rode 
 off slowly along the road, past the aul, from which 
 a throng of people came forth to look at them. 
 
 But the Cossacks, on the Russian side, were 
 thoroughly satisfied and happ3^ Laughter and 
 raillery were heard all about. The sotnik and the 
 village elder went into the clay-plastered room of 
 the hut to have some refreshments. Lukashka, 
 with a radiant face, which he vainly tried to sober 
 down, took a seat near Olyenin, resting his elbows 
 on his knees and peeling a stick. 
 
 " What makes you smoke ? " he asked, as though 
 out of curiosity. *' Is it good ? " 
 
 He evidently said this because he noticed that 
 Olyenin felt ill at ease and was alone among the 
 Cossacks. 
 
 " Yes, I am used to it," replied Olyenin. " But 
 why do you ask t " 
 
 *' Hm ! If any of us fellows here were to smoke. 
 
THE COSSACKS. IqI 
 
 it would go hard with him ! How near the moun- 
 tains look ! " said Lukashka, pointing to the defile. 
 "And yet it would take some time to get there! 
 . . . How will you be able to get home alone ? it's 
 dark. I will go with you, if you like," said Lu- 
 kashka ; "you ask the sergeant." 
 
 "What a splendid young fellow ! " said Olyenin 
 to himself, as he looked into the Cossack's merry 
 face. The thought of Maryanka occurred to him, 
 and the kiss which he had overheard behind the 
 gate ; and he began to feel sorry for Lukashka, for 
 his lack of education. " What folly and confusion ! " 
 he thought, " a man has killed another and is 
 happy and satisfied as though he had done some 
 good deed. Can it be that nothing whispers to 
 him that there is no reason for rejoicing on ac- 
 count of this .'' That happiness consists not in 
 killing others, but in self-sacrifice } " 
 
 "Well, don't fall into his hands now, brother !" 
 exclaimed one of the Cossacks who had come 
 down to see the boat off, addressing Lukashka. 
 " Did you hear what he said about you } " 
 
 Lukashka raised bis head. " The one I chris- 
 tened t " asked Lukashka, meaning by this the 
 Chechenets. 
 
 " The one you christened will not rise again, 
 but the sandy brother lives still." 
 
192 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 *' Let him thank his stars that he got away 
 whole," said Lukashka, with a laugh. 
 
 " Why is it you feel glad ? " asked Olyenin of 
 Lukashka. " If your brother had been killed, 
 should you feel glad ? " 
 
 A look of fun came into the Cossack's eyes as 
 he glanced at Olyenin. He evidently understood 
 all the meaning that Olyenin intended to convey, 
 but he stood on a higher ground than such con- 
 siderations. 
 
 "Supposing it were so .»* It must be! Don't 
 they kill our brothers ? " 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The sotnik and the village elder rode off ; and 
 Oly^nin, so as to confer a pleasure upon Lukashka, 
 and so as not to travel alone through the dark 
 forest, asked for Lukashka's company, and permis- 
 sion was granted. Olyenin supposed that he 
 wanted to see Maryanka, and he was, moreover, 
 glad of the company of such a pleasant-looking and 
 garrulous Cossack. Lukashka and Maryanka were 
 naturally united in his imagination, and he liked 
 to think of them. " He loves Maryanka," said 
 Olyenin to himself, "and I might love her." And 
 a strange and novel feeling of affection overmas- 
 tered him as they went home together through the 
 dark forest. Lukashka was also particularly light- 
 hearted. Something like love was experienced by 
 both of these young men, who were in every way 
 so absolutely dissimilar. Every time that their 
 eyes met, they felt like smiling. 
 
 •■* Which is your gate ? " asked Olyenin. 
 
 "The middle one ; I will go with you as far as the 
 swamp. After that there is nothing more to be 
 afraid of." 
 
 193 
 
194 ^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 Olyenin laughed. 
 
 " Why should I be afraid ? Go back. I am 
 much obliged to you. I will go on alone." 
 
 " Not at all. What else have I got to do } 
 Why shouldn't you be afraid ; even we are," said 
 Lukashka, also laughing, and soothing his compan- 
 ion's vanity. 
 
 " Then come in with me. We will have a talk, 
 we will drink together, and you can go back to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " Do you think that I should not find a place to 
 spend the night," returned Lukashka, laughing. 
 ** But the sergeant ordered me to come back." 
 
 *' I heard you last evening ; you were singing 
 a song, and besides I saw you." 
 
 "All men . . ." and Luka shook his head. 
 
 " Well, are you to be married t Is that so } " 
 asked Olyenin. 
 
 " Matushka wants to have me marry. But I 
 haven't any horse yet." 
 
 " Aren't you regularly enrolled } " 
 
 " How should I be t I've only just been taken 
 on. I haven't any horse yet and no way to ar- 
 range for one. And that's why I don't get 
 married." 
 
 " And how much does a horse cost } " 
 
 "One was bought the other day across the 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 95 
 
 river ; it was less than sixty rubles, but it was 
 a Nogaf horse." 
 
 " Come and be my drabant. ' T will manage 
 it and I will furnish you with a horse," said 
 Olyenin, with a sudden impulse. — " Truly I will. 
 I have two ; I don't need them both." 
 
 "Why don't you need them V asked Lukashka, 
 with a laugh. " Why should you give me one } 
 We shall get one in God's time." 
 
 " Truly I mean it ! Or won't you come as my 
 drabant V asked Olyenin, pleased with the thought 
 
 r 
 
 that had occurred to him of giving Lukashka a 
 horse. He felt a little awkward, however, and 
 his conscience pricked him. He tried to get out 
 of his difficulty, but could not find words. 
 
 Lukashka was the first to break the silence. 
 
 ** Say, have you a house of your own in 
 Russia t " 
 
 Olyenin could not refrain from telling him 
 that he had not one house, merely, but several 
 houses. 
 
 " A handsome house t Larger than ours ? " 
 Lukashka asked, good-naturedly. 
 
 " Much larger ! ten times as large ; three 
 stories high," explaine4 Olyenin. 
 
 ' During expeditions, officers are accompanied by a drabant 
 (trabant), who serves somewhat in the capacity of a body-guard. 
 Author^s note in text. 
 
ig6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 *' But have you such horses as we have ? " 
 
 " I have a hundred head of horses, worth three 
 hundred — four hundred rubles apiece ; but they 
 aren't such horses as those you have here. 
 Three hundred silver rubles ! Trotters, you 
 know . . . But I like those here much better." 
 
 " What made you come here ? was it of your 
 own free will or not ? " asked Lukashka, still 
 preserving a tone of raillery in his voice. 
 " Here's where you missed your way," he added, 
 pointing to a path by which they were passing ; 
 "you should have turned to the right." 
 
 *^ Yes, I came of my own free will," replied 
 Olyenin ; " I was anxious to see your country, 
 to take part in expeditions." 
 
 " I should like to go right off on an expedi- 
 tion," exclaimed Luka. " Hark ! hear the jackals 
 howl," he added, listening. 
 
 " But wasn't it terrible to you to have killed 
 a man t " asked Olyenin. 
 
 "What should I be afraid of.? But I should 
 like to go on an expedition ! " repeated Lukashka. 
 " How I long to ! How I long to ! " 
 
 ** Perhaps we can go together. Our regiment 
 will start before the holiday and our company 
 also with it." 
 
 " But the idea of coming here of your own 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 197 
 
 accord ! When you have a house, and horses 
 and serfs. I would have had a good time, a 
 good time ! Yes, and I would never have come 
 here. What is your rank } " 
 
 " I am a yunker, but already presented for 
 promotion." 
 
 " Well, if you aren't bragging about the way 
 you live at home, then I should not have come 
 away. Do you like to live here with us ? " 
 
 " Yes, very much," said Olyenin. 
 
 It was already quite dark when, talking thus 
 confidentially, they reached the village. The 
 thick blackness of the forest still surrounded 
 them. The wind roared in the high tree-tops. 
 The jackals seemed to be right at their heels, 
 howling, laughing, and yelling. But in front of 
 them, in the village, were already to be heard 
 the voices of women talking, the barking of 
 dogs, and they could clearly distinguish the 
 outlines of the cottages ; lights gleamed in the 
 windows ; the air was heavy, heavy with the pe- 
 culiar odor of burning dung. 
 
 The feeling came over Olyenin, especially this 
 evening, that here in this village was his home, 
 his family, all his happiness, and that he had 
 never lived, and never should live again, so hap- 
 pily as in this village. 
 
198 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 What a strong affection he felt for them all, 
 and especially for Lukashka, that evening ! 
 
 When he got home, Olyenin, to Lukashka's 
 great amazement, went himself into the stable 
 and brought out the horse which he had 
 bought in Groznaya, — not the one which he al- 
 ways rode himself, but another, by no means 
 to be despised, though he was no longer young, 
 — and presented it to Lukashka. 
 
 " Why should you give me that ? " asked 
 Lukashka. ** I have never yet done you any 
 service." 
 
 "Truly, it isn't worth anything to me," insisted 
 Olyenin ; " take it, and you will give me some- 
 thing sometime. . . . You see, sometime we will 
 go on an expedition together." 
 
 Luka was bewildered. 
 
 " Well, now, what does this mean } Why isn't 
 that horse worth anything } " said he, not glan- 
 cing at the animal. 
 
 "Take it ! take it ! If you do not take it, you 
 will offend me. Vanyusha, bring the gray to 
 him." 
 
 Lukashka grasped the reins. 
 
 " Well, I am obliged to you. Now, that's 
 something I didn't expect, that I wouldn't have 
 dreamed of." 
 
THE COSSACKS. 1 99 
 
 Olyenin was as happy as a twelve-year-old 
 child. 
 
 *' Fasten it here. It is a good horse — I bought 
 him in Groznaya — and a lively jumper. Vanyusha, 
 give us some red wine. We will go in-doors." 
 
 The wine was brought. Lukashka sat down 
 and took the red wine. " If God allows I will 
 also do something for you," said he, as he drained 
 the glass. " What — how shall I call you } *' 
 
 "Dmitri Andreyitch." 
 
 **Well, Mitri Andreyitch, God save you. We 
 will be chums.' Now, come to us when you can. 
 Though we are not rich, still we are always glad 
 to entertain our chums. I will go and tell my 
 mother ; if you want anything, cheese or grapes, 
 you shall have them. And if you come to the 
 cordon, I will help you either in huntings or 
 across the river, or anything you want. Here, the 
 other day, you have no idea what a splendid wild- 
 boar I shot ! I shared him among the Cossacks, 
 but if I'd known I would have sent him to you ! " 
 
 " All right : thanks ! One thing, don't harness 
 him ; he won't be good for riding if you do." 
 
 " The idea of harnessing a horse ! And here I 
 will tell you one thing," said Lukashka, bending 
 down his head, "if you'd like, I have a kunak, 
 
 * Kunaki. 
 
200 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Girei-Khan ; he has invited me to hunt on the 
 road that leads down from the mountains, and we 
 will go there together, I wouldn't give you up, I 
 would be your intcridJ' ' 
 
 " Let us go ; let us go sometime." 
 
 Lukashka seemed to be thoroughly at his ease, 
 and to understand Olyenin's behavior toward him. 
 The unaffected way in which he took it all for 
 granted surprised Olyenin, and was not altogether 
 agreeable to him. They sat at table for a long 
 time, and it was late when Lukashka, not intoxi- 
 cated, for he never entirely lost his head, but 
 carrying a good deal of wine, pressed Olyenin's 
 hand, and left him. 
 
 Olyenin looked out of the window to see what 
 he would do. Lukashka went by softly, with his 
 head bent down. Then, after leading the horse 
 out of the gate, he suddenly shook his head, 
 leaped on his back with the agility of a cat, gave 
 him free rein, and dashed, with a wild cry, down 
 the street. Olyenin supposed that he would go 
 and share his happiness with Maryanka ; he did 
 not do so, still he felt happier than he had ever 
 before felt in his life. He was as blithe as a 
 child, and could not refrain from telling Vanyusha 
 
 * The murid is a fanatical sect among the Mahometans, 
 whose special duty it is to exterminate Christians. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 20 1 
 
 not only how he had given the horse to Lukashka, 
 but also what induced him to do so, and from 
 explaining to him all his new theory of happiness. 
 Vanyusha did not approve of this theory, and 
 explained that he had no money to throw away — 
 larzhan ilnyapa — and therefore this was all 
 foolishness. 
 
 Lukashka galloped home, sprang down from 
 the horse, and turned it over to his mother, bid- 
 ding her put him out to pasture with the other 
 Cossack horses ; he himself was obliged to return 
 that very night to the cordon. The dumb girl 
 came out to lead awav the horse, and made si^rns 
 to show that she would throw herself at the feet 
 of the man who gave him the horse, as soon as 
 ever she saw him. The old mother only shook 
 her head at her son's story, and in the bottom of 
 her heart was convinced that Lukashka had 
 stolen the animal, and therefore bade the dumb 
 girl take him to pasture before it was daylight. 
 
 Lukashka went alone to the cordon, and his 
 thoughts were all the time busy with the meaning 
 of Olyenin's action. Although the horse was not 
 a good one, in his judgment, still it was worth at 
 least forty moneta, and he was very glad of the 
 gift. But why the stranger had conferred this gift 
 upon him he could not comprehend, and therefore 
 
202 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 he did not feel the slightest sense of gratitude. 
 On the contrary, his head was filled with obscure 
 suspicions in regard to the yunker's intentions. 
 He could not explain what these designs were, 
 but it seemed impossible to admit the thought 
 that a perfect stranger, out of mere kindness of 
 heart, for no consideration in return, should pre- 
 sent him with a horse worth forty rubles. If he 
 had been drunk, then it would have been compre- 
 hensiblej the desire to show off would have 
 explained it. But the yunker was sober, and 
 therefore it looked as though he wanted to bribe 
 him to do some dirty work. 
 
 '* Well, you're mistaken ! " said Lukashka to 
 himself. " I've got the horse and we shall see 
 what will come of it. I am no fool. It takes 
 some sharpness to outwit a fellow. We shall 
 see." 
 
 In trying to persuade himself that he should 
 have to be on his guard against Olyenin, he 
 worked himself into a genuinely hostile feeling 
 toward him. He told no one how he got his 
 horse. To one he said he had bought him ; he 
 parried the questions of others with ambiguous 
 answers. At the village, however, the truth was 
 soon known. Lukashka's mother, Maryanka, Ilya 
 Vasilyevitch, and other Cossacks, when they 
 
THE COSSACKS. 203 
 
 learned about Olyenin's incomprehensible gift, 
 were astonished and began to be afraid of the 
 yunker. And yet this action of his aroused in 
 them great respect for his simplicity and wealth. 
 
 *' Did you know, that yunker who's staying at 
 Ilya Vasilyevitch's has given Lukashka a horse 
 worth fifty moneta," said one. **He must be 
 rich ! " 
 
 " I have heard about it," replied the other, sig- 
 nificantly. " It must be for some favor though. 
 We shall see, we shall see what will come of it. 
 That's the Urvan's luck ! " 
 
 " They're a sly set, those yunkers, curse 'em ! " 
 remarked a third. ** He'll get him into some 
 trouble." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Glyenin's life ran on smoothly, monotonously. 
 He had little to do with his superiors or his com* 
 rades. The position of a wealthy yunker in the 
 Caucasus is remarkably advantageous in this 
 respect. He is not required to work and he is 
 not required to drill. As a reward for his services 
 during the expedition, he had been recommended 
 for promotion as a regular officer, and he was 
 left in peace until the promotion was ratified. 
 
 The officers looked upon him as an aristocrat, 
 and therefore kept on their dignity towards him. 
 The officers' card-playing, drinking bouts, and 
 song-parties, in which he had taken part on the 
 frontier, had no attraction for him, and he held 
 aloof from the officers' society and their life in 
 the village. 
 
 The life of officers in the stanitsas, or Cossack 
 villages, has for many years had its peculiar feat- 
 ures. Just as every yunker or officer at the out- 
 posts regularly drinks porter, plays faro, and talks 
 about rewards and expeditions, so, when they 
 come down into the Cossack villages, they regu- 
 
 204 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 205 
 
 larly drink Caucasian wine with their landlords, 
 treat the Cossack girls to sweetmeats and honey, 
 flirt with them, and fall in love with them ; some- 
 times they go so far as to marry them. 
 
 Olyenin had always lived in his own way and 
 had an involuntary aversion to beaten tracks. 
 And here also he did not follow in the ruts laid 
 down for the life of the officers in the Caucasus. 
 
 It came natural to him to wake with the sun. 
 After drinking his tea and coming out on his 
 porch to admire the mountains, the beauty of the 
 morning, Maryanka, he would put on his ox-skin 
 zipun, the well soaked footgear called porshni, 
 belt on his dagger, take his gun and a pouch of 
 lunch and tobacco, call his dog, and, at six o'clock 
 in the morning, be off into the forest back of the 
 village. 
 
 Toward seven o'clock in the evening he would 
 return weary, hungry, with five or six pheasants 
 at his belt, sometimes with larger game, and often 
 with the lunch and cigarettes in his pouch un- 
 touched. If the thoughts in his brain had been 
 disposed like the cigarettes in his pouch, it could 
 have been readily seen that during all these four- 
 teen hours of wandering not one thought had 
 been disturbed. He would come back morally 
 fresh, vigorous, and perfectly happy. It would 
 
2o6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 have been impossible for him to tell what he had 
 been thinking about. It was not thoughts, it was 
 not recollections, it was not fancies, that fer- 
 mented in his brain, — it was snatches of each and 
 all that he recalled when he asked himself what 
 he had been thinking about all day. Now he 
 would imagine himself a Cossack working in the 
 gardens with his Cossack spouse, or an abrek in 
 the mountains, or the wild-boar, even, now running 
 from before him. And all the time he would be 
 listening, waiting, watching for a pheasant, a boar, 
 or a stag. 
 
 Evenings, Uncle Yeroshka invariably came and 
 sat with him. Vanyusha would bring a gallon of 
 red wine, and they would sit quietly chatting and 
 drinking, and then separate with mutual satisfac- 
 tion. The next day the chase once more, once 
 more the wholesome weariness, once more the 
 after-dinner tipple, and once more the feeling of 
 content and happiness. Some holidays or days of 
 res^ he would spend the whole time at home. 
 Then his principal pursuit would be watching Mar- 
 yanka, whose every motion, without being aware of 
 it himself, he would eagerly follow from his windows 
 or the porch. He regarded Maryanka and loved 
 her (at least, so he thought) just as he loved the 
 beauty of the mountains and the sky, and he had 
 
THE COSSACKS. 20/ 
 
 no thought of coming into closer relations with 
 her. It seemed to him that it was out of the ques- 
 tion for relations to exist between them such as 
 were possible between her and the Cossack Lu- 
 kashka, and still less such as existed between rich 
 officers and Cossack maidens. It seemed to him 
 that if he attempted to do what his comrades did 
 he would exchange his perfect happiness and peace 
 of mind for an abyss of torments, disenchant- 
 ments, and regrets. 
 
 Besides, he felt that in behaving as he did 
 toward this charming young woman he was ac- 
 complishing a sort of self-renunciation, which gave 
 him an equal amount of pleasure, and, above all, 
 because he stood in awe of Maryanka, and nothing 
 would have induced him to speak a word of unwor- 
 thy love. 
 
 One summer day Olyenin did not go hunting, 
 and was staying at home. Most unexpectedly an 
 acquaintance of his, a very young man, whom 
 he had met in Moscow society, came to call upon 
 him. 
 
 " Ah, moil cker, m'y dear fellow, how glad I am 
 to find you here," he began, in his Moscow mixture 
 of Russian and French, and so he went on inter- 
 larding his talk with French expressions. " I 
 heard some one talking about Olyenin. — What 
 
2o8 - '^^t^ii COSSACKS, 
 
 Olyenin ? — How glad I was to know that you 
 were here. . . . Now, Fate must have brought us 
 together. . . . Well, and how are you } What are 
 you doing } What are you here for .? " 
 
 And Prince Byeletsky told his whole story : how 
 he had been sent for a time to join this regiment, 
 how the commander-in-chief had invited him to be 
 on his staff, and how he was going to accept after 
 the campaign was over, though he felt very little 
 interest in it. 
 
 ** If one serves here in this wilderness, he must 
 at least make a career . . . get a cross . . . rank 
 . . . get promoted to the Guards. All that is in- 
 dispensable for me — if not for myself, at least for 
 the sake of my relatives, of my friends. The 
 prince received me very cordially. He's a thor- 
 ough gentleman," said Byeletsky, all in a breath. 
 
 " I was presented for the Anna after the expe- 
 dition. And now I am going to stay here till 
 the campaign opens. It's splendid here. What 
 women ! Well, and how are you getting along ? 
 Our captain, — you know Startsef . . . he's a 
 good-hearted stupid fellow ... he told me that 
 you were living here like a terrible savage, that 
 you don't have anything to do with any one of 
 them. I could very well understand that you 
 would not care to have much intercourse with the 
 
THE COSSACKS. . ' 209 
 
 officers here. I am glad of it ; you and I will see 
 a good deal of each other. I am lodging at the 
 sergeant's. What a girl there is there, Ustenka ! 
 I tell you, she is a beauty ! " 
 
 And ever more and more frequently French, 
 and Russian words were bandied about from that 
 world upon which Olyenin believed he had for- 
 ever turned his back. The general impression 
 of Byeletsky was that he was a pleasant, good- 
 natured young man. Very likely he really was ; 
 but the sight of him to Olyenin was decidedly dis- 
 agreeable notwithstanding his handsome, kindly 
 face ; and the reason was that he was redolent of 
 all that detested life which he had renounced. It 
 was still more vexatious to him to feel it utterly 
 beyond his powers to give the cut direct to this 
 man from that world, as though that old world to 
 which he had formerly belonged had still some 
 irresistible claim upon him. He was vexed with 
 Byeletsky^ and with himself, but still he inter- 
 larded his conversation with French phrases, as- 
 sumed an interest in the commander-in-chief and 
 his Moscow acquaintances, and as a result of the 
 fact that both of them spoke in this French dia- 
 lect he expressed himself contemptuously about 
 his brother officers, about the Cossacks, and in 
 the most friendly manner bade good-bye to Byelet- 
 
2IO THE COSSACKS. 
 
 sky, promising to come to see him and urging him 
 to drop in often. 
 
 Olyenin, however, did not fulfil his promise, 
 but Vanyusha approved of Byeletsky, declaring 
 that he was a genuine barin. 
 
 Byeletsky immediately plunged into the usual 
 life of a wealthy officer in a Cossack village in 
 the Caucasus. To Olyenin's eyes, he appeared, 
 in less than a month, like an old inhabitant of the 
 village. He treated the old men, he had parties 
 for the girls, and went in turn to their parties, 
 boasted of his conquests, and, indeed, it came to 
 this, that the village girls and women, for some 
 reason, called him dyedushka, little grandfather, 
 while the Cossacks, who have no trouble in set- 
 tling the status of a man who likes wine and 
 women, took to him, and even liked him better 
 than Olyenin, who was an enigma to them. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 It was five o'clock in the morning. Vanyusha 
 on the doorstep of the cottage was fanning the 
 samovar with his boot leg. Olyenin had already 
 ridden down to the Terek for a bath. He had 
 lately conceived the new amusement of swimming 
 his horse in the river. Dame Ulitka was in her 
 dairy, from the chimney of which arose the black, 
 thick smoke of the just kindled oven ; the maiden 
 was in the shed, milking the cow buffalo. " Won't 
 you stand quiet, curse you ! " rang her impatient 
 voice, and then followed the regular sound of the 
 milking. 
 
 On the street, near the house, were heard the 
 lively steps of a horse, and Olyenin, riding bare- 
 back on a handsome dark gray horse, shining with 
 wet, rode up to the gates. Maryana's handsome 
 head, bound with a red kerchief (called sorotchka), 
 looked out of the shed and was quickly drawn 
 back. Olyenin wore a red silk Kanaus shirt, a 
 white cherkeska, from the belt of which hung- 
 a dagger, and a high lambskin hat. He sat rather 
 ^self-consciously on the wet back of his comforta- 
 
212 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 ble-looking horse, and, with his gun over his 
 shoulder, bent down to open the gate. 
 
 His hair was still wet, his face shone with youth 
 and health. He felt that he was handsome, 
 clever, and like a jigit ; but in this he was mis- 
 taken. Any experienced Cossack would have 
 known at a glance that he was a soldier. 
 
 He noticed the girl's face peering out, and, hav- 
 ing opened the plaited gate, he dashed into the 
 yard, pulling on the bridle and cracking the whip. 
 
 " Tea ready, Vanyusha } " he shouted, cheerily, 
 not glancing at the door of the shed. 
 
 " C^ pre," replied Vanyusha. 
 
 How satisfied he felt, as, quivering in every 
 muscle, he reined in his beautiful steed, which, all 
 ready to leap the hedge, pranced gayly on the dry 
 clay of the courtyard. Olyenin imagined that 
 Maryana's l6vely eyes were still looking at him 
 from the shed, but he did not turn to see. Leap- 
 ing down from the horse, he caught his gun on 
 the step, made an awkward attempt to regain his 
 balance, and looked in alarm toward the shed, but 
 no one was to be seen, and only the regular sound 
 of the milking was to be heard. 
 
 He went into his room, and, in a few moments, 
 came out again with a book and his pipe, and sat 
 down, with his glass of tea, on the side of the 
 
THE COSSACKS, 213 
 
 porch not yet reached by the oblique rays of 
 the morning sun. He resolved not to go out be- 
 fore dinner, that day, and had counted on writing 
 some long neglected letters. But for some rea- 
 son he felt disinclined to leave his comfortable 
 place on the porch, and to shut himself up in his 
 room as in a prison. Dame Ulitka had finished 
 building her fire ; Maryanka had milked the cows, 
 and had now come out and was collecting future 
 fuel for the oven. 
 
 Olyenin had his book open before him, but he 
 paid little heed to what was printed on its pages. 
 He kept lifting his eyes from it and gazing at the 
 powerful young woman working there before him. 
 Whether she came into the moist morning shad- 
 ows near the house, or went along through the 
 yard, flooded with the cheerful brightness of the 
 early sun, — her symmetrical form, clad in bright 
 colors, shining in the light and casting a long 
 shadow, — he was afraid of missing the least of 
 her motions. 
 
 It was a pleasure to him to see with what freedom 
 and grace she moved about ; how her pink shirt, her 
 only garment, fell in artistic lines over her bosom 
 and along her shapely legs ; how she bent over 
 and drew up to her full height again, and how 
 under the tightening garment the firm lines of 
 
214 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 her heaving breast stood forth ; how her slender 
 feet, shod in old red slippers of good form still, 
 were planted on the ground ; how her strong arms, 
 with sleeves tucked up and showing all the play of 
 the muscles, moved the shovel, impatiently as it 
 were, and how her deep black eyes sometimes 
 gazed up at him. Even though the fine lines of 
 the brows were contracted, still her eyes betrayed 
 a conscious satisfaction of their beauty. 
 
 " Hollo, Olyenin. Have you been up long } " 
 said Byeletsky, in the frock coat of the Cau- 
 casian officer, coming into the yard and joining 
 Olyenin. 
 
 "Ah! Byeletsky!" returned Olyenin, offering 
 his hand. " How are you out so early ? " 
 
 " What could I do .? I was driven out. We 
 are going to have a ball at my house to-night. 
 Maryana, of course you're coming to Ustenka's," 
 he continued, turning to the girl. 
 
 Olyenin was amazed at the easy familiarity with 
 which Byeletsky addressed this young woman. 
 But Maryana, pretending not to hear, bent her 
 head, and, throwing the shovel over her shoulder, 
 went into the dairy with quick, strong steps. 
 
 " You're bashful, sister, you're bashful," cried 
 Byeletsky after her. " She's afraid of you," and, 
 smiling gayly, he ran up the steps. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 21 5 
 
 " What do you mean : You're * going to have a 
 ball ' ? " 
 
 " At Ustenka's, where I live, a ball, and you are 
 invited. A ball — that is, a collection of cakes and 
 maidens ! " 
 
 " Well, what should we do there ? " 
 
 Byeletsky smiled slyly, and with a wink 
 nodded toward the dairy, where Maryanka had 
 gone. 
 
 Olyenin shrugged his shoulders and reddened. 
 ** By God, you are a strange man ! " said he. 
 "Well, tell us about it." 
 
 He was frowning. Byeletsky noticed it ; a 
 cunning smile hovered over his lips. " Why, it's 
 natural," said he ; " here you are living in the 
 same house with her ; and such a splendid girl, a 
 glorious girl ... a perfect beauty. . . ." 
 
 " She is a wonderful beauty. I never saw such 
 women ! " exclaimed Olyenin. 
 
 " Well, what of it t " asked Byeletsky, absolutely 
 failing to understand. 
 
 "It may be strange," replied Olyenin, "but 
 why should I not tell things as they are } Since I 
 have been living here, women have, as it were, 
 ceased to exist for me. And it is good and right 
 so. For what on earth can there be in common 
 between us and these women ? . . . Yeroshka } 
 
2l6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 That is another thing ; he and I have a common 
 passion — hunting." 
 
 " Just hear him ! What in common ? What is 
 there in common between me and the Amalia 
 Ivanovnas ? It's precisely the same thing. Ad- 
 mit they are rather dirty ; but that's a mere 
 matter of taste. A la guerre^ comme a la 
 guerre ! " 
 
 " Well, I have never known your Amalia Ivan- 
 ovnas, and could never get along with them," 
 replied Olyenin. " But it is impossible to respect 
 them, but these here I do respect." 
 
 " All right, respect them ! what's to hinder } "^ 
 
 Olyenin made no reply. He was evidently 
 anxious to finish what he had begun to say. It 
 lay too heavy a burden on his heart. 
 
 *'I know that I~am an exception," he went on, 
 evidently somewhat embarrassed, "but my life 
 has been so constituted that I not only see no 
 necessity of changing my principles, but I could 
 not — I do not say live as happily as I do now — live 
 here at all, if I lived as you do. And so I look 
 for something and find something quite different 
 in them from what you do." 
 
 Byeletsky imperceptibly raised his eyebrows. 
 
 "All the same, come to my house this evening. 
 Maryanka will be there too ; I will make you 
 
THE COSSACKS. 217 
 
 acquainted. Come, please do. If you find it a 
 bore, you can go home. Will you come .?" 
 
 ** I would come, but I tell you truly I am afraid 
 of falling seriously in love." 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! oh ! " screamed Byeletsky. " Come, 
 all the same ; I will look out for you. Will you 
 come ? Word of honor ? " 
 
 " I would come, but truly I don't understand 
 what we are going to do ; what role are we going 
 to play .? " 
 
 " Please, I beg of you ! Will you } " 
 
 ** Yes, I will come, perhaps I will," said 
 Olyenin. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, the charmingest women in 
 the world, and here you are living like a monk ! 
 What does hunting amount to } Why spoil your 
 life and not get the good that there is } Have 
 you heard our company is going to Vozdvi- 
 zhenskaya .^ " 
 
 *' It isn't very likely. I was told that the 
 eighth company would go," said Olyenin. 
 
 *• No, I have a letter from the adjutant. He 
 writes that the prince himself will take part in 
 the campaign. I am glad that we shall meet him. 
 I am beginning to be bored here." 
 
 " They say that there will be an incursion very 
 
21 8 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " I hadn't heard about that, but I have heard 
 that the Anna has come to Krinovitsuin for his 
 work on the last expedition. He expected to be 
 made lieutenant," remarked Byeletsky, with a 
 laugh. " There he was disappointed. He's 
 gone on the staff. . . ." 
 
 When it began to grow dark, Olyenin's 
 thoughts turned to the party. The invitation 
 annoyed him. He wanted to go, but the idea 
 of being present seemed strange, wild, and 
 rather formidable to him. He knew that no 
 Cossacks or elderly women would be there, but 
 only marriageable girls. What would it be ? 
 How should he behave t What should he have 
 to talk about } What would they say to him } 
 What would be the relations between him and 
 these wild Cossack maidens } Byeletsky had 
 told him of such strange, cynical, and at the 
 same time strict relations. ... It was strange 
 for him to think of being there in the same room 
 with Maryana, and possibly of having a chance 
 to talk with her. This seemed out of the ques- 
 tion when he remembered her stately reserve. 
 Byeletsky had told him that all this would come 
 about of itself. ** Is it possible that Byeletsky and 
 Maryanka would keep company in that way? 
 
THE COSSACKS. 219 
 
 It would be interesting," he said to himself. "But 
 no, it would be better not to go. The whole thing 
 is disgusting, vile, and of no earthly use." 
 
 But once more he was tormented by the ques- 
 tion : " What will it be like } " and his given 
 promise, as it were, compelled him. He went 
 out, still undecided, but he reached Byeletsky's 
 quarters and went in. 
 
 The khata or Cossack cabin in which Bye- 
 letsky was lodged was just like Olyenin's. It 
 stood on pillars about a yard and a half from 
 the ground, and consisted of two rooms. The 
 first, into which Olyenin entered by a steep stair- 
 case, was crowded with eider-down beds, rugs, 
 quilts, and pillows, piled up in Cossack fashion in 
 elegant and handsome arrangement along the wall. 
 On the side walls hung copper pans and utensils. 
 Under the bench lay watermelons and gourds. 
 
 In the other room was a monstrous oven, a 
 table, benches, and the ikons of the Old Be- 
 lievers. Here Byelctsky was domiciled with his 
 folding bed, his well packed trunks, a rug, on 
 which hung his rifle, and various toilet articles 
 and portraits scattered about. A silk dressing- 
 gown was flung upon a bench. Byeletsky him- 
 self, handsome and clean, lay in his shirt sleeves 
 on his couch, reading Les Trois Mousquetaires. 
 
220 ^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 He jumped up. 
 
 " Now, you see how I am established. Isn't it 
 elegant ? Well, I'm glad that you have come. 
 They have been carrying on tremendous prepa- 
 rations. Do you know how they make their 
 pirogi f Out of dough, with pork and grapes ! 
 But that isn't the strong point. See what a 
 bustle they are keeping up." 
 
 Indeed, as they looked in through the window 
 they perceived that an extraordinary hubbub was 
 going on in the landlady's apartment. Maidens 
 were constantly running in and out from the en- 
 try, some with one thing, some with another. 
 
 " Will it be soon } " cried Byeletsky. 
 
 " Right away. Are you hungry, little grand- 
 father .'* " and ringing laughter followed this 
 sally. 
 
 Ustenka, plump, ruddy, pretty, with her sleeves 
 rolled up, came running into Byeletsky's khata 
 after plates. 
 
 " There, you ! you'll make me break the plates," 
 she squealed to Byeletsky. " There, you ought 
 to come and help," she cried, with a laugh, ad- 
 dressing Olyenin. " Lay in some zakiiski for 
 the girls," and by zakuski she meant cakes and 
 confectionery. 
 
 " Has Maryanka come } " 
 
THE COSSACKS. 221 
 
 "Of course she has. She has brought the 
 pastry." 
 
 *' Do you know," said Byeletsky, " that if you 
 dressed up this Ustenka, and got her clean and 
 gave her some jewelry, she would be prettier than 
 all our beauties ! Have you seen the Cossack 
 beauty Borshcheva.? She married the colonel. 
 She's a stunner! What dignity ! Where she 
 got it . . ." 
 
 " I never saw the Borshcheva, but in my opin- 
 ion nothing could be more becoming than their 
 costume." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Byeletsky, sighing gayly, " I have 
 such a faculty for getting along with any kind of 
 life ! I am going to see what they are up to." 
 He threw on his dressing-gown and ran out. 
 " You look out for the zakuski," he shouted back. 
 
 Olyenin sent his friend's man to buy cakes and 
 honey, and then suddenly it seemed to him so 
 disgusting to give him money, as though he were 
 purchasing somebody, that he could give no deci- 
 sive answer to the man's question — how many 
 lozenges, how many cakes he should get. 
 
 " Use your own judgment." 
 
 " For all } " asked the old soldier, significantly. 
 " Peppermints are more expensive. They sell for 
 
222 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 ''For all, for all ! " exclaimed Olyenin, and took 
 his seat in the window, wondering why his heart 
 throbbed as though he were on the eve of some- 
 thing serious and improper. 
 
 He listened to the shrieks and laughter that 
 arose in the girls* room when Byeletsky went 
 there, and in a few minutes he saw him hurrying 
 out, followed by shrieks and shouts and laughter. 
 
 "They drove me out!" he exclaimed, as he 
 came running up the steps and into the room. 
 
 In a little while Ustenka came into the 
 khata, and, with great dignity, explained that all 
 was ready, and asked her guests to honor them 
 with their presence. 
 
 When they went into the other apartment, 
 everything was indeed ready, and Ustenka was 
 engaged in arranging cushions along the side of the 
 room. On the table, decked with a disproportion- 
 ately diminutive napkin, were set a decanter of 
 red wine and a dried fish. The air of the room 
 was redolent of pastry and grapes. Six young 
 maidens in their best array, and without their 
 kerchiefs, contrary to their usual custom, were 
 huddled together in the corner behind the oven, 
 whispering, giggling, and laughing. 
 
 " We humbly beg my angel to share our food," 
 said Ustenka, urging her guests to draw up to the 
 table. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 22S 
 
 Amid the throng of maidens, who, without ex- 
 ception, were pretty, Olyenin quickly observed 
 Maryanka, and it seemed to him painful and vexa- 
 tious to meet her in such wretched and awkward 
 circumstances. He felt stupid and out of place, 
 but he resolved to do as Byeletsky did. The 
 young prince, with a certain solemnity, but at the 
 same time with perfect ease and self-possession, 
 went to the table, drank a glass of wine to 
 Ustenka's health, and urged the others to follow 
 his example. Ustenka explained that young girls 
 did not drink wine. 
 
 " With honey we might," said a voice among the 
 girls. 
 
 Byeletsky called in his servant, who had just 
 returned from the shop with honey and sweet- 
 meats. The man looked out of the corner of his 
 eyes, not enviously, nor yet contemptuously, at his 
 superiors, who in his opinion were dissipating^ 
 carefully handed over the morsel of honeycomb and 
 the cakes wrapped up in gray paper, and began 
 scrupulously to give an account of the cost of his 
 purchases, but Byeletsky drove him out. 
 
 After the honey had been mixed with the wine 
 with which the glasses were filled, and the three 
 pounds of cakes had been poured out on the table, 
 Byeletsky pulled the girls out from the corner by 
 
224 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 main force, set them down at the table, and began 
 to distribute the good things among them. 
 
 Olyenin could not help noticing how Maryanka 
 held two round peppermints and a piece of ginger- 
 bread in her little sunburned hand, uncertain 
 what to do with them. The party was con- 
 strained and unpleasant, in spite of the liveliness 
 of Byeletsky and Ustenka, and their efforts to 
 amuse the company. Olyenin was ill at ease, 
 cudgelled his brains for something to say, was 
 conscious that he was regarded with curiosity, per- 
 haps with amusement, and that he communicated 
 his constraint to the others. His face flushed, and 
 it seemed to him that Maryanka especially felt the 
 awkwardness of the situation. 
 
 " They are probably waiting for us to give them 
 money," he said to himself. " How can we give 
 it to them t And how can we give it to them as 
 soon as possible and go ? " 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 " How is it that you aren't acquainted with 
 your lodger?" asked Byeletsky, turning to 
 Maryanka. 
 
 " How can I get acquainted with him when he 
 never comes to see us ? " demanded Maryana, 
 giving Olyenin a glance. 
 
 Olyenin was somewhat abashed at this, gave a 
 start, and answered at haphazard : " I was afraid 
 of your mother. She scolded me so the first time 
 that I went to see you." 
 
 Maryanka burst into a laugh. 
 
 "And so you were afraid.? " she asked, looking 
 at him and then turning away. 
 
 Now, this was the first time that Olyenin had 
 seen the beautiful girl's full face ; hitherto it had 
 been wrapped up to the eyes in her kerchief. It 
 was not without reason that she was regarded as 
 the belle of the village. Ustenka was a pretty 
 little maiden, short, plump, rosy, with jolly 
 hazel eyes, a perpetual smile on her ruddy lips, 
 and ever gay and chattering. Maryanka, on 
 
 225 
 
226 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 the contrary, could not be called merely pretty 
 — she was handsome. Her features might have 
 been considered rather too masculine, and al- 
 most coarse, had it not been for the harmo- 
 nious proportions of her form and her powerful 
 chest and shoulders, and chiefly the severe and 
 yet affectionate expression of her wide black eyes, 
 shining out from under the shadow of her dark 
 brows, and the friendly expression of the smile 
 that hovered over her lips. She rarely smiled, 
 but when she did, for that very reason, her smile 
 was alv/ays effective. Her whole being was in- 
 stinct with strength and health. 
 
 All the maidens were pretty ; but all of them 
 and Byeletsky, and the servant, who came with 
 the sweetmeats, were irresistibly drawn toward 
 Maryana, and, when they addressed the girls, 
 naturally turned to her. 
 
 She seemed like a proud and serene tsaritsa 
 among the rest. 
 
 Byeletsky, in his endeavors to make the party a 
 success, did not cease to chatter ; he urged the 
 maidens to pass round the wine, cracked jokes 
 with them, and constantly made indecorous re- 
 marks in French to Olyenin about Maryanka's 
 beauty, calling her "yours " — la votre — and urg- 
 ing him to follow his example. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 22/ 
 
 But Olyenin found it more and more insupport- 
 able. 
 
 He was trying to devise some pretext for mak- 
 ing his escape and running off, when Byeletsky 
 proclaimed that Ustenka, whose name-day they 
 were celebrating, must carry round thfe wine with 
 kisses. She consented, but on this condition, that 
 money should be put into her plate-tray, as the 
 custom is at weddings. 
 
 " The devil himself brought me into this dis- 
 gusting affair," said Olyenin to himself, and he 
 got up with the intention of leaving. 
 
 " Where are you going } " 
 
 " I am going to get my tobacco," said he, with 
 the intention of running away, but Byeletsky de- 
 tained him by the arm. 
 
 " I have money," said he in French. 
 
 " It's impossible to get away, I must pay," 
 thought Olyenin, and he felt much annoyed at his 
 own lack of tact. 
 
 " Is it possible that I can't do as Byeletsky 
 does } I ought not to have come, but, now that I 
 am here, I have no right to spoil their fun. I 
 must drink in the Cossack style," and, seizing a 
 chaptiruy a wooden cup, containing about eight 
 glasses, he filled it with wine and drained it at a 
 draught. The maidens looked on with amazement, 
 
228 ^-^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 and almost with terror, while he was drinking. 
 This seemed to them strange and unseemly. Us- 
 tenka brought him still more in a glass and kissed 
 both him and Byeletsky. 
 
 " Now, girls, we can have a good time," said she, 
 jingling on the plate the four moneta, which had 
 been contributed. 
 
 Olyenin no longer felt any sense of constraint. 
 His tongue was unloosed. 
 
 **Well, Maryanka, now it's your turn to pass 
 the glass with kisses," said Byeletsky, catching 
 her by the hand. 
 
 ** I'll kiss you this way," said she, feigning to 
 box his ears. 
 
 " You can kiss the little grandfather even with- 
 out any money," suggested another maiden. 
 
 "• Sensible girl ! " cried Byeletsky, and he caught 
 and kissed the struggling maiden. 
 
 " Come, but you must pass the wine," insisted 
 Byeletsky, returning to Maryana ; " pass it to 
 your lodger ! " 
 
 And, seizing her by the hand, he led her 
 to the bench and made her sit down beside Ol- 
 yenin. 
 
 " See, what a pretty girl ! " said he, turning her 
 head so as to show her profile. 
 
 Maryana made no resistance, but she smiled 
 
THE COSSACKS. 229 
 
 proudly, and turned her big black eyes on Ol- 
 yenin. 
 
 " A perfect beauty ! " repeated Byeletsky. 
 
 " See what a beauty I am ! " Maryana's glance 
 seemed also to say. 
 
 Olyenin, not realizing what he was doing, threw 
 his arm around Maryana and tried to kiss her, but 
 she suddenly tore herself away, nearly knocked 
 Byeletsky over, pulled the cloth from the table, 
 and darted behind the oven. Screams and laugh- 
 ter arose. Byeletsky whispered something to the 
 girls, and suddenly they all rushed out of the 
 room into the entry, and shut the door behind 
 them. 
 
 " Why did you kiss Byeletsky and won't kiss 
 me } " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " Well, I don't want to, and that's the end of 
 it," said she, drawing up her under lip and frown- 
 ing. " He's the little grandfather," she added, 
 smiling. She went to the door and began to 
 pound on it. " What did you lock the door for, 
 you devils } " 
 
 " Come, let them be there, and we'll stay here," 
 said Olyenin, drawing close to her. 
 
 She frowned again, and pushed him severely 
 away from her. And again she seemed to him so 
 magnificently beautiful that it recalled him to his 
 
230 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 senses, and he felt ashamed of what he was doing. 
 He went to the door and tried to pull it open. 
 
 " Byeletsky, open the door ! what made you 
 play such a stupid trick on us ? " 
 
 Maryana again broke out into her fresh, happy 
 laugh. " Ai ! are you afraid of me ? " said she. 
 
 " Yes, because you are cross, like your mother." 
 
 " Well, if you would only sit more with 
 Yeroshka, then the girls would begin to like you 
 better," said she, ironically, and smiled, looking 
 him straight into the eyes. 
 
 He knew not what reply to make. 
 
 " But suppose I should come to see you 1 *' said 
 he, as though suddenly. 
 
 ** That would be another thing," she returned, 
 shaking her head. 
 
 At this instant Byeletsky gave a push to the 
 door and opened it, and Maryana sprang away 
 from Olyenin, in such a way that her hip struck 
 against his leg. 
 
 " It's all rubbish, what I have been thinking ; 
 my ideas of love, and self-renunciation, and Lu- 
 kashka. The one thing is happiness ; the man 
 who is happy is justified," flashed through Olye- 
 nin's head, and, with a strength that surprised 
 even himself, he took the beautiful Maryanka in 
 his arms and kissed her on her temple and cheek. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 231 
 
 The girl was not angry, but only burst into a 
 hearty laugh and ran off to the other girls. 
 
 This was the end of the party. Ustenka's 
 mother came home from her work, and the old 
 dame scolded the maidens and sent them home. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 "Yes," thought Olyenin, as he turned his steps 
 homeward, " all I should need to do would be to 
 give free rein, and I might fall foolishly in love 
 with this Cossack girl." 
 
 He went to sleep with this thought, but imag- 
 ined that this folly would pass and that he should 
 return to his old life. The old life did not return, 
 however. His relations to Maryanka were 
 changed. The partition which had formerly sepa- 
 rated them was broken down. Olyenin always 
 exchanged greetings with her now, when they 
 met. 
 
 The ensign came to collect his rent, and, hav- 
 ing been informed of Olyenin's wealth and gener- 
 osity, invited him to come in and see them. 
 
 The old dame gave him a flattering reception, 
 and, from the day of the party, Olyenin used often 
 to go over to his landlady's, and sit with them till 
 late into the evening. To all outward appear- 
 ances, he continued to live as of old in the village, 
 but in the depths of his heart everything had 
 undergone a change. He spent his days in the 
 
 232 
 
THE COSSACKS. 233 
 
 woods, but at eight o'clock, when it was already 
 dark, he would go over to the other house, alone 
 or with Uncle Yeroshka. The people of the 
 house had now become so accustomed to him that 
 they wondered if he did not make his appearance. 
 
 He paid generously for his wine and was a 
 peaceful man. Vanyusha would bring him his tea 
 there, and he would sit in the corner by the oven ; 
 the old dame, undisturbed by his presence, went 
 on with her work, and they would converse over 
 their tea or their wine about the deeds of the Cos- 
 sacks, about their neighbors, or Olyenin would 
 tell them about Russia, or they would ask him 
 questions. Sometimes he would bring his book 
 and read to himself. 
 
 Maryana, drawing up her feet under her like a 
 wild goat, would sit cross-legged on the oven or in 
 the corner farthest from the light. She took no 
 part in the conversation, but Olyenin saw her 
 eyes and her face, heard when she moved or when 
 she crunched seeds, and had the consciousness 
 that she was listening with all her being when- 
 ever he spoke, and felt her presence even when 
 he was silently reading. 
 
 Sometimes it seemed to him that her eyes 
 were fixed upon him, and, when he caught her 
 brilliant glance, he was involuntarily silent and 
 
234 ^-^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 gazed at her. Then she would instantly turn 
 them away, and he, while pretending to be deeply 
 absorbed in conversation with the old dame, 
 would listen for her breathing, for her every 
 motion, and again wait till she looked at him. 
 
 In the presence of others, she treated him, for 
 the most part, with a gay friendliness, but when 
 they were alone she was wild and rude. Some- 
 times he went there before Maryana had returned 
 from the street ; then suddenly he would hear her 
 firm steps and her blue calico shirt would flash by 
 the open door. As soon as she came into the 
 room she " would see him and her eyes would 
 smile with evident tenderness ; then a mixed feel- 
 ing of terror and joy would take hold of him. 
 
 ■ He asked nothing and expected nothing of her, 
 but every day her presence became more and 
 more a necessity of his life. 
 
 Thus he grew so wonted to the village life that 
 his past seemed to him like something perfectly 
 foreign and the future, apart from the little world 
 where he lived, had absolutely no existence for 
 him. When he received a letter from home, 
 from his relatives or friends, he felt aggrieved 
 because they mourned over him as though he 
 were a ruined man, while he, rn his Cossack vil- 
 lage, regarded as ruined men all those who did 
 
THE COSSACKS. 235 
 
 •not lead such a life as he did. He was persuaded 
 that he should never repent of having torn him- 
 self away from his former way of living and of 
 having arranged his circumstances so simply and 
 informally in the village. He found it pleasant at 
 the outposts and on expeditions ; but only here, 
 under Uncle Yeroshka's wing, in his forest, in his 
 khata at the edge of the village, and especially 
 when he remembered Maryanka and Lukashka, 
 did he realize with perfect clearness the falseness 
 of his former life, which even then had disturbed 
 his mind, and which now seemed to him inex- 
 pressibly disgusting and absurd. 
 
 He found himself each day more and more free, 
 more and more a man. The Caucasus was entirely 
 different from his dreams. He had found here 
 absolutely nothing resembling his illusions or the 
 descriptions which he had heard and read about 
 the Caucasus. 
 
 ** Here are no such steeds, no such cataracts as 
 I imagined, no Amalat-beks, no heroes, no vaga- 
 bonds," he said to himself. "Men live as nature 
 lives ; they die, they are born, they marry, they 
 are born again, they fight, they drink, they eat, 
 they hold good cheer, and again they die, and 
 there areno conditions except the immutable ones 
 imposed by Nature herself on the sun, the grass, 
 
236 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 the animal, the tree. They are subject to no 
 other laws. . . ." 
 
 And consequently these people, in comparison 
 with himself, seemed beautiful, strong, and free, 
 and, as he looked at them, he grew ashamed and 
 sorry for himself. 
 
 It often seriously came into his thoughts to give 
 up everything, to have himself enrolled among 
 the Cossacks, to buy a cabin and cattle, to marry 
 a Cossack wife — only not Maryana, whom he re- 
 nounced in favor of Lukashka — and to live with 
 Uncle Yeroshka, to go hunting and fishing with 
 him, and join the Cossacks on their expeditions. 
 
 " Why do I not do this t " he asked himself. 
 " What am I waiting for .? " 
 
 And he tortured himself, he covered himself 
 with ridicule. 
 
 " Or is it that I am afraid to do this which I 
 find to be reasonable and right t Is the desire to 
 be a simple Cossack, to live close to nature, to do 
 no harm to any one, but rather to do men good, — 
 is the dream of doing this more stupid than to 
 dream what I dreamt before, of being, for in- 
 stance, a minister, of being commander of a regi- 
 ment } " 
 
 But some voice seemed to bid him wait and not 
 decide hastily. He was restrained by the con- 
 
THE COSSACKS. 23/ 
 
 fused consciousness that he could not live ex- 
 actly such a life as Yeroshka's or Lukashka's, 
 because he had another ideal of happiness ; he 
 was restrained by the thought that happiness con- 
 sisted in self-renunciation. His action toward Lu- 
 kashka did not cease to rejoice him. He con- 
 stantly sought an opportunity of sacrificing himself 
 for others, but this opportunity did not come. 
 Sometimes he would forget this newly discovered 
 receipt for happiness, and feel himself free to take 
 part in Uncle Yeroshka's life \ but then he would 
 suddenly remember it again and immediately cling 
 to the thought of conscious self-denial, and conse- 
 quently look calmly and proudly on all men and 
 on the happiness of others. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Before the grape-gatheiing, Lukashka rode in 
 to see Olyenin. He had even more the appear- 
 ance of a Cossack brave than usual. 
 
 "Well, how is it with you, are you to be mar- 
 ried ? " asked Olyenin, greeting him warmly. 
 
 Lukashka did not give a direct reply. 
 
 " See ! I have swapped off your horse for one 
 across the river ; this is a horse. A Kabardinsky 
 Lof-Tavro.' I'm a good judge." 
 
 They looked at the new horse, and made him go 
 through his paces in the yard. He was indeed a 
 marvellously fine animal, — a bay, stallion, broad 
 and long, with a glossy skin, a flowing tail, and the 
 soft, delicate mane and withers of a thoroughbred. 
 He was so fat that, as Lukashka expressed it, one 
 could go to sleep on his back. His hoofs, his eyes, 
 his teeth, everything about him was admirable, 
 and showed plainly that he was indeed a horse of 
 the purest blood. Olyenin could not help admir- 
 
 * Tavro, a stock of Kabarda horses. The Lof or Lova is con- 
 sidered among the best in the Caucasus. — Author^s note. 
 
 238 
 
THE COSSACKS. 239 
 
 ing the horse. He had never seen such a beauty 
 in the whole Caucasus. 
 
 "And he can go, too," said Lukashka, caress- 
 ing his neck. " What a gait he has ! And so 
 intelligent. He will follow right after his 
 master." 
 
 *' Did you have to give much to boot ? ** asked 
 Olyenin. 
 
 " Well, I did not count it," replied Lukashka, 
 with a smile. ** I got him from my kunak." 
 
 " He's a marvel, a beautiful horse ! What would 
 you take for him } " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " He's worth a hundred and fifty moneta, but 
 you may have him, he's yours ! " exclaimed Lu- 
 kashka, gayly. " Only say the word, you may have 
 him. Take off the saddle and lead him in. Give 
 me some chance to serve you ! " 
 
 " No, not on any consideration." 
 
 " Well, then, here's something that I have 
 brought you as a present — peshkesh^ as we say," 
 and Lukashka opened his belt and drew out one 
 of the daggers that hung on the strap. " I got it 
 over the river." 
 
 " Thank you very much." 
 
 "And matushka has promised to bring you 
 some grapes." 
 
 " She need not, we can settle up some time. 
 
240 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 You see, I am not going to pay you for the dag- 
 ger." 
 
 " How could you ? We are chums.' Girei"-Khan 
 called me across the river to a hut and said : ' Take 
 your choice.' And so I took this Circassian sabre. 
 That's our custom." 
 
 They went into the cabin and drank to each 
 other's health. 
 
 " Are you going to stay in the village, now } " 
 asked Olyenin. 
 
 " No, I have come in to say good-bye. They 
 are going to send me now^from the cordon to the 
 sotnya on the other side of the Terek. I am go- 
 ing to start to-day with my comrade Nazarka." 
 
 " And when will your wedding come off } " 
 
 " I shall be back before long ; the matter will be 
 arranged, then I shall go back to the service 
 again," replied Luka, reluctantly. 
 
 " And aren't you going to see your bride } " 
 
 " What's the use ? Why should I see her ? 
 Whenever you come on the frontier, ask at the 
 sotnya for Lukashka Broad-back. And there are 
 wild-boars there ! I have killed two. I will take 
 you out hunting ! " 
 
 " Well, good-bye ! Good luck to you ! " 
 
 Lukashka mounted his horse, and, without going 
 
 " Kunaki, guest-friends. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 24 1 
 
 in to see Maryanka, rode off jigit fashion up the 
 street, where Nazarka was already waiting for 
 him. 
 
 " Say ! Sha'n't we go in ? " asked the latter, 
 winking in the direction where Yamka lived. 
 
 " See here ! " exclaimed Lukashka. ** Suppose 
 you take my horse over there, and, if I am gone 
 long, give him some hay. By morning I must be 
 at the sotnya across the Terek." 
 
 " Say, didn't the yunker give you anything 
 else .? " 
 
 " Nay ! I had to give him my dagger for 
 thanks ; even then he was beginning to ask back 
 the horse," said Lukashka, dismounting, and hand- 
 ing the bridle to Nazarka. 
 
 He slipped into the yard under Olyenin's very 
 window and crept up to the window of Maryana's 
 khata. It was now perfectly dark. The young 
 girl, in nothing but her shirt, was combing her 
 braid, and getting ready to go to bed. 
 
 " It's I," whispered the Cossack. 
 
 Maryanka's stern face expressed indifference, 
 but it suddenly lighted up when she heard her 
 name. She raised the sash and put her head out, 
 full of terror and joy. 
 
 " What is it } What do you want } " she asked. 
 
 " Open the door," demanded Lukashka. ** Let 
 
242 
 
 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 me in for just a minute. I have been so lonely 
 without you ! It was terrible ! " 
 
 He drew her face to him and kissed her. 
 
 "Truly, let me in !" 
 
 " What idle talk ! I have told you I would not 
 let you in. Are you here for long } " 
 
 He answered her only with a kiss. And she 
 made no further inquiries. 
 
 " You see, it's mighty awkward to hug any one 
 through a window ! " complained Lukashka. 
 
 ** Maryanushka ! " cried the voice of the old 
 dame. " Who's with you } " 
 
 Lukashka took off his cap, so as not to be 
 recognized, and crouched down under the window. 
 
 " Go quick ! " whispered the girl. 
 
 " Lukashka was here," replied the girl to her 
 mother's question. " He was asking after father." 
 
 " Send him here." 
 
 " He's gone ; he said he had no time." 
 
 In fact, Lukashka, with swift strides, crouching 
 down, hastened under the windows across the 
 courtyard, and was on his way to Yamka's. Ol- 
 yenin had been the only one who saw him. 
 
 After drinking two wooden bowls of red wine, 
 he and Nazarka rode off together toward the 
 post. The night was warm, dark, and calm. 
 They rode in silence; the only sound was the 
 
THE COSSACKS. 243 
 
 tramp of their horses' feet. Lukashka began to 
 sing a song about the Cossack Mingal, but, before 
 he had finished the first verse, he stopped and 
 turned to Nazarka. 
 
 " You see, she would not let me in," said he. 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Nazarka. " I knew that she 
 wouldn't. Yamka told me ; the yunker has taken 
 to going there. Uncle Yeroshka has bragged 
 that he is going to have a rifle for getting him 
 Maryanka." 
 
 "He lies! the devil!" said Lukashka, angrily. 
 " I'll smash his ribs for the old devil ! " and he 
 began once more to troll his favorite song. 
 
 From the little village Izmailovo^ 
 
 From the lady^s lovely garden^ 
 
 Swiftly flew the keen-eyed falcon ; 
 
 From the garden rode the yotithful hunter ; 
 
 To his hand he called the keen-eyed falcon : 
 
 But the keen-eyed falcon answered : 
 
 " Thou canst never keep me in thy golden bird-cage^ 
 
 On thy hand thou canst no longer hold me! 
 
 Now I seek the far blue ocean, 
 
 I shall kill the white swan for my own amusement. 
 
 For the swan's sweet flesh is pleasant to me." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The ensign and Dame Ulitka were celebrating 
 the betrothal. Lukashka had returned to the 
 village, but he did not come to see Olyenin, and 
 Olyenin did not attend the celebration, though he 
 was invited. His heart was sad within, more so 
 than it had been since the day of the birthday 
 party. He had seen Lukashka, in his best attire, 
 go with his mother, just before evening, into the 
 ensign's, and he was tormented by the question, 
 Why was Lukashka so cool toward him ? 
 
 Olyenin shut himself up in his khata and began 
 to write in his diary. 
 
 " I have thought over many things and have 
 experienced many changes in these later days," 
 he wrote, ** and I find that I have arrived at what 
 is printed in the ABC book. In order to be 
 happy, only one thing is essential — to love, and 
 to love with self-sacrificing love, to love all men 
 and all things, to stretch in all directions the 
 spider-web of love, to attach it to whomever you 
 meet. Thus I have taken Vanyusha, Uncle 
 Yeroshka, Lukashka, Maryanka." 
 
 244 
 
THE COSSACKS. 245 
 
 Just as Olyenin was writing this. Uncle 
 Yeroshka came in to see him. Yeroshka was in 
 the most jovial frame of mind. One evening a 
 few days previous, Olyenin had found him with a 
 proud, contented face, in his yard, engaged in 
 skilfully flaying a wild-boar with a small knife. 
 His dogs, and among them his favorite Lyam, 
 were lying near him and wagging their tails as 
 they looked up into his face. Some inquisitive 
 urchins were watching him through the fence and 
 refrained from their usual banter. Several 
 women, his neighbors, as a general thing not over- 
 patient with him, came in to greet him, one bring- 
 ing him a little jug of red wine, another some 
 cream curds, another flour cakes. 
 
 On the following morning Yeroshka was sitting 
 in his shed, all covered with blood, and selling 
 wild pork by the pound for money or for wine. 
 On his face it was written, " God gave me good 
 fortune ; I have killed a wild-boar ; now the old 
 uncle is of some use!" In consequence of this, of 
 course, he got drunk, and his spree had already 
 lasted three days without his leaving the village. 
 Moreover, he had been drinking at the betrothal 
 party. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka came away from the ensign's 
 khata pretty drunk, with red face, tumbled beard, 
 
246 2^^^ COSSACKS, 
 
 but in a new red beshmet embroidered with gal- 
 loons, and carrying a balalaika, or three-stringed 
 guitar, which he had obtained on the other side of 
 the Terek. He had long before promised Olyenin 
 to give him this pleasure, and now he felt in the 
 mood for it. . . . When he saw that Olyenin was 
 writing, he looked disappointed. 
 
 ** Write, write, my father," he said, in a whis- 
 per, as though suspecting that some spirit were 
 sitting between him and the paper, and so, with 
 the idea of not disturbing it, he crept by on 
 tiptoe, and sat down on the floor noiselessly. 
 This was Uncle Yeroshka's favorite position 
 when he was drunk. Olyenin looked up at him., 
 ordered wine to be furnished him, and went on 
 with his writing. It was dull for the old man to 
 drink all alone. He felt like talking. 
 
 " I have been to the betrothal party. But what 
 do I care for the swine t I don't like it ! And 
 so I have come in to see you." 
 
 *' Where did you get your balalaika.?" asked 
 Olyenin, still continuing to write. 
 
 " I was over the river, my father, and got the 
 instrument there," said he, in a little louder voice. 
 " I'm a master hand at playing it : Tatar, Cossack, 
 gentlemen's, soldiers' songs, — anything you like ! " 
 
 Olyenin once more glanced at him, smiled, 
 
THE COSSACKS, 
 
 247 
 
 and proceeded with his writing. This smile en- 
 couraged the old man. 
 
 " Now, put it up, my father ! Put it up ! " said 
 he, with sudden resolution. " They have af- 
 fronted you, — throw them over, spit at them ! 
 Now, why are you writing, writing ? What is the 
 sense of it .? " 
 
 And he mimicked Olyenin, scratching on the 
 floor with his clumsy fingers, and screwing up his 
 clumsy phiz into a contemptuous grimace. " Why 
 do you want to write those charms for } Better 
 tipple, then you would be a bravo ! " 
 
 He had no other conception in his mind of 
 writing than of some harmful jugglery. 
 
 Olyenin laughed heartily, and Uncle Yeroshka 
 joined him. He sprang up from the floor and 
 proceeded to exhibit his skill in playing on the 
 balalatka and in singing Tatar songs. 
 
 " What makes you write, my good man ! Here 
 you'd better listen, for I will sing to you. If you 
 should die, you would not hear such singing. 
 Come, drink with me." 
 
 He began with a song of his own composition, 
 accompanied by a dance : — 
 
 Ah ! di-di-di-di-di-liy 
 When I saw him, where was he f 
 O'er the counter bending. 
 Pins and brooches vending. 
 
248 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Then he sang a song which his former sergeant- 
 major had taught him : — 
 
 I fell in love on Monday ^ 
 
 All Tuesday I did sigh. 
 
 On Wednesday told my passion^ 
 
 On Thursday no reply. 
 
 On Friday her decision came : — 
 
 AlaSf no hope elysian came. 
 
 And so on Saturday I sought 
 
 To end a life so good for naughty 
 
 But soon a saner vision came 
 
 And so I laughed on Sunday, 
 
 And again the refrain : — 
 
 Ah ! di-di-di-di-di-li, 
 
 When I saw him, where was he ? 
 
 Then, winking, shrugging his shoulders, and 
 shuffling, he sang : — 
 
 I will kiss thee, will enfold thee ; 
 Ribands in thy hair will twine. 
 Nadezhenka, I will hold thee^ 
 For thou art my hope divine ; 
 Dost thou love me, sweetheart mine ? 
 
 And he became so enlivened that he began to 
 dance about the room as though he were a young 
 bravo again, all the time strumming on his instru- 
 ment. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 249 
 
 The song di-di-li and others like it, gentlemen^ s 
 songs, as he called them, he sang only for Olye- 
 nin. But afterward, having taken three more 
 glasses of wine, he recalled the days of yore and 
 gave him specimens of genuine Cossack and Ta- 
 tar songs. In the midst of one that he loved 
 especially, his voice suddenly broke and he came 
 to a stop, continuing to thrum on the strings of 
 the balala'ika. 
 
 "Ah ! my dear friend ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 The strange sound of his voice attracted Olye- 
 nin's attention ; the old man was weeping. Tears 
 stood in his eyes and one was trickling down his 
 cheeks. 
 
 " Oh ! days of my youth, you will never return 
 again," he cried, sobbing, and then stopped. 
 " Drink ! why don't you drink ! " he cried, sud- 
 denly, in his tremendous voice, not wiping away 
 the tears. 
 
 Especially painful to him was one mountain 
 song. Its words were few, — its whole charm 
 consisted in its melancholy refrain : — 
 
 Ai! dat! dalalai! 
 
 Yeroshka translated the words of this song as 
 follows : — 
 
 " The young man was driving his flock from 
 the aul into the mountains ; the Russians came, 
 
250 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 they burned the aul, they killed all the men, they 
 took all the women prisoners. The young man 
 came back from the mountains ; where the aul 
 had been was a waste ; his mother was gone ; his 
 brothers were gone ; his home was gone ; one 
 tree was standing. The young man sat down 
 beneath the tree and wept. 'Alone like thee, 
 alone I am left,' and the young man began to 
 sing his song of grief: Ai ! dai ! dalalat T* 
 
 And this moaning, soul-clutching refrain the old 
 man repeated again and again. 
 
 After he had finished singing this song, Ye- 
 roshka suddenly seized a musket down from the 
 wall, rushed hastily out into the yard, and fired off 
 both barrels at once into the air. And once more 
 he trolled out the melancholy refrain : A'i ! dat ! 
 dalalaty and relapsed into silence. 
 
 Olyenin hastened out after him upon the porch, 
 and silently gazed at the dark, starry sky in the 
 direction in which the old man had fired. At the 
 ensign's, windows were opened, voices were heard. 
 Over the court and around the porch and windows 
 the maidens crowded and ran from the dairy to 
 the entry. A few Cossacks sprang forth from the 
 doorway, and, unable to restrain themselves, gave 
 a wild shout, and answered Uncle Yeroshka's 
 song and shot. 
 
THE COSSACK'S, 2$ I 
 
 " Why are you not at the betrothal ? " asked 
 Olyenin. 
 
 " God be with them ! God be with them ! " 
 replied the old man, who had evidently been in 
 some way affronted. ** I like them not, I like 
 them not ! Ekh ! what people ! come into the 
 room. Let them have their own spree, and we'll 
 have ours ! " 
 
 Olyenin went back into the khata. *' Well ! and 
 is Lukashka happy ? Why didn't he come to see 
 me .^ " he asked. 
 
 " Lukashka ! They have been lying to him ; 
 they told him that I would get the girl for you," 
 he said, in a whisper. "What about the girl.? 
 she will be ours if we want ; give a little more 
 money and she's ours ! I will get her for you, 
 truly I will." 
 
 " No, uncle. Money wouldn't do anything 
 there, if she doesn't love. Better not speak 
 about that ! " 
 
 " You and I are out of favor there ; we are 
 orphans," said Uncle Yeroshka, suddenly, and 
 again he burst into tears. 
 
 Olyenin drank more than usual while listening 
 to the old man's tales. 
 
 " Well, now, my Lukashka is happy ! " he said 
 to himself ; but his heart was heavy. The old 
 
252 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 man drank so much that evening that he wallowed 
 on the floor, and Vanyusha was obliged to get 
 the aid of some soldiers to drag him out. He 
 was so indignant at the old man's condition that 
 he spat and did not even speak in French as usual. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The month of August had come. For several 
 days in succession there had not been a cloud in 
 the sky ; the sun was insufferable, and from morn- 
 ing till night a hot wind blew, raising clouds of 
 burning sand from the dunes and roads, and 
 . whirling it through the air, over rushes, trees, and 
 village. 
 
 The grass and foliage were covered with dust ; 
 the roads and marshes were dry and hard, and 
 rang to the step. The water of the Terek had 
 been long falling, and the canals were dry. The 
 edges of the pond near the village, trampled into 
 mire by the cattle, were beginning to grow hard, 
 and the splashing and shouts of the boys and 
 girls in the water were heard all day long. 
 
 The rushes filling marshy hollows that extended 
 out toward the steppe were withered, and the 
 lowing herds wandered about the pastures. Wild 
 beasts had retired into wilder reaches of reeds 
 and into the mountain forests beyond the Terek. 
 Swarms of gnats and mosquitoes hovered over the 
 downs and towns. The snowy mountains were 
 
 253 
 
254 ^^^ COSSACKS.. 
 
 wrapped in gray mist. The air was rare and mal- 
 odorous. 
 
 There was a report that the abreks had ven- 
 tured across the shoaling river and were wander- 
 ing about on this side. The sun each evening set 
 in a burning, fiery glow. 
 
 It was the time of the harvesting. The whole 
 population of the village swarmed out into the 
 melon fields and vineyards. The gardens had 
 grown up with intertwining tendrils of luxuriant 
 green and were full of delicious, dense shade. 
 Everywhere, under the broad, transparent leaves, 
 hung the heavy clusters of fruit, purple and ripe. 
 Over the dusty roads leading out to the gardens 
 crept the creaking, two-wheeled carts, loaded 
 heavily with fruit. Where the wheels have 
 passed over the dusty roads, here and there are 
 seen great clusters that have fallen off and been 
 left behind. 
 
 Boys and girls, with their little shirts stained 
 with grape juice, with grapes in their hands and 
 in their mouths, tag after their mothers. Every- 
 where along the road one meets ragged workmen, 
 carrying on their strong shoulders baskets full of 
 grapes. Mdmukiy^ as the girls are called in sport, 
 with their faces swathed up to the eyes in ker- 
 
 * Corresponding curiously to the old English term, mauther. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 255 
 
 chiefs, drive the oxen dragging the heavy-laden 
 carts. Soldiers, meeting them, ask for some 
 grapes, and the maiden would climb upon the cart 
 and toss great handfuls down into the soldier's 
 outstretched skirt. 
 
 Already, in some of the yards, the wine-press- 
 ing has begun. The air is fragrant with the odor 
 of new wine. Troughs stained red as blood are 
 seen under the sheds, and Nogaf workmen, with 
 their trousers rolled up and their calves all dis- 
 colored, can be seen about the courtyards. 
 Swine, grunting, fatten themselves on the grape- 
 skins and roll in them. The flat roofs of the 
 dairies are thickly covered with dark, amber- 
 colored bunches drying in the sun. Crows and 
 magpies, filching seeds, collect around the roofs 
 and fly from place to place. 
 
 The fruits of the year's labors are gayly gath- 
 ered, and the harvest this year is unusually abun- 
 dant and rich. 
 
 In the shady, green gardens, amidst this sea of 
 vines, on all sides, laughter and songs and the 
 gay voices of women are heard, and the bright- 
 colored dresses of women give an added anima- 
 tion to the scene. 
 
 Just at noon, Maryana was in her garden, in the 
 shade of a peach tree, and removing from the 
 
256 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 unhitched arba the dinner for her family. In 
 front of her, on a horse-blanket spread upon the 
 ground, sat the ensign, who had leave of absence 
 from his school, and was washing his hands in 
 water poured from a pitcher. A young lad, her 
 brother, who had just come up from the pond, 
 was drying himself with his sleeves and gazing 
 impatiently at his sister and mother, in expecta- 
 tion of his dinner, and breathing hard. 
 
 The old mother, with quick movements of her 
 strong, sunburned hands, was disposing the 
 grapes, the dried fish, the cheese and bread on a 
 small, low, round Tatar table. 
 
 The ensign, having wiped his hands, took off 
 his cap, crossed himself, and drew up to the table. 
 The young lad took up the pitcher and drank 
 eagerly. The mother and daughter, crossing their 
 legs, sat down at the table. Even in the shade, it 
 was unendurably hot. The air about the garden 
 was rank and close. A fierce, hot wind, making 
 its way between the branches, brought no com- 
 forting on its wings, and monotonously waved the 
 tops of the pear trees, the peach trees, and the 
 mulberries that lined the garden. 
 
 The ensign, again muttering a prayer, brought 
 out from behind him a jiig of red wine, protected 
 by grape leaves, and, after drinking from the 
 
THE COSSACKS. 2$/ 
 
 mouth of it, handed it to his wife. The ensign 
 was in a single shirt, unbuttoned at the neck and 
 exposing his muscular, hairy chest. His keen, 
 thin face was cheerful. Neither in his actions 
 nor in his talk was there a gleam of his ordinary 
 shrewdness. He was happy and natural. 
 
 "Well, shall we get through with it by even- 
 ing } " he asked, wiping his wet beard. 
 
 " We shall have got it all in," replied the old 
 dame, " if only the weather holds. The Demkins 
 have only got half their harvest in," she added. 
 ** Ustenka is the only one of them that works ; 
 she nearly kills herself." 
 
 ** What else could you expect } " exclaimed the 
 old man, proudly. 
 
 " Come, Maryanushka, have a drink ! " said 
 Dame Ulitka, passing the jug to her daughter. 
 *' Here God has given ; we shall have enough to 
 make a fine wedding." 
 
 " There'll be time enough for that," said the 
 ensign, with a slight contraction of the brows. 
 
 The girl dropped her head. 
 
 " Now, why won't you hear to reason } " de- 
 manded the old dame. "The business is already 
 finished and the time is almost at hand." 
 
 " Don't try to be a fortune-teller," said the 
 ensign. " Now it is harvest time." 
 
258 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Have you seen Lukashka's new horse ? " 
 asked the old dame. " He did not keep the one 
 that Mitri i^ndreyitch gave him ; he has swapped 
 it off." 
 
 " No, I have not seen him. But I was talking 
 with our lodger's man to-day," said the ensign. 
 " He says he has received another thousand 
 rubles." 
 
 " A Croesus ; that's the end of it," said the old 
 dame, sententiously. 
 
 The whole family were cheerful and content. 
 
 The work was proceeding successfully. The 
 wine harvest was larger and better than their 
 most sanguine expectations. 
 
 Maryanka, after eating her own dinner, gave 
 some grass to the oxen, then spread her beshmet 
 out for a pillow, and lay down under the arba, on 
 the soft, succulent grass. All she wore was a 
 single red sorotchka, that is, a silk kerchief on her 
 head, and a blue, faded calico shirt ; but it seemed 
 to her intolerably hot. Her face glowed, her 
 limbs were restless, her eyes were heavy with 
 sleep and weariness ; her lips parted involun- 
 tarily, and her breast heaved with long, deep inspi- 
 rations. 
 
 The harvest time had been in progress for a 
 fortnight, and the hard, continuous labor had 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 259 
 
 occupied the young girl's whole life. Early in the 
 morning, at the first glow of dawn, she sprang up, 
 washed her face in cool water, muffled herself up 
 in her kerchief, and ran off barefoot after the 
 cattle. Then, after hastily getting on her 
 shoes and her beshmet, she took some bread in 
 her bundle, hitched up the oxen, and went off to 
 the garden for the day's work. There she took 
 only a brief hour for rest ; she spent her time in 
 cutting off the clusters of grapes and in lugging 
 the baskets, and then, at eventide, cheerful and 
 unwearied, pulling the oxen by a cord and guiding 
 them by a long branch, she would return to the 
 village. 
 
 At dusk, after the cattle were put in, she 
 would fill the wide sleeve of her shirt with seeds 
 and go out to the corner to laugh and chat with 
 the other girls. But, as soon as the twilight had 
 entirely faded from the sky, she always returned 
 ♦o the house, and, after eating supper in the dark 
 dairy, with her father, mother, and little brother, 
 she would go, in careless indolence and full of 
 glowing life, into the khata, sit down on the oven, 
 and, in a half dream, listen to the lodger's stories. 
 
 As soon as he had gone, she would throw her- 
 self down on her bed and sleep till morning, a 
 calm and dreamless sleep. On the next day the 
 
26o ^^^ COSSACJCS. 
 
 same story. Liikashka she had not seen since 
 the day of the betrothal feast, and she waited 
 without impatience for the day of the wedding. 
 She had now become quite accustomed to the 
 lodger, and it was with pleasure that she felt his 
 glance resting upon her. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 In spite of the fact that it was impossible to 
 get out of reach of the heat, though the gnats 
 swarmed in the pleasant shadow of the arba, and 
 though the young brother, rolling about, kept hit- 
 ting her, Maryana had protected her face with a 
 handkerchief, and was sound asleep, when sud- 
 denly Ustenka, her neighbor, came running up, 
 and, slipping under the cart, lay down by her side. 
 
 " Now, sleep, maiden, sleep ! " exclaimed Us- 
 tenka, crawling under the arba. ** Wait," said 
 she, straightening up, " that isn't the way ! '* 
 
 And she jumped up, broke off some green 
 boughs, and twined them into the two wheels of 
 the cart, and then spread her beshmet over it all. 
 
 " Get out of there ! " she cried to the young 
 brother, as she again crept under the arba. 
 " Cossacks aren't allowed in with the girls, are 
 they ? Go along ! " 
 
 When she was alone under the arba with her 
 friend, she suddenly clasped her in both arms, 
 and, pressing close to her, began to kiss her on 
 her cheeks and neck. 
 
 261 
 
262 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " My darling ! my brother ! " she exclaimed, 
 breaking out into her dainty, rippling laughter. 
 
 " There ! you learnt that of the little grand- 
 father," replied Maryanka, trying to escape. 
 " Come, let go of me ! " 
 
 And they both broke into such a hearty laugh 
 tha^ the old dame had to speak sharply to them. 
 
 "Aren't you jealous?" whispered Ustenka. 
 
 "What nonsense! Let me have a nap. Now, 
 what made you come ? " 
 
 But Ustenka was irrepressible. " What do you 
 suppose I have got to tell you ? " 
 
 Maryana raised herself up on her elbow and 
 straightened her disordered handkerchief. " Well, 
 what is it ? " 
 
 " I know something about your lodger." 
 
 " There is nothing to know," retorted Mar- 
 yanka. 
 
 " Ah ! you're a sly girl ! " exclaimed Ustenka, 
 nudging her with her elbow and giggling. " You 
 won't tell me anything ; but he comes to see you, 
 doesn't he } " 
 
 " Well, suppose he does ! what of it t " said 
 Maryanka, and suddenly blushed. 
 
 "Well, you see, I'm a silly maiden ; I am will- 
 ing to tell every one. Why should I hide it } " 
 demanded Ustenka, and her jolly, rosy face as- 
 
THE COSSACKS. 263 
 
 sumed a thoughtful expression. "Am I doing 
 any harm to any one ? If I love him, that's all 
 there is of it." 
 
 "Who ? the little grandfather?" 
 
 " Well, yes ! " 
 
 " But it's wrong." 
 
 **Ah, Mashenka, when should one have a 
 good time, if not in her girlhood.? When I get 
 married, then I shall have to have children, I 
 shall be full of care. Now, here you are going to 
 marry Lukashka, and, then, good-bye joy ; that 
 won't come, but children and work will.'* 
 
 " What is that ? Others live well, even though 
 they are married. It is all the same," replied 
 Maryana, calmly. 
 
 "Come, now! just tell me once! how is it 
 between you and Lukashka } " 
 
 "This is all there is of it. He wanted me. 
 Father put it off a year, but it has just been 
 decided to have the wedding this autumn." 
 
 " But what did he say to you ? " 
 
 Maryanka laughed. "Of course, you know 
 what he said 1 He said he loved me. He kept 
 asking me to go into the garden with him." 
 
 " What a goose ! and, of course, you didn't go ! 
 And yet what a bravo he is now ! Our first jigit ! 
 And how he carries on at the sotnya ! Lately our 
 
264 ^^^ COSSACATS. 
 
 Kirka came back and told what a horse he had 
 got. And you make him feel very bad. — And 
 what else did he say ? " pursued Ustenka. 
 
 " Must you know the whole thing, then ? " 
 asked Maryanka, with a laugh. " One evening he 
 came riding up to the window ; he was tipsy. He 
 wanted me to let him in." 
 
 " Well, didn't you let him in ? " 
 
 '* Why should 1? I gave my word once and I 
 keep it. I am as firm as a rock," replied Mar- 
 yanka, seriously. 
 
 " But he's such a hero ! Wherever he goes, no 
 maiden can refuse him anything." 
 
 "Let him go to others, then," returned Mar- 
 yanka, haughtily. 
 
 " Aren't you sorry for him ? " 
 
 " Yes, but I won't do anything foolish. That is 
 wrong." 
 
 Ustenka suddenly hid her face in her friend's 
 bosom, clasped her in her arms, and shook all 
 over with suppressed laughter. 
 
 " You're a stupid fool ! " she exclaimed, all out 
 of breath. " You don't know what happiness is," 
 and again she began to tickle Maryanka. 
 
 " Ai*, stop it ! " cried Maryanka, screaming 
 through her laughter. " You have crushed La- 
 zutka." 
 
THE COSSACKS. 26$ 
 
 *' There, you devils ! why can't you stop 
 your nonsense? one can't get a nap," the old 
 dame's sleepy voice again was heard near the 
 cart. 
 
 "You don't know what happiness is," repeated 
 Ustenka, in a whisper, and half sitting up, " But 
 how lucky you are ! God knows ! How you are 
 loved ! You are pock-marked, but still they all 
 fall in love with you ! Ekh ! if I were only in 
 your place, how I would twist that lodger of yours 
 round my little finger ! I watched him when he 
 was at my house, and saw how he devoured you 
 with his eyes ! The little grandfather is my 
 friend, and what won't he give me ! But yours, 
 you know, is one of the richest of the Russians ! 
 His man has been telling that he has his own 
 serfs ! " 
 
 Maryana got up and smiled at the thoughts 
 that came to her. 
 
 " What do you suppose our lodger said to me 
 one time } " she continued, biting a grass blade. 
 " He said, * I wish I were the Cossack Lukashka 
 or your brother Lazutka.' Why did he say 
 that ? " 
 
 " Oh ! they are always saying whatever comes 
 into their heads," replied Ustenka. " What 
 doesn't mine get off ! Perfectly crazy ! " 
 
266 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 Maryana laid her head on her beshmet, threw 
 her arm around Ustenka's shoulder, and shut 
 her eyes. 
 
 " To-day he wanted to come and work in the 
 garden ; father invited him to come," said she, 
 after a little pause, and then she fell asleep. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 The sun had now moved from behind the pear 
 tree that shaded the arba, and the slanting rays, 
 penetrating the screen of boughs that had been 
 devised by Ustenka, scorched the faces of the 
 sleeping maidens. Maryana awoke and began to 
 arrange her kerchief. Glancing around, she saw, 
 just beyond the pear tree, the lodger, with his 
 gun over his shoulder, standing and talking with 
 her father. She nudged Ustenka, and, without 
 saying anything, smilingly drew her attention to 
 him. 
 
 "I went yesterday, but had no luck at all," 
 said Olyenin, uneasily looking around, but not 
 seeing Maryana under her screen of branches. 
 
 " But you should go straight according to the 
 compass to the very edge of the river ; there, in 
 the deserted garden which we call * the waste,' 
 you will always find hares," said the ensign, imme- 
 diately changing his manner of speech. 
 
 " It's lazy business going after hares in working 
 hours ! " said the old dame, gayly. " You would 
 much better come and help us. You would have 
 
 267 
 
268 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 a nice time with the girls. . . . Come, girls, come 
 out from there ! " she cried. 
 
 Maryana and Ustenka were whispering and 
 finding it hard to keep from laughing under the 
 arba. 
 
 Ever since the ensign and his wife knew that 
 Olyenin had given Lukashka a horse worth fifty 
 moneta, they had become very obsequious to him ; 
 the ensign especially appeared to look with pleas- 
 ure at his friendship with Maryana. 
 
 "But I do not know how to work," said Olye- 
 nin, compelling himself not to look toward the 
 arba, where, through the screen of boughs, he 
 could catch a glimpse of a blue shirt and a red 
 kerchief. 
 
 " Come, and I will give you some peaches," 
 said the dame Ulitka. 
 
 " That's according to old Cossack hospitality, — 
 a piece of old woman's stupidity," said the ensign, 
 explaining and, as it were, correcting Dame 
 Ulitka's words. "In Russia, I believe, you don't 
 eat peaches so much as you do pineapple 
 preserves." 
 
 " So there is shooting in the deserted garden } '* 
 inquired Olyenin. " I will go there," and, throw- 
 ing a fleeting glance toward the screen of boughs, 
 he lifted his papakh, or Cossack cap, and was 
 
THE COSSACKS. 26g 
 
 soon lost to sight among the straight, green rows 
 of the vineyard. 
 
 The sun was already sinking behind the enclo- 
 sures, and its scattered rays were gleaming 
 through the translucent leaves, when Olyenin 
 returned to his hosts' garden. The wind had 
 died down, and a delicious coolness began to be 
 diffused about, over the vineyards. As by a sort 
 of instinct, Olyenin recognized from afar Mar- 
 yanka's blue shirt through the rows of vine stocks, 
 and, picking off the grapes as he went, he walked 
 toward her. His panting dog also occasionally 
 snatched with his dripping mouth at some low- 
 hanging cluster. All flushed with the heat, with 
 her sleeves rolled up, and her kerchief dropping 
 under her chin, Maryana was quickly cutting off 
 the heavy clusters and laying them in her basket. 
 
 Not letting go of the vine branch which she 
 had in her hand, she paused a moment, smiled 
 affectionately, and resumed her work. Olyenin 
 approached her and slung his gun over his shoul- 
 der, so as to free his hands. The words, " Well, 
 where are your people ? God help you ! Are you 
 alone .^" were on his lips, but he said nothing, and 
 merely lifted his cap. He felt awkward to be 
 alone with Maryanka, but, as though to torment 
 himself, he came close to her. 
 
2^0 ^-^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 "You will be shooting some of the women 
 with your gun that way," said Maryana. 
 
 "No, I won't shoot any one." 
 
 Then they both grew silent. 
 
 He drew out a little knife and began silently to 
 cut off the clusters. Drawing down from under 
 the leaves a heavy cluster, weighing at least three 
 pounds, in which all the grapes were pressed so 
 closely together that they actually flattened each 
 other for lack of room, he showed it to Maryana. 
 
 " Do you cut them all } Isn't this one green ? " 
 
 "Give it here." 
 
 Their hands met. Olyenin clasped her hand, 
 and she looked at him with a smile. 
 
 " Well, are you to be married soon ? " he asked. 
 
 She looked at him with her great, black eyes 
 and turned away without answering. 
 
 " And do you love Lukashka .'* " 
 
 " What is that to you ? " 
 
 " I am jealous." 
 
 " The idea ! " 
 
 " Truly, I am ; you are such a beauty ! " 
 
 And suddenly he felt such a terrible sense of 
 shame at what he had said ! His words, he thought, 
 had such a vulgar sound. His blood boiled ; he 
 knew not what he did, and seized her by both 
 hands. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 27 1 
 
 " Whatever I am, I am not for you ! What are 
 you joking for ? " replied Maryanka, but her eyes 
 declared how firmly she was assured that he was 
 not making sport of her. 
 
 "Joking! If you only knew how I . . .'* 
 
 His words sounded to him still more common- 
 place, still more incommensurate with what he 
 really felt ; but he continued : — 
 
 " I can't tell you, but I am ready ... I don't 
 know what I am not willing to do for you , . ." 
 
 ** Let me go, you rascal ! " 
 
 But her face, her gleaming eyes, her heaving 
 breast, her shapely limbs all told him exactly the 
 contrary. It seemed to him that she understood 
 how commonplace was all that he said to her, but 
 that she was superior to all such considerations ; 
 it seemed to him that she had long known all that 
 he wanted to tell her and had not the courage to 
 tell her, but that she wanted to hear how he 
 would say it. And how should she not know, he 
 thought, when all that he wished to tell her was 
 merely that which she herself was ">. " But she 
 does not wish to understand, does not wish to 
 answer," he said to himself. 
 
 " Au ! " suddenly was heard not far away among 
 the vine stocks, and Ustenka's thin voice and her 
 merry laugh rang out. " Come, Mitri Andreyitch, 
 
2/2 THE COSSACKS, 
 
 come and help me ! I am all alone ! " she called 
 to Olyenin, showing her round, innocent little 
 face among the leaves. 
 
 Olyenin made no reply and did not stir from 
 the spot. 
 
 Maryana went on with her work, but kept 
 glancing at the lodger. He began to say some- 
 thing, but paused, shrugged his shoulders, and, 
 adjusting his gun, hastened from the vineyard. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 He stopped once or twice and listened to Mar- 
 yana's and Ustenka's ringing laughter as they 
 joined company and went on talking pretty loud. 
 
 The whole afternoon Olyenin wandered about 
 the forest after game, but, when he came home at 
 dusk, he had been entirely unsuccessful. As he 
 went into the yard, he observed the dairy door 
 open and a blue shirt moving about inside. He 
 shouted out to Vanyusha rather loud, so as to let 
 the family know that he had returned, and then 
 sat down in his usual place on the porch. The 
 family were already back from the garden ; they 
 came out of the dairy, went into their khata, but 
 did not invite him to join them. Maryana twice 
 went down to the gate. Once, though it was twi- 
 light, he thought that she was looking at him. 
 He followed eagerly all of her motions, but could 
 not make up his mind to go to her. When she 
 went into the house, he stepped down from the 
 porch and began to walk back and forth through 
 the yard. But Maryana did not come out again. 
 Olyenin spent the whole night in the yard, with- 
 273 
 
274 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 out sleep, listening to every sound in the ensign's 
 khata. 
 
 He heard them talking through the evening, 
 eating their supper, bringing out the feather beds 
 and preparing to retire ; he heard Maryanka 
 laughing at something ; then he heard how grad- 
 ually all relapsed into silence. The ensign was 
 talking in a whisper with his wife, and there was 
 the sound of some one breathing. He went into 
 his own room ; Vanyusha was asleep in his 
 clothes. Olyenin envied him, and was again 
 impelled to go out into the yard, all the time 
 expecting some one, but no one appeared, no one 
 moved ; the only sound that he heard was the 
 measured breathing of three people. He recog- 
 nized Maryana's breathing, and he kept listening 
 to it and to the beating of his own heart. 
 
 In the village all was still ; the belated moon 
 was rising, and the panting cattle, lying down or 
 slowly struggling to their feet in the yards, be- 
 came more discernible. 
 
 Olyenin asked himself, angrily, " What do I 
 want ? " and he could not tear himself away from 
 his watching. 
 
 Suddenly he clearly distinguished steps and the 
 creaking of the deal floor in the ensign's khata. 
 He hastened to the door ; but again nothing was 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 275 
 
 to be heard but measured breathing ; and then the 
 cow buffalo, after a heavy sigh, got up on her knees, 
 then on all four feet, switched her tail, and then 
 followed the sound of something regularly drop- 
 ping on the dry clay of the yard, and then the ani- 
 mal, with a sigh, lay down again in the misty 
 moonlight. . . . 
 
 He asked himself, " What am I going to do ? " 
 determined resolutely to go to bed ; but again the 
 same sounds were heard, and he imagined that he 
 saw Maryanka's figure coming out into this trans- 
 lucent moonlight night, and again he went to the 
 door, and again he heard steps. Just before dawn 
 he went to the window and tapped on the pane. 
 Then he ran to the door, and now he heard Mar- 
 yanka's steps approaching. He took hold of the 
 latch and shook it. Cautious bare feet, scarcely 
 making the boards creak, approached the door. 
 The latch was lifted, the door grated, there was a 
 breath of sweet marjoram and melons, and then 
 MUryanka's whole figure appeared on the threshold. 
 
 She clapped the door to, and, muttering some- 
 thing, ran back with light steps. Olyenin began 
 to tap lightly, but there was no answer. He ran 
 to the window again and listened. 
 
 Suddenly the sharp, shrill voice of a man 
 brought him to his senses. 
 
276 ^-^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 " Excellent ! " cried a short, little Cossack, in a 
 white lambskin cap, coming up close to Olyenin 
 across the yard. " I saw it all ; excellent ! " 
 
 Olyenin recognized Nazarka and made no reply, 
 not knowing what to do or say. 
 
 " Excellent ! Now, I shall go to the village 
 elder ; I shall describe the whole thing ; and I'll 
 tell her father too. Fine girl, the ensign's daugh- 
 ter ! One isn't enough for her." 
 
 *' What do you want of me .-* what do you re- 
 quire } " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " Nothing, only I'm going to tell the village 
 elder." 
 
 Nazarka spoke very loud, evidently on purpose. 
 
 ** Here we have a cr^ity ytmkir I " 
 
 Olyenin trembled and turned pale. 
 
 ** Come here, come here ! " 
 
 He seized him forcibly by the arm and pulled 
 him into his khata. 
 
 "There was nothing at all ; she would not let 
 me in, and I got no. . . . She's honest. ..." • 
 
 " How can I tell } " said Nazarka. 
 
 "But I will give you something, all the same. 
 . . . Here, just wait a minute! . . ." 
 
 Nazarka made no reply. Olyenin went in and 
 handed the Cossack ten rubles. 
 
 "There was nothing at all ; but, all the same, I 
 
THE COSSACKS. 2/7 
 
 was to blame ; here, I give you this. Only, for 
 God's sake, don't tell any one. For there was 
 nothing at all. . . ." 
 
 " Good-bye," said Nazarka, with a laugh, and 
 was gone. 
 
 Nazarka had come that evening to the village, 
 at Lukashka's request, to bespeak a place for a 
 horse that he had stolen, and, as he was passing 
 through the village, he had heard the sound of 
 steps. He returned the next morning to the 
 sotnya, and told as a good joke how shrewdly he 
 had got ten moneta. 
 
 Olyenin that morning saw the family, and they 
 knew nothing of what had happened. He did 
 not exchange any words with Maryana, and she 
 merely looked at him and smiled. He spent 
 another sleepless night, vainly wandering about the 
 courtyard. The following day he went out hunt- 
 ing, and, when evening came, he called on Byelet- 
 sky, so as to escape from himself. He was 
 alarmed about himself, and vowed not to visit the 
 ensign's family any more. 
 
 The next night, Olyenin was aroused by an 
 orderly, who brought word that his company were 
 to start immediately on an expedition. He was 
 overjoyed at this deliverance, and felt a presenti- 
 ment that he should never return to the village. 
 
278 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 The foray into the mountains lasted three days. 
 The commander-in-chief desired to see Olyenin, 
 who was a relative of his, and proposed to him to 
 take a position on his staff. Olyenin refused. 
 He could not live away from his village, and he 
 asked leave to go back. 
 
 For the part which he had taken in the foray, 
 he was presented with a military cross. But, 
 though he had been so desirous of it before, now 
 he felt absolutely indifferent, and still more so in 
 regard to his promotion, which had not as yet 
 come. Though there was no occasion for it, he 
 took Vanyusha and rode down to the line, reaching 
 the village some hours before the company. All 
 the evening long he sat on his porch, gazing at 
 Maryana, and again he spent the whole night 
 wandering up and down the yard aimlessly and 
 without a thought. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 The next morning Olyenin awoke late. The 
 family were off at their work. He did not go 
 hunting, but now buried himself in his book, now 
 went out on the porch ; then he went into the 
 house again and flung himself upon his bed. 
 Vanyusha thought that he was ill. Before even- 
 ing he sprang up with sudden resolution, sat down 
 to write, and wrote till late into the night. He 
 wrote a letter, but did not send it, because he 
 felt that no one would comprehend what he 
 meant, and there was no reason why any one 
 beside himself should have understood. 
 
 This was what he wrote : — 
 
 " I have received letters of condolence from 
 Russia ; they are alarmed lest I am going to ruin 
 by burying myself in this wilderness. They say 
 of me, * He will grow rough, give up all his in- 
 terests, take to drinking, and, worse than all, will 
 marry a Cossack girl.' They say Yermolof was 
 quite right in declaring that, * any one who lives 
 ten years in the Caucasus will either drink him- 
 self to death or marry a harlot.' 
 279 
 
28o THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " How terrible ! Indeed, I should not go to 
 ruin, but great happiness would be mine, if I 
 
 became the husband of the Countess 13 , 
 
 chamberlain or marshal of the nobility ! How 
 low and despicable you seem to me ! You know 
 not what happiness is, what life is ! You ought 
 once to experience life in all its artless beauty ! 
 You ought to see and to realize what I have each 
 day before my eyes : the eternal, inaccessible 
 snow of the mountains, and a majestic woman, 
 endowed with the primitive beauty in which the 
 first woman must have come from the hand of the 
 Creator, and then you could answer the question, 
 * Who is going to destruction ? who is living 
 truly or falsely — you or I ? ' 
 
 " If you only knew how mean and detestable 
 you are in your self-delusions ! The moment 
 that, instead of my cottage, my forest, and my 
 love, there come up before my imagination your 
 parlors, your ladies with pomaded locks mixed 
 in with false hair, all those unnaturally moving 
 lips, those weak limbs hidden and useless, and 
 ■that fashionable lisp, which pretends to be con- 
 versation and has no right to the name, — then it 
 becomes insufferably painful to me. I am pained 
 at the thought of those vacuous faces, those rich, 
 marriageable girls, whose faces seem to say, * No 
 
THE COSSACKS. 28 1 
 
 matter ; come, if you wish, though I am a rich 
 maiden ; ' that sitting down and changing of places, 
 and that insolent, brazen-faced pairing-off of men 
 and women, and that eternal tittle-tattle, hypocrisy ; 
 those rules and regulations — with whom you must 
 shake hands, to whom you must bow, with whom 
 chat, and, finally, that everlasting ennui, bred in 
 the bone, that descends from generation to gener- 
 ation, and consciously too, with the conviction 
 that it is inevitable. 
 
 ** Accept one thing or believe in one thing. 
 You must see and comprehend what truth and 
 beauty are, and then all that you say and think 
 will crumble into dust, and with it all your wishes 
 of happiness for me and yourselves. Happiness 
 is to be with nature, to see her, to hold converse 
 with her. 
 
 " * God preserve us ! he is going to ftiarry a 
 mere Cossack girl and spoil all his prospects 
 in life.' I imagine they say this about me, and 
 with genuine pity. But I desire only one thing, 
 absolute ruin, as you mean it ; I desire to marry 
 this mere Cossack maiden, and I hesitate to do 
 this, because it would be a loftier happiness than 
 I deserve. 
 
 " It is three months since I first saw the Cos- 
 sack maiden Maryana. The ideas and prejudices 
 
282 ^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 of that society from which I had come were still 
 fresh in me. At that time I felt that it would be 
 impossible for me to fall in love with that woman. 
 I loved her just as I loved the beauty of the 
 mountains and of the sky, and I could not help 
 loving her, because she was beautiful, just as they 
 were. Afterward, I became conscious that the 
 contemplation of such beauty was becoming a 
 necessity of my existence, and I began to ask 
 myself, * A-m I not in love with her t ' But I 
 found in me nothing like such a feeling as I imag- 
 ined that love must be. It was a feeling quite 
 distinct from the pang of loneliness and the desire 
 for wedlock, or from platonic affectio'n, and, still 
 more, from the carnal affection which I had expe- 
 rienced. 
 
 " I felt the necessity upon me to see her, to hear 
 her, to feel that she was near me, and I was not 
 happy, but content. 
 
 " After the birthday party, when I spent the 
 evening with her and touched her, I felt the 
 consciousness that between me and this woman 
 existed an indissoluble though invisible bond, 
 against which it was impossible to struggle. 
 
 "But still I struggled; I said to myself, * Is it 
 possible for me to love this woman, who could 
 never appreciate the intellectual interests of my 
 
THE COSSACKS. 283 
 
 life ? Would it be possible to love a woman for 
 her beauty alone, to love a statue ? ' This was 
 what I asked myself, but I was already loving her, 
 although I did not believe in my own feeling. 
 
 " After the evening of the party, at which I 
 spoke to her for the first time, our relations were 
 changed. Hitherto, she had been, for me, a 
 strange but majestic object of external nature ; 
 after the party, she became a human being. I 
 began to meet her, to talk with her, to see her 
 working in the vineyard, to spend whole evenings 
 at their house. And, on coming into these close 
 relations with her, she still remained in my eyes, 
 as ever, pure, unapproachable, majestic. She 
 always and everywhere replied simply, calmly, 
 proudly, and with gay indifference. Sometimes 
 she was affectionate, but generally every glance, 
 every word, every motion of hers were expressive 
 of that — not contemptuous — but crushing and 
 bewitching indifference. 
 
 " Every day, with a simulated smile on my lips, 
 I strove to hide my real feelings, and, with the 
 torment of passion and desire in my heart, I ex- 
 changed trifling remarks with her. She saw that 
 I was dissembling, but her eyes looked simply, 
 directly, and gayly into mine. This state of 
 things began to grow unendurable. I desired to 
 
284 '^^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 be honest before her; I desired to tell her all 
 that I thought and felt. I was unusually stirred ; 
 it was in the vineyard. I began to tell her about 
 my love, in words which it makes me ashamed to 
 recall — ashamed, because I ought not to have 
 dared to speak of this with her, because she stood 
 immeasurably above such words and the sentiment 
 which I wished to express by means of them. I 
 came^ to a halt, and, from that day, my position 
 became insufferable. I did not wish to degrade 
 myself by still keeping up my former trivial rela- 
 tions, and I was not qualified for simple and 
 straightforward relations. 
 
 " I asked myself, in despair, * What ahi I to 
 do.^' In foolish dreams, I imagined this woman 
 now as my mistress, now as my wife, and I was 
 seized with aversion at the idea of either. To 
 make her my mistress would have been disgust- 
 ing; it would have been suicide. To make her 
 my bdriiinyay a lady, the wife of Dmitri Andreye- 
 vitch Olyenin, as one of our officers here did, who 
 married a Cossack girl, would have been still 
 worse. 
 
 " Now, if I could only become a Cossack, like 
 Lukashka, steal horses, get tipsy on red wine, shout 
 ribald songs, shoot men down, and then, while 
 drunk, creep in through the window where she 
 
THE COSSACKS. 285 
 
 was, without a thought of what I was doing or 
 why I did it, that would be another thing, then 
 we should understand one another, then I might 
 be happy. I proposed to give myself up to this 
 sort of life and then I became still more con- 
 scious of my weakness, my inefficiency. I could 
 not forget myself and my complicated, abnormal 
 past. And my future appeared still more hope- 
 less. Each day before me the far-off, snowy 
 mountains and this majestic, light-hearted woman. 
 And the only happiness in the world out of my 
 reach, this woman, unattainable for me ! Most 
 terrible and sweetest to me was the thought that 
 I could understand her and that she could never 
 understand me. She fails to understand me, not 
 because she is beneath me, not at all ; it would be 
 out of the nature of things for her to understand 
 me. She is light-hearted ; she is like nature, is 
 calm,, tranquil, and sufficient unto herself. But I, 
 an incomplete, feeble creature, wish her to under- 
 stand my ugliness and my anguish, 
 
 " I could not sleep nights and I wandered aim- 
 lessly under her windows, and yet I was not able 
 to explain to myself what I was after. 
 
 " On the eighteenth our company went on . a 
 foray into the mountains. For three days I was 
 away from the village. My heart was heavy, and 
 
286 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 all things were the same to me. Songs, cards, 
 carousals, chatter about promotions, which occu- 
 pied the men on the frontier, were more than 
 ever offensive to me. To-day I came back. I 
 have seen her, have seen my khata. Uncle Ye- 
 roshka, the snowy mountains from my porch, and 
 such a strong, novel sense of joy came over me 
 because I knew it all ! I love this woman with 
 genuine love, I love for the first and only time in 
 my life. I know what is in my heart. I have no 
 fear of degrading myself by this feeling ; I am 
 not ashamed of my love ; I am proud of it. . . . 
 
 " I am not to blame that I am in love. It was 
 done against my will. I tried to escape from it 
 by giving up to self-renunciation ; I imagined that 
 I was glad in the Cossack Lukashka's love for 
 Maryanka, and I merely exasperated my love and 
 my jealousy. This is not an ideal, a so-called 
 exalted love, such as I have experienced before ; 
 neither is it the feeling of attraction, by which 
 you are drawn toward your love, by which you 
 find in your own heart the foun4:ain of your affec- 
 tion, and have everything under your own control. 
 I have experienced this also. It is still less a 
 desire for bliss ; it is something quite different. 
 
 ** Perhaps in her I love nature, the personifica- 
 tion of all that is beautiful in nature ; but I have 
 
THE COSSACKS. 28/ 
 
 lost my power of will and I am become the instru- 
 ment by which she is loved by the elemental 
 power, by the universe of God ; all nature im- 
 prints this love into my soul, and says, 'Love!' 
 I love her not with my intellect, not with my 
 imagination, but with my whole being. In loving 
 her, I feel that I am an inseparable part of all 
 God's happy world. 
 
 ** I wrote you before about my new convictions, 
 which were the offspring of my lonely life ; but 
 no one can know how laboriously they were 
 worked out by me, with what joy I fell under 
 their sway, and recognized the new path of life 
 opening out before me. Nothing could have been 
 dearer to me than these convictions. . . . Well, 
 . . . love came and where are they .^ Not even re- 
 grets for them remain. It is hard for me even to 
 comprehend that I was able to prize such a one- 
 sided, chilling, intellectual state of mind. Beauty 
 came, and all the edifice which I had laboriously 
 raised crumbled into dust. And I have no re- 
 grets at my disillusionment. Self-renunciation is 
 all rubbish, fiddle-faddle. It is all pride, the 
 refuge from deserved unhappiness, a salvation 
 from jealousy at another's happiness. To live for 
 others, to do good !♦ Why } When my soul is 
 filled with love for myself and one desire — to 
 
288 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 love her and to live with her, to live her life. Not 
 for others, not for Lukashka, do I now desire 
 happiness. I do not now love these others. 
 Before this I should have said that this was 
 wrong. I should have tormented myself with 
 questions : what will become of her, of me, of 
 Lukashka ,-* Now, it is of no consequence to me. 
 I live not by my own self,^but there is a stronger 
 than I which directs me. I am tormented, but, 
 whereas before I was dead, now I am alive. To- 
 day I am going to her, and shall tell her all." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 After writing this letter, Olyenin, though it 
 was late in the evening, went over to the ensign's 
 khata. The old dame was sitting on a bench, 
 behind the oven, spinning cocoons. Maryana, 
 with uncovered head, was sewing by candle light. 
 When she saw Olyenin, she jumped up, took her 
 kerchief, and went to the oven. 
 
 " Come, stay with us, Maryanushka," said 
 Dame Ulitka. 
 
 ** Nay, I'm bare-headed." 
 
 And she climbed upon the oven. 
 
 Olyenin could not keep his eyes from her knee 
 and her beautifully rounded leg hanging down. 
 He treated Dame Ulitka to tea. She, in return, 
 offered her guest cream cheese, sending Maryana 
 to get it. But, after setting the plate on the 
 table, she again climbed upon the oven, and Olye- 
 nin felt only her eyes. They chatted about farm 
 management. Dame Ulitka came and went in 
 the enthusiasm of a housekeeper. She brought 
 Olyenin grape jelly, grape cakes, her best wine, 
 and insisted on treating him with that rude and 
 
290 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 proud hospitality peculiar to plebeians who earn 
 their bread in the sweat of their brow. The old 
 dame, who had at first so mortified Olyenin by 
 her rudeness, now often touched him by her sim- 
 ple affectionate treatment of her daughter. 
 
 " Why fly in the face of Providence, batyushka ! 
 We have everything, thank God ! we've been 
 pressing wine and storing it away, and we shall 
 sell three barrels and still have enouGfh to drink. 
 Don't go yet. We will drink some more together 
 in honor of the coming wedding." 
 
 " But when is the wedding } " asked Olyenin, 
 feeling all his blood rush to his face and his heart 
 beat irregularly and painfully. 
 
 There was heard a rustling behind the oven, 
 and the cracking of seeds. 
 
 " Well, why should we put it off any longer } 
 We are ready," replied the old dame, simply and 
 as calmly as though there were no such person as 
 Olyenin in the world. " I have got everything all 
 ready for Maryanushka — a whole store of things. 
 We shall give her a good send-off. There's only 
 one little thing that's not quite right. Our Lu- 
 kashka has been very wild of late ; he's on a 
 spree all the time. He is full of his pranks. 
 The other day a Cossack came in from the sotnya 
 and said that he had gone off to the Nogai'." 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 291 
 
 " He'd better look out ! " said Olyenin. 
 
 " Well, I say to him, * Lukashka, don't run 
 such risks ; you're a young man ; of course, you 
 want to show off ; but you have time enough for 
 everything. You've fought, and you've stolen 
 horses, and you've killed an abrek ; you're a 
 bravo ! But now you might Hve quietly.' -r- But 
 now he's acting abominably." 
 
 " Yes, I saw him twice on the frontier ; he was 
 tipsy all the time. He had just swapped another 
 horse," said Olyenin, looking toward the stove. 
 
 Two great, black eyes flashed a stern and un- 
 friendly glance at him. He began to feel 
 ashamed at what he had said. 
 
 " Well, he's never done any one any harm," 
 said Maryana, suddenly. " He spends his own 
 money, any way," and she leaped down from the 
 oven and went out, slamming the door behind 
 her. 
 
 Olyenin followed her motions with his eyes, 
 and, after she had gone out, he gazed at the door 
 and waited, not heeding what Dame Ulitka said to 
 him. After a little while, some guests came in : 
 an old man, Dame Ulitka's brother, and Uncle Ye- 
 roshka, and, behind them, Maryana and Ustenka. 
 
 " How do you do to-day } " whined Ustenka. 
 " You're always having a good time." 
 
292 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Yes, I- am having a good time," he replied, 
 and, for some unaccountable reason, felt awkward 
 and ashamed. He wanted to go and could not. 
 It also seemed to him impossible for him to sit 
 there and say nothing. The old man came to his 
 aid by asking Olyenin to drink with him, and they 
 did so. Then Olyenin drank with Uncle Yeroshka. 
 Then again with the other Cossack. Then again 
 with Yeroshka. And the more he drank the 
 heavier became his heart. But the old men 
 became lively. The two girls climbed on the 
 oven and talked together in a whisper, looking at 
 them while they drank. 
 
 Olyenin had nothing to say, but he drank 
 more than all the rest. The two old Cossacks 
 began to scream at each other. Dame Ulitka 
 drove them out and refused to let them have 
 any more red wine. The girls laughed at Uncle 
 Yeroshka, and it was already ten o'clock when 
 they all went out upon the porch. The old 
 Cossacks invited themselves to go and make a 
 night of it at Olyenin's. Ustenka went home. 
 Yeroshka and Dame Ulitka's brother went to 
 find Vanyusha, and the old dame herself disap- 
 peared in the dairy, to j^ut things in order for the 
 night. 
 
 Maryana was left alone in the khata. 01- 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 293 
 
 yenin noticed it. He felt as fresh and sound as 
 though he had just woke up. Escaping from the 
 old men, he went back to the khata. Maryana 
 had lain down to sleep. He went up to her and 
 tried to say something, but his voice failed him. 
 She sat down on the bed, drew up her feet under 
 her, getting as far away from him as possible, and 
 silently looked at him with a wild, frightened 
 look. She was evidently afraid of him. Olyenin 
 was conscious of it. He felt disgusted and 
 ashamed of himself, and, at the same time, had a 
 certain proud satisfaction at the thought that he 
 had inspired even this feeling in her. 
 
 " Maryana," said he, " will you never have pity 
 upon me } You don't know how I love you ! " 
 
 She moved still farther away. 
 
 *' It is the wine that is speaking and not you. 
 You do not mean what you say." 
 
 " It is not the wine. Give up Lukashka. I will 
 marry you." — "What is that I am sayidg .^ " he 
 asked himself, at the same time that he said those 
 words. " Should I say the same thing to-mor- 
 row } " — " Yes, now and forever ! " some inner 
 voice seemed to answer. 
 
 " Will you be mine } " 
 
 She looked at him earnestly, and her fear 
 seemed to leave her. 
 
294 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Maryana, I am beside myself ! I am not my 
 own master ! Whatever you bid me do I will 
 obey," and a stream of incoherent, tender words 
 of love came of their own free will. 
 
 " Now, what nonsense ! " she exclaimed, inter- 
 rupting him and suddenly seizing the hand which 
 he extended toward her. But she did not push 
 away his hand ; on the contrary, she pressed it 
 firmly between her strong, hard fingers. 
 
 *' Do gentlemen marry Cossack girls .? Go 
 away ! " 
 
 " But will you be mine ? I always . . ." 
 
 *' But what shall we do with Lukashka ? " said 
 she, with a smile. 
 
 He snatched away the hand, which she was 
 still holding, and firmly clasped her young body. 
 But she sprang out of his arms like a deer, leaped 
 down, and ran, in her bare feet, out on the porch. 
 Then Olyenin came to his senses and was horri- 
 fied at himself. Again it seemed to him that he 
 was inexpressibly base compared to her. But, 
 not for a moment regretting what he had said, he 
 went home, and, without vouchsafing a glance at 
 the old Cossacks carousing on his wine, he threw 
 himself down on his couch and slept more soundly 
 than he had for many nights. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The next clay was a saint's day. In the after- 
 noon all the population were in the street, their 
 holiday attire making a brave show in the bright 
 rays of the setting sun. 
 
 The wine harvest had been more generous than 
 usual. The people were through with their 
 labors. In a month the Cossacks would be on 
 the march, and meantime many families were get- 
 ting ready to celebrate weddings. On the village 
 square, before the town house, the greater part of 
 the people were collected near the two shops, the 
 one devoted to candies and melon seeds, the 
 other to calicoes and wearing apparel. On the 
 terrace surrounding the town house sat and stood 
 the old men, in sober gray and black zipuns with- 
 out braid or decoration. Calmly, with measured 
 voices, they chatted together about the crops and 
 about "the boys," about communal matters and 
 about the good old times, and gazed majestically 
 and with cool indifference upon the rising gener- 
 ation. 
 
 The women and maidens, as they passed in 
 295 
 
296 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 front of them, paused and bent their heads. The 
 young Cossacks reverently slackened their steps, 
 and, taking off their papakhi, or lambskin caps, 
 lifted them up high above their heads. The old 
 men stopped talking and looked, some sternly, 
 some affectionately, at the young men, as they 
 passed by, lifting their tall caps and putting them 
 on again. 
 
 The Cossack maidens had not as yet begun to 
 dance the khorovod, or popular choral dance, but, 
 collecting in groups, dressed in variegated besh- 
 mets and with white kerchiefs wrapping their 
 faces up to their eyes, they sat on the grass and 
 the terraces of the cottages, out of the slanting 
 rays of the sun, and laughed and chatted with 
 merry voices. 
 
 Little boys and girls were playing lapta, or ten- 
 nis, flinging the ball high into the cloudless sky 
 and running about the square with shouts and 
 cries. Girls in their teens were at one end of the 
 square, practising the khorovod and piping up the 
 song with their timid, shrill voices. The Cossack 
 clerks and young lads, come home from the gov- 
 ernment school on leave of absence for the festi- 
 val, dressed in clean linen and in new red cher- 
 keskas embroidered with braid, wandered about, 
 with festiv^e faces, in groups of twos and threes, 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 297 
 
 hand in hand, from one group of women and girls 
 to another, and, pausing, exchanged remarks and 
 jests with them. 
 
 The Armenian shopkeeper, in a blue cherkeska 
 of fine cloth edged with braid, was standing at 
 the open door of his shop, where rows of bright- 
 colored kerchiefs were spread out in tempting 
 array, and awaited purchasers, with the proud 
 bearing of an oriental merchant and the con- 
 sciousness of his own importance. 
 
 Two red-bearded, bare-footed Chechens, who 
 had come from the other side of the Terek to 
 witness the festival, squatted in the door of their 
 acquaintance's house, and, as they carelessly 
 smoked their short pipes and spat, exchanged 
 observations in guttural tones. 
 
 Here and there a soldier, in ordinary dress, in 
 his old cloak, would saunter amid the gay-colored 
 groups across the square. Now and then already 
 began to be heard the drunken songs of carousing 
 Cossacks. All the cottages were shut up ; the 
 porches had been cleanly washed the evening 
 before. Even the old women were out-of-doors. 
 Everywhere on the dry, dusty streets were scat- 
 tered the shells of melon and pumpkin seeds. 
 The air was mild and calm; the cloudless sky, 
 blue and transparent. The dull, white crests of 
 
298 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 the mountains, rising above the roofs, seemed 
 close at hand and were growing rosy in the rays 
 of the setting sun. Occasionally, in the direction 
 of the river, echoed the distant report of a can- 
 non shot. But in the village were heard commin- 
 gling only the varied sounds of a merry festival. 
 
 Olyenin had been all the morning out in the 
 yard, hoping to see Maryana. But she had 
 dressed and gone to the chapel to mass ; then, 
 after she had spent some time on the terrace with 
 the other girls, cracking seeds, she had come home 
 with some of her companions, and had given the 
 lodger a gay and affectionate glance. Olyenin 
 was afraid to speak jestingly with her, especially 
 before the others. He wanted to talk with her 
 about what had taken place the evening before, 
 and to have a final answer from her. He waited 
 for another such moment as he had experienced 
 the evening before ; but the moment did not come, 
 and he felt that to remain in such a state of un- 
 certainty was more than he could bear. She 
 again went out into the street, and, after a 
 little time, he followed her, not knowing where he 
 was going. He passed the corner where she was 
 standing, all radiant in her blue satin beshmet, 
 and his heart was filled with a sweet pain when he 
 heard her girlish laughter. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 290 
 
 Byeletsky's khata was on the square. As Olye- 
 nin walked by it, he heard the young prince's 
 voice calling him to come in, and he did so. 
 While talking they both sat down in the window. 
 They were soon joined by Uncle Yeroshka, in a 
 new beshmet ; he took his seat near them, on the 
 floor. 
 
 " There is the aristocratic crowd," exclaimed 
 Byeletsky, pointing with his cigarette to a gay- 
 colored group on the corner, with a smile. " And 
 there is my girl ! do you see her } in red. It's a 
 new dress. — Say, are you going to begin the 
 dances ? " shouted the young man, from the win- 
 dow. "Just wait till it grows dark and we will join 
 them. Then we will take them round to Usten- 
 ka's ; we must give them a ball." 
 
 " And I will go to Ustenka's too," said Olyenin, 
 decisively. " Will Maryana be there } " 
 
 " Certainly ! come, by all means," said Byeletsky, 
 not in the least surprised. " And isn't that pict- 
 uresque } " he added, pointing to the gayly 
 dressed girls. 
 
 " Yes, very," assented Olyenin, trying to appear 
 calm. "On such festivals," he added, "I always 
 wonder why it is that in consequence of its being 
 such a day of the month, say the fifteenth, as 
 to-day, all the people become suddenly so gay and 
 
300 ^-^^^ COSSACK'S. 
 
 content ? Everything shows that it is a festi- 
 val : eyes and faces and voices and motions and 
 dresses, and the air and the sun." 
 
 " Yes ! " said Byeletsky, who was not fond of 
 such abstruse questions. — *' But why don't you 
 drink, old man "i " said he, turning to Uncle 
 Yeroshka. 
 
 Yeroshka winked to Olyenin, and said, referring 
 to Byeletsky : — 
 
 " Truly, this kunak of yours is a fine fellow." 
 
 Byeletsky lifted his glass. ''Allah birdid!''^ 
 said he, as he drained his glass. 
 
 '' SaiL bid!'' ("To your health") exclaimed 
 Uncle Yeroshka, with a smile, and draining his 
 glass. 
 
 ** You call this a festival," said he to Olyenin, 
 standing up and glancing out of the window. 
 " What sort of a festival is this ! You should 
 have seen how they celebrated them in old times. 
 The women used to come out dressed in sarafans, 
 all embroidered with galloon, and with a double 
 row of gold coins around their breasts, and golden 
 headdresses^ on their heads. When they went 
 
 * Allah birdtii means God has given, and is the ordinary greet- 
 ing employed by the Cossacks. when they drink together. — Au- 
 thor's note in text. 
 
 ^ The national headdress, called kokoshnik. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 301 
 
 along, * f r, fr ! * what a rustle they made! Each 
 woman was like a princess ! They used to go 
 along in whole swarms, singing songs till your 
 heart would ache. They would carouse all night 
 long. And the Cossacks would roll out whole 
 barrels of wine in their yards, and they would sit 
 down and keep it up till morning. And then, 
 making a string, they would go along the street, 
 hand in hand, to the very end of the village. 
 Everybody they met they would make come along 
 too. Yes, and they would go from one to another. 
 Sometimes they would carouse three days run- 
 ning. My father used to come in, I remember, 
 all red and puffed up, without his cap, all un- 
 strung ; he would come home, and how he would 
 scold ! Mother used to know how to manage 
 him ; she would give him cold caviare and red 
 wine to sober off on, and then go out herself 
 through the village in search of his cap. The 
 idea of drinking two days and nights steady ! 
 What men they were then ! But look at them 
 now ! " 
 
 " Well, how did the girls look in their sarafans ? 
 Did they carouse alone by themselves } " asked 
 Byeletsky. 
 
 ** Indeed, they did ! The Cossacks would come 
 in or dash up on their horses and try to break up 
 
302 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 their dances, but the girls even would take their 
 clubs. On Shrovetide once, some young bravo 
 tried to break them up, but they fought ; they 
 beat his horse and they beat him. Then, the 
 fellows would break down the fences, seize the 
 girl they loved, and away with her ! How they 
 used to love them ! Oh, what girls they were ! 
 Perfect queens ! " 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Just at this time, two riders came into the 
 square from a side street. One of them was 
 Nazarka, the other Lukashka. Liikashka sat 
 somewhat sidewise on his fat bay Kabarda, which 
 came lightly prancing along the hard street, and 
 tossing its handsome head, with its shiny, silken 
 forelock. The gun in its case, cleverly balanced 
 on his back, and the pistol behind him, and the 
 felt burka rolled up and fastened behind the sad- 
 dle, made it evident that Lukashka had ridden 
 down from some distant, warlike place. The 
 showy manner in which he sat sidewise upon his 
 horse, the careless motion of his hand as he 
 almost audibly tapped his horse's belly with his 
 whip, and, above all, his flashing, black eyes, 
 glancing haughtily around, all gave evidence of 
 conscious strength and the self-confidence of 
 youth. 
 
 " Do you see what a bravo I am ! " his eyqs 
 seemed to demand, as they glanced from side 
 to side. The stately steed, with its silver- 
 mounted trappings and weapons, and the hand- 
 303 
 
304 '^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 some Cossack himself attracted the attention of 
 all the populace gathered on the square. Na- 
 zarka, lank and short, was not dressed nearly as 
 well as his friend. As they rode by the old men, 
 Lukashka reined in his horse and lifted high above 
 his smoothly shaven, black head his papakh, 
 trimmed with curly, white lamb's-wool. 
 
 " Well, have you driven off many Nogaif 
 horses } " asked a withered little old man, with a 
 dark, scowling face. 
 
 " Well, can't you count, grandsire, that you 
 have to ask } " replied Lukashka, avoiding his 
 question. 
 
 ''It's no use taking that fellow along with you," 
 muttered the little old man, with a still blacker 
 scowl. 
 
 " Uncle Burlak seems to know all about it," 
 muttered Lukashka, and his face assumed a troub- 
 led expression ; but, glancing toward a group of 
 Cossack girls, he spurred his horse toward them. 
 
 "Good evening, girls," he cried, in his strong, 
 exuberant voice, suddenly reining in his horse. 
 " Without me, you were growing old, you hags 
 you ! " and he laughed at his own pleasantry. 
 
 " Hullo, Lukashka ! how are you, my dear 
 boy } " exclaimed many merry voices. " Have 
 you plenty of money ? . . . Will you get us girls 
 
THE COSSACKS, 
 
 305 
 
 some candy ? . . . Have you come for long ? . . . 
 It's an age since we have seen you ! " 
 
 " Nazarka and I have come in on a flying visit, 
 just for a spree," replied Lukashka, cracking his 
 whip over the horse and riding him straight at 
 the girls. 
 
 " And here's Maryanka forgotten you entirely," 
 squealed Ustenka, nudging Maryana with her 
 elbow, and bursting into a shrill laugh. 
 
 Maryana stepped out of the way of the horse, 
 and, throwing her head back, looked straight at 
 the Cossack with her big, flashing eyes. 
 
 "But it has been so long since you were here ! 
 Why are you trying to trample us with your 
 horse ? " she asked, dryly, and turned away. 
 
 Lukashka seemed perfectly gay. His face 
 glowed with daring and pleasure. Maryana's cool 
 answer evidently piqued him. He suddenly 
 frowned. 
 
 " Climb up by the stirrup, and I will carry you 
 off to the mountains, mamochka ! " he suddenly 
 cried, as though putting evil thoughts to flight ; 
 and he rode like a jigit among the girls. He bent 
 down to Maryana. " I will have my kiss, I will 
 have my kiss yet, so there ! " Maryana's eyes 
 met his, and she suddenly blushed. She slipped 
 out of his way. 
 
3o6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Now, be careful ! You will step on my feet ! " 
 she exclaimed, and, bending over, she glanced 
 down at her neatly fitting, blue stockings with 
 clocks, and her new red chuviaki, embroidered 
 with narrow silver braid. 
 
 Lukashka turned to Ustenka, and Maryana sat 
 down next a young Cossack woman, who held a 
 baby in her arms. The child was attracted to the 
 girl, and its chubby hands clutched after the string 
 of the necklace which hung down over her blue 
 beshmet. Maryana bent down to it and looked at 
 Lukashka out of the corner of h^r eyes. At this 
 moment, he was pulling from under his cherkeska, 
 out of the pocket of his black beshmet, a package 
 of sweetmeats and seeds. 
 
 " It's for all of you," he said, handing the pack- 
 age to Ustenka and glancing at Maryanka with a 
 smile. 
 
 Again a look of perplexity came over the girl's 
 face. Something like a cloud came into her eyes. 
 She dropped her kerchief below her lips, and sud- 
 denly, putting her lips against the pale face of the 
 child, which was still clutching her necklace, she 
 began to kiss it passionately. The baby, pushing 
 against the young girl's bosom, began to cry, 
 opening its mouth and showing its toothless 
 gums. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 307 
 
 " Are you trying to choke the baby ? " asked 
 the mother, taking him to herself, and opening 
 her beshmet to give the child the breast. 
 "You'd better make up-with the lad." 
 
 ** I'll just go and put up the horse, and Nazarka 
 and I will carouse the livelong night ! " exclaimed 
 Lukashka, hitting the animal with his whip and 
 galloping away from the girls. 
 
 Returning to the side street, he and Nazarka 
 went to two cottages that stood side by side. 
 
 ** They have had supper, brother ! Come back 
 as soon as you can ! " cried Lukashka to his 
 friend, dismounting at his dooryard and warily 
 leading the horse into the plaited gates of his 
 own yard. 
 
 "Hullo, Stepka ! " \\z said to the dumb girl, 
 who, also dressed in festal array, came out to lead 
 away the horse. And by signs he made her un- 
 derstand that she should put him in the shed, but 
 not unsaddle him. 
 
 The dumb girl made a strange noise, clucked 
 with her tongue, and kissed the horse on the 
 nose. That signified that she liked the horse and 
 thought him a fine one. 
 
 " How are you, mother } What ! have you ;iot 
 gone out yet } " cried Lukashka, taking off his 
 gun and mounting the steps. 
 
3o8 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 His old mother opened the door for him. 
 
 " You see, I didn't expect you ; I didn't have 
 an idea of such a thing," said she, ''for Kirka said 
 you wouldn't come." 
 
 " Bring a little wine ! come, mother. Nazarka 
 will be here ; we want to celebrate the festival ! " 
 
 ** Right away, Lukashka, right away ! " said the 
 old dame. '' You see, the women have all gone 
 out to celebrate. The dumb girl and I were just 
 going to start." 
 
 And, taking the keys, she hurried out to the 
 dairy. 
 
 Nazarka put up his horse, took off his gun, and 
 went over to Lukashka's. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 "To your health ! " said Lukashka, taking from 
 his mother's hand a brimming cup of red wine, 
 and cautiously lifting it to, his lips. 
 
 " There's something up," exclaimed Nazaska. 
 " That old clown said, * Have you stolen many 
 horses .-*' He must know a thing or two." 
 
 " The wizard ! " said Lukashka, curtly. " What 
 of it ? " he added, shaking his head, " They are 
 across the river by this time. Be on the watch." 
 
 " It's all wrong." 
 
 *• What's all wrong ? Take some red wine to 
 him to-morrow. That's the way to do ; and noth- 
 ing will come of it. Now, let us have a lark ! 
 Drink ! " cried Lukashka, in just such a burly 
 voice as Uncle Yeroshka would have uttered that 
 word. " Come, let us go out in the street and 
 have a good time with the girls. You go and get 
 some honey, or I'll send the dumb girl. We'll 
 spree it till morning." 
 
 Nazarka smiled. 
 
 " Shall we be here as long as that } " he asked. 
 309 
 
3IO ^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 " Only let us get at it ! Skip round and get 
 some vodka ! Hold on, here's some money ! " 
 
 Nazarka went obediently to Yamka's. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka and Yergusbof, like great birds 
 of prey, scenting out where any drinking was go- 
 ing on, came, one after the other, to the cottage. 
 Both were drunk. 
 
 ** Give us another half-gallon," cried Luka to 
 his mother, in answer to their greeting. 
 
 *<-Now, tell us, you devil you, where you stole 
 them," cried the old man. " You're a hero ! I 
 like you ! " 
 
 ** Well, I don't like you," replied Lukashka, 
 with a laugh. " You play pimp to the yunker ! 
 What an old man you are ! " 
 
 " It's a lie ! indeed, it's a lie ! He, Marka ! " 
 (The old man burst into a hearty laugh.) " Yon 
 devil tried to bribe me ! * Go,' says he, ' try to 
 get her for me.' He gave me a gun. No, God 
 be with him ! I would have done it, but I took 
 pity on you. Now, tell us, where have you 
 been .? " And the old man began to talk Tatar. 
 
 Lukashka replied vivaciously. Yergushof, 
 whose knowledge of Tatar was limited, threw in 
 Russian words. 
 
 " I tell you, you have been stealing horses. I 
 am perfectly sure of it," insisted Yeroshka. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 311 
 
 " Gire'fka and I went on a raid," said Lukashka, 
 calling Girei-Khan by this affectionate diminutive, 
 which was a common usage among Cossacks who 
 wished to make a show of their style. " He's 
 always boasting that he knows the whole steppe 
 on the other side of the river and can go straight 
 to the spot ; and so we rode ; it was dark night. 
 My GireYka lost his way ; he began to go cau- 
 tiously and there was no sense in it. There was 
 no aul anywhere about, and that was the end of it. 
 Evidently we ought to have gone farther to the 
 right. We hunted till almost midnight. Then, 
 suddenly, we heard dogs bark." 
 
 *' Fools ! " exclaimed Uncle Yeroshka. " That's 
 just the way we used to get lost at night-time in 
 the steppe. The devil take it ! Once I rode up 
 to a little hill, and hid behind a clump of bushes ; 
 this is the way it was ! " He put his hands to 
 his mouth and howled like a pack of wolves, 
 on one note. "The dogs instantly answered to 
 it. — Now, finish your story ! Well, what did you 
 find } " 
 
 "We had a lively time of it. The Nogar 
 women almost caught Nazarka, pra ! " 
 
 "Yes, that they did," exclaimed Nazarka, with 
 a feeling of shame. 
 
 " Well, we rode on ; again Giretka lost his way, 
 
312 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 got entirely off the track in the sand hills. He 
 supposed that we were down near the Terek, but 
 we were quite the other way." 
 
 " You ought to have gone by the stars," said 
 Uncle Yeroshka. 
 
 "That's what I think," put in Yergushof. 
 
 "Yes, that's very well, but it was perfectly 
 cloudy. Well, I was beating about, beating 
 about ! I had got one mare, put the halter on 
 her. Then I let my own horse take his own gait. 
 I think to myself, * He will get us out of it.' 
 Then, what do you think } What a whinnying, 
 whinnying — nose to the ground! ... I gallop 
 forward, straight into a village and out again. 
 And unfortunately it became quite light ; we had 
 just time to drive the horses into the woods and 
 hide them there. Nagim came up from the river 
 and took them." 
 
 Yeroshka shook his head. " Sharp game ! 
 That's what I say ! Many of them } " 
 
 " Got all there were," said Lukashka, slapping 
 his pocket. 
 
 At this moment, the old mother came into the 
 cottage. Lukashka ceased speaking. " Drink ! " 
 he cried. 
 
 "That's just the way Girchik and I did once," 
 began Uncle Yeroshka. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 313 
 
 " Now, we can't stop for that," said Lukashka. 
 " I am going," and, having finished the wine in 
 the bowl, and tightening his belt, he went out 
 into the street. ■ 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIir. 
 
 It was already dark when Lukashka went into 
 the street. The autumn night was cool and with- 
 out wind. The golden orb of the full moon swam 
 out from behind the dark poplars which stood 
 on one side of the square. The srnoke arose 
 from the dairy chimneys, and, melting with the 
 evening vapors, hovered above the village. The 
 odor of burning kizyak or dried dung, of new 
 wine, and of the dampness mingled in the atmos- 
 phere. Talking, laughing, singing, and the crack- 
 ing of seeds made just as much of a Babel as 
 during the day, but the sounds were more dis- 
 tinct. White kerchiefs and tall lambskin caps 
 could be seen in crowds near the fences and 
 houses. 
 
 On the square, in front of the opened and 
 lighted shops, was gathered a motley throng of 
 Cossack lads and maidens ; loud songs, laughter, 
 and chatter were heard. Taking hold of hands, 
 the girls formed a circle, gracefully tripping 
 around over the dusty square. A lean maiden, one 
 of the ugliest of their number, sang : — 
 
 3H 
 
THE COSSACKS. 315 
 
 Out of the forest, the little dark forest 
 
 (AidaliulU), 
 Out of the garden, the little green garden^ 
 Hither came, forth came iioo young braves^ 
 Two yoting bravos, both unmarried. 
 Forth came, came they, stopped and quarrelled^ — 
 Stopped and quarrelled. 
 By them passed a handsome maiden^ 
 Passed them and addressed them : — 
 " Come, no7u, one of you shall have me ! ** 
 Then she chose the fair faced fellow, — 
 Fairf ace d fellow with the yellow ringlets. 
 He took her, took her by her right hand. 
 He led her, led her round the circle. 
 Boasted of her to his comrades : — 
 "Just behold my maiden, brothers I " 
 
 The old women stood around, listening to the 
 song, and watching the dance. The little boys 
 and girls ran around in the darkness, chasing 
 each other. The Cossacks stood about, pinching 
 the maidens as they tripped by, and occasionally 
 breaking into the circle to take a part in the 
 dance. On the dark side of the door stood Bye- 
 letsky and Olyenin, dressed in full jigit costume, 
 and talking French together, not aloud, but still 
 distinctly, feeling that they were attracting atten- 
 tion. Hand in hand ran the plump Ustenka, in a 
 red beshmet, and the majestic Maryana, in hand- 
 some new attire. 
 
 Olyenin and Byeletsky conferred together how 
 they might entice the two girls away from the 
 
3i6 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 khorovod. Byeletsky supposed that Olyenin 
 wanted it merely for amusement's sake ; his real 
 desire, however, was to learn his fate from her 
 lips. His overmastering desire was to see her 
 as soon as possible alone, to tell her all, and to 
 ask her if she could and would be his wife. Al- 
 though this question had long before been decided 
 by him in the negative, still he hoped that he 
 should have strength enough to pour out his 
 heart before her, and that she would understand 
 him. 
 
 "Why didn't you tell me sooner.?" said Bye- 
 letsky. " I could have arranged it all through 
 Ustenka. You are so strange ! " 
 
 " What's to be done 1 Sometime, very soon, I 
 will tell you all. The only thing now is, get her 
 to come to Ustenka's — for God's sake !" 
 
 " All right. That is easy. ... So, Maryana, 
 you choose the fair-faced fellow, hey } And not 
 Lukashka } " exclaimed Byeletsky, for polite- 
 ness' sake addressing Maryana first, and then, 
 without waiting for her answer, he joined Us- 
 tenka, and began to urge her to bring Maryana 
 home with her. He had no time to finish speak- 
 ing when the homely girl struck up another song, 
 and the maidens set the circle in motion again, 
 and began to sing. This was their song : — 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Out behind the garden^ ga^'den^ 
 Did the brave youth wendj 
 Up street to the end. 
 Once, the first time that he came^ 
 His right hand he waned ; 
 Then the second time he came^ 
 Waved his bonnet of beaver ; 
 But the third time that he came 
 The brave young man did standi 
 Stood, and then crossed over. 
 " How I longed to come to thee ! 
 List ! while I upbraid! 
 Why, oh why, my darling maidy 
 Dost refuse to walk with me 
 In the garden ? Tell me, darling ! 
 Dost thou scorn to talk with me ? 
 By and by, my darling. 
 Thou wilt curb thy pride : 
 I shall send the wooers to thee^ 
 I shall send to woo thee ; 
 Thou shall be my bride ! 
 J will make thy tears to flow ! " 
 
 Though my answer I knew well, 
 Still I dared not then to tell. 
 Dared not tell kitn " Yes " or ''No."* 
 
 To the garden then I go ; 
 In the green garden meet my friend, 
 Low before him bend. 
 
 " Here, oh, maiden ! here I stand. 
 Take this korhieffrom my hand I 
 Prithee, maiden, deign to take, 
 Take it in thy hand so white. 
 Bear it in thy hand so white. 
 Take and wear it for my sake I 
 
 317 
 
3i8 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Love me, maiden, love me 7vell ! 
 What to do I cannot tell ; — 
 To the maid whom. I call mine 
 Do I give this shazvl so fine. 
 For a large shazvl such as this is 
 I shall take at least five kisses / " * 
 
 Lukashka and Nazarka, breaking into the cir- 
 cle, began to whirl round with the maidens. 
 Lukashka, joining in with a harsh, unmelodious 
 voice, and waving his arms, dashed into the very 
 centre of the ring. " Come on, one of you ! take 
 hold ! " he cried. The girls gave Maryana a 
 push, but she would not go. Over and above the 
 singing were heard the sound of merry laughter, 
 slaps, kisses, and whisperings. 
 
 As Lukashka passed by Olyenin, he nodded to 
 him affectionately. 
 
 " Mitri Andreyitch ! and have you come too to 
 look on .? " he asked. 
 
 " Certainly I have," replied Olyenin, with 
 decided curtness. 
 
 Byeletsky bent over to Ustenka's ear and said 
 
 . ^ In this example of the popular khorovod beginning, — 
 
 ICak za sadom, za sadom. 
 
 Khodil, gulyal molodets 
 
 Vdol tilitsui f konets, — 
 there is a certain approximation to trochaic metre and the rough 
 attempt at rhyme peculiar to improvisation. The irregular 
 verse, with its sharp staccato and frequent repetitions, is 
 entirely characteristic of all Slavonic folk poetry. — N. H. D. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 3 to 
 
 something to her. She had no time to reply ere 
 the circle whirled her away ; but when it brought 
 her back again she said : — 
 
 "All right, we'll come." 
 
 " And Maryana, too ! " 
 
 Olyenin bent over to Maryana. " Will you 
 come } Please do, if only for a moment. I must 
 speak with you." 
 
 "If the girls come, I will." 
 
 "Will you tell me what I asked you about } " he 
 inquired, a second time bending over to her. 
 " You are in good humor to-day." 
 
 She was away from him by this time, but he 
 followed after her. " Will you tell me } " 
 
 "Tell you what V 
 
 " What I asked you night before last," said Ol- 
 yenin, whispering in her ear. " Will you marry 
 me > " 
 
 Maryana hesitated for a moment. 
 
 " I will tell you," she said, " I will tell you to- 
 night ! " 
 
 And in the darkness her eyes gave the young 
 man a gay and affectionate look. 
 
 He still followed after her. It was a pleasure 
 to him to get as near as possible to her. 
 
 But Lukashka, who had been drinking inces- 
 santly, seized her by main force and dragged her 
 
320 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 by the hand from the ring into the centre. Olye- 
 nin had barely time to whisper, " Come to Usten- 
 ka's, do," and joined his companion. The song 
 came to an end. Lukashka wiped his lips ; Mar- 
 yanka did the same, and they kissed each other. 
 "No, five times," said he. Talking, jesting, scuf- 
 fling were mingled in harmonious movement and 
 harmonious sounds. Lukashka, who had now be- 
 gun to grow rather mellow with drink, distributed 
 among the girls confectionery in handfuls. " It's 
 my treat for all of you," he cried, with a proud, 
 comically half-pathetic self-consciousness. 
 
 " But let those that gad about with the soldiers 
 get out of the circle," he suddenly added, giving 
 Olyenin a wrathful look. 
 
 The maidens grabbed their candy from him, 
 and, laughing, tried to snatch it from each 
 other. Byeletsky and Olyenin retired to one side. 
 Lukashka, as though ashamed of his generosity, 
 took off his papakh, and, wiping his forehead 
 with his sleeve, joined Maryanka and Ustenka. 
 
 ^^ Dost thou scorn to talk with me?" he said, 
 quoting a line of the song which they had just 
 been singing, and applying it to Maryanka. " By 
 and by, my darliitg, thou wilt cnrb thy pride,'' he 
 repeated, very significantly. '* Thou shall be my 
 bride ; I will make thy tears to Jlow,'' he went 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 321 
 
 on, quoting, and hugged the two girls both 
 at once. 
 
 Ustenka tore herself away, and, drawing back 
 her arm, gave him such a blow in the back that 
 she bruised her own hand. 
 
 *' Say, are you going to have another dance ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " Just as the girls wish," replied Ustenka. 
 " But I am going home, and Maryanka wanted to 
 come too." 
 
 The Cossack, still hugging Maryana, took her 
 out of the crowd, behind the dark corner of the 
 house. 
 
 " Don't go, Mashenka," said he. " Let us have 
 one last good time. Go home and I will join 
 you." 
 
 •* What do I want to go home for t It's a festi- 
 val, and I mean to make the best of it. I am go- 
 ing to Ustenka' s," said Maryana. 
 
 *' Well, I'll marry you, all the same." 
 
 "Very good!" said Maryana. "We'll see 
 about that." 
 
 ** Do you insist on going } " demanded Lu- 
 kashka, and, pressing her to him, kissed her 
 cheek. 
 
 ** Now, let go of me ! What are you bother- 
 injr me for } " 
 
322 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 And Maryana tore herself out of his arms and 
 ran away. 
 
 "Ah, you girl ! It's too bad ! " cried Lukashka, 
 in a tone of reproach, pausing and shaking his 
 head. " Thou wilt weep because of mej^ and, turn- 
 ing from her, he cried to the other girls, " Sing 
 something, won't you } " 
 
 Maryana seemed somewhat frightened and at 
 the same time annoyed by what he said. 
 
 She stopped. 
 
 " What's too bad .? '* 
 
 " What you're doing." 
 
 " But what 1 " 
 
 " I mean this : going around with that soldier 
 lodger of yours and not caring anything for me." 
 
 " I'll do just as I please about loving you. You 
 are not my father, nor my mother. What do you 
 want } I'll love the one I want to love." 
 
 "All right!" said Lukashka. "Just re- 
 member." 
 
 He went to the shop. " Girls," he cried, " why 
 are you standing ? Give us another khorovod. 
 Nazarka ! hurry up and get some red wine." 
 
 " Well, are they coming .? " asked Olyenin of 
 Byeletsky. 
 
 " They will come in a minute," replied Byelet- 
 sky. " Come on ; we must get ready for a •ball." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 It was late in the evening when Olyenin 
 left Byeletsky's cottage, and followed the two 
 girls. Maryana's white kerchief gleamed in the 
 shady street. The golden moon was sinking 
 toward the steppes. A silvery mist hovered over 
 the village. All was quiet, no lights were seen in 
 the windows ; the only sound was the footsteps 
 of the hurrying girls. 
 
 Olyenin's heart beat violently. The misty air 
 came with cooling freshness to his heated face. 
 He glanced at the sky, he glanced at the cottage 
 from which he had come. The candle had just 
 been blown out, and once more he allowed his 
 attention to be attracted by the young women 
 hurrying along like shadows. The white kerchief 
 was hidden in the mist. It was terrible for him 
 to be left in the solitude ; he was so happy. He 
 sprang down from the steps and hastened after 
 the girls. 
 
 '• Oh, is it you ? Some one will see you ! " 
 cried Ustenka. 
 
 323 
 
324 '^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 " No matter." 
 
 Olyenin went to Maryana and threw his arms 
 around her. She made no resistance. 
 
 " Don't kiss each other," said Ustenka ; '' marry 
 first, then you can kiss, but now keep cool." 
 
 " Good-bye, Maryana. To-morrow I am going 
 to your father ; I will tell him. Don't you breathe 
 a word." 
 
 " Why should I } " replied Maryana. 
 
 The two girls hurried away. 
 
 Olyenin walked on alone, and passed in review 
 all that had taken place. He had spent the whole 
 evening alone with her in one room, near the 
 oven. Not once had Ustenka left the khata 
 where Byeletsky and she with the other girls had 
 been having boisterous fun. Olyenin and Mar- 
 yana had been talking in whispers. 
 
 " Will you be mine .^ " "he asked her. 
 
 ** You are mistaken, you would not have me," 
 she replied, in a bantering tone, but calmly. 
 
 " But do you love me } Tell me, for Heaven's 
 sake ! " 
 
 " Why shouldn't I love you } You are not 
 crooked ! " she rejoined, with a smile, and squeez- 
 ing his hand between her rough hands. — " What 
 whi-i-te, whi-i-te hands you have, just as soft as 
 cheese," she said. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 335 
 
 " I am not joking. Tell me, will you be 
 mine ? " 
 
 " Why not, if my father will let me ? " 
 
 " Listen ! I shall go beside myself if you are 
 not telling me the truth. To-morrow I shall tell 
 your father and mother, and go through all the 
 formalities." 
 
 Maryana suddenly laughed heartily. 
 
 " What is it .? " 
 
 "Oh, it's so funny!" 
 
 " Truly, I will buy a garden, a house ; I will 
 join the Cossacks . . ." 
 
 " Look here, then, don't you go courting other 
 women ! I should be angry if you did." 
 
 Olyenin now took a keen delight in recalling 
 all this conversation. At the thought of it, some- 
 times his heart was filled with pain, and then 
 again delight took possession of him. The pain 
 arose from the fact that she was so calm all the 
 time that she was talking with him, so calm and 
 merry. It seemed as though she were not in 
 the least affected by this new state of affairs. 
 She scarcely believed his words, and she had no 
 thought about the future. It seemed to him that 
 she had only a passing affection for him, and that 
 he was not associated with her thoughts of the 
 future. But the delifjht arose from the fact that 
 
326 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 all of her words seemed to him true, and she had 
 agreed to be his. 
 
 " Yes," said he to himself, " only when she is 
 wholly mine shall we understand each other. 
 For such love no words are needed, but life is 
 needed, and the whole of life. To-morrow all will 
 be made clear. I cannot live longer this way ; 
 to-morrow I shall tell everything to her father, to 
 Byeletsky, to the whole village . . ." 
 
 Lukashka, after two sleepless nights, had cele- 
 brated the festival so gloriously that, for the first 
 time in his life, he was really drunk, and he slept 
 it off at Yamka's. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 On the next day Olyenin woke earlier than 
 usual, and his first waking thought was about 
 what the future had in store for him ; he recalled 
 with delight her kiss, the pressure of her rough 
 hands, and her words : " What white hands you 
 have ! " 
 
 He sprang up with the intention of going 
 immediately to the ensign and Dame Ulitka, and 
 proposing marriage to Maryana. 
 
 It was before sunrise, and it struck him that 
 there was unusual commotion in the street, — 
 running, riding, and shouting. He threw on his 
 cherkeska and went out to the porch. 
 
 The ensign's family were not yet up. 
 
 Five mounted Cossacks were dashing up and 
 down the street and talking in excited tones. 
 
 At the head of them rode Lukashka on his big 
 Kabarda. The Cossacks were all talking and 
 shouting at the top of their voices. It was impos- 
 sible to make out what the trouble was. 
 
 " Strike for the upper station," cried one. 
 327 
 
328 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 " Saddle your horses and join us lively ! " said a 
 second. 
 
 "■ It's the nearest way from this gate." 
 
 " Come this way," cried Lukashka. " We 
 must start from the middle gate." 
 
 **And then it's nearer from here," said another 
 Cossack, all covered with dust and riding a sweaty 
 horse. 
 
 Lukashka's face was flushed and bloated from his 
 evening's intoxication ; his lambskin papakh was 
 on the back of his head. He shouted imperative 
 orders, as though he were the commander. 
 
 " What is it .-* Where are you going } " asked 
 Olyenin, finding some difficulty in attracting the 
 attention of the Cossacks. 
 
 " We are going to take some abreks ; they are 
 out there in the reeds. We are going right off, 
 but there aren't many of us." 
 
 And the Cossacks, still shouting and gathering 
 new forces, rode up the street. 
 
 It occurred to Olyenin that it would not look 
 well for him to stay behind. However, he made 
 up his mind to return early. He finished dress- 
 ing, loaded his gun with ball, mounted his horse, 
 which Vanyusha had managed to saddle, and re_ 
 joined the Cossacks just as they were riding out 
 of the village. The Cossacks, though in such a 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 329 
 
 hurry, had dismounted and were standing in a 
 circle, drinking red wine, which they poured out 
 from a cask they had brought, into the wooden 
 chapura, or bowk They handed it around and 
 prayed iox success in their expedition. 
 
 Among them was a dandified young ensign, 
 who happened to be in the village, and assumed 
 command of the half-score of Cossacks who were 
 gathered together. They were all privates, and, 
 though the ensign put on all the airs of a leader, 
 they looked to Lukashka for directions. They 
 paid absolutely no attention to Olyenin. And, 
 when all had mounted again and started on their 
 way, Olyenin joined the young ensign and began 
 to ask what the trouble was ; the would-be officer, 
 with extraordinary obsequiousness, tried to make 
 him feel how much he appreciated the honor of 
 being with a man of such elevated rank. It was 
 with the greatest difficulty that Olyenin could get 
 from him any information in regard to the work 
 before them. 
 
 It seemed that the scouts sent out to look for 
 abreks had discovered a few of the mountaineers 
 in the downs about eight versts from the village. 
 The abreks were in ambush in a ditch and had 
 fired off their guns and threatened that they 
 would never surrender alive. 
 
330 "^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 The sergeant, who with two men constituted 
 the scouting party, had remained to watch them 
 and had sent one of the Cossacks to the village 
 for reenforcements. 
 
 The sun was just beginning to rise. When 
 they had gone tliree versts from the village, the 
 steppe was spread out in every direction, and noth- 
 ing was to be seen except the monotonous, melan- 
 choly waste of sand, marked with the tracks of 
 cattle and covered with withered grass and low 
 rushes in the hollows, with occasional paths, 
 scarcely traceable, and settlements of Nogar 
 standing out against the horizon far, far away. 
 There was a striking absence of shade every- 
 where ; the whole region was bare and dry. 
 
 The sun always rises and sets on the steppe in 
 a ruddy glow. When the wind blows, it carries 
 with it whole mountains of sand. When it is 
 calm, as it happened to be on this morning, then 
 the stillness, undisturbed by a movement or a 
 sound, is most striking. This morning it was 
 calm and gloomy over the steppe, even after the 
 sun had risen ; there was a peculiar sense of 
 emptiness and lassitude. 
 
 The air was not stirred by a breath ; the only 
 sound was the trampling and snorting of the 
 horses, and even these sounds had no resonance 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 331 
 
 and quickly died away. The Cossacks rode most 
 of the time in silence. The Cossack always 
 carries his weapons in such a way that there is no 
 rattlin^^ or clanking. A rattling weapon is the 
 greatest disgrace for a Cossack. Two Cossacks 
 from the village came galloping up, and two or 
 three words were exchanged. Lukashka's horse 
 either stumbled or got entangled in the grass, and 
 started to dash on ahead. 
 
 That is considered a bad omen among the 
 Cossacks. 
 
 They looked around and hurried on, trying not 
 to call attention to this circumstance, which had 
 such a peculiar significance at such a time. Lu- 
 kashka jerked his reins, frowned haughtily, set 
 his teeth together, and cracked his whip over 
 his head. His beautiful Kabarda suddenly 
 danced on his four legs, not knowing on which 
 to step, and as though wishing he had wings to 
 fly up into the air ; but Lukashka hit him once 
 with the whip under his fat belly, hit him a sec- 
 ond time, and then a third, and the Kabarda, 
 showing his teeth and whisking his tail and 
 snorting, -drew back on his haunches and then 
 sprang forward in advance of the rest of the 
 band. 
 
 ** Ekh ! fine horse ! " said the young ensign, 
 
332 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 employing the Russian word that signified in 
 itself an especially good steed. 
 
 '' A lion of a charger," replied another of the 
 older Cossacks. 
 
 The Cossacks rode in silence, sometimes at a 
 walk, sometimes trotting, and this was the only 
 thing that, for a moment, disturbed the silence 
 and solemnity of their motions. 
 
 Over the whole extent of the steppe for a dis- 
 tance of eight versts the only living thing that 
 they met was a Noga'f kibitka, or nomad tent, 
 which, set on a two-wheeled arba, was slowly 
 crossing the steppe a verst away. It was a No- 
 gayets, moving with his family from one settle- 
 ment to another. They also met, in one hollow, 
 two ragged Nogai' women with high cheek-bones 
 who, carrying wicker baskets on their backs, were 
 collecting the manure of the steppe cattle for 
 kizyak. The young ensign, who spoke their 
 language brokenly, tried to gather some infor- 
 mation from these women ; but they could not 
 understand him, and exchanged glances, evidently 
 fearing some harm.' 
 
 Lukashka rode up, reined in his horse, gave 
 them their usual greeting in a cheerful voice ; and 
 the Nogai' women made no secret of their pleasure, 
 and talked freely with him as to their brother. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 333 
 
 " Ai, a'i kop abrck ! " said they, mournfully, and 
 pointed with their hands in the direction where 
 the Cossacks had been riding. Olyenin knew 
 enough to understand that they said, " Many 
 abreks." 
 
 Never having witnessed such an action, though 
 he had an idea of it gotten from Uncle Yeroshka's 
 yarns, he was anxious to keep with the Cossacks 
 and see the whole thing. He admired the Cos- 
 sacks, he had his eyes wide open, his ears were 
 alert, and he made his observations. Though he 
 had taken his sabre with him and his loaded gun, 
 yet, as he noticed that the Cossacks held aloof 
 from him, he resolved to take no part in the 
 action, the more willingly because, in his opin- 
 ion, he had already sufficiently proved his valor 
 in the expedition on the frontier, and principally 
 because now he was very happy. 
 
 Suddenly, in the distance, a shot was heard. 
 
 The young ensign grew excited and began to 
 give his orders : how the Cossacks should divide 
 their forces and on which side they should ride 
 up. 
 
 But the men had evidently no intention of 
 obeying those directions, and listened only to 
 what Lukashka said, and looked only to him. 
 Luka's face and whole fij^rure were calm and 
 
334 ^'^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 triumphant. He led the scouting party on his 
 Kabarda, with which the other horses found it 
 useless to keep up, and with blinking eyes he 
 gazed ahead. 
 
 " There goes a horseman," said he, reining 
 in his horse, and falling back into line with the 
 others. 
 
 Olyenin strained his eyes, but he could not see 
 anything. The Cossacks quickly made out two 
 horsemen, and with undeviating pace they rode 
 straight down upon them. 
 
 " Are they abreks .? " asked Olyenin. 
 
 The Cossacks made no answer to his question, 
 which was ridiculous in their opinion. Abreks 
 would be fools to come over on this side with 
 horses. 
 
 ** That's batyaka Rodka beckoning, I declare," 
 said Lukashka, pointing to the two horsemen, 
 who were now in plain sight. '' See, he is 
 coming toward us." 
 
 In fact, in a few moments, it was evident that 
 the horsemen were Cossack scouts, and the ser- 
 geant rode up to Luka. 
 
 " Much farther 1 " was Lukashka's monosyllabic 
 question. 
 
 At this moment, not thirty paces distant, was 
 heard a sharp report. The sergeant smiled 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 335 
 
 slightly. ** Our Gurka is peppering them," said 
 he, nodding his head in the direction of the shot. 
 
 Going a few steps farther, they caught sight of 
 Gurka squatting behind a sand hill and loading 
 his gun. Gurka, from sheer tedium, was firing at 
 the abreks, who were hiding behind another sand 
 hill. 
 
 A bullet from that direction whistled over 
 them. The ensign grew pale and demoralized. 
 Lukashka dismounted, gave the reins to a Cos- 
 sack, and went to Gurka. Olyenin followed his 
 example, and, stooping down, joined him. They 
 had hardly got behind the sand hill with Gurka 
 when a couple of bullets whispered over their 
 heads. Lukashka glanced with a smile at Olye- 
 nin and bent low. 
 
 " They will shoot you yet, Andreyitch," said he. 
 *' You'd better go away ! This is no place for 
 you." ' 
 
 But still Olyenin was anxious to have a look at 
 the abreks. 
 
 Behind a sand hill, two hundred paces away, he 
 saw a cap and weapons. Suddenly a puff of 
 smoke arose from it, and a bullet whistled by. 
 
 The abreks were at the foot of the hill, in a 
 fen. Olyenin was surprised at the place that they 
 had selected. It was like all the rest of the 
 
336 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 steppe, but the fact that the abreks were en- 
 sconsed there made it different from all the rest 
 and gave it a peculiar distinction. It even seemed 
 to him that it was precisely such a spot as ought 
 to contain an ambush of abreks. 
 
 Lukashka returned to his horse, and Olyenin 
 followed him. 
 
 " We must get an arba loaded with hay," said 
 Luka, " else we shall be killed. Yonder, behind 
 that hillock, stands one already loaded by the 
 Nogai." 
 
 The ensign listened to what he said, and the 
 sergeant agreed with him. The hay cart was 
 brought, and the Cossacks, taking shelter behind 
 it, began to push it in front of them. 
 
 Olyenin rode off to a hillock, from the top of 
 which he had a view of the whole scene. The 
 hay cart moved forward. The Cossacks, crouch- 
 ing behind it, pushed it along toward the Che- 
 chens, nine of whom sat in a row, knee to knee, 
 and waited the decisive moment for firing. 
 
 There was perfect silence. Suddenly from the 
 Chechen side rang out the strange sounds of a 
 melancholy song, something like Uncle Ye- 
 roshka's A'i-dai-dalala'i. The mountaineers knew 
 that there was no escape for them, and, in order 
 to drive away all thoughts of escape, they had 
 
THE COSSACKS. 337 
 
 fastened themselves together by a strap knee to 
 knee, held their guns in readiness, and were sing- 
 ing their death-song. 
 
 The Cossacks, pushing the "hay cart, came 
 nearer and nearer, and Olyenin was momentarily 
 expecting the crash of musketry ; but the silence 
 was broken only by the abreks' melancholy song. 
 Suddenly the song was cut short ; a quick, sharp 
 report rang out ; a bullet buried itself in the pole 
 of the hay cart ; there was an uproar of Chechen 
 oaths and shrieks. Shot followed shot, and bullet 
 after bullet was poured into the hay. The Cos- 
 sacks had not yet returned the fire and were only 
 five paces away from the mountaineers. 
 
 Another instant passed, and the Cossacks, with 
 a yell, leaped out from both sides of the cart. 
 Lukashka was at the head. Olyenin heard a con- 
 fused sound of gunshots, yells, and groans. He 
 saw smoke and blood, as it seemed to him. Leav- 
 ing his horse, and quite beside himself, he ran 
 toward the Cossacks. Horror seized his eyes. 
 He could not make it all out, but it was evident 
 to him that all was over. Lukashka, pale as a 
 sheet, was holding a wounded Chechen's arms and 
 was crying, '' Don't kill him, don't kill him ! I 
 will take him alive." 
 
 It was the same red-headed Chechenets, the 
 
338 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 brother of the abrek whom Lukashka had killed, 
 and who had come down for his body. 
 
 Lukashka was twisting his arms. 
 
 Suddenly the Chechenets tore himself away 
 and dischc ged his pistol. Lukashka fell. Blood 
 spurted out on his side. He leaped up, but fell a 
 second time, cursing in Russian and Tatar. More 
 and more blood appeared on him and under him. 
 The Cossacks hurried to his aid and began to take 
 off his girdle. One of them, Nazarka, before giv- 
 ing him his attention, found some difficulty in 
 sheathing his sabre. Its edge was dripping with 
 blood. 
 
 The mountaineers, red-headed, with close- 
 cropped moustaches, lay about, killed and cut in 
 pieces. Only one of them, the very one who had 
 shot Lukashka, though badly wounded, was alive. 
 This one, like a disabled hawk, all blood (the 
 blood was trickling down from under his right 
 eye), gnashing his teeth, pale and desperate, glar- 
 ing around him with great, angry eyes, squatted 
 on his heels and held his sabre, ready still to de- 
 fend himself to the last. The ensign went up to 
 him, and, pretending to pass by him, with a quick 
 motion fired ' pistol into his ear. The Cheche- 
 nets tried i ^ ing forward, but it was too late 
 and he fell. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 339 
 
 The Cossacks, all out of breath, dragged out 
 the dead bodies and rifled them. Each one of 
 these red-headed mountaineers was a man, and 
 each had his own individual expression. They 
 carried Lukashka to the arba. He kept cursing 
 in Russian and Tatar. 
 
 " You lie ! I will choke you ! You sha'n't get 
 out of my hands ! Aujia seiii ! " he cried, still 
 struggling. But it was not long ere he was 
 compelled to silence by his weakness. 
 
 Olyenin galloped home. That evening he was 
 told that Lukashka was dying, but that a Tatar 
 from across the river had agreed to save him by 
 means of herbs. 
 
 The bodies were carried to the town house. 
 The women and children were hurrying there in 
 crowds, to have a look at them. 
 
 Olyenin returned at dusk, and it was long 
 before he could get a clear impression of what he 
 had seen ; but in the night the recollection of the 
 previous evening came over him like a flood ; he 
 looked out of the window ; Maryana was on her 
 way from the house to the shed, attending to her 
 chores. Her mother had gone to the vineyard. 
 The father was at the town house. Olyenin 
 did not wait until she had finished all her work, 
 but went out to where she was. She was in the 
 
340 ^-^J"^ COSSACKS. 
 
 khata, and was standing with her back to him. 
 Olyenin had an idea that it was maiden modesty. 
 
 ** Maryana ! " said he, ** say, Maryana ! Can I 
 come in ? " 
 
 Suddenly she turned around. In her eyes 
 there seemed to be the traces of tears. There 
 was a lovely melancholy in her face. She looked 
 at him, silent and superb. 
 
 Olyenin said : — 
 
 " Maryana ! I have come . . ." 
 
 " Stop ! " said she. Her face did not change, 
 but tears sprang into her eyes. 
 
 " Why are you . . .} What is the matter } " 
 
 ** Do you ask } " she exclaimed, in a broken, 
 melancholy voice. " Some Cossacks have been 
 killed, that is what the trouble is." 
 
 " Lukashka } " asked Olyenin. 
 
 " Go away ! what do you want 1 " 
 
 " Maryana ! " exclaimed Olyenin, approaching 
 her. 
 
 *' Never in this world will I have anything to do 
 with you ! " 
 
 " Maryana, don't say so ! " entreated Olyenin. 
 
 " Get you gone ! you shameless brute ! " cried 
 the girl, stamping her foot, and making a threat- 
 ening gesture toward him. And such loathing, 
 scorn, and anger were expressed in her face that 
 
THE COSSACKS. 34 1 
 
 Olyenin suddenly realized that there was no hope 
 for him, and that what he had thought in days 
 gone by, of the distance between him and this 
 woman, was indubitable truth. 
 
 He made no reply, but left her standing there. 
 
CHAPTER XU. 
 
 On returning to his room, he lay on his bed 
 motionless for two hours; then he went to his 
 company commander, and asked leave to join the 
 staff. 
 
 Without bidding good-bye to any one, and set- 
 tling his account with the ensign through Van- 
 yushka, he prepared to depart for the outpost 
 where the regiment was stationed. 
 
 Uncle Yeroshka was the only person who came 
 to see him off. They went in, drank together, 
 and drank together again. Just the same as at 
 his departure from Moscow, a hired troika stood 
 waiting at the door. But Olyenin did not now, 
 as then, make a mental summing-up of himself, 
 nor did he tell himself that all that he had 
 thought and done was not the thing. There now 
 hovered before him no promise of a new life. He 
 loved Maryana more than ever, but now he knew 
 that it would never be possible for him to be 
 loved by her. 
 
 "Well, good-bye, my father," said Uncle Ye- 
 342 
 
THE COSSACKS. j^^ 
 
 roshka. ** You are going to the front ; be wise, 
 listen to an old man's advice. If you happen to 
 take part in a foray or anything of the sort — you 
 see, I am an old wolf, I have seen it all — or if 
 there is shooting going on, then do not go near a 
 crowd where there are many people. It's always 
 the way : if your men get scared, they huddle all 
 together ; they think it's safer where there's a 
 crowd. But that's the worst way of all. They 
 always aim at a crowd. I always used to get 
 as far as possible from the rest, go off alone by 
 myself ; that's why I was never wounded by 
 them. But what haven't I seen in my day } " 
 
 " Yes, but you carry a bullet in your back," 
 insinuated Vanyusha, who was in the room, pack- 
 ing up. 
 
 "That was a little trick of the Cossacks," 
 replied Yeroshka. 
 
 ** How the Cossacks t " 
 
 " This was the way of it. We were drinking. 
 Vanka Sitkin was a Cossack, he was quite drunk 
 when suddenly he blazed away right at me with 
 his pistol and hit me right there." 
 
 " Say, did it hurt } " asked Olyenin. — " Van- 
 yusha, are we almost ready ? " he added. 
 
 " Ekh ! what are you in such a hurry for } Let 
 me tell J^ou. . . . Yes, when he hit me, the bullet 
 
344 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 did not break the bone, and there it stayed. And 
 says I : * Here, you've killed me, my brother ; did 
 you know it ? What are you going to do with 
 me ? I am not going to take leave of you in this 
 way. Just bring me a gallon ! ' " 
 
 " Well, did it hurt 1 " asked Olyenin, for the 
 second time, scarcely listening to this tale. 
 
 " Let me tell you. He gave me a gallon of 
 wine. We drank it. And the blood kept flow- 
 ing all the time. I bled the whole cabin full. 
 Grandsire Burlak says : * Well, it's all up with 
 the young fellow. Give him another shtof ' of 
 sweet vodka and then we will settle your punish- 
 ment.' They brought in still more. We drank 
 and drank . . ." 
 
 " Well, was it painful for you ? " asked Olyenin, 
 for the third time. 
 
 " Who cares about that t Don't interrupt, I 
 don't like it. Let me finish my story. We 
 drank and drank . . . kept it up till morning, 
 and then I fell asleep on the stove, dead-drunk. 
 When I woke up the next day, I couldn't 
 straighten up at all." 
 
 ** Was it very painful } " insisted Olyenin, think- 
 ing that now at last he should get a reply to the 
 question that he had asked so many times. 
 
 * Eight shtof s make a vedro, 2.70 gallons. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 345 
 
 " What did I tell you about painful ? No, it 
 wasn't painful, but I could not straighten up 
 and I couldn't walk." 
 
 " Well, you lived through it, didn't you ? " said 
 Olyenin, without a trace of a smile, so heavy 
 was his heart. 
 
 " Yes, I lived through it, but the bullet is there 
 to this day. Just feel it," and he turned down 
 his shirt and showed his solid back and the 
 scar where the bullet had gone in, near the 
 spine. 
 
 "Do you see how it moves about.-*" said he, 
 evidently finding amusement in this bullet, like 
 a strange kind of toy. "Here it moves down 
 toward my hind-quarters." 
 
 "Well, do you think Lukashka will live?" 
 asked Olyenin. 
 
 "Well, God knows him. There's no doMtor 
 yet. They've sent for one." 
 
 " Where did they get him t From Groznaya ? " 
 asked Olyenin. 
 
 " Nay, my father. I should have hanged all 
 your Russian ones long ago, if I had been tsar. 
 All they know is how to hack. That's the way 
 they made our Cossack Baklashef into less than 
 a man : — they cut off his leg. They are fools. 
 , What's Baklashef good for now ? Nothing, my 
 
346 1^^^^ COSSACKS. 
 
 father. But in the mountains there are do^//tors 
 that are doctors. That was the way with Bor- 
 chik, my nyanya. Once he was wounded here in 
 the chest during an expedition ; your do/V/tors 
 gave him up, but Saib came from the mountains 
 and cured him. Herbs are the thing, my 
 father." 
 
 " It's nonsense to talk that way," said Olyenin. 
 " I had better send a surgeon from the staff." 
 
 " Nonsense t " repeated the old man, mimick- 
 ing his tone. — " Fool ! fool ! nonsense ! send a 
 surgeon ! Yes, if your surgeons ever cured, then 
 the Cossacks and the Chechens, too, would go 
 to you to get cured, but they don't, and your 
 officers and your colonels send for do;^//tors from 
 the mountains. Your science is all false, every- 
 thing is all false with you ! " 
 
 Olyenin did not trouble to answer him. It 
 coincided too much with his own opinion that 
 all was false in that world in which he lived 
 and to which he was returning. 
 
 " Well, how is Lukashka } You have seen 
 him } " he asked. 
 
 ** He lies like a dead man. He does not eat 
 or drink ; vodka is the only thing that he does 
 not throw up. Well, if he can drink vodka it's 
 nothing. But, then, I am sorry for the lad. He 
 
THE COSSACKS. ^^y 
 
 was a fine young fellow, a jigit, just like me. 
 Well, I came near dying that way once. The 
 old women were all ready to lay me out. What 
 a fever there was in my head ! They put me 
 under the holy pictures. And so I lay there, 
 and it seemed to me as though a host of little 
 drummers were beating the tattoo in my head. 
 I yell at them, but they go it all the faster." 
 (The old man laughed). "The women brought 
 the head chorister to me ; they wanted to bury 
 me ! they said of me : * He's been worldly^ ' he 
 has been about with women, he has ruined 
 his soul, he has eaten meat in Lent, he has 
 played on the balalafka. . . . Confess him,' said 
 they. And I began to confess. * I'm a sinner,* 
 said I. 
 
 " The pope made no answer, and I said again : 
 * I'm a sinner.' He began to ask me about the 
 balalafka. * Where is the cursed instrument } ' he 
 asked. ' Tell me and have it broken up.' But I 
 said : * I hadn't one.' You see, I had hid it 
 in the net in the dairy cabin. I knew that they 
 wouldn't find it. And so they gave me up. And 
 that was the end of it. How I used to scratch 
 
 * Mirshchilsa : this signifies, among the Old Believers, that a 
 man has mingled freely with the world (w/r), that is, with unbe- 
 lievers. 
 
348 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 on the balalaika! . . . But, as I was just saying," 
 he went on, *'you heed my words : go as far as you 
 can from the crowd, or else they will be apt to hit 
 you. I'm sorry for you, that's a fact. You are 
 good at drinking, and I like you. And you fellows 
 always like to ride out on the sand-dunes. And 
 that was the way one lived here among us : he 
 came from Russia, he was always riding out to 
 the hills, as though a hill were anything won- 
 derful to see. As soon as he sees a hillock, 
 then he gallops up to the top of it. He gal- 
 loped that way once too often. How happy 
 he was ! But a Chechenets saw, shot at him and 
 killed him. Ekh ! the Chechens are crack shots 
 when they have a rest for their guns ! Better 
 than I am. It was too bad to kill him that 
 mean way. I used to look at your men and be 
 surprised. What stupidity ! " exclaimed the ^old 
 man, shirking his head. — " And so you just go 
 to gne side and stand by yourself. On my 
 word, that's the way to do. You see, he won't 
 take notice of you. ... So be sure to do that 
 way." 
 
 " Well, I am much obliged. Good-bye, uncle ! 
 If God grants, we may meet again," said Olyenin, 
 getting up and going out into the entry. 
 
 The old man still continued to sit on the floor. 
 
THE COSSACKS. 
 
 349 
 
 " Is that the way you say good-bye ? Fool ! 
 Fool ! " he exclaimed. ** Ekh-ma ! what peo- 
 ple you are ! We have kept one another com- 
 pany for a whole year, we have ! * Good-bye ' 
 and it's all over ! You know I like you, and 
 how I shall miss you! You are so lonesome, 
 so lonesome ! You and I, people don't like us. 
 I sha'n't sleep at all for thinking of you, I shall 
 miss you so ! As the song goes : — 
 
 " ' 'Tis hard, beloved brother, 
 To live on a foreign shore.' 
 
 And so it is with you ! " 
 
 " Well, good-bye," said Olyenin, once more. 
 
 The old man arose and gave him his hand ; he 
 took it and was about to start. 
 
 " Your mouth, give us your mouth ! " 
 
 The old rnan clasped his head between his tWo 
 stout hands, kissed him three times with his moist 
 lips and moustache, and dropped a tear. 
 
 " I like you. Good-bye." 
 
 Olyenin took his place in the telyega. 
 
 " WhaSl is that the way you go ! Can't you 
 give me something to remember you by, my 
 father } Give me your gun ! You have two 
 any way," said the old man, breaking into gen- 
 uine sobs. 
 
350 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 Olyenin took his gun and gave it to him. 
 
 " What makes you give it to that old man ! '* 
 exclaimed Vanyusha. " It's all wrong ! The old 
 beggar ! These unconscionable people ! " he con- 
 tinued, wrapping himself up in his overcoat and 
 taking his place forward. 
 
 " Shut up, you hog," cried the old man, with a 
 laugh. " You see, you're a miser ! " 
 
 Maryana came out of the khata, gave an indif- 
 ferent glance at the troi'ka, and, making a little 
 bow, went back in again. 
 
 ^^ La fill'' exclaimed Vanyusha, winking and 
 laughing heartily. 
 
 *' Go on ! " cried Olyenin, sternly. 
 
 " Good-bye, father, good-bye. I sha'n't forget 
 you," shouted Yeroshka. 
 
 Olyenin looked around. Uncle Yeroshka was 
 talking with Maryana, evidently about his own 
 affairs, and neither the old man nor the girl 
 gave him a parting glance. 
 
h!) 
 
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