CHAPTER III.
THE LITTLE FORT.
The little fort of Belogorsk lay about forty versts[28] from Orenburg.From this town the road followed along by the rugged banks of the R.Yaik. The river was not yet frozen, and its lead-coloured waves lookedalmost black contrasted with its banks white with snow. Before mestretched the Kirghiz Steppes. I was lost in thought, and my reverie wastinged with melancholy. Garrison life did not offer me much attraction.I tried to imagine what my future chief, Commandant Mironoff, would belike. I saw in my mind's eye a strict, morose old man, with no ideasbeyond the service, and prepared to put me under arrest for the smallesttrifle.
Twilight was coming on; we were driving rather quickly.
"Is it far from here to the fort?" I asked the driver.
"Why, you can see it from here," replied he.
I began looking all round, expecting to see high bastions, a wall, and aditch. I saw nothing but a little village, surrounded by a woodenpalisade. On one side three or four haystacks, half covered with snow;on another a tumble-down windmill, whose sails, made of coarse limetreebark, hung idly down.
"But where is the fort?" I asked, in surprise.
"There it is yonder, to be sure," rejoined the driver, pointing out tome the village which we had just reached.
I noticed near the gateway an old iron cannon. The streets were narrowand crooked, nearly all the _izbas_[29] were thatched. I ordered him totake me to the Commandant, and almost directly my _kibitka_ stoppedbefore a wooden house, built on a knoll near the church, which was alsoin wood.
No one came to meet me. From the steps I entered the ante-room. An oldpensioner, seated on a table, was busy sewing a blue patch on the elbowof a green uniform. I begged him to announce me.
"Come in, my little father," he said to me; "we are all at home."
I went into a room, very clean, but furnished in a very homely manner.In one corner there stood a dresser with crockery on it. Against thewall hung, framed and glazed, an officer's commission. Around this werearranged some bark pictures,[30] representing the "Taking of Kustrin"and of "Otchakof,"[31] "The Choice of the Betrothed," and the "Burial ofthe Cat by the Mice." Near the window sat an old woman wrapped in ashawl, her head tied up in a handkerchief. She was busy winding thread,which a little, old, one-eyed man in an officer's uniform was holding onhis outstretched hands.
"What do you want, my little father?" she said to me, continuing heremployment.
I answered that I had been ordered to join the service here, and that,therefore, I had hastened to report myself to the Commandant. With thesewords I turned towards the little, old, one-eyed man, whom I had takenfor the Commandant. But the good lady interrupted the speech with whichI had prepared myself.
"Ivan Kouzmitch[32] is not at home," said she. "He is gone to see FatherGarassim. But it's all the same, I am his wife. Be so good as to love usand take us into favour.[33] Sit down, my little father."
She called a servant, and bid her tell the "_ouriadnik_"[34] to come.The little, old man was looking curiously at me with his one eye.
"Might I presume to ask you," said he to me, "in what regiment you havedeigned to serve?"
I satisfied his curiosity.
"And might I ask you," continued he, "why you have condescended toexchange from the Guard into our garrison?"
I replied that it was by order of the authorities.
"Probably for conduct unbecoming an officer of the Guard?" rejoined myindefatigable questioner.
"Will you be good enough to stop talking nonsense?" the wife of theCommandant now said to him. "You can see very well that this young manis tired with his journey. He has something else to do than to answeryour questions. Hold your hands better. And you, my little father," shecontinued, turning to me, "do not bemoan yourself too much because youhave been shoved into our little hole of a place; you are not the first,and you will not be the last. One may suffer, but one gets accustomed toit. For instance, Chvabrine, Alexey Ivanytch,[35] was transferred to usfour years ago on account of a murder. Heaven knows what ill-luck befelhim. It happened one day he went out of the town with a lieutenant, andthey had taken swords, and they set to pinking one another, and AlexeyIvanytch killed the lieutenant, and before a couple of witnesses. Well,well, there's no heading ill-luck!"
At this moment the "_ouriadnik_," a young and handsome Cossack, came in.
"Maximitch," the Commandant's wife said to him, "find a quarter for thisofficer, and a clean one."
"I obey, Vassilissa Igorofna,"[36] replied the "_ouriadnik_." "Ought nothis excellency to go to Iwan Polejaieff?"
"You are doting, Maximitch," retorted the Commandant's wife; "Polejaieffhas already little enough room; and, besides, he is my gossip; and thenhe does not forget that we are his superiors. Take the gentleman--Whatis your name, my little father?"
"Petr' Andrejitch."
"Take Petr' Andrejitch to Semeon Kouzoff's. The rascal let his horse getinto my kitchen garden. Is everything in order, Maximitch?"
"Thank heaven! all is quiet," replied the Cossack. "Only CorporalProkoroff has been fighting in the bathhouse with the woman OustiniaPegoulina for a pail of hot water."
"Iwan Ignatiitch,"[37] said the Commandant's wife to the little one-eyedman, "you must decide between Prokoroff and Oustinia which is to blame,and punish both of them; and you, Maximitch, go, in heaven's name! Petr'Andrejitch, Maximitch will take you to your lodging."
I took leave. The "_ouriadnik"_ led me to an _izba_, which stood on thesteep bank of the river, quite at the far end of the little fort. Halfthe _izba_ was occupied by the family of Semeon Kouzoff, the other halfwas given over to me. This half consisted of a tolerably clean room,divided into two by a partition.
Saveliitch began to unpack, and I looked out of the narrow window. I sawstretching out before me a bare and dull steppe; on one side there stoodsome huts. Some fowls were wandering down the street. An old woman,standing on a doorstep, holding in her hand a trough, was calling tosome pigs, the pigs replying by amicable grunts.
And it was in such a country as this I was condemned to pass my youth!
Overcome by bitter grief, I left the window, and went to bed supperless,in spite of Saveliitch's remonstrances, who continued to repeat, in amiserable tone--
"Oh, good heavens! he does not deign to eat anything. What would mymistress say if the child should fall ill?"
On the morrow, I had scarcely begun to dress before the door of my roomopened, and a young officer came in. He was undersized, but, in spite ofirregular features, his bronzed face had a remarkably gay and livelyexpression.
"I beg your pardon," said he to me in French,[38] "for coming thusunceremoniously to make your acquaintance. I heard of your arrivalyesterday, and the wish to see at last a human being took suchpossession of me that I could not resist any longer. You will understandthat when you have been here some time!"
I easily guessed that this was the officer sent away from the Guard inconsequence of the duel.
We made acquaintance. Chvabrine was very witty. His conversation waslively and interesting. He described to me, with, much raciness andgaiety, the Commandant's family, the society of the fort, and, in short,all the country where my fate had led me.
I was laughing heartily when the same pensioner whom I had seen patchinghis uniform in the Commandant's ante-room, came in with an invitation todinner for me from Vassilissa Igorofna.
Chvabrine said he should accompany me.
As we drew near the Commandant's house we saw in the square about twentylittle old pensioners, with long pigtails and three-cornered hats. Theywere drawn up in line. Before them stood the Commandant, a tall, oldman, still hale, in a dressing-gown and a cotton nightcap.
As soon as he perceived us he came up, said a few pleasant words to me,and went back to the drill. We were going to stop and see themanoeuvres, but he begged us to go at once to Vassilissa Igorofna's,promising to follow us directly. "Here," said he, "there's reallynothing to see."
Vassili
ssa Igorofna received us with simplicity and kindness, andtreated me as if she had known me a long time. The pensioner andPalashka were laying the cloth.
"What possesses my Ivan Kouzmitch to-day to drill his troops so long?"remarked the Commandant's wife. "Palashka, go and fetch him for dinner.And what can have become of Masha?"[39]
Hardly had she said the name than a young girl of sixteen came into theroom. She had a fresh, round face, and her hair was smoothly put backbehind her ears, which were red with shyness and modesty. She did notplease me very much at first sight; I looked at her with prejudice.Chvabrine had described Marya, the Commandant's daughter, to me as beingrather silly. She went and sat down in a corner, and began to sew. Stillthe "_chtchi_"[40] had been brought in. Vassilissa Igorofna, not seeingher husband come back, sent Palashka for the second time to call him.
"Tell the master that the visitors are waiting, and the soup is gettingcold. Thank heaven, the drill will not run away. He will have plenty oftime to shout as much as he likes."
The Commandant soon appeared, accompanied by the little old one-eyedman.
"What does all this mean, my little father?" said his wife to him."Dinner has been ready a long time, and we cannot make you come."
"But don't you see, Vassilissa Igorofna," replied Ivan Kouzmitch, "Iwas very busy drilling my little soldiers."
"Nonsense," replied she, "that's only a boast; they are past service,and you don't know much about it. You should have stayed at home, andsaid your prayers; that would have been much better for you. My dearguests, pray sit down to table."
We took our places. Vassilissa Igorofna never ceased talking for amoment, and overwhelmed me with questions. Who were my parents, werethey alive, where did they live, and what was their income? When shelearnt that my father had three hundred serfs--
"Well!" she exclaimed, "there are rich people in this world! And as tous, my little father, we have as to souls[41] only the servant girl,Palashka. Well, thank heaven, we get along little by little. We haveonly one care on our minds--Masha, a girl who must be married. And whatdowry has she got? A comb and two-pence to pay for a bath twice a year.If only she could light on some honest man! If not she must remain anold maid!"
I glanced at Marya Ivanofna.[42] She had become quite red, and tearswere rolling down, even into her plate. I was sorry for her, and Ihastened to change the conversation.
"I have heard," I exclaimed (very much to the point), "that the Bashkirsintend to attack your fort."
"Who told you that, my little father?" replied Ivan Kouzmitch.
"I heard it said at Orenburg," replied I.
"That's all rubbish," said the Commandant. "We have not heard a word ofit for ever so long. The Bashkir people have been thoroughly awed, andthe Kirghiz, too, have had some good lessons. They won't dare to attackus, and if they venture to do so I'll give them such a fright that theywon't stir for ten years at least."
"And you are not afraid," I continued, addressing the Commandant's wife,"to stay in a fort liable to such dangers?"
"It's all a question of custom, my little father," answered she. "It'stwenty years ago now since we were transferred from the regiment here.You would never believe how frightened I used to be of those confoundedPagans. If ever I chanced to see their hairy caps, or hear their howls,believe me, my little father, I nearly died of it. And now I am soaccustomed to it that I should not budge an inch if I was told that therascals were prowling all around the fort."
"Vassilissa Igorofna is a very brave lady," remarked Chvabrine, gravely."Ivan Kouzmitch knows something of that."
"Oh! yes, indeed," said Ivan Kouzmitch, "she's no coward."
"And Marya Ivanofna," I asked her mother, "is she as bold as you?"
"Masha!" replied the lady; "no, Masha is a coward. Till now she hasnever been able to hear a gun fired without trembling all over. It istwo years ago now since Ivan Kouzmitch took it into his head to fire hiscannon on my birthday; she was so frightened, the poor little dove, shenearly ran away into the other world. Since that day we have never firedthat confounded cannon any more."
We got up from table; the Commandant and his wife went to take theirsiesta, and I went to Chvabrine's quarters, where we passed the eveningtogether.