III. THE FORTRESS.
The fortress of Belogorsk is situated forty versts from Orenbourg. Theroute from this city is along the high banks of the river Iaik. Thestream was not yet frozen, and its lead-colored waters took a black tintbetween banks whitened by the snow. Before me lay the Kirghis steppes. Ifell into a moody train of thought, for to me garrison life offered fewattractions. I tried to picture my future chief, Captain Mironoff.I imagined a severe, morose old man, knowing nothing outside of theservice, ready to arrest me for the least slip. Dusk was falling; wewere advancing rapidly.
"How far is it from here to the fortress?" said I to the coachman.
"You can see it now," he answered.
I looked on all sides, expecting to see high bastions, a wall, anda ditch. I saw nothing but a little village surrounded by a woodenpalisade. On one side stood some hay-stacks half covered with snow; onthe other a wind-mill, leaning to one side; the wings of the mill, madeof the heavy bark of the linden tree, hung idle.
"Where is the fortress?" I asked, astonished.
"There it is," said the coachman, pointing to the village which we hadjust entered. I saw near the gate an old iron cannon. The streets werenarrow and winding, and nearly all the huts were thatched with straw.I ordered the coachman to drive to the Commandant's, and almostimmediately my kibitka stopped before a wooden house built on aneminence near the church, which was also of wood. From the front doorI entered the waiting-room. An old pensioner, seated on a table, wassewing a blue piece on the elbow of a green uniform. I told him toannounce me.
"Enter, my good sir," said he, "our people are at home."
I entered a very neat room, furnished in the fashion of other days. Onone side stood a cabinet containing the silver. Against the wall hungthe diploma of an officer, with colored engravings arranged around itsframe; notably, the "Choice of the Betrothed," the "Taking of Kurstrin,"and the "Burial of the Cat by the Mice." Near the window sat an oldwoman in a mantilla, her head wrapped in a handkerchief. She was windinga skein of thread held on the separated hands of a little old man, blindof one eye, who was dressed like an officer.
"What do you desire, my dear sir?" said the woman to me, withoutinterrupting her occupation. I told her that I had come to enter theservice, and that, according to rule, I hastened to present myself tothe captain. In saying this, I turned to the one-eyed old man, whom Itook for the commandant. The good lady interrupted the speech which Ihad prepared in advance:
"Ivan Mironoff is not at home; he is gone to visit Father Garasim;but it is all the same; I am his wife. Deign to love us and have us infavor! Take a seat, my dear sir." She ordered a servant to send her theCorporal. The little old man gazed at me curiously, with his only eye.
"May I dare to ask," said he, "in what regiment you have deigned toserve?"
I satisfied him on that point.
"And may I dare to ask why you changed from the Guards to our garrison?"
I replied that it was by the orders of authority.
"Probably for actions little becoming an officer of the Guards?" resumedthe persistent questioner.
"Will you stop your stupidities?" said the Captain's wife to him. "Yousee the young man is fatigued by the journey; he has something else todo besides answering you. Hold your hands better! And you my dear sir,"continued she, turning to me, "do not be too much afflicted that you arethrust into our little town; you are not the first, and will not be thelast. Now, there is Alexis Chabrine, who has been transferred to us fora term of four years for murder. God knows what provocation he had. Heand a lieutenant went outside the city with their swords, and before twowitnesses Alexis killed the lieutenant. Ah! misfortune has no master."
Just then the Corporal entered, a young and handsome Cossack. "Maxim,"said the Captain's wife, "give this officer a clean lodging."
"I obey, Basilia," replied the Cossack; "shall I lodge him with IvanPologoff?"
"You are doting, Maxim, he has too little space now; besides, he ismy child's godfather; and, moreover, he never forgets that we are hischiefs. What is your name, my dear sir?"
"Peter Grineff."
"Then conduct Peter Grineff to the quarters of Simeon Kieff. That rascallet his horse into my vegetable garden. Is all right, Maxim?"
"Thank God, all is quiet, except that Corporal Kourzoff quarreled withthe woman Augustina about a pail of warm water."
"Ignatius," said the Captain's wife to the one-eyed man, "judge betweenthe two--decide which one is guilty, and punish both. Go, Maxim, God bewith you. Peter Grineff, Maxim will conduct you to your lodgings."
I took my leave; the Corporal led me to a cabin placed on the high banknear the river's edge, at the end of the fortress. Half of the cabin wasoccupied by the family of Simeon Kieff, the other was given up to me.My half of the cabin was a large apartment divided by a partition.Saveliitch began at once to install us, whilst I looked out of thenarrow window. Before me stretched the bleak and barren steppe; nearerrose some cabins; at the threshold of one stood a woman with a bowl inher hand calling the pigs to feed; no other objects met my sight, savea few chickens scratching for stray kernels of corn in the street. Andthis was the country to which I was condemned to pass my youth! I turnedfrom the window, seized by bitter sadness, and went to bed withoutsupper, notwithstanding the supplications of Saveliitch, who withanguish cried aloud: "Oh! he will not deign to eat! O Lord! what will mymistress say, if the child should fall ill!"
The next morning I had scarcely begun to dress, when a young officerentered my room. He was of small size, with irregular features, but hissun-burned face had remarkable vivacity. "Pardon me," said he in French,"that I come so unceremoniously to make your acquaintance. I learnedyesterday of your arrival, and the desire of seeing at last a humanface so took possession of me that I could wait no longer. You willunderstand this when you shall have lived here some time!"
I easily guessed that he was the officer dismissed from the Guards forthe affair of the duel--Alexis Chabrine. He was very intelligent; hisconversation was sprightly and interesting. He described with impulseand gayety the Commandant's family, society, and in general the wholecountry round. I was laughing heartily, when Ignatius, the sameold pensioner whom I had seen mending his uniform in the Captain'swaiting-room, entered, and gave me an invitation to dinner from BasiliaMironoff, the Captain's wife. Alexis declared that he would accompanyme.
Approaching the Commandant's house we saw on the square some twentylittle old pensioners, with long queues and three-cornered hats.These old men were drawn up in line of battle. Before them stoodthe Commandant, a fresh and vigorous old man of high stature, indressing-gown and cotton cap. As soon as he saw us, he approached,addressed me a few affable words, and then resumed his drill. Wewere going to stay to see the manoeuvering, but he begged us to go onimmediately to the house, promising to join us at once; "for," said he,"there is really nothing to be seen here."
Basilia received us kindly, and with simplicity, treating me like anold acquaintance. The pensioner and the maid Polacca were laying thetable-cloth.
"What is the matter with my dear Ivan Mironoff, today, that he is solong instructing his troops?" said the mistress. "Polacca, go andbring him to dinner. And where is my child, Marie?" Scarcely had shepronounced this name, than a young girl about sixteen entered theroom;--a rosy, round-faced girl, wearing her hair in smooth bandeauxcaught behind her ears, which were red with modesty and shyness. She didnot please me very much at the first glance; I was prejudiced againsther by Alexis, who had described the Captain's daughter to me as a fool.Marie seated herself in a corner and began to sew. The soup was broughton the table. Basilia, not seeing her husband coming, sent the maid asecond time to call him.
"Tell the master that his inspection can wait; the soup is cooling.Thank God! the drills need not be lost; there will be time enough yet touse his voice at his leisure."
The captain soon appeared with his one-eyed officer.
"What's this, my dear," said Basilia; "the table has been serve
d sometime, and no one could make you come."
"You see, Basilia, I was busy with the service, instructing my goodsoldiers."
"Come, come, Ivan Mironoff, that's boasting. The service does not suitthem, and as for you, you know nothing about it. You should have stayedat home and prayed God, that suits you much better. My dear guests, totable."
We took our places for dinner. Basilia was not silent a moment; sheoverwhelmed me with questions: Who were my parents? Were they living?Where did they reside? What was their fortune? When she learned that myfather owned three hundred serfs, she exclaimed:
"You see there are some rich people in the world--and we, my dear sir,in point of souls, we possess only the maid Polacca. Yet, thank God, welive, somehow or other. We have but one care, that is Marie, a girl thatmust be married off. And what fortune has she? The price of two bathsper annum. If only she could find a worthy husband. If not, there sheis, eternally a maid."
I glanced at Marie; she blushed, tears were dropping into her soup. Ipitied her, and hastened to change the conversation. "I have heard thatthe Bashkirs intend to attack your fortress?"
"Who said so," replied Ivan Mironoff.
"I heard it at Orenbourg."
"All nonsense," said Ivan, "we have not heard the least word about it;the Bashkirs are an intimidated people; and the Kirghis have also hadsome good lessons. They dare not attack us, and if they should evendream of it, I would give them so great a fright that they would notmove again for ten years."
"Do you not fear," I continued, addressing Basilia, "to stay in afortress exposed to these dangers?"
"A matter of habit, my dear," she replied, "twenty years ago, when wewere transferred here from the regiment, you could not believe how Ifeared the pagans. If I chanced to see their fur caps, if I heard theirshouts, believe me, my heart was ready to faint; but now I am so usedto this life, that if told that the brigands were prowling around us, Iwould not stir from the fortress."
"Basilia is a very brave lady," observed Alexis, gravely. "Ivan Mironoffknows some thing about it."
"Oh, you see," said Ivan, "she does not belong to the regiment ofpoltroons."
"And Marie," I asked of her mother "is she as bold as you?"
"Marie?" said the lady. "No! Marie is a coward. Up to the present shehas not heard the report of a gun without trembling in every limb.Two years ago Ivan had a pleasant fancy to fire off his cannon on mybirthday; the poor pigeon was so frightened that she almost went intothe next world. Since that day the miserable cannon has not spoken."
We rose from the table. The captain and his wife went to take theirsiesta. I went with Alexis to his room, where we passed the eveningtogether.