Beasts, Men and Gods | Page 5

It is still
hot."
The stranger, running his eyes constantly over all of us and over
everything about the room, began to take off his skin coat after putting
his rifle in the corner. He was dressed in an old leather blouse with

trousers of the same material tucked in high felt boots. His face was
quite young, fine and tinged with something akin to mockery. His
white, sharp teeth glimmered as his eyes penetrated everything they
rested upon. I noticed the locks of grey in his shaggy head. Lines of
bitterness circled his mouth. They showed his life had been very stormy
and full of danger. He took a seat beside his rifle and laid his ax on the
floor below.
"What? Is it your wife?" asked one of the drunken soldiers, pointing to
the ax.
The tall peasant looked calmly at him from the quiet eyes under their
heavy brows and as calmly answered:
"One meets a different folk these days and with an ax it is much safer."
He began to drink tea very greedily, while his eyes looked at me many
times with sharp inquiry in them and ran often round the whole cabin in
search of the answer to his doubts. Very slowly and with a guarded
drawl he answered all the questions of the soldiers between gulps of the
hot tea, then he turned his glass upside down as evidence of having
finished, placed on the top of it the small lump of sugar left and
remarked to the soldiers:
"I am going out to look after my horse and will unsaddle your horses
for you also."
"All right," exclaimed the half-sleeping young soldier, "bring in our
rifles as well."
The soldiers were lying on the benches and thus left for us only the
floor. The stranger soon came back, brought the rifles and set them in
the dark corner. He dropped the saddle pads on the floor, sat down on
them and began to take off his boots. The soldiers and my guest soon
were snoring but I did not sleep for thinking of what next to do. Finally
as dawn was breaking, I dozed off only to awake in the broad daylight
and find my stranger gone. I went outside the hut and discovered him
saddling a fine bay stallion.

"Are you going away?" I asked.
"Yes, but I want to go together with these ---- comrades,'" he whispered,
"and afterwards I shall come back."
I did not ask him anything further and told him only that I would wait
for him. He took off the bags that had been hanging on his saddle, put
them away out of sight in the burned corner of the cabin, looked over
the stirrups and bridle and, as he finished saddling, smiled and said:
"I am ready. I'm going to awake my 'comrades.'" Half an hour after the
morning drink of tea, my three guests took their leave. I remained out
of doors and was engaged in splitting wood for my stove. Suddenly,
from a distance, rifle shots rang through the woods, first one, then a
second. Afterwards all was still. From the place near the shots a
frightened covey of blackcock broke and came over me. At the top of a
high pine a jay cried out. I listened for a long time to see if anyone was
approaching my hut but everything was still.
On the lower Yenisei it grows dark very early. I built a fire in my stove
and began to cook my soup, constantly listening for every noise that
came from beyond the cabin walls. Certainly I understood at all times
very clearly that death was ever beside me and might claim me by
means of either man, beast, cold, accident or disease. I knew that
nobody was near me to assist and that all my help was in the hands of
God, in the power of my hands and feet, in the accuracy of my aim and
in my presence of mind. However, I listened in vain. I did not notice
the return of my stranger. Like yesterday he appeared all at once on the
threshold. Through the steam I made out his laughing eyes and his fine
face. He stepped into the hut and dropped with a good deal of noise
three rifles into the corner.
"Two horses, two rifles, two saddles, two boxes of dry bread, half a
brick of tea, a small bag of salt, fifty cartridges, two overcoats, two
pairs of boots," laughingly he counted out. "In truth today I had a very
successful hunt."
In astonishment I looked at him.

"What are you surprised at?" he laughed. "Komu nujny eti tovarischi?
Who's got any use for these fellows? Let us have tea and go to sleep.
Tomorrow