The fourth soldier was a homely young lad, a recruit of the last year’s draft, who was now for the first time taking Part in an expedition. He was standing in the smoke, and so close to the fire that it looked as though his threadbare fur coat would soon ignite; but, notwith- stancUng this, it was evident, from the way he spread the skirts of liis coat, from his self-satisfied pose with his arching calves, that he was experiencing great pleasure.
And, finally, the fifth soldier, seated a little distance from the fire, and whittling a stick, was Uncle Zhdanov. Zhdanov had seen more service than any other soldier in the battery; he had known them all as recruits, and they called him uncle, from force of habit. It was reported that he never drank, nor smoked, nor played cards (not even nosM), nor ever swore.
All his time which was free from military service he spent in plying the shoemaker’s trade; on hohdays he went to church, whenever it was possible, or placed a kopek taper before the image, and opened the psalter, the only book which he could read. He associated little with the soldiers: he was coldly re- spectful to those who were higher in rank but younger in years; his equals he had little chance to meet, since he did not drink; but he was especially fond of recruits and young soldiers, — he always protected them, read the instructions to them, and frequently aided them.
Every- body in the battery considered him a capitalist because he was possessed of twenty-five roubles with which he was prepared to assist those who really needed assistance. That same Maksimov, who was now gun-sergeant, told me that when he had arrived ten years ago as a recruit, and the older soldiers, who were given to drinking, drank up with him all the money he had, Zhdanov, noticing his unfortu- nate plight, called him up, upbraided him for liis conduct, even gave him some blows, read lum the instruction about the behaviour of a soldier, and sent him away, giving him a shirt, for Maksimov had got rid of his, and half a rouble in money.
“He has made a man of me,” Maksimov would say of him, with respect and gratitude. He had also helped Velenchuk, whom he had protected ever since he arrived as a recruit, at the time of the unfortunate loss of the overcoat, and he had aided many, many more during his twenty-five years of service.
It was impossible to expect in the service a man who knew his business better, or a soldier who was braver and more precise; but he was too meek and retiring to be pro- moted to the rank of gun-sergeant, though he had been bombardier fifteen years. Zhdanov’s one pleasure, and even passion, was songs; he was especially fond of some of them, and he always gathered a circle of singers from among the young soldiers, and, though he could not sing himself, stood behind them, and, putting his hands into the pockets of his fur coat, and closing his eyes, expressed his satisfaction by the movement of his head and cheeks.
I do not know why, but for some reason or other I dis- covered much expression in this even movement of the cheeks under his ears, which I had observed in nobody else but him. His snow-white head, his moustache dyed black, and his sunburnt, wrinkled face gave him, at first sight, a stern and austere expression; but, upon looking more closely into his large, round eyes, especially when they were smiling (he never smiled with his lips), you were impressed by something extraordinarily meek and almost childlike.
IV.
“Ah, I have forgotten my pipe. That’s bad, brothers,” repeated Velenchuk.
“You ought to smoke cigars, dear man! “ remarked Chikin, screwing up his mouth and winking. “ I always smoke cigars at home; they are sweeter.”
Of course, everybody rolled in laughter.
“So you forgot your pipe,” interrupted Maksimov, not paying any attention to the general merriment, and, with the air of a superior, proudly knocking out the ashes by striking the pipe against the palm of his left hand. “ What have you been doing there? Eh, Velenchuk?”
Velenchuk turned half-aroimd to him, put his hand to his cap, and then dropped it.
“You evidently did not get enough sleep yesterday, and so you are now falling asleep standing. You won’t get any reward for such behaviour.”
“May I be torn up on the spot, Fedor Maksimych, if I have had a drop in my mouth; I do not know myself what is the matter with me,” replied Velenchuk. “ What occasion did I have to get drunk? “ he muttered.
“That’s it. One has to be responsible for you fellows before the authorities, and you keep it up all the time, — it is disgusting,” concluded eloquent Maksimov, but in a calmer tone.
“It is really wonderful, brothers,” continued Velenchuk, after a moment’s silence, scratching the back of his head, and not addressing any one in Particular. “ Really, it is wonderful, brothers! Here I have been sixteen years in the service, and such a thing has never happened to me before. When we were ordered to get ready for the march, I got up as usual, — there was nothing the matter; but suddenly it caught me in the park — it caught me and threw me down on the ground, and that was all — And I myself do not know how I fell asleep, brothers! It must be the sleeping disease,” he concluded.
“Yes, I had a hard time waking you,” said Antdnov, pulling on his boot. “ I kept pushing and pushing you, as though you were a log!”
“I say,” remarked Velenchvlk, “ just as though I were drunk—”
“There was a woman at home,” began Chikin, “ who had not left the oven bed for at least two years. They began to wake her once, thinking that she was asleep, but they found she was dead, — though her death resem- bled sleep. Yes, my dear man!”
“Just tell us, Chikin, how you put on style when you had your leave of absence,” said Maksimov, smiling and looking at me, as though to say, “ Would you not like to hear the story of a foolish man?”
“What style, Maksimych? “ said Chikin, casting a cursory side glance at me. “ I just told them all about the Caucasus.”
“Of course, of course! Don’t be so shy — tell us how you led them on.”
“It is very simple: they asked me how we were hving,” Chikin began, speaking hurriedly, having the appearance of a man who has told the same story several times. “ I said: ‘ We live well, dear man: we get our provisions in full, — in the morning and evening of chocolate a cup to each soldier is brought up; and for dinner we get soup, not of oats, but of noble barley groats, and instead of brandy we get a cup of Modeira, Modeira Divirioo which, without the bottle, is at forty- two!’“
“Great Modeira! “ shouted Velenchiik, louder than the rest, and bursting out laughing. “That’s what I call Modeira!”
“Well, and did you tell them about the Esiatics? “ Maksimov continued his inquiry, when the general laughter had subsided.
Chikin bent down toward the fire, got a coal out with a stick, put it in his pipe, and for a long while puffed in silence his tobacco roots, as though unconscious of the silent curiosity of his hearers. When he finally had puffed up sufficient smoke, he threw away the coal, poised his cap farther back on his head, and, shrugging his shoulder and lightly smiling, he continued. “ ‘ What kind of a man is your small Circassian down there? ‘ says one. * Or is it the Turk you are fighting in the Caucasus? ‘ Says I: ‘ Dear man, there is not one kind of Circassians down there, but many different Circassians there are. There are some mountaineers who live in stone mountains, and who eat stone instead of bread.
They are big,’ says I, ‘ a big log in size; they have one eye in the middle of the forehead,’ and they wear red caps that glow like yours, dear man! “ he added, addressing a young recruit, who, in fact, wore a funny little cap with a red crown.
At this unexpected turn, the recruit suddenly sat down on the ground, slapped his knees, and burst out laughing and coughing so hard that he could hardly pronounce with a choking voice, “Those are fine moun- taineers!”
“‘ Then there are the Boobies,’ “ continued Chikin, with a jerk of his head drawing his cap back on his forehead, “ ‘ these are twins, wee little twins, about this size. They always run in pairs, holding each other’s hands,’ says I, ‘ and they run so fast that you can’t catch them
