‘Stop, I say!’ exclaimed Ergushov, seizing his musket and raising himself behind the log near which he was lying.
‘Shut up, you devil!’ whispered Lukashka, grinding his teeth. ‘abreks!’
‘Whom have you shot?’ asked Nazarka. ‘Who was it, Lukashka?’
Lukashka did not answer. He was reloading his gun and watching the floating wood. A little way off it stopped on a sand-bank, and from behind it something large that rocked in the water came into view.
‘What did you shoot? Why don’t you speak?’ insisted the Cossacks.
‘Abreks, I tell you!’ said Lukashka.
‘Don’t humbug! Did the gun go off?... ‘
‘I’ve killed an abrek, that’s what I fired at,’ muttered Lukashka in a voice choked by emotion, as he jumped to his feet. ‘A man was swimming... ‘ he said, pointing to the sandbank. ‘I killed him. Just look there.’
‘Have done with your humbugging!’ said Ergushov again, rubbing his eyes.
‘Have done with what? Look there,’ said Lukashka, seizing him by the shoulders and pulling him with such force that Ergushov groaned.
He looked in the direction in which Lukashka pointed, and discerning a body immediately changed his tone.
‘O Lord! But I say, more will come! I tell you the truth,’ said he softly, and began examining his musket. ‘That was a scout swimming across: either the others are here already or are not far off on the other side — I tell you for sure!’ Lukashka was unfastening his belt and taking off his Circassian coat.
‘What are you up to, you idiot?’ exclaimed Ergushov. ‘Only show yourself and you’ve lost all for nothing, I tell you true! If you’ve killed him he won’t escape. Let me have a little powder for my musket-pan — you have some? Nazarka, you go back to the cordon and look alive; but don’t go along the bank or you’ll be killed — I tell you true.’
‘Catch me going alone! Go yourself!’ said Nazarka angrily.
Having taken off his coat, Lukashka went down to the bank.
‘Don’t go in, I tell you!’ said Ergushov, putting some powder on the pan. ‘Look, he’s not moving. I can see. It’s nearly morning; wait till they come from the cordon. You go, Nazarka. You’re afraid! Don’t be afraid, I tell you.’
‘Luke, I say, Lukashka! Tell us how you did it!’ said Nazarka.
Lukashka changed his mind about going into the water just then. ‘Go quick to the cordon and I will watch. Tell the Cossacks to send out the patrol. If the abreks are on this side they must be caught,’ said he.
‘That’s what I say. They’ll get off,’ said Ergushov, rising. ‘True, they must be caught!’
Ergushov and Nazarka rose and, crossing themselves, started off for the cordon — not along the riverbank but breaking their way through the brambles to reach a path in the wood.
‘Now mind, Lukashka — they may cut you down here, so you’d best keep a sharp look-out, I tell you!’
‘Go along; I know,’ muttered Lukashka; and having examined his gun again he sat down behind the log.
He remained alone and sat gazing at the shallows and listening for the Cossacks; but it was some distance to the cordon and he was tormented by impatience. He kept thinking that the other abreks who were with the one he had killed would escape. He was vexed with the abreks who were going to escape just as he had been with the boar that had escaped the evening before. He glanced round and at the opposite bank, expecting every moment to see a man, and having arranged his gun-rest he was ready to fire. The idea that he might himself be killed never entered his head.
Chapter 9
It was growing light. The Chechen’s body which was gently rocking in the shallow water was now clearly visible. Suddenly the reeds rustled not far from Luke and he heard steps and saw the feathery tops of the reeds moving. He set his gun at full cock and muttered: ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son,’ but when the cock clicked the sound of steps ceased.
‘Hallo, Cossacks! Don’t kill your Daddy!’ said a deep bass voice calmly; and moving the reeds apart Daddy Eroshka came up close to Luke.
‘I very nearly killed you, by God I did!’ said Lukashka.
‘What have you shot?’ asked the old man.
His sonorous voice resounded through the wood and downward along the river, suddenly dispelling the mysterious quiet of night around the Cossack. It was as if everything had suddenly become lighter and more distinct.
‘There now. Uncle, you have not seen anything, but I’ve killed a beast,’ said Lukashka, uncocking his gun and getting up with unnatural calmness.
The old man was staring intently at the white back, now clearly visible, against which the Terek rippled.
‘He was swimming with a log on his back. I spied him out!... Look there. There! He’s got blue trousers, and a gun I think... Do you see?’ inquired Luke.
‘How can one help seeing?’ said the old man angrily, and a serious and stern expression appeared on his face. ‘You’ve killed a brave,’ he said, apparently with regret.
‘Well, I sat here and suddenly saw something dark on the other side. I spied him when he was still over there. It was as if a man had come there and fallen in. Strange! And a piece of driftwood, a good-sized piece, comes floating, not with the stream but across it; and what do I see but a head appearing from under it! Strange! I stretched out of the reeds but could see nothing; then I rose and he must have heard, the beast, and crept out into the shallow and looked about. “No, you don’t!” I said, as soon as he landed and looked round, “you won’t get away!” Oh, there was something choking me! I got my gun ready but did not stir, and looked out. He waited a little and then swam out again; and when he came into the moonlight I could see his whole back. “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”... and through the smoke I see him struggling. He moaned, or so it seemed to me. “Ah,” I thought, “the Lord be thanked, I’ve killed him!” And when he drifted onto the sand-bank I could see him distinctly: he tried to get up but couldn’t. He struggled a bit and then lay down. Everything could be seen. Look, he does not move — he must be dead! The Cossacks have gone back to the cordon in case there should be any more of them.’
‘And so you got him!’ said the old man. ‘He is far away now, my lad!... ‘ And again he shook his head sadly.
Just then the sound reached them of breaking bushes and the loud voices of Cossacks approaching along the bank on horseback and on foot. ‘Are you bringing the skiff?’ shouted Lukashka.
‘You’re a trump, Luke! Lug it to the bank!’ shouted one of the Cossacks.
Without waiting for the skiff Lukashka began to undress, keeping an eye all the while on his prey.
‘Wait a bit, Nazarka is bringing the skiff,’ shouted the corporal.
‘You fool! Maybe he is alive and only pretending! Take your dagger with you!’ shouted another Cossack.
‘Get along,’ cried Luke, pulling off his trousers. He quickly undressed and, crossing himself, jumped, plunging with a splash into the river. Then with long strokes of his white arms, lifting his back high out of the water and breathing deeply, he swam across the current of the Terek towards the shallows. A crowd of Cossacks stood on the bank talking loudly. Three horsemen rode off to patrol. The skiff appeared round a bend. Lukashka stood up on the sandbank, leaned over the body, and gave it a couple of shakes.
‘Quite dead!’ he shouted in a shrill voice.
The Chechen had been shot in the head.