The Cossacks. Leo Tolstoy

cross. 'Right enough it is an abrek! he thought joyfully, and suddenly rising to his knees he again took aim. Having found the sight, barely visible at the end of the long gun, he said: 'In the name of the Father and of the Son,' in the Cossack way learnt in his childhood, and pulled the trigger. A flash of lightning lit up for an instant the reeds and the water, and the sharp, abrupt report of the shot was carried across the river, changing into a prolonged roll somewhere in the far distance. The piece of driftwood now floated not across, but with the current, rocking and whirling.

      '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.