In obedience1 to this command of Nicholas a raid was immediately made in Chechnya that same month, January 1852.
The detachment ordered for the raid consisted of four infantry2 battalions3, two companies of Cossacks, and eight guns. The column marched along the road; and on both sides of it in a continuous line, now mounting, now descending5, marched Fagers in high boots, sheepskin coats, and tall caps, with rifles on their shoulders and cartridges6 in their belts.
As usual when marching through a hostile country, silence was observed as far as possible. Only occasionally the guns jingled7 jolting9 across a ditch, or an artillery10 horse snorted or neighed, not understanding that silence was ordered, or an angry commander shouted in a hoarse11 subdued12 voice to his subordinates that the line was spreading out too much or marching too near or too far from the column. Only once was the silence broken, when from a bramble patch between the line and the column a gazelle with a white breast and grey back jumped out followed by a buck13 of the same color with small backward-curving horns. Doubling up their forelegs at each big bound they took, the beautiful timid creatures came so close to the column that some of the soldiers rushed after them laughing and shouting, intending to bayonet them, but the gazelles turned back, slipped through the line of Fagers, and pursued by a few horsemen and the company’s dogs, fled like birds to the mountains.
It was still winter, but towards noon, when the column (which had started early in the morning) had gone three miles, the sun had risen high enough and was powerful enough to make the men quite hot, and its rays were so bright that it was painful to look at the shining steel of the bayonets or at the reflections — — like little suns — on the brass14 of the cannons15.
The clear and rapid stream the detachment had just crossed lay behind, and in front were tilled fields and meadows in shallow valleys. Farther in front were the dark mysterious forest-clad hills with craigs rising beyond them, and farther still on the lofty horizon were the ever-beautiful ever-changing snowy peaks that played with the light like diamonds.
At the head of the 5th Company, Butler, a tall handsome officer who had recently exchanged from the Guards, marched along in a black coat and tall cap, shouldering his sword. He was filled with a buoyant sense of the joy of living, the danger of death, a wish for action, and the consciousness of being part of an immense whole directed by a single will. This was his second time of going into action and he thought how in a moment they would be fired at, and he would not only not stoop when the shells flew overhead, or heed17 the whistle of the bullets, but would carry his head even more erect18 than before and would look round at his comrades and the soldiers with smiling eyes, and begin to talk in a perfectly19 calm voice about quite other matters.
The detachment turned off the good road onto a little-used one that crossed a stubbly maize20 field, ant they were drawing near the forest when, with an ominous21 whistle, a shell flew past amid the baggage wagons22 — they could not see whence — and tore up the ground in the field by the roadside.
“It’s beginning,” said Butler with a bright smile to a comrade who was walking beside him.
And so it was. After the shell a thick crowd of mounted Chechens appeared with their banners from under the shelter of the forest. In the midst of the crowd could be seen a large green banner, and an old and very far-sighted sergeant-major informed the short-sighted Butler that Shamil himself must be there. The horsemen came down the hiss23 and appeared to the right, at the highest part of the valley nearest the detachment, and began to descend4. A little general in a thick black coat and tall cap rode up to Butler’s company on his ambler24, and ordered him to the right to encounter the descending horsemen. Butler quickly led his company in the direction indicated, but before he reached the valley he heard two cannon16 shots behind him. He looked round: two clouds of grey smoke had risen above two cannon and were spreading along the valley. The mountaineers’ horsemen — who had evidently not expected to meet artillery — retired25. Butler’s company began firing at them and the whole ravine was filled with the smoke of powder. Only higher up above the ravine could the mountaineers be seen hurriedly retreating, though still firing back at the Cossacks who pursued them. The company followed the mountaineers farther, and on the slope of a second ravine came in view of an aoul.
Following the Cossacks, Butler and his company entered the aoul at a run, to find it deserted26. The soldiers were ordered to burn the corn and the hay as well as the saklyas, and the whole aoul was soon filled with pungent27 smoke amid which the soldiers rushed about dragging out of the saklyas what they could find, and above all catching28 and shooting the fowls29 the mountaineers had not been able to take away with them.
The officers sat down at some distance beyond the smoke, and lunched and drank. The sergeant-major brought them some honeycombs on a board. There was no sigh of any Chechens and early in the afternoon the order was given to retreat. The companies formed into a column behind the aoul and Butler happened to be in the rearguard. As soon as they started Chechens appeared, following and firing at the detachment, but they ceased this pursuit as soon as they came out into an open space.
Not one of Butler’s company had been wounded, and he returned in a most happy and energetic mood. When after fording the same stream it had crossed in the morning, the detachment spread over the maize fields and the meadows, the singers of each company came forward and songs filled the air.
“Verry diff’rent, very diff’rent, Fagers are, Fagers are!” sang Butler’s singers, and his horse stepped merrily to the music. Trezorka, the shaggy grey dog belonging to the company, ran in front, with his tail curled up with an air of responsibility like a commander. Butler felt buoyant, calm, and joyful30. War presented itself to him as consisting only in his exposing himself to danger and to possible death, thereby31 gaining rewards and the respect of his comrades here, as well as of his friends in Russia. Strange to say, his imagination never pictured the other aspect of war: the death and wounds of the soldiers, officers, and mountaineers. To retain his poetic32 conception he even unconsciously avoided looking at the dead and wounded. So that day when we had three dead and twelve wounded, he passed by a corpse33 lying on its back and did not stop to look, seeing only with one eye the strange position of the waxen hand and a dark red spot on the head. The hosslmen appeared to him only a mounted dzhigits from whom he had to defend himself.
“You see, my dear sir,” said his major in an interval34 between two songs, “it’s not as it is with you in Petersburg — ‘Eyes right! Eyes left!’ Here we have done our job, and now we go home and Masha will set a pie and some nice cabbage soup before us. That’s life — don’t you think so? — Now then! As the Dawn Was Breaking!” He called for his favorite song.
There was no wind, the air was fresh and clear and so transparent35 that the snow hills nearly a hundred miles away seemed quite near, and in the intervals36 between the songs the regular sound of the footsteps and the jingle8 of the guns was heard as a background on which each song began and ended. The song that was being sung in Butler’s company was composed by a cadet in honor of the regiment37, and went to a dance tune38. The chorus was: “Verry diff’rent, very diff’rent, Fagers are, Fagers are!”
Butler rode beside the officer next in rank above him, Major Petrov, with whom he lived, and he felt he could not be thankful enough to have exchanged from the Guards and come to the Caucasus. His chief reason for exchanging was that he had lost all he had at cards and was afraid that if he remained there he would be unable to resist playing though he had nothing more to lose. Now all that was over, his life was quite changed and was such a pleasant and brave one! He forgot that he was ruined, and forgot his unpaid39 debts. The Caucasus, the war, the soldiers, the officers — those tipsy, brave, good-natured fellows — and Major Petrov himself, all seemed so delightful40 that sometimes it appeared too good to be true that he was not in Petersburg — in a room filled with tobacco smoke, turning down the corners of cards and gambling41, hating the holder42 of the bank and feeling a dull pain in his head — but was really here in this glorious region among these brave Caucasians.
The major and the daughter of a surgeon’s orderly, formerly43 known as Masha, but now generally called by the more respectful name of Marya Dmitrievna, lived together as man and wife. Marya Dmitrievna was a handsome, fair-haired, very freckled44, childless woman of thirty. Whatever her past may have been she was now the major’s faithful companion and looked after him like a nurse — a very necessary matter, since he often drank himself into oblivion.
When they reached the fort everything happened as the major had foreseen. Marya Dmitrievna gave him and Butler, and two other officers of the detachment who had been invited, a nourishing and tasty dinner, and the major ate and drank till he was unable to speak, and then went off to his room to sleep.
Butler, having drunk rather more chikhir wine than was good for him, went to his bedroom, tired but contented45, and hardly had time to undress before he fell into a sound, dreamless, and unbroken sleep with his hand under his handsome curly head.
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1
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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jingled
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| 喝醉的 | |
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jingle
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| n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵 | |
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jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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cannons
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| n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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maize
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| n.玉米 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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ambler
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| n.以溜步法走的马，慢慢走的人 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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29
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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30
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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34
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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unpaid
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| adj.未付款的，无报酬的 | |
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40
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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42
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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43
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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44
freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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