'Who's that?' inquired a ringing voice.
'Why, who are you?'
'I'm the forester here.'
I mentioned my name.
'Oh, I know! Are you on your way home?'
'Yes. But, you see, in such a storm….'
'Yes, there is a storm,' replied the voice.
A pale flash of lightning lit up the forester from head to foot; a brief crashing clap of thunder followed at once upon it. The rain lashed18 with redoubled force.
'It won't be over just directly,' the forester went on.
'What's to be done?'
'That would be a service.'
'Please to take your seat'
He went up to the mare's head, took her by the bit, and pulled her up. We set off. I held on to the cushion of the droshky, which rocked 'like a boat on the sea,' and called my dog. My poor mare splashed with difficulty through the mud, slipped and stumbled; the forester hovered20 before the shafts21 to right and to left like a ghost. We drove rather a long while; at last my guide stopped. 'Here we are home, sir,' he observed in a quiet voice. The gate creaked; some puppies barked a welcome. I raised my head, and in a flash of lightning I made out a small hut in the middle of a large yard, fenced in with hurdles22. From the one little window there was a dim light. The forester led his horse up to the steps and knocked at the door. 'Coming, coming!' we heard in a little shrill23 voice; there was the patter of bare feet, the bolt creaked, and a girl of twelve, in a little old smock tied round the waist with list, appeared in the doorway24 with a lantern in her hand.
'Show the gentleman a light,' he said to her 'and I will put your droshky in the shed.'
The little girl glanced at me, and went into the hut. I followed her.
The forester's hut consisted of one room, smoky, low-pitched, and empty, without curtains or partition. A tattered25 sheepskin hung on the wall. On the bench lay a single-barrelled gun; in the corner lay a heap of rags; two great pots stood near the oven. A pine splinter was burning on the table flickering26 up and dying down mournfully. In the very middle of the hut hung a cradle, suspended from the end of a long horizontal pole. The little girl put out the lantern, sat down on a tiny stool, and with her right hand began swinging the cradle, while with her left she attended to the smouldering pine splinter. I looked round—my heart sank within me: it's not cheering to go into a peasant's hut at night. The baby in the cradle breathed hard and fast.
'Are you all alone here?' I asked the little girl.
'Yes,' she uttered, hardly audibly.
'You're the forester's daughter?'
'Yes,' she whispered.
The door creaked, and the forester, bending his head, stepped across the threshold. He lifted the lantern from the floor, went up to the table, and lighted a candle.
'I dare say you're not used to the splinter light?' said he, and he shook back his curls.
I looked at him. Rarely has it been my fortune to behold27 such a comely28 creature. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and in marvellous proportion. His powerful muscles stood out in strong relief under his wet homespun shirt. A curly, black beard hid half of his stern and manly29 face; small brown eyes looked out boldly from under broad eyebrows30 which met in the middle. He stood before me, his arms held lightly akimbo.
I thanked him, and asked his name.
'My name's Foma,' he answered, 'and my nickname's Biryuk' (i.e. wolf). [Footnote: The name Biryuk is used in the Orel province to denote a solitary31, misanthropic32 man.—Author's Note.]
'Oh, you're Biryuk.'
I looked with redoubled curiosity at him. From my Yermolaï and others I had often heard stories about the forester Biryuk, whom all the peasants of the surrounding districts feared as they feared fire. According to them there had never been such a master of his business in the world before. 'He won't let you carry off a handful of brushwood; he'll drop upon you like a fall of snow, whatever time it may be, even in the middle of the night, and you needn't think of resisting him—he's strong, and cunning as the devil…. And there's no getting at him anyhow; neither by brandy nor by money; there's no snare33 he'll walk into. More than once good folks have planned to put him out of the world, but no—it's never come off.'
'So you're Biryuk,' I repeated; 'I've heard talk of you, brother. They say you show no mercy to anyone.'
'I do my duty,' he answered grimly; 'it's not right to eat the master's bread for nothing.'
'Have you no wife?' I asked him.
'No,' he answered, with a vigorous sweep of the axe.
'She's dead, I suppose?'
'No … yes … she's dead,' he added, and turned away. I was silent; he raised his eyes and looked at me.
'She ran away with a travelling pedlar,' he brought out with a bitter smile. The little girl hung her head; the baby waked up and began crying; the little girl went to the cradle. 'There, give it him,' said Biryuk, thrusting a dirty feeding-bottle into her hand. 'Him, too, she abandoned,' he went on in an undertone, pointing to the baby. He went up to the door, stopped, and turned round.
'A gentleman like you,' he began, 'wouldn't care for our bread, I dare say, and except bread, I've—'
'I'm not hungry.'
'Well, that's for you to say. I would have heated the samovar, but I've no tea…. I'll go and see how your horse is getting on.'
He went out and slammed the door. I looked round again, the hut struck me as more melancholy36 than ever. The bitter smell of stale smoke choked my breathing unpleasantly. The little girl did not stir from her place, and did not raise her eyes; from time to time she jogged the cradle, and timidly pulled her slipping smock up on to shoulder; her bare legs hung motionless.
'What's your name?' I asked her.
The forester came in and sat down on the bench.
'The storm 's passing over,' he observed, after a brief silence; 'if you wish it, I will guide you out of the forest.'
I got up; Biryuk took his gun and examined the firepan.
'What's that for?' I inquired.
'Could you hear it from here?'
'I can hear it outside.'
We went out together. The rain had ceased. Heavy masses of storm-cloud were still huddled40 in the distance; from time to time there were long flashes of lightning; but here and there overhead the dark blue sky was already visible; stars twinkled through the swiftly flying clouds. The outline of the trees, drenched41 with rain, and stirred by the wind, began to stand out in the darkness. We listened. The forester took off his cap and bent42 his head…. 'Th … there!' he said suddenly, and he stretched out his hand: 'see what a night he's pitched on.' I had heard nothing but the rustle43 of the leaves. Biryuk led the mare out of the shed. 'But, perhaps,' he added aloud, 'this way I shall miss him.' 'I'll go with you … if you like?' 'Certainly,' he answered, and he backed the horse in again; 'we'll catch him in a trice, and then I'll take you. Let's be off.' We started, Biryuk in front, I following him. Heaven only knows how he found out his way, but he only stopped once or twice, and then merely to listen to the strokes of the axe. 'There,' he muttered, 'do you hear? do you hear?' 'Why, where?' Biryuk shrugged44 his shoulders. We went down into the ravine; the wind was still for an instant; the rhythmical45 strokes reached my hearing distinctly. Biryuk glanced at me and shook his head. We went farther through the wet bracken and nettles46. A slow muffled47 crash was heard….
'He's felled it,' muttered Biryuk. Meantime the sky had grown clearer and clearer; there was a faint light in the forest. We clambered at last out of the ravine.
'Wait here a little,' the forester whispered to me. He bent down, and raising his gun above his head, vanished among the bushes. I began listening with strained attention. Across the continual roar of the wind faint sounds from close by reached me; there was a cautious blow of an axe on the brushwood, the crash of wheels, the snort of a horse….
'Where are you off to? Stop!' the iron voice of Biryuk thundered suddenly. Another voice was heard in a pitiful shriek48, like a trapped hare…. A struggle was beginning.
'No, no, you've made a mistake,' Biryuk declared panting; 'you're not going to get off….' I rushed in the direction of the noise, and ran up to the scene of the conflict, stumbling at every step. A felled tree lay on the ground, and near it Biryuk was busily engaged holding the thief down and binding49 his hands behind his back with a kerchief. I came closer. Biryuk got up and set him on his feet. I saw a peasant drenched with rain, in tatters, and with a long dishevelled beard. A sorry little nag16, half covered with a stiff mat, was standing50 by, together with a rough cart. The forester did not utter a word; the peasant too was silent; his head was shaking.
'Let him go,' I whispered in Biryuk's ears; 'I'll pay for the tree.'
Without a word Biryuk took the horse by the mane with his left hand; in his right he held the thief by the belt. 'Now turn round, you rat!' he said grimly.
'The bit of an axe there, take it,' muttered the peasant.
'No reason to lose it, certainly,' said the forester, and he picked up the axe. We started. I walked behind…. The rain began sprinkling again, and soon fell in torrents. With difficulty we made our way to the hut. Biryuk pushed the captured horse into the middle of the yard, led the peasant into the room, loosened the knot in the kerchief, and made him sit down in a corner. The little girl, who had fallen asleep near the oven, jumped up and began staring at us in silent terror. I sat down on the locker51.
'Ugh, what a downpour!' remarked the forester; 'you will have to wait till it's over. Won't you lie down?'
'Thanks.'
'I would have shut him in the store loft52, on your honour's account,' he went on, indicating the peasant; 'but you see the bolt—'
'Leave him here; don't touch him,' I interrupted.
The peasant stole a glance at me from under his brows. I vowed53 inwardly to set the poor wretch54 free, come what might. He sat without stirring on the locker. By the light of the lantern I could make out his worn, wrinkled face, his overhanging yellow eyebrows, his restless eyes, his thin limbs…. The little girl lay down on the floor, just at his feet, and again dropped asleep. Biryuk sat at the table, his head in his hands. A cricket chirped55 in the corner … the rain pattered on the roof and streamed down the windows; we were all silent.
'Foma Kuzmitch,' said the peasant suddenly in a thick, broken voice;
'Foma Kuzmitch!'
'What is it?'
'Let me go.'
Biryuk made no answer.
'Let me go … hunger drove me to it; let me go.'
'Let me go,' repeated the peasant. 'Our manager … we 're ruined, that's what it is—let me go!'
'Ruined, indeed!… Nobody need steal.'
'Let me go, Foma Kuzmitch…. Don't destroy me. Your manager, you know yourself, will have no mercy on me; that's what it is.'
Biryuk turned away. The peasant was shivering as though he were in the throes of fever. His head was shaking, and his breathing came in broken gasps57.
'Let me go,' he repeated with mournful desperation. 'Let me go; by God, let me go! I'll pay; see, by God, I will! By God, it was through hunger!… the little ones are crying, you know yourself. It's hard for us, see.'
'You needn't go stealing, for all that.'
'My little horse,' the peasant went on, 'my poor little horse, at least … our only beast … let it go.'
'I tell you I can't. I'm not a free man; I'm made responsible. You oughtn't to be spoilt, either.'
'Let me go! It's through want, Foma Kuzmitch, want—and nothing else—let me go!'
'I know you!'
'Oh, let me go!'
'Ugh, what's the use of talking to you! sit quiet, or else you'll catch it. Don't you see the gentleman, hey?'
The poor wretch hung his head…. Biryuk yawned and laid his head on the table. The rain still persisted. I was waiting to see what would happen.
Suddenly the peasant stood erect58. His eyes were glittering, and his face flushed dark red. 'Come, then, here; strike yourself, here,' he began, his eyes puckering59 up and the corners of his mouth dropping; 'come, cursed destroyer of men's souls! drink Christian60 blood, drink.'
The forester turned round.
'I'm speaking to you, Asiatic, blood-sucker, you!'
'Are you drunk or what, to set to being abusive?' began the forester, puzzled. 'Are you out of your senses, hey?'
'Ah, you——I'll show you!'
'What's that to me? It's all one; I'm done for; what can I do without a home? Kill me—it's the same in the end; whether it's through hunger or like this—it's all one. Ruin us all—wife, children … kill us all at once. But, wait a bit, we'll get at you!'
Biryuk got up.
'Kill me, kill me,' the peasant went on in savage62 tones; 'kill me; come, come, kill me….' (The little girl jumped up hastily from the ground and stared at him.) 'Kill me, kill me!'
'Silence!' thundered the forester, and he took two steps forward.
'Stop, Foma, stop,' I shouted; 'let him go…. Peace be with him.'
'I won't be silent,' the luckless wretch went on. 'It's all the same—ruin anyway—you destroyer of souls, you brute; you've not come to ruin yet…. But wait a bit; you won't have long to boast of; they'll wring63 your neck; wait a bit!'
Biryuk clutched him by the shoulder. I rushed to help the peasant….
'Don't touch him, master!' the forester shouted to me.
I should not have feared his threats, and already had my fist in the air; but to my intense amazement64, with one pull he tugged65 the kerchief off the peasant's elbows, took him by the scruff of the neck, thrust his cap over his eyes, opened the door, and shoved him out.
'Go to the devil with your horse!' he shouted after him; 'but mind, next time….'
'Well, Biryuk,' I said at last, 'you've astonished me; I see you're a splendid fellow.'
'Oh, stop that, master,' he cut me short with an air of vexation; 'please don't speak of it. But I'd better see you on your way now,' he added; 'I suppose you won't wait for this little rain….'
'He's off, then!' he muttered; 'but next time!'
Half-an-hour later he parted from me at the edge of the wood.
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1
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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3
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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5
pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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chilliness
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| n.寒冷，寒意，严寒 | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
blustered
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| v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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14
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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15
foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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nag
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| v.(对…)不停地唠叨；n.爱唠叨的人 | |
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17
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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18
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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19
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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20
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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21
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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22
hurdles
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| n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛 | |
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23
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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24
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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25
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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26
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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30
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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31
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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misanthropic
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| adj.厌恶人类的，憎恶（或蔑视）世人的；愤世嫉俗 | |
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33
snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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34
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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35
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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36
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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37
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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38
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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39
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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40
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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41
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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42
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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43
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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44
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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45
rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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46
nettles
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| n.荨麻( nettle的名词复数 ) | |
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47
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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48
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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49
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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50
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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51
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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52
loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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53
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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54
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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chirped
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 ) | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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57
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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58
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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59
puckering
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的现在分词 )；小褶纹；小褶皱 | |
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60
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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61
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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63
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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64
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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65
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
rummaging
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的现在分词 )； 海关检查 | |
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67
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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