I 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 MRS. VIRGINIA B. SPORER 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 SmMM^MmM 
 
 ;
 
 THE PURSUIT.
 
 THE 
 
 TWO-LEGGED WOLF 
 
 N. N. KARAZIN. 
 
 (ILL US TR A TED li } ' THE A U THO R . ) 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM TIIK RUSSIAN' HV 
 
 BORIS LAN IN. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NFAV YORK: 
 
 RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY. 
 
 1894.
 
 Copyright, 1894, by Rand, McNally & Co.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. The Two-Legged Wolf, - - 7 
 
 II. Good People in a Good Place, 15 
 
 III. Before the Storm, - - 21 
 
 IV. "Beginning to Boil," - 27 
 V. The Camp of the White Blouses, - 31 
 
 VI. The Captive, - 37 
 
 VII. The Sister of Charity, - - 41 
 
 VIII. In the Officers' Circle, 46 
 
 IX. Shadows, - - 53 
 
 X. What Old Dostchak Told his Companions, - 58 
 
 XL A Deserter, - - 69 
 
 XII. Laborers from a Plundered Caravan, 75 
 
 XIII. The Report, 78 
 
 XIV. Atam Kul, 82 
 XV. The Kata-dshil (Sand-storm), - 91 
 
 XVI. A Sad Morning, 99 
 
 XVII. In Pursuit, - - 103 
 
 XVIII. The Rescue, - 108 
 
 XIX. Waiting, - 117 
 
 XX. The New York Herald Correspondent, 121 
 
 XXI. The White Blouses, - 128 
 
 XXII. Tracks, - 130 
 
 XXIII. Adam Krilgan, - 134 
 
 XXIV. Dostchak and His Bottle, - 137 
 XXV. At the Other Wells, - 140 
 
 XXVI. Sardiba-Kul and Utch-Chuchak, 146 
 
 XXVII. News, - 152 
 
 XXVIII. Dostchak Conceives a Plan, - 153 
 
 XXIX. " I Am a Mother," - - 166 
 
 (5)
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 XXX. The Flight, 171 
 
 XXXI. Beyond the Russian Camp, 176 
 
 XXXII. Atam Kul's Mob, 181 
 
 XXXIII. Mat Murad's Headquarters, - 185 
 
 XXXIV. The Harem of Mullah Atam Kul, 196 
 XXXV. Providence, - - 207 
 
 XXXVI. Dostchak Turns Up Again, 214 
 XXXVII. The General's Letter, - 216 
 XXXVIII. Trial and Punishment, 220 
 XXXIX. A Few Words of the Khan and His Subjects, 227 
 XL. Again in the Officers' Circle, - 230 
 XLI. Reminiscences Old Acquaintances, - 238 
 XLII. Dostchak and His Baggage, - 246 
 XLIII. Excitement and Gatherings, 248 
 XLIV. And What If? 257 
 XLV. An Unexpected and Undesired Move, - - 259 
 XL VI. Enemies, - 267 
 XLVII. Overtaken, 270 
 XLVIII. Found, 280 
 XLIX. A Very Disagreeable and Difficult Situation, 284 
 L. The Letter of Sergei Nikolaievitch and the An- 
 swer to It, - 297 
 LI. The Decision of Natalia Martinovna and the Re- 
 sults of Rovitch's Challenge, - 311 
 LII. Epilogue, 317
 
 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 IN the hot, yellow sand stood a wooden stake, painted 
 red. The lower portion of this stake, imbedded in the 
 soil, was shod with iron; at its upper end there was a 
 short crosspiece, and upon it sat, its feathers bristling, 
 a handsome hunting-falcon, dreaming the sharp, ras- 
 cally eyes covered by the opaque, transverse eyelids. 
 
 The bird seemed the embodiment of perfect immo- 
 bility. From the little red cap fitted to its small 
 shapely head down to the little silver chain which fast- 
 ened its leg to the crosspiece it resembled a thing 
 carved. He never moved; not one of the little bells 
 which adorned the collar around the bird's neck gave 
 forth a sound, and, as if drawn by hand, the short 
 bluish shadow cast by the bird lay sharply defined 
 upon the reddish-yellow background of sand. 
 
 Two greyhounds, lean, gaunt, and nearly hairless, with 
 inflamed tongues protruding, lay flat upon their sides, 
 and but for the barely perceptible movement of their 
 clearly defined ribs they would have been taken for 
 carrion rather than for living animals ready at the first 
 motion, at a single faint summoning whistle of their 
 master, to jump up and scan the boundless steppe 
 to fly like arrows over the wave-like, friable sands, 
 
 (7)
 
 8 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 which to the eye appeared to have neither ending nor 
 beginning. 
 
 A handsome, showy horse a blooded Turkoman 
 stallion covered, in spite of the scorching heat, with 
 a heavy blanket, also stood motionless near by; the 
 clean, sinewy fetlocks of its forelegs hobbled with a thin 
 woolen rope. The costly bridle, ornamented with 
 silver, turquois, and carnelians, was lightly attached to 
 the horn-shaped bow of the saddle, maintaining the 
 graceful bend of the swan-like neck. The remainder 
 of the horse-trappings were lying close by, arranged in 
 the most scrupulous order. It was evident that a very 
 experienced hand had placed them thus, and that the 
 same hand was ready with a single motion to swing the 
 whole load upon the horse's crupper and fasten it on in 
 spite of its apparently complicated nature. There was 
 a pair of " korshuns," or saddle-bags, made of the costly 
 Khivan carpet known as " kisil-tirnak " ; a leather case 
 with cups, the so-called " kalmyk-bash " or "terkesh," 
 ornamented with long rawhide tassels; a gourd-kalyan, 
 or water-pipe, with silver mountings, a long reed stem, 
 and a skillfully embossed copper bowl; a goatskin 
 water-vessel, warped and wrinkled from long exposure 
 to the heat; a pair of long-barreled Persian pistols, the 
 muzzles resting in sockets; and a bag of woolen tissue 
 for oats, half-filled. 
 
 In addition to the falcon, the horse, and the grey- 
 hounds, there was still another living creature, though 
 it was difficult to regard it as such. Why should a liv- 
 ing being lie so long in such an evidently uncomforta- 
 ble position ? 
 
 This other being was a man. He lay stretched out 
 at full length, with his arms under his head, his eyes 
 piercing the boundless gray depth of the burning,
 
 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 9 
 
 scorching sky overhead. The broad brim of his 
 slashed felt hat protected a pair of oblique, blinking 
 eyes, and cast a shadow dividing the bronzed high 
 cheek-boned face into two distinct parts. 
 
 The man was dressed in a loose cloak of camel's-hair 
 cloth, under which garment another, bright red in 
 color, was visible, with edges embroidered in gold 
 braid. The glaring pattern of his voluminous red 
 trousers, also embroidered in silk of various colors, 
 shone in the sunlight. The feet were clad in soft 
 leather socks, with green heel-pieces, and shoes with 
 high, narrow heels shod with silver-notched steel. 
 
 Beside him lay a costly "klynch," or saber, in a scab- 
 bard of black shagreen- work, and with a white bone 
 hilt, set with stones of various colors, chiefly turquois, 
 and ornamented with tassels; a double-barreled gun of 
 Russian make, and a Russian revolver in leather case, 
 which was attached by a white cord to the wide metal- 
 plated belt. In addition to these arms there was also 
 a whole collection of knives suspended from the belt, 
 and various smaller articles needed in warfare or on 
 the road flints and steel, wire primers, etc., and, 
 finally, a wallet of red " safian " leather, embroidered 
 in silver. 
 
 A little removed from this motionless group, at the 
 bottom of a shallow ravine overgrown with dry acan- 
 thus thorns, lay another horse, without saddle or bridle. 
 The eyes of this horse were staring wide in the chill of 
 death; its long-benumbed legs, shod in the Turkoman 
 fashion, were stretched out at full length after the last 
 convulsive scraping through the heated sand. 
 
 This was no temporary immobility. Here was a real 
 corpse. All doubt on this subject was easily dispelled 
 by observing the dry, wide-open nostrils of the animal
 
 10 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 and noticing the myriads of small desert ants making 
 their unceremonious entry into their uttermost cavities 
 and emerging again, unhindered, into the light of day. 
 It was not even necessary to enter into such details; to 
 inhale the tainted air was quite sufficient. 
 
 "Ah ! may the dog catch me, but that smells good, 
 especially upon an empty stomach! After having noth- 
 ing to eat for the last four days this seems perfectly 
 delicious. From which side can I best get at i.t?;", 
 
 Thus, probably, thought a stunted desert wolf who 
 had long since been attracted by the tainted air, but 
 who had not yet summoned up sufficient resolution 
 to emerge from the rubble at the farther end of 
 the ravine and draw nearer to the tempting morsel, 
 which was evidently destined for the salvation of such 
 as he, with stomach debilitated from long fasting and 
 tormented by the pangs of hunger. 
 
 " And what has he planted himself down there for, 
 with his dogs?" thought the wolf, as he lay flat upon 
 the ground, his sharp snout barely distinguishable from 
 the gray soil. " He has rested, he has eaten, and he has 
 fed his horse now he should go on his way and .not 
 keep others from eating. With what an air of impor- 
 tance he spreads himself out, the rascal ! as if the 
 whole desert existed only for his benefit. Well, if he 
 felt such gnawing in his entrails. Ah! if I could snatch 
 just a wee morsel! He may not notice it." 
 
 And the wolf began to move gently forward. He 
 had barely stirred when he glanced about. The horse 
 moved its well -shaped ears; the red, bloodshot eyes of 
 the dogs opened slowly. A muffled, ominous growl 
 was heard. Mortal fear seized upon the small four- 
 footed rover, pervaded his whole being, and suddenly 
 suppressed the vivid calls of biting hunger.
 
 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 11 
 
 The wolf drew back, and once hidden from view, he 
 crawled back farther; then, springing- to his feet, away 
 he flew behind the sandy ridges and hillocks. For a 
 long, long time he could not summon sufficient courage 
 to draw nigh again to the spot from which the tempting 
 smell spread through the hot desert air, causing a nerv- 
 ous twitching of his sharp-pointed, cunning snout. 
 
 An hour passed by, and still another, and with them 
 the fears of the wolf. The hunger gnawed more 
 viciously than ever at his vitals. He drew nearer once 
 more and looked. The horse still stood motionless; 
 the dogs still lay stretched out in exactly the same spot. 
 Like a stuffed bird, placed there as a decoy, the falcon 
 sat upon his crosspiece, and without moving a single 
 muscle or changing his position in the least, like a life- 
 less corpse, the resting warrior lay extended upon the 
 sand. 
 
 Again the starving animal began to ponder. " Why, 
 in the devil's name, does he lie there ever .since morn- 
 ing? Does he imagine the fallen horse will ever get 
 upon its legs again? Is he waiting because he dreads 
 to go on with a single horse? " 
 
 The blazing sun began to decline in its course toward 
 the west; beneath it purple shadows began to gather, 
 and a faint approach to coolness became perceptible in 
 the air. A tint resembling the reflection of a distant 
 conflagration gradually overspread the horizon, and 
 the summits of ridges and hillsides appeared as if 
 smeared with fresh blood along their margin, while the 
 more prominent heights and isolated rocks scattered 
 over the desert cast long, growing shadows over the 
 gray, level sands. 
 
 The warrior half-raised himself, sat up, and glanced 
 around. He rubbed his eyes with his knuckles,
 
 18 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 straightened the broad-brimmed hat upon his head, 
 and suddenly sprang to his feet, mechanically seizing 
 his weapons. 
 
 The horse whinnied and strained at his halter; the 
 dogs jumped up as if bitten by a snake, and barked 
 furiously; the bells on the falcon's collar resounded 
 faintly. 
 
 "Ready for the road! I must push on alone, since 
 that one will never get up again the Russian jade! " 
 muttered the warrior to himself, and went, staggering, 
 over to his pile of trappings, among which the most 
 conspicuous object was the long stem of his costly pipe. 
 
 Here he put his smoking-apparatus in order, cleaned 
 out the bowl, filled it with fresh tobacco from his 
 embroidered chamois pouch, struck fire, and soon was 
 sending forth dense clouds of whitish smoke over the 
 desert. 
 
 Around him it grew darker and darker; the red glare 
 which had lighted up the summits of hills and ridges 
 went out; a bluish mist rose from the bottoms of ravines 
 and gullies. 
 
 The warrior was dreaming, while his dim, sleepy 
 eyes stared into the desert through the dense swaths of 
 tobacco-smoke. 
 
 When a solitary horse sees or hears another horse 
 approaching, it acts as if beside itself; it strains at its 
 halter shifting from side to side, stretches its long 
 neck, extends its nostrils, pricks up its ears, whinnies 
 softly and in a friendly tone, and then again assumes 
 an expectant, statuesque attitude, listening to the 
 approaching clatter of hoofs, noting from afar the 
 flourish of tail and mane of the strange animal. 
 
 The dogs, also (if they notice it), can not keep still at 
 the approach of a strange rider. Their bark is heard at
 
 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF, 13 
 
 once, either threatening- to strangers or glad and in 
 welcome to friends, and they rush forth to meet the 
 new arrival. There is no need of urging them to such 
 action. 
 
 In this instance both horse and dogs remained per- 
 fectly quiet, while at the same time the bivouac was 
 being approached quietly and noiselessly by a horse- 
 man. The dreaming warrior saw him plainly between 
 the clouds of smoke which covered the steppe before 
 his eyes. 
 
 He saw and noticed the even progress of a fresh horse 
 straight toward him, without picking its road; upon its 
 back sat the rider, half-naked, clad only in leather 
 trousers. The crooked legs rested upon the wooden, 
 felt-lined stirrups. The hands held neither bridle nor 
 whip; they hung, as if paralyzed, motionless at the 
 sides of the body, which, in turn, appeared as if strung 
 upon wire. There was no hat on the head of the rider, 
 and the warrior could plainly see his purplish, blood- 
 shot face and protruding eyes with yellowish whites, 
 the swollen end of the tongue convulsively pressed 
 between the decaying, uneven teeth. At the nape of 
 the rider's neck could be seen a knotted woolen rope, 
 and from the knot, along the back, hung the end, 
 frayed and tattered from constant friction against the 
 wooden saddle-tree, not covered with cloth, as is the fash- 
 ion of Kirghiz saddles. The thin chestnut horse, hang- 
 ing its head and nodding its white-starred forehead at 
 every step, advanced without any apparent lifting of 
 its legs, which did not seem to touch the earth. The 
 dry grass and thorns did not bend or rustle under its 
 feet. It came across the ravines without descending to 
 the bottom, as if passing through the air from one 
 ridee or hillock to the other.
 
 14 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 There was something uncanny about the progress of 
 this strange rider. It seemed as if he ought to have 
 reached the warrior smoking his water-pipe long ago, 
 but all the time the distance between them had nei- 
 ther increased nor diminished. The rider apparently 
 remained stationary, but the horse's legs kept up their 
 purposeless motion, and up and down bobbed the white- 
 starred forehead. 
 
 One pair of eyes only, staring straight into the 
 smoke, saw this rider. Neither the Turkoman horse, 
 nor the dogs, nor even the falcon from under his red 
 cap saw him at all. They did not hear him or feel his 
 approach. Before them the boundless space extended 
 in death-like stillness, and they remained quietly in 
 their places. What did it matter to them if under the 
 stupefying influence of his strong tobacco their master 
 saw a vision? 
 
 "Leave me, Yunus! leave me!" muttered the war- 
 rior, in scarcely audible tones. " Why do you always 
 haunt me? What do you want of me? Of course, I 
 am guilty before you I sold you! sold, yes, sold you! 
 Go, go, go! leave me! " 
 
 And the warrior overthrew his pipe by a sudden 
 backward movement. He trembled, resting his elbows 
 upon the ground, never removing his eyes from a cer- 
 tain spot, and paying no attention to his surroundings. 
 He did not notice the smoking and smoldering of his 
 camel's-hair cloak, upon which a live coal had fallen 
 from the bowl of his pipe.
 
 GOOD PEOPLE IN A GOOD PLACE. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GOOD PEOPLE IN A GOOD PLACE. 
 "MlRZA! " 
 
 "Aye?" 
 
 " You're not asleep? " 
 
 "Why should I sleep. I've .slept all day." 
 
 " Do you see anything good? " 
 
 "Below, only darkness; above, the stars there is 
 nothing else to be seen." 
 
 " You will never see him! " 
 
 "He'll come. If not this night, then to-morrow. 
 That is sure! as sure as that they call me Osman and 
 you Sharip, and your pock-marked countryman SaM 
 Bey." 
 
 "That will do! All the same, one may come from 
 the Tekke Oasis in four days, and here we have seen 
 the sun set six times already. As for me, I fed the last 
 handful of oats from my bag to my horse yesterday 
 evening." 
 
 " Perhaps something happened to him on the road. 
 On the road anything may happen good or bad! " 
 
 " The bad comes oftenest, especially when the black 
 spirit roosts on one's shoulders." 
 
 "Spirit! nonsense!" 
 
 " Why not? They roam from one end of the desert 
 to the other. Perhaps I have seen them and not I 
 alone " 
 
 " What did you see, Mirza? " 
 
 " What? It is night now in the daytime I will tell 
 you all about it."
 
 16 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " That is foolish babble. Ha! ha! ha! All goes 
 according to Allah's will! " 
 
 " Dawn will soon break; it is beginning to feel 
 colder." 
 
 " Yes, the wind is beginning to stir above. Do you 
 ' hear the rustling of the thorns? You can always hear 
 that toward morning." 
 
 Thus talked, from sheer loneliness, the bandits of the 
 desert, Osman and Sharip, who flattered each other with 
 the aristocratic title of " Mirza." 
 
 One of them lay flat on his face at the very top of the 
 rocky bank of a dry ravine, covered from head to foot 
 with his cloth mantle, and looking out from beneath, 
 striving to see something in the foggy shadows of the 
 impenetrable darkness of night in the desert. The 
 other " Djigit," or desert-rover, was lying a little lower 
 down on the slope, also bundled up in his warm cloak. 
 
 Neither of them slept no more than the other four 
 men, whose somber, uncertain shadows could be dis- 
 cerned below, at the very bottom of the ravine, where 
 the remains of a camp-fire still shone in ruddy glow, 
 faintly reflected in the metallic portions of their arms 
 and accouterments. 
 
 This was a small party of roving " Yow," or desert 
 people, who had been bivouacking for several days in 
 the valley of Utch-Kuduk (three springs), named thus 
 because there were, and still can be found, in this neigh- 
 borhood three holes, half -filled with sand, in which a 
 small quantity of turbid, brackish water gathers peri- 
 odically enough, perhaps, to satisfy about ten thirsty 
 stomachs. 
 
 This water was very bad djaman-soo; people had 
 to be driven beyond all restraint of squeamishness, or 
 to be nearly dead with thirst, before they would drink
 
 GOOD PEOPLE IN A GOOD PLACE. 17 
 
 of it. Horses swallowed it unwillingly, in small sips, 
 evidently only from necessity; camels alone seemed to 
 enjoy it, and licked up, with evident satisfaction, the 
 fetid, slimy ooze which covered the bottoms of the wells. 
 
 All around lay the sun-burned desert, gray and 
 stern of aspect. The winds roamed over it in a fitful, 
 unsteady way, driving before them in all directions 
 columns of dust, which filled the eyes of travelers, and 
 picked up in their flight bits of the gray sage-brush, 
 shaping them into spherical " desert-witches," together 
 with pieces of dry dung, bird-feathers left from some 
 vulture's meal, and pieces of paper dropped by passing 
 travelers. 
 
 In the summer there were solitude, heat, and ashy 
 dust, gaunt, hungry wolves, and absence of all food 
 and water. In the winter, solitude and frost again find 
 the same gaunt, hungry wolves, driven by famine to 
 throw themselves upon each other for the sake of a 
 piece of dry, sinewy flesh. 
 
 This uninviting, deadly region does not enjoy a good 
 repute, and no wonder. The large caravans describe a 
 long circuit around this cursed place; they pick their 
 route, be it ever so much longer, where water is more 
 plentiful. The small caravans have other fears, and 
 prefer to shape their course through more inhabited 
 regions. And why should they not dread it when they 
 were liable at Utch-Kuduk to run against such good 
 people as are now found there encamped? From such 
 good people the farther away the better. 
 
 " We'll soon have a long road before us," began 
 Osman, after a brief silence. " Eh, Mirza, do you hear 
 me?" 
 
 "Oh, yes! I was dreaming a little. Did you say 
 there was anything stirring? "
 
 18 THK '1 \VO-I, EGGED WOLF. 
 
 " May Satan carry thee away upon his crooked horns! 
 I say we shall have to undertake a long journey." 
 
 " We'll not go far; we will not go all the way with 
 him; we will wait for Sadik at Adam Krilgan. And 
 then, you know, the Khan has given orders not to 
 trouble the Russians as long as they can not get their 
 long tail (baggage train) out of the sand." 
 
 "The sand is death to them and death to us! " mut- 
 tered Osman. 
 
 "Well, we shall not perish we belong to the coun- 
 try. Do you hear? " 
 
 " What? " 
 
 "A horse running." 
 
 "'Sh! Don't stir!" 
 
 Both the rovers bent their ears to the ground and 
 listened attentively. For about three seconds a deathly 
 silence reigned, broken only by the faint crackling of 
 the fire below and the sighing of the wind that always 
 precedes the dawn. 
 
 "Four feet there should be eight," said Osman, as 
 he lifted his head. 
 
 " Four," confirmed Sharip. 
 
 Having exchanged these brief remarks, the men 
 again set themselves to listen. 
 
 A faint streak of light began to extend along the 
 horizon. Fainter and fainter grew the twinkling stars, 
 disappearing entirely before the rapidly spreading belt 
 of light. 
 
 The red morning dawn sweeps from the vault of 
 heaven all the small sparks of light only one star 
 struggles a little longer, flashing like a diamond and 
 darting its twinkling beams. But this one also disap- 
 pears. Half the sky lights up in rosy reflection; a
 
 iOOD PEOPLE IN A GOOD PLACE.
 
 GOOD PEOPLE IN A GOOD PLACE. 19 
 
 golden light pours over the steppe, driving before it 
 the blue, smoky shadows of night. 
 
 " There he is! " shouted Osrnan. 
 
 " He is coming," concurred Sharip. 
 
 These exclamations at once brought to their feet all 
 their companions, and caused them to climb up out of 
 the ravine. 
 
 "One horse there is no man; it's his horse, the 
 bay racer the white horse is not there; the saddle 
 hangs on one side there's something wrong. Allah's 
 will be done! " 
 
 While giving vent to these broken observations 
 Osman tightened his belt, girded up his cloak, and 
 gradually approached his horse, which was tied not far 
 away. 
 
 Three of the men had already started their horses at 
 full speed toward the solitary racer, with the costly sad- 
 dle hanging at his side. 
 
 The frightened stallion glanced at them cautiously, 
 pricked up his ears, drew back, snorted, and then stood 
 still, having at last recognized old acquaintances in 
 both horses and men. 
 
 They brought the racer to the camp, surrounded him, 
 and began a close inspection. 
 
 "There's no blood no bullet has touched the horse, 
 no sword or lance; the horse has been in no fight," 
 Osman gave as his opinion. 
 
 " Yes; the horse has not been fighting," remarked an 
 old white-haired robber, after having carefully looked 
 into the large black eyes of the blooded animal. 
 
 "But is it his horse?" queried another, dressed in 
 an old rusty coat of mail. 
 
 Nobody replied a word to this question. All only- 
 looked askance at the queer fellow, shrugging their 
 a
 
 20 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 shoulders contemptuously. Who of their brother 
 rovers of the steppe did not know the warrior Atam 
 Kul, who had run away from the Russians? Who had 
 not seen him on this very mettlesome racer, which had 
 not its equal on the whole right bank of the Amu? 
 
 The "yow" were puzzled and somewhat disconcerted 
 grave doubts began to weigh upon their minds. 
 They were here, waiting for Atam Kul. Word had been 
 brought to them from him that he would be at Utch- 
 Kuduk at this time. "The Mirza is coming," they had 
 been thinking, " to get us together. At the ' Three- 
 legged Camel ' [the name of another watering-place] he 
 will get seven more. Farther on, at Ka-la-at, another 
 party is waiting. Well, Mirza Atam Kul will gather 
 them all under his standard. He'll lead us where will 
 he lead us to? Ah! Allah knows where. We know noth- 
 ing as to that that is his, Atam Kul's business. But 
 now what shall we do now? In place of the captain 
 only his horse has come. What shall we do now? " 
 
 The frightened, doubting rovers consulted for a long 
 time, until Osman helped them out of their difficulty; 
 and upon his command they mounted their horses, 
 seized the riderless racer, and set out at a gentle trot 
 upon the tracks made by the iron-shod hoofs of the 
 horse of Atam Kul. 
 
 " Perhaps we'll find out what we want to know," said 
 Osman. " Perhaps we may find him," he continued, 
 hopefully. 
 
 " Dead? " queried curtly the white-beard. 
 
 "And if he be dead," broke in suddenly he of the 
 rusty coat of mail " he had good clothes, a saber and 
 daggers; he has a bag with money why should all 
 that be lost? " 
 
 In this view of the situation the wolfish nature of
 
 BEFORE THE STORM. 21 
 
 these rovers revealed itself, and full play was given to 
 their brutal instincts. 
 
 A pack of hungry wolves is racing along in single 
 file an old, experienced wolf is in the lead. Paff! a 
 shot. The animals jump aside and look about; they 
 pay no attention to their trail or the enemy in sight, 
 but throw themselves upon their leader, who is perish- 
 ing from a piece of lead under his left leg. " Why should 
 the meat be left to spoil? Farther on we may find 
 nothing, but here is food all ready for us." 
 
 In this frame of mind the pack which emerged from 
 Utch-Kuduk set out in the same direction in which 
 Osman and Sharip had been watching all night, to 
 throw themselves upon their leader, Mirza Atam Kul. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BEFORE THE STORM. 
 
 FOUR years ago, just after the devastation of Bokhara, 
 alarming premonitory rumors began to spread all over 
 the steppes. 
 
 In all the independent, roving camps, which had 
 sided more or less openly with Khiva, the people were 
 convinced that they would speedily take up arms again 
 and resume the conflict, of which God only knows the 
 beginning or when the end will be. They felt sure 
 that the battles of Samarkand and Zarabulak, which 
 caused the downfall of the Emir of Bokhara, would not 
 remain without consequences for their own Khan, 
 whom most of them blamed for his feeble support of
 
 22 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 the neighboring ruler during his war with the " white 
 blouses."* 
 
 The tribes hostile to Russia felt convinced that this 
 submissive and undecided action of the Khan was taken 
 intentionally. 
 
 "Just wait! The Russians will get after you too, and 
 then the Bokhara people will pay you back in the same 
 coin!" Such expressions could be heard among the 
 nomad tribes. They were echoed under the felt roofs 
 of their "kibitkas,' ! and carried by the wind over the 
 steppes, reaching finally the more luxurious felt houses 
 and stone dwellings of those nearest to the Khan. 
 
 The tribes of Chodor, Solor, and even the distant 
 Tekke, talked openly of war. The peaceful " Uzbeks," 
 the farmers and gardeners of the Khivan Oasis, also 
 took up arms. The latter, however, scarcely knew 
 against whom they would use their weapons their 
 antediluvian matchlocks, their crooked, sickle-shaped 
 sabers, and reed lances whether against the white 
 blouses, who had not yet made their appearance, or 
 against their boisterous roving neighbors, the Turko- 
 mans, who had more than once exhibited their readi- 
 ness to take up arms either for the faith and the 
 prophet, for the preservation of their ancient customs, 
 or simply for the sake of war, skillfully concealing their 
 true motives under the mask of duty and feudal sub- 
 mission to the Khan of Khiva. 
 
 The Khan's condition at this time was peculiar, and 
 not entirely devoid of a comical aspect. 
 
 Shah Nazar of Persia, in a verbal discussion of the 
 
 * " White blouses " or " white shirts" is the name given by the 
 Central Asiatics to the Russian soldiers on account of their white 
 canvas campaigning uniforms.
 
 BEFORE THE STORM. 23 
 
 state of affairs at the court of Khiva, painted the situa- 
 tion as follows: 
 
 "The Khan Said Mahomet-Rachim has two ears and 
 but one brain; two hands and but one body. With 
 each ear he hears a different story; with one hand he 
 drives the Turkomans into the field, with the other he 
 keeps the Uzbeks at home. What would the Khan do? 
 He must cut himself in two or incline to one side or 
 the other. Which side was the strongest? The Uzbeks 
 prayed, ' Do not go, do not stir! remember our fields, 
 gardens, and orchards, our houses and families.' The 
 Turkomans the great-grandchildren of Satan, whom 
 nothing can restrain, cried, 'Go on ! What are you 
 afraid of? Do you not know us? Haven't we been bring- 
 ing you our saddlebags full of Russian heads for the 
 last two months? Haven't we strewn the sands of the 
 desert with white blouses? If you do not go it will be 
 the worse for you. You have received our earnest- 
 money, and you know what kind of an army we can 
 put into the field.' " 
 
 At the Khan's summer residence,, in the meantime, 
 complaints came pouring in from the peaceable Uzbeks. 
 Here the Chodor tribe had driven off stock; there the 
 Karas had sacked a whole village, carrying all the girls 
 and young women away with them. In another place 
 all the boats on the Amu Daria had been seized, and 
 such exorbitant charges made for ferriage that suffer- 
 ing and disorder resulted. What could the Khan do 
 against them? 
 
 "Wait! " he wrote to the nomads on the left bank of 
 the river. " If the Russians are coming, we will meet 
 them in war. I shall not make peace. If they do not 
 come, I shall not begin war, and then I shall have my 
 hands free for the others."
 
 24 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 The Uzbeks secretly rejoiced when they heard of 
 this letter. They felt convinced that the white blouses 
 would not initiate hostilities. " They will soon be 
 here!" consoled themselves the Turkomans. "But if 
 they linger, we will hurry them up; we'll cut them to 
 the quick, and thus call them." And then there was 
 inaugurated a very effective system of " cutting to the 
 quick." 
 
 Khivan emissaries, sent out by the party desirous of 
 war, began to scatter over the steppes and to show 
 themselves in the midst of the roving tribes who had 
 been subjected to Russia for more than ten years. 
 These adroit agitators, who, according to the written 
 instructions found upon some of them, were expected 
 to have "long noses and glib tongues, the daring of the 
 tiger, the persistence of the wolf, the cunning of the 
 fox, and the speed of the hare," overran the sandy 
 region between the Caspian and Aral seas. They even 
 penetrated into Emba, and stirred up the Kirghiz, 
 instigating them to open revolt, promising the most 
 active support and protection from Khiva. 
 
 The nomads listened to these emissaries with much 
 curiosity and the greatest attention. The old men 
 smiled and shook their heads incredulously. They well 
 remembered their unfortunate experience of former 
 years. The young men would perhaps have answered 
 the call, but were restrained by the doubts of their 
 elders, who outweighed them in council; and a majority 
 of the agitators met with no success, though they gath- 
 ered around them a few audacious individuals in whom 
 the inborn thirst for plunder and violence was only 
 slumbering, leaving a constant desire for the changing 
 fortunes of war and brigandage in preference to the 
 monotonous routine of peaceful times.
 
 KEFORE THE STORM. 25 
 
 In the sands of the " Little Horde " and " Great Horde " 
 small bands of "sheepskin caps" began to form and to 
 " explore " the caravan routes of Kazalinsk. Rumors 
 of disorders on the roads became more and more fre- 
 quent at the military stations. Attacks were reported 
 upon the postal stations of the Orsk-Kazalinsk district. 
 A few stations in the Kara-Kum also suffered, the 
 horses being driven off and the Cossacks guarding 
 them carried into captivity. The wounded and killed 
 were carried to Kazalinsk from the various roads, and 
 a general panic ensued. 
 
 The merchants called for armed forces for their pro- 
 tection, and not receiving them, suspended trade. Small 
 mounted detachments sent out into the steppes chased 
 in vain "the wind over the ground," as the Cossacks 
 aptly expressed it; the) r exhausted themselves and their 
 horses, and returned to their stations without having 
 attained any definite results. 
 
 All the plundered merchandise, the stolen cattle, and 
 captured prisoners were taken to Khiva and neighbor- 
 ing settlements, where they found eager purchasers in 
 the local markets. 
 
 Entirely independent of the Khivan agitation, a revolt 
 broke out in the steppes of the " Middle Horde," in 
 1870, and found the most active support on the banks 
 of the Amu. Disaffected individuals, tribes guilty of 
 breaches of the peace, and camps of nomads fled to the 
 river to escape just punishment. The name of Sadik, 
 a relative of the well-known Ablai Kenissar, and famous 
 as a warrior, began to be heard again in the steppes, 
 attracting to his familiar standard the houseless rovers 
 from the utmost confines of the desert. 
 
 In answer to inquiries from the Russian authorities, 
 the Khan replied that he was not the cause of all these
 
 26 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 disorders, and that he was a sufferer himself from the 
 warlike spirit prevailing; that he was not able to cope 
 with the Turkomans. " Perhaps the Russians them- 
 selves would like to measure swords with them .'"added 
 he, not altogether without a double meaning. 
 
 At that very time couriers were daily leaving the 
 Khan's summer palace with letters and costly presents 
 for the Emir of Bokhara. Said Mahomet Rachim-Khan 
 inquired of Emir Mosaphar what the latter intended to 
 do if the Russians should go to Khiva through the out- 
 skirts of his own dominions. The war party at Bokhara 
 also began to lift its head and to murmur. But the 
 Emir Mosaphar distinctly remembered the disasters of 
 1868. He could not forget Samarkand and Zarabulak, 
 and he could not ignore the gallant revenge of Karsh 
 and Shegrisiabs. The Emir knew well what he would 
 do a few troublesome heads severed from their 
 bodies soon quieted the warlike agitators. 
 
 Over the endless steppes the " ominous mist " was 
 getting thicker and thicker, and before long this omi- 
 nous mist began to be tainted with a decided flavor of 
 blood. 
 
 These troubled times dragged along for months and 
 years. The storm was gathering overhead, the atmos- 
 phere was sultry, and there was no break in the clouds. 
 Some reaped advantage from the unsettled state of 
 affairs and some suffered. The latter, dreading to leave 
 their felt-roofed houses, drew nearer about them their 
 scattered droves and herds; the former roved about 
 over the steppes, chiefly in the direction where the first 
 encounter with the white blouses was to be expected. 
 
 The deserts of Kizil-Kum began to fill up with peo- 
 p'.e; that was patent to everybody. Even the wolves 
 and vultures began to increase in these fateful regions.
 
 " BEGINNING TO BOIL." 27 
 
 Four-footed and winged robbers scent their quarry 
 from afar. 
 
 And there from the east, beyond the Nuratin-Tow, 
 the gusts of desert- wind came laden, not only with 
 sand and dust, but with the alarming cry: 
 
 " The white blouses are coming! " 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 "BEGINNING TO BOIL." 
 
 THE band from Utch-Kuduk did not advance very 
 far. After halting once to give their horses a breath- 
 ing-spell, they were about to set out again, when, far 
 away along the uncertain, wavelike horizon of shim- 
 mering, mirage-laden desert-air, there appeared a few 
 diminutive black dots. 
 
 The sharp eyes of Osman were the first to notice 
 them; he bent back in his saddle and, trotting ahead, 
 gave warning: "What is that over there?" 
 
 " Ours," replied the rider next to him, turning as pale 
 as the dust of the road, and preparing to unfasten the 
 matchlock from behind his shoulder. The rovers, 
 now thoroughly alarmed, gathered in a group and stood 
 still. 
 
 "What is the matter with you? "said Osman, grin- 
 ning through his teeth, while looking to his weapons. 
 " How will you have it? Are they our people? " 
 
 " They are running fast! Somebody is after them 
 that's sure. Ah! look, look! how they whip their 
 horses."
 
 28 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " Retreat! " shouted Sharip, shaking in his saddle 
 with laughter. 
 
 The little band of " sheepskin caps " obeyed this cry 
 only too willingly. They wheeled around at a full 
 gallop, but when they noticed that Sharip himself did 
 not stir, they reined in their horses and turned around 
 again, one by one. 
 
 "Easy, my friends, easy! Oh, what warriors! Ha, 
 ha, ha! " shouted Sharip. "Oh, you cowards, you chil- 
 dren of Satan! " 
 
 " You are one of his sons yourself! Perhaps you have 
 never been near the white blouses, or you would not 
 talk so foolishly," snarled one of the bandits. 
 
 " Ha, ha! I see how you will fall upon the Russians 
 as soon as Mirza Sadik gives the word of command. 
 You will charge as you did just now the wrong way! 
 I see how it will be." 
 
 " It would be better for you to look over there. 
 Don't you see? Those are our men from the Three- 
 legged Camel, but behind them you'll see other 
 people." 
 
 "Those from the Khala-at are also with them. 
 There is Vai'tak, my chum; I can tell him by the gallop 
 of his horse. Oh! how he jumps like a goat. There, 
 there! Well, something must be wrong." 
 
 The distance between the flying horsemen and those 
 awaiting them was rapidly growing less. The color of 
 the horses could already be easily distinguished, and it 
 was possible to see how furiously the men lashed their 
 exhausted steeds. 
 
 " Why do they press them so unreasonably? " muttered 
 Osman. 
 
 Two of the advancing horsemen were much ahead of 
 the others, and kept nearly side by side. The saddle-
 
 " BEGINNING TO BOIL." 29 
 
 bags of one had become detached by the rapid gait, or 
 perhaps they had not been fastened well because of 
 hurry, and the rider kept them in place with one hand. 
 The faces of both of them showed alarm the eyes 
 shifting from side to side as if trying to discover some- 
 thing on the distant horizon. Their lips, dry and 
 cracked from the rapid motion through the air, were 
 half -open; the hair of their scanty beards stood on end, 
 and was thickly powdered with the dust of the desert. 
 
 The horses, covered with lather, breathed laboriously, 
 especially one of them, from whose inflamed nostrils 
 drops of blood were issuing, together with a shrill, 
 spasmodic whistle. 
 
 "He's done for! " exclaimed Sharip, who had recog- 
 nized the ominous sound from a distance. 
 
 "What is the news? " bawled Osman at the top of his 
 voice. 
 
 The foremost horseman bounded ahead, after trying 
 in vain to rein in his horse. He attempted to say some- 
 thing, but succeeded only in pointing with his hand 
 toward Utch-Kuduk as he hurried along. 
 
 " Russians! " yelled the other as he went flying over 
 his horse's head, plowing up the deep, dusty soil with 
 his red, perspiring face. The unfortunate overdriven 
 animal had not strength enough left to arrest its mad 
 gallop, and involuntarily discarded its master. 
 
 An alarmed discussion at once arose in the little 
 group of horsemen, which the other fugitives joined 
 one by one, until there were about twenty of them 
 together. 
 
 Among the arrivals were two Turkomans from be- 
 yond the Amu Daria, wearing striped cloaks. Both 
 came in some distance behind the others not because 
 their horses were more exhausted, but because they
 
 30 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 purposely held them back. Their bridles were drawn 
 tight, the thin chain-bits cutting the mouths of their 
 tired horses, which were still striving to forge ahead. 
 
 " Make haste for Utch-Kuduk! " shouted one of the 
 men. 
 
 "We'll talk as we go! " added the other, turning to 
 Sharip. 
 
 " Are you Atam Kul's men? " 
 
 " Maybe we are," replied he, evasively. 
 
 " Where is he? " 
 
 "Ah! we wanted to ask you that question." 
 
 "H'm!" grunted the Turkoman, and slackened his 
 bridle. " Hurry up! get along! " shouted the other; and 
 the whole band was soon in full flight. 
 
 " The Russians have come to Khala-at; Mat Murat 
 was too late to close the road for them. Nias and 
 Sadik are said to be awaiting them at Min-Bulak," 
 said one of the Turkomans, gruffly " the ravens! The 
 Cossacks came to the Three-legged Camel and beat off 
 our men. They'll make for Utch-Kuduk next, and then 
 we'll be without any water. We need a day to feed the 
 horses and let them drink, and fill our bags with water; 
 if they don't catch up with us before, the 'giaours!' 
 They march early, without tiring themselves, but they 
 cover a great deal of ground in a day. They have no 
 wagon-trains, but many camels; one can't pass their 
 columns in two hours, with the fastest horse. So many 
 stomachs require a great deal of water. If they drive 
 us from the wells, ten Sadiks could not prevent them 
 from reaching the Amu without any battle." 
 
 "Water in the steppe is life; no water is death," 
 laconically added the other Turkoman, and these words 
 had a strange effect upon the hearts of these rovers of 
 the steppes. A great dread came over them. Many of
 
 THE CAMP OF THE WHITE BLOUSES. 31 
 
 'them shuddered as they glanced furtively about them. 
 All, without exception, urged on their horses. 
 
 The panic which had seized upon the fugitives from 
 the Three-legged Camel communicated itself to those 
 from Utch-Kuduk. They were all running, running as 
 if flying before a prairie-fire or an advancing flood; 
 they were flying like a giraffe before the whistle of 
 the hunter's bullet flying like wild horses before the 
 threatening slipnoose of the lasso. They strove to 
 seize upon the small store of rotten salt-water which 
 was life, and timidly glanced at the scorched, sun- 
 dried steppe which was death. 
 
 In other parts of the desert, also, small mounted par- 
 ties were running, and single scattered horsemen were 
 spurring their steeds. 
 
 They had been waiting for the white blouses, and 
 now they had come almost unexpectedly. It was a sur- 
 prise, though a surprise for which the whole steppe had 
 been preparing for the last four years. 
 
 " Water means life no water, death ! " These words 
 of the Turkoman were truly prophetic. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CAMP OF THE WHITE BLOUSES. 
 
 THESE yellow, drifting sand-dunes, over which the 
 hot wind blew in gusts, sweeping together and scattering 
 again the loose dust of the surface, had never seen such 
 numbers of people people altogether strange to the 
 country, and unfamiliar; clad in short white blouses and
 
 32 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 red leather trousers, armed with Berdan rifles; people 
 who came to these places for the first time, but bore 
 themselves as masters, as if entirely at home on the 
 sand-hills. 
 
 Their bivouac covered a vast space. Everywhere 
 along the foot of the ridges could be seen the glistening 
 bayonets of stacked arms, and the red rags of weather- 
 worn guidons, flapping gently. Here and there small 
 fires were burning, and tents loomed up in many places. 
 Immovable, buried in sand almost to the axles, stood 
 the field-pieces; behind them rows of green caissons, 
 and back of them again rows of stunted, clumsy horses 
 at the picket-ropes. Then more rows of stacked mus- 
 kets, more guidons, and more sheds and tents. And in 
 the midst of all these some sleeping or dozing, in 
 groups or singly, others squatting or sitting, doing 
 something, as busy and restless in bivouac as they are 
 calm and collected in action could be seen the white 
 blouses. 
 
 Isolated infantry sentries loomed up on the outlying 
 ridges of the higher sand-dunes; farther away, and 
 barely visible through the dust and the smoke of 
 camp-fires, were the mounted pickets; single horsemen 
 trotted from one vidette to the other, occasionally 
 ascending the more prominent sand-hills and looking 
 long and carefully into the distance as if they expected 
 something that must surely appear along the greenish, 
 wavelike horizon. 
 
 More than anywhere else the people gathered about 
 the gaping black apertures the wells; here the talk- 
 ing and turmoil were loudest. There was constant 
 coming and going. They came running, swinging 
 their empty kettles, buckets, teapots, and every imagi- 
 nable vessel that could be carried on the march. From
 
 THE CAMP OF THE WHITE BLOUSES. 33 
 
 the wells they went slowly, and not hurrying in the 
 least balancing carefully the precious fluid obtained 
 with so much difficulty. 
 
 The wells were not all in one place; they were scat- 
 tered along the winding gullies. By connecting these 
 points with lines, one could obtain an irregular figure 
 corresponding exactly with the outline of the whole 
 bivouac, if observed from above, from the point of view 
 of those two vultures that have followed the expedition 
 from its first camp, and now seem to feast their eyes 
 on their prospective prey. 
 
 All this activity of the bivouac, all its social life and 
 all its living interests, center at the wells they are its 
 nerve-centers. 
 
 The Turkestan expedition had arrived in the region 
 of Khala-at only yesterday. All knew that it was 
 impossible to move forward from here very soon, and 
 therefore all strove to establish themselves as quietly 
 and conveniently as possible, if quiet and comfort were 
 not out of the question in this terrible god-forsaken 
 country. 
 
 Ahead of them, that is, in the direction in which 
 pointed the muzzles of the cannon, now closed with 
 wooden tampions, there spread out an entirely un- 
 known waste terrible according to its misty traditions 
 and the tales of disaster which filled the hearts of all 
 with a secret and almost superstitious dread. 
 
 "Look there! Do you see it?" one of the native 
 train-servants whispered to his Russian taniyr (friend, 
 chum). 
 
 " What is there to see? " replied the other after taking 
 a heroic pull at his strong pipe. " There is only sand 
 nothing else." 
 
 " Look ! Here you see hills now, and yonder
 
 34 . THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 ravines," said the Kirghiz, pointing far afield with his 
 claw-like, black and almost charred finger. " If a storm 
 should come up in the night, you will see what there is 
 to-morrow. Where the hills are now there will be hol- 
 lows, and where the hollows are now there will be hills." 
 
 " Well, there is some kind of a road? " inquired the 
 chum. 
 
 " Road? There's no road; no roads at all. The roads 
 are those upon which the will of Allah may lead you; 
 there is no other road." 
 
 "Nu! what a country!" 
 
 "What do you want to go there for?" You must 
 not! No man, or camel, or horse can stand it." 
 
 "That will do." 
 
 " I've heard," here chimed in a young voice from 
 another group of white blouses " the fellows in my 
 company told me that once the Emir of Bokhara led 
 his troops into this place, and that his whole army was 
 buried in the sand, and that nobody knows now where 
 they perished." 
 
 " Tell us some more lies! " gruffly interrupted an 
 overgrown non-commissioned officer, with bristly and 
 pimpled face. 
 
 " They call it Adam Krilgan," comes from a third 
 group; "that means in our tongue 'Man's Perdition.'" 
 
 "Well, we shall have a look at this Man's Perdition!" 
 bragged a boisterous bugler. " It is just such a road as 
 that to the Holy Land. Now, Brother Kossolapkin, did 
 they drive you away from the wells with your tea- 
 kettle? What are you carrying an empty vessel for? " 
 
 " Chase me away? " grumbled the dissatisfied Kosso- 
 lapkin; "no, indeed. Some riflemen captured my water 
 and drank it up for me on the way. ' You can go again,' 
 they said; ' we must go to the picket-line' the rascals! "
 
 THE CAPTIVE.
 
 THE CAMP OF THK WHITE BLOUSES. 35 
 
 What a shame! I'd like to drench them! " 
 
 And again a timid, constrained voice could be heard: 
 " No bird flies over it, brethren, and no animals run 
 into it." 
 
 " First of all comes Providence, and second, our supe- 
 riors. If they order us to go, we'll go; and suppose a 
 bird doesn't fly there; well, let him keep away we do 
 not need him at all." Thus struck into the conversa- 
 tion a stately orderly sergeant, with two crosses of St. 
 George on his breast. "Spread your felt-mats and 
 talk no more nonsense. Second relief, fall in! Lively, 
 there! " he shouted, seating himself upon a bale that 
 had not been unpacked. 
 
 The soldiers were not alarmed at least that 
 would have been the impression of anybody look- 
 ing upon these faces; faces with and without mus- 
 taches some sun-burned and almost bronzed; oth- 
 ers dead- white, as if consumptive; others, again, red 
 and bloated and framed in bristly side- whiskers; all, 
 without exception, evidently occupied with their every- 
 day necessities the cleaning out of the old water- 
 holes half -filled with sand; the digging of new wells; 
 the procuring of water, the demand for which was 
 never satisfied and seemed to be increasing, the wells 
 scarcely yielding a sufficient supply. 
 
 On the top of a natural tiimulus a small fortification 
 was being erected a few protective bastions were 
 gradually rising from the sand above the surrounding 
 desert. Somewhere a drum was beating, and from 
 another direction came the shrill, melancholy notes 
 of a bugle. A chorus of singers * attempted to start 
 
 * Each Russian regiment has a trained chorus of singers to 
 cheer the men on the march and in camp. TRANSLATOR. 
 3
 
 36 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 up a song with hoarse, half-strangled voices, but they 
 gave it up evidently they were not up to singing yet. 
 
 In spite of all this outward appearance of calm, an 
 uneasy feeling oppressed everybody's heart. These 
 blinking eyes, inflamed by heat and dust, oftener and 
 oftener lifted themselves from the work in hand and 
 gazed into the distance, over the endless, shifting sands, 
 in the direction of Adam Krilgan which means 
 " Man's Perdition." 
 
 In the officers' tents, also, this underlying anxiety was 
 noticeable. All in the Russian camp dreaded those 
 fatal sands, and all strove to get into them. Behind 
 them lay the blossoming settled regions full of life; 
 ahead of them stretched the sands where death reigns 
 supreme. If each of them had been offered the free 
 choice, to go back or to go ahead, not a single man 
 would have been found wishing to return. They were 
 building fortifications that meant the detachment of 
 a small garrison to guard them. All knew that this 
 was necessary, but they dreaded being selected to stay 
 behind in safety more than they feared the sands, more 
 than the burning heat, the deathly thirst more than 
 anything else in the world. 
 
 The sick declared they were gaining strength they 
 put on a bold face and feigned to be well; the weak 
 strove to outdo the strong. They built the low mud 
 walls and bastions all the same, cursing the while the 
 unwelcome toil. 
 
 They were all Russian soldiers the old battalions 
 of the Turkestan expedition. In their ranks could be 
 found the heroes of Tashkent, Uratube, Dshuzak, Ird- 
 shar, Samarkand, Urgut, Shegri-Sabsa, Karsh, and 
 Zarabulak. It was unusual to meet a white blouse 
 belonging to this corps unadorned with a dirty, frayed, 
 striped piece of ribbon.
 
 THE CAPTIVE. 3> 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CAPTIVE. 
 
 A PLATOON of Ural Cossacks which had been dis- 
 patched three days before upon a reconnaissance in the 
 vicinity of Khala-at had just returned to the camp. 
 
 The Cossacks were leading about their sweating, 
 dusty horses and stretching their own legs, cramped 
 from long riding. A small group of them, five or six, 
 still remained in their saddles, surrounding a strange 
 horseman. The costume of this rider was very dif- 
 ferent from that of the men around him. He kept in 
 the saddle not by his* own free will his feet were 
 bound with a rope under the horse's belly; his hands 
 were pinioned behind his back. Like a captured wolf, 
 he cast furtive, suspicious glances from side to side un- 
 der his wide-brimmed felt hat. The camel's-hair cloak 
 he wore was torn and blood-stained in places. The 
 shreds and stains, the blue marks on his face, and swollen 
 eyes spoke eloquently of the desperate resistance he 
 had made before falling into the hands of his enemies. 
 In addition to these discolorations and scratches, his 
 whole face was thickly covered with dust, converted 
 into a layer of grease by admixture of sweat, so that it 
 was difficult to discern the lines of this high cheek- 
 boned face under its disgusting mask. Two grey- 
 hounds kept close to the prisoner's horse one of them 
 with a broken leg lifting their pointed noses and 
 whining plaintively at sight of their master. 
 
 One of the Cossacks carried upon his shoulder a hunt- 
 ing-falcon with a red cap; on the saddle of another the
 
 38 THE TWO-LEGGED WOI.F. 
 
 trappings and arms of the captive were tied in a clumsy 
 bundle. 
 
 The officer in charge of the platoon proceeded to the 
 commander of the expedition with his report, while 
 from the whole camp the infantrymen, artillerymen, 
 and Cossacks began to assemble to look at the captured 
 warrior. The native allies also came, the Kirghiz 
 drivers and packers from the camel-train, to look and 
 ascertain what kind of a wild beast had been caught by 
 these bearded Ural Cossacks. They came from the 
 right, from the left, from the rear, and from the front, 
 examining everything, and not at all backward in touch- 
 ing the man and his belongings with their hands. 
 They began to question the Cossacks. 
 
 " Where did you hook him? " inquired a lanky artillery- 
 man who was staring and feeling the angular knee of 
 the prisoner, who seemed to shrink from the contact. 
 
 "What a beast!" exclaimed an undersized infantry- 
 man while scratching his sunburned neck. 
 
 " I should call it about forty versts from here," said 
 one of the Cossack guards. " He fought desperately 
 when we took him. We had all we could handle." 
 
 " Did you catch him unawares, or how? " asked the 
 artilleryman. 
 
 "We came upon him when he was asleep; we 
 could never have caught him otherwise. His horse 
 was a mettlesome, powerful racer ; he was hobbled, 
 but broke loose the son of a devil! and off he flew 
 over the sand; we could not begin to catch him." 
 
 " He bolted what a pity! " 
 
 " We captured him with his whole outfit, you know," 
 explained another " Uraletz " (Ural Cossack). "His 
 kalyan (water-pipe) was ready for a smoke; all his 
 trappings were laid in order. He was lying down flat,
 
 THE CAPTIVE. 39 
 
 his nose in the air, and sound asleep in the open steppe. 
 We would have bound him while he slept, but his 
 dogs there may some evil spirit fly away with them! 
 spoiled the game for us. Well, he woke up, and as 
 he sprang to his feet he made for his horse. Sissoyek, 
 the sergeant over there, who was in command, flew at 
 him; the horse broke away and ran off, and both men 
 came down together to the sand." 
 
 " His only friend failed him, and now he sits here! " 
 sententiously observed one of the Cossacks. 
 
 " Ah, what a flyer he was! We had such a chase after 
 him! " 
 
 " A she wolf or bear are gentle compared to him. 
 We beat him and beat him! We wanted to shoot him; 
 Bassun already had his carbine at his shoulder, taking 
 aim, when the lieutenant God help him! told us to 
 take him alive without fail. Well, then the rumpus 
 commenced again." 
 
 " But he didn't he shoot at all?" 
 
 "He fired twice^-and hit, too. He gave me a 
 scratch on the hip. That cross-eyed fellow over there 
 threw a rope over him from behind that fixed him." 
 
 " Where does he belong? " 
 
 " From beyond the Amu Daria, he said, but you can't 
 believe him. All kinds are running loose in the steppe 
 now. There was no end to the tracks we saw." 
 
 " Last night," remarked an infantryman, "four came 
 up in front of our picket-line. They stood and stood 
 on a sand-hill, and away they went again! " 
 
 " We went as far as the Three-legged Camel. There 
 they had another camp. One well they filled up, the 
 rascals; into the second they threw a dead dog; the 
 third was left all right. The cursed band of robbers! 
 Pfoo! " The Cossack pretended to lift his hand against
 
 40 THE TWO-LEGGED WOI.I . 
 
 the prisoner, who only blinked his eyes and shivered 
 convulsively. " Be quiet, you fool; I won't touch you," 
 the Cossack said to reassure him. 
 
 A few in the crowd of spectators laughed, and one by 
 one they began to disperse, their curiosity satisfied. 
 
 The lieutenant returned from the general's head- 
 quarters. The unlucky warrior was lifted from the 
 saddle and his legs untied; the hands were left pin- 
 ioned. The man sank heavily upon the sand, where 
 he curled himself up, drawing his torn cloak over his 
 head. Two Cossacks, dismounted, were placed as sen- 
 tries over him; the others led away their horses to the 
 picket-ropes. 
 
 At this moment one of the native trainmen sepa- 
 rated himself from the dispersing crowd of spectators. 
 He was nearly naked, with a sheepskin cap on his head, 
 and with short leather trousers, almost worn through 
 in places. He advanced within three paces of the 
 prostrate man, squatted down upon his heels, and, rest- 
 ing his chin upon his hands, began to gaze, never 
 removing his eyes from the place where the face ought 
 to be, under the sheltering folds of the cloak. All the 
 strength of his eyes was centered upon this point. 
 
 " What are you doing? " grumbled one of the Cossack 
 sentries. 
 
 " Am I in your way? " asked the Kirghiz in a whisper. 
 
 " Let him sit there," said the other sentry, " as long 
 as he does nothing else." 
 
 " All right; let him sit," consented the first. 
 
 Everybody in the camp knew old Dostchak, the 
 Kirghiz. They knew him in the cavalry as well as in 
 the infantry lines. He was known also in the artillery 
 division. All knew him, and felt convinced that he 
 would never do anything bad, while he was known to
 
 THE SISTER OF CHARITY. 41 
 
 have done much good, even in his humble position as 
 camel-driver. 
 
 The Cossacks saw nothing suspicious in this last 
 whim of his. Dostchak sat there without troubling 
 anybody, and nobody troubled him or drove him away. 
 He never relaxed his watch upon the captive warrior, 
 who slept, or perhaps only feigned sleep. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SISTER OF CHARITY. 
 
 THE hoarse, disagreeable bellowing of camels, their 
 sickly, malicious snorting, the disgusting noises of 
 rumination; the neighing of horses; the whining and 
 barking of dogs; gruff and hoarse voices of men; occa- 
 sional shots in the distance; the stamping of hoofs; 
 heavy footsteps upon the hardening sand; the clatter 
 and thud of the sappers' shovels and mattocks those 
 were the sounds which filled the air throughout the 
 Russian camp and spread over its triste surroundings, 
 together with the wind, sand, and dust. There was 
 nothing in them that was joyous, nothing that would 
 be in the least agreeable to the ear or that could 
 relieve or refresh an anxious, troubled heart. 
 
 Everything here bore witness to the fact that all 
 these living beings had not been brought together for 
 purposes of peace or joy. Nevertheless, a strange note 
 sounded through the heated air. The sound was feeble 
 and barely audible; but it was unexpected, and of a 
 nature to surprise and perplex any ear to which it pen-
 
 42 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 etrated. This note was altogether out of accord with 
 all other sounds, and strangely inappropriate in the 
 midst of all the eye could see. In the general chorus 
 it produced an apparent discord. All surroundings 
 spoke of war, but this sound reminded one of its very 
 opposites of family, of love, and of peace. It was the 
 cry of a child. 
 
 And this sound at once evoked another, equally 
 fresh, caressing, full of powerful, charming harmony 
 the voice of a woman. 
 
 At about twenty paces from one of the wells, and 
 sheltered from the wind by a protecting ridge, stood a 
 small conical tent, shaped in native fashion. In its 
 outward appearance the tent had nothing to distinguish 
 it from others; the same tightly drawn ropes, the same 
 coarse seams running from the top of the cone to the 
 very bottom, the same accumulation of sand on the 
 weather-side. All this could be seen about any of the 
 many tents dotting the ground. 
 
 Nevertheless, this tent appeared to exert some 
 special moral influence. All who passed by the other 
 tents did so with perfect equanimity; no change of 
 expression was noticeable in any of the passers-by 
 beyond the customary mechanical motion of the hand 
 toward the visor of the cloth caps, and that only took 
 place when through the narrow three-cornered opening 
 of some tent an officer's epaulette became visible, or 
 gilded buttons glistened, or a foot in spurred boot pro- 
 truded or in case of some other infallible indication 
 of the presence of a superior. 
 
 An altogether different phenomenon could be 
 observed here. To this tent all eyes were attracted; 
 all ears were bent toward it; hurried steps were 
 restrained* Stern, scowling looks softened and bright-
 
 THE SISTER OF CHARITY. 43 
 
 ened; on parched lips there gleamed something very 
 nearly approaching a smile. 
 
 But whenever the entrance-flap happened to be 
 lifted, the common raising of the hand to the visor 
 seemed out of place and without meaning. As before 
 something to be worshiped, something holy as before 
 the altar the close-cropped common soldiers' heads 
 were bent low and the ill-shapen but strongly made 
 caps removed. 
 
 The interior fittings of this tent differed very much 
 from those of others. In the first place, the total absence 
 of arms struck the eye for the present inmates they 
 were entirely unnecessary. Further, the carpets and 
 mats which covered the ground were cleanly swept, 
 and not strewn, as usual, with ends of cigars and cigar- 
 ettes, with loose cards and pieces of chalk, or leavings 
 and scraps from the table. The inner walls of the 
 tent, of striped adrassa cloth, were not soiled. A large 
 iron folding-bed, its blankets covered with a clean 
 white quilt and white pillow-cases, fairly shone with 
 freshness. Large leather-covered packing-boxes bound 
 with iron served as divans and settees. In one corner 
 stood a wooden tub with water, covered and protected 
 from the sand and dust which penetrated even this 
 neatly kept domicile. Every trifle bore the impress of 
 comfort and neatness; the small mirror, the towel 
 hanging from a peg, the traveling teakettle and glasses, 
 the hamper with dishes in all there was visible the 
 careful, experienced hand of the housewife, the hand 
 of woman. 
 
 In a light-gray cotton dress, almost short enough -for 
 an apron, with a white muslin kerchief over her head, 
 the mistress of this home sat on the bed, talking to a 
 child, a boy of two or three years, who was perched on
 
 44 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 her knee. The boy. fretted and whimpered, evidently 
 without any particular cause, simply because he wanted 
 to whimper and worry a little. The woman was striv- 
 ing to divert him from his childish trouble and to dis- 
 perse his little cloud of gloom. Her beautiful large 
 gray eyes looked upon the child with such kindliness, 
 with an expression so profoundly loving, that it was easy 
 to recognize the tie between them. Only a mother can 
 look like this; only a mother can have such eyes. 
 
 With her somewhat toil-worn, but scrupulously neat, 
 hands the woman stroked the boy's bright flaxen hair, 
 and caressed his round, rosy cheeks. Her slender 
 fingers tickled him iinder the chin. A smile glided 
 over her sunburned face a smile full of love and gen- 
 tleness, pleasing and restful, but in which there was 
 nothing approaching, even remotely, joy or merri- 
 ment. Nor was there grief in this smile, or anything 
 harsh or bitter but there was in it something strange 
 and unearthly. 
 
 Angels possibly smile like this; and this woman was 
 really an angel to all who came in contact with her. 
 
 She was our old acquaintance* Natalia Martinovna 
 Chishikof, the daughter of an old gunner who lived in 
 retirement at Chiniaz, on the Syr Daria, a heroine who 
 had braved the privations and dangers of this difficult 
 campaign, and boldly taken upon herself a heavy but 
 sacred task. 
 
 The history of her life was brief, but sad. She had 
 been carefully brought up by her simple and honest 
 parents, living peacefully in rural retirement, with old 
 Dementy, also an old soldier, as their only servant. 
 What social life there was in this remote region 
 
 * Referring to the story "Among the ReedB," by the same 
 author.
 
 THE SISTER OF CHARITY. 45 
 
 depended chiefly upon the officers of a few troops of 
 cavalry stationed along the border-line. A few years 
 ago, however, an officer of the Guards, belonging to a 
 prominent St. Petersburg family, had been sent to the 
 " border-swamps " on special duty. This military dandy, 
 finding time hanging heavily upon his hands, amused 
 himself by making love to Natalia Martinovna, who 
 was then just budding out in youthful beauty. Acci- 
 dent made her his nurse while under treatment for a 
 gunshot wound, and fascinated by the handsome officer's 
 distinguished manners, and deeply impressed with his 
 fine attire and luxurious habits, the innocent girl freely 
 gave him her whole heart, and in an unguarded moment 
 was betrayed under promise of marriage. The aristo- 
 cratic scoundrel, whose name was Rovitch, soon tired of 
 his plaything and deserted her. Several months after 
 his departure a child was born in the little home on the 
 border. Both the aged parents, bowed down with grief 
 and shame, died within a year. In her loneliness and 
 desperation Natalia resolved to take service in the field, 
 as Sister of Charity, with the army of Central Asia, then 
 actively engaged. Unable to bear separation from her 
 boy, she took him with her. Old Dementy would not 
 abandon his young mistress, and was allowed to attach 
 himself to the command and look after her safety and 
 comfort. 
 
 Natalia knew well that in the most painful moments 
 of bodily suffering, in the anxious minutes of death- 
 agony, at times of dejection and hopelessness, her mere 
 presence, her kind caresses and quieting words of holy 
 love and hope had more than once brought consolation 
 to the unknown heroes, so rough in outward appear- 
 ance, but sensitive in their simple hearts the same 
 who, in their soiled white blouses, their worn leather
 
 46 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 trousers, in boots shrunk out of shape by the heat, took 
 off their cloth caps and linen havelocks in reverence 
 when passing her tent. 
 
 A mother's love for humankind, especially for suffer- 
 ing humanity, induced her to go; a mother's love for 
 her infant would not permit her to separate from him. 
 
 These were the causes which explain the presence of 
 mother and child in this rough, warlike camp, pitched 
 in the midst of desert-sands, under the burning, nebu- 
 lous, colorless sky. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN THE OFFICERS' CIRCLE. 
 
 IT was growing dark. In the air a slight movement 
 was becoming noticeable, bringing with.it a barely per- 
 ceptible feeling of freshness. 
 
 In front of one of the officers' tents a large variegated 
 carpet was spread over the sand, and upon it sat or 
 reclined nine or ten officers. They were drinking their 
 muddy, brackish tea, and between sips blew clouds of 
 tobacco-smoke into the air. 
 
 The prospective comparative freshness of the night 
 had called them from their sultry tents, and loneliness 
 had driven them together. Conversation was carried 
 on in a drowsy, lifeless manner no new subjects of 
 talk had turned up for ever so long. Not far away, 
 two " denshtchiks " (orderlies) were heating up small 
 traveling " samovars," by putting little fragments of dry 
 dung into the furnaces, which spread around them the 
 disagreeable burning-smell peculiar to this kind of fuel.
 
 IN THE OFFICERS' CIRCLE. 47 
 
 Upon an iron grating some meat-compound was slew- 
 ing, with boiling foam flowing over the rim and sides 
 of the smoke-begrimed saucepan. The flames of 
 candles were shining through the canvas of one of the 
 tents, throwing upon it the dark shadow of the back 
 and elbow of somebody engaged in writing, to judge by 
 his movements. A mongrel, tailless dog, with tongue 
 protruding from one side of his mouth, and with bleared 
 eyes, was faithfully sitting up, though nobody had asked 
 him to exhibit his proficiency. A stray mule, with 
 flopping ears, was wandering around, continually stum- 
 bling over and getting entangled in the tightly drawn 
 tent-ropes. The soldiers' fires gleamed at a respectful 
 distance from those of their superiors, and beyond them, 
 back of the encircling groups of sitting and reclining 
 human figures, red metallic lights sparkled from the 
 bayonet-points of stacked rifles. 
 
 " It's impossible to have one's sleep out on such a 
 day and at night there is no sleep for us at all; it is 
 very tiresome!" exclaimed Major Pugovitzin, at the 
 same time nearly dislocating his jaws with a yawn that 
 opened his mustached mouth from ear to ear and 
 brought some moisture into his sleepy eyes. 
 
 "It's death!" confirmed his friend, Major Birriaps. 
 " No diversion but the work on the fortifications, which, 
 if I am not mistaken, are rapidly approaching comple- 
 tion." Major Birnaps was born in Russia, or rather in 
 Siberia, but he always spoke Russian with a German 
 accent and not very correctly a peculiarity which 
 could only be explained by the law of heredity. 
 
 " Do you know, gentlemen, what I would like to have 
 now?" said Lieutenant Kustikof, half rising, and then, 
 becoming confused, subsided again.. 
 
 " Prokhor tea!" shouted the deep voice of an officer 
 with red side-whiskers.
 
 48 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " We shall remain here until the detachment comes 
 from the big fort," said Adjutant Lokhmatof, lying on 
 his face and jingling his spurs. 
 
 " In order to continue the proposed movements with 
 joint forces," explained Major Birnaps. 
 
 " Do you know, gentlemen," once more began Lieu- 
 tenant Kustikof. 
 
 "Yes, my boy; stop there!" interrupted Pugovitzin. 
 " I want to ask you something. Why did Natalia Mar- 
 tinovna pull your ear to-day? " 
 
 All laughed at this. 
 
 "I struck Shadrin, the drummer, in the mouth. 
 Natalia Martinovna must have seen it; she called me 
 up, and " 
 
 "And gave you a love-tap splendid! Prokhor tea! " 
 
 " Gentlemen, there was some firing on the right flank 
 to-day. Did you hear it? " 
 
 " The devil may know. Perhaps the pickets did it 
 from sheer lonesomeness; or, as three days ago, they 
 shot at an eagle, I suppose." 
 
 " They alarmed the whole camp for nothing! " 
 
 "It was not an eagle. The Turkomans are coming 
 very close," remarked the adjutant. " I saw three in 
 the distance myself. They went along over there 
 where our camels are taken to pasture. The general 
 ordered a platoon out to meet them." 
 
 A Cossack lieutenant on crutches came up to the group 
 of officers and stood behind them, listening to the con- 
 versation. 
 
 " My native militiamen told me," he began, when all 
 turned toward him. " Yes, the natives told me that 
 Sadik has come and stationed himself at the next wells. 
 He has about fifteen hundred men, and Atam Kul is 
 with him also."
 
 IN THE OFFICERS' CIRCLE. 49 
 
 " Which Atam Kul? " began the major; " the same 
 who " 
 
 "Yes, the same," interrupted the Cossack. "Our 
 Atam Kul. If we could but capture the scoundrel! " 
 Here the Cossack's face was distorted by a painful 
 grimace. He had stumbled and hurt his injured knee. 
 
 " How is your leg? " asked he with the red side- 
 whiskers. 
 
 " Oh, it's all right. I can not walk much, but on 
 horseback I do not feel it. Perhaps 
 
 "Such a beast of a man!" exclaimed Pugovitzin, 
 returning to the previous subject. " He was a son of 
 the devil a common native, like our trainmen. They 
 gave the animal a cross and made him an officer. He 
 became completely Russified and then, suddenly, he 
 cleared out! " 
 
 " I heard he got into debt when he was sent out to 
 collect tribute from the nomad tribes." 
 
 "He simply stole," remarked the Cossack. " Now he 
 is considered one of their head men." 
 
 ' I remember," began Birnaps, " on the march to 
 Samarkand, we were playing cards at Major Gorlas- 
 toi's " 
 
 "Oh, nonsense!" broke in Pugovitzin. "Do you 
 remember any march on which we did not play cards? " 
 
 " I say that I remember 1 had the bank. Many of the 
 staff and line officers were betting " 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Together with them Atam Kul was betting, and he 
 was behind one hundred and ten rubles, which to the 
 present day The end of the sentence was drowned 
 in general laughter. 
 
 "You have an excellent opportunity now," a voice 
 exclaimed from the tent; "capture and prosecute him,"
 
 50 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " I should certainly prosecute him," replied the major, 
 quite seriously. 
 
 "What will be done with him, gentlemen, if he is 
 captured? Will he be hung or shot?" inquired Lieu- 
 tenant Kustikof. 
 
 " Shot, since he has been an officer." 
 
 "But, in addition," cut in the side-whiskers, "he 
 should be strung up for at least fifteen minutes for non- 
 payment of a card-debt." He laughed long and loud at 
 his own humor. 
 
 The others ceased talking for a time. 
 
 "Oh, by the way," began the adjutant, "Natalia 
 Martinovna should be informed to-morrow." 
 
 " Of what ? " 
 
 "As to Atam Kul. He was one of her most devoted 
 admirers. I remember he used to become speechless 
 whenever he saw her. His eyes used to burn like fire, 
 and he trembled all over. At one time Spelokhvatof 
 and I had to drag him away by force." 
 
 The lame Cossack here tried to insert a remark, but 
 thought better of it. 
 
 " He asked her to marry him, at any rate, and offered 
 her ten thousand sheep as dowry." 
 
 " He once nearly stabbed me with his knife, from 
 jealousy," said a fusileer officer. " It was a dark night, 
 and late; you could not see a thing. We had spent the 
 evening at the commanding officer's. Well, Natalia 
 Martinovna asked me to escort her to her quarters, and 
 that beast followed us he was simply furious. It was 
 lucky that Trubatchenko and Babadshak caught up 
 with us 
 
 " I would have killed the dastard on the spot," broke 
 in the Cossack. "I would He did not finish his 
 sentence, as he nearly fell, leaning too heavily upon his
 
 THE SISTER OF CHARITY.
 
 IN THE OFFICERS' CIRCLE. 51 
 
 crutch, the iron point of which sank suddenly into the 
 sand. 
 
 " He is only a wild animal why should you kill 
 him? " came from a well-modulated voice somewhere in 
 the crowd. 
 
 " At any rate, he must be first captured. When he's 
 caught, an example ought to be made " Major Bir- 
 naps here made an expressive gesture. 
 
 " Three hours ago," continued the same quiet voice, 
 " I thought that Atam Kul had already fallen into our 
 hands. I talked to him, or at least tried to. He didn't 
 answer. To recognize his physiognomy was almost 
 impossible. His face was all scars and blood and dirt. 
 I will look at him to-morrow when they have washed 
 him a little." 
 
 " I noticed him myself," said the adjutant. "When 
 they took him off the horse he limped. You'll re- 
 member he used to drag his right leg a little. Well, 
 now " 
 
 " Now that can scarcely be considered as proof," 
 interrupted Pugovitzin. "After a man has had his 
 legs tied with a rope under a horse's belly for sev- 
 eral hours, there is nothing astonishing in seeing him 
 limp a little; that is no proof." 
 
 " Are you speaking of the warrior the Ural Cossacks 
 brought in? How can he be Atam Kul? I remember 
 him very well indeed. This one is of lower stature, 
 and speaks no Russian at all; and as to his features 
 well, these cross-eyed fellows are all made after the 
 same pattern." 
 
 " That is true," confirmed Major Birnaps. " I can 
 distinguish but three of my natives, and them only by 
 their cloaks." 
 
 " But, all the same, the circumstance is suspicious," 
 
 4
 
 52 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 sententiously remarked an officer wearing the epaulets 
 of the general staff. " The matter should be fully 
 cleared up. He must be questioned and the facts 
 ascertained; in a word " 
 
 " Stuff! " said the red side- whiskers, as if speaking to 
 himself. 
 
 The staff officer raised his head and frowned, and 
 disdainfully shrugging his shoulders, he said, audibly, 
 but as if to himself, " The pig! " 
 
 "Gentlemen, gentlemen!" said Pugovitzin, raising 
 his voice, restraining at the same time side-whiskers' 
 hand, which was reaching for a bottle. The bottle was 
 empty. They all knew this, but they also knew what 
 he wanted it for; the major acted wisely, indeed, in 
 preventing side-whiskers from putting the bottle to an 
 improper use. 
 
 " Skilomordin, drop that! This promises to be a fine 
 night, gentlemen somewhat cooler than last night. 
 Vassa, can't you give us ' The summits of the mount- 
 ains? ' Tune up! " - 
 
 " It's all right! " muttered the insulted officer, as he 
 rose to his knees and gazed out into the darkness. 
 " The devil knows what kind of a man he is. I'll watch 
 him! " 
 
 " The summits of the mountains sleep in the mist of night," 
 began Kustikof in his tenor voice. 
 " In the silent valleys," 
 
 chimed in a few voices in discordant chorus. 
 
 " I'll give you a pig! " The side- whiskers could not 
 yet control himself, but he came in with his deep bass: 
 
 " The leaves are still and quiet." 
 *##*** *
 
 SHADOWS. 53 
 
 "Well, they began to hammer him," whispered one 
 orderly to the other, relating some episode of his former 
 rural life. 
 
 " What for? " asked the other. 
 
 " Oh, because " 
 
 " Was it on account of the woman, his daughter-in- 
 law? " 
 
 " That was the trouble. When he became her father- 
 in-law, of course, there was an end of it. There was 
 his son, of course and the crowbar stood handy in 
 the corner." 
 
 " That's so. Oh, look at that brown thing in the 
 sand! " 
 
 " Kill it! kill it! Take your boot now, once more! 
 Draw away the carpet; it will get under the trunk. 
 Now then, it's done for! " Such were the energetic 
 expressions accompanying the killing of a scorpion 
 one of the plagues of camp-life in the desert. All 
 joined in the hunt by the light of lanterns, and the dis- 
 gusting insect was dispatched after a persistent chase. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SHADOWS. 
 
 THE Cossack on crutches, in the meantime, wandered 
 through the bivouac, tacking skillfully between the 
 rows of sleeping soldiers, stepping over the tent-ropes, 
 and carefully circling around the officers' horses, tied to 
 stakes, which pricked up their ears and looked sus- 
 piciously at the dark, limping figure passing by. He 
 passed through the whole left wing of the^bivouac, and,
 
 54 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 turning around a sandy ridge, found himself near the 
 water-holes, where, in spite of the late hour of the night, 
 there was still a bustling crowd of thirsty individuals. 
 Above the din of human voices, the squeaking of blocks 
 and ropes and the splash of water being poured into 
 buckets could be distinctly heard. He stopped one of 
 the soldiers with a bucket half-filled, drank from it, and 
 remarked, " It is getting a little clearer and fresher." 
 
 "That's so, your honor, it is getting sweeter now; 
 but at the first beginning damn it, wasn't it salty!" 
 answered the soldier. 
 
 "Well, goon! Thank you!" 
 
 " To your good health! " Coming to a half-front and 
 lifting his free hand to his cap, the soldier walked rap- 
 idly away. The officer stood still as if lost in thought, 
 and then proceeded in the same direction, now disap- 
 pearing in the darkness, and then again thrown into 
 relief by the light of fires, alternately vanishing and 
 reappearing. He went the whole length of the .camp, 
 and at last halted just opposite a small tent, at a dis- 
 tance of about ten paces from it. 
 
 Here he seated himself carefully upon the sand, 
 adjusting his injured leg in the most comfortable posi- 
 tion, and gazed thoughtfully at the objects before him. 
 
 The tent was lighted within. On the surface of its 
 reddish-gray cloth dark shadows appeared, as if 
 thrown from the lens of a magic lantern. There 
 were two of these shadows, and though their outlines 
 were not altogether distinct, the most careless observer 
 would not have hesitated to declare that one of the 
 figures was a woman, the other a child. The child was 
 held in the woman's arms. At times she lifted 
 it up, seizing it under its arms thus children are 
 thrown up in play; and during these movements the
 
 SHADOWS. 55 
 
 little legs struck out vigorously into the air, throwing 
 droll shadows upon the walls of the tent. 
 
 Both shadows frequently assumed strange, and even 
 monstrous, misshapen outlines. A nose would suddenly 
 stretch to an unusual length, or be broken by a crease in 
 the cloth, or by a seam, and turn off in another direc- 
 tion; or a hand with fingers extended like a gigantic 
 claw would cover the whole side of the tent. The 
 folds of the handkerchief around the head, or a whisp of 
 hair hanging over the brow, would suddenly be trans- 
 formed into odd-shaped horns, and then again assume 
 their natural form. Passers-by paid no attention to 
 these weird phantasma, but if any one had cared to 
 observe them closely he could not have refrained from 
 an amused smile, or perhaps would have broken out 
 into Homeric laughter. 
 
 I remember observing once a similar scene after a 
 battle, during which blood had been flowing over a dis- 
 tance of ten versts. It was the result of one of those 
 colossal fatal panics which will not be forgotten for 
 centuries to come, and in the course of which, thanks to 
 the growing perfection of the arms of civilization, very 
 few of our men perished, but vast multitudes of " the 
 others." 
 
 In the night, not long before dawn, I sat exhausted 
 by the bloody scenes of the preceding day, upon a 
 camp-stool, not far from the tent of one of the wounded 
 officers, looking at the thin canvas lighted from within. 
 What misshapen, comical caricatures were thrown 
 upon the dirty, blood-stained cloth! 
 
 " I am dying; yes," whispered the wounded. " I have 
 a daughter. Ah! she is alone among strangers. O 
 Heavenly Father! Ah, how it burns! Save me, doctor 
 can't you? I do not want to die. I can not; I dare 
 not."
 
 56 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " Well, all right, all right. You'll get over this. What 
 are you fretting about; it's only a trifle," murmured the 
 doctor, striving to console him. Then the solemn, 
 admonitory voice of the priest could be heard: " After 
 this brief span of life dark, full of suffering, and grief, 
 and trouble there is another, an eternal one." 
 
 " What do I want with the other life! I want to live 
 now now! My daughter Nadia! " shrieked the 
 weakening voice, in which the death-agony could 
 already be distinguished. But upon the cloth of the 
 tent the most absurd and comical profiles were thrown, 
 up and down and from side to side a weird shadow- 
 dance, with the superscription, " Memento mori! " 
 
 The eyes of the lame Cossack fixed themselves upon 
 the tent, following all the movements of the shadows. 
 He did not notice the unnatural shapes; he saw through 
 the folds of the double cloth what nobody else could 
 see. His eyes beheld graceful, pleasing forms; his 
 ears were filled with gentle, cherished sounds. 
 
 Men who for prolonged periods have seen nothing to 
 remind them of woman, and who are living under con- 
 ditions which predispose them to excitement of the 
 passions, with the whole system abnormally stimulated 
 by scenes of blood and violence such men would 
 naturally be expected to be roused into a train of pas- 
 sionate, cynical imagery by the sight of a being of the 
 other sex; but here they bore patiently the presence of 
 a woman a young and beautiful woman in the 
 midst of their camp. 
 
 The presence of this woman in the bivouac pitched 
 in the sandy desert on the road to Adam Krilgan 
 roused no such feelings. If anybody's mind had given 
 birth to an impure thought, he would have striven 
 to suppress it before it could assume definite form, fear-
 
 SHADOWS. 57 
 
 ing to be figuratively stoned by his fellow-man for 
 sacrilege. 
 
 The restraint was, of course, only of a moral nature; 
 but God knows that the most reckless among them 
 would not have ventured to draw upon himself the 
 mute reproach which would have blazed upon him from 
 every passing face. 
 
 Ascetic monks, within the dark walls of their sanctu- 
 aries, often gaze upon the pleasing lines of female 
 beauty as displayed in the images of the Holy Mother. 
 Do those beauties inflame their blood? Do they waken 
 the passion slumbering in their souls? 
 
 Natalia, with her calm, sorrowful smile; with her 
 kindly eyes, always to be found where grief and suffer- 
 ing reigned Natalia, the mother with her little son 
 in her arms, was not a mere woman in the eyes of those 
 surrounding her. 
 
 And thus the feeling of profoundest love which 
 shone from the lame Cossack's eyes was worship rather 
 than human love. 
 
 The heathen worshiper looks with such eyes upon 
 his good idol when he asks for protection against 
 another god, not less powerful, but evil. 
 
 The voices subsided, the light was suddenly ex- 
 tinguished, and the moving shadows disappeared, but the 
 Cossack was still in the same place. Leaning upon his 
 elbow, he stretched himself at full length upon the soft 
 sand, which was still warm, in spite of the comparative 
 freshness of the night. 
 
 "What do you want? " he gruffly addressed some- 
 body. 
 
 " It is I, your honor; I brought your felt-mat and 
 your saddle-cushion," replied a tall, dark figure stand-
 
 58 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 ing before him. The Cossack recognized the old serv- 
 ant of Natalia's father, the inseparable attendant and 
 watch-dog of the daughter. 
 
 "Thank you, Dementy thanks! " he said, smiling 
 faintly. 
 
 "It is far to the Cossack camp," said Dementy, 
 spreading the mat, " and you'll be just as well off here. 
 I am going where the horses are tied." 
 
 "Well, how is Natalia Martinovna; how is Petka?" the 
 Cossack began again. 
 
 "Thanks be to God, they're all right," replied the old 
 man, going away, and smiling under his shaggy gray 
 mustache. "Oh, what a man watching there all 
 night! " 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WHAT OLD DOSTCHAK TOLD HIS COMPANIONS. 
 
 A LITTLE aside from the camel-train, in a gully 
 affording some protection from the wind to the flames 
 of their fire, already burning low, a few half -naked fig- 
 ures, dark as ancient bronzes and thin as skeletons, were 
 grouped together. The bodies appeared entirely black, 
 but, whenever the fire was hidden from the eye of the 
 observer, a reddish glare glided over them, defining 
 in distinct outlines the dark shadows between the ribs 
 and underlying the prominent muscles. The ends of 
 some cloth wound around a head would flash out, and 
 upon the handles of knives gleaming reflections were 
 thrown, and as quickly vanished. A bony hand would 
 appear reaching toward the fire, throwing into it a
 
 WHAT OLD DOSTCHAK TOLD HIS COMPANIONS. 59 
 
 handful of dry dung, and disappear again in the shadow 
 of the dark southern night. 
 
 They were conversing in subdued, guttural tones. 
 A low saucepan was hissing and spluttering on a small 
 tripod, the reddish steam barely rising above it. The 
 kalyan (gourd water-pipe) bubbled and squealed, 
 passing slowly from hand to hand. Somebody gave 
 vent to a long-drawn sigh, as if trying to recover 
 from the effects of the hot, tiresome day; another 
 expectorated the saliva collected during his long 
 pull at the pipe, and coughed; a third hummed in 
 half-tone an endless song, with the unavoidable 
 refrain of " Ada-lai'ga," but stopped suddenly after the 
 first line of his improvisation. Several mouths began 
 to yawn together; and Allah and his prophet were duly 
 remembered. Again they subsided into low, desultory 
 conversation. At last only the crackling of the fire 
 could be heard, and the rustle of some invisible thing 
 moving over the sand out of the shadows into the 
 deceptive light of the camp-fire. These " lautchi " 
 (native allies and laborers) had assembled here to pass 
 away the summer night, having had a sufficiency of 
 sleep during the day. 
 
 " Has Dostchak come? " spoke up one of them. 
 
 " He has not come," answered another. 
 
 " He has not come," confirmed a third. And once 
 more silence reigned. 
 
 The world "moved on." The Pleiades appeared 
 above the horizon, in Orion's girdle sparkled its three 
 stars, and the Great Bear had almost turned backward. 
 Soon a grayish streak appeared along the eastern hori- 
 zon the herald of dawn. Light steps were approach- 
 ing over the soft sand toward the fire, and a dark figure 
 loomed up not far away.
 
 60 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " Dostchak is it you? " 
 
 " It is I," answered the figure. " Yes, it is I, Dost- 
 chak; just as thou art Alai', thou Uzen, and thou Sharip 
 each of us has his name. Over yonder lies somebody 
 whom the Cossacks captured, and are now guarding 
 only not very carefully who also has his name." 
 
 " Are you hungry? " 
 
 "I am I hungry? Very hungry! And that one 
 over there is also hungry, but he does not dare to speak 
 of it; he does not dare to show his face -he is afraid. 
 He is afraid because his name is not Dostchak like mine, 
 nor Alai' like yours, nor Uzen or Sharip like yours, but 
 quite another. Why should he be afraid to be called 
 by his name? " 
 
 After this long peroration, Dostchak sat down before 
 the saucepan, took off the cover, and put in his hand to 
 feel if it was hot; then, drawing it out again, he licked 
 his fingers clean. 
 
 " Who lies over there? " asked Alai'. 
 
 " What is he called? " added Sharip. 
 
 " Dostchak will tell us," confidently asserted Uzen. 
 
 " He'll tell," briefly uttered Sharip, and began to eat. 
 
 The others also moved up to the kettle and inserted 
 their hands. They had been waiting only for Dost- 
 chak's arrival before beginning to attack with their 
 chopsticks the mess of flour, brackish water, and a 
 handful of army-crackers purloined by Uzen from a 
 broken bale of the camel-train. 
 
 After the meal Dostchak began his tale: 
 
 " At that time we lived near Tokmak, on the river 
 Chu, but our huts stood higher up in the mountains. 
 I had no hut of my own, and no household goods. 
 After the death of my second wife I did not wish to 
 keep house again. I took refuge with a rich man he 
 was a bey "
 
 WHAT OLD DOSTCHAK TOLD HIS COMPANIONS. 61 
 
 " He was called Biketai," Uzen interrupted him. 
 
 " Biketai. Well, I lived with him. I was overseer 
 over all his cattle and horses, and lived in great friend- 
 ship with old Biketai himself. It was good for him and 
 good for me. Yes, those were happy times! " 
 
 Dostchak here took breath and a draw from the pipe; 
 then he expectorated, and went on: 
 
 " Biketai had two sons. The oldest was then just 
 twenty years old the younger only fourteen. The 
 old man loved the younger, but not the oldest. Nobody 
 could have loved him; he was a very bad man. He spat 
 upon the beard of our Mullah, old Hassun. The father 
 wanted to beat him; he pulled out his dagger, and said, 
 'Just touch me with your little ringer! ' The robber! " 
 
 "Aye, aye! " The listeners shook their heads. 
 
 " Yes. How much trouble, how much evil came to our 
 village through him! Our neighbors also suffered not a 
 little. Ours is a mountainous country, and wooded. 
 Most of the people have no permanent abodes, and 
 roam about, and for such people just like wolves they 
 are you must look out. We soon learned that the old- 
 est son of Biketai made common cause with these rovers 
 and depended upon their support. Then robberies and 
 plunder began on the Russian frontier, as it then was. 
 They said it was our fault. They sent soldiers against 
 us, and we suffered ruin and desolation. All this was 
 caused by that cursed one. Then they turned to old 
 Biketai. 'Take him away,' they said; 'you are his 
 father.' 'Take him yourself,' answered Biketai; 'I 
 renounce him.' Well, they tried to take him, when 
 another outrage was committed. In a neighboring vil- 
 lage a bride was stolen at night; a good young woman 
 and beautiful. They followed the tracks, but could not 
 catch up. 'The girl perished miserably, and after a time
 
 62 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 we learned that Atam Kul had a hand in the business. 
 The young husband came to the father, and said, 
 'Your son has done me a great injury; I must kill him.' 
 ' Kill him! ' said Biketai. ' I must not,' said the husband; 
 ' some of your blood is still upon our family.'* ' It's all 
 right,' said Biketai. 'I renounce him; he is son of 
 mine no longer.' The husband then went into the 
 mountains to seek Atam Kul and he was never heard 
 of again. Two days later Atam Kul came back. ' Go 
 and take Achmet's body away,' he said; ' somebody has 
 killed him or maybe he killed himself!' Well, they 
 went after the body. 
 
 " For a long time he thus troubled all of us. He was 
 looked upon in our villages as equal to the black pesti- 
 lence. He was always called the 'cursed one.' For 
 seven years we suffered from him, and during the eighth 
 he went away of his own accord. 
 
 "At that time the white blouses first passed by 
 Tokmak. They were going to fight against Aule-Ata. 
 A general led them. He took every native who went 
 to him in his service. Atam Kul went with them, and 
 we had no more news of him just as if he had died. 
 Nobody heard of him, and none of us saw him. All the 
 country was quiet then. We thanked Allah for that, 
 and all the people went to pray at the holy shrine that 
 stands upon a precipice on one side of the caravan road. 
 So glad were they all to be delivered from the ' cursed 
 one.' 
 
 " Then there remained to Biketai only his younger 
 son, Yunus. He was a good boy, honest and kind, and 
 called me uncle. I loved Yunus no less than his old 
 father loved him. 
 
 "Another year passed by, and another, and then a 
 
 * The vendetta exists among these roving tribes.
 
 WHAT OLD DOSTCHAK TOLD HIS COMPANIONS. 63 
 
 third; the time passed just as almighty Allah ordained. 
 Old Biketai" died, and all he left behind him went to 
 Yunus by his will. To the oldest, Atam Kul, he did 
 not leave a single scabby sheep. We all concluded that 
 that was as it should be. Another year went by, and 
 another. Yunus betrothed himself to a girl from a good 
 family. Then there came news of Atam Kul. 
 
 " We learned that our cursed one had become a great 
 man among the Russians. They gave him a title, and 
 gold epaulets, and a cross with a bird upon it, and 
 finally gave him some command. Those who saw him 
 said that he had become very great greater than the 
 Bey of Almatinsk, who also had gold epaulets. Yunus 
 became uneasy, and no longer talked of his betrothed. 
 He would not drink kumiss, nor eat, and he slept but 
 poorly. He always sat in his house, thinking. 
 
 " I knew what he was thinking about, but was afraid 
 to say anything. I did not dare to think, even. My 
 heart felt all the evil that was before us. 
 
 " I kept silent and waited. At last Yunus spoke him- 
 self. He said: 'What am I here? Only a common 
 Kirghiz. What does it serve me to have cattle and 
 plenty of everything when all belongs to me alone? ' 
 ' As to that,' I answered him, ' you will marry and 
 have a family of children, and you will live as your 
 father lived, rich and comfortable.' ' I shall join the 
 Russians with my men,' he said; ' they are at war over 
 there. I am no worse than my brother, who got up 
 among the great people.' He cut me to the quick with 
 those words. I talked to him for a long time; and not 
 I alone many old men came to talk to him. Within 
 a month he began to get ready." 
 
 " Yunus? " 
 
 " Yunus. I also got ready. I would not leave him,
 
 64 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 and vowed never to take my eyes off him. It was 
 right for him to go why not? had it not been for 
 his older brother. At the same time we heard that 
 this older brother was very angry with Yunus because 
 the inheritance had gone to him alone and had not 
 been divided between them. Most of all I feared 
 A tarn Kul; but, trusting that Allah would not allow 
 evil to prevail, we went." 
 
 The narrator took breath and again refreshed him- 
 self with the pipe. The faint streak of light in the 
 east spread and spread, and in contrast with this pale, 
 yellowish light it seemed to grow darker below, 
 especially in the ravines. Here and there, like scat- 
 tered posts, the sentries could be ssen looming up 
 darkly, moving slowly back and forth on the short 
 paths they had trodden during the night. 
 
 Dostchak continued: "At that time much land was 
 taken by the White Tsar, though we did not know 
 much about it then. We passed by Antye-Ata, where 
 the Russians had long been settled; then we came to 
 Chimkent, where they were building a new fort, and 
 then to Tashkent. Here they had built a whole new 
 town, larger than the old one that belonged to 
 Bokhara. Then we asked, ' Where is the war? ' ' At 
 Samarkand,' they answered; 'still farther away.' We 
 went on to Samarkand. I don't remember how long 
 we were on the road, but, thanks be to Allah, we got 
 there safely. 
 
 "The commander at Samarkand at that time was 
 very strict. He had a black helmet on his head, and on 
 his nose he wore round glasses with a golden frame. I 
 remembered then that I had seen him before, at Alma- 
 lakh only he was younger then. First of all we went 
 to the commander and inquired after Atam Kul. They
 
 WHAT OLD DOSTCHAK TOLD HIS COMPANIONS. 65 
 
 told us: ' He is here, but he has gone away about a 
 hundred versts or so ; he'll soon be back. ' We concluded 
 to do nothing until we had seen Atam Kul. We wanted 
 to win him over by telling him: 'You are the older 
 brother tell us what to do! ' 
 
 "At last Atam Kul arrived. 
 
 "We did not recognize him at once. He seemed to 
 be a head higher in stature. Some of our people were 
 with him quite a number. He also had Russian Cos- 
 sacks under his command a whole company. He 
 spoke Russian, and drank wine with the big officers; he 
 even shook hands with the general. 
 
 "Well, I went to see him first, and told Yunus to 
 wait. I thought I might find out first what thoughts he 
 harbored in his soul. ' What have you brought me?' 
 shouted he at me. I told him. 'Well,' he said, 'my 
 brother Yunus is a rich man now, but he lets a common 
 dshigit speak for him; that seems strange.' When he 
 said that he smiled in such a way that it made me feel 
 cold all over, but I kept silent and waited. ' Well, all 
 right,' he said; 'he can go along with my other men, 
 and later I will speak to the general about it. Where 
 is he staying? ' he asked. ' In a bazaar behind the town,' 
 I said. ' There is an empty house, and a yard with three 
 poplars in it there we have put up.' ' Well, in the 
 evening I will go there myself. Good-by, you old dog! ' 
 That he meant for me the word cut me to the soul, 
 and had it not been for Yunus I should have jumped at 
 his throat, though he had cut off his beard, the renegade, 
 in Russian fashion. Well, I went away, but I heard 
 him cry after me: 'Eh! did the old fool, our father, 
 leave much property behind him? ' I made no answer 
 to this. 
 
 " In the evening the brothers met. There was no
 
 66 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 trouble they embraced even only Atam Kill's lips 
 were pressed together very hard, and he looked upon 
 Yunus with an evil eye. 
 
 " Two days later we heard that the Russians were get- 
 ting ready to march not against the Emir, but for 
 him. They were to take back the city of Karsh, which 
 the Emir's eldest son had taken away from his father. 
 We went with them. We marched through the country, 
 and our people roamed about through the enemy's 
 villages. We all know what war is. They began to 
 drive off cattle, and the people of Bokhara complained 
 to the general about it, and he told them they should 
 not be troubled. The general was that kind of a man 
 that when he ordered anything, nobody dared to dis- 
 obey him. A day passed by our people were 
 encamped at Dshama and new complaints came in. 
 That made the general very angry, and he inquired 
 who was doing it. The officers told him Atam Kul's 
 people. Atam Kill was called, and came. He stood 
 there pale and trembling, for all his being such a big 
 man. The general ordered him to tell his people that 
 the first man who stole cattle would be hung, as an 
 example to the others. We heard of it only afterward, 
 but all our misfortune sprang from this. 
 
 " As soon as we got to Karsh, firing began. Our men 
 were all scattered. Atam Kul was with the general. I 
 was looking for Yunus, but he was not with us; then I 
 was seized with such fear that I did not feel the horse 
 moving under me. In the evening I looked around 
 again there came Yunus driving four cows before 
 him and leading a camel by the halter, passing straight 
 by the general's staff. The strict general shouted, 
 ' Hang him ! ' I nearly fainted. With the general to say 
 a thing was to do it. I got our people together at once
 
 WHAT OLD DOSTCHAK TOLD HIS COMPANIONS. 67 
 
 and rushed up to the general there were fifteen of 
 us and we all fell upon our knees. ' Forgive/ we said. 
 ' It is the first time, and he is very young. He knew 
 nothing of it; his brother never told him of your strict 
 orders.' 'What brother?' asked the general. 'Atam 
 Kul,' said we. ' I did not know he had a brother. Is 
 that your brother?' he asked Atam Kul; but he the 
 cursed one may his bones never find rest on the 
 earth or under the ground! may a fiery pestilence 
 devour him! he denied him. 'No,' he said, 'I do 
 not know him; he is not my brother.' 'All right; 
 hang him ! ' said the general without looking up. They 
 brought on poor Yunus. Again we began to beg, and 
 we swore that that was Atam Kul's brother who was 
 serving with him. ' Is that your brother? ' the general 
 asked again. Atam Kul smiled, and said, ' I can find 
 many such brethren. Any new-comer may call me 
 brother! ' The general frowned, and gave his last com- 
 mand: 'If he is your brother, I will pardon him.' 
 Then we all fell at Atam Kul's feet; we kissed his boots, 
 and adjured him by all that is holy then we waited. 
 But the Cossacks were already preparing the rope. 
 They dragged Yunus under a tree all was ready, and 
 we were waiting still for Atam Kul to speak. He 
 stood there staring at the ground, silent. His face was 
 as dark as the earth beneath him. He glanced some- 
 times at the general and sometimes at the place where 
 Yunus was bound. 
 
 " Then we began to pray to almighty Allah. The 
 general turned away and went into his tent, but before 
 he entered he turned and looked at Atam Kul, and 
 asked, ' Well? ' We all held our breath. ' No, he is 
 no brother of mine,' said Atam Kul, talking very low 
 his lips scarcely moved; but all of us who stood 
 there heard his last words. 
 
 5
 
 68 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " They hanged Yunus. I then left the Russians and 
 went away, only watching from afar. I never lost 
 sight of the rascal ; I have followed his every step, and 
 wait to see when just Allah will send him his pun- 
 ishment." 
 
 Dostchak ceased talking, and threw another piece of 
 dung upon the fire. 
 
 " Well, what else? " asked Uzen. 
 
 " I wait," said Dostchak, and nodded his head. 
 The men who had listened to him also nodded their 
 heads. They all understood now why he who was 
 bound over yonder was so much afraid that somebody 
 might know him might know his name. 
 
 Drums now began to beat, and bugles sounded from 
 the picket-ropes. The sky in the east flamed up 
 brighter and brighter. The rays of the rising sun 
 already gilded the summits of the sand-hills, then 
 descended lower and lighted up the bayonets of the 
 soldiers' muskets. The camp of the white blouses 
 began to stir and to take up its ordinary pursuits. 
 
 Having passed away the summer night, the native 
 "lautche" scattered over the camp, wherever they 
 wished to go; but soon they began to collect in one 
 place. Old Dostchak was also there, and many others 
 crowded around the bound man. He was made to get 
 upon his feet, and taken to the general's headquarters 
 to be questioned.
 
 A DESERTER. 69 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A DESERTER. 
 
 IN a shallow ravine between two rows of sand-dunes, 
 about four versts ahead of the line of double sentries, a 
 small outpost of ten riflemen with an officer was sta- 
 tioned. 
 
 It was getting near morning, and a grayish light 
 already began to spread along the eastern horizon. A 
 slight movement began in the camp, which was invis- 
 ible to those of the outpost, because of it being hidden 
 from them by hills and smoky fog, but the stir was 
 easily perceptible to trained ears. 
 
 The soldiers felt very tired after a night of pro- 
 longed and earnest struggle with an almost uncon- 
 querable desire to sleep. If a sentry, standing or 
 walking, can scarcely keep from nodding, how much 
 more difficult must it be for men stretched out in com- 
 fortable positions and wrapped up in warm greatcoats! 
 But it was necessary to struggle all night, and that all 
 the twenty-two eyes should look sharply at the line 
 which but imperfectly defined the horizon, to watch 
 whether suspicious black dots did not appear against 
 the comparatively bright streak of sky. It was neces- 
 sary for all to listen intently for the stamp of horse- 
 hoofs or the slightest rustle of a body dragging itself 
 over the sand. 
 
 But in this outpost all were volunteers, fond of noc- 
 turnal and all other adventures, and consequently 
 it was altogether unnecessary for the officer in charge 
 to watch his subordinates, whether any one of them
 
 70 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 should fall asleep, lulled and overcome by the death- 
 like stillness and immobility. 
 
 With the dawn the outposts were permitted to return 
 to camp, as they could be of no use during daylight. 
 They had the privilege of sleeping throughout the day 
 after their wearisome night, which easily explains the 
 satisfaction with which the soldiers observed the 
 extending sphere of morning brightness, as well as the 
 stir and movement in the camp, which increased with 
 every minute. 
 
 " Look! " whispered one of the riflemen, very faintly, 
 as if to himself, without turning to his companions or 
 changing from his reclining posture, and looking stead- 
 ily ahead to some point in the distance. 
 
 All would have looked without this warning, and 
 in fact all observed simultaneously what the speaker 
 saw. They all seemed to strive to sink themselves still 
 deeper into the sand, so flatly were they clinging to the 
 ground, holding their breath only the fingers of the 
 left hand strongly grasped their gun-barrels, and the 
 forefinger of the right barely felt of the smooth surface 
 of the trigger. Thus tigers crouch, watching their vic- 
 tim's approach to the watering-place, with the same 
 complete extension of the body, the same deathlike 
 immobility only these were bipeds and gray, not 
 striped quadrupeds. 
 
 On the very summit of a ridge which lay in dark out- 
 line before the eyes of the riflemen a black spot appeared 
 a horseman. He stood for a second, and disappeared 
 again. An unexperienced eye could not have ascer- 
 tained with any certainty where he was hidden, whether 
 he had retreated behind the ridge again or turned aside; 
 but the trained watchers clearly saw that the latter was 
 the case.
 
 A DESERTER. 71 
 
 After this a whole group of black dots appeared upon 
 the ridge, but they did not hide ; they stood and took 
 possession of the height, and then rode along it in 
 various directions. 
 
 " Listen! " again whispered the first rifleman, but 
 again his warning seemed superfluous, for all were 
 listening intently without it. 
 
 They heard a horse's hoofs in rapid motion, but it 
 was the gait of a tired horse, frequently breaking from 
 its gallop. The noise was coming nearer every second. 
 
 Six men of the outpost, throwing off their greatcoats, 
 quickly rose, and ran to intercept the rider; the others 
 never moved their eyes from the sandy ridge. 
 
 The horseman was now quite near, looking around 
 attentively. His horse snorted, and also glanced about 
 suspiciously, stretching its slender, handsome head into 
 the wind and pricking up its ears. The rider was 
 armed, but he unfastened his weapons and gathered 
 them in a bundle, as objects he did not intend to use. 
 
 "A deserter," whispered one of the riflemen to 
 another. 
 
 "Very likely," whispered the other. "Those over 
 there were chasing him, but didn't catch him. They're 
 afraid to follow him farther. They've stopped." 
 
 The rider urged on his horse, which fell back on its 
 haunches, striking out vigorously with its forelegs. In 
 a second he was dismounted, or rather pulled from his 
 saddle. He could not cry out, because muscular palms 
 covered his mouth; he could not move, because a thin, 
 elastic rope was quickly twisted about him, cutting 
 here and there into his dusky, bronze-like body. 
 
 A silvery strain sounded through the morning air; 
 from the camp the bugle called, " Draw in your out- 
 posts! "
 
 72 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " Well, thanks to the Lord! " sighed one of the rifle- 
 men, with evident satisfaction, " this night we did not 
 wear ourselves out for nothing. The Lord sent us some 
 game, though we can't eat it! " 
 
 The captive was taken into camp and duly inspected. 
 The face was not that of a Kirghiz or an Uzbek, nor did 
 it resemble a Turkoman's. The eyes were large and 
 black; the eyebrows thick and arched; the beard long, 
 thick, and curly, and though it was now gray with dust, 
 it was black as tar by nature. The man was clad 
 very poorly in a ragged " khalat," or cloak; the feet 
 were bare and chafed to bleeding by the iron stirrups. 
 His weapons also were of the meanest description: a 
 saber in a worn-out scabbard and a short flint-lock 
 musket. The horse, however, could not easily have 
 been bought for 500 " teel " (Khivan gold-piece, worth 
 nearly $2), and bridle and saddle were ornamented in 
 rich patterns with silver and turquoises. The rider 
 and his horse did not match, and that was a suspicious 
 circumstance. 
 
 "I am an Irane " (Persian), said the prisoner. "I 
 served in Mat Murad's own stables. I heard that the 
 Russians were near, and that they came to liberate my 
 countrymen. I ran away from my master, and stole a 
 horse with all its trappings. They pursued me a long 
 time, almost to your camp; but they couldn't catch me, 
 because the horse I had under me has not its equal in 
 Mat Murad's stables. If they had caught me they 
 would have skinned me alive, and if I were to fall into 
 their hands again I'd be lost. The Russians are my 
 only salvation, and I will serve them faithfully. I'd give 
 every drop of my blood for the Russians. I can be of 
 use, too. I know all the roads well, and I know all that 
 is going on there what troops they have, and how
 
 A DESERTER. 73 
 
 many cannons. I know all that; and so as to remember 
 well I have put. everything on paper." And the capt- 
 ured Persian fugitive or deserter, as the soldiers 
 called him drew from his bosom a ragged, yellow 
 piece of paper, closely covered with fine writing in 
 neat Persian script. 
 
 Then the riflemen of the outpost were questioned. 
 They said, " About ten men were chasing him per- 
 haps more; we saw them." 
 
 " One of them shot me," continued the Persian. " See, 
 here is the mark of the bullet look!" He drew the 
 cloak from one of his shoulders, and all could see the 
 red, scald-like mark made by a bullet grazing the body. 
 
 "All right," said the general. " Don't be afraid. Serve 
 us well, and it will go well with you we will not give 
 you up to the Khivans; but if you betray us, we'll hang 
 you I want you to know that." 
 
 An interpreter translated this short speech to the 
 Persian, who made a low obeisance, placing both hands 
 upon his heart, and visibly brightening up with joy. 
 He asked only one favor that his horse be not taken 
 away from him. This also was granted. He was 
 given to understand, however, that he would be closely 
 watched until he should convince them of his faithful- 
 ness. 
 
 The Persian was then ordered to join the camp of the 
 native militiamen, and, very well satisfied with his 
 reception, he passed through the whole camp, accom- 
 panied by two dismounted Cossacks. He held up his 
 head straight, while his eyes roved from side to side, 
 taking in everything within the camp. He noticed a 
 sentry standing up, and near him, crouching in the sand, 
 sat the man who was "afraid to tell his name." The 
 head of this man was bent upon his knees; his face was 
 not visible.
 
 74 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 "A dirty people are the Khivans! May they all per- 
 ish, from the oldest to the youngest! " said the Persian, 
 loudly, and laughed disdainfully. Hearing these words, 
 the crouching man raised his head, looked up, and trem- 
 bled, with his eyes wide open. 
 
 "Allah will help thee the day after to-morrow; watch 
 and be ready! " said the Persian; but now he spoke in 
 Persian, while at first he had used the Uzbek dialect. 
 The Cossacks escorting him understood all he said at 
 first, but the last sentence was unintelligible to them. 
 
 " He is abusing him, I suppose," remarked one of the 
 Cossacks to the other. " Surely, these Persians do not 
 love the Khivans." 
 
 "Who'd love the whip and stick?" replied the other, 
 not altogether without pertinency. 
 
 The crouching man again lowered his head, and 
 nobody noticed the animation that flashed up in his 
 face for a second, lighting in his heart a spark of hope 
 for rescue. 
 
 On the same morning Dostchak visited the camel- 
 camp, and then went to look again at the man who was 
 afraid of his own name. 
 
 "Well, how is it?" inquired Uzen. 
 
 " What simple people these Russians are! Allah pre- 
 serve them! Every runaway blown here by the wind 
 they pick up and believe his every word. One must 
 look sharply or something bad may happen! " 
 
 There was much work for the native allies this morn- 
 ing; the camels two thousand of them had to be taken 
 into the steppe to pasture. Fortunately, all was quiet 
 there, and the scouts brought the most reassuring 
 reports. 
 
 " Everything is quiet nothing stirring."
 
 LABORERS FROM A PLUNDERED CARAVAN. 75 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LABORERS FROM A PLUNDERED CARAVAN. 
 
 THREE days had passed since the unknown warrior 
 had been brought in by the Cossacks. He had been 
 questioned, and all that could be expected from a capt- 
 ured common native had been ascertained, and for a 
 time he was left to himself like any ordinary prisoner. 
 Rumors, however, began to spread more and more 
 through the camp as to the personality of this prisoner. 
 There were many who had known Atam Kul person- 
 ally when he was in the Russian service. Among them 
 were some who had been quite intimate with him, and 
 could scarcely be mistaken, meeting him now when 
 only five years had elapsed, but ah! there seemed to 
 be innumerable " buts " interfering with definite asser- 
 tion all the more since a decisive recognition of 
 Atam Kul's identity was equal to a sentence of death 
 for him; and who would willingly take such a sentence 
 upon his conscience as long as there existed the most 
 infinitesimal spark of doubt? 
 
 The reasons for explaining everything by a simple 
 resemblance were many. Who would, for instance, 
 expect to find in the open-hearted, rough, and some- 
 what vulgar Atam Kul, as they all had known him, 
 such self-possession and presence of mind under such 
 trying circumstances; such subtle skill in disguising his 
 face, his customs, and familiar movements in a word, 
 all that could possibly betray him? 
 
 He was called loudly from behind, entirely unex- 
 pectedly he did not turn or betray himself by the
 
 76 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 slightest motion of his shoulders. He was interrogated 
 on various subjects, gradually leading up to decisive 
 questions, but nothing suspicious appeared in his 
 answers. 
 
 His face, it was true, resembled that of A tarn Kul, 
 but the thin Kirghiz beard was different. The other 
 was red-cheeked, stout, and smooth-skinned, with an 
 impudent look and self-satisfied bearing; this one was 
 thin, pale, with prominent cheek-bones, and appeared 
 much lower in stature. Then the scars in his face 
 almost obliterated his features and gave them a differ- 
 ent expression. The other spoke gruffly and loudly; 
 this one lowly and painfully, as if the words were forced 
 up from the very bottom of a worn-out, consumptive 
 chest. But in spite of all this there were many who 
 said : 
 
 " However, the devil take him ! how much they are 
 alike, the beasts! " And this "beast " remained a com- 
 mon "dshigit" of Sadik's band; had heard something 
 of Atam Kul, but had never seen him in person. Only 
 two individuals in the whole camp had no doubt as 
 to his identity. One of them was our old friend 
 Dostchak, who kept silent to await the proper time; 
 the other, Natalia, was prevented by humanity from 
 speaking. 
 
 In the meantime other strangers came into the Rus- 
 sian camp. On the road by which the Russian expedi- 
 tion had arrived there appeared four men on foot. One 
 of them had been wounded on the head by some sharp 
 weapon or instrument; the other three were uninjured. 
 They were all nearly without clothes, only leather 
 trousers covering their nakedness. All were com- 
 pletely worn out with long marching, sinking to the 
 ground exhausted as soon as they reached the Russian
 
 LABORERS FROM A PLUNDERED CARAVAN. 77 
 
 picket-line. They were taken and brought to the 
 camp. 
 
 They appeared to be from Bokhara, laborers in the 
 employ of one of the merchants who had gone with a 
 caravan from Nur-ata, and had been plundered by a 
 roving band. They stated that about a hundred 
 mounted " dshigits " fell upon them, took their camels 
 and goods, killed two men outright and wounded one 
 there he was who had come with them, and robbed 
 them of all their clothes, leaving only the trousers. 
 They begged the Russians, before everything else, for 
 something to eat and drink. That was the second day 
 they had been without water and food. After that they 
 would ask for an asylum that is, for permission to go 
 with the Russians until an opportunity should offer to 
 return to their own country. 
 
 It happened that rumors had already reached the 
 camp that some caravan from Bokhara had been plun- 
 dered by the Turkomans, and it was naturally believed 
 that these men had belonged to it. The new-comers 
 were given food and drink, and permitted to remain. 
 They seemed to be much pleased, thanked the Russians, 
 and implored Allah to shower all blessings upon them. 
 
 The Persian deserter made up to these people at 
 once, questioning them, and telling them his experi- 
 ence, and they became friends from the first. Two of 
 the new arrivals turned out to be also Persians, his 
 countrymen, and that seemed to satisfactorily explain 
 the intimate relations springing up between them. 
 The Russian soldiers always treat the natives very 
 kindly, especially when they are suffering, and on the 
 very first day many of them addressed them as " tamyrs " 
 (chums). 
 
 On the same day, also, the victims of robbery seemed
 
 78 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 to forget their sufferings, wandering freely through the 
 camp, looking at everything, and not failing to notice 
 the prisoner, and even trying to converse with him. 
 
 Again it was only old Dostchak who, grumbling and 
 growling, was very much dissatisfied with the condition 
 of affairs so much displeased that he resolved to 
 overcome his timidity and to communicate his fears to 
 the highest authorities. After attiring himself in his 
 new red cloak, he prayed long, on his knees upon his 
 little felt-mat spread upon the ground, and his hands 
 uplifted. Then he proceeded through the camp, shap- 
 ing his course toward a large tent where a red ensign 
 with seven white stars, tattered and bleached by sun 
 and rain, fluttered gently in the breeze. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE REPORT. 
 
 DOSTCHAK trudged along until he caught sight of the 
 tent, the object of his journey. It was necessary to 
 pass by long rows of stacked arms along which pensive 
 sentries were pacing; in another place bales of supplies 
 were piled up these also had to be avoided. He 
 described a great circuit around the artillery-park, and 
 came upon the hospital-tents, and was again forced to 
 make his way around. In doing this Dostchak stumbled 
 over ropes and dragged at tents, for which he was 
 soundly scolded. Soldiers whom he knew spoke to him 
 kindly, and many to whom he was unknown looked up 
 at him.
 
 THE REPORT. 79 
 
 " Eh, friend, where are you going? " 
 
 "Ah! my old chum; you piece of an old picked bone! 
 Won't you have some tea? Come here, you red devil 
 I'll give it to you, with sugar. Sit down! " 
 
 " Look, boys, he's got a medal there it dangles on 
 his cloak. Dostchak, good luck to you, you honest 
 soul!" 
 
 "Careful, you old devil; you'll upset the guns! " 
 
 Similar greetings showered upon Dostchak from all 
 directions; but he went on and on, not saying a word to 
 anybody, or acknowledging any of the calls and invita- 
 tions. At last he got to his destination. 
 
 There was the red flag! How frayed were its edges 
 it must have been over a great deal of country. And 
 there stood the sentry a rifleman. A copper sauce- 
 pan was simmering in the sun; steam was rising from it, 
 and a small fire glimmered under the iron tripod. An 
 orderly was opening a bottle, wiping the neck with the 
 skirt of his tunic. A Cossack officer who had just come 
 out of the tent jumped upon his horse, which backed 
 and gave him some trouble, but he gained his seat, not, 
 however, without nearly trampling upon old Dostchak. 
 Then somebody else emerged from the tent, rattling 
 his saber; he dropped some papers out of a portfolio, 
 and the wind carried them away. Some Cossacks ran 
 up and began to pick them up. Dostchak got his hands 
 upon one of the papers, trying to say something, but his 
 timidity kept his lips sealed. 
 
 "Well, there is some wind this morning," some one 
 remarked; " it fairly howls! " " The commander of the 
 cavalry perfectly agrees with me," comes from a pleas- 
 ing baritone voice within the tent. " Cut it into small 
 pieces and put it in," somebody was explaining behind 
 the tent.
 
 80 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " What do you want? " . 
 
 Dostchak was overcome with confusion. A mus- 
 tached physiognomy looked him straight in the face ? 
 without taking its eyes off him. It was terrible! The 
 mouth opens wide, with grinning teeth, and down 
 goes Dostchak on his knees with his red cloak, his 
 medal, and his tall sheepskin cap, which he twists in 
 his trembling hands. 
 
 "I should know that face," thinks Dostchak; "I've 
 seen him with the train. Once he struck me with the 
 whip but not very hard. I want the genderal 
 arznnbar" (I have a request). He spoke up loud and 
 resolutely, seating himself upon the sand opposite the 
 very entrance, and resumed his customary respectful 
 attitude. 
 
 Dostchak spoke Russian very badly, being barely able 
 to make himself understood at all; but in view of the 
 great importance of his present business, he had made 
 up his mind to carry on his conversation with the gen- 
 eral in Russian, in order to avoid the use of an inter- 
 preter, in whom the natives generally repose but very 
 little confidence. He had only just succeeded in pro- 
 nouncing his explanatory words when the general him- 
 self emerged from the tent. The red khalat at once 
 attracted his eyes. 
 
 " What do you want? " inquired the general. 
 
 Dostchak went straight to. the point. " When will 
 you hang Atam Kul? " he asked, rising to his legs and 
 making a deep obeisance. 
 
 The general laughed until his white vest and gold 
 chain fairly shook over his stomach. " Catch him and 
 bring him to me; then I will hang him," he replied, still 
 laughing. " I remember this fellow the sworn enemy 
 of Atam Kul. I remember him some one told me "
 
 THE REPORT. 81 
 
 " Exactly, your Excellency," some very small body 
 behind the general's back replied, very respectfully. 
 "It was, with your Excellency's permission, on the 
 march to Nur-Ek. Fires had been lighted to warm up 
 our freezing men " 
 
 " Genderal," broke in Dostchak " Genderal, why you 
 no hang Atam Kulka? Why you catch and no hang? 
 He will run away, Atam Kulka no can hang him 
 then. Atam Kulka soon run away. One day, two 
 days, run away. There's bad people in the camp. One 
 man no good; four men no good. Atam Kul take them 
 and run away. Right away hang Atam Kulka, gende- 
 ral; then Atam Kulka no run away." 
 
 The old native's request, in spite of the comical 
 phrases in which it was couched, had in it so much ear- 
 nestness, so much honest enthusiasm and persistence, 
 it breathed so much conviction and truth, that the gen- 
 eral involuntary contracted his brows and considered 
 for a minute. 
 
 " Why do you say that that is Atam Kul ? Perhaps it 
 is not he," said the general. 
 
 "Let Atam Kul be brought. Dostchak will show 
 you." 
 
 " See about that! " said the general to the small man 
 behind him. "Sit down!" turning again to Dostchak. 
 
 The old man immediately seated himself, squatting 
 down upon the sand, more like a manikin than a living 
 man. The general returned to his tent; the little man 
 hurried away somewhere. 
 
 "Allah, all-powerful, all-wise, and just! allow not 
 the wicked to triumph over the good. Do not place 
 black dirt upon my clean head. Great Allah, you are 
 the only god over this whole world, and there is no 
 other! " Thus softly muttered Dostchak, scarcely mov- 
 ing his dry, senile lips.
 
 82 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ATAM KUL. 
 
 NATALIA, accompanied by several officers, emerged 
 from her tent and sauntered through the familiar camp. 
 The lame Cossack, limping along on his crutches, kept 
 abreast of her, joking with little Petka. The child held 
 tightly to his mother's clothes, striving to adjust his 
 short little legs to the steps of the grown people. This 
 was, however, not very difficult for him, because Natalia 
 accommodated her movements to those of her son, and 
 the whole group of promenaders advanced very slowly. 
 
 They had long since discussed all subjects of inter- 
 est, and being for the moment without any material for 
 conversation, they went along silently. Some one 
 hummed a march, the others mechanically keeping 
 step to the tune. 
 
 " Petka," the Cossack broke the silence, " come and 
 sit on my shoulder. I'll carry you. Climb up, young 
 man! Kustikof, set him up here." 
 
 "Don't want to!" replied the child, clinging still 
 tighter to the clothes. " I walk! walk! " 
 
 " Never mind; let him get used to walking," said 
 Natalia. "Well, how is your back, Karpof?" turning 
 to a young soldier of the line who not long since had 
 sprained his back drawing a heavy tub of water from 
 the well. 
 
 " It's all right, little Mother Natalia Martinovna, 
 as if taken away by your hand," pleasantly replied the 
 soldier, springing to his legs and standing at " atten- 
 tion."
 
 ATAM KUL. 83 
 
 " They are cured by a single word from you! " joked 
 the old doctor, corning out of the nearest tent, in his 
 gray nankeen blouse, and joining the promenaders. 
 " You simply take all the practice away from us doc- 
 tors! " 
 
 " Well, to a soldier a kind word and a gill of whisky 
 are more beneficial than a whole pood [forty pounds] of 
 your dirty apothecary's stuff," remarked one of the offi- 
 cers. " My mouth is still bitter from the last dose you 
 gave me." 
 
 " My leg here is getting worse and worse," gruffly 
 broke in the Cossack " It may have to be cut off yet. I 
 would have long since put a bullet through my fore- 
 head were it not 
 
 " Natalia Martinovna, cure him with a k ," began 
 
 the same officer; but he stopped, and swallowed the 
 remainder of the sentence, under the influence of a 
 severe look from Natalia. 
 
 "The dysentery is subsiding," reported the doctor, 
 hurriedly "it is much less virulent; there were eight 
 scorpion-bites; the drummer's forefinger was ampu- 
 tated to-day; two bottles of port- wine were stolen from 
 the dispensary." 
 
 "Oh, look there, gentlemen!" exclaimed Kustikof. 
 "What a crowd there is gathering at the general's! 
 What a lot of people! Let us go there! " 
 
 " Let us go," calmly replied Natalia. The whole 
 group, passing by the long picket-ropes of the artil- 
 lery, directed their steps to the general's headquarters. 
 
 In front of the general's tents a considerable mul- 
 titude was indeed assembling, forming a half-circle 
 facing the principal tent, and observing with undivided 
 attention something that was going on there. The 
 foremost ranks of the crowd were occupied chiefly 
 
 6
 
 84 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 by officers; behind them stood some infantrymen with 
 loaded arms, and in rear of them a dozen or two of Cos- 
 sacks and a great crowd of native militiamen, lending 
 the scene a touch of color with their bright, wide- 
 striped cloaks. Passing horsemen halted, and, raising 
 themselves in their stirrups, looked from their saddles 
 over the heads of those in front. The curious were 
 flocking together from all directions, in such numbers 
 that when Natalia Martinovna arrived it was with 
 much difficulty, in spite of the willingness of the 
 crowd to give way, that a narrow path was cleared to 
 allow her and her companions to pass. 
 
 The general sat on an iron folding-chair at the 
 entrance of his tent; about him and at his back stood 
 a few staff officers. Within the darker square of the 
 passage leading to an inner compartment, still other 
 figures were indistinctly visible. 
 
 Not more than three paces in front of the general 
 stood the prisoner; he was unfettered and his free hands 
 hung down beside his body. His head was bent slightly 
 forward; the whole body was strangely distorted or 
 twisted; the knees nearly touched, and trembled slightly 
 perhaps with fright, perhaps with subdued emotion; 
 the muscular bare legs buried themselves in the sand, 
 and stood as if petrified, without changing position for 
 a second. The fingers of the hands were impatiently 
 picking at the dirty shreds of his cloak. The closely 
 shorn head was entirely uncovered, being even without 
 the usual "tibetaika" (flat Bashkir cap). A few dirty 
 scabs and several long scars showing signs of healing 
 were visible upon this angular, purely Mongolian skull. 
 The eyes looked up from beneath the brows directly 
 upon the general. The look was calm, and almost 
 apathetic.
 
 ATAM KUL. 85 
 
 In line with him stood two infantrymen with guns 
 at their sides, and a Cossack who had removed his cap. 
 In their immediate rear there was a little open space, 
 but behind that, packed closely, and in perfect immo- 
 bility, stood the front ranks of the spectators. Dost- 
 chak was nowhere visible. 
 
 "To be sure," said the general, in French, "the 
 similarity is great; but there seem to be more data 
 indicating that it is not he. If it were not for the dec- 
 laration of that native may the devil take him! I 
 should have done with him before this. Now we 
 must," continued the general, with a vexed, impatient 
 gesture "but that can not be done! Why did that 
 fool turn up here? " 
 
 "We might send for that Persian," advised a staff 
 officer with gold epaulets upon his crumpled blouse. 
 " He must know Atam Kul as he is now. He has 
 probably seen him with Mat-Nias." 
 
 " See to it; give the necessary orders! " 
 
 " Well, surely this is Atam Kul," said somebody in 
 the tent, in a subdued tone. " No matter how one looks 
 at the thing, it must be he, I would be willing to lay 
 any reasonable wager." 
 
 "All right; back your opinion, you speak so con- 
 fidently." 
 
 " Let him go to the devil! " 
 
 " At the same time, that fellow Dostchak must bring 
 some incontrovertible proofs. It is very interesting, 
 but I think it is all nonsense." 
 
 " He seems so confident. It almost grieves me to 
 look at the unfortunate fellow they'll be sure to hang 
 him! But whom are they bringing now? That must 
 be another witness. His face seems familiar."
 
 86 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " That is the Persian deserter who was caught yester- 
 day. Listen! listen! " 
 
 From behind the tent appeared the Persian, bending 
 over almost to the ground. He was very pale, or rather 
 ash-colored, and shook as if attacked with fever. He 
 did not know why he was called, and observing the 
 prisoner, hesitated and tried to back out again. 
 
 "Goon!" And he was pushed ahead vigorously by 
 the knee of his Cossack escort. 
 
 " Good-day! " said the general. 
 
 The Persian trembled and squatted down. 
 
 " Do you know that man? " asked the general, nod- 
 ding his head in the direction of the prisoner. " He 
 weakens! " he continued aside to the staff officer. 
 
 The Persian remained silent, looking from side to side 
 with wandering eyes, evidently avoiding the point to 
 which his attention was directed. 
 
 " Look there! " the Cossack prompted him. 
 
 "Who is that?" The general repeated his question. 
 " Well, don't be afraid. What do you fear? Look well, 
 and tell me who it is. Interpret this for him." 
 
 An officer of small stature, with a dusky face of 
 foreign type, interpreted. The Persian listened attent- 
 ively, looked furtively at the prisoner, and lowered his 
 head. 
 
 " I do not know him. He's a Khivan, that I know, 
 but who he is I do not know." 
 
 " You know the face of Atam Kul? " asked the inter- 
 preter; " the one who ran away from us and now serves 
 the Khan of Khiva? " 
 
 "Atam Kul? " repeated the Persian. 
 
 " Well, yes! " 
 
 " He who was a great commander with the Russians? 
 He is a great man with the Khan Atam Kul Dakhta
 
 ATAM KUL. 87 
 
 [high military title]. I have seen Atam Kul; I know 
 him. Why shouldn't 1 know Atam Kul? Three times 
 
 no, four times, exactly four times the sun has set 
 since Atam Kul ordered me to be beaten with a stick, 
 but I ran away. I know Atam Kul well." 
 
 There was a general involuntary smile, and even 
 suppressed laughter became audible in the crowd. All 
 seemed to feel somewhat easier. The calm voice in the 
 tent resumed: "Well, my dear fellow, is that Atam 
 Kul? You were so firmly convinced, would you be 
 willing to lay two bottles and some preserved lobster? " 
 
 " Oh, the devil; it is positively all the same to me! " 
 
 " He lies, brethren, that Persian," one of the Cossacks 
 whispered to his companion. " He is evidently putting 
 it on thick. How can these officers believe him?" 
 
 " Shall we shoot him or hang him? " inquired a young 
 infantryman. 
 
 " We'll cut him into slices and make straps of his hide 
 
 will that please you? " 
 
 " Be quiet they are talking." 
 
 "Where is Atam Kul now?" the general asked the 
 Persian. 
 
 " How can I tell where Atam Kul is now? The sun 
 has set four times since Atam Kul was with Mat-Nias. 
 Four thousand horsemen, four thousand footmen, and 
 one hundred cannon were with Atam Kul. Atam Kul 
 Dakhta is a great man with the Khan of Khiva." 
 
 " Drive the fool away! " 
 
 " Go on! get out! Be thankful that you are whole! " 
 The Persian was led from the scene without being given 
 a chance to make his bows in accordance with oriental 
 etiquette. 
 
 A new witness now appeared before the prisoner 
 a witness who had been in the tent all this time, hidden
 
 88 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 away. The witness had heard everything, and waited. 
 Now he went around in the prisoner's rear, altogether 
 unexpectedly, and touched his shoulder. The man 
 turned quickly, stepped back, and lifted his hands. He 
 endeavored, or thus it appeared to those observing the 
 gesture, to cover up his face, but he remembered and 
 kept his hands half-raised. 
 
 " How are you, Atam Kul? " said Dostchak. " Well, 
 you see we have met again. Your brother Yunus sent 
 me to denounce you. Genderal, please hang Atam 
 Kulka now! " 
 
 " I do not know you," came shrilly through the closed 
 teeth of the prisoner. 
 
 "Oh, no; you know me very well! " 
 
 Dostchak drew back from the prisoner a little, looked 
 at him long and carefully, and then turned to the general. 
 
 "Atam Kul was small about so high," and Dost- 
 chak held his hand about three feet from the ground, 
 " and Yunus, his brother, was still smaller. I served 
 his father. I took them to bathe, and I bathed their 
 father. I knew them all three, as well as their mother; 
 I knew them all. The father had on his back, between 
 the shoulders, about a hand's-breath above the belt, a 
 dark spot, like a piece of felt, of the shape of the moon 
 when it first appears in the sky like that," and 
 Dostchak stooped and drew a crescent in the sand. 
 " I speak Russian. You also speak Russian, and 
 understand it; that is why I speak it now. You would 
 like to eat me now, but your teeth are too short, though 
 you are not a man, but a wolf. You are worse than a 
 wolf !" said Dostchak, turning to the prisoner. "The 
 oldest son, this Atam Kul, also had a dark spot on his 
 back, in the same place. Give the order, Genderal, to 
 take off his cloak and his shirt."
 
 ATAM KUL. 89 
 
 Dostchak ceased talking, went to one side and sat 
 down quietly on the sand. He had done all he could, 
 and waited how it would turn out. 
 
 " Take off his clothes! " 
 
 In a moment several hands seized upon the prisoner. 
 He resisted strongly. One soldier fell; another seized 
 him sideways. 
 
 " He is strong, the devil! " 
 
 " Throw him down at once! " 
 
 They threw him down. The poor fellow got on his 
 knees and screamed. They tore off cloak and shirt, 
 raised him to his feet, and turned his back. There was 
 the black spot. The interpreter saw it at once, and put 
 his finger upon it. The touch of his finger caused the 
 naked back to shudder nervously. 
 
 "Well, this is positive proof," said the staff officer. 
 
 " But if it should be only an unfortunate coincidence?" 
 said the general, in French. " The testimony of a com- 
 mon native evidently prejudiced against this man 
 whether he be Atam Kul or not seems insufficient. 
 It is very possible that Dostchak wants to be revenged 
 for something. If he should be after Atam Kul's life 
 for his own purposes only? It is strange that not a 
 single soldier, not a single officer recognized him, 
 though so many of us, gentlemen, know him." 
 
 At this moment Natalia Martinovna entered the 
 circle. She held her son in her arms as she passed 
 through the crowd. The boy was frightened by the 
 number of people, and threw his arms around his 
 mother's neck, looking around, with his eyes wide 
 open. 
 
 Drawing his arms up into the sleeves of his cloak, 
 the prisoner turned around and saw the woman. 
 
 He glanced at her. This glance was a revelation. It
 
 90 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 expressed a burning, savage passion. The glance was 
 instantaneous, but the lame Cossack caught it. 
 
 " Atam Kul! " he shouted. 
 
 Natalia trembled, and let her boy glide to the ground. 
 
 "Atam Kul, Atam Kul; there is no doubt of it it 
 is Atam Kul! " could be heard all around. All seemed 
 to have been convinced of it, but kept silent, as if 
 restrained by something; but this "something" vanished 
 at once when the Cossack spoke out. It is possible 
 that each of these men thought at the time, " I was 
 not the first to speak, at any rate." 
 
 " Well, if it is Atam Kul, it is Atam Kul! The devil 
 take him!" said the general, rising from his chair. 
 "Cry as loud as you can, 'Atam Kul! Atam Kul! ' As if 
 I had not known it long ago! " he grumbled to himself 
 as he returned to his tent. " Keep a strict watch upon 
 him, and report to the judge-advocate to order a court- 
 martial !" were the orders, issued in short and broken 
 sentences. 
 
 " He is lost! " Natalia said, softly. 
 
 " Yes, he can hardly wriggle out of it now," con- 
 firmed Major Pugovitzin. 
 
 The lame Cossack stood as if stupefied, pressing his 
 hand to his burning brow. 
 
 An unconquerable savage passion impelled the betray- 
 ing glance a glance which probably would not have 
 been noticed by the crowd, but the very passion which 
 instigated it made it comprehensible to the Cossack, 
 and wrenched from him the fatal exclamation. 
 
 "The blood of Yunus will be avenged!" proudly 
 declared Dostchak that evening.
 
 THE KATA-DSHIL. 91 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE KATA-DSHIL (SAND-STORM). 
 
 ABOUT 2 o'clock in the afternoon a strange, suffocat- 
 ing heat began to pervade the atmosphere. It was 
 not the ordinary heat of the sun; it was something, 
 also, not heretofore experienced by the white blouses. 
 It became more and more difficult to breathe; the 
 body broke out in profuse perspiration; the whole 
 organism grew weak, and at the same time the 
 blood began to circulate more rapidly, and the 
 heart beat with increased violence. Everybody felt 
 inclined to sleep, but sleep would not come. Thirst 
 increased to an incredible degree the crowd around 
 the wells grew to heretofore unknown proportions. 
 The heated, motionless atmosphere weighed upon 
 everything on earth, and disposed to indolence, to 
 inaction. .Labor was dropped by all hands. An un- 
 conquerable anxiety came over everyone, and not a 
 man but experienced the feeling of a frightful, un- 
 bearable nightmare. 
 
 Animals evidently experienced the same feelings as 
 the men. They were all reeking with sweat. Their 
 colorless, deathlike eyes were immovable; the blood- 
 shot nostrils opened wide, and ears stood up in full 
 alarm. The horses stood at their picket-ropes without 
 touching their feed. Their legs bent under them, but 
 they would not lie down; all instinctively turning their 
 backs in one direction to the northeast. 
 
 The dogs buried themselves in the sand and whined 
 plaintively. The camels laid themselves down, with
 
 92 THE TWO-LEGGEU WOI.I . 
 
 necks extended; and, strange to say, they also turned 
 their backs to the northeast. 
 
 If a horseman had wished to proceed in a north- 
 easterly direction, the horse would perhaps have started, 
 but it would have turned round as soon as ever the 
 bridle was slackened in the least and the spurs relaxed 
 their attack upon its foaming sides; but those who 
 were bound in the opposite direction could scarcely 
 restrain the ardor of their horses, who were pushing 
 ahead in nervous excitement. 
 
 The mules gathered in troops and brayed in chorus, 
 which, together with the sad whining of dogs, increased 
 the general anxiety, and filled the minds of men with 
 melancholy. 
 
 Nature was preparing for something unusual, and 
 this unusual phenomenon was evidently coming from 
 the northeast. 
 
 In the meantime the air was calm. The wind, which 
 had been blowing the day before, sweeping together 
 during the night great dunes of sand, calmed down 
 completely, and at the present moment the flame of a 
 candle lighted in the open air would have been motion- 
 less, as if inclosed in a glass cylinder. 
 
 The sky had assumed a yellow, reddish tinge; the 
 light of the sun was confined to a muddy disk, without 
 beams, without splendor. One could freely look upon 
 it as when protected by smoked glasses. 
 
 Thus time went on until 7 o'clock in the evening. 
 
 As the sun declined toward the west it grew more 
 livid, and a bloody tinge spread over the ridges of sand, 
 burying the intervening hollows in deep-blue shadows. 
 
 A threatening black wall rose up above the horizon, 
 coming up gradually and spreading to the right and 
 left, occupying little by little half of the sky.
 
 THE KATA-DSHIL. 93 
 
 When the wall came up to the sun, the livid disk sunk 
 half behind it and then disappeared completely, dense 
 shadows falling upon the earth immediately. 
 
 They fastened down their tents and looked after the 
 stacks of arms. " No more fires must be built those 
 already lighted must be extinguished! " were the alarm- 
 ing orders issued. 
 
 " Kata-dshil! kata-dshil!" cried the natives, seeking 
 a refiige among the heavy bales of the camel-train. 
 
 " Well, brethren," said the white blouses to each other, 
 " look out for this night! There'll be such a gale! ' 
 
 The first blast of the storm came about half an hour 
 after sunset. It came as a sudden squall of great vio- 
 lence, but quickly subsided again. It brought with 
 it dense clouds of fine, sandy dust, upset a few stacks 
 of arms, and tore the fly off one of the tents. The dis- 
 turbance caused in the camp by this dry squall was 
 much increased by the darkness. There were confused 
 cries of alarm; dark figures running about in all direc- 
 tions, chasing caps and hats torn away by the wind, col- 
 liding with each other and falling, rising up and rush- 
 ing away again somewhere in the darkness. 
 
 The second blast came, immediately followed by 
 another much more terrible than the preceding one. 
 Red, fiery patches were flying across the inky sky, a 
 muffled seemingly subterranean rumbling made itself 
 heard, and the atmosphere was pervaded with a strong 
 smell of sulphur. 
 
 Now the furious gale carried with it the coarse sand 
 of the desert, burning and blistering the faces, hands, 
 and necks all parts of the body not protected by 
 clothing. The horses snorted savagely and tore at 
 their halters. " Drive down the stakes! Take care of 
 the horses! May God preserve us from having them
 
 94 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 stampede! " the warning voices of cavalry-men and 
 artillery-men sounded through the gloom. 
 
 The blasts of the gale were constantly increasing in 
 power. One thought occupied all minds to keep 
 upon one's legs and to preserve whatever was under 
 one's care. It was impossible to take note of what was 
 happening elsewhere in this howling chaos. Ha! there 
 was a shot; a second, and a third. A futile effort of a 
 bugle to make itself heard, resulting in sounds resem- 
 bling the screech of gulls in the distance. An alarm 
 an attack! at such a terrible time! 
 
 " Here, boys, help!" came through the uproar in a 
 terrified, sinking voice. The voice came from the spot 
 where Atam Kul was confined; the soldiers of the 
 guard threw themselves in that direction. Impenetra- 
 ble darkness surrounded them; the flying sand com- 
 pletely filled their eyes. There, straight before them 
 loomed a massive figure as if rising from the ground, 
 and jumped aside. "Halt! halt! What devil has hold 
 of me? I'll not let you go! " 
 
 " Atam Kul has escaped! " 
 
 "I'm dying, brothers! Ah, death has got me oh, 
 the deathly sickness! O God! " some one groaned, 
 squirming in the sand in his last convulsions. 
 
 "There were many of them many at least five. 
 Three fell upon the sentry at once. I saw it with my 
 own eyes. Send for the doctor, and bring a stretcher! 
 What is it now?" 
 
 " O God, have mercy! " 
 
 A new blast of the wind brought with it new masses 
 of flying, burning sand. 
 
 "We'll be buried alive! Most holy Mother of God, 
 assist us! " exclaimed in a frightened voice a young 
 soldier, a raw recruit, and new to the desert regions.
 
 THE KATA-DSHIL. 90 
 
 In good time, when it was still daylight, old Dementy 
 had fastened down the tent of his mistress. He lashed 
 everything with double ropes, drove down the stakes, 
 adding some new ones for greater security, and then, 
 inspecting his own work, declared that it would hold. 
 
 " Have no fear, matushka Natalia Martinovna," he 
 strove to reassure his mistress, who was anxiously gaz- 
 ing at the threatening sky; " nothing will give way. 
 It's quite strong. Don't mind anything during the 
 night; I'll look out." 
 
 " I do not fear for myself, Dementy," said Natalia; 
 " not for me." 
 
 " I know, matushka, your honor; I know. I'll make 
 some tea for you. The orders are to build no fires, but 
 if one knows how in a quiet fashion in a little hole 
 in the ground no one will see it." The old man went 
 away to make his arrangements "in a quiet fashion." 
 Natalia again glanced out of her tent. It was growing 
 dark very suddenly; the sky looked frightful indeed. 
 A feeling of heaviness and dread took possession of 
 her, like a foreboding of evil, of some fatal disaster. 
 
 " Petka, my darling," she addressed the child, "don't 
 be afraid; it is nothing. There will be a big wind, but 
 it will pass by, and then it will be nice and cool. You 
 were very hot to-day, weren't you? " 
 
 " Hot," lisped the child, stretching himself languidly 
 upon the bed, clad only in his little shirt with collar 
 turned back. " Mama, I want to drink tea; mama, give 
 me tea! " 
 
 " In a minute, sweetheart. Dementy has gone to 
 make tea. He'll bring it, and we will drink it with 
 lemon-drops. You like lemon-drops, don't you?" 
 
 " Lemon-dop," repeated the child. 
 
 " My dear boy! " and Natalia took her son into her
 
 96 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 arms in a passionate embrace. A paroxysm of love and 
 yearning for her boy seemed to have seized her; she 
 covered him with kisses. 
 
 Suddenly the whole tent trembled, the walls swelled 
 like the sail of a ship, and something- gave way outside. 
 
 " Hold on! hold on! boys; help us! " cried the alarmed 
 voice of old Dementy. " What a wind this is! the rope 
 is cut as if with a knife. All right! don't be frightened, 
 little mother; we'll make it stand." A blast of wind 
 extinguished the candle, and in the pitchy darkness the 
 boy began to cry. "It's the end of the world, sure!" 
 said the old man, and then suddenly raised his voice: 
 "Take care, you devils! Keep away! Can't you see 
 you are on top of a man? What are you doing? 
 What do you mean? O Lord! O Lord! " 
 
 A few mounted figures were rushing straight for the 
 tent, and knocked down the old man. Suddenly the 
 whole tent bent over to one side, the last ropes broke, 
 the canvas filled, and the roof was carried straight up 
 into the air by the wind, flapping like the wings of some 
 gigantic specter, and quickly disappeared. At that 
 moment Natalia, who, overcome with terror, was press- 
 ing her child to her breast, felt two strange arms 
 stealing around her waist; a hot, offensive breath was 
 blowing into her face. Close to her ear she heard 
 whispered, in the Kirghiz language, " Take her away 
 tie her to the saddle quick! " The voice was well 
 known to her she recognized the speaker, and loudly, 
 with a wail of inexpressible despair, she cried, "Help! 
 save me! " 
 
 She felt herself dragged over the sand; some one was 
 lifting her up to a horse; the boy was torn from 
 her arms. She sprang forward and, frenzied with 
 despair, fastened her teeth to something that came in
 
 THE KATA-DSHIL. 97 
 
 her way. Somebody groaned; a heavy fist struck her 
 brow and bent back her head almost to her back then 
 she lost consciousness. 
 
 The lame Cossack, mounted on his horse, was making 
 his way through the uproar. Around him crowded a 
 confused mass of men, mounted and on foot, shouting to 
 each other. He proceeded at a walk, carefully, bending 
 over in his saddle and looking into the impenetrable 
 mist of flying sand and dust. He was trying to make 
 his way to the well-known little tent, but had lost his 
 bearings, and, full of dismay, was cursing his own care- 
 lessness. How was he to find her? Where was she? 
 He no longer knew the points of the compass. Here 
 he ran plump against a line of infantry standing by 
 their arms. The long rows of men were barely visible. 
 He cried: 
 
 " What troops are there? " 
 
 " Third Battalion of Riflemen! " 
 
 " Are you on your own ground, or have you moved? " 
 
 " On our own ground! " 
 
 "Ah ! that means I must go considerably more to the 
 right," thought the Cossack. " The sappers must be 
 close by here ah! here they are but where are their 
 tool-boxes? They ought to be in front, and behind 
 them what is this?" Something round rolled from 
 under the feet of his horse, which fell back upon its 
 haunches. "God! why am I not with her at such 
 a time! " the Cossack whispered to himself. "What is 
 she doing now, alone, poor woman? Well, Stepniak, 
 let us get on." 
 
 A shower of sparks was blown crackling across the 
 road from a but partly extinguished fire of one of 
 the company kitchens. "Now I'm all right!" the
 
 98 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Cossack congratulated himself. He had recognized 
 the place. 
 
 All at once a shrill cry struck his ear; it was a woman's 
 cry, and there was but one woman in the camp. With- 
 out stopping to pick his way, he buried the spurs in the 
 side of his horse until it screamed, and, throwing back its 
 head, nearly crushed its rider's face. Straight on rushed 
 the Cossack for the voice, which seemed to proceed from 
 the midst of the confused throng. Some horseman was 
 being surrounded and dragged from his saddle; another, 
 also mounted, fighting furiously, was struggling in the 
 crowd. He also soon fell, and his horse was neighing 
 and snorting while being seized by the bridle by a 
 number of hands. 
 
 " Do not hit him take him alive ! " somebody shouted 
 in a deep-bass voice. " Don't let the chief rascal escape; 
 catch him, hold him! " 
 
 " Natalia Martinovna, where are you? " the Cossack 
 shouted. . 
 
 " Here, here! " answered several male voices. 
 
 The Cossack jumped, or rather let himself fall off his 
 horse, allowing him to go loose. He wanted to run, but 
 his injured leg made itself felt at once. He ground his 
 teeth with pain, but limped in the direction whence the 
 cries had come. 
 
 A few men were busy over something lying on the 
 sand. The gray clothes of Natalia caught the lame 
 officer's eye. She was lying there, prostrate, motion- 
 less, giving no signs of life. 
 
 " She's killed! " exclaimed the Cossack, and threw 
 himself over the body. 
 
 " She's alive, God be with you! She has only fainted 
 with fright. Have you looked for the child? No? 
 Well, search for it find the child! "
 
 A SAD MORNING. 99 
 
 ''And I was not here!" groaned the Cossack. "O 
 merciful God! do not let that happen! " 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A SAD MORNING. 
 
 MORNING came, gray, misty, and sultry. The blasts 
 of the gale were gradually decreasing in strength, but 
 they were still scattering dense clouds of sand and dust 
 over the whole camp. Finally the hurricane subsided 
 into an even but fresh-blowing wind, which stirred up 
 the accumulations of dust, blinding one's eyes, making 
 it difficult to breathe or to see, even at a short distance. 
 
 Efforts were inaugurated to repair the damages of 
 the night to set up the tents that had been over- 
 thrown, and to collect such articles as the whirlwind had 
 scattered over the steppe. Strong scouting parties of 
 Cossacks were sent out in various directions. 
 
 The news of the disastrous occurrences of the night 
 was already known throughout the camp. The hearts 
 of all felt sad, from the general down to the last soldier; 
 grief and anxiety were expressed in every glance, and 
 occasionally a tear would be seen gliding over the sun- 
 burned faces, leaving dirty marks on the dust-covered 
 cheeks. Not a man among them would have hesitated 
 at any sacrifice to assuage the woman's grief, but all 
 knew perfectly well that consolation, at least at the 
 present moment, was out of the question. 
 
 When it became light enough to examine into the 
 results of the nocturnal catastrophe, the state of affairs 
 appeared as follows: 
 
 7
 
 100 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF 
 
 Natalia Martinovna's tent had been blown down by 
 the wind; one of its walls still covered all its contents. 
 Through the folds of the cloth could be distin- 
 guished the back of the iron bedstead, the corners 
 of trunks, the edges of some iron-bound chest which 
 had torn through the cloth, and various other objects 
 belonging to the little traveling household. The roof 
 had been carried a distance of twenty paces, and had 
 lodged upon a sand-hill, into which the pointed poles 
 of the structure had buried themselves. It could 
 be seen through the dust, resembling a gigantic green 
 parasol turned inside out in a storm. A few expiring 
 blasts of wind the last remnant of the gale caused 
 the structure to flutter and fill like a sail. The other 
 wall of the tent, torn in halves, lay near by, and from 
 under it protruded a pair of bare limbs, partly covered 
 with rough leather leggings. They pulled them out, 
 and found a dead body with a deep bayonet-wound in 
 the side and the marks of violent blows about the 
 head. On examination it was found to be one of the 
 pretended servants of a Bokhara merchant, from the 
 plundered caravan. 
 
 A little farther on a crowd of soldiers surrounded 
 another prostrate body. This was old Dementy, with 
 a deep cut in his head, giving no signs of life. In his 
 convulsively clinched fist he held apiece of camel's-hair 
 cloth, nearly the whole side of a native " khalat." 
 Three soldiers were dragging over the sand, upon a 
 felt-mat, still another corpse; a torn cloak, begrimed 
 with dust and blood, had been thrown carelessly over 
 the body. 
 
 " It's the Persian the dog! he's gone! " said one 
 of the carriers. " He evidently did not die here he 
 crawled away; we found him near the picket-line."
 
 A SAD MORNING. 101 
 
 " Just outside the line there lies a horse," remarked a 
 Cossack who accompanied the small procession; " it is 
 none of ours. You know the devils must have escaped 
 to Adam Krilgan, but no tracks could be found except 
 this carrion; the whole country has been swept clean by 
 the hurricane." 
 
 In the guard-house where Atam Kul had been con- 
 fined was found the body of the sentry, but the 
 prisoner had left no trace behind, except two or three 
 impressions of bare feet, which, God knows how, had 
 remained undisturbed. It was very clear who were the 
 perpetrators of the whole outrage. Atam Kul, not 
 satisfied with the opportunity offered for his own 
 escape, had attempted to take with him a very precious, 
 much-coveted prize. By accident he failed to gain his 
 real object. Little Petka was nowhere to be found, 
 dead or alive. 
 
 Natalia returned to consciousness. She did not 
 weep or complain, she never spoke, but her very silence 
 told of so much suffering, such grief, that not one of 
 those surrounding her dared to console her in words, or 
 even look at her. They all kept silence; the officers 
 merely stood around her with downcast eyes. 
 
 " If you only " began one of them, but only sobbed 
 like a child, and hurried away, in order not to grieve 
 her still more with his untimely tears. 
 
 The woman sat as if petrified like a statue on one 
 of the trunks; her eyes were lifeless, glassy; a thick 
 strand of her auburn hair hung down from her fore- 
 head over the face; a white shoulder shone through 
 rents in her garments, torn during her struggle; the 
 shoulder was shivering slightly, but evidently not with 
 cold. 
 
 Kustikof took off his overcoat and laid it gently over
 
 102 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Natalia's shoulders; she did not even notice it. The 
 soldiers set up her tent, talking in whispers. The stout 
 doctor was bathing Dementy's head; the hospital 
 steward was deftly arranging the instruments for blood- 
 letting, asking in a whisper for a towel and cup. 
 
 They set up the tent, repaired damages, and put 
 everything in its usual order. 
 
 "Now, my little dove," the doctor addressed Natalia. 
 " Come on, my daughter. Lie down upon the bed and 
 rest. I'll give you a drop of something, and you must 
 take it. Come, now! " 
 
 "Where?" Natalia inquired in a hoarse whisper, half 
 unconsciously. 
 
 " Gentlemen, please assist in lifting her. Take hold 
 of her thus, under the arms. Now, this is nice," con- 
 tinued the doctor; " but easily, gently. With God's 
 help you will get better and strong. You are young, 
 you know. Everything may turn out well yet. We 
 may find 
 
 Natalia gave vent to a loud, unearthly scream, and 
 again relapsed into unconsciousness. 
 
 "Oh, what a beast I am!" said the doctor, striking 
 himself on the forehead. " It was that unlucky word 
 ' find ' that did it. Old fool that I am! " 
 
 A horse stopped before the tent, snorted, and began 
 to paw the sand with its foreleg. From its saddle 
 alighted the general, who threw the reins to a Cossack, 
 and entered the tent. 
 
 " Well, how is it? " he began, then glanced around, 
 looked at Natalia Martinovna lying upon the bed, 
 wrung his hands, and walked out. 
 
 The scouting parties had not yet returned. The lame 
 Cossack was with one of them, having set out before 
 dawn with his platoon, and two reports from him had
 
 IN PURSUIT. 103 
 
 already reached the camp. One was brought by a Cos- 
 sack, with a request that some reinforcements be sent 
 after him, to provide for an emergency; the other 
 report was brought by a native, and this last one fanned 
 into life in the breasts of all in the camp a small spark 
 of hope. 
 
 " I am on the trail," he had written with a pencil 
 upon a torn piece of newspaper. 
 
 From all these happenings the most dire conse- 
 quences resulted. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 IN PURSUIT. 
 
 THE Cossacks pursued at a full gallop, the platoon 
 being spread over a considerable distance. The riders, 
 bending from their saddles, carefully noted every track 
 in the sand, every suspicious indentation or cavity. 
 They looked ahead and to either side, but always push- 
 ing on without interruption, belaboring with their whips 
 their shaggy, stumpy, poorly fed and ill-groomed, but 
 obedient and enduring little beasts. 
 
 The lame Cossack was in the lead. Near him, lifting 
 himself in his stirrups, rode a young Yunker Cossack 
 (cadet), and an old sergeant, with thin red beard, 
 sprinkled with gray, on whose homespun shirt dangled 
 two crosses. 
 
 All listened intently, ceaselessly using their eyes, and 
 rarely exchanging a few brief remarks. 
 
 The detachment resembled a pack of hounds in full 
 cry. The abrupt, broken conversation reminded one
 
 104 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 somewhat of the yelping of dogs who have picked up 
 the scent. 
 
 " Nothing! " exclaimed the sergeant, shaking his 
 head and whipping his white-legged animal. 
 
 " Have we not been drawing to the right a litttle too 
 much, Esaul?" the Yunker inquired, somewhat hes- 
 itatingly. 
 
 "We've got to go straight ahead, all the same," the 
 sergeant replied, authoritatively. " We are gaining on 
 them, and we must keep on. The "esaul"* never 
 answered at all, but looked searchingly straight ahead 
 where a wavy dark line was clearly denned in the 
 brightening dawn. 
 
 " If they depend on the horses they stole from our 
 camp," said the sergeant, " they'll not go far, but if 
 they had fresh horses ready for them, then shoot me 
 in the beard! it's a nasty business. To chase the wind 
 over the field or the Turkoman over the steppe is all 
 the same! " 
 
 "Halt!" 
 
 One of the Cossacks went head over heels, landing 
 square upon the sand. 
 
 " What is it, brethren? " 
 
 They all halted. 
 
 " Are these tracks of shod hoofs? " 
 
 " Our shoes Orenburg shoeing they're ours." 
 
 "We've found them! " 
 
 A sandy level occupying the interval between two 
 dunes here cut across the trail, and at its farther edge 
 there was a piece of ground swept clean by the winds. 
 Here a few horse-tracks had been preserved, and at 
 
 * " Esaul," non-commissioned officer of Cossacks of corporal's 
 rank. TRANSLATOR.
 
 IN PURSUIT. 105 
 
 these the Cossacks were looking carefully after coming 
 to a halt. 
 
 "It must be theirs; there's nobody else." 
 
 Dostchak and another native were with this party, 
 both of them keeping considerably in advance of the 
 platoon, as leaders keep ahead of the pack. They 
 galloped up to the top of the ridges, looking, sniffing, 
 and listening, and again disappeared in the hollows, 
 remaining invisible for a time, appearing again at the 
 very spot where nobody expected to see them. 
 
 " Dostchak is working hard! " said the Cossacks, shak- 
 ing their heads and following the nimble horseman 
 with their eyes. 
 
 " Well, tura [master], what is this? " he asked, as he 
 galloped up to the lame Cossack, holding in his hand a 
 soiled red ribbon. " Behind that hill over there I 
 stopped a little to let my horse breathe. The sand is 
 moist there, and this was lying right there." 
 
 " Petka's belt! " groaned the Cossack. His eyes filled 
 with moisture, and red spots appeared upon his cheeks. 
 
 Profiting by the brief halt, the Cossacks' horses also 
 gathered breath, and a few succeeded in having a roll 
 on the sand (a habit of the horse of the steppe), and 
 then shook themselves and galloped on again. From 
 here the lame Cossack dispatched the native to the 
 camp with his brief, laconic epistle. 
 
 The direction taken in the pursuit had now been fully 
 justified. They went on to the spot described by Dost- 
 chak, and halted again. Yes, there the others had 
 halted also. There were tracks of three horses only. 
 With Atam Kul there had been five men he was the 
 sixth. Two dead bodies remained in camp and the car- 
 cass of one horse was found; that meant that there 
 were four riders for three horses one of them was
 
 106 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 carrying two. No fresh horse had been waiting for 
 them, in the sergeant's opinion. In accordance with 
 these considerations, the fugitives could not be far off; 
 their horses must be tired especially the one with 
 two men on his back. There were no other tracks in 
 sight; that pointed to the absence of any hostile force 
 in the neighborhood. And even if they were to 
 encounter a small band of horsemen, a hundred or so, 
 they could not prove very formidable antagonists to a 
 platoon of well-armed Cossacks. The only thing was, 
 to lose no time and they lost none. 
 
 Encouraged by their first success, the Cossacks re- 
 sumed the chase. Something looms up in front a 
 fallen horse, with legs extended, the body swelled like 
 a barrel and eyes glassy and staring; on one side of the 
 carcass quite a pile of sand had accumulated. 
 
 "This must have lain here for some time," remarked 
 one of the Cossacks, pointing at the sand-heap. 
 
 " It is still warm," said the sergeant. " As to the 
 sand, it doesn't take long to pile up when the wind 
 blows strong. That horse may have lain here half 
 an hour no more. The legs are still limber, don't 
 you see? " 
 
 Other tracks were found, and among the hoof-tracks 
 there were impressions of naked feet; the steps were 
 long, the toes pressed -deeply into the ground, the heels 
 hardly touched at all. " The rascal is running, holding 
 onto the stirrup; that is why he steps so far. Now 
 they must be close by they can't go far in that 
 fashion." 
 
 The face of the lame Cossack was illuminated with 
 hope. " In a few minutes," he thought; " perhaps behind 
 those very hills." 
 
 " Hey! " A general cry arose almost simultaneously
 
 IN PURSUIT. 107 
 
 a cry of triumph. They ran against Dostchak and 
 nearly overthrew him. Not more than a hundred paces 
 ahead of them a horseman emerged from a depression 
 of the ground at a feeble, tired gait. All recognized at 
 once the broad, round-shouldered back. The rider held 
 with one hand some small object wrapped in a fold of 
 his cloak; with the other hand, armed with a whip, he 
 was persistently lashing the unfortunate animal which 
 bore him, on the head, on the croup, on the belly, wher- 
 ever he could reach. Behind this horseman, clinging 
 closely to the sand, two men on foot climbed out of the 
 hollow, clad in their shirts alone. They looked around 
 like wolves at bay, and hastened on after the other to 
 get hold of his stirrups again. Another rider came in 
 sight, but his animal could proceed only at a walk, and 
 staggered under the saddle, ready to fall. 
 
 The Cossacks gave a yell and broke into a full run; 
 but a moment later another yell, much louder, re- 
 sounded from the sand-hills and hollows all around 
 them. The sands became dotted with high black caps 
 and dirty red cloaks. The steppe thundered under the 
 hoofs of numberless horses. 
 
 The platoon at once rallied in a group, and the 
 Cossacks instinctively slid from their saddles. A party 
 of Turkomans, numbering several hundred, began to 
 form a wide circle around the platoon, flanking the 
 men from the Ural, to the right and left, in front and 
 rear. 
 
 "Ah! shoot them in the beard!" shouted the old 
 sergeant, and toppled over from his saddle. 
 
 " He's killed, brethren, he's killed! " And like a bag 
 another Cossack fell from his saddle. 
 
 " Keep straight, close together! Guard the horses;
 
 108 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 don't let go of your bridles! " roared the lame Cossack. 
 " Don't be afraid; we'll get out of this! " 
 The first shots were scarcely heard by the Cossacks. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE RESCUE. 
 
 THE reinforcements left the camp. The detachment 
 was dispatched to meet an emergency, but those com- 
 posing it did not know that the emergency had already 
 arisen. 
 
 It was supposed that the Cossacks had advanced 
 about twelve versts, perhaps more. At a distance of 
 five versts shots could be easily heard, especially with 
 the wind fair. The expedition had already marched 
 that distance and heard nothing, consequently every- 
 thing must be all right ahead of them. 
 
 That was the general opinion of the small expedition, 
 and therefore they advanced steadily without hurrying 
 in the least, saving the strength of both horses and 
 men all the more because marching in the deep sand, 
 in hot weather, is very laborious. 
 
 A squadron of Cossacks was in advance, followed by 
 a company of infantry, the latter keeping at a con- 
 siderable distance. The infantry does not fraternize 
 much with the horsemen. 
 
 "At any rate," said Major Pugovitzin, who led the 
 expedition, " as a reconnaissance it is not altogether 
 useless they have to be made; but altogether it seems 
 a piece of foolishness to me we are going for nothing. 
 They talk of a night attack the plague take them!
 
 THE RESCUE. 109 
 
 of a demonstration, supported by a strong force in 
 reserve. It's all stuff and nonsense. The whole uproar 
 was caused by Atam Kul and his companions. That 
 Persian was a cunning beast! " 
 
 " He's got his reward! " remarked Kustikof. 
 
 " Got his reward? Yes; but that was, after all, only 
 a lucky accident a bullet fired at random when it 
 was as dark as pitch. It was lucky we did not hit our 
 own men! " 
 
 " Golovin went in pursuit at once. He may catch up 
 with them, capture Atam Kul, rescue Petka. O God! 
 what would I not give to have that chance! " 
 
 "Would you give a quarter's salary?" Pugovitzin 
 asked, with a smile. 
 
 "All right! You are always joking, but, by God! I 
 do not take it that way. It is nice to be a Cossack, 
 a cavalryman! " 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " I should have set out at once, together with Golovin. 
 I should have searched every corner, examined every- 
 thing, and caught them. But when you are hampered 
 with infantry at two versts an hour! The Cossacks will 
 have finished everything without us before we get up 
 with them." 
 
 "Oh, no; they can't do much without us! " 
 
 "It's beastly luck! " 
 
 " Well, boy, we must have patience. What are you 
 stopping there for? Why is the fourth platoon lagging 
 behind? What are the non-commissioned officers 
 doing? " The captain halted his shaggy horse and 
 looked back at the rear of the column. 
 
 The tired soldiers hurried forward and closed up with 
 those in front. 
 
 "Eh, Proshka, you bandy-legged devil!" growled
 
 110 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Corporal Bubnof, " can't you keep your pipe going 
 while marching along?" 
 
 " I spilled my tobacco, uncle. In a minute I'll be up 
 with them." 
 
 " It is insupportable! " Kustikof muttered to himself. 
 
 " Wouldn't it be nice, you know," Pugovitzin resumed 
 the conversation a little later " wouldn't it be nice? 
 Natalia Martinovna is sitting there, killing herself it 
 is no joke, such a grief; not every mother could stand 
 it. She's lost all hope is in despair. All at once 
 a horseman on a tired, dusty horse rides up to the tent, 
 dismounts, and delivers to her the lost son. ' Take him 
 here he is, alive and well ! ' Do you know, it would be 
 well if there was some slight wound to show, in the 
 hand or on the shoulder not too dangerous and not 
 too painful plenty of blood that would serve as 
 decoration. Wouldn't it be nice? " And the captain 
 bent over from his horse and slapped the younger officer 
 on the shoulder, laughing joyously through the dense 
 clouds of tobacco-smoke from his cheap cigar. 
 
 "You are always joking it is very serious to me. 
 I grieve when I remember 
 
 " You're sorry; and do you think I am happy? Only, 
 all of you who were sitting around her there could 
 scarcely keep from whimpering, and making long faces 
 that did not help her. I know the little lady. I 
 knew her long ago. She can bear grief she has had 
 experience. She is stronger than any of you. Of 
 course, she was taken unawares by a terrible shock 
 but only wait; she will get over it. She will discover 
 more quickly than you what it is necessary to do and 
 how to proceed. She has no need of consoling words 
 or commiserative tears, and your long faces can do her 
 no good."
 
 THE RESCUE. Ill 
 
 Pugovitzin ceased talking, took several strong pulls 
 at his cigar, and flung the stump away into the sand. 
 
 " What is keeping our Cossacks back? They are 
 going very slowly," he continued, looking ahead attent- 
 ively from under the long visor of his cap. " Yes, it's 
 a foolish business; they'll not catch Atam Kul; he did 
 not start out to fall into our hands again. I know the 
 wolf; you'll not see the boy again. It was lucky the 
 mother was rescued in time! " 
 
 " Is there no hope? " Kustikof asked, or rather re- 
 marked mechanically. 
 
 " Oh, I don't say that anything may happen," said 
 Pugovitzin, shrugging his shoulders. "Look! Isn't 
 somebody coming back at a full gallop? " 
 
 " Yes; two men. What has happened? Do you hear 
 anything?" An alarmed expression overspread the 
 young officer's face. The soldiers had quickened their 
 steps; they were almost running. All weariness was 
 forgotten; they forgot they were wading ankle-deep in 
 sand. The whole company was now moving at a double- 
 quick, and many of them were looking to their guns 
 while running. 
 
 " Firing! " said Pugovitzin. 
 
 " They are shooting, boys; they are shooting. Our 
 Cossacks are hurrying up. What can it be? Now our 
 Cossacks are beginning to fire." 
 
 " That's a bad habit! Easy, brethren; there is some- 
 body tumbling he is off his horse! " 
 
 " Get along, get along! How heavy the firing is! " 
 
 " A falconet [native howitzer], I suppose." 
 
 While exchanging these remarks the soldiers had 
 regained their breath, and were now setting their 
 accouterments to rights and getting at their cartridge- 
 boxes.
 
 112 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Kustikof gave his horse the whip and hurried for- 
 ward, stirring up the unfortunate animal with his heels 
 and sword-scabbard at the same time. He did not see 
 or hear anything beyond the distant reports of gun- 
 shots fired by the squadron of Cossacks belonging to 
 the detachment, who had now halted along the summit 
 of a sandy ridge. The Cossacks could be seen to dis- 
 mount and then mount again, some moving a little to 
 the right and then back again, and once more forward 
 over the ridge. They were evidently undecided, and 
 waiting for the infantry to come up the favorite bul- 
 wark of the Cossack, when any affair seems to be too 
 much for him. 
 
 This bulwark, a handful of white blouses, numbering 
 about seventy, was rapidly approaching, and in this 
 movement, in contrast to those of the Cossacks, there 
 was nothing indecisive, nothing indicative of any doubt. 
 The white blouses knew where to go and what they 
 had to do. 
 
 "Don't get excited easy; we'll get there, if they 
 don't run away! " could be heard in the calm, reassur- 
 ing bass voice of Major Pugovitzin, who was just 
 lighting a new cigar, and, having no knife handy, care- 
 fully bit off the pointed end. At last the white blouses 
 reached the sandy ridge and could see everything. All 
 the hills before them were dotted with horsemen; 
 they were uniformly dressed in dark-red cloaks and 
 high black caps. Now they would gather in groups, 
 and then again deploy in skirmish-line, spurring their 
 long-legged horses, covered with blankets. There a 
 larger group gathered, and galloped along, with two 
 triangular ensigns fluttering above their heads. These 
 horsemen came forward at a full run, then, after vio- 
 lently pulling up their horses, retreated again faster
 
 THE RESCUE. 113 
 
 than they had come. Whenever a horseman halted, a 
 little white cloud of smoke puffed up, and the sharp 
 report of a gun could be heard. Here and there the 
 little white clouds are constantly puffing up, rising in 
 the wind and forming into long strips of mist, which 
 ranged themselves along the sandy ridges, gradually 
 rising higher and higher. 
 
 The natives all seemed to swarm in one direction; 
 they were fighting somebody there, but who it was 
 could not be seen. Beyond those hills their unseen 
 enemy must be hidden. 
 
 " Golovin is there with his platoon," said the Cossack 
 officer. " They are pressing him hard." 
 
 " We must drive them away from there at once! " 
 
 "It's dangerous there is such a crowd of them. 
 However, let us wait for the infantry. Those fellows 
 scatter so much, we can't hit anybody." 
 
 " Never fear just wait a moment." 
 
 The Cossacks were thus talking and consulting, with- 
 out any definite result, when the company came; then 
 they picked up courage and got into their saddles 
 again. The leader of the squadron accosted Pugovitzin : 
 
 " Good-day, Major! " bringing all five fingers to the 
 visor of his cap, and bowing not ungracefully from his 
 saddle. " The enemy is in very formidable numbers 
 some in sight and others still hidden. In view of this 
 inequality of forces, caution will have to be employed 
 in our movements; and furthermore I would suggest 
 
 " Bugler, sound the attack! " said Pugovitzin, without 
 paying any attention to the Cossack officer's flow of 
 fine words. 
 
 The bugler put the instrument to his mouth, but no 
 sound issued; it was choked up with sand. He blew 
 into the other end, coughed, and finally succeeded in
 
 114 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF 
 
 sounding the charge, which was repeated by the drums. 
 The attack began. 
 
 A few skirmishers, in pairs, ran ahead. It was a 
 strange sight, this handful of infantry advancing so 
 confidently against an enemy exceeding them tenfold 
 in strength. They formed into a small column at the 
 sound of some indistinct word of command, and 
 encouraged by two drums and the cracked bugle, the 
 white blouses went forward. 
 
 "Fire!" said Pugoyitzin without removing his cigar. 
 Some of the soldiers in line stepped forward, one even 
 sat down in the sand; they took aim, and with a sharp 
 report the first shot went forth from the " Berdankas " 
 (Berdan rifles); a second followed. The bullets were 
 whistling dismally through the air. 
 
 The squadron also moved, advancing at a walk, with- 
 out getting ahead of the infantry line. 
 
 " At the word of command from me, start off at a 
 gallop, but keep a sharp lookout," exclaimed the Cos- 
 sack commander, prancing showily in front of his line. 
 " If the command is ' Halt! ' you will at once fall back 
 upon our infantry support." 
 
 " He's in a sweat, brother," an infantryman whispered 
 to his neighbor. " He should wring out his shirt. 
 What is the use of giving instructions for running 
 away? " 
 
 The small detachment advanced farther and far- 
 ther, without stopping, unswervingly and irresistibly, 
 making straight for the center of the enemy now rally- 
 ing along the ridges; straight to where their masses 
 were densest, and where the two triangular ensigns 
 were waving. Behind this center lay the hills sur- 
 rounded by the Turkomans, and upon which thus far 
 their principal efforts had been directed.
 
 THE RESCUE. 115 
 
 From behind these hills a small number of men were 
 now making their appearance; they were leading their 
 horses by the bridles three and four to a man; the 
 others surrounded the horse-keepers in an open skirmish 
 line, keeping up a constant fire from their small car- 
 bines. The lame Cossack had heard the firing of his 
 rescuers, and had resolved to lead forth his platoon from 
 its defensive position. 
 
 At the sound of the first shots from the infantry the 
 Turkomans began to waver and to contract their wide 
 circle. Only occasionally their small bullets came 
 whistling along, striking the sand with a dull splash 
 not far from the column. A few wounded horses lay 
 struggling here and there, some of them striving to get 
 upon their legs, staggering along a few steps, and fall- 
 ing again; a few bodies of men, some flat on their backs, 
 some drawn up as in pain, were dyeing red the yellow 
 sand beneath them. Some horsemen galloped up to 
 these bodies, and bending from their saddles without 
 alighting, they snatched them up, throwing them on 
 the horses' croups, and then followed at a run their 
 already retreating companions. Riderless horses, with 
 saddles and trappings askew, were scattered over the 
 sand-hills, neighing loudly. A few men were sent in 
 pursuit of them, to catch them by the bridle, or simply 
 drive them after the others. 
 
 "Ah! if one might catch a couple of pairs of these 
 racers! " sighed one of the Cossacks. They looked after 
 them enviously, but did not venture to break from their 
 line for the purpose. Where would the Cossack be 
 with his shaggy little gelding, if he were to match 
 horse against horse with the Turkomans on their fiery, 
 marvelously trained racers that can jump a fourteen- 
 foot ditch or a wall the height of a man jump them as 
 
 8
 
 116 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 easily as if these formidable obstacles did not exist at 
 all. Fighting in organized bodies they were a match 
 for them, but singly the Cossacks stood no chance, and 
 they were fully justified in being careful. 
 
 " They worried you somewhat! " exclaimed Pugovitzin 
 on meeting Golovin, extending his hand to him. 
 
 "Yes, brother; thanks you have rescued me," said 
 the Cossack. " It looked squally for a time; our car- 
 tridges were giving out we thought the end was 
 near." 
 
 " Did you lose many? " 
 
 " Six, and ten horses; some killed, and some ran off. I 
 caught up with that cursed fellow. I had him almost 
 in my hands. I could have rescued Petka. Ah! fate! 
 fate!" And Golovin turned aside and wiped his eyes 
 with the sleeve of his blouse. 
 
 " I had already written hopefully," he continued; " and 
 now well, how is she? " 
 
 "Come back and you will see!" said Pugovitzin, 
 gruffly. 
 
 "In what order will the return march be made? 
 Have you any orders to give on that subject, Major? " 
 
 " You must furnish horses to carry the dead and the 
 wounded. What orders should there be?" the major 
 added, angrily, and then gave his command: 
 
 "With God, boys!" 
 
 The small detachment moved off in the direction of 
 the camp. The Turkomans did not pursue. They saw 
 the white blouses; they knew them of old, and con- 
 cluded to salute them only from a distance, sending a 
 few random bullets into the air.
 
 WAITING. 11? 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WAITING. 
 
 No sooner had Golovin's brief note been received in 
 the camp than it was shown to Natalia. 
 
 " He's found saved! " she exclaimed, breathing with 
 difficulty. " Had they carried him away? Tell me 
 why don't you speak? " She was seized by a nervous 
 tremor, her cheeks reddened, her eyes shone with a 
 vivid brilliancy; apparently beside herself, she rushed 
 for the entrance of the tent. 
 
 The doctor intercepted her. " Where are you going, 
 Natalia Martinovna? Wait, matushka; stop! What 
 
 " I am going myself. My horse for the love of God, 
 the horse! Saddle him, Dementy quick, quick!" 
 Natalia rushed about in the tent as if searching for 
 something. Her reason seemed to have left her, and 
 she was mechanically repeating, "The horse oh, 
 quick! quick! " The tone of her voice grew lower and 
 lower at last it was only a faint whisper; she stag- 
 gered the doctor supported her falling form and led 
 her to the bed. 
 
 Once more Natalia Martinovna had sunk into insen- 
 sibility. The terrible shock to her nerves caused by 
 the letter had provoked this violent outbreak; after the 
 excitement followed a complete collapse. When she 
 opened her eyes again, gazing stupidly about, the doctor 
 began to ply her with a flow of small talk which he 
 intended to be soothing. 
 
 " That was very good! " he said, patting her hand. 
 " You wanted to go yourself, of course; you ordered
 
 118 THE TWO-I. EGGED WOLF. 
 
 Dementy to saddle tip, but your poor Dementy " The 
 doctor did not go on; it struck him that to tell her at 
 that moment of the fate of the poor old man would be 
 altogether out of place. 
 
 " Golovin has only just got onto the trail," he con- 
 tinued. " Thanks be to God, he is chasing them now 
 and all will be well. At night they will return and 
 bring your Petka. How we shall watch you after this, 
 truly! There'll be an officer's guard before your tent; 
 it will be completely surrounded. But you must be 
 quiet now, our little dove lie still. I'll moisten 
 your head with vinegar again that does you good. 
 That's it! Karpof, have you got ready what I told 
 you to prepare? Bring it in, if it's ready." 
 
 " This minute, your honor; it will be ready in a 
 second," answered, from behind the tent, Karpof, the 
 soldier who had sprained himself at the wells, and who 
 had been detailed in old Dementy's place. 
 
 " You must drink a cup of hot tea with some red 
 wine in it. Here, I'll put it to your lips. That is well, 
 that's excellent! But now, what's this the eyes wet 
 again? It's a shame! Wait, I'll dry them." The doctor 
 drew from his pocket a dirty, frayed handkerchief, 
 looked at it, and hid it again in his pocket. That 
 wouldn't do; then he grasped the skirt of his blouse 
 that was still worse. " Ah! " he groaned, looking around 
 despairingly until he found a towel " comparatively " 
 clean, and gently passed a corner of it over the woman's 
 eyes, going on with his chattering: "The whole camp 
 is so sorry for you! The soldiers are quite melancholy, 
 and some of them quite furious. Nobody thinks of 
 anything but your misfortune. The general has sent 
 six times to inquire, and came twice himself. When I 
 passed Gorlastoi's tent I saw they were not playing
 
 WAITING. 119 
 
 cards what a convincing' sign of sympathy! Quietly, 
 now, my boy, quietly! " the doctor continued in a 
 whisper to Karpof, who came in a with a tray containing 
 a small copper teakettle and a glass with silver holder. 
 "'Sh! don't wake her, God bless her! Go, boy, and 
 tell them all around to keep perfectly quiet tell them 
 she has fallen asleep." 
 
 The doctor rose heavily from the bed, walked on his 
 tiptoes to the corner of the tent, let himself down cau- 
 tiously upon a folding-chair, threw a glance at his 
 patient, and with the greatest caution, in order to avoid 
 all rustling of the paper, he drew from his pocket and 
 unfolded a much-used, crumpled copy of the " Russian 
 Invalid," issued only seven months ago. 
 
 The whole camp was waiting with the greatest im- 
 patience for the return of Golovin with his platoon. 
 Every sand-hill the top of which afforded a wider view 
 was crowded with people on foot and mounted 
 and all kept their eyes fixed in the direction from 
 which the Cossacks must first come within the scope 
 of vision. 
 
 The sun was mercilessly pouring down its hottest 
 rays, but no attention was paid to that no one thought 
 of seeking the shade of the tents. On the small bas- 
 tions which had been completed, on the parapets of the 
 new fortification everywhere the white blouses of 
 the soldiers and tunics of the officers could be seen, and 
 from minute to minute new watchers joined the various 
 groups. 
 
 " Well, how is it? " they asked, blinking their eyes 
 and shading them from the sun with their hands, while 
 glancing at the undulating horizon. " Do you see 
 nothing? " 
 
 " There's nothing to be seen."
 
 120 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " They must have gone far " 
 
 " Will they get him, or not? " 
 
 " Oh, heavenly Queen! wouldn't it " 
 
 " If they bring him there would be such a thanks- 
 giving service! " 
 
 " But how is she herself? Have you seen her, boys?" 
 
 " Look, look! That is dust it is moving; don't you 
 see? " 
 
 " Captain, lend me your field-glass for a minute I 
 just want one glance, for just one second! " 
 
 " They are coming! " 
 
 " No it's nothing. The wind is stirring up the sand. 
 See it has subsided again, and there is nothing in 
 sight! " 
 
 " They'll not turn back before night that is sure." 
 
 Thus desultory conversation went on upon the sand- 
 hills of Khala-at, and on the parapets of the newly 
 erected fort of St. George. The whole day was con- 
 sumed in this wearisome, impatient expectation. The 
 sun was again preparing to take its final plunge beyond 
 the western horizon when the wind began to blow, and 
 the distance became obscured with clouds of dust. It 
 was growing dark, and still Golovin, with his platoon, 
 had not returned. From Pugovitzin, also, there had 
 been no news. 
 
 " They must have gone far, indeed! " was the general 
 opinion in the camp. Everybody was getting uneasy. 
 Could anything serious have happened to them? 
 
 Fires began to glimmer here and there, when the 
 sound of snorting horses was borne faintly upon the 
 wind evoking an answer from the picket-ropes in 
 camp. " Ours " were coming at last. But no singing 
 could be heard. It was not customary with the Tur- 
 kestan battalions to return from an expedition without
 
 THE NEW YORK HERALD CORRESPONDENT. 121 
 
 song and beating of drums if they had been success- 
 ful. 
 
 " It's evident that they have failed they're not up 
 to singing." That was the opinion formed by the 
 camp. All became sad, voices were lowered, the 
 crowds stood waiting, looking out into the darkness. 
 
 Yonder, between the sand-hills, somber masses were 
 moving slowly; some low the infantry; and the 
 others looming up higher the cavalry. Smaller 
 particles were separating from the mass and approach- 
 ing more rapidly. The challenge of the outer pickets 
 was heard, and all rushed from the camp to meet the 
 returning column. 
 
 First came Major Pugovitzin with his company, then 
 came the Cossacks who had accompanied him, and last 
 came Golovin with his platoon, and he proceeded 
 directly to the general's headquarters. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE NEW YORK HERALD CORRESPONDENT. 
 
 THE round bastions of the new fort loomed up lonely, 
 melancholy, and uninviting. Surrounded with dunes of 
 deadly drifting sand, Khala-at resembled some vast 
 ruined monument or burial-place. 
 
 The handful of people left in the fort were looking 
 dejectedly, from the top of the ramparts, into the 
 desert into the endless distance, where the haze 
 now hid the last stragglers in the rear of the advancing 
 column. 
 
 All was sad and quiet within the fortification; the
 
 122 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 faces of all were clouded frowning. The greatest 
 disgust, burning anger, and discontent with a blind 
 fate were expressed in the dark sunburned faces of 
 these men who thus far had not been subjected to any 
 special physical hardship; but they had suffered the 
 greatest moral hardship, in their eyes, by being com- 
 pelled to "remain " while the others " went on." 
 
 And where had the others gone ? It was possible 
 that all those who had marched would find their graves 
 in the sandy deserts stretching away to the southwest, 
 in that terrible region to which that ominous name of 
 " Man's Perdition " had been given; it was possible that 
 those graves would be preceded by long days and 
 weeks of cruel privation and suffering all that was 
 possible. Nevertheless, those who departed were 
 happy, looking ahead full of confidence, brimming over 
 with life, energy sparkling in their eyes. Those who 
 remained looked upon themselves as already buried 
 alive. 
 
 The traces of the vast camp, which the sand had not 
 yet obliterated, only added to the general picture of 
 loneliness. 
 
 There were the well-beaten squares where the tents 
 had stood; there on that long streak, where the rem- 
 nants of horse-feed and droppings are scattered about, 
 were the picket-ropes of the cavalry; there were the 
 wheel-tracks of the cannon. In the hollows the soil was 
 blackened with cinders and smoke-begrimed fragments 
 of broken-down ovens upon which the soldieT's' unin- 
 viting food had been cooked. Shreds and pieces of felt 
 and straw mats, ends of rope, pieces of paper, and 
 colored rags strewed the sand. Parts of broken dishes 
 shone in the sunlight like diamonds. Two or three 
 ragged natives roamed about over the vast space like
 
 THE NEW YORK HERALD CORRESPONDENT. 123 
 
 jackals, bending over and picking up what seemed still 
 useful to them, glancing once in awhile furtively at 
 the fort like thieves, and then resuming their search. 
 
 About twenty camels, left behind on account of their 
 feebleness, could be seen on the sand-hills, seeking in 
 vain for food, be it only a few solitary dry blades of 
 grass. All the immediate vicinity of the fort has long 
 since been browsed by their predecessors nothing 
 more can be found. To go farther afield is dangerous. 
 Packs of wolves, equally hungry and with scent sharp- 
 ened by fasting, are roving there, attracted by the odors 
 arising from carcasses of camels and horses lying about 
 in the sand. Not a few of the latter fell victims to 
 hunger and over-exertion, and now inclosed the fort at 
 Khala-at with a circle of fetid, tainted air. 
 
 This was the third day since the white blouses went 
 away, the third day since the pillars of dust long visi- 
 ble along the horizon had subsided. There was no 
 news from any direction, only isolation and discontent. 
 The days were provokingly long ; it seemed as if a 
 whole week could be made of one of them. 
 
 This day was over at last. Darkness settled down 
 upon the dismal surroundings ; fires were lighted in the 
 fort. Sleep would be welcome now, to pass away the 
 slowly creeping time unconsciously, but there is no 
 sleep. Gloom weighs upon every heart and drives 
 away refreshing slumber. It is the same as in day- 
 light on the ramparts still linger the silent, restless 
 shadows. 
 
 There was no meat the last was issued long ago. 
 Of hard bread there was still enough, but it began to 
 look less and less appetizing. But all this would be 
 considered no great trouble, or something to laugh at, 
 if only the longed-for relief force would hurry up if
 
 124 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 they could only hear the gloriously welcome order to 
 follow up the expedition. 
 
 " Isn't it dark ? " said one of the sentries, as he came 
 face to face with his neighbor on the adjoining beat, at 
 the corner where the cannon was planted. 
 
 " Very dark ! " the other assented. Each turned his 
 back to the other, and again paced along the ramparts. 
 When they met again the first one remarked, " Listen! 
 brother; do you hear nothing ? " 
 
 " Let's look," said the other. They did not separate 
 again, but stood still in silence, listening intently. One 
 of them sat down in order to bring the nearest sand- 
 hills into relief against the sky. 
 
 " Hoof-beats on the sand," said one. 
 
 "Three horses running they are coming this way. 
 What can it be, coming from that side?" 
 
 " Some roving band 
 
 " No ! They are heading straight for the fort. It 
 must be the mail, or some courier." 
 
 " Look ! " 
 
 Not far away three dark shadows could be distin- 
 guished; two looming up high, the third lower. The 
 first were horsemen, the other a led-animal loaded with 
 something. The muzzles of carbines stood out from 
 the shoulders of the riders. It was impossible to dis- 
 tinguish their costumes in the darkness. 
 
 "Who goes there?" came the loud challenge from the 
 top of the corner bastion. " Who goes there? " was 
 repeated from the parapet, upon which, in addition to 
 the sentries, a crowd of curious spectators appeared, 
 brought to their feet by the noise of the challenge. 
 
 The riders halted at a distance of about twenty 
 paces. One of them dismounted; the other remained 
 in the saddle.
 
 THE NEW YORK HERALD CORRESPONDENT. 125 
 
 "We your men ours good men. Hold on; don't 
 shoot, please! " hurriedly shouted the one who had dis- 
 mounted. 
 
 " Nous sonunes vos amis! " came in a loud, determined 
 voice from the rider on the horse. " Eh bien! Ou est 
 monsieur Ic clicf du camp ? Sharip !" he turned to his 
 companion, now speaking Russian "fire, tea the 
 bottle and the blankets! " Having given these orders, 
 the horseman deliberately dismounted, stretched his 
 legs, and sat down on the sand. With slow, precise, and 
 measured movements he extracted a cigar, and with a 
 knife taken from a pocket-case cut off the end, lighted a 
 match that flamed up in the darkness, and for a moment 
 illuminated the end of a nose, a reddish mustache, and 
 a closely cropped, neatly trimmed beard, and then 
 began to smoke, sending forth into the nocturnal air 
 the aromatic perfume of a costly Havana. 
 
 The soldiers wondered, " What funny creature have 
 we here ? What was he jabbering about? It must have 
 been German." 
 
 " Didn't you understand, Vaska? " 
 
 "To the devil with him!" said Vaska, shaking his 
 head. " Such balderdash that nobody can understand! 
 However, boys, this must be reported to the colonel, 
 all the same." 
 
 But there was no necessity for a report. Several 
 officers had already emerged from the fort, and now 
 gathered around the new arrivals. 
 
 " What is going on there? " exclaimed the colonel's 
 voice; and the soldiers respectfully made way for him. 
 
 A half-hour later the new-comer was seated upon a 
 carpet in one of the officers' tents, a little roomier than 
 the others. The bright blaze of a camp-fire fell full 
 upon him as he sat there with a glass in his hand, tell-
 
 126 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 ing his adventures, laughing and joking merrily with 
 the officers gathered around him. The conversation 
 was carried on in French and German; of Russian he 
 knew only such words as he used in giving orders to 
 his servant a native Kirghiz from Perovsk. In addi- 
 tion to these words he knew " How many versts? " 
 " Eat," and " Wake early," and only very lately his com- 
 mand of the Russian language had been strengthened 
 by the acquisition of the sentence, "Oh, it's hot!" 
 Beyond these phrases he declined to extend his studies. 
 
 He was dressed in a suit of light gray, and wore a 
 hat of American pattern, with a wide neck-shield; high, 
 thick-soled top-boots, fastened with straps above the 
 knees, completed his costume. Over one shoulder hung 
 a short carbine (said to shoot about forty times per 
 minute); a pair of revolvers showed from his belt, and 
 over the other shoulder he carried a case with field- 
 glasses and a small note-book, also with case and strap. 
 
 His low, broad-shouldered form bespake uncommon 
 agility, endurance, and strength; his gray eyes looked 
 about him calmly and pleasantly; the cut of his mus- 
 tache and beard proclaimed him a "real Yankee." 
 
 In answer to a question from the colonel command- 
 ing the fort at Khala-at, he introduced himself as " Mr. 
 Henry Blake, correspondent of the New York Herald." 
 He related how he alone, with his Kirghiz servant, had 
 traversed more than a thousand miles of the steppe, 
 guided only by his map and compass, reposing but little 
 confidence in the local knowledge of his guide; how he 
 had finally succeeded in reaching Khala-at, hoping to 
 find there the whole Russian expedition and its com- 
 mander. He was very sorry indeed that the column 
 had already set out upon its march; but it did not 
 matter he felt sure of overtaking them before long. In
 
 THE NEW YORK HERALD CORRESPONDENT. 127 
 
 the morning at daylight he would set out in pursuit by 
 the same means which had carried him thus far. 
 
 "Well, no, brother," said the colonel, in Russian, but 
 under his breath; "we will not let you go from here 
 all by yourself. Who knows him, and who wants to be 
 held responsible for such a goose?" 
 
 " To your health! " said Mr. Henry Blake, smiling as if 
 in answer to the colonel's suppressed remark, and, with 
 a polite bow, swallowed a dram of rum from his silver 
 traveling-cup. 
 
 The decision of the commanding officer that the cor- 
 respondent must be detained at the fort until the com- 
 mander of the expedition could be communicated with, 
 and an answer received with instructions, was made 
 known to the traveler, with many conciliatory phrases 
 to sweeten the bitter pill; and .he was asked to accept 
 the hospitality of the fort, where everything that might 
 add to his comfort would be at his service. 
 
 Mr. Henry Blake seemed slightly disconcerted when 
 first learning this decision, and his brows contracted 
 into a frown, but he soon brightened up and regained 
 his former joyousness, continuing to relate episodes 
 from his trying and adventurous journeys. 
 
 It was time to go to bed. The American firmly 
 declined the offer of a tent and folding-bed, saying 
 that he had become accustomed to his blanket. After 
 talking to his native servant, he stretched himself upon 
 the sand, smoked a final cigar, made entries in his note- 
 book, and was soon soundly asleep, breaking the still- 
 ness of the night with a healthy, resounding snore. 
 
 In the morning there was no correspondent of the 
 New York Herald in the fort. He had departed an 
 hour before dawn in the direction of the advancing 
 expedition. For the commander of the fort he left a
 
 128 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 brief but very cordial note, saying that he wished to 
 express his thanks for the attention and hospitality 
 shown him at the fort, and hoping to see his Khala-at 
 friends again before long; if not sooner, then surely at 
 Khiva. 
 
 " He is the devil ! " declared the colonel, after reading 
 the note. 
 
 "Smart! " remarked one of the officers. 
 
 " Free as a bird, the lucky fellow! " enviously sighed 
 another. 
 
 " If they catch him on the road they will impale him, 
 or do something worse with him! " gloomily prophesied 
 a third. But the colonel decided that there could be 
 nothing worse than to be impaled. To this they all 
 consented. They conversed wearily for a little while 
 longer, and then surrendered themselves to their cus- 
 tomary occupation to fret, to chafe, to gaze into the 
 distance, and to wait for the relieving-force. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE WHITE BLOUSES. 
 
 FOR many days now the white blouses have been 
 marching through the drifting sands. Ahead goes the 
 advance-guard, mostly Cossacks, and a few infantry- 
 men. They are marching briskly, with no perceptible 
 signs of weariness, but closer observation will reveal 
 the haggard faces, the emaciated horses, through whose 
 sides the ribs are so plainly visible the effect of insuf- 
 ficiency of both food and water. Behind the advance-
 
 THE WHITE BLOUSES. 129 
 
 guard the main body of the column drags itself along. 
 The dust hangs over it in clouds. It is a silent march 
 one hears no tramp of steed or step of man, nor 
 clatter of wheels, as the cannon are dragged along. 
 The fine, friable sand absorbs all sounds, and only the 
 heavy breathing and the tired snort of weary horses are 
 heard in this moving mass of dust. 
 
 The soldier, small of stature, but hard as flint, 
 marches firmly, though it is soft underfoot; with his 
 back a little bent, for upon this back he carries his 
 knapsack containing his baggage, bread for three 
 days, spare boots, an overcoat rolled tightly, the whole 
 weighing between fifty and sixty pounds and in addi- 
 tion he has two cartridge-boxes at his belt, the Berdan 
 rifle in his hands, a shelter-tent, and a tin canteen covered 
 with felt and filled with water. But it is nothing! 
 Their backs have long since grown as accustomed to 
 such a burden as the camel to its pack. How many 
 thousand versts have not the white blouses measured 
 under this load! They never count the versts how 
 many they have covered or how many are still before 
 them. 
 
 At night he gets no sleep it's all right! There is 
 very little to eat that's nothing! There is no water 
 that's nasty; but, well, one gets over it! 
 
 When the soldier's strength gives out he dies without 
 a murmur. The others bury him, and go on. From 
 their mouths comes not a single reproach; not a single 
 regret, not a single complaint is heard. 
 
 With the Cossack it is quite a different affair. He is 
 always fretting for his family, his fireside, or his home 
 station. Say to a Cossack, "Would you rather go home 
 than go on this march? Stay behind, brother; go home! " 
 and the Cossack will shine all over with gladness; a
 
 130 THE TWO-LEGGED WOl.F. 
 
 broad smile will spread all over his face. He will hurry 
 his preparations as if everything was burning under 
 his fingers. 
 
 Say the same to a white blouse; tell him, "You'll be 
 left behind," and the poor fellow will look as miserable 
 as if cold water had been thrown over him. He will 
 not eat nor drink, but only fret and look with burning 
 envy upon the fortunate ones who are preparing for a 
 long march. 
 
 Such are our white blouses. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 TRACKS. 
 
 A SMALL band of rovers of the steppe, consisting of 
 about twenty horses and ten riders, so that each person 
 had two animals, had found its way to a position be- 
 tween the fort at Khala-at and the Russian column, 
 and was now following in its tracks. 
 
 These were no dangerous antagonists; they were 
 simply cowardly wolves, ready to swerve from their 
 road at the least sign of danger to themselves. 
 
 They were following the tracks, reckoning that some 
 kind of booty must certainly fall to their share. A 
 camel may be left behind or fall from exhaustion, and 
 a bale may be thrown away, or something may be 
 lost or, better still, a straggling man may lose his 
 way and afford them a chance to throw the noose of their 
 long ropes over his head. 
 
 The band moved along at a trot, in open order; they
 
 TRACKS. 131 
 
 did not hurry much, not wishing to overtake the 
 column, nor did they linger, for fear of being caught up 
 with by somebody else. 
 
 They looked sharply ahead and to either side, but 
 most frequently to the rear. They saw before them 
 the trail of the marching column, covering a wide 
 track. There had been no desert-winds to cover this 
 terrible trail with sand, and an appalling picture of 
 human suffering and endiirance thus unrolled itself 
 before the eyes of these robbers. 
 
 In dark, putrescent heaps the carcasses of fallen 
 camels dotted the reddish sand. They came upon 
 horses barely able to keep upon their legs, but stand- 
 ing motionless, ready from minute to minute to sink 
 down into the burning sand never to rise again. The 
 eyes of these unfortunate animals had already lost 
 their living luster; they gazed dumbly into the distance. 
 They never moved their heads nor pricked up their 
 ears when the robbers rode up to them in the hope of 
 profiting by something that was left upon them. Fre- 
 quently the first touch of the robber would cause the 
 animal to sink to the earth. 
 
 The plunderers also found traces of what must have 
 been gigantic fires. They could see large black patches 
 from afar, and the wind drove before it ashes and 
 charred particles. It was evident that these fires were 
 never built for warming the men or cooking their food. 
 Sometimes the material had not been entirely con- 
 sumed, and then they saw shreds of burned blankets, 
 ends of rope, shapeless, half-melted pieces of iron. 
 The white blouses burned, without exception, all that 
 the surviving camels could not carry all that ought 
 to have been thrown away. They were told that every 
 little thing, every trifle falling into the hands of the 
 
 9
 
 132 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 enemy would be considered a trophy, and the white 
 blouses never leave trophies to the enemy. 
 
 "Ah! the devils, the dogs!" exclaimed one of the 
 robbers. " They have burned everything, so as to 
 leave us nothing! " And he flung to the ground a worth- 
 less rag of half -burned cloth he had just picked up. 
 
 " How many camels have fallen! Allah, Allah! " re- 
 marked another. " Yesterday I went ahead a little, to 
 the top of a hill, where I could see the caravans march- 
 ing. How many there were! " 
 
 " Yes," said a third, coming up. " For three hours long 
 the road is covered with them. If only half of them 
 get to the Amu Daria, a hundred boats would not set 
 them across the river." 
 
 " They will not get to the water! " gruffly observed 
 an old man in a ragged cloak, and a high shaggy cap 
 upon his head. " They can't get there. At the wells 
 there is water for a hundred stomachs, but they number 
 thousands. They don't even know where the wells 
 are." 
 
 " I'm not sure of that," another broke in, shaking his 
 head incredulously. " They drove Sadik and all of our 
 men from the first wells they must have known all 
 about them. I have heard they have hollow tubes 
 through which everything can be seen for a thousand 
 versts; and they have books in which everything is 
 written down." 
 
 "Behind us is Allah, behind them is Satan! "said 
 the old man. " Allah is stronger than Satan. He knows 
 that we are now finding plenty of fallen camels and 
 horses, and soon we shall meet fallen men." 
 
 " I see new tracks here! " exclaimed one of the band 
 who had been searching more to the right than any of 
 them and was now galloping up. He pointed at the
 
 TRACKS. 133 
 
 sand. " See there; those passed by long ago, yester- 
 day, but these went only to-day. There are many of 
 the others you can't count them; of these there are 
 only twelve tracks three horses passed here, two 
 under saddle and one led by the bridle. There are 
 their feet. There are only two of them, and they are 
 by themselves, not with the others; we are ten." 
 
 "We are ten," was repeated by several other voices. 
 The tandits understood perfectly well what their com- 
 panion meant when he said, "We are ten! " 
 
 "We'll not catch up with them! " said the old man. 
 " Our horses are poor, but theirs run well; look at their 
 long steps! " 
 
 "Ah! if we had only seen them sooner! " 
 
 "Ten wolves to one tiger is not enough! " the old 
 man again remarked. 
 
 " In the evening you will know what the day has 
 been! " sententiously observed he who had first dis- 
 covered the new tracks. 
 
 " Let's follow them! " And the whole band crowded 
 together and much increased their speed. 
 
 The wolves were following in the tracks of the tiger. 
 The tracks were made by three horses of the corre- 
 spondent of the New York Herald and his servant. Mr. 
 Henry Blake did not at that moment suspect that the 
 pack of wolves was chasing him.
 
 134 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ADAM KRILGAN. 
 
 THE white blouses had reached Adam Krilgan. At 
 this place the sand-hills inclosed some wells scattered 
 over a wide basin in their midst. 
 
 A stifling, dry heat, like that of a burning oven, sim- 
 mered in this basin. At its very bottom could be seen, 
 like black dots, the small apertures of the wells. There 
 were not many of them and they were deep and narrow. 
 The water could be obtained only by lowering buckets 
 down into their deep cavity with long ropes a tedious 
 and tiresome method. 
 
 A thousand thirsting beings had come to these wells. 
 Drink, drink was the one prevailing thought of all. 
 "Water" was the only word pronounced by these dry, 
 withered tongues. But the water was obtained only 
 drop by drop. 
 
 The wells were guarded like sanctuaries; a strong 
 watch was set over them. The regular turn in drink- 
 ing, once established, was never changed for anybody 
 or anything. The general and the meanest soldier 
 stood equals in their turn. If anybody's life had 
 depended upon a hair, if it had depended upon a single 
 drop of water given out of his regular turn, it would 
 not have been given, because the lives of all were in 
 the same position. 
 
 But, in spite of all, these precious weighed and meas- 
 ured drops were not sufficient; the wells contained less 
 water than had been anticipated. 
 
 It was difficult to recognize as water the fluid that
 
 ADAM KRILGAN. 135 
 
 came out of these wells. Dark yellow, thick, and with 
 an offensive putrid flavor, the water was consumed 
 with eagerness, and even the moisture adhering to the 
 bottoms of the vessels was carefully licked up. In one 
 of the water-holes a dead dog had been found. The 
 disgusting putrescent. swollen carcass of the animal 
 when thrown upon the sand tainted the air around. 
 Instinctively the men turned away from the well thus 
 defiled; but thirst soon conquered their disgust, and 
 they drank the fetid water. For a full glass of that 
 water they would have given all they possessed. In a 
 long, faltering line the men stood like shadows for 
 more than ten hours about the wells, waiting their 
 turn. They knew that they could not lose their turn. 
 Officers with lists of names in their hands regulated 
 the issue, and whoever was sleeping when his time came 
 was sure to be called. But still there prevailed an 
 unconscious dread, because they all knew that these 
 wells were their only sources of life ; without them 
 there was only inevitable death they were no longer 
 strong enough to go back. 
 
 These exhausted men, tortured by a thirst of two 
 days, could not retrace the road over which they had 
 come, and whoever would drop by the way would 
 never again rise upon his feet. They all knew this, 
 very well. 
 
 The whole expedition had not advanced to Adam 
 Krilgan at once. Only the infantry was there. The 
 Cossacks with their horses were left temporarily at the 
 first wells, and were to follow only when the infantry 
 column was ready to push on farther. If both had 
 come here together the place would once more have 
 earned its terrible name of Adam Krilgan (Man's 
 Perdition).
 
 136 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Suddenly a cry arose a cry full of despair, before 
 the terror of which the eyes of all grew dark. 
 
 "The cavalry is coming! There they are in the 
 sand-hills! " 
 
 Another thousand thirsty people, and as many horses 
 barely able to keep their legs for want of water. These 
 new-comers depended upon these wells of Adam 
 Krilgan they must drink themselves, they must 
 water their horses, while those who had come here two 
 days before had not yet all been supplied! 
 
 The unexpected arrival of the cavalry was some- 
 body's fatal blunder. 
 
 A panic quickly began to spread in the camp a 
 panic which might result in general demoralization. 
 
 Driven by the instinct of self-preservation, with arms 
 in their hands, the men might fall upon each other to 
 obtain water. The strong would have slain the weak, 
 the subordinate would in such a death-struggle refuse 
 to recognize his superior all discipline would have 
 vanished like smoke in the air, and the precincts of 
 Adam Krilgan would have presented so dreadful a 
 picture of human delirious fury that all legends of dis- 
 asters happening there in the past would have paled 
 into insignificance before the present. 
 
 All this might have occurred if the people concerned 
 had been different; but these were battalions of white 
 blouses they knew how to perish without losing their 
 human dignity. 
 
 An extraordinary council of war was called. An old 
 gray-haired man, whose name now graces the most 
 glorious pages of the history of Russian arms, was at 
 the head of this council.
 
 DOSTCHAK AND HIS BOTTLE. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 DOSTCHAK AND HIS BOTTLE. 
 
 ONCE more, as he did that other time before Atam 
 Kill's examination, Dostchak passed through the whole 
 bivouac, and directed his steps to the general's head- 
 quarters. 
 
 In making out the lists for the turns at the wells the 
 poor natives accompanying the column had been for- 
 gotten. With baked lips and sunken eyes, bereft of all 
 strength, and voiceless, many of them had already sunk 
 into the sand in their death-agony. " Su, su! " (water) 
 in the shrillest whisper was all that could be heard of 
 their struggle. 
 
 Staggering, and falling more than once, Dostchak 
 went on to the general to address him in behalf of his 
 unfortunate countrymen. 
 
 " Back! " shouted the sentry, standing in his way. 
 
 "Let me go, please, let me go! " begged Dostchak, 
 striving to turn aside the gun of the man guarding the 
 approach. 
 
 "Back!" the sentry said again only not quite so 
 emphatically and crossly as the first time. 
 
 "You let me go man lives; you no let go man 
 dies! " said the native, seating himself in the sand at the 
 very feet of the sentry. In this movement there was 
 so much resolution expressed to wait until his object 
 was gained, in the glance of his old eyes there was 
 such a sparkle of life, such persuasion as to the neces- 
 sity of his seeing whom he came to see, that the soldier 
 put by his gun and asked, " What do you want? "
 
 138 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Another soldier came out of the tent. Some one 
 questioned Dostchak, and the general stepped forward. 
 
 "To the northward from here over there," Dost- 
 chak told the general " with a good horse one hour's 
 ride there are other wells. You do not know them, 
 but I know. I remember. I recognize this place. 
 Long, long ago I was here. That is true there must 
 be other wells. Tell, Genderal, tell your soldiers to 
 come after me. I'll go first. I lead them to the water. 
 Here there is little water many men. Some people 
 here, other people there enough water for all. Listen 
 to me! Tell your soldiers to follow old Dostchak. But 
 now give water to my people they die. Only give 
 orders to rub their lips with a wet cloth. Genderal, 
 take pity on them! " Thus spoke the old man, now ris- 
 ing from his knees and then getting down again ; and at 
 the same time two others of the natives crawled up 
 from behind the strongest among them and, raising 
 themselves upon their elbows, they looked at the 
 general as hungry, perishing dogs look at their master. 
 
 " I have not yet drank myself," calmly spoke the 
 general. " I will give you my portion when my turn 
 comes; I can get no other water for you." 
 
 The soldier on guard suddenly staggered; the gun 
 fell from his hands he took another step and fell to 
 the ground. He had been attacked by sunstroke. 
 
 "Water, quick! water!" shouted one of the officers, 
 running up. " On his temples and into his mouth! " 
 
 Where was there any water to be got? A strange 
 demand, indeed, which was made mechanically, uncon- 
 sciously, under the impulse of the moment. The 
 speaker himself became confused at his mistake and 
 turned away. Then Natalia Martinovna appeared, God 
 only knew whence, entirely unexpected to all, and
 
 DOSTCHAK AND HIS BOTTLE. 139 
 
 stooped over the fallen man. She held in her hand a 
 small round-bottomed bottle.* From it she moistened 
 a handkerchief and laid it upon the soldier's head. 
 Then she forced open his clinched teeth and poured a 
 few drops from the bottle. The dying natives close 
 by saw the water sparkling as the sunlight struck the 
 greenish glass. Gathering their last strength, they 
 wriggled up to the sister of mercy and convulsively 
 seized her dress. Some soldiers rushed up to release 
 her. 
 
 " Hold on! " Natalia said, calmly. " There is a drop 
 left for them; they do not need much only hold their 
 hands so that they can not grasp the bottle. That's it! " 
 The soldiers kept a firm hold of the natives' hands until 
 Natalia had poured into their mouths what was left in 
 the bottle. Left to themselves they would have been 
 ready to crush the neck of the saving vessel with their 
 teeth, or to tear the bottle from her hands. 
 
 The natives wept, and kissed the tracks left in the 
 sand by the woman's feet. The soldiers crossed them- 
 selves reverently. 
 
 The ends of the thin muslin kerchief which covered 
 Natalia's head fluttered in the wind, standing out 
 from her shoulders. In the terrible heat a trembling 
 mist obscured vision and gave strange outlines to 
 objects. It must have been from these causes that 
 these handkerchief -ends appeared to all those present 
 like a pair of shining wings. 
 
 It was impossible to ascertain on the spot the truth 
 or falsehood of what Dostchak had told the general 
 concerning some other wells. Nor was it advisable to 
 order at once a part of the command to proceed to 
 
 * Such bottles are used to keep "holy water "in. Natalia 
 must have carried one with her.
 
 140 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 them. He had been there long- ago. He said himself 
 that many years had passed by since then. The wells 
 might no longer exist though they once had been there. 
 When the old man was informed how matters stood he 
 exclaimed : " Give me a horse, Genderal; a good horse. 
 See, here I have a bottle! " and he drew from the inside 
 of his cloak a felt-covered bottle. 
 
 "You see," he continued, "this bottle is empty. 
 Look for yourself there is not a drop in it. Oh, if 
 there was only a little! I will go alone; if the Tur- 
 komans do not kill me there at those other wells, 
 I'll come back and bring you this bottle full. Then, 
 then you will send the other men after me. Will you 
 send them?" 
 
 It was impossible to object to such a proposition. 
 They gave Dostchak a horse and he rode away. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 AT THE OTHER WELLS. 
 
 THE sandy desert lay before him in deathlike soli- 
 tude when Dostchak set out from the camp. The roar 
 and noise of the bivouac had been swallowed up com- 
 pletely by the sand-hills behind him. His worn-out 
 horse, though a good one, went along slowly under his 
 rider, not minding the kicking of heels against his thin 
 sides, nor the strokes of the whip dealt him by the 
 impatient native. 
 
 Carefully and anxiously Dostchak examined his sur- 
 roundings they seemed all alike. One sand-hill was
 
 AT THE OTHER WELLS. 141 
 
 followed by another, exactly alike ; each wavelike ridge 
 a repetition of its fellow it looked as if they had all 
 been cast in the same mold. In sharp contrast with the 
 reddish-yellow sand, the grayish-blue cloudless sky 
 hung over it. Desolation and emptiness on earth, and 
 the same in the sky not a cloud, not a bird. Why 
 should independent creatures direct their flight to this 
 region of death? With a scarcely perceptible rustle 
 some large-headed lizards scurried over the sand 
 they do not need water. They saw the man passing 
 by they looked at him, but did not hide themselves. 
 " And what brings you here? " the reptiles probably 
 thought. "We have come across many a bone while 
 burrowing in the sand horses' bones, men's bones, 
 and camels' bones; perhaps you want to add some- 
 thing to those bones? " 
 
 " Hai'da, hai'da! " Dostchak shouted to his horse. 
 "We sha'n't get to the water very soon at this gait." 
 The old man was not at all pleased with the looks of 
 the country. It did not seem the same as he remem- 
 bered it. Over there on that hill there used to be a 
 large white rock. Where is it now? It must have been 
 covered by the sand. There ought to be a trail right 
 under that mound, but it is not there. " Why should I 
 not find them? " the old man muttered, uneasily, and 
 looked back. The track of his horse reached back far 
 far into the distance, where the haze swallowed it up. 
 He must have traveled five versts perhaps only half 
 the road remained to be covered. 
 
 With nothing in sight to attract his attention, 
 
 Dostchak looked for his bottle it was there. He 
 
 felt the saddle behind him there was the rope, 
 
 everything in order. He glanced down at the horse 
 
 it bore a Kirghiz saddle, the bit and bridle were
 
 142 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 of common make. As to himself his cloak was 
 the same as any Turkoman's; so was his sheepskin 
 cap, and the sword sticking in his sash. " It is well 
 that I am rigged out in this way; if I should meet 
 any Turkomans they'll take me for one of their own 
 people 'sh!" At that very moment two horse- 
 men made their appearance climbing over a ridge near 
 by. They were talking and not looking around; and 
 there was another emerging from behind a sand-hill. 
 Farther on still there was a group of them. Dostchak 
 went along quietly as if he did not feel the slightest 
 interest in the others, though he listened intently. 
 
 "We went to look at the Russians," said one of the 
 horsemen, "but we didn't go very close; they have 
 some cursed guns that carry a long distance. We 
 could not see much." 
 
 "I saw the cannon," replied the other; "they glis- 
 tened in the sun, so I could count them. They have 
 not many of them; our Khan has more." 
 
 "Our Khan has more! " muttered Dostchak, who had 
 come up unperceived. The Turkomans turned about 
 and looked at him sharply. 
 
 "Is it long since you watered your horse? "one of 
 them accosted Dostchak. 
 
 " A long time before dawn. I thought I would 
 water again over there, and find our people, but the 
 Russians are there, and I had to go on without water. 
 May Allah send every evil down upon their heads! My 
 stallion is almost spent. Well, all right; I'll water him 
 at Alti-Kuduk. Are you long from there?" 
 
 " Since noon. Where do you belong? " 
 
 " I belong to God's men," Dostchak replied, evasively. 
 
 They went along silently. Dostchak strove to keep 
 up with them; he knew where they were going just
 
 AT THE OTHER WELLS. 143 
 
 where he wanted to go. He only thought of one thing 
 how to get back again with water in his bottle. 
 
 " The night is dark," he concluded; " and if it's Allah's 
 will what is to be, will be." And he struck up in a 
 low, cracked voice a long, monotonous chant. 
 
 A dense cloud of dust rested over the hollow where 
 the wells were situated. A large number of people 
 was assembled there four hundred horses or more. 
 The horsemen were biouvacking around the wells, their 
 animals hobbled close at hand, and the men seated in 
 small circles around the water-holes. They were low- 
 ering leather buckets into the apertures with long 
 woolen ropes, and pulling them up again. The water 
 splashed over the rim and wetted the thirsty sand. 
 Dostchak shivered when he saw the waste; his horse 
 snorted as if mad, opening wide its thin, bloodshot 
 nostrils. With the greatest difficulty the old man 
 restrained the animal, glided from the saddle, stretched 
 his legs, and began to take the rope from his saddle. 
 "Oh, I've lost my bucket!" he exclaimed. "What a 
 blunder! Mullah," he addressed one of a dozen natives 
 around the well, "give me yours, to water my horse! " 
 
 "Take it! " said the man, putting down his bucket 
 and going away himself. 
 
 Quietly, without hurrying, Dostchak proceeded to 
 attach the rope, scratched himself, spat in his hand, and 
 then quickly lowered the bucket. When he pulled it 
 up again his teeth were chattering, and his eyes were 
 burning as he looked down into the dark, gaping aper- 
 ture. " If I hurry too much they may suspect some- 
 thing. It is lucky these are no organized troops, but 
 only runaways from the standard who come together to 
 rob! They have no business to be curious about a poor 
 roving dog they'll take me for one of themselves."
 
 144 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Dostchak got his bucket full at last. He tasted a little 
 himself, then he watered the horse, which thrust his 
 head into the bucket with such eagerness that he nearly 
 upset his master. 
 
 " Enough, enough, or you'll burst! " cried Dostchak, 
 as he snatched away the bucket, pouring the remainder 
 of the water into the sand, and laid himself down, 
 fastening the long bridle to his arm. 
 
 The sun was about to set. The blue shadows were 
 lengthening; it grew dark in the hollow; the atmosphere 
 was filling with the moist exhalation from the wells. 
 
 "That's glorious! " said Dostchak to himself. "I'm 
 in luck but how are they over there? " and he thought 
 of the heart-breaking scene at the other wells. " If 
 they had all come here together," he thought, "it would 
 have been just the same. The only hope is to divide 
 the force in that way they could be saved." Again 
 he went to the well and watered his horse once more; 
 then he drank himself, and stealthily got out his bottle 
 in the thickening gloom of evening his movements 
 were less apt to excite curiosity and began to prepare 
 for the road. 
 
 Suddenly a word fell upon Dostchak 's ear which 
 caused him to glance around sharply, and then to listen 
 intently to what was being said not far away. 
 
 "They do not believe him and are afraid of him," 
 said somebody in the darkness. 
 
 " Of whom are they afraid? " asked another. 
 
 " Of Atam Kul I've heard them tell Mat-Nias that 
 it would be well if Satan would wring his neck." 
 
 " Much foolishness flies from their tongues! " 
 
 " That may be but they do not all believe in him. 
 He may be turning toward the Russians again they 
 do not remember injuries long. They were saying
 
 AT THE OTHER WELLS. 145 
 
 that Atam Knl had sent a letter to the Russians, and 
 they sent him 
 
 " That is possible. I heard that he had been with 
 them not long ago, and when he left them he brought 
 somebody with him a girl, they said, but perhaps 
 they lied." 
 
 " No; it's a boy." 
 
 " And the Khan does he hear nothing of all this? " 
 
 " The Khan is friendly to him, and that is what makes 
 Mat-Nias angry. Sadik also hates him on account of 
 that old affair. They made peace before the Khan, but 
 Sadik remembers he never forgave a wrong in his 
 life." 
 
 " That is true. Where shall we go from here? " 
 
 "To Sardiba-Kul, they say." 
 
 "They say that at Sardiba-Kul " 
 
 The voices became less audible, but they continued 
 to talk. As soon as Dostchak could hear no more he 
 took his horse by the bridle and quietly led him away 
 from the wells. Nobody had paid any attention to him 
 when he came, and now not a head was turned when 
 he mounted his horse and rode away from the bivouac. 
 
 The night air was fresh, and the horse, having been 
 
 amply watered, made good speed, and before long 
 
 patches of dusky red the reflection of the camp-fires 
 
 looming up above the horizon showed Dostchak 
 
 where his road lay.
 
 146 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 SARDIBA-KUL AND UTCH-CHUCHAK. 
 
 THE white blouses were once more advancing from 
 their camp at the wells of Adam Krilgan and Alti- 
 Kuduk, where they suffered such frightful privations 
 and hardships. If they had broken down under those 
 privations they would not have advanced, and must 
 have perished at that fatal spot, but they still had 
 strength and e'nergy enough to march. 
 
 The road back to where they came from was well 
 known to them. They would soon find water there 
 such as it was. The road ahead of them was as dark and 
 unknown as the future. There was water ahead; that 
 they all knew the Amu Daria, the objective point of 
 their march. But where was it far or near? That 
 nobody knew. Between the wells from which the 
 expedition started and the Amu there was a vast extent 
 of deadly sands, and that region must be crossed. 
 
 Some said it was but a day's march ahead; some 
 said it was three days'. Others, again, maintained that 
 it was more than a hundred versts, or nearly a week's 
 marching. If it was two days' march, the men would 
 get through, and perhaps the camels and horses; if it 
 was more, nobody would get through, and all these 
 questions would be decided at once. 
 
 To remain where they were was death; to go back 
 was dishonor; to go ahead was to place all upon a 
 single card, and wait. The white blouses preferred the 
 last; to play the single critical, fatal card so they 
 went ahead.
 
 WATER AT LAST !
 
 SARDIBA-KUL AND UTCH-CHUCHAK. 147 
 
 The following night was passed, without water, in 
 the sand. A deathlike stillness reigned in the camp; 
 strange sounds came over the steppe from all direc- 
 tions, sounds which caused the experienced soldiers to 
 keep on the alert. Frequently a number of them would 
 press their ears to the ground, and then they could 
 clearly distinguish the tramp of horses the move- 
 ments of whole masses of horsemen. The heretofore 
 silent waste, quiet as the grave, seemed to be quicken- 
 ing into life. Faint but audible sounds came through 
 the air also, but nothing could be seen; it was very dark. 
 
 " Do you hear that racket? " one soldier whispered 
 into the ear of his comrade. 
 
 " I hear it. There's many people 'sh! " 
 
 " A horse snorted over there on that side." 
 
 " The whole horde seems to be promenading." 
 
 " Did you notice how the sun set last evening? " 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "All our fellows saw it. The captain took off his 
 cap and crossed himself, and said, ' Boys, the Amu 
 Daria is near. Let's pray, boys, to God." 
 
 " What did they see?" 
 
 " An eagle in the sky. We only saw him for a min- 
 ute; then he went up, God's bird, ever so high, and 
 soared, and at last he turned away over the sand-hills 
 there. They say where eagles are water is near." 
 
 " Thirty versts an eagle will go no farther from the 
 water; that is true! " 
 
 " Yes, thirty versts it may be nearer. Now you can 
 hear that noise again back of the rearguard! " 
 
 "I hear it." 
 
 " They, also, can't go far from the water; there are so 
 many of them. A few of them may do it but such 
 crowds, not for anything." 
 10
 
 148 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " They seem to be everywhere all around the camp; 
 there must be many! " 
 
 " With daylight our eyes will see what our ears hear 
 now. Look! the grand round is coming. Who goes 
 there? " 
 
 "The round!" comes in reply out of the darkness, 
 and a group of men on foot approaches along the 
 picket-line. The old general himself, walking heavily 
 in the deep sand, was inspecting in person the outer 
 line of pickets, familiarly touching the visor of his cap 
 when the men came to attention on recognizing the 
 well-known figure of their commander-in-chief. The 
 old man, observing the watchful care, the energy and 
 animation displayed by his men, said to himself, with a 
 feeling of pride, " Happy the general to whom it is 
 given to command such men! " 
 
 Long before dawn the expedition was on the march 
 again. Myriads of stars still sparkled in the dark 
 heavens, but they only sparkled, and gave no light. 
 Beneath them it was dark, and it was difficult to dis- 
 tinguish the still darker mass of the long line of hump- 
 backed camels led out in close column. A somewhat 
 brighter line the infantry surrounded the vast 
 column of pack-animals. 
 
 The whole force marched in strictest order, ready 
 for battle. The enemy was close at hand, and no pre- 
 caution must be neglected. The movement scarcely 
 reminded one of a desperate march of worn-out troops 
 through a deadly desert. It had more the air of a well- 
 ordered, often-rehearsed maneuver. 
 
 Daylight came; the wavy outlines of hills became 
 more clearly defined, and the hoj izon widened more 
 and more. -This line was watched closely by every one,
 
 SARDIBA-KUL AND UTCH-CHUCHAK. 149 
 
 from the general down to the humblest " loutch " 
 employed in the camel-train. It was now seen to be 
 dotted with black moving objects. The enemy was 
 aware at last that the deadly desert that was to have 
 been the grave of the "giaours" had proved but an 
 unreliable ally of the " faithful." The Russians did not 
 yet know that the desert was already crossed, that they 
 stood' upon the threshold of a cultivated, irrigated, rich 
 section of the Khivan Khan's dominions; but the 
 others knew it, and knew also that now they must 
 depend only upon their own strength to stem the 
 impending influx of white blouses. They gathered 
 from all sides in dense masses to arrest their powerful 
 enemy in his hitherto uninterrupted progress. 
 
 Ahead of the moving column, still far distant, but 
 perfectly clear, rose three slight elevations. These 
 were the Utch-Chuchak (three hills), and beyond them 
 lay the Amu the end of all suffering and anxiety. 
 
 Without any orders, as if under the influence of one 
 common idea, all quickened their steps; the horses 
 pulled at their bridles; the camels extended their long 
 necks, snorted with their torn nostrils, and bellowed. 
 
 "Water!" was reported from the advance-guard. 
 "Water, water!" resounded throughout the length of 
 the column. A shining streak, reflecting in its bosom 
 the purple and golden tint of the morning dawn, 
 stretched away to the left of Utch-Chuchak. It was as 
 if an electric spark had run through the whole force 
 from the first man to the last. 
 
 On the sandy heights, on either side, small white 
 clouds of smoke were puffing up with increasing fre- 
 quency these were the Turkomans trying to arrest 
 the advance of the expedition, yelling and shouting, 
 and galloping over the hills, to the right, to the left, in
 
 150 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 front and in rear. They were not replied to with a 
 single shot. 
 
 The water that had been sighted was not the Amu, as 
 was subsequently ascertained. To the great river of 
 this unknown country it was still a good day's march. 
 This was the lake of Sardiba-Kul, lying in a shining 
 semicircle in a small valley at the foot of the Utch- 
 Chuchak. A green border of rushes served as a frame 
 to this glistening, transparent mirror. How delicious 
 appeared to inflamed eyes the vivid green the sign of 
 life! It was so long since the Russians had seen any 
 green that they hardly remembered its beauty. 
 
 With the greatest difficulty the horses were prevented 
 from rushing into the water, where the majority would 
 have become foundered after their prolonged compul- 
 sory abstinence. 
 
 A lively bivouac soon encircled the banks of the 
 Sardiba-Kul. Fires were burning merrily, and every- 
 where sounds of singing and music could be heard. 
 The faces of all shone with pride and triumph. At 
 this time the fate of the Khanate of Khiva was decided. 
 The principal and most powerful enemy nature 
 had been conquered. There now remained only trifling 
 obstacles to overcome, such as the white blouses were 
 accustomed to look upon with contempt. 
 
 " Well, boys, thanks be to God, we got there! " 
 exclaimed a soldier, as he was hurriedly divesting 
 himself of his shirt. 
 
 "Ah, friend, water is free now not measured; 
 drink your fill! " 
 
 " Is it very deep here? " 
 
 "Very." 
 
 " Don't go there it's a deep hole. Bless you! " 
 
 " It is three months since we have done any washing."
 
 SARDIBA-KUL AND UTCH-CHUCHAK. 151 
 
 "They say we will stay here a day we can wash 
 shirts and drawers." 
 
 "The captain's horse killed itself. The bugler, 
 Demka, did not watch him, and he ran into the lake. 
 He drank and drank until he bursted! " 
 
 " Some men, also, have taken too much it's not the 
 beasts only that are crazy. Look there look! How 
 the Cossacks are driving those red devils! " 
 
 And while soldiers were quietly and merrily bathing 
 and washing, enjoying the abundance of unmeasured 
 water, a lively fusillade was going on all around the 
 lake. Great masses of the enemy's cavalry emerged 
 from beyond the Utch-Chuchak, and retreated again, 
 pursued by the Cossacks and some infantry. Among 
 the continuous rattle of musketry the louder reports of 
 field-pieces could be heard occasionally. 
 
 By noon the enemy had retreated, and all returned to 
 the camp and to rest a rest well earned by so much 
 privation and suffering. At headquarters a band of 
 music was playing. All sorrow and trouble were for- 
 gotten. The terrible desert lay behind them; before 
 them a wide and well-beaten road. The gigantic 
 undertaking of a few Turkestan battalions had been 
 accomplished a feat which caused the world to look 
 upon them with admiration and say, "Yes, those are 
 soldiers! "
 
 152 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 NEWS. 
 
 A STRANGE morning! 
 
 The steep, broken banks of the Amu Daria are 
 almost perpendicular. During freshets the water rises 
 nearly to the level of these banks, washing and under- 
 mining them, and forming long parallel furrows on 
 either side, the bottoms of which are filled with a sedi- 
 ment of mud, sand, and organic debris. When the water 
 falls and recedes from these abrupt rocky walls, it 
 leaves behind low, damp bars extending along the foot 
 of the cliffs. These bars, or second shore-line called 
 "tugas" by the natives are the favorite resort of 
 gulls, king-fishers, snipe, and other aquatic birds. 
 Worms of various kinds, insects, and sometimes small 
 fish, are found in vast multitudes on these bars by the 
 birds, and the abundance of food attracts the feathered 
 inhabitants from the whole river valley. 
 
 The dark-yellow, muddy water flows along noise- 
 lessly not a single boat is visible on its surface; but at 
 times huge fish jump up with a splash, and disappear 
 again, slightly ruffling the gently flowing waters, and 
 leaving behind them ever-widening circles. 
 
 It is hot. The gulls have grown tired of flying and 
 are sitting motionless upon the sand-bars, resting from 
 their early exertions the dense flocks of birds appear- 
 ing like patches of snow upon the reddish sand. Here 
 and there, between the bars, small bodies of standing 
 water are glistening and shining in the sunlight. 
 
 A thin layer of fog conceals the distant, opposite
 
 NEWS. 153 
 
 shore a few hills only, streaked with blue shadows, 
 can be discerned rising above the fog. 
 
 The expedition had gone into camp upon the heights 
 of the river-bank, whence innumerable narrow and 
 crooked, well-trodden paths were leading down. Over 
 these paths an almost continuous chain of soldiers was 
 always passing, going and coming. They descended 
 with empty vessels, ascending afterward with ket- 
 tles, tubs, and buckets filled to overflowing. The 
 kitchens were located at the water's edge; huge pil- 
 lars of thick, black smoke were rising from under the 
 huge kettles. Here also, not far away, the small boats, 
 resembling pontoons, which had been carried in pieces 
 across the desert by the camel-train, were being put 
 together and launched; sailors and infantry soldiers 
 getting into them with evident delight, trying their 
 qualities, and working hard at the short but strong oars. 
 
 All the native boats had long since been carried away 
 by the Turkomans to the other shore, and therefore 
 these pontoons were only intended as preliminary 
 means for beginning the crossing of troops. With their 
 help, and chiefly through the daring and enterprise of 
 some companies of sailors from the Caspian fleet, it was 
 expected to recover a goodly number of boats, some- 
 how, from the opposite shore; the only way being, of 
 course, to take them out of the hands of the enemy. 
 
 All hostile opponents had long since been driven 
 from the right bank of the Amu and forced to cross 
 the river, the wide channel of which now lay between 
 the Russians and their enemies. Consequently the 
 camp was quiet, and considered safe, and many of the 
 customary precautions were no longer enforced. It 
 would not do to tire out uselessly the soldiers who were 
 so much in need of complete rest and recuperation.
 
 154 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Joy and pride at the accomplishment of their task 
 filled the breasts of all those who were well, and also 
 had its beneficial effect upon the sick. Every day saw 
 more and more of the hospital-cots losing their occu- 
 pants, and the physicians' labors grew less arduous with 
 every hour. 
 
 Increased labor and cares had thus far to a certain 
 extent deadened the anguish consuming Natalia Mar- 
 tinovna's heart, but now, in comparative idleness, her 
 grief began to resume its first crushing weight. It was 
 sad to look at the woman. Formerly, though thought- 
 ful and always serious, she showed every sign of 
 blooming health and unimpaired strength. Now, pale 
 and thin, with eyes ever cast down, as if guilty of some 
 crime, she was the personification of grief and anguish. 
 
 People came and spoke to her, trying to interest 
 her in something, but all these attempts appeared 
 to be in vain; and the least incautious word falling 
 from a careless tongue, the slightest hint at her misfort- 
 une, brought forth abundant noiseless tears. At such 
 times the greatest anguish was expressed in her face, 
 which had always borne the traces of much suffering, 
 and the careless chatterer would curse himself and his 
 tongue, and for a long time after would not dare to 
 speak, or even go near the unfortunate mother. 
 
 Golovin alone never forgot himself in her presence, 
 and could lead her on to talk on general subjects, occa- 
 sionally even succeeding in rousing her to some atten- 
 tion and interest. But, on the other hand, the lame 
 Cossack was changing nearly as much as Natalia. He 
 looked more like a walking corpse than a living man. 
 The fierce struggle began to tell even upon his iron 
 constitution; and frequently, on returning to his Cos- 
 sack bivouac and throwing himself upon his blanket,
 
 NEWS. 155 
 
 pressing his head upon the hard leather pillow, he 
 would groan, and even weep, and then, quickly remov- 
 ing all traces of weakness from his face, go back 
 again to the woman for one drop of whose blood he 
 was ready to sacrifice all his own. 
 
 The Cossack had lost all hope of saving the son and 
 returning him to his mother, but naturally he did not 
 let Natalia know it. Natalia felt confident that sooner 
 or later her son would be returned to her arms; but 
 she, also, never whispered a word of this hope. It was 
 as if she feared to find some people ready with one 
 word to shatter this hope into fragments, and therefore 
 she guarded it jealously, hiding it carefully from every- 
 body's eye or ear. This hope upheld her in her min- 
 utes of severest trial, but it also at times caused her 
 the most bitter anguish. 
 
 " He is alive, but where is he? How is he treated? 
 In what rough and cruel hands is the boy? What 
 frightful hardships is he undergoing. What is the poor 
 boy suffering now? " Sometimes it appeared to Na- 
 talia that she. could more easily bear to see her 
 child's corpse than to continue in this exasperating 
 uncertainty. 
 
 She would have sacrificed anything for news of 
 him. Oh, if it would only come from somewhere in 
 a puff of that scorching desert- wind, or on the wings 
 of that silvery gull sweeping in graceful flight across 
 the river! And, led by some indefinable instinctive 
 feeling, Natalia was constantly expecting this blessed 
 news. And she waited. 
 
 Once, toward evening, when it was growing cooler 
 and the rosy light of the setting sun gave grateful 
 relief to burning eyes, weary of the monotonous land- 
 scape, Natalia walked slowly along the shore, admiring
 
 156 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 the glints of light shooting across the water as the gulls 
 darted hither and thither in pursuit of their prey. She 
 was alone; even the lame Cossack did not accompany 
 her. The large dog " Kutzee " ran after her, energetic- 
 ally wagging his short stump of a tail, but when 
 Natalia stroked the kind animal's head his ambition 
 seemed to be fully satisfied, for after giving vent to a 
 few expressive barks he turned around and ran back to 
 his station about the company kitchen. 
 
 Close to the water's edge a few native laborers and 
 militiamen were lounging, and a few minutes later the 
 little assembly was joined by a dozen or so of roving 
 beggars coming from God knows where. Nearly all of 
 them pretended to be Persian slaves escaped from their 
 masters to seek Russian protection, and our soldiers 
 willingly gave them an asylum, dividing cheerfully 
 with these new-comers their own frugal and scanty 
 meals. Of late the number of these unknown and appar- 
 ently helpless people in the Russian camp had increased 
 considerably, but, as formerly, no special attention was 
 paid to them. 
 
 Natalia Martinovna was walking past one of the 
 many groups of these people, when a black-faced, rag- 
 ged, and half -naked native approached her; glancing at 
 her inquisitively with his bleared, rascally eyes, he 
 extended toward her his hand, which was wrapped up 
 in a cloth. The unfortunate seemed to have been 
 wounded, as dark stains of oozing blood were easily 
 perceptible upon the dirty rag. He muttered some- 
 thing in a language unknown to Natalia, always keep- 
 ing his hand extended, and after keeping at her side 
 for a few steps he fell upon his knees. Natalia turned 
 toward him and stooped down. The native at once 
 began to unwrap the cloth, when suddenly Natalia
 
 NEWS. 15? 
 
 Martinovna drew back and trembled. She felt in her 
 hand a piece of folded paper. " Take it and read it," 
 said the man in Russian, " then you will know all! " 
 
 Natalia wanted to cry out, but could not; she wanted 
 to raise her hand to summon somebody to her assist- 
 ance, but her strength failed her. The ground seemed 
 to revolve under feet she staggered, but the paper 
 which had found its way into her possession thus mys- 
 teriously was convulsively clutched in her thin, slender 
 fingers. The man in rags had vanished as if he had 
 never been there. He had probably succeeded in losing 
 himself in the crowd of other natives, just as black, just 
 as ragged, and just as dirty as he was. 
 
 The cool wind from the river had a reviving effect 
 upon Natalia's nerves. She roused herself and walked 
 quickly through the whole camp to her tent. Some 
 secret presentiment told her that in this scrap of paper 
 was contained the solution of the problem, the news 
 she had so long and anxiously expected. 
 
 "Your son is with me it is well with him. Come 
 yourself, and it will be well with you. If you do not 
 come it will be bad for him, and bad for you also. After 
 a few days the Russians will cross the river; ours will 
 not prevent them. On that day people will come to you 
 go with them! If my men perish, and if you do not 
 come, I can not answer for your son. 
 
 " MULLAH ATAM KUL." 
 
 That was what the note contained. 
 
 " Natalia Martinovna, may I enter? " asked from 
 without the voice of the lame Cossack. 
 
 Natalia could not answer. She trembled as if in a 
 violent fever. She stood in the middle of her tent, one 
 hand pressing upon the table, while the other deftly,
 
 158 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 but with convulsive haste, concealed the fatal note in 
 her bosom. 
 
 " Natalia Martinovna! " the voice could again be 
 heard outside of the tent. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 DOSTCHAK CONCEIVES A PLAN. 
 
 THE white blouses had gained the other shore. They 
 did not cross where the camp was established on first 
 reaching the water. For a few days the expedition 
 skirted the river on its right bank, moving downward; 
 the principal force ascended the cliffs, apparently mov- 
 ing away from the water and once more heading for 
 the desert, but they soon changed direction again and 
 regained the river, on the bank of which their camp was 
 made each night. A smaller force, lightly equipped, 
 moved along the sand-bars in the river, being often 
 obliged to wade for long distances. This force served 
 as convoy for the small fleet of boats proceeding by 
 water, and being reinforced day by day by acquisitions 
 of native boats, which were seized wherever the nim- 
 ble sailors could lay their hands upon them sometimes 
 with fighting and sometimes without, as luck would 
 have it. 
 
 In this way the means of transportation had increased 
 to such an extent that when the crossing-place was 
 reached it was considered feasible to take the decisive 
 step and the step was taken. The Russian battalions 
 penetrated into the very heart of the Khanate of Khiva.
 
 DOSTCHAK CONCEIVES A PLAN. 159 
 
 The camp was pitched in gardens under the shade of 
 gigantic plantain-trees, in the vicinity of Khagar-Asp, 
 a Khivan fortified town. Reports had been received to 
 the effect that other expeditions, coming from the Cau- 
 casus and from Orenburg, were on the march to Khiva, 
 and that they were already near, and these rumors insti- 
 gated the Turkestan column to greater haste in order to 
 reach the avails of Khiva and not let the palm of first 
 success fall into other hands. It was even said that the 
 steamers of our Aral fleet had ascended from Kazalinsk 
 to the delta of the Amu Daria, and that they would push 
 farther up that stream. The Khivan drama was enter- 
 ing upon its last act the dismemberment. 
 
 Dostchak was celebrating a great holiday. He had 
 attireS himself in his very best red cloak, the same that 
 had been presented to him by the commander-in-chief 
 only last week. He also put on his yellow trousers 
 embroidered with silk; these trousers Dostchak had 
 bought of a soldier after a foraging expedition. Many 
 excellent articles were sold cheap on that occasion, and 
 for these trousers, to which the otherwise poor fellow 
 could never have aspired in his wildest dreams, he paid 
 altogether two "kokans" (about 20 cents). Over his 
 small oily tybeteika (Bashkir cap) he wore a large 
 striped woolen turban. 
 
 " You are like the Mulla of Samarkand! " said Sharip, 
 raising his hands in astonishment on seeing Dostchak 
 in his full dress. 
 
 " He's a warrior! " said Karim, shaking his head and 
 smacking his lips. 
 
 "Oho!" cried the general's native servant, Uzen. 
 " You look a greater man now than mine. Truly, you 
 are greater your ribbon is so much redder. Let me
 
 160 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 see! and there are two little yellow roads on the sides 
 one is the road by which you went to the wells, and 
 on the other you came back again; there they are, 
 both the roads. 
 
 The servant, who had come to the place of meeting 
 on horseback, alighted, and walking up to Dostchak 
 looked long and earnestly at his breast, on the left side 
 of his cloak; then, stepping back a pace, he. looked 
 again, bending his head a little aside, and, winking, 
 again cried, " Oho! " He then went to tie up his sorrel 
 stallion, covering him from ears to tail with a warm 
 horse-cloth. 
 
 On old Dostchak's breast there twinkled in the sun a 
 large gold medal suspended by a red gold-edged rib- 
 bon. It shone like the sun, which was reflected in its 
 disk, and the same bright reflection was thrown upon 
 the old man's face. It shone brightly on this aged 
 countenance, marked with scars and wrinkles, and it 
 reflected the greatest satisfaction, joy, and full and 
 unlimited happiness. 
 
 Dostchak had received this medal from the general 
 only to-day he received it for his bold journey to the 
 wells at Alti-Kuduk; and now he was gathering his 
 friends to rejoice with him over his good fortune. His 
 companions were as much pleased as he was himself. 
 They had clubbed together and purchased a sheep from 
 the Cossacks it did not come high cut it up, pro- 
 cured some rice, and then proceeded to cook a grand 
 "pilaf," such as they had not seen for six months at 
 least. 
 
 Soldiers passing by and happening to stop were 
 asked at once to sit down, the simple natives rejoicing 
 over every new guest added to the feast. And why 
 should they care how many came, since Sharip had
 
 DOSTCHAK CONCEIVES A PLAN. 161 
 
 emptied a whole sack of rice into the huge kettle? 
 That kettleful would have been amply sufficient for 
 half a company. 
 
 The natives had selected a pleasant place for their 
 festivities. Three plantain-trees were growing close 
 together in a row on the bank of an irrigating ditch. 
 These trees cast such a dense, cool shade! It extended 
 over the water, and spread so far that even Uzen's horse, 
 which was tethered ten paces away, enjoyed its shelter. 
 Behind the plantain-trees rose a high wall lined with a 
 row of tall poplars, and through the interstices between 
 them could be seen the dark-green branches of more 
 plantain-trees, with ripe yellow fruit shining like amber 
 here and there in the sunlight. There must have been 
 vast quantities of this fruit when any of it could be 
 preserved in the immediate vicinity of a hungry, popu- 
 lous camp. 
 
 The semi-spherical cupola of a mosque rose beyond 
 the poplars, and upon its top a clumsy stork's-nest 
 loomed up darkly. The long-legged bird, white, with 
 black wings and a long red bill, stood upon its nest with- 
 out any fear of the people camped below, though prob- 
 ably it had never in its life seen such crowds before. 
 Somewhere in the distance music was playing, just 
 near enough to allow the feasting natives to enjoy it. 
 
 "That's just what we like! " said Uzen, looking com- 
 placently first at his own person and then all around; 
 and all his companions agreed with him. 
 
 "You've spoken truly," said Dostchak, adjusting his 
 new turban upon his head; "that's true." 
 
 Encouraged by the applause evoked by his profound 
 remark, Uzen ventured to dish up some news. " The 
 .Khan," he said, "has written a letter to the genderal 
 asking him to stay awhile where he is, and not go any
 
 162 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 farther. ' You,' he writes, ' wait until I drive those others 
 away to fight all at once is very hard for me.' " 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " 'What,' he says, 'do you want of Khiva? You don't 
 need Khiva, but I,' he says, ' I need it. You,' he says, 
 ' wait, please, and I will send you forty cloaks, forty 
 camels, forty sheep, forty horses, and forty women 
 good Khivan and Persian women; only stay where you 
 are, please! ' ' 
 
 " Who has told you all that, old fellow? " inquired an 
 infantry soldier who was puffing at his short pipe. 
 
 " Who told me me? " 
 
 "Yes, you! " 
 
 " Don't the genderal smoke small pipe made of 
 paper? " 
 
 "Cigarettes? Yes, he smokes them." 
 
 " Don't the Cossack Demianka bring fire to the gen- 
 deral? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " The genderal smokes, and Cossack Demianka gives 
 him fire there is only a small table between the Cos- 
 sack and the genderal;" and the native showed with his 
 hands that only about half a yard separated one from 
 the other. 
 
 " I suppose so," consented the soldier. 
 
 " Over such a short road one can hear everything, 
 can't he?" 
 
 "Very likely." 
 
 " Well, that same Cossack Demianka told me that the 
 Khan wrote to the genderal, and I tell it to you." 
 
 " You are right," Dostchak again consented. " I 
 should like to see that letter. The Khan's name must 
 be written with gold paint." 
 
 "Can you read their lingo, or yours or is it all the
 
 DOSTCHAK CONCEIVES A PLAN. 163 
 
 same? " asked the company clerk, Kuska, who had 
 come up staggering and was now holding onto a 
 branch of a tree to steady himself upon his legs. 
 
 " Say, Brother Kuska," said the infantryman, " where 
 did you get it? " explaining his meaning by inserting 
 two fingers between his throat and the collar of his 
 shirt. 
 
 " I? do you mean me? Oh, I can't always remem- 
 ber. I am the company clerk I'm an official. Hey, 
 tamir [my friend], what is your name? Shaltai-Boltai 
 something. Do you know how to carry your gun on 
 guard?" 
 
 "What do I want with a gun on guard? " replied the 
 native. " I don't have to stand guard." 
 
 "I can read a little," said Dostchak; "the Mullah 
 at Almatakh taught me. " But I can not write I 
 never learned. It's hard to write; very difficult 
 indeed! " 
 
 "Yes, it's hard." 
 
 " But which is more difficult to write Russian or to 
 write Tartarsky? " 
 
 " In Tartarsky it is much harder," Clerk Kuska gave 
 his opinion. " I manage to get away pretty slick with 
 oitrs, but of yours I can't make anything, even when 
 I'm drunk. The devil himself could not decipher your 
 loops and pothooks; and it's all upside down, and reads 
 backward! " 
 
 " But you can write Russian well? " tentatively ques- 
 tioned Dostchak, twirling his fingers. 
 
 " Like print! " 
 
 " Can you write like the genderal? " 
 
 " Not only like the general I write good enough for 
 the minister. I take a sheet of paper and with one 
 two strokes like this the sheet is half -covered! In a 
 11
 
 164 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 week I've got away with fourteen report-books. That's 
 what you may call real, thorough education! " 
 
 "Sit down, please; sit down there! Plov ashat 
 maklian ashat [eat pilaf, eat mutton]. Sit down, please! " 
 urged Dostchak, hurriedly clearing a place next to him- 
 self for his guest. 
 
 The pilaf was ready, and they began dishing it out in 
 large shallow saucers. They spread a horse-cloth and 
 placed the smoking dishes before the guests, who with 
 naked fingers were soon diving into the hot compound 
 of rice, meat, and melted fat. They ate with enjoy- 
 ment and appetite; they ate as if to repay themselves, 
 with interest, for past privations. Such pilaf did not 
 fall to their lot many times in their simple, frugal lives! 
 
 They ate all day, and in the evening it was as if the 
 two-year-old sheep had never existed, and but little of 
 the rice remained in Sharip's kettle. 
 
 During all this time old Dostchak was doing the 
 honors chiefly to Clerk Kuska. He flattered him with 
 the titles of Mullah and Mirza; selected for him the 
 choicest morsels, and even placed them in 'his mouth 
 with his own fingers. Before long Kuska succumbed, 
 drunk as he already was, and now gorged to repletion. 
 Dostchak gently and carefully removed him to the 
 wall, and placed a cloth over his head to prevent his 
 being recognized from the road. 
 
 " Why are you bothering yotirself so much about 
 him? " Uzen, the general's servant, asked the old man. 
 " Don't you see he's been feeding like a pig, andj he is 
 drunk? You might have treated some better man! " 
 
 " That man is very necessary to me," muttered 
 Dostchak. "Oh, how necessary! He can write like 
 the genderal himself! " 
 
 " What good does that do you? "
 
 DOSTCHAK CONCEIVES A PLAN. 165 
 
 "That man," began Dostchak, and stopped, listening 
 intently in the direction of his hut; then, probably rind- 
 ing everything satisfactory, he continued: " That man 
 can do a great thing for me Dostchak; and from 
 that thing good will come to the good and evil to the 
 bad." 
 
 " You are talking riddles! " 
 
 "Yes, riddles! Dostchak has been thinking a long 
 time. When I went to the other wells for these 
 do you see? " pointing with his finger to his medal and 
 ribbon, making it clear what wells he referred to " at 
 that time Dostchak was already thinking, and he is 
 thinking now, and will think to-morrow, and he tells 
 nobody what he is thinking; but in due time all the 
 people will know, and they will say, ' Well, old Dostchak, 
 if he is old, his mind has not left him on account of his 
 age! ' " 
 
 The last guests went away. The night was dark and 
 quiet; not a light was visible anywhere. The moon had 
 not yet risen and the stars gave but little light. Espe- 
 cially tinder the trees it was so dark that a cat could 
 not have seen anything, not even the white blouse of 
 Clerk Kuska as he lay there filling the neighborhood 
 with his snoring. 
 
 In the distance the officers' tents shone like gigantic 
 many-colored lanterns, and here and there glimmered 
 like sparks the burning ends of cigars. In the direction 
 of Khazar-Asp a reddish reflection appeared on the 
 sky above the horizon it did not look like the moon, 
 nor like a conflagration, though it might be either ; and 
 not far away two officers were discussing the point. 
 Their voices fell clearly upon the ears of Dostchak, who 
 was guarding the nocturnal slumbers of his guest 
 the man who was so " very necessary " to him.
 
 166 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 "l AM A MOTHER." 
 
 " WHAT does that mean? " muttered Golovin, who was 
 seated upon a folding-chair in his tent. " What can it 
 mean? Not to come near her for a whole day! H'm! 
 nor at night in the morning you will know why. I 
 can't understand it." And he read over again a note 
 which Natalia had handed him in person an hour ago, 
 when she was closing the door of her tent in his face, 
 pushing out from within this little squarely folded piece 
 of paper, covered with her feminine but somewhat reso- 
 lute handwriting. In this note he was requested not to 
 look in upon her at her tent during the whole day, and 
 not to make any inquiries in the evening, but that in 
 the morning, early, he might come, and then he would 
 know the reason of this strange prohibition. 
 
 When the lame Cossack had read the note for the 
 twentieth time, he placed his forefinger against his 
 forehead and again inquired: 
 
 "What can this mean?" Was it only he whom 
 Natalia Martinovna did not wish to see for a whole 
 day, or all in general and had all of them received 
 such messages? No; evidently not. She would have 
 neither paper nor time enough to prepare so many 
 notes. It must be meant only for him. Anyhow, the 
 others did not trouble her so much with their society 
 as he did. He was there most of the day, from morn- 
 ing to evening, and even at night he often guarded her 
 tent from a distance. Certainly, the prohibition could 
 only refer to him alone. But what did it mean?
 
 " I AM A MOTHER." 167 
 
 Golovin tried to remember whether he had offended 
 her in some way, or thoughtlessly given vent to some 
 expression deserving such punishment. He rehearsed 
 every trifling occurrence he remembered all every 
 smallest step, every motion, the most insignificant word 
 it all came to him with such perfect clearness, as if it 
 had only happened a minute ago. No; there was noth- 
 ing of the kind. She had been kind to him yesterday, 
 and more kind to-day, kinder than she had been 'for 
 some time. Yes, that was it. He had kissed her hand, 
 and she had touched his brow with her lips, holding his 
 head between her hands in a kind of embrace. " Good- 
 by, my friend," she had said on that last occasion. Why 
 good-by? She had usually said da svidania (au revoir], 
 or "until to-morrow," or something of that kind, but 
 this time it was "good-by." Golovin began to feel 
 uneasy over this good-by. He rose, adjusted his tunic, 
 threw his saber over his shoulder, reached with his 
 hand for his cap, and again sat down. 
 
 " No! she has forbidden it, and I must not do it. 
 To-morrow! to-morrow! I'll not have to suffer long 
 only one night. I will go to sleep and never know how 
 the night goes by, and to-morrow, early in the morn- 
 ing I might look over there from a distance she 
 may go out for something and I may see her. No! 
 that would be taking a mean advantage. I'll suffer. 
 What must be must be. She has asked it, and that is 
 enough! " And with renewed resolution the lame Cos- 
 sack doffed his tunic and saber, threw himself upon 
 his bed, and smoked his cigar. 
 
 It was getting dark, stars began to twinkle in the 
 sky, and the last ray of golden light was extinguished 
 in the west; the noise and clatter of the camp subsided.
 
 168 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Night came, the same night which the lame Cossack 
 proposed to pass away in sleep; but this blissful sleep 
 would not come, and Golovin felt sure that it wouldn't. 
 His head was burning, his heart was beating with 
 increased violence, and his heaving chest demanded 
 air. He must get out of his tent out from under this 
 confining roof of cloth, which, though ever so light, 
 now appeared to him like the heavy vault of a grave. 
 
 Out in the air it was all the same there was no 
 sleep for Golovin. He staggered about in the dark- 
 ness, stumbling occasionally over tent-ropes and stakes. 
 
 "What relief is this?" he asks the nearest sentry. 
 "The first! " comes the answer. "Along time yet!" 
 sighs Golovin, and again walks about without picking 
 his way, and lighting one cigar after another. 
 
 "Ah!" he said, with a deprecating gesture. "I will 
 go ahead." He passed through the Cossack camp, by 
 the train and by the general's headquarters, and there 
 he was, quite near. " There she is there is her tent! " 
 The Cossack stood Mill he was ashamed. He turned 
 abruptly and walked back quietly. " There was no 
 light," he thought. "She must be asleep. Oh, will 
 not morning come soon! It is only a brief summer 
 night, but how it drags along! " 
 
 With a weary, oppressed heart Golovin was watching 
 how at last the faint streak of dawn grew wider and 
 wider, lighter and lighter; how the crimson spots 
 began to blaze up from the horizon; how the tops 
 of the poplar and plantain trees, and the mosque and 
 its stork's-nest shone in golden light, and how the vast, 
 quiet bivouac once more broke out into life and action. 
 
 "It's time no, it is early yet," he considered. "But 
 she always rises with daylight. I may go now, I am 
 sure! She will tinderstand how I have suffered during
 
 " I AM A MOTHER." 169 
 
 this night; she will pardon my haste." Golovin pro- 
 ceeded to Natalia's tent. Karpof was tip and pottering 
 about attending to the samovar. In the tent all was 
 quiet. 
 
 " She is still sleeping. Good-morning, Karpof! " Gol- 
 ovin accosted the orderly, and seated himself upon an 
 overturned bucket. 
 
 " I wish you good health! " replied the soldier. " The 
 mistress wanted a lemon, and I got a couple yesterday 
 at the sutler's; they are such nice ones; one is a little 
 dry, to be sure, but the other is splendid! " 
 
 "You got the lemons?" asked Golovin; that was not 
 what he wished to say at all, but no other words 
 seemed to come to his tongue. 
 
 "It is time to get up," said the orderly. " Would it 
 not be better to waken her? " 
 
 " Did she go to bed late last night? " 
 
 " I do not know. I was away for an hour or two. 
 When I came back the tent was already closed from 
 the inside that means that she -was asleep. Is it 6 
 .o'clock yet?" 
 
 "Half-past." 
 
 " Would it not be better to call her? The samovar 
 has boiled long since." 
 
 " H'm, h'm! " coughed the Cossack. 
 
 "It's all right; it's time," the servant encouraged 
 him. 
 
 "Natalia Martinovna! " called Golovin. There was 
 no answer. 
 
 "A little louder," advised Karpof. 
 
 "Natalia Martinovna!" Perfect silence reigned in 
 the tent. Goiovin laid his ear against the cloth and 
 listened. Not the slightest rustle could be heard. 
 The walls of a tent are not thick enough to prevent
 
 170 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 the breathing of a sleeping person from being heard. 
 Golovin turned pale. " What can this be? " he whis- 
 pered. 
 
 Karpof was busy about his samovar and did not hear 
 the question. Carefully Golovin parted the folds of 
 the tent and looked in. Natalia Martinovna's bed was 
 vacant there was not a soul in the tent. On the 
 small table there lay two letters, their white squares 
 staring right into his eyes they seemed to tell him, 
 " Take us up and read." And Golovin read them. One 
 of these notes was the same piece of paper which the 
 ragged Persian had thrust into Natalia's hand; the 
 other was in her own writing, and contained but a few 
 words. 
 
 " I am a mother. Forgive me, all of you. Good-by. 
 God grant that it be not forever! " 
 
 That was all the note contained. 
 
 "Here is the samovar," said Karpof, entering the 
 tent with the tray in his hands.
 
 PART SECOND. 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE FLIGHT. 
 
 NATALIA had resolved to go. From the moment 
 that all hesitation gave way to this resolution her 
 whole mind, all her faculties, were directed upon the 
 accomplishment of her flight. It was certainly flight. 
 Could Natalia have communicated her resolve to any- 
 body? Could she have consulted anybody? Certainly 
 not. If she had merely hinted a word of her purpose, 
 she would have been overwhelmed with protests from 
 all sides, and such measures would have been taken as 
 would have completely paralyzed her own will in the 
 matter. She would have been detained by force. 
 
 In the meantime the day appointed in Atam Kill's 
 letter was approaching. The Russians accomplished 
 the crossing of the river, and she could expect from 
 minute to minute the arrival of the men for whose 
 lives the head of her own son must answer. These 
 men would assist her in escaping from the camp and 
 guide her to him to her son and at the same 
 time to Atam Kul. But Natalia put away from her- 
 self the last name altogether. She avoided all thought 
 of him. Her ideas, her expectations all centered in the 
 first, beside which, for the moment, nothing else 
 existed. She already felt like a stranger in the camp. 
 She seemed to have broken all ties that had attached 
 
 ( in )
 
 172 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 her to it thus far. She passed through some terrible 
 moments of struggle, but after that nothing appeared 
 terrible to her; she saw not a step she was not willing 
 to take. 
 
 The previous night those men had come. One of 
 them had already been in her tent. It was again a 
 Persian, who had crawled in stealthily from under the 
 side of her tent a thing easily accomplished, since the 
 tent stood next to the wall, and close to it grew two 
 plantain-trees with wide branches interlaced with 
 grape-vines. The Persian climbed over the wall, and 
 stretching himself upon one of the lower branches of 
 the trees, he waited until Natalia herself unfastened 
 the lower edge of the tent and showed him where to 
 get in. Half an hour before tliis she had written the 
 note to Golovin and called the orderly. 
 
 " Karpof ! " 
 
 " What, matushka, your honor? " 
 
 " Did you wish to visit anybody to-day? " 
 
 "Yes, your honor; there is a towny of mine, you 
 know from my village 
 
 "All right; go! You can come back as late as you 
 like." 
 
 " I thank you most humbly, your honor! " And Kar- 
 pof went away to his " towny " at the other end of the 
 camp, and never dreamed that on returning he would 
 not find his mistress, and perhaps never see her again. 
 
 Holding his breath, drawn up into the smallest com- 
 pass, and trembling slightly, like a wolf in the trap, sat 
 the Persian, between a trunk and the table, covering 
 himself in case of emergencies with a horse-cloth. The 
 ragged fellow knew well that he risked his head if he 
 was betrayed; but he also knew that if he returned 
 alone to Atam Kul he would only fall from the frying-
 
 THE FLIGHT. 173 
 
 pan into the fire. His black roving eyes gleamed 
 forth uneasily from under his cloth. At the very min- 
 ute when Natalia was talking with Karpof he was 
 shutting his eyes, muttering to himself some passages 
 from the Koran mixing up all that he knew by heart 
 of the sacred book. However, he understood all 
 Natalia said, and grew calm again. 
 
 Natalia Martinovna quickly began her preparations. 
 She gathered a small bundle and thoughtfully tied it up 
 in a black handkerchief a white one would have 
 attracted the eyes of the sentries, and drawn their 
 attention iipon her. This was all her- baggage. She 
 then carefully tied the straps of the entrance-flap from 
 within, in order not to alarm the returning Karpof, and 
 to make him believe that she slept. Having accom- 
 plished this, she sat down upon her bed, placed her 
 head between her hands, and thought. 
 
 "It is time! It is already dark!" whispered the 
 ragged one. 
 
 Natalia shivered as the whisper struck her ear, and 
 looked about her as if frightened. " It is time! " she 
 also said, and rose from the bed. 
 
 The Persian emerged from his horse-cloth, and glided 
 out of the tent by the same way by which he had 
 entered, Natalia following him. 
 
 "If it were light," whispered the Persian, "we could 
 not go this way; but it's night now and dark, and we can 
 risk it. Follow after me don't get behind. Here! 
 hold onto this vine!" And Natalia went without hesi- 
 tation, taking no thought of herself and leaving every- 
 thing to her guide. She did not move like a living 
 being, but like a machine. After advancing about 
 twenty paces along the wall, the Persian came to a 
 break where an irrigating ditch half-full of water
 
 174 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 passed through. The opening was scarcely large 
 enough for a dog. 
 
 " Lie down! " said the Persian. Natalia's clothes were 
 suddenly drenched, and as she felt her body immersed 
 in the cold water, she began to tremble, and her teeth 
 chattered nervously. "Crawl along!" the voice be- 
 fore her said. "It is like a grave!" passed through 
 Natalia's head as she felt the mud walls over and close 
 beside her, so near that she hurt her elbows, hands, and 
 head as she moved along. At last she saw a star 
 twinkling ahead of her, and then another, and a third, 
 and they rose from the tunnel and could stand upright 
 once more. Dirty water was dripping from the Per- 
 sian's rags; Natalia's garment's clung to her body, 
 heavy as lead. 
 
 "This here is dry," said the Persian, showing her the 
 bundle. " I held it with my teeth that's why it 
 is dry. Now we must go here over there are your 
 soldiers." It was true; she could hear Russian conver- 
 sation not more than ten paces away, and she could see 
 the glimmer of the soldiers' pipes. 
 
 " They say the Orenburg expedition has already 
 reached Khiva? " 
 
 " I've heard they have." 
 
 " They got there before us, the devils! " 
 
 " That's nothing. They are not ahead of us. With- 
 out us they could not have undertaken it at all." 
 
 "May the will of Allah be done!" whispered the 
 Persian. " We must go here." 
 
 The dense foliage of grape-vines rustled about 
 Natalia's person; she frequently stubbed her feet 
 against the knotty roots and tangled vines, while her 
 feet sank into the soft mold of a cultivated vineyard. 
 For a long time they passed through vineyards. At
 
 THE FLIGHT. 175 
 
 times they would sink to the earth, lie down, and wait 
 and listen to the voices of sentries, now on one side, 
 now on the other, sometimes at some distance, and then 
 again close by. A hobbled horse pricked up his ears 
 and snorted in fright, probably scenting the fugitives. 
 
 "This way is farther much farther," whispered the 
 guide, " but there are no dogs here. A man you can 
 always fool, but a dog never. If a dog should see us or 
 hear us it would be all up with the poor Persian. Here, 
 this way! " 
 
 The fugitives again passed through some opening 
 and entered the court of an empty dwelling. The 
 traces of a terrible struggle were everywhere visible 
 here. Broken dishes and furniture and torn clothing 
 were lying about. 
 
 " Wait here I go to find out how the Russians 
 have placed their sentries to-night. They change 
 their places every night. I know how it was last 
 night, but I don't know to-day. Sit here and wait:" 
 He pushed her into a corner of the dark dwelling, and 
 added: " Wait; I come soon. If you hear noise over 
 there," pointing with his finger "if you hear shooting, 
 or if I cry loud I shall cry, without fail then go 
 home by yourself ; you understand? " 
 
 " I understand," whispered Natalia, and sat down 
 to wait. 
 
 How dark it was in the building, and how sultry! 
 How slowly the time seemed to drag! An invisible 
 hand seized her dress. " Come! " whispered the well- 
 known voice at her very ear. " Glory be to Allah! " 
 said the Persian. " On that side are the Cossacks we 
 can easily pass them. If the infantry was there, our 
 business would be finished, but these fellows sleep; 
 they see nothing and hear but very little. Let us go!
 
 176 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Do you know," suddenly asked her guide, " where 
 the last Russian sentries are now? " He spoke no 
 longer in a whisper, but in his natural voice, causing 
 Natalia to shiver and to turn her face toward him. 
 "They are over there; and you know how far their 
 bullets carry now they could hardly reach us. Allah 
 has been merciful to us this night! " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 BEYOND THE RUSSIAN CAMP. 
 
 " WE'LL go a little farther, where our people are wait- 
 ing, and there we'll find horses. We shall not go on 
 foot the whole way." These explanations were made 
 to Natalia by the Persian while he kept a strong hold 
 of her dress. He probably still feared that she would 
 change her mind and run away. 
 
 " We must go a long way yet to-night. Atam Kul 
 is now at Khazar-Asp. Mat-Nias has gone to Khiva; 
 Mat Murad is not far from Atam Kul, and all the others 
 are over there to the westward fighting with the Rus- 
 sians who came from the sea." The Persian now began 
 to whistle occasionally. At first there was no answer, 
 but after proceeding for about half a verst there came 
 an answering whistle from the right of the road, 
 where the dark outlines of a staff ornamented with 
 horse-tails loomed up above some saint's grave. 
 
 " Here! " commanded the Persian, drawing Natalia 
 closer to himself. In a second they were surrounded 
 by six ai'tned natives. " I brought her," said the Per-
 
 BEYOND THE RUSSIAN CAMP. 177 
 
 sian, ill a self-satisfied tone. " I brought a fine woman. 
 Atam Kul will give me many thanks, and make me a 
 present of a cloak, a horse, and a hundred kokans, as 
 he promised." 
 
 " Perhaps he'll give them to you, perhaps not," one 
 of the natives said, doubtingly. 
 
 " He'll give them! " replied another, with more con- 
 fidence. 
 
 " Let us have the horses! " the Persian interrupted 
 them. 
 
 " She is all wet! " remarked one of the men, feeling 
 Natalia. " See she is shivering. You are chilled 
 through yes? " 
 
 " She is not fat at all! " added another, also examin- 
 ing her. 
 
 " Hey! you must take them off that will not do. I 
 have two cloaks; I will give her one, and she'll be 
 warmer. Take them off! " 
 
 Awkward hands began to roughly divest Natalia of 
 her garments; hooks were broken and flew off, strings 
 were torn. " How she is bundled up! Our women 
 know better how to dress," said one of the men who 
 were acting as " maids " to Natalia Martinovna. " Take 
 it off! What are you holding back for? Take hold of 
 her hand! " 
 
 Natalia mechanically protested against the unwel- 
 come assistance, but she was only half-conscious. It 
 seemed as if all that was happening to her was not 
 reality, but a dream. They divested her of everything 
 but her chemise, and then threw over her shoulders a 
 wadded and quilted cloak. This garment gave forth a 
 very disagreeable odor, biit it was warm, and the 
 warmth acted gratefully upon the woman's shivering 
 limbs.
 
 178 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " Give her your cap! " said the Persian to somebody; 
 " you can get along with your turban. Now now you 
 are just like a ' dshigit," and not like a woman at all. 
 Ha! ha! We can go along in daylight and nobody 
 will know you. Well, now, to horse! Take her and 
 lift her up. That's right. Hold the bridle you need 
 no whip. You go ahead and you two at her side; we 
 will keep behind. Go on! " 
 
 The tall Turkoman racer carried Natalia quietly 
 enough. The soft cushion of the saddle and high stir- 
 rups allowed her to sit quite comfortably, as in an arm- 
 chair. She let the bridle drop and took hold of the 
 horn of the saddle. Her head was going around and a 
 rushing sound was in her ears, and the voices of the 
 horsemen surrounding her seemed to reach her from 
 some great distance. 
 
 The Turkoman horses know no gait except a bold, 
 long walk or a full run. At present the whole caval- 
 cade proceeded at a walk, but they were making as 
 rapid progress as ordinary horses would have accom- 
 plished at a short gallop. 
 
 "We must go far before daylight," the natives were 
 saying. " We have to fear both the Russians and our 
 people. If the Tekkemen may Allah preserve us 
 from them! should see us, they'll kill us. The Cho- 
 dori also will give us no peace. If the Yomuds see us, 
 it will be no use to say anything! " 
 
 "We are having terrible times now! They are not 
 even afraid of the Khan. Everybody does as he pleases. 
 Go on, you, in front; let us make a little more speed! " 
 
 The cavalcade was now passing over a narrow road 
 between walled gardens. On both sides could be seen 
 dark groups of trees and water glistened in places. 
 They frequently crossed rickety bridges spanning the
 
 BEYOND THE RUSSIAN CAMP. 179 
 
 irrigating canals. All around was dark and silent. So 
 much cultivated ground, so many dwellings, and a total 
 absence of people! All had fled or hidden themselves 
 on hearing that the Russians had crossed the Amu, 
 leaving their houses and gardens to destruction and 
 plunder at the hands of the conquerors. Later, when 
 the fugitives returned to their settlements, they would 
 not believe their eyes until they felt with their hands 
 each article of household furniture and utensil. They 
 had not expected to find anything whole or untouched. 
 
 By daylight the party was at least forty versts from 
 the Russian camp. Around the fortified town of Kha- 
 zar-Asp they described a wide circuit, but it was neces- 
 sary to halt and rest the horses. This was, however, not 
 the principal reason for the halt; the horses could have 
 proceeded farther without resting, but with the morn- 
 ing came daylight, and of that these natives were 
 afraid, even though they were already beyond the reach 
 of pursuit. 
 
 They selected a convenient spot, well concealed from 
 the road, and prepared for a bivouac. The place they 
 chose was the courtyard of an old mosque, inclosed by 
 a high wall. In the center of the court was a small 
 square pond, or "khauss," filled with not very inviting 
 standing water. Over the pond hung the inevitable 
 plantains, covering with their deep shade nearly the 
 whole inclosure; along the outer wall, which was 
 pierced by a wide gate, extended a half-ruined shed for 
 horses, with troughs let into the wall. Quantities of 
 dry dung and cinders bore evidence that the place was 
 frequently used as a camping-ground. A great deal of 
 alarmed talk and consultation was caused among the 
 men of the party by the circumstance that one small 
 heap of cinders was not quite cool; but there was no 
 
 12
 
 180 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 choice it was safest to remain where they were, and 
 finally they hastened their preparations for a day-camp. 
 
 They led Natalia into one of the buildings at the 
 rear of the court, spread a horse-cloth, gave her a sad- 
 dle-cushion, and posted a guard at the entrance. 
 
 "I'll make you some tea directly, and bring it in," 
 said the Persian. " I have a kettle, and I'll make a fire 
 the tea will soon be ready. I'm only sorry I did not 
 take the sugar that was on your table in the tent. I 
 left also the bread that was in a bag hanging up. 
 Well, we have something, and it may be enough. Until 
 it's ready you must sleep." But Natalia did not need 
 the last injunction. She had hardly descended from the 
 horse when her limbs refused to support her. Some- 
 how she dragged herself into the place pointed out to 
 her, fell upon the cloth, and immediately sank into a 
 deathlike sleep. It was a sound sleep a sleep which 
 could not be broken by any noise the sleep of total 
 exhaustion. 
 
 The nervous excitement which had given her strength 
 to survive the night with all its alarming incidents now 
 yielded to complete physical collapse. When the Per- 
 sian brought his little kettle with tea, half of a dry maize- 
 cake, and a small green cup, he could not awaken his 
 voluntary prisoner. He did not trouble himself much 
 about it, but placed what he had brought near her head, 
 coughed and expectorated, and then laid himself down 
 at her feet like a dog, and was soon filling the building 
 with his snore.
 
 ATAM KUL'S MOB. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 ATAM KUL'S MOB. 
 
 BEFORE night they continued their journey. Natalia 
 was aroused with great difficulty, and after they had 
 awakened her it was long before she really came to 
 herself, apparently not recognizing the place or the 
 people, and sitting with wild, wide-open eyes staring at 
 her surroundings. It seemed as if she had forgotten all 
 that had occurred the previous evening and night. She 
 did not understand what they were doing with her. 
 Her whole body was stiff, and she was as weak as a 
 child; they had to carry her out of the building on their 
 hands and place her in the saddle. The freshness of 
 the evening air, however, and the moisture permeating 
 the atmosphere from the evaporation going on in the 
 numerous irrigating ditches, now running full and fre- 
 quently overflowing the road, acted beneficially upon 
 her nerves, and she gradually gained control of herself. 
 
 The party once more turned into the main road, 
 which henceforward had been intentionally obstructed 
 or destroyed in expectation of a Russian advance. 
 The bridges were torn up; in the roadway there were 
 pools of standing water and mud, into which horses 
 would sink above their knees. In other places the road 
 was obstructed by barricades of carts broken up and 
 thrown together in heaps; whole trees had been felled 
 across the highway all these measures having been 
 adopted to impede the movements of our troops and to 
 gain time for negotiations. Here and there behind 
 the walls and buildings frightened heads appeared,
 
 182 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 generally clad in the tall sheepskin cap, and more 
 rarely in turbans. These heads all disappeared when the 
 cavalcade came up, only to pop out again after it had 
 passed, and to look after it with curiosity and fear. 
 Disorder was already beginning to arise in the Khan- 
 ate, which made it impossible for the settled popula- 
 tion, the owners of houses and tillers of the soil, to 
 clearly distinguish friend from enemy, and countryman 
 from stranger. It was beginning to be a question with 
 them whether fire and sword were carried into their 
 country by the white blouses or by the black-capped 
 Turkomans. The fanatical hatred of all Russians began 
 to yield to fear of the plundering Turkomans of the 
 steppe, who had fallen upon the oasis of the Khanate 
 like wolves upon an expiring camel. 
 
 The part played by the Turkomans during the late 
 occurrences in Khiva resembles that played by the 
 Ukraine and other border freebooters during the troub- 
 lous times of our " Interregnum." The Turkomans, the 
 " beloved army of Allah," which threatened the whole 
 world, the "rampart of the greatness and power of 
 the Khan of Khiva," as they were called by several 
 so-called authorities, had proved themselves unreliable 
 in face of the white blouses, yielding the field to the 
 latter. Feeling convinced that they could no longer 
 count upon booty from that quarter, and unwilling to 
 return homeward to their desert strongholds with 
 empty hands, they fell upon the settled population of the 
 Khanate. The Khan's troops his regular infantry, 
 artillery, and armed levies were massed in pro- 
 tection of Klitch-Nias-Bayu, which was threatened by 
 the Caucasian and Orenburg expeditions. From the 
 east another much-dreaded enemy was advancing, the 
 Turkestan battalions. Whom could he oppose to them?
 
 ATAM KUL'S MOB. 183 
 
 What was he to do? There was only one course of 
 action left to guard the road and to postpone, if only 
 for one single day, the fatal minute. 
 
 Mat Nias and Mat Murad were already losing their 
 heads, moving hither and thither with their half-demor- 
 alized forces, while Atam Kul with his volunteers and 
 Sadik with his Kirghiz from Kizil-Kum were already 
 concocting plans for retreating to the Turkoman 
 steppes, to Merv, leaving the Khan to his fate. 
 
 Louder and louder grew in Khiva proper the voice 
 for peace and submission. 
 
 "Allah is turning away from our Khan," said one of 
 the men escorting Natalia Martinovna. 
 
 The cavalcade was now proceeding slowly, the 
 increasing darkness making the passage over the roads 
 of this pillaged and obstructed section of country much 
 more difficult. They were frequently compelled to 
 halt and dismount in order to remove with their hands 
 the broken and piled-up carts, and to make a passage 
 sufficient for letting a saddle-horse through. On many 
 such occasions they lost an hour's time or more. 
 
 At times strange sounds fell upon their ears. Some- 
 thing between a cracked bugle and a flute a singular, 
 doleful quaver trembled and thrilled through the 
 nocturnal air. That was the music of the chebizga, 
 a primitive instrument made of a reed perforated with 
 a row of holes like the flute. At other times these 
 sounds subsided, and then they could hear the beating 
 of drums and the monotonous chant resembling a con- 
 tinuous whine. It reminded one of the howling of a 
 pack of wolves who are looking at some coveted prey 
 inaccessible to them. 
 
 "Those are our people," said one of the natives, 
 pointing with the whip in his hand.
 
 184 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " Hey! " they were unexpectedly challenged from the 
 right of the road. The horses trembled and rose on 
 their hind legs; the riders instinctively looked to their 
 weapons. 
 
 " Who is on the road? " the challenge was repeated. 
 
 "That is Dost-Mahomet," said the Persian; "that is 
 his voice! " 
 
 "We are friends friends! " cried the "dshigits." 
 
 Several horsemen emerged from the gloom and rode 
 up. In spite of the darkness they looked closely at 
 Natalia Martinovna, and in spite of her cloak and cap 
 one of them asked, " A woman? " 
 
 "Yes, a woman, but not yours! " the Persian replied, 
 gruffly. 
 
 " Where did you get her? " 
 
 "There, where she is not now! Eh, friend? Go 
 on farther go! " 
 
 "Ah, she is young! Easy; what are you doing? My 
 knife is handy enough what are you afraid of?" 
 
 "This is Atam Kul's wife," said the Persian. "He 
 will give it to you if I tell him. Just wait; he'll show 
 you. What do you want to look at other people's 
 women for? " 
 
 "Well, we only look. We have not touched her, 
 have we?" 
 
 " Where is he? " 
 
 "At Rustem's house. He is sitting in the garden. 
 But do not go .to see him. He is in such humor 
 nobody can go near him. He had some trouble with 
 Mat Nias." 
 
 " I'm not afraid of him. Go on! " 
 
 The cavalcade passed through a gate between two 
 low bastions with castellated tops. The horses' hoofs 
 clattered upon the flags with which the court was paved.
 
 MAT MURAD'S HEADQUARTERS. 185 
 
 Again the horsemen traversed a narrow, steep, cov- 
 ered passage, and then, in single file, passed over a 
 narrow path meandering between apricot-trees and 
 grape-vines Before them a dark, massive building 
 was visible, with feeble reflections of camp-fires upon 
 its walls. Voices became audible. The Persian alighted 
 from his horse, gave the bridle to one of his men, 
 passed his hands over Natalia's form as if to assure 
 himself that she was there, and then entered Rustem's 
 villa, or fort. 
 
 The other riders, remaining behind, also began to 
 alight from their tired steeds. Farther on shone the 
 white and red squares of paper lanterns. Some one 
 came hurriedly forth to meet them. 
 
 "Allah has been merciful to us," said the voice of the 
 Persian. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 MAT MURAD'S HEADQUARTERS. 
 
 ABOUT twenty versts from Khiva, on the Khazar-Asp 
 road, the hamlet of Chaganak lies concealed between 
 luxuriant gardens. It is a small hamlet, consisting of 
 only eight dwelling-houses. These buildings stand 
 four on either side of the road. From roof to roof of 
 the houses thus confronting each other long poles have 
 been laid, piled with brushwood, and the whole again 
 covered with zinc plates. This shed protects the whole 
 street, making it dark and cool, and the inhabitants of 
 Chaganak sit here the whole day, from morning till 
 night, in front of their shops, enjoying the shade and
 
 186 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 trying to entice each passing traveler to tarry, to take 
 a smoke from the ever-ready kalyan, to drink tea and 
 in the meantime to give his horse a breathing-spell. 
 
 The Chaganak people are all traders; they keep kal- 
 yan-pipes, samovars, and deal in anything a traveler may 
 need. They make their living altogether off the way- 
 farers, and therefore each passer-by who lingers under 
 their arcade-like street means some profit to them, 
 however small. Long trains of carts are especially 
 profitable to these people. As soon as the squeak 
 of their ungreased axles is heard on the road, they 
 hasten to rekindle the charcoal under the samovars, 
 and to throw brushwood upon the fires in the cold 
 winter-time. Then they look out from under their 
 shed and wait. They do not crowd each other to 
 invite the travelers to their own shop knowing well 
 that there is business enough for all, as there are only 
 eight little shops, or rather eight "caravanserais," 
 as they love to call them. 
 
 At the present time a large number of strangers were 
 occiipying Chaganak; the whole street was blocked 
 with horses and there was no space to walk along the 
 road, nor was there any room left in the shops, and even 
 the courtyards from the gates to the back walls were 
 crowded to overflowing with people. At this time, 
 however, the wonderful influx of strangers brought 
 with it no profit to the inhabitants. The proprietors 
 were not present, having run away and hidden them- 
 selves, and leaving behind only two gray-haired old 
 men who were too feeble to walk, not to speak of 
 running away. The strange people had arrived only 
 the day before, and had now occupied the hamlet for a 
 whole day without making any signs of taking their 
 departure. All the horse-feed on hand had 'been fed
 
 MAT MURAD'S HEADQUARTERS. 187 
 
 to the animals; all the tobacco had been smoked by the 
 men, and all the tea had gone down their thirsty 
 throats; they had consumed more than would have 
 lasted the owners a year. 
 
 The visitors were Mat Murad with his force of cavalry 
 and infantry. Not many were left to him of either, 
 owing to the spreading demoralization, which caused 
 numbers of them to depart for other fields where the 
 prospect was more encouraging. He still had an armed 
 mob numbering about five hundred too few to oppose 
 the Russians, but by far too many for the poor people 
 of Chaganak; but nobody troubled himself about 
 them. 
 
 The noise and talking under the sheds of Chaganak 
 could be heard far afield; and in addition there was 
 the clatter of weapons, the neighing and snorting 
 of the vicious Turkoman stallions, the whining and 
 yelping of dogs. Beyond the walls the smoke was 
 rising in thick pillars, blackening and smirching the 
 sides and bottoms of iron and copper kettles; a band 
 of sheep was being driven together for slaughter, 
 and the snapping of whips by the men bringing them 
 up could be heard beyond the last house in the row. 
 
 From a safe distance the rightful residents of 
 Chaganak were looking on, and praying, "Allah! 
 Allah! take these bands away, quickly!" But Allah 
 probably did not hear their fervent prayers. Mat 
 Murad did not go, nor did he take away his " bands." 
 
 The " Datkha " (a military rank equal to a colonelcy) 
 occupied the second dwelling, belonging to Mullah 
 Amandshula. This house was more roomy than the 
 others; the courtyard contained a pond, and around it 
 grew four shady plantains. Under these trees Mat 
 Murad had established himself upon some costly car-
 
 188 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 pets and rugs. Near by, along 1 the wall, stood his 
 horses and those of his immediate suite. At the 
 entrance-gate sat two guards, dressed in dark-red 
 cloaks, armed with long muskets with thin wooden 
 " rests" or forks attached to the barrels. Nobody was 
 admitted through the gate without special order or 
 permission from the Datkha himself. There had been 
 so many two-faced and double-tongued people about of 
 late that one could never know whether he had to do 
 with good or evil persons, therefore no unknown indi- 
 vidual was admitted without the strictest examination 
 and fullest identification. 
 
 Mat Murad did not, however, occupy his position 
 under the plantains alone; before daylight he had been 
 joined by Mullah Sadik and his Kirghiz. This well- 
 known agitator of the nomad tribes brought with him 
 two hundred horsemen, easily distinguished by their 
 outward appearance from Mat Murad's body-guard. 
 A majority of Sadik's men were Kirghiz from Kuzil- 
 Kum; they rode their small Kirghiz horses, and were 
 mostly clad in yellow cloaks of camel's-hair cloth. On 
 their heads they wore summer hats of thin whitish 
 felt. They kept aloof from the Turkomans and Murad's 
 guards, and conducted themselves just as they did in 
 the steppe. They hobbled their horses and left them 
 to feed at will on the grass and herbage around the 
 hamlet, while ten men in turn stood guard over the 
 browsing herd, the remainder sitting around in circles 
 in the full glare of the sun. They were beginning to 
 light fires and to disembowel the sheep they had 
 driven up. 
 
 Mullah Sadik was attired just like the lowest of his 
 Kirghiz; in the same camel's-hair cloak, the same felt 
 hat, in red trousers embroidered with colored silks, but
 
 MAT MURAD'S HEADQUARTERS. 189 
 
 much worn and faded. He was lying upon a carpet, 
 squinting about with his narrow, slanting Kirghiz eyes, 
 and noisily propelling through his teeth dense clouds 
 from his " kalyan." 
 
 Mat Murad sat full of dignity, continually stroking 
 his thick black beard, and frowning angrily with his 
 shaggy gray brows. He was evidently in bad humor, 
 and spoke sharply in a scolding tone. Sadik, however, 
 carried on his share in the conversation with perfect 
 equanimity, and did not seem to care about the subject 
 under discussion. Only his prominently developed 
 cheek-bones trembled slightly, and upon his thin lips 
 there appeared at times, not a smile, but a grimace as of 
 pain. It was probably the latter, since an old wound 
 received five years before, under Khatin-Cham, had 
 never properly healed, and often opened anew, especially 
 in hot weather. 
 
 Besides these chiefs who were averse to the party fav- 
 oring further resistance to the Russians, a few other indi- 
 viduals had joined in the consultation, among them Ata 
 Nazr Khan, a tall Turkoman of the Yomud tribe, who 
 subsequently went over to the Russians and rendered 
 them no little service against his countrymen. An 
 envoy from Mat Nias, Karim Khodsha, was also seated 
 among the others, dressed in a large turban and a light- 
 green silken cloak an insignia of his clerical dignity. 
 In spite of this dignity he was armed from head to 
 foot, and kept near to his hand a double-barreled gun 
 from Tula, with a fine carved stock embellished with 
 gilding. 
 
 One of the attendants had just set down before the 
 chief a dish of pilas; two boys in red jackets and gold- 
 laced caps were serving the guests, handing them the 
 pipes, and moving about between the sitting men with
 
 190 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 great agility. The hair of these boys was not shorn in 
 accordance with Mussulman custom, but plaited in 
 strands which hung down from under their caps, giv- 
 ing their faces a pleasing but feminine appearance, 
 and reminding one more of girls than of boys. These 
 were Min and Balta Nias, the favorite pages of Mat 
 Murad. 
 
 "They have surrendered Khazar-Asp without a 
 fight," said Mat Murad " the old women! They could 
 not detain the Russians on the road until I could come! 
 They are women, not warriors! " 
 
 " But you would have lingered still longer with the 
 Khan, suing for his favor," remarked Sadik, biting his 
 lips. 
 
 " What is the Khan's favor to me pshaw! " said Mat 
 Murad, spitting out viciously. " The Khan is now 
 upheld only by me, and lives by my favor." 
 
 " You are not the Khan's only servant and helper," 
 muttered the envoy of Mat Nias as if talking to him- 
 self. 
 
 "You may well talk!" exclaimed Murad, turning 
 upon him. "You and yours would long ago have 
 kissed the ' giaour's ' tail, or surrendered your guns to 
 them, ready for use. You need not talk! " 
 
 "Time will show whose eyes could see better into 
 the distance! " Karim Khodsha replied, quietly. 
 
 " If it were not for our dissensions, if we acted more 
 in unison, if there were no double-tongued dogs 
 among us, the Russians would never have reached the 
 Amu. Who let them come to Sardiba-Kul? What 
 cowards ran away into the steppe like hares and wolves? 
 All of you, you hirelings! And you were with them; 
 you were doing it all upon Mat Nias' advice." 
 
 " I had but few men the Turkomans were much
 
 MAT MURAD'S HEADQUARTERS. 191 
 
 stronger, but left before me. Sadik went after them. 
 What could I do alone? " 
 
 " I left when Atam Kul turned his back," said Sadik, 
 smiling. " I do not intend to fall into the claws of the 
 Russians. You know all about my affairs. The wolf 
 does not invade a pasture when the shepherds are the 
 strongest." 
 
 "And therefore you ran away at the first cry! You 
 did not even collect the boats on this shore, but left 
 them to the Russians." 
 
 " Some manage in one way and some in another," 
 said Sadik, looking around. "You should find out if 
 somebody else was not to blame. It may be that some- 
 body found it to his advantage to yield to the Russians." 
 
 "Whom do you mean?" asked Mat Murad, contract- 
 ing his brows. 
 
 " Not you where are your eyes? The Russians have 
 paid no money to you or have they tried, perhaps?" 
 And Sadik gazed straight into the commander's eyes, 
 which were quickly lowered. 
 
 " I would have him skinned alive," shouted Mat Murad, 
 " if I knew it for certain. There will always be rumors 
 current, but you can not believe them all." 
 
 " Where is he now? " 
 
 "When he first joined us he camped at Sheik- Arik; 
 then he came this way by the Merv road. Now he is 
 close by." 
 
 " Does he not come here? It is long since he has 
 shown himself." 
 
 " A long time it almost seems as if he was purposely 
 hiding and did not wish to come under our eyes. I have 
 sent to summon him." 
 
 " It is evident that his conscience is not clear," broke 
 in Sadik. " That is why he hides."
 
 192 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " I shall catch him if it be true what people are say- 
 ing. I'd impale him without troubling- the Khan about 
 a trial. I sent him word the other day, and he answered 
 snappishly. It was lucky for him that I had but few 
 people with me then and he a great many, or he should 
 have spoken to me in another tone! " 
 
 " It is just for this reason," said Karim Khodsha, sen- 
 tentiously, " because you are all trying to have each 
 other impaled, that we must now sue the Russians for 
 peace. You are all guilty together. You yourselves 
 let your passions and whims hinder us from accomplish- 
 ing our purpose. Some show their teeth on account of 
 old quarrels," said he, glancing at Sadik. " You can't 
 agree with him, and you threaten him with the stake. 
 That is told to him, and draws his mind from the com- 
 mon cause. Believe me, believe the word of Mat Nias, 
 any kind of peace with the Russians is better than final 
 destruction and demoralization! " 
 
 " That is an old song; it has been sung to us before, 
 and resulted not in our way but in their way." 
 
 "Let us see " 
 
 "It is all right for you," said Sadik; "you have got 
 yourself into no special trouble with anybody it is all 
 right for you. If we make peace with the Russians, 
 they will not touch you; they will not take your lands, 
 your gardens, and your dwellings from you you will 
 not be beggared. You will live as you did before, in 
 comfort and quiet only your power will not be as 
 great as before. It is all right for you. But you would 
 make me lose my skin. / am their sworn enemy, and 
 have been always. If I fall into their hands I'll not 
 live long. Of my wealth not a single crumb remains. 
 Peace with the Russians is not to my mind; it is all the 
 same to me what happens. When I have lost my troops,
 
 MAT MURAD'S HEADQUARTERS. 193 
 
 and I am alive, I shall go to Merv, to the Tekke, to wait 
 and watch when fortune will again come our way. 
 That is what I shall do I have spoken truly! " 
 
 "Atam Kul does not think the same as you," said 
 Mat Murad. " The white blouses will probably not do 
 him any further injury; they do not seem to remem- 
 ber a fault very long." 
 
 " He has been working in that direction for a long 
 time; but he is cunning, he does not show the bent of 
 his mind. I am watching him, though, the runaway 
 dog! " 
 
 " And what is your last word for Mat Nias? " said 
 Karim Khodsha, rising to his feet. 
 
 " The same as ever." Mat Murad turned to him with- 
 out rising. " But tell the Khan that I am his servant 
 no longer, since he has become a Russian slave. Tell 
 him that. Do not change or soften a word of my mes- 
 sage. Do you hear? " 
 
 "Lunatic!" said Karim Khodsha, shrugging his 
 shoulders, and walked toward the gate. There his 
 attendants had already brought his horse, a tall racer, 
 covered with cloths of brilliant colors, and with bit and 
 bridle richly ornamented with tassels. When Karim 
 Khodsha mounted, one of his guards held his stirrup 
 while another assisted the old man. Adjusting himself 
 in his saddle, he pulled back the bridle until the horse 
 rose upon its haunches, and then looked again at Mat 
 Murad, as if to request of him by a glance another 
 last decisive word. 
 
 "May Allah bless your road! " said Murad, not with- 
 out irony, raising his hand. 
 
 Karim Khodsha emerged from the courtyard sur- 
 rounded by his suite. The horsemen made their way 
 with difficulty through the crowded street, but when
 
 194 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 they reached the highway they proceeded at a rapid 
 gait in the direction of the gardens of Khiva, which 
 were rising darkly above the horizon. 
 
 " It is time for me also! " said Sadik, rising with diffi- 
 culty; and placing a finger against his lips he whistled 
 loudly. 
 
 Thus whistle the horse-herders when they wish to 
 make the whole drove start at once. When this whistle 
 resounds over the steppe the horses tremble, prick up 
 their ears, and begin to gather in groups, as if fearing 
 some hidden danger. This is a premonitory whistle. 
 Sadik's whistle, however, was answered by another just 
 without the gate, then by another farther away, and 
 again another barely audible in the distance. The 
 Kirghiz guarding the herd began to contract their circle. 
 The bivouac of the warriors of the steppe was breaking 
 up. 
 
 " Are you going to Merv? " Mat Murad inquired, with 
 a sneer. 
 
 "No; I shall yet remain," Sadik replied, impudently. 
 " It will not do to go to a strange land with empty 
 hands. I still hope to pick up something." 
 
 " Something of ours? " 
 
 " Whatever turns up. Ask Ata Nazr Khan where he 
 loaded up forty-four camels, and where he sent them to. 
 Perhaps something may be left for me in that neigh- 
 borhood." 
 
 "Did you see them?" angrily asked the Turkoman. 
 " And if you did, do not tell anybody else I will do as 
 much for you." 
 
 " All my affairs you may proclaim to the world. I 
 shall go to Atam Kul and consult with him. We are 
 friends now." Sadik's reply was tinged with bitter 
 irony.
 
 LED FORTH TO TESTIFY.
 
 MAT MURAD'S HEADQUARTERS. 195 
 
 " And must I alone await the Russians? " shouted Mat 
 Murad, his eyes burning with rage and his glossy beard 
 trembling with strong emotion. 
 
 " Dispute with them the road, keep them at bay, and 
 we will strike them in the rear. Haida!" Sadik bowed 
 in his saddle, plied his whip, and bounded out of the 
 gate. 
 
 " It would be better to go to Khiva than to stay here," 
 was Ata Nazr Khan's advice to Mat Murad. 
 
 " Let us consider a little," said the Datkha, rising 
 from his seat. " See there! the sun is setting in clouds 
 and fog, but do you know how it will rise to-morrow? 
 It is all according to Allah's will, and to his wrath there 
 will be an end sometime." Mat Murad considered long, 
 gazing at the crimson evening sky. Blue shadows were 
 spreading from walls and trees, and the flames of the 
 fires under the shed grew brighter. The noise of the 
 bivouac was subsiding, and the freshness of the night 
 air penetrated the double wadded and quilted cloak of 
 the commander, causing him to shiver slightly. 
 
 Suddenly two shots were heard, and then voices full 
 of alarm shouted, "Who is this?" "Catch him! stop 
 him!" "Cut him off from the road! " " He can't get 
 away!" "Hold him!" 
 
 These were the cries of some pursuers. They were 
 coming nearer and nearer. 
 
 13
 
 196 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE HAREM OF MULLAH ATAM KUL. 
 
 " GOOD-DAY," said Atam Kul, seizing Natalia Mar- 
 tinovna around the neck. 
 
 She did not return the greeting, but stood like a 
 stone. 
 
 One of the natives held up an oiled paper lantern, 
 pushing it almost against the face of the unfortunate 
 woman. 
 
 " She is dead! " cried the renegade, staggering back. 
 
 Natalia's face was as white as a sheet, the eyes were 
 dumb and motionless, the mouth stood half-open like 
 that of a corpse, with the lower jaw pendent as if the 
 muscles of the face had lost all control over its move- 
 ments. 
 
 Her breath seemed to be suspended. It was a real 
 corpse, but an uncanny kind of a corpse, standing upon 
 its feet without prop or assistance. 
 
 A terrible fear fell upon the superstitious savage. 
 Atam Kul retreated two more steps. Natalia began 
 to sway as soon as he removed his hand from her 
 shoulder. 
 
 "That is nothing," fawned the Persian; "that will 
 pass away. It is only exhaustion. We have traveled 
 too far. She is all right; she is a strong woman just 
 like a native. That is nothing! " 
 
 God only knows what took place in the soul of Atam 
 Kul at that moment. He retreated still farther into 
 the darkness, where the light of the lantern did not fall, 
 and turned away. "Take her into the house there,
 
 THE HAREM OF MULLAH ATAM KUL. 197 
 
 with the others," he said, hoarsely; "the women are 
 there take her to them." 
 
 The dull thud of a falling- body forced from Atam 
 Kul's breast a hoarse, savage cry, but he did not stir 
 from his position, trembling, and afraid to look at the 
 fallen one. 
 
 "Take her away! Carry her on your hands!" he 
 cried, and rushed away through the garden in the direc- 
 tion of the building occupied by his native followers, 
 who were contentedly gorging themselves with a stew 
 of fat meat. 
 
 The Persian and one other man lifted Natalia up 
 and carried her away. In the darkness it was difficult 
 to distinguish anything ahead of them, but the Persian 
 soon struck against the rough surface of a wall, and 
 moving his hand along it until he felt the bolt of a 
 wicket, drew it and passed through, after which the 
 three found themselves surrounded by still more impen- 
 etrable darkness even the stars which twinkled 
 faintly in the sky had disappeared. They were under 
 a roof. 
 
 " Eh, you old crow, make a light! Why are you hid- 
 ing?" shouted the Persian. " Quick! Do you hear?" 
 
 A frightened feminine whisper and a slight rustling 
 could be heard in a corner. 
 
 " I'll bring a lantern," said one of the men, letting 
 down Natalia's limbs carefully to the floor. " You'll 
 not get them to move in a hurry! " 
 
 A reddish spot at last began to glimmer in the dark- 
 ness, and above it, not very clearly defined, appeared 
 the outlines of dry lips, a toothless mouth, and the end 
 of an old woman's nose. The spark began to grow a 
 dry splinter of wood began to smoke and crackle, and 
 at last blazed up brightly, throwing a flickering, fan-
 
 198 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 tastic light upon the surroundings. It was the interior 
 of a dwelling, somewhat richly decorated, according to 
 the local ideas of luxury. The walls were smoothly 
 plastered with alabaster and painted in fresco patterns 
 of flowers and fanciful leaves. On the square-beamed 
 ceiling some rough gilding glistened in the uncertain 
 light. A soft felt-mat covered the floor of the dwelling, 
 and around the walls bright-colored carpets and wadded 
 quilts were piled up. In the center a small circular 
 space was left bare, upon which a few cinders were 
 visible, and beside it lay a bundle of twigs and wisps of 
 straw. Various domestic utensils were also lying about, 
 with remnants of a supper, and a tinned copper kettle 
 with tea. The mat around the hearth was strewn with 
 well-gnawed melon-rinds and the husks of pistachio- 
 nuts. Some unfinished needlework on red cloth was 
 also lying there, and a young kitten, partly entangled 
 in it, was peeping out from under its folds and looking 
 at the intruder, blinking its greenish eyes. 
 
 There were three women in the biiilding two still 
 young, who drew their grayish-blue burnouses over 
 their heads, and huddling together in a corner, looked 
 out from there with a more frightened expression than 
 the kitten; and an old woman, homely, with yellow com- 
 plexion and a face disfigured by smallpox and much 
 wrinkled, who was hurriedly placing a piece of tallow 
 candle into a copper candlestick. She did not progress 
 very satisfactorily with this undertaking; the splinter 
 of wood, being nearly consumed, burned her fingers, 
 while the candle was gliding through her trembling 
 hand. 
 
 "Well, here is the lantern! " said one of the natives, 
 entering the house and glancing furtively in the 
 direction where the young women were sitting. "Ah!
 
 THE HAREM OF MULLAH ATAM KUL. 199 
 
 they are hiding," he continued, as he hung the lantern 
 to a hook near the door. 
 
 " Go away, go away! " snarled the old woman; " what 
 are you looking at? It is against the law for you to 
 come here. Go! What do these strange men come 
 here for? What did you bring? Who gave you per- 
 mission? " 
 
 " Wait; let me look a little! " said the native, jokingly. 
 
 "No looking here; I'll tell the master to-morrow. 
 He'll show you get out! " 
 
 " Why should I go? You might as well give those to 
 us. We brought a new one for him, and such a one 
 that after this he will not look at such carrion as 
 those! " 
 
 "You are carrion yourself, you dead dog! " replied 
 one of the women in a loud and somewhat shrill voice. 
 
 "Where did you bring her from?" inquired the 
 other. 
 
 " She is a Russian. We did not take her she came 
 herself; but she was taken ill on the road. Ah! she lies 
 there like a clod. We had so much trouble with her on 
 the road! " 
 
 "You've done a great deal, indeed!" grumbled the 
 Persian. " Go away! I can arrange matters here with- 
 out you. It may be that he will come back. What has 
 become of him? He was waiting, and then wouldn't 
 wait, but rushed off without even looking at her." 
 
 "She is young! " muttered the old woman, who had 
 squatted down on her heels and was looking at the pros- 
 trate form. She unceremoniously turned Natalia's 
 face to the light and began feeling her breast, shoulders, 
 and arms with her claw-like fingers. "She is young 
 not old at all. These Russians do not get old very 
 quickly. We had one that remained a good-looking
 
 200 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 woman until she was forty years of age always good 
 and fresh, while ours were no longer worth looking at. 
 They almost killed her from envy." 
 
 " You attend to her properly," said the Persian. 
 " You see that I have delivered her to you alive look! 
 she is breathing; you can see for yourself. To-morrow 
 she must be all right. Wash her and dress her nicely, 
 and see that she meets Atam Kul properly when he 
 comes. Keep her quiet, and cover her with something 
 warm, and bathe her head that helps. I'm sorry we 
 have no Russian whisky; it would do her much good, I 
 know. Rub her heels with pepper that may " 
 
 "Go away! go away! We know without you what 
 should be done. I have not lived sixty years in this 
 world for nothing! Go away, and tell them all not to 
 touch our door again; they give us no rest, the hungry 
 dogs! I shall bolt the door from the inside, but tell 
 them, anyhow. Go away now! " 
 
 " Well, I only want you to see that I gave her to you 
 alive. Remember that! " the Persian repeated once 
 more. " Good health to you! Good-by! " 
 
 "Go!" 
 
 The Persian retreated to the door, threw one more 
 glance at his voluntary captive, and left the building, 
 slamming the narrow, heavy door, studded with flat- 
 headed iron nails without any regard for symmetry or 
 pattern. 
 
 The women now remained alone. 
 
 The men had scarcely left the building, and the old 
 woman had barely closed and bolted the door behind 
 them, when curiosity the ruling passion of women, 
 and of Asiatic women especially seized upon both 
 wives of Mullah Atam Kul.
 
 THE HAREM OF MULLAH ATAM KUL. 201 
 
 Cat-like, with a single bound, they sprang to Natalia's 
 side and began to examine her. The women had thrown 
 off their wide cloaks and remained in long silken shirts 
 alone. The light of the lantern fell brightly upon their 
 somewhat peculiar features. One of them, who had 
 exchanged courtesies with the native, was a Persian, 
 tall in stature, with a fine, bold physiognomy. The 
 large black eyes, with bluish " whites " and fringed 
 with long lashes, had a somewhat savage and repelling 
 look. In her glance two prevailing expressions were 
 always interchanging viciousness and slavish fear. 
 It was the glance of a dog when he is being punished by 
 his master's hand always ready to bite that hand, and 
 only awaiting the proper minute, while fear of this 
 same hand remains uppermost and paralyzes the desire 
 to resist. Traces of this internal struggle, this hesi- 
 tation between rage and fear, can be discerned in his 
 whining, in his bark now fawning, now threatening. 
 
 The border of her red cap, strung with metallic pend- 
 ants, fell low over her forehead, almost to the thick 
 black brows, giving to the whole face a still more unin- 
 viting aspect. The large long nose, with finely cut, 
 trembling nostrils, spoke of slyness and cunning, even 
 while a pleasant and sympathetic smile played around 
 the mouth. Even the blackened teeth did not disfig- 
 ure this mouth, in nowise spoiling its graceful lines. 
 Her black hair hung down from under her cap, covered 
 with metallic chain ornaments and jingling at every 
 motion made by the woman. Massive pendants, 
 reaching to her shoulders, were inserted in her ears, 
 and around her neck shone and sparkled several rows 
 of glass beads. The whole bosom of her red shirt was 
 ornamented with gold and silver coins, arranged in an 
 original and rather tasteful pattern. Her long slender
 
 202 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 fingers were studded with rings, set chiefly with tur- 
 quoises and carnelians; the finger-nails were dyed as 
 well as the teeth, not black, however, but a bright 
 blood-red. 
 
 The Persian girl was still young; perhaps seventeen, 
 no more. Her shirt, or blouse, unconfined by any belt, 
 displayed a firm and elastic figure. She was the favor- 
 ite wife of Mullah Atam Kul; hence it will be easily 
 understood with what feelings of fear and jealousy she 
 now looked upon her new rival lying there prostrate 
 before her. She was drawing comparisons between 
 herself and the new arrival, examining every feature 
 and endeavoring to discover something that might be 
 counted in her favor. Evidently she was not very well 
 satisfied with the result of this comparison. Above all, 
 displeased her the long, silky, light-auburn hair of 
 Natalia, which shone in the lantern's light with a pe- 
 culiar luster. She let the hair pass through her fingers, 
 weighed it in her hand and measured its length, but 
 suddenly she broke into a disdainful laugh. The sharp 
 eyes of a jealous rival had discovered a gray hair 
 among these shining locks, and this discovery had 
 aroused her to an open expression of her joy. 
 
 "Now, what is that Persian mare snorting about?" 
 snarled the old woman. " Be still! I'll give it to 
 you! " 
 
 "I'll strike you! Look here! " the Persian replied, 
 with flashing eyes, but retreating a little and saying 
 not another word. 
 
 " 'Sh! you noisy one! " scolded the old woman, pour- 
 ing some water out of a jar into a shallow dish. " Hang 
 a mat before the door. Somebody might come around 
 spying again. I thought I heard a step just now." 
 
 The other wife of Mullah Atam Kul was a Kirghiz
 
 THE HAREM OF MULLAH ATAM KUL. 203 
 
 woman. It was only necessary to glance at her prom- 
 inent cheek-bones, at those narrow, furtive, oblique 
 eyes and the strong yellow teeth, to dispel all doubts 
 as to her origin. The head of this daughter of the 
 steppe was covered with a huge white turban (djav- 
 luk), the ends of which, hanging down over her shoul- 
 ders, were embroidered with gold thread. She was a 
 stout, robust woman, and her thin tunic fitted closely to 
 her massive rotund figure. 
 
 Having satisfied her curiosity, the Kirghiz woman 
 cheerfully began to assist the old hag in attending to 
 the patient. She wetted the end of a towel in water 
 and vinegar, loosened Natalia's belt, drew the heavy 
 man's boots from her feet, and raised her head, placing 
 under it a long cylindrical pillow. During these kindly 
 ministrations she impressed several kisses upon the un- 
 conscious form, and moved the kettle nearer to the fire, 
 in order to let Natalia have some hot tea when she recov- 
 ered from her swoon. Only she and the old hag did 
 anything for the Russian woman; the Persian in the 
 meantime, having completed her inspection, seated 
 herself once more against the wall, folding her arms 
 around her knees and resting her chin upon the latter. 
 
 In the soul of the Kirghiz woman jealousy had been 
 ignited only for a moment, and quickly subsided as 
 soon as she looked upon the features of the new wife 
 of Mullah Atam Kul features, though then lifeless, 
 so full of weariness, sadness, and the profoundest 
 misery. 
 
 They disrobed Natalia completely, bathing her whole 
 body with tepid water and vinegar, and then covered 
 her up with a wadded quilt. 
 
 "She has some life in her now! " chattered the old 
 woman. " She is no longer dead. Death has gone out
 
 204 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 and sleep has come in his place. See how nicely she 
 breathes. She sleeps. Well, let her sleep; later on I 
 will wake her and dress her. I know when that must be. 
 To-morrow she will te quite well, and the Mullah will 
 make me a present and to you also, Aibulgan, but 
 not to you over there, who did nothing-, but only sat 
 and looked at us two working! " The old woman 
 glanced angrily in the direction where the Persian was 
 seated. 
 
 " Djellie worked also," said the Kirghiz woman in de- 
 fense of her companion. " She bathed her head; I saw 
 it myself." 
 
 " But I heard what she whispered while she was 
 doing it. If I were to hint a word of it to our master 
 he would not let her live; he would order her to be 
 killed. I heard her." 
 
 "What did you hear? " calmly asked the Persian. 
 
 " I heard what I heard." 
 
 " What did I say? " 
 
 " ' Her throat ought to be squeezed so tightly that she 
 would not come to again! ' that is what you said. Isn't 
 that it? I am old, but I can still hear." 
 
 " And what of that! I tell Atam Kul himself any- 
 thing that comes into my head. He loves me; he told 
 me only yesterday that there is not a better woman in 
 the world than I am. Let us see who will be on top, 
 I or she. We'll see. Ai'bulgan is all right he only 
 looks upon her once in awhile; it is all the same to 
 her." 
 
 "Silence, you long-nosed crow you slave! " Ai'bul- 
 gan turned upon the Persian. 
 
 " You are without nose it is set in the middle of 
 your face like a button; there is nothing to be seen but 
 cheek-bones and teeth."
 
 THE HAREM OF MULLAH ATAM KUL. 205 
 
 "Look out that those teeth don't fasten upon you!" 
 shrieked the Kirghiz woman. 
 
 " Quiet there! " cried the old woman; " what are you 
 bawling about? Are you going to fight again as you 
 did in the morning? Your last scratches are not healed 
 yet. Silence! " 
 
 This exhortation somewhat quieted the enraged 
 women and prevented for this time a fight such as are 
 of common occurrence in harem life. 
 
 Natalia Martinovna stirred and groaned in her sleep. 
 "What! have you awakened her, you vermin? It is 
 necessary that she should sleep now, and you are 
 making a noise. Be quiet she may go to sleep again 
 sits till!" 
 
 "Tell us a story," proposed Ai'bulgan, who at once 
 quieted down, "and we will sit and listen." 
 
 "You just wait! " threatened the willful and vicious 
 Djellie. 
 
 "Well, then, listen! " said the old woman, bending 
 once more over the face of the sleeper and listening; 
 then she coughed, expectorated, and began in a low 
 voice, almost a whisper. Both the listeners drew 
 nearer. The old woman went on, in a monotonous, 
 droning tone. Ai'bulgan, having already forgotten her 
 quarrel, laid her head upon the Persian's knee; the 
 latter lowered her eyes and sat motionless, winding the 
 ends of her tresses around her fingers. The coins upon 
 her bosom scarcely rose with her breath. A few noc- 
 turnal flies and moths circled around the lantern, occa- 
 sionally striking against its oiled paper sides. 
 
 In a corner of the room something was breathing 
 calmly, invisible behind the piled carpets and large 
 silken cushions. 
 
 The old woman began her tale. The story was a
 
 206 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 long one, describing the doings and intrigues of a com- 
 munity of women governed by a female Khan. The 
 plot hinged upon a conflict between ambition and a 
 mother's love, in which the latter conquered. 
 
 "Yes, that is what it means to be a mother! " added 
 the aged story-teller, not in the monotonous, sing-song 
 tone she employed for the tale, but in her natural 
 voice. " Well, I have finished my story. How did you 
 like it? 'Sh be quiet; I believe our patient is awake." 
 
 Natalia Martinovna had opened her eyes some time 
 before, looking at her unfamiliar surroundings. At this 
 moment she was leaning upon her elbow, pushing the 
 strands of hair away from her forehead, and sighing 
 deeply. All at once, over there in the corner where 
 the fringed carpets and cushions were piled up, some 
 small creature also sighed, opened wide its eyes, and 
 gave vent to the plaintive and soul-stirring cry of a 
 child. 
 
 " Mama, mama! " Nobody knew at first what was 
 happening. Natalia sprang to her feet, trembling all 
 over, then rushed into the corner. Small arms clasped 
 her around the neck, a small flushed face was caress- 
 ingly rubbing against her own the mother had found 
 her son. 
 
 Then Djellie, the Persian, and Ai'bulgan, and the old 
 story-teller understood what was happening in their 
 dwelling. The old woman's mouth broadened into a 
 good-natured, toothless smile. As she looked at the 
 Russian woman, her tongue almost unconsciously 
 repeated the closing words of her story, " That is 
 what it means to be a mother! " 
 
 Djellie bent over into the corner and leaned her face 
 against the wall, without once turning around; her 
 shoulders and arms down to the elbows were shaking
 
 PROVIDENCE. 207 
 
 convulsively, and at every tremor the coins sewed upon 
 her shirt gave forth a silvery jingle. 
 
 A'ibulgan fell at Natalia's feet, embracing them 
 ardently, and pressing her thick lips upon them, the 
 noisy kisses of the soft-hearted Kirghiz woman resound- 
 ing through the room. 
 
 Dawn was breaking. The golden light of morning 
 invaded the dwelling through the cracks of the door, 
 and through the panes of oiled paper with which the 
 upper window-frames were fitted. 
 
 People were moving and tramping about in court- 
 yard and gardens. The vicious stallions neighed and 
 snorted as they were led to the morning watering. 
 
 "Eh! you women get ready!" came through the 
 door of the harem in the Persian's voice. " Mullah 
 Atam Kul is coming withdraw the bolts, quickly! " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 THE door of the women's house opened wide. The 
 morning sun illuminated brightly with its golden rays 
 the garden adjoining the harem. The emerald-green 
 foliage of the grape-vines was gorgeously hung with 
 trembling drops of dew, which the young sun had not 
 yet succeeded in drinking up. From behind the grape- 
 vines and beyond the dense screen of green arose the 
 gray pillars of poplars, and behind these again darker 
 masses of luxuriant plantains could be seen, giving a
 
 208 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 view of the opposite wall only here and there through 
 breaks in the foliage. 
 
 A brisk morning breeze was blowing in through the 
 door, freshening the close, sultry atmosphere in the 
 interior of the building. At first the inmates with 
 undisguised delight inhaled the fresh air into their lungs, 
 and Natalia also became aware of its beneficial effect 
 upon her debilitated system. She felt renewed courage 
 and strength qualities most necessary to her at the 
 present moment. 
 
 All shnt their dazzled eyes before the shining 
 square of light caused by the open door, when the black 
 shadow of a colossal round-shouldered figure suddenly 
 appeared in bold relief upon the illuminated surface. 
 A huge turban and a wide cloak, unconfined by belt or 
 girdle, apparently enlarged still more the visitor's 
 dimensions. Behind him two or three other dark 
 countenances were visible, and the bright barrels of 
 flint-lock muskets, provided with "rests," loomed up 
 among them, together with the high black sheepskin 
 caps of the Turkomans set upon close-cropped heads at 
 various angles. The sound of conversation could be 
 heard through the door. 
 
 But the door was closed again, and all was dark and 
 quiet once more within the female apartments of the 
 dwelling the darkness appearing much denser and 
 more impenetrable after the brief flash of light caused 
 by the opening of the door. 
 
 Atam Kul himself closed the door behind him and 
 bolted it; leaving his suite and even his most devoted 
 follower, the Persian, in the courtyard, he entered the 
 building alone. For a few moments he was unable to 
 distinguish anything, and stood upon the threshold, but 
 soon his eye became accustomed to the red, somber
 
 PROVIDENCE. 209 
 
 light which filtered through the oiled paper window 
 over the door, and from a smoke-obscured opening in 
 one corner, under the roof, and he was enabled to dis- 
 tinguish the figures of women present in the building. 
 At the first sound of men's voices A'ibulgan had fled 
 to the farthest corner of the room, turned away her 
 face and covered it with her cloak, drawing it up even 
 over her turban and leaving nothing of herself to be 
 seen but an indistinct, unshapely mass. 
 
 Djellie, with a rapid but graceful movement, stretched 
 herself out at full length, designedly tearing the front 
 of her shirt so as to expose half of her bosom, and 
 thus lay upon the carpet with both hands under her 
 head. The pose thus assumed was both effective and 
 beautiful, and worthy of the trained coquette of an 
 Asiatic harem. 
 
 The old woman sat down in half-concealment beside 
 the door, trembling like a dog under the stick suspended 
 threateningly over its head, and blinking her tearful 
 eyes, looked straight into Atam Kill's face. Her timid, 
 slavish air betrayed her anxiety not only to obey but to 
 anticipate the slightest wish or hint of her dreaded 
 master. The woman's whole soul was animated by the 
 one instinct of ascertaining his wishes and whims and 
 to see to their immediate execution. 
 
 Natalia, raising her head, perceived the dark massive 
 figure towering in the lighted square of the door, and 
 instinctively pressed the boy, who was crying and 
 trembling nervously, to her breast with firmer press- 
 ure. At that moment she experienced within herself 
 such a revival of moral power, such courage, that she 
 felt equal for a struggle no matter how great the dis- 
 parity of forces. She even looked down with the con- 
 tempt of the stronger for the weaker upon the man
 
 210 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 who was the cause of her sufferings and grief, and in 
 whose full power she now found herself. 
 
 "You all go away! " said Mullah Atam Kul, stepping 
 forward. He placed his hand upon Natalia Martin- 
 ovna's shoulder, and even set one foot upon her trail- 
 ing cloak, as if to indicate by these motions that his 
 command did not refer to her, but only to the other 
 three women. 
 
 The old story-teller slipped across to the opposite 
 wall and began to hurriedly unfasten a little door lead- 
 ing to the second and inner court of the women's 
 apartments. Ai'bulgan crept along the wall without 
 raising her face, and was the first to run out when the 
 door was opened. Djellie did not stir from her position. 
 She stretched herself indolently and yawned, casting 
 upon Atam Kul a long look expressive of the most 
 nai've want of comprehension as to what was going on 
 before her. She even smiled, and was about to say 
 something, probably to ask for an explanation, when 
 the renegade repeated, sternly: 
 
 " You also must go! " 
 
 The Persian again smiled, and emphatically shook her 
 head. 
 
 "Well?" repeated Atam Kul. 
 
 Djellie rose slowly to her feet, and after stretching 
 herself again while standing up, and by this pose dis- 
 playing the beautiful proportions of her young body, 
 and causing her metal ornaments to tinkle melodiously, 
 she advanced toward Atam Kul, who receded a few 
 paces. 
 
 "What! Do you want to replace me by that one?" 
 inquired Djellie, pointing at the Russian woman. 
 
 "Away!" shouted the renegade, snatching a whip 
 from his girdle and raising it threateningly.
 
 JUDGMENT AND PUNISHMENT.
 
 PROVIDENCE. 211 
 
 Behind the interior door a slight exclamation burst 
 from the lips of Ai'bulgan, who had been listening. 
 The Persian did not tremble, but quickly raised her 
 hands before her face, to protect it against the impend- 
 ing stroke/ 
 
 "It is well!" she said; "but remember, when you 
 come to me and I know it will be soon, perhaps 
 to-day then I shall say to you, 'Away! ' You may order 
 me to be cut down I know that is in your power, but 
 while I am alive Djellie will no longer be your wife 
 unless she is tied hand and foot. And you remember, 
 also," she continued, addressing Natalia Martinovna, 
 " though you may not be his by your own will, I shall 
 never forgive you. Remember that! " The Persian 
 slowly glided to the door, and stopping for a moment 
 upon the threshold, she. laughed loudly, and then 
 slammed the door behind her and latched it. 
 
 Atam Kul and Natalia remained not altogether 
 alone, however; the little boy was between them. The 
 two-legged wolf now stood before her without speaking. 
 He did not know what to say, how to begin, or how to 
 proceed in this affair. The savage was nonplused for 
 the moment, and only mechanically pressed in his hands 
 the heavy handle of his whip, scowling in the meantime 
 from under his brows, now at the door through which 
 Djellie had disappeared, now at his voluntary captive. 
 
 Petka glanced at Atam Kul through his outspread 
 ringers. He had accommodated himself to a certain 
 extent to his new circumstances, and become familiar 
 with the new face of this pirate of the steppes, who 
 had caressed him so often, especially during the last 
 few days, and not fully understanding what had just 
 occurred before his eyes, he had thus far looked on with 
 perfect equanimity. The moment, however, the whip 
 
 14
 
 212 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 was raised the boy's whole body began to tremble, and 
 he nestled more closely into his mother's bosom. He 
 speedily discovered that the stroke was not intended for 
 him and became reassured. 
 
 "Good-day! " Atam Kul began once more* 
 
 " I have come," Natalia replied, in a faint, scarcely 
 audible voice. 
 
 The renegade seated himself heavily upon the carpet, 
 his hands almost touching the dress of Natalia, who 
 withdrew her garments from his reach. 
 
 "Why?" he asked, in a hoarse voice, throwing a fur- 
 tive glance at her. Atam Kul's eyes gleamed like live 
 coals; a nervous excitement seized him. He quickly 
 moved nearer to Natalia and seized her with both 
 hands. At that moment he felt only a burning, insatia- 
 ble passion. If a knife had then been thrust into his 
 breast he would not have felt it he would not have 
 heeded the sharp point piercing his vitals. The child 
 was between them; Atam Kul thrust him aside with 
 one powerful hand, and Petka rolled like a ball over the 
 carpet, terror preventing him from making an outcry. 
 
 "You cursed beast!" Natalia cried, savagely, rush- 
 ing forward to pick up the boy. Behind the door the 
 loud laugh of the Persian was heard again. 
 
 "Hey!" yelled the renegade, and the old woman, 
 thinking that the shout must be intended for her, 
 entered the room. She knew what kind of services her 
 master would demand of her. 
 
 " Take her away, take her! " cried Atam Kul; "but 
 place this puppy in a sack and throw it into the water." 
 
 The old woman sprang across the floor with the 
 agility of a cat and caught hold of Natalia Martinovna. 
 She seized her elbows from behind, and endeavored to 
 place her upon her back.
 
 PROVIDENCE. 213 
 
 " I have come to you," gasped the unfortunate 
 woman, full of terror and desperation. " I came to 
 you of my own will why will you use violence? You 
 called me to give me back my son. Drown him? You 
 would drown Petka? I will suffer death before you 
 touch him! He is not yours; he is mine. If you kill 
 him, you kill me. Do you wish for my death? " She 
 tore herself from the old woman's hands and threw 
 herself down before Atam Kul. She even raised her 
 arms as if about to place them around his neck. 
 
 "You just wait, you Russian slut!" came from 
 behind the inner door. Almost simultaneously 
 alarmed voices shouted at the opposite entrance. 
 
 "Mullah! Hey! Taksir! Mullah Atam Kul !" The 
 snorting of horses and the stamp of iron-shod hoofs 
 were plainly heard as if the whole garden was filled 
 with horsemen. Atam Kul could hear the voices of 
 his own men and those of strangers. The voice of Mat 
 Murad sounded above them all the commander 
 was issuing clear and distinct orders to his followers. 
 
 " Look well over there, that he may not escape over 
 the wall. Break in the door if he does not open. I've 
 got you at last, you run away dog! The 'double- 
 tongue ' spoke once too often." 
 
 Atam Kul did not understand the meaning of these 
 orders, but he scented an enemy, a terrible enemy, and 
 felt himself in mortal danger without knowing its 
 origin. The door began to yield before the pressure of 
 a dozen shoulders, the hinges broke from their fasten- 
 ings, and a crowd surged into the building. The rene- 
 gade drew a knife and threw himself against the other 
 door, but it had been firmly fastened on the other side. 
 Again he heard the Persian woman's vicious laugh and 
 her mocking voice in broken phrases. " No, you will not
 
 214 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 get through here. I am guarding this outlet. Come here, 
 you men! " she cried, louder, "or he will break out yet." 
 
 The house now was filled with men; they snatched 
 the knife out of Atam Kul's hand, threw him down 
 and bound him. Then they lifted him up and carried 
 him into the presence of Mat Murad, who was seated 
 upon his horse in the center of the court, gazing from 
 under his wide turban straight into his captive's eyes 
 with an evil, triumphant smile. 
 
 No attention was at the time paid to Natalia Martin- 
 ovna, who had hidden herself and her child in a corner 
 of the room, among the cushions. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 DOSTCHAK TURNS UP AGAIN. 
 
 SADIK and his band of Kirghiz had only just taken 
 their departure from Mat Murad's headquarters and 
 turned into the road to Khazar-Asp, when, within a 
 mile of the hamlet, they encountered a horseman of 
 very suspicious appearance. He was a Kirghiz also, 
 and was proceeding at a moderate gallop from the 
 direction from which the Russians were expected. The 
 man's horse was still fresh, and, to judge from its con- 
 dition, the traveler must have left his last resting-place 
 but a short time ago. The rider was clad in Kirghiz 
 fashion, but his horse bore a Russian saddle and bridle 
 the former partially concealed by a striped horse- 
 cloth, which circumstance rather increased the suspicions 
 aroused by the man's appearance.
 
 DOSTCHAK TURNS UP AGAIN. 215 
 
 The strange horseman no sooner caught sight of the 
 advancing column of mounted men when he turned 
 aside, striving to hide behind the walls of a roadside 
 dwelling. All saw how hurriedly he endeavored to 
 execute this maneuver and how desperately he plied the 
 whip upon his horse's sides as he forced it to jump the 
 wide irrigating ditch lining the road. He seemed to 
 look full of terror upon the approaching force, and even 
 raised one hand to the gun which was hanging over his 
 shoulders, as if preparing to make use of his weapon. 
 
 Nobody waited for any order from Sadik, who did 
 not have time to open his mouth before, with a yell, his 
 men were scattering to the right and left in pursuit, 
 taking every possible measure not to lose sight of the 
 man who was trying to hide. The hunt for the sus- 
 picious horseman was soon in full cry. 
 
 In a few moments he made his appearance again 
 among the trees, and then, finding himself so actively 
 pursued, he turned and stood at bay. In a moment he 
 was the center of a half-circle, and there remained to 
 him only one line of retreat back in the direction he 
 had come from. The pursued seemed to hesitate, how- 
 ever, and suddenly, observing a somewhat wider inter- 
 val between two of the horsemen closing in upon him, 
 he boldly spurred his horse in that direction without 
 seemingly paying the slightest attention to the obsta- 
 cles in his way. It was at that moment that the cries 
 of " Catch him! hold him! " were raised which alarmed 
 the people assembled at Mat Murad's headquarters. 
 
 The horseman broke through the lines of his oppo- 
 nents, and, having a better animal, was leaving them 
 behind, when Sadik brought his rifle to his shoulder, 
 and waiting until the fugitive reached an open spot, 
 aimed and fired. A few other bullets were sent in the
 
 216 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 same direction. The horse screamed in agony and fell 
 with a crash, sending the rider over its head. He had 
 not time to make an outcry or to get upon his feet 
 before he felt himself completely enveloped in the coils 
 of a rope. He was caught. 
 
 One of the Kirghiz, looking upon the dusty face cov- 
 ered with sweat, at once recognized the captive as old 
 Dostchak from the Russian camp. 
 
 " Well, yes, I am Dostchak," the latter acknowledged 
 at once. " Who else should I be? " 
 
 When Sadik came up an examination was at once 
 begun. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 THE GENERAL'S LETTER. 
 
 "WHERE do you come from?" was the first question 
 addressed by Sadik to his captive countryman. 
 
 " I? Where I come from? " repeated Dostchak, glanc- 
 ing around in various directions as if searching for 
 somebody in that crowd of armed men that surrounded 
 him in a close, impenetrable circle. A majority of the 
 men were looking upon the prisoner only with a feeling 
 of lively curiosity a common quality of all Asiatics. 
 Sadik alone inspected the native carefully from head 
 to foot, and with special suspicion glanced at the strap 
 of a wallet hidden in the folds of Dostchak's cloak. 
 The strap formed a loop around his neck, and only a 
 corner of the receptacle protruded beyond the wide 
 border of his striped cloak of cotton cloth. 
 
 "Well, speak! " shouted the warrior of the steppe,
 
 THE GENERAL'S LETTER. 217 
 
 " or I will loosen your tongue, or tear it out by the 
 roots! " 
 
 " Where I came from, there I am not now; and I did 
 not come to you, but to Mullah Atam Kul. Now you 
 know! You have seized me and detained me, and the 
 Mullah will be angry." 
 
 " And what is that you have there? " asked Sadik, 
 laying his hand upon the corner of the wallet, while 
 Dostchak drew back and tried to hide it. His hands 
 were seized, and after a brief struggle the strap around 
 his neck was broken and the wallet taken from him. 
 
 "Oh, how savage they are!" grinned Dostchak. 
 "Well, it was taken by force, and it's not my fault; 
 you must let Atam Kul know that." 
 
 They tore open the wallet and abstracted from it a 
 large paper package, and removing its wrappings 
 began to examine the writing. 
 
 " It is in Russian; I do not understand it," said Sadik. 
 " Mount your horses and let us go back. Mat Murad 
 has a learned man; he'll make it out. Hai'da! Keep a 
 good hold of him; drive him on foot between two 
 horses, that he may not get away, the dog! Whoever 
 serves a dog will have a dog's death. Move on! " 
 
 "Just wait a little with your threats of death! " Dost- 
 chak replied, cheerfully; "perhaps you may yet give 
 thanks to old Dostchak, and present him with a new 
 silk cloak and a horse." 
 
 " Oh, what a man to talk of cloaks! " observed one of 
 the natives, laughing. "Goon! It seems you are not 
 accustomed to running on afoot after horses." 
 
 " Not far," the other replied, smiling. 
 
 " There is Mat Murad himself, coming to meet us. 
 Hey there, clear the road! " 
 
 The " learned man " was found in Mat Murad's suite,
 
 218 THE TWO-LEGGEU WOLF. 
 
 and the letter that had been concealed in Dostchak's 
 satchel was laid before him. 
 
 "What did I say?" asked Dostchak, with a malicious 
 smile. " I was telling the truth, but you would not 
 believe me." 
 
 " The cursed double-souled, double-tongued dog! " 
 exclaimed Mat Murad. "Read it again; I have not 
 quite understood it all." 
 
 The learned man again perused the letter, and once 
 more began to translate its contents, line for line. The 
 listeners, concentrating their whole attention upon the 
 reader, kept silent. Dostchak alone, it appeared, re- 
 mained an entirely unconcerned witness of what was 
 passing before his eyes. He looked about, and con- 
 versed in whispers with his captors, only working his 
 elbows convulsively to relieve the pressure of the rope 
 upon his arms. 
 
 " ' To the brave warrior, Atam Kul,' " read the learned 
 man; " ' from the Russian general. 
 
 " ' May God send him every blessing and every suc- 
 cess, victory over his enemies, and peace in his house. 
 For leading our men from the wells to the water he 
 receives our thanks. We sent the promised ten cloaks 
 and one thousand golden teels, but have received no 
 answer as yet. Have these things been received? We 
 also thank you for your last letter, in which you inform 
 us of the dissensions in your Khanate and that the road 
 to Khiva is open on your side. The other thousand teels 
 and ten cloaks will be forwarded immediately. You 
 promised to capture that fool Mat Murad and that bad 
 man Mullah Sadik alive, and deliver them into our 
 hands; for that we will agree to give you what you 
 ask ten thousand teels for each head. For the boats 
 which your people delivered to us for crossing the river
 
 THE GENERAL'S LETTER. 219 
 
 the general will give you the great cross with the eagle 
 of the White Tsar, and the rank of colonel. May 
 Allah preserve thee! We will see you soon at Khiva 
 only assist us as before.' " 
 
 The interpreter had finished his translation. Mat 
 Murad looked at Sadik, who returned his glance from 
 under his shaggy cap. " Before you can deliver our 
 heads," muttered the commander between his teeth, 
 " we will flay you alive. And with you we will also 
 finish speedily," he continued, addressing his last words 
 to Dostchak. 
 
 " Why would you punish a poor dshigit? What have 
 I done? I was sent, and, well, I brought what I was 
 told to bring. Did I know what was written there? I 
 serve the Russians unwillingly; they took me by force. 
 I agreed to carry this letter to Atam Kul so as to get 
 away from the Russians and to remain here with you. 
 Why do you want to kill me? " 
 
 Poor Dostchak glanced pitifully at Mat Murad, and 
 conducted his defense with so much apparent simplicity 
 that the latter smiled involuntarily. 
 
 "If I had known what was written there, I should 
 have brought the letter straight to you, Datkha. What 
 is Atam Kul to me? He is a stranger to me. If you 
 want me to I'll finish him with my own hands, here 
 before you." 
 
 The last words of Dostchak were accompanied by a 
 very significant gesture. A deep rage succeeded to his 
 assumed simplicity, suddenly and completely changing 
 the lines of his face. This change attracted Sadik's 
 attention. 
 
 "You do not know him?" he inquired, looking 
 straight into the old man's eyes. 
 
 " I? No, I do not know him. I saw him once when
 
 220 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 he was serving with the Russians, and never again. 
 No, I do not know him! " 
 
 Mat Murad pointed with his whip. " To Rustem's 
 garden. Give him a horse; we shall need him yet. We 
 will march all night so as to surprise the renegade at 
 daybreak. Ha'ida! " 
 
 They mounted Dostchak upon a horse, tying his legs 
 under its belly, and to make everything safe they passed 
 a long rope around his neck. The whole cavalcade 
 then proceeded at a gallop, turning aside from the 
 Khazar-Asp road in the direction of Mullah Atam Kul's 
 quarters. Sadik, with his Kirghiz, went around by 
 another road, in order to cut off the retreat of their 
 intended victim should he become apprised in time of 
 the danger threatening him. 
 
 The letter, the corpus delicti the work of the clerk 
 " who could write like the general " Mat Murad care- 
 fully deposited in the folds of his gorgeous cloak, 
 richly embroidered in gold thread. 
 
 The sun had only just risen when Rustem's houses 
 and garden were already surrounded. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT. 
 
 MAT MURAD and Sadik dismounted from their horses. 
 Large Khivan carpets were spread upon the ground, 
 and they both seated themselves, preparing to judge 
 and punish the accused. 
 
 The followers of both leaders formed a circle, seating
 
 TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT. 221 
 
 themselves also, silently awaiting the developments 
 before this improvised court of justice. 
 
 Atam Kul's men kept at a distance. They were only 
 few, and any attempt to rescue their leader by force 
 was out of the question. A majority looked upon this 
 occurrence as a favorable opportunity for taking their 
 leave, and among the first to disappear was the Persian, 
 who, passing by the harem, gave the inmates a whis- 
 pered warning to get away as quickly as possible, and 
 then took to the fields, across the back wall. 
 
 Atam Kul was made to sit opposite to his judges and 
 accusers. He gazed gloomily upon the ground, but 
 seemed quite unconcerned. He felt, however, that 
 this affair might end badly for him. He knew that his 
 relations with Mat Murad and Sadik had of late been 
 far from friendly, but had not feared them thus far, 
 because he knew of nothing he had done that ould 
 give them a pretext to threaten his life. He considered 
 himself their companion in arms, upon an almost equal 
 footing, whose life they would not dare to attempt. 
 He was aware, of course, that at the present moment 
 they seemed to have assumed the right to do so. Was 
 there any way of extricating himself from the hands of 
 his enemies? He reviewed in his mind every circum- 
 stance, ever so trifling, that had occurred of late, and 
 involuntarily shrugged his shoulders when he could 
 recall nothing important. May it be the old grudge? 
 he thought, glancing at Sadik, but he quickly put aside 
 that thought and searched for new reasons. At times 
 he glanced furtively over the heads of the sitting men, 
 in the direction of his harem, and then his looks 
 resembled those of a dog watching a dish of food pre- 
 pared for him, but out of his reach, while another dog 
 is gradually approaching the dish and its much-coveted
 
 222 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 contents. A moment later he heard a woman's shriek, 
 and it seemed to him that it was the voice of Natalia 
 Martinovna. He trembled and sprang to his feet. 
 
 "Where are you going?" Sadik snarled between his 
 teeth. Atam Kill's arms were pinioned and the end of 
 the rope was fastened to his left foot, making it very 
 difficult for him to move at all. Two of his guards 
 easily put him back into his former position. 
 
 The compromising letter was read to him. " Of 
 what is written there," he answered, firmly, but turn- 
 ing pale, "I remember nothing I know nothing!" 
 
 "You esteem our heads very cheaply indeed," said 
 Mat Murad. " I thank you for your appreciation. You 
 have done us a great honor. It is no joke ten thou- 
 sand teels! " 
 
 " I would not have given a counterfeit kokan for your 
 head," said Sadik, smiling maliciously. " I would sim- 
 ply throw it away as useless carrion." 
 
 "Take care your turn may come," growled Atam 
 Kul. 
 
 "We will take care! " 
 
 "Are you still a Mussulman?" Mat Murad inquired, 
 shaking his head, " or have you turned renegade alto- 
 gether? Have you commenced to sell your own 
 people? " 
 
 " It is not true what is written in that letter. Show 
 me the man who brought the paper. Where did you 
 get it ? Much may be written from ill-will. Who 
 brought this letter? " 
 
 " Bring him here! " cried Mat Murad. Dostchak was 
 led into the circle. 
 
 Atam Kul ground his teeth. With foam oozing from 
 his mouth he turned upon the old man. If at that mo-
 
 TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT. 223 
 
 ment the ropes confining his arms had broken he would 
 have strangled him on the spot. 
 
 "When I was a prisoner with the Russians," hoarsely 
 cried the accused, " he tried to destroy me; he was pre- 
 paring death for me. This is my enemy; that is a lying 
 paper. I'll swear upon the Koran; may lightning burn 
 me; may my body be covered with leprosy; may my 
 tongue rot in my mouth if I am lying now! That paper 
 is false! I am an enemy of the Russians; I do not deal 
 with them. That letter has been written to destroy 
 me! " The unfortunate was speaking excitedly, trem- 
 bling all over. His face was purplish, the veins stood 
 out from his forehead, his eyes roved wildly from side 
 to side. Atam Kul seemed like one possessed. 
 
 Dostchak crossed his hands upon his heart and made 
 Mat Murad a deep obeisance. He moved forward, and 
 observing the helpless condition of Atam Kul, he 
 stepped to within two paces of him. 
 
 " Permit me, Datkha permit me, a miserable worm 
 groveling in the dirt, your unworthy slave, to say a 
 word. Allow me to open your eyes that you may see 
 how bad a man this is. I, Dostchak, know much, and I 
 will tell you much that is good. Only permit me to 
 speak! " 
 
 " Speak!" said Mat Murad. 
 
 " This man has done much evil to your country. 
 Allow me to question him myself." 
 
 " He may question him," decided Sadik. 
 
 " So you received no cloaks from the Russians you 
 did not eh? Oho! " Dostchak gravely shook his head 
 and looked down disdainfully upon the accused. " You 
 really say you did not receive " 
 
 " No; you lie, you dog! " 
 
 " Wait. And you received no money? "
 
 224 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " No." 
 
 " And you received no wife a good wife that you 
 asked of the general? " 
 
 " You lie, you cursed one! " 
 
 " Oho! what a bad, lying tongue is yours. Ask these 
 people, Datkha, if they did not bring him the other 
 day it must have been yesterday a woman, a Rus- 
 sian woman, from the Russian camp. And what a 
 woman! the best there was in the whole camp. Ask 
 them? " 
 
 " That is so! Tura," said one of the natives. " I saw 
 her. A Russian woman is sitting in the house there 
 now, and she was brought yesterday, in the evening. 
 I saw her." 
 
 " Bring her here! " 
 
 Several men rushed into the house. Atam Kul 
 began to look alarmed, and seemed to be chafing in his 
 bonds. A few minutes of dead silence followed. At 
 last Natalia Martinovna appeared from behind the 
 vineyard. They were leading her, supporting her 
 under her arms; they were obliged to almost carry 
 her. With the greatest difficulty she held the boy in 
 her arms, the child trembling with fear and looking 
 about without comprehending his position. Natalia 
 scarcely moved of her own volition, and did not seem 
 to see what was before her. Stupefaction seemed 
 to have seized her whole being. She had no idea of 
 what was expected of her or what might be demanded 
 from her. 
 
 "I am right don't you see? I am right!" boasted 
 Dostchak. 
 
 " Were you brought from the Russian camp? " asked 
 Mat Murad. She remained silent. 
 
 "Let the interpreter ask her in her own language,"
 
 TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT. 225 
 
 was suggested by Sadik, and the question was trans- 
 lated. 
 
 " Yes, I am a Russian I am a Russian," muttered 
 Natalia Martinovna, addressing herself to no one in 
 particular. " Let me go! This is my son; it is not 
 yours let us go." She spoke as if unconscious of 
 what she was saying; her speech resembled the mut- 
 terings of a person in a dream. 
 
 "Poor woman! poor woman!" said old Dostchak. 
 " And that is your work, you beast! " he addressed 
 Atam Kul. " It was to buy your fratricidal knife, to 
 buy your help, that they gave you this woman." 
 
 " Let us finish with him," said Sadik, yawning. 
 " We're only losing time. The case is clear." 
 
 Mat Murad pondered, and then ensued a few moments 
 of oppressive, almost unbearable silence. All kept per- 
 fectly quiet; only the horses rattled their bits and 
 neighed, and a flock of rose-colored sparrows played and 
 chirped noisily in the tops of the grove of plantains. 
 
 Atam Kul hung his head. 
 
 " Finish with him," quietly pronounced Mat Murad, 
 making an expressive sign with his hand, drawing his 
 finger around the collar of his cloak. 
 
 "Stand up, culprit!" And two gigantic Kirghiz 
 stepped up to the condemned man. 
 
 " Oh, great judge! " Dostchak addressed Mat Murad. 
 "May Allah shower many blessings upon thy wise 
 head! Permit me to do it to cut the throat of this 
 bad man! " 
 
 " Look out for yourself away! " the Datkha replied, 
 angrily, spitting upon the ground in disgust. " Make 
 an end of him quickly! " 
 
 " Oh, you devils! " shrieked Atam Kul at the top of 
 his voice. " Why do you play at justice, you robbers,
 
 226 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 both of you? That is all you are! You have been 
 concocting my destruction long ago. Well, take my 
 head, taste of my innocent blood, until they weigh like 
 millstones around your necks, until eternal damnation 
 falls upon your heads " 
 
 He was quickly overthrown and a cloak wrapped 
 around his head; then he was carried bodily into the 
 nearest building. 
 
 " Throw away that carrion! " said Mat Murad, turn- 
 ing his face away in disgust when they brought him 
 the head of the two-legged wolf, Mullah Atam Kul. 
 
 " Don't throw it away! " said Sadik, and turned to 
 old Dostchak. "Here! take this head and carry it to 
 the Russian general as a present from me and Mat 
 Murad! Take it! " 
 
 Dostchak seized the ghastly remnant with both his 
 hands, threw himself down on his knees before Sadik, 
 and fervently kissed the hem of his cloak. 
 
 Yunus the son of his heart was avenged. 
 
 At about the same time a group of horsemen was 
 rapidly advancing along the road leading from Khiva 
 to Gurlen, in the Yomud desert. In the midst of the 
 cavalcade rode a man still young, but with a worn, pale 
 face, with pendent, apathetic under lip. He was attired 
 in a cloak of Cashmere shawl, and wore upon his head 
 a high Turkoman sheepskin cap. His tall charger 
 walked with a long easy step, while the other horses 
 were barely keeping up with him at a short gallop. 
 Some distance behind the cavalcade followed about 
 forty carts in a single line, each drawn by two horses. 
 Upon these carts heavy loads had been piled in great 
 disorder. It was evident that the loading had been
 
 THE KHAN OK KHIVA AM) IHS StMTK.
 
 A FEW WORDS OP THE KHAN AND HIS SUBJECTS. 227 
 
 done in a hurry. Costly carpets, iron-bound chests, 
 bundles of clothing, and metallic vessels and implements 
 had been thrown in promiscuously. The caravan 
 moved rapidly, as if in flight, as if trying to escape from 
 some dire disaster which threatened in their rear. 
 
 They were actually flying. The man was the Khan 
 of Khiva, Said Rahim-Bogadur, who after a last con- 
 sultation with his counselors had completely lost his 
 head. 
 
 The Russians were already under the walls of Khiva. 
 The Khan was flying. Where he was going he did not 
 know himself, nor did he care. He was evidently 
 frightened, and trembled nervously whenever certain 
 heavy reports fell upon his ear. 
 
 The reports came from the Russian cannon. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 A FEW WORDS OF THE KHAN AND HIS SUBJECTS. 
 
 THE political changes in Central Asia were progress- 
 ing, sometimes in the channels prepared by diplomacy 
 and statesmanship, and sometimes taking new and 
 unforeseen courses. 
 
 Everything was ready for the final development of 
 the drama being enacted. The fall of Khiva was inev- 
 itable, and the useless shedding of blood under its walls 
 did not in any way hasten the course of events, but only 
 involved the sacrifice of a few unnecessary victims from 
 the Russian ranks ranks not very full even without 
 those losses. Rreference is made to the attempt by 
 
 15
 
 #28 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 the Caucasian and Orenburg expeditions to take the 
 town by storm at the very moment when the people 
 had sent a peaceful deputation to the commander-in- 
 chief, and opened to him the eastern gate. 
 
 The Khan of Khiva fled. This was his least excusa- 
 ble blunder; a stupid act, to which he was urged by 
 fanatics, and which came very nearly causing him to 
 lose his throne altogether. 
 
 It is probable that Said Rahim-Bogadur recognized 
 his blunder in the course of time, or that the counsels 
 of other advisers, who could see a little farther than 
 their master, gained the upper hand over the fanatic 
 opponents of Russian influence, for but a few days later 
 the Khan wrote to the Russian general, expressing his 
 readiness to submit to the will of his conqueror, and 
 notifying him of his intention to return to the city. A 
 joint council was established, composed of Russians and 
 native representatives of the Khanate. This council 
 regulated the course of further proceedings and decided 
 the fate of the Amu Daria Oasis, and peace was thus 
 concluded. 
 
 By this peace the Khan was returned to his city, and 
 his control over all the tribes inhabiting the greater 
 portion of the Khanate of Khiva was recognized; only 
 the right bank of the Amu and its delta were incorpo- 
 rated with the vast domain of Russian territory. 
 
 A contribution in money was imposed upon the Khan 
 and his subjects to cover, at least partially, the enor- 
 mous expenditure caused by the various expeditions. It 
 only remained to collect this contribution. This sentence 
 is easily written, and more easily pronounced, but it was 
 not quite so easy to carry it into effect or to comply 
 with the most important clause of the treaty of peace. 
 
 A large number of the Khan's subjects were held
 
 A FEW WORDS OF THE KHAN AND HIS SUBJECTS. 229 
 
 under but slight subjection; in many cases the term was 
 but a figure of speech, and the Khan's control over 
 them was of the feeblest. This was true of the inde- 
 pendent Turkoman tribes settled along the left bank 
 of the Amu, and farther southward in the heart of the 
 open steppes which separate the Khanate from Persia 
 and the mountain regions of the Himalayas. 
 
 Half-nomadic, half-settled brigands as they are, they 
 had heretofore acknowledged no obligations to the 
 Khan beyond furnishing him a certain number of 
 armed horsemen or attendants whenever he should 
 require them. They also delivered to their so-called 
 ruler, in the guise of presents, a certain part of the 
 plunder obtained by violence and robbery perpetrated 
 upon their neighbors. This system had, in their eyes at 
 least, legitimized or legalized their old mode of life, to 
 which they were much attached, and which they never 
 had the slightest intention of changing. 
 
 The Turkoman tribes made up the greater part of 
 the population of the Khanate, and they had been the 
 principal factors in bringing on the war, having drawn 
 punishment and vengeance upon themselves by their 
 plundering expeditions. It was therefore but just that 
 the greater part of the money contribution should be 
 laid upon their shoulders, but they flatly refused to pay 
 their part. 
 
 The Khan Said Rahim possessed no power to bring the 
 Turkomans into subjection, and openly acknowledged 
 the fact to the Russians. To give in to these impudent 
 robbers would have been highly injudicious it was 
 essential that they should be forced to submit, that 
 their unruly spirit be broken and their customary faith 
 in their own exemption from punishment be destroyed. 
 
 The war with the Khanate of Khiva was at an end,
 
 230 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 but it was found unavoidable to inaugurate immediately 
 another war for the subjection of unruly subjects. 
 With this purpose in view, various smaller but distinct 
 expeditions were organized by the Russians to march 
 against the Turkomans into the very heart of their 
 settlements and pasture-lands. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 AGAIN IN THE OFFICERS* CIRCLE. 
 
 A LIVELY, brilliant scene of military life was being 
 enacted under the dense shadows of huge plantain-trees 
 in the gardens and vineyards surrounding Khiva. 
 
 Since early morning the roads and the walls of the 
 surburban gardens had been lined with the brilliant 
 front of the forces belonging to the Caucasian and 
 Orenburg expeditions. They were all in full uniform, 
 and shone and sparkled as if on peaceful parade on one 
 of the vast squares of the capital. The infantry in their 
 original " papakha " (paper helmets) and the cavalry in 
 their jaunty red and white "cherkeska" (caps); the 
 officers with shining epaulets; the sound of music, 
 the animated Russian language all these combined 
 to cause the observer to forget that he found himself at 
 one of the most distant points of uncivilized Central 
 Asia and to imagine himself back in Europe. 
 
 In vivid contrast, though in line with this parade 
 front, stood the plain, campaign-stained, and almost beg- 
 garly looking, but formidable Turkestan battalions. 
 Their dusty white blouses, white caps, with linen have-
 
 AGAIN IN THE OFFICERS* CIRCLE. 231 
 
 locks, yellow or almost brown from the effects of time 
 and dust; their once-red leather trousers, boots shrunk 
 from solar heat and smeared with grease; their knap- 
 sacks upon their shoulders all these were in sharp 
 contrast to the fine uniforms of the Caucasian expedi- 
 tion. But all this ugliness breathed a spirit of power 
 and of strength, and inspired the fascinated beholder 
 with a sense of invincibility a spirit which induced 
 the native who had looked impassively upon the other 
 troops to lower his eyes, and, with a respect which 
 amounted almost to a superstitious dread, to describe a 
 wide circuit around these columns so common in ap- 
 pearance. The first request made by the Khan of 
 Khiva on visiting the Russian camp was to be shown 
 from a distance the soldiers who crossed the terrible 
 desert. The ruler of Khiva did not believe that these 
 were common mortals. His oriental imagination had 
 doubtless pictured to him some kind of " Ak-Kulmak," 
 or fabulous beings. It was interesting to see the rapt 
 attention with which the Khan gazed upon the tanned 
 faces of these soldiers as he passed along their front. 
 His lips trembled, and he whispered something per- 
 haps a prayer; perhaps an oath. 
 
 The review was over; the troops occupied the places 
 assigned to them for their bivouacs. The officers of 
 the united expeditions began to gather in circles. 
 Friends, acquaintances, and even relatives met, greeting 
 each other more or less cordially. A merry, noisy, ani- 
 mated conversation was being carried on everywhere. 
 
 In Major Pugovitzin's tent about ten of his more 
 intimate companions had assembled. The major's 
 orderly, the bold Proshka, who had been investigating 
 the condition of wine-cellars among the sutlers of the 
 Caucasian expedition, had secured, to his great satis-
 
 232 THE TWO-LEGGED \\OLl. 
 
 faction, a whole half-dozen of big-bellied bottles, sealed 
 with white wax, and with necks coated with shining 
 tin-foil. What enjoyment awaited the guests of Major 
 Pugovitzin after a whole series of miserable stations 
 and months of privations! The major was still in 
 ignorance as to whether his orderly's efforts in the 
 adjoining camp had been crowned with success, and 
 proceeding, to the entrance of the tent that had only 
 just been erected, he cast a questioning glance at 
 Proshka, accompanied by a doubtful " Well? " 
 
 " I have got them," replied the orderly in a myste- 
 rious whisper, and then added in a louder tone, " They 
 have such quantities over there; it flows everywhere 
 like common water. The whole army could not drink 
 it up in two days, your honor." 
 
 "Glasses!" ordered the host. "Now, gentlemen, we 
 will ask a blessing over what God has sent us. Hey, 
 boys, spread the carpet and trice up the sides of the 
 tent. That's right! Be seated, gentlemen." A few 
 soldiers hurriedly raised the walls of the tent, and thus 
 formed a shady cover under which the breeze played 
 fresh and cool. 
 
 " Sitting this way, " began a corpulent and very bald 
 captain, "reminds one of Dominic and Dononi " (St. 
 Petersburg cafes). He was very fond of these com- 
 parisons, in spite of the fact that he had never been at 
 Dominic's and Dononi's in his life, for the simple but 
 very sufficient reason that he had never happened to 
 have been in St. Petersburg. 
 
 " Have you a Dominic, or a what-do-you-call-him, at 
 Cheboksarakh, where you have been stationed? " curi- 
 ously inquired his neighbor. 
 
 The captain did not satisfy his neighbor's curiosity, 
 but seemed absorbed in rapt contemplation of one of 
 the bottles.
 
 AGAIN IN THE OFFICERS* CIRCLE. 233 
 
 The lame Cossack also made his appearance, pleas- 
 antly nodding his head to the company, and, without 
 waiting for an invitation, seated himself upon the 
 carpet. The lively talk subsided a little upon his 
 arrival. The sad expression of his face, though appar- 
 ently calm, and even smiling, did not seem in harmony 
 with their joyous spirits. The bald captain was con- 
 tinuing his abortive attempts at spelling out the French 
 label on the wine-bottle, but he suddenly stopped, with 
 an inquisitive " Eh? " and also subsided, returning the 
 bottle to its place. 
 
 "Gentlemen, I will withdraw!" said the Cossack. 
 " What is it that seems to dampen your spirits when I 
 come? Do I trouble you in any way? I would not 
 have come, but I felt very lonely, and hoped to over- 
 come the feeling by listening to conversation and 
 laughter. However, I will go " 
 
 " Now, that is enough, .old friend! " said Pugovitzin, 
 seizing his hand. " What is the matter with you? Sit 
 down. You are a good fellow, only you are a regular 
 woman. Here! drink a glass of this 'fizz' that my 
 Proshka managed to raise for us. Sit down! " 
 
 " Yesterday he was roaming about the whole camp 
 again," whispered one officer to another, glancing at 
 the Cossack; "he never loses hope, and keeps on 
 searching." 
 
 " I dare say! " replied the other, shrugging his shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 " But I say, what is lost is lost! Consider the time 
 that has passed without any news whatever." And he 
 continued to whisper into his companion's ear, holding 
 onto a button of his coat and gesticulating with the 
 long slender fingers of his other hand. 
 
 " Have you seen the Dutchman, gentlemen? " loudly 
 inquired a young ensign.
 
 234 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " The Hussar? He is a strange fellow! " 
 
 " You may well say strange! He is a man, of course, 
 only his legs are somewhat thin; but he can drink well. 
 I saw him " 
 
 " Would you believe it? He poured out his brandy, 
 then put in a piece of sugar, some extract of lemon, 
 and then kept stirring and stirring it up, in the mean- 
 time soaking little pieces of cracker in it and eating 
 them! It made me sick. Here's to your health! Ah, 
 if we only had some ice! Wouldn't it be splendid?" 
 
 " A horse, a horse a kingdom for a horse, or a piece 
 of ice! " declaimed one of the guests. " Only wait; we 
 shall have all that again. Time is passing." 
 
 " Heel-taps! gentlemen," shouted Pugovitzin. 
 
 "In expectation of future similar blessings!" Major 
 Birnaps continued the toast. The officers began to 
 clink their glasses, which had been rilled to the brim. 
 
 During the first moments after the catastrophe when, 
 in Natalia Martinovna's tent, the lame Cossack had 
 read the fatal note, he had completely lost his head. 
 He did not know what to do or what to say. To pur- 
 sue her was the first idea to enter his head, and he 
 rushed from the tent; but then his strength left him 
 entirely. He pressed both hands upon his breast, stag- 
 gered ahead for a few paces, and then sat down upon 
 the ground. People came up and questioned him, but 
 he made no answer. Silently he handed the note to 
 the first man who approached him. The letter was 
 read, and in fifteen minutes the news of Natalia Mar- 
 tinovna's flight had spread over the whole camp. Pur- 
 suing parties were at once fitted out and inquiries 
 instituted, but it all led to nothing. The results of the 
 pursuit were even less satisfactory than on the occasion
 
 AGAIN IN THE OFFICERS* CIRCLE. 235 
 
 when the flying Atam Kul had been pursued. At that 
 time they had at least found tracks, and they had even 
 seen the robber himself, but here they never discovered 
 the faintest sign or found the slightest hint. Much 
 time had been lost sufficient to enable her to reach 
 such a distance from the camp as to make the search 
 not only difficult but dangerous for small parties. 
 Nothing remained but to submit to fate and wait. 
 
 With what burning impatience the unfortunate 
 Golovin watched every step of the advance, and how 
 he fumed over the slightest obstacles, the least delay! 
 The most frightful suggestions and apprehensions 
 alarmed his soul and distracted his brain. At times 
 nobody believed that his mind would withstand the 
 strain. 
 
 She must be with Atam Kul so much was certain. 
 Atam Kul had gone somewhere into the heart of the 
 Turkoman steppes that was also known; but where 
 was the place? The sanguinary developments at Rus- 
 tem's villa were still unknown to the Russians. 
 
 The unfortunate man was wandering about the camp 
 pale and emaciated; his hair was rapidly turning gray. 
 He still visited the various circles and messes to listen 
 to the cheerful conversation, but his presence always 
 proved a damper upon the spirits of others. 
 
 Once he made up his mind to drop everything, to 
 steal away from the camp, and to undertake the search 
 alone. His first attempts in that direction were imme- 
 diately detected, and thereafter a strict watch was kept 
 over him without letting him know it. 
 
 The disappearance of Dostchak, which attracted much 
 attention, seemed suspicious, and naturally it was con- 
 nected with Natalia's flight. Unjust charges and accu- 
 sations were heaped upon the head of the poor native.
 
 236 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Golovin's unrestrained grief and melancholy brooding 
 continued to undermine his health, until his faculties 
 as well as his whole nervous system were reduced to a 
 condition of general numbness. His friends still came 
 to see him, and strove to console or cheer him, but no one 
 remained for any length of time without feeling himself 
 repelled and anxious to get away again. 
 
 Man can not live long in such a state of mental and 
 moral disintegration, and the Cossack's strong organ- 
 ization was evidently giving way under the constant 
 pressure of an unbearable burden. 
 
 "He will end by contracting consumption," was the 
 verdict of the physicians of the expeditionary force as 
 they glanced at Golovin from a distance; and they 
 immediately engaged in a learned discussion of the 
 connection between the physical and moral life of their 
 subject, during which they backed their assertions with 
 numerous Latin quotations having no bearing at all 
 upon the point at issue. 
 
 "Well, brother!" exclaimed Major Pugovitzin, as he 
 held out his glass to touch that of his melancholy guest, 
 passing his other arm reassuringly around his waist. 
 Golovin drank the wine in silence, at a single draught, 
 then turned, seized a saddle-cushion lying close at hand 
 and stretched himself out at full length, with his back 
 toward the company. 
 
 " Do you know, gentlemen," began Lieutenant Kusti- 
 kof, " whom I met to-day? " 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " I went to the Caucasian camp to-day how hot 
 they must be with those foolish helmets! Our caps are 
 much better. Oh! what was I talking about? Yes 
 I went to the camp, and I looked about. Who the devil
 
 AGAIN IN THE OFFICERS* CIRCLE. 237 
 
 was that? Some familiar face; I really must have 
 seen it somewhere. I passed by again, on purpose. 
 Yes, it was his very image! I passed once more, when 
 the orderly, to spite me, I suppose, let down the side of 
 the tent, and I could see no longer what was going on 
 inside. I was so provoked! " 
 
 " But who was it? " 
 
 "Perhaps it was not he who knows? But there 
 certainly is a resemblance." 
 
 "Yes; but whom are you talking about?" 
 
 " Do you remember Rovitch who was at Chiniaz?" 
 
 "It can't be!" 
 
 "Yes, upon my word! It was his seat in the saddle, 
 too. Don't you remember he always sat a little side- 
 ways rather affected English style? All this yes, 
 by God, it must be he! " 
 
 " Is he with the Orenburg troops? " 
 
 " No; his orderly was a Circassian he must be with 
 the Caucasian expedition. He must be on the staff 
 his tent stands in a garden by itself." 
 
 " We must find out about this. Gentlemen, did you 
 hear what Kustikof has been saying? Rovitch is here! " 
 
 " Let us go to see him! " 
 
 "Oh! to the devil with him! " 
 
 "'Sh!" whispered Pugovitzin, holding up his hand, 
 glancing at the lame Cossack. The warning came too 
 late he had been listening attentively.
 
 238 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OLD- ACQUAINTANCES. 
 
 A HORSEMAN, with officer's epaulets, clad in a short 
 blouse, fitting closely to his well-built form, rode up to 
 a small tent standing by itself at a little distance from 
 the others in the large garden occupied by the staff of 
 the Caucasian expedition. He descended from his horse 
 in a languid, leisurely fashion, threw the bridle into the 
 hands of the orderly just running up, and, thrusting his 
 saber into its metallic scabbard, entered, stooping, under 
 the canvas roof of his temporary domicile. 
 
 The officer appeared somewhat agitated and absorbed 
 in some subject. This was noticeable in the distracted, 
 uneasy glance which he cast over the interior of his 
 quarters, as well as in his uncertain movements and in 
 the gesture of his hand, altogether unintelligible to his 
 orderly, who was looking inquiringly at his master. 
 That gesture must mean something, express some order; 
 it was even accompanied by the words, " Do you hear? " 
 only he to whom the phrase was directed could hear 
 nothing further, and stood patiently waiting, holding the 
 bridle of the perspiring but by no means tired horse. 
 His master stood for a minute near the center-pole of 
 the tent, then stepped to the folding-bed, bending his 
 knees slightly as if about to lie down; then changed his 
 mind, took off his cap and put it on again, and drew 
 toward him with his foot a camp-stool, which caught 
 in a fold of the carpet and fell with legs upward. 
 He once more extended his leg, clad in top-boot and 
 spur, to reach for another stool, this time with bet-
 
 REMINISCENCES OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 239 
 
 ter success, and seated himself at the table, upon which 
 he began to drum with his fingers. He took a cigar- 
 case from his pocket, selected a cigar, bit off the end, 
 and lighted a match, holding it until the flame scorched 
 the ends of his fingers; he dropped it, but did not light 
 another, and threw the cigar he had prepared under 
 the table. 
 
 The orderly still waited patiently, looking stolidly at 
 the horse. His master was seated now, and seemed to 
 be gazing at the intricate shadows of branches thrown 
 in clear outlines upon the opposite wall of his canvas 
 tent. 
 
 "Do you wish the samovar, your honor?" The 
 orderly at last resolved to break the silence. 
 
 " Yes; lead him well, and wait a little before water- 
 ing him! " the officer replied, as if just awaking. It was 
 clear that the answer did not fit the question, but the 
 faithful and well-trained servant understood what he 
 was to do. 
 
 "He must be drunk ! Made a mistake at the general's 
 breakfast-table! " he pondered as he was leading the 
 horse along the wall, carefully keeping within its 
 broad, cool shadow. " Now he will lie down and sleep 
 for an hour and a half then he will certainly expect 
 to have his samovar, and call for tea and lemon the 
 moment he opens his eyes. Some of these gentlemen 
 get anything they want at the sutler's, and only have it 
 put down on little cards. I must try that maybe 
 to-night. Be quiet, Golubok! Whoa! " The orderly 
 stroked the neck of the fiery horse, which displayed an 
 inclination to rise upon its hind feet. But all these 
 reflections of the undersized, pock-marked soldier, with 
 thin, bristling side-whiskers, narrow slits of eyes, and a 
 good-natured expression, were far from the truth this
 
 240 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 time. His master did not think of lying down, but still 
 sat upon the camp-stool before the table, supporting 
 his head with both hands. He was not drunk, and 
 though he had breakfasted at the general's, he had 
 made no "mistake." He was not thinking of his bed 
 at this moment, because old reminiscences were crowd- 
 ing each other in his head, calling up such scenes and 
 pictures as would have driven sleep away most effect- 
 ually, even if it had been the proper time for it. 
 
 And there sat this officer gazing upon the shadows of 
 the branches, which must have belonged to a group of 
 large silvery acacias, to judge from the feather-like 
 shapes of leaves so distinctly traced upon the canvas. 
 Looking steadily before him, without removing his eyes 
 from those bluish, fantastic outlines, he appeared to see 
 within them or beyond them other lines. A small 
 cloud flying by swallowed up the patterns upon the 
 cloth, but that did not lessen his absorption; he still 
 kept fixedly staring in the same direction his steady 
 gaze never relaxing, his eyes only blinking slightly' 
 when the sun again illuminated the canvas and the 
 familiar tracery once more appeared upon its surface. 
 
 Two straw-colored butterflies, chasing each other, 
 fluttered into the tent, playing about like two bright 
 golden spots. They found their way to the sitting 
 man's shoulder and sat upon his epaulet, rising and 
 alighting again alternately in intertwining curves, with 
 an occasional longer flight to the smooth surface of the 
 tightly stretched canvas. 
 
 Some passer-by stumbled over a tent-rope, and swore. 
 The whole tent was shaking, and something seemed to 
 break. A large hairy spider of a very suspicious aspect, 
 propelled by the vigorous movements of its shaggy legs 
 had gained the top of the table, and not liking the view
 
 REMINISCENCES OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 241 
 
 was preparing to let himself down again. Two horse- 
 men passing by at a full run raised a dense cloud of 
 dust, which invaded the interior of the tent. Again the 
 same spider had gained the table, and was stationary, 
 apparently considering how to proceed whether to 
 pass by or to enter the sleeve of the officer's coat, which 
 appeared to him, probably, like a dark and dangerous 
 tunnel. 
 
 Neither the butterflies, nor the awkward passer-by 
 stumbling over the tent-ropes, nor the spider, nor the 
 horsemen had attracted the attention of the rapt 
 thinker, and it was owing only to an accidental motion 
 of his hand that the nasty insect changed its intention 
 and resolved to return by the old familiar road. 
 
 The orderly looked into the tent, and what he saw 
 made his small eyes open wide. He looked again when 
 almost an hour had passed by, and still it was the same. 
 The horse Golubok had long since been taken away 
 and unsaddled; the small traveling-samovar had boiled 
 over several times, and the regular hour for tea had 
 gone by, but the officer still sat and thought, still gazed 
 at the wall of his tent, though the feathery shadows 
 had long since disappeared and been replaced by others 
 until now it was all solid shadow, without any tracery 
 whatever. The bugles had sounded for " watering " in 
 the adjoining Cossack camp, and the infantrymen in 
 their bivouac had been called to their soup-kettles in 
 the company kitchens. Evening was fast approaching, 
 and still the officer sat and brooded, enveloping himself 
 in mighty clouds of blue tobacco-smoke. 
 
 This officer had been in Central Asia a few years pre- 
 viously not here on the banks of the Amu, in the 
 vicinity of Khiva, but in other parts, at Tashkent, 
 Samarkand, and Chiniaz and he found it impossible to
 
 242 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 drive from his head certain memories of that time. 
 Scenes of a past not very remote would rise before him ; 
 familiar faces and forms, more or less distinct, some 
 barely perceptible, were coming and going before his 
 eyes, their hazy profiles faintly outlined against the 
 wall of the tent. The longer the officer thought, the 
 clearer became to him one shape, the memory of which 
 had plunged him into this contemplative and retro- 
 spective mood. One shape was becoming more and 
 more distinct, throwing all others into the shade. It 
 stood before him as if alive, as if saying to him, " Well, 
 my friend, remember, try to remember think of 
 everything, every trifle, every detail; neglect nothing; 
 weigh and consider. I shall watch you; if you should 
 forget, I will remind you I shall let you skip nothing. 
 I, as your unsolicited, uncalled-for prompter, will recall 
 to you, dictate to you word for word, all your reminis- 
 cences. Do not mind it, my dear; see! there is nobody 
 but you and I nobody can hear us; therefore remem- 
 ber. Yes, you came to Chiniaz, on the steamer Aral, 
 and then your adventures began. 
 
 "Ah! there is the old gunner, with his good-natured, 
 joyous countenance, with his long gray mustache, and 
 still longer pipe; and there is his stout, cross old wife, 
 with the smell of the kitchen about her; and there is 
 somebody else with them, some graceful, pleasing form 
 with honest, loving eyes. Do you recognize her? Look 
 well! 
 
 "And here is a broad, round-shouldered figure, a 
 little rough in appearance, in a gray shirt well, you 
 can not remember names, and if they come into your 
 head you try to shake them out again, only you do not 
 always succeed. However, we have nothing to do with 
 names just now.
 
 REMINISCENCES OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 243 
 
 "Then there was some trouble you were riding 
 along on horseback and singing; you were happy and 
 free from care, and you never suspected that a terrible 
 deadly enemy was near. He sat there in the bush, 
 aiming both barrels of his shotgun at you. Here the 
 thread of your reminiscences breaks, and that is but 
 natural ; the man who is hit does not hear the report of 
 the shot, especially if the hit is mortal and dealt from 
 close by. 
 
 " The fog at last melts away and you see yourself upon 
 a bed and there, again, are the loving glances, the 
 deft hands fluttering over your brow and bosom. You 
 thought then that an angel was sitting by your side, 
 fanning you with her wonderful shining wings. You 
 worshiped that angel why shouldn't you, if you 
 saw in her only a messenger of God? You bent with 
 veneration over those slender, graceful fingers. Is it 
 not true that you remember all this perfectly? That is, 
 you remember it now, but you have tried your best to 
 forget it, to drive it from your memory, and to hide it 
 with more recent brighter and stronger impressions! 
 
 " Little by little the angel lost her spiritual qualities. 
 She descended to earth; taking to herself the attributes 
 of earth, she was transformed into a woman a loving 
 woman. Do you remember what happened after that? 
 Do you? 
 
 " Nonsense! it was nothing! What young man would 
 not profit by his opportunities when a nice, good girl 
 comes so willingly to his arms? Who would stop to 
 consider and think of consequences? There was nothing 
 very bad or unusual. The passing fancy wore itself out. 
 Nobody loses anything by that. Even she, for instance, 
 what did she lose? She has probably become resigned 
 long ago and forgotten all about it. She may have 
 
 16
 
 244 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 been married ten times, had children and nursed them, 
 and taken care of her house, baking pies and puddings 
 after her mother's example and she may be perfectly 
 happy. There were really some other aspiran Ls; a stout, 
 jocose major, and, again, that rough, round-shouldered 
 man. But let me see! Did not something happen to 
 that round-shouldered man? Yes, but that can not be 
 laid to you. Any one insanely jealous no, there he 
 is, emaciated, ragged, ill, with wild, wandering eyes, 
 wading and tottering through the swamps like a wild 
 animal, bereft of reason and volition A violent 
 shudder ran over the officer's body; he glanced about 
 him with frightened eyes, and lifted his hand to his 
 face as if to brush away some cobweb obstructing his 
 vision. 
 
 "There was a child that is another affair; there 
 you ought to have acted differently. Ah! it is nonsense! 
 What about that child? One can not marry every 
 woman because she happens to be the mother of your 
 child that is impossible, for one reason, because we 
 are not Turks, and polygamy has no legal standing; 
 it is unlawful, in a measure. Why don't people under- 
 stand that? Can't you understand it, at least, you irre- 
 pressible, unwelcome prompter? And was it his boy? 
 Who could prove that he was the only one who " The 
 officer blushed up to his ears, and once more looked 
 down and laid both hands over his face. 
 
 "What is this! " a well-known voice seemed to whis- 
 per in his ear. " Has your conscience really not become 
 deaf altogether? It must have been aroused, you see! 
 You seem to be ashamed of yourself. You acknowledge 
 the hideous heartlessness of your conduct! " 
 
 It seems that even now, when all this had long since 
 been laid aside and forgotten, a story told somewhere
 
 REMINISCENCES OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 245 
 
 in one of the officers' circles and overheard by him was 
 sufficient to overturn in a moment his carefully framed 
 and braced structure of social morality, to arouse him 
 from his calm self-satisfaction, and to call forth this 
 whole chain of troublesome reminiscences. It appeared 
 to him as if she took possession of his heart again, enter- 
 ing it as her rightful property, her well-known, custom- 
 ary home, of which she could dispose as her own, driv- 
 ing from it all others. But where was she? In the 
 hands of savages, in captivity? Was she alive or dead 
 had the suffering mother's heart been quieted forever? 
 And that child his son, where was he? 
 
 A groan of anguish escaped from the officer's breast 
 a groan so loud that it was heard beyond the tent. 
 The side-whiskered orderly dreaming upon his felt- 
 mat was startled, and sprang to his feet, seized the sam- 
 ovar, in which the coals had long since become extinct, 
 and ran against his master in the entrance of the tent. 
 
 The officer sallied forth with a buoyant step, inhal- 
 ing with evident delight the fresh evening air scented 
 with the tar-like odor of mulberry-trees. He stood 
 for a few moments near the entrance, and then began 
 slowly to pace the well-trodden path meandering 
 between the knotty, rough trunks of the trees. 
 
 "A strange day this has been!" muttered the 
 orderly, as he returned the samovar to its proper 
 place. 
 
 The officer was an old acquaintance, Sergei Nikolai'e- 
 vitch Rovitch.
 
 246 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. * 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 DOSTCHAK AND HIS BAGGAGE. 
 
 DURING the same night a shot was heard on the 
 outer picket-line of the Cossack camp. This alarming 
 sound came near bringing the whole force to its feet, 
 but the excitement speedily subsided when the cause 
 of the alarm was explained. 
 
 The sentry had fired at a suspicious horseman who 
 was riding along the picket-line. The man had made no 
 reply, though challenged three times, and had endeav- 
 ored to hide behind the walls of some building. The 
 bullet from the Cossack's carbine prevented him from 
 carrying out this intention. He fell from the saddle 
 like a bag, while his horse galloped along, scattering 
 his master's baggage over the road. The first object 
 to fall was a large leather bag, which was immediately 
 picked up by the men who had been alarmed by the 
 Cossack's shot. They also raised the body of the rash 
 rider, from which life had already fled. 
 
 In the darkness it could only be surmised that the 
 horseman was not one of ours, and thereupon the 
 alarm subsided. When the Cossacks looked into the 
 satchel they spit out in disgust and flung their find 
 away. 
 
 "That is not very nice, boys!" remarked the old 
 sergeant, " but there must be some proceedings about 
 this; it must be reported to the Sotnik (captain). Bring 
 back here what you threw away, brethren; some investi- 
 gation may come out of this. Put it down here, beside 
 the body."
 
 DOSTCHAK AND HIS BAGGAGE. 247 
 
 " Oh, what a stench! " complained the Cossack as he 
 executed his superior's orders. " Why did that devil 
 carry such baggage as that about with him? " 
 
 They laid out the man who had been killed, placing 
 beside him his satchel, covered both objects with a 
 blanket, and posted a sentry to guard them. 
 
 In the morning, at daylight, people began to gather 
 around the scene of the night's disturbance, and among 
 them were some who recognized the dead man, as well 
 as the contents of his satchel. The dead man was old 
 Dostchak. In the satchel lay the head of Atam Kul, 
 the two-legged wolf. 
 
 "Ah! fate, fate!" sighed Major Pugovitzin a few 
 hours later in his tent. 
 
 " Yes," answered Major Birnaps; " if he had not been 
 killed by that shot we might have heard something of 
 Natalia Martinovna! " 
 
 " It's fate! " repeated Pugovitzin. " Let us go to Gol- 
 ovin. They say the poor fellow is so much overcome 
 with what has happened that he may not survive the 
 excitement." 
 
 " I can not understand it," Kustikof broke in, with 
 some heat. " Why can not something be done? We 
 might, for instance, surround the whole Turkoman 
 steppe, round up all the settlements, and subject every 
 individual to the strictest examination we should 
 come upon her track somewhere; we should know 
 something; but if there is no effort made 
 
 "You are perfectly right! " replied Pugovitzin, quite 
 seriously. " Two months ago I do not exactly remem- 
 ber where, but it was somewhere near Kuzil-Kumakh 
 I lost a button from my blouse. We might have sur- 
 rounded the steppe, scratched the sand with our ringers
 
 248 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 or passed it through a screen, and then we should have 
 certainly found my button." 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Major Birnaps, holding his 
 shaking stomach between his hands. 
 
 " You are always making a joke of it! " complained 
 Kustikof, and turned away. All three then proceeded 
 to Golovin's quarters to offer what consolation they 
 could. 
 
 The accident of the preceding night had affected him 
 so seriously that he was confined to his bed by the 
 doctor's orders, chiefly because he really could not keep 
 his feet under repeated attacks of fever brought on by 
 this new shock to his nerves. 
 
 There was but very little hope of the Cossack's final 
 recovery. The most sanguine among the physicians 
 belonging to the expedition expressed the opinion that 
 only a miracle could save his life; and a miracle was 
 scarcely to be expected in these prosaic times. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 EXCITEMENT AND GATHERINGS. 
 
 THE whole camp was in a fever of excitement. 
 "Marching orders" could be heard from one end to 
 the other, in the messes, in the officers' tents, along the 
 Cossack picket-ropes, and among the artillerymen 
 camped between their guns and caissons, as well as 
 under the low shelter-tents of the infantrymen, who 
 were greasing their high boots, as the most important 
 thing to be done at the first hint of a possible march.
 
 EXCITEMENT AND GATHERINGS. 249 
 
 " Who will go and who will stay behind? " 
 
 " Does your battalion go? " 
 
 " Truly, the riflemen are lucky again! The devil take 
 them! " 
 
 " Let somebody go to headquarters to ascertain what, 
 who, and how! " 
 
 " Ten guns are going, you say? " 
 
 "There's bad luck my bay has fallen lame. The 
 plague take him! It's the same every time." 
 
 Nothing but such abrupt, doubting or hopeful expres- 
 sions could be heard throughout the long camp which 
 had enfolded Khiva within its lines for the last half- 
 month. 
 
 The Turkomans were unruly again. They had flatly 
 refused to pay the war-indemnity imposed upon them, 
 and the Russian spies were bringing in the most alarm- 
 ing news. Those in highest authority were uneasy; the 
 subaltern officers and soldiers were boisterous, talking, 
 and shaking each other's hands in congratulation. It 
 was no joke to remain for a whole month for nothing, 
 without anything to do. It would be all right at some 
 other place, in permanent quarters there you could 
 occupy yourself with something; but to be stuck here 
 in the burning sun, without stirring forward or back- 
 ward it was no wonder they were happy! The Turk- 
 omans, the dear fellows, are making trouble. Well, let 
 us go to them, into their camps and pastures; a week or 
 two can be passed away nicely in that way. We will see 
 new places, and, God willing, there will be a little 
 shooting that is always good for the service. 
 
 " Listen, Brother Raskatof," said Pugovitzin to his 
 sergeant-major. " In the first place, not a single boot 
 must be found gaping in our battalion. Let that be 
 understood! I shall look to it myself . If anybody fails
 
 250 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 to mend his boots he'll not go to the front; he may stay 
 with the invalids! " 
 
 " I hear, sir, your honor," replied the red-whiskered 
 sergeant-major. 
 
 " There must be nothing superfluous in the baggage. 
 I shall inspect knapsacks on the road, and all trash will 
 be thrown away on the spot." 
 
 " I hear, your honor." 
 
 "Two shirts each; hard bread for five days. Full 
 allowance of ammunition and one-half allowance extra; 
 twenty rounds in the knapsack but look to it that 
 there are no ' misfires.' ' Tea and sugar ' money will 
 be issued in the evening. Send the platoon leaders to 
 me. Do you understand? " 
 
 " I understand, your honor." 
 
 "Well, off with you, then, and hurry up! " 
 
 "Yes, gentlemen, we can't do otherwise," remarked 
 the major to a group of officers, as if justifying himself 
 for attending to such details. " Unless we tell them 
 about every trifle every time, there'll always be trouble 
 afterward." 
 
 " You are right! " consented one of the officers. " It 
 is necessary to be prepared." 
 
 " They are trifles," remarked another, " only in 
 themselves: as a whole they may decide the fate of an 
 army." 
 
 " Have you seen Birnaps, gentlemen? He is almost 
 crazy." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " His battalion again remains behind. It seems an 
 injustice. He will not stand it." 
 
 " Well, brother, as to not standing it 
 
 " He is very much excited. He keeps running to
 
 EXCITEMENT AND GATHERINGS. 251 
 
 headquarters and begging. I met him to-day; he 
 would not bow, but turned so red! " 
 
 " Now it will again be said that there has been 
 intrigue. It is ridiculous, but, all the same, gentle- 
 men, it seems a little hard. Just judge for your- 
 selves." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense! Who was sent as advance-guard on 
 the 1 6th? Who went to Khazar-Asp? Enough of your 
 intrigues! We all must take our turns. Will you lend 
 me your revolver? The cylinder of mine does not turn 
 well." 
 
 " I'll not give it to you." 
 
 " Well, the devil take you! I do not need it." 
 
 "May God protect you all!" shouted Major Pugo- 
 vitzin, finishing up his instructions. " If a single one of 
 you gets drunk before we march, may God have mercy 
 on him! We'll eat him alive, and the dog will never 
 be heard of again! God preserve you! " 
 
 "And do you know," said Lieutenant Kustikof to 
 the lame Cossack, whom he was visiting in his tent 
 " do you know it is devilish hard to explain it? " 
 
 " What do you mean? " asked Golovin, listlessly. 
 " What do you refer to? " 
 
 " Oh, I have been thinking, but really we can not 
 count upon it with any certainty however " 
 
 " Your tongue seems to be all tangled up. Let it be! " 
 
 " At least," muttered Kustikof, as if talking to him- 
 self, " there is no certainty about it." And then he ran 
 off to communicate his doubts and hopes to somebody 
 else with better success. 
 
 " We are going into the very center of their pasture- 
 lands," he said a few minutes later to another officer. 
 " The cavalry has received orders to move around at a
 
 252 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 trot and take them in the flank. They may succeed in 
 capturing them in their houses, and unexpectedly." 
 
 "Impossible, brother; and besides " 
 
 " Oh, yes; that is what I was going to say. We can 
 not count with certainty upon anything, but they may 
 be surrounded and captured, and not a single soul 
 allowed to escape. In the meantime we can search all 
 the by-ways, and perhaps if one were only lucky 
 enough! I should refuse any rewards that might be 
 offered I should want nothing; and, after all, it may 
 happen! " Here poor Kustikof's doubts again over- 
 came his hopes, and a sad expression once more over- 
 spread his features, when the man he was addressing 
 unexpectedly replied, " Well, don't worry. It is an 
 affair of state, don't you see? " His troubled heart 
 was much relieved when he found that some one shared 
 his hopes as to the rescue of Natalia Martinovna. 
 
 But if the junior lieutenant had possessed a better 
 knowledge of human nature he would have known that 
 the same hopes fluttered in every heart without excep- 
 tion; that this hope was not only stirring in the lame 
 Cossack's heart, but filled it completely, to the exclusion 
 of all other thoughts; that there was not a single 
 skeptic who dared ridicule this hope. The only sad 
 thing about it was that this hope was in itself so feeble 
 that few ventured to let their tongues express it. It 
 seemed as if every one thought that if he only kept 
 silent the disappointment would be easier to bear, and, 
 at any rate, the few skeptics would be deprived of the 
 satisfaction of saying in case of disappointment, " Well, 
 I told you it was impossible! " 
 
 It was interesting to observe that all conversations 
 relating to this secret hope were conducted in general 
 terms: " It is very possible that it may happen," " It
 
 EXCITEMENT AND GATHERINGS. 253 
 
 would be glorious if it were to happen," " No, that is 
 impossible," and in such like phrases, nobody making 
 any distinct or definite assertion, nobody daring to 
 to pronounce the well-known, cherished name. 
 
 Only among the common soldiers one would occa- 
 sionally hear a plain expression of their strong feeling 
 on this subject: 
 
 " Oh, if we should be able to rescue her, our little 
 gray one! " 
 
 The expedition was to march at night, long before 
 daylight. The night was dark, without moon. The 
 infantry began its movement with very little noise; 
 company after company filed into the road to Kungrad. 
 This was not the real objective point of the expedition; 
 later, in due time, it was proposed to turn to the left, 
 toward Chandir. 
 
 Between the walls lining the road a moving mass of 
 somewhat lighter tint could be seen through the dark- 
 ness. This was the white blouses, loaded down with 
 their knapsacks and tents. Cannons were moving 
 along almost without noise, leaving deep wheel-tracks 
 in the light, dusty soil of the road. In places, where 
 the wells had been destroyed and there were no trees, a 
 few indistinct outlines and profiles could be distin- 
 guished against the sky, interspersed here and there 
 with other forms and shapes the barrels of guns, with 
 bayonets fixed, carried at various angles. Occasionally 
 the rugged folds of company guidons would loom up, 
 or the shaggy knob of a gunner's sponge. Horsemen 
 appeared like silhouettes cut from black paper, only to 
 disappear and to be swallowed up in the solid mass of 
 darkness. All these were moving along quietly, but
 
 254 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 uninterruptedly there was no talking and no singing, 
 the usual accompaniments of ordinary inarches. 
 
 They went along groping their way, cautiously mov- 
 ing ahead. It was very dark everywhere, but the 
 gloom was increased by the dense clouds of dust rising 
 from under the feet of the infantrymen and the wheels 
 of the cannons. It became impossible to see anything. 
 They began to stumble against each other the man in 
 rear would run into the man in front; and oftener and 
 oftener could be heard the metallic click of weapons 
 clashing together, and warning cries, " Easy there; 
 don't hurry so! What are you doing in front there! 
 Carefully! " 
 
 Like small signal-fires shone here and there, higher 
 or lower, the red glimmer of the soldier's pipe or the 
 officer's cigarette. By these bright sparks the move- 
 ment of the whole dark mass could be observed; they 
 were evidently moving ahead, though to the casual 
 observer it must have appeared at the first glance as if 
 this whole chaos, though it surged, and rustled, and 
 gave forth other more indistinct sounds, was not advanc- 
 ing at all, but merely tramping and stamping in one 
 and the same spot forever. 
 
 When inclined to sleep and struggling against irre- 
 sistible drowsiness, the horseman may assume various 
 attitudes more or less comfortable in his saddle 
 which will enable him to yield temporarily and trust to 
 his horse's sagacity. When the infantryman wishes to 
 doze he must do so walking, and he does it, waking 
 occasionally and glancing about stupidly without, for 
 the first moment, recognizing his surroundings or 
 knowing who he is or where he is going. A night 
 march, especially in the summer, when the whole 
 atmosphere is filled with dense clouds of suffocating
 
 EXCITEMENT AND GATHERINGS. 255 
 
 dust, impeding respiration, is a wearisome toil. Each 
 verst traveled under such conditions is at least equal to 
 five made under more favorable circumstances. As the 
 soldiers express it graphically: " You march and 
 march, and wonder how many versts you are making. 
 Then comes the sun, and you see that you have ad- 
 vanced only two versts from your starting-point." 
 The soldiers do not like they very much dislike 
 night marches. 
 
 From the rear came the thunder of some large force 
 approaching, and now catching up with the infantry. 
 Precautionary words of command were heard, " To the 
 right and left give way! Step aside; clear the 
 road! " But how? To the right and left are high walls, 
 and where the walls are not, there you find deep ditches, 
 with water glistening in the bottom, and the foot sinks 
 deeply into the yielding mud. Somehow the infantrymen 
 squeezed themselves against the walls, leaving a narrow 
 space in the middle of the road, and along this space a 
 mass of horsemen was now advancing. Horses snorted 
 and neighed, sabers rattled in their metallic scabbards; 
 a few figures rose in their stirrups, and hurried excla- 
 mations were exchanged in loud whispers. 
 
 " Good luck to the infantry! What battalion is this?" 
 In answer there came from the several ranks, in a muf- 
 fled roar, " We wish you good health, your Excellency! " 
 
 The commander-in-chief and his suite passed by. 
 Looming up high into the air above the columns waved 
 the general's flag, and the infantry closed in behind 
 them, once more a solid mass, and again began to 
 move. 
 
 But something is coming up in their rear; the earth 
 fairly trembles with the stamping of numberless hoofs. 
 Again the order, " To the right and left give way! "
 
 256 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 This was the cavalry force, which had marched some 
 time after the infantry, and had received orders to catch 
 up with them and take the head of the column. 
 
 Thicker and thicker rose the dust adjoining files 
 could no longer see each other; a suffocating cough 
 seemed to rend the lungs of the tortured men; the teeth, 
 covered with grit, were grating against each other, and 
 all throats were drying up. 
 
 " The devil may take these Cossacks! " 
 
 " Be still, you flat-foot make room; that's it! " 
 
 "Easy, you devil; your horse stepped on my foot, 
 and now you knock against my eye! Don't you see?" 
 
 " May the wolves eat you! Are there many more of 
 you? " 
 
 " Don't get mad, towney ; what are you growling about? 
 Why don't you go on? After us there are three more 
 companies." 
 
 " Oh, for a drop of water to moisten the throat! Eh, 
 Mitka, is there not a drop left in your canteen? " 
 
 " Here, take it ; there is just a little." 
 
 " Go on, Cossacks, go on! Why do you stop? " 
 
 " Close up your ranks! " 
 
 The Cossacks were past. The dust began to settle a 
 little. Far away, just above the horizon, a faint streak 
 of light appeared, the precursor of dawn. The endless 
 confining walls began to disappear and the road became 
 wider. A fresh breeze sprang up and a grateful moist- 
 ure arose from some lake or pond to their right. The 
 birds, awakening from their brief slumber, glanced 
 timidly at the moving masses. A flock of sparrows 
 rose noisily from the tops of wide-branching plantains, 
 a stork was chattering upon his uncouth nest; some- 
 where in the distance the native dogs were howling. 
 
 " Halt! " came the long-expected and wished-for com-
 
 AND WHAT IF ? 257 
 
 mand. " Prepare to take breath, boys, until the rear 
 of the column conies up! " 
 
 Joy and satisfaction again filled the hearts of the 
 soldiers; all the tortures and miseries of the night 
 march were forgotten. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 AND WHAT IF ? 
 
 SERGEI NIKOLAIEVITCH ROVITCH was on the staff, 
 and at this moment found himself a member of the 
 general's suite, being among those horsemen who had 
 overtaken the infantry. Though ill, with a nervous 
 system very much shattered, he had himself requested 
 to be ordered on this march, in the hope of forgetting 
 as far as possible, among the vivid and constantly 
 changing impressions of a campaign, the anguish and 
 remorse that weighed upon his brain and heart and 
 pervaded his whole being ever since that moment when 
 fate brought him in contact with some one who by a 
 casual remark recalled to his mind a chain of memories 
 which under ordinary conditions he would have re- 
 viewed with the self-complacent smile of a roue boast- 
 ing of a successful intrigue. 
 
 But now, much to his own surprise, these very rem- 
 iniscences created in him the most profound, unbear- 
 able remorse and self-reproach, and served as a grim 
 prompter, pursuing him every minute of the day and 
 robbing him of his sleep, completely transforming his 
 usually careless, joyous, and self -con tented disposition.
 
 258 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " If you are ill," the general had said to him the pre- 
 vious day, glancing at his pale, haggard face, " you may 
 stay behind." 
 
 " I thank you, your Excellency! " replied Rovitch, and 
 at once prepared for the march. 
 
 The universal question of " And what if " was also 
 present in Sergei Nikolai'evitch's mind, but in his case 
 it served to electrify his whole nature, to rouse his 
 energy and restore his strength, which had begun 
 to suffer from sleepless nights and the morbid concen- 
 tration of his thoughts upon one fatal subject. A cer- 
 tain feeling of loathing of himself grew in him with 
 every minute, which he fanned and strengthened as if 
 he found in it some consolation and relief for his moral 
 sufferings. 
 
 "And what if- He resumed his mental review of 
 a whole chain of contingencies. Since fate had carried 
 him here and brought him into contact with people 
 whom he had forgotten long ago, though formerly they 
 were quite familiar to him, was it not plausible that 
 the very catastrophe which had overwhelmed Natalia 
 Martinovna was intended by fate to bring about this 
 moral shock, this radical revolution in his sentiments? 
 If fate should have reserved for him that once dear, 
 but neglected and disgraced being what then? Ah! 
 then he would throw himself upon his knees before 
 her; he would describe to her all the torments he had 
 undergone, he would beg for her forgiveness, and she 
 good-hearted and loving would lift his heavy bur- 
 den and extend to him her hand. 
 
 With what mingled rapture and contrition he would 
 bend over that hand and cover it with untold kisses; 
 how fervently would he press to his heart that other 
 being so well known to him! My God! if that were
 
 AN UNEXPECTED AND UNDESIRED MOVE. 259 
 
 
 
 really to happen! His head began to turn around; he 
 seized the pommel of his saddle with his hand to keep 
 from falling. This occurred just as they were passing 
 through the open ranks of the infantry. " To the right 
 and left give way!" resounded Pugovitzin's rough 
 voice almost into Rovitch's ear. 
 
 Sergei Nikolai'evitch recognized the voice. He turned 
 pale, and instinctively tried to hide himself. He shrank 
 from observation and possible recognition. He did 
 not consider how difficult it was in that chaos of dust 
 and darkness to recognize anybody. He passed by 
 Pugovitzin as a criminal yet undiscovered passes by a 
 judge, imagining that he is bending upon him an omi- 
 nous look the look which precedes the still more 
 ominous words, " Stand up, man! At last you are in 
 the power of the law! " and Sergei Nikolai'evitch felt 
 provoked and angry at the streak of dawn along the 
 horizon. He feared the sun, which prevented him from 
 hiding, from remaining unnoticed and unnamed. Such 
 a mental condition might result in insanity. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 AN UNEXPECTED AND UNDESIRED MOVE. 
 
 THE communities of the Yomud Turkomans were 
 thoroughly alarmed. Couriers, runners, and messengers 
 from Khiva were chasing and overtaking each other. 
 It was impossible to analyze their hurried and conflict- 
 ing reports, but one ominous sound, one warning cry 
 was echoed by them all, " Save himself who may! " 
 
 17
 
 260 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 - 
 
 One of them said, " Our people have resolved not to 
 submit to the Russians; why should we pay them? 
 Because they have beaten us, and have come to our 
 country and act as if they were masters? " 
 
 " The Russian general is very angry," said another. 
 " They are getting ready to come after us." 
 
 " Ah ! I am sorry we did not succeed in harvesting 
 our grain. We would show them, the infidel dogs! 
 what it means to thrust their noses into a strange hut! 
 We would show them, and Allah would help us! " 
 
 " They are already on the march! " shouted another 
 courier. " They are coming! In two days they will be 
 here. Our people are gathering at Takir mounted 
 men and infantry. Why are you sitting here? Move 
 on! Ismet gave orders to call you all." 
 
 The decision of the elders was: " Load everything 
 on carts, drive your cattle together in herds, and move 
 on farther. Let the dogs find an empty place. Let 
 them burn the dry dung and the cinders that we leave 
 behind." 
 
 " They want to capture our women and keep them as 
 hostages! " was the opinion of many; and they hastened, 
 above all, to conceal their families, to wander with them 
 into the very heart of the steppes, though it were far 
 beyond the cultivated area and in the sandy desert. 
 " They'll not find us there, the white blouses! " 
 
 " They are coming; they are quite near! " was 
 shouted by alarmed voices. "They will soon over- 
 take us! " 
 
 " No; they are yet far. They have not passed Ulkun 
 Arik yet that is not very near, and they can not be 
 here very soon," came from other more reassuring 
 messengers. 
 
 Soon after the first shouts of warning the turmoil
 
 AN UNEXPECTED AND UNDESIRED MOVE. 261 
 
 among- the pastoral and agricultural communities 
 became terrible. The people were crowding together, 
 running to and fro, not knowing where and how to 
 begin this sudden and unexpected packing up and 
 carrying away of their portable huts and household 
 goods. 
 
 Later reports restored quiet to a certain extent, and 
 gave the elders an opportunity to consider the route to 
 be taken in their retreat, and to start off their trains 
 in the most convenient and promising direction. They 
 had to abandon a fruitful settled region, abounding in 
 water, and go into the sandy desert. This made it 
 imperative to provide all necessaries, not only for them- 
 selves, but also for their cattle, otherwise they would 
 fly into the desert from their dreaded enemy the 
 white blouses only to find themselves confronted by 
 other enemies no less terrible, hunger and thirst. 
 
 In the meantime the Russians were marching, always 
 marching, without stopping or giving the Turkomans 
 time to organize, and spreading panic and consternation 
 before them. 
 
 Thus far the white blouses had not seen a single 
 enemy; not a single one of the rifle-barrels cleaned so 
 carefully in Khiva had been blackened anew by the 
 discharge of a shot, not a cannon had been unlimbered; 
 but among the tribes of the Yomud Turkomans, the 
 Chodor and Solor, the people spoke of hearing distant 
 reports of cannons; they heard them plainly, and the 
 firing must be near, perhaps only just beyond that jagged 
 range of sand-hills. All these sounds existed only in 
 the disordered imagination of these nomads, who had 
 completely lost their heads over the occurrence of the 
 unexpected invasion, which, however, they could have 
 easily foreseen after sending to the Russian general
 
 262 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 their peremptory refusal to submit to the new ordej of 
 things. 
 
 A large Yomud tribe settled near Zmukshir was also 
 preparing to move, having been alarmed by these 
 reports. It was a very wealthy tribe, numbering over 
 two hundred huts all standing wide apart from each 
 other and covering a large space. Zmukshir was a 
 favorite wintering-place of the Turkomans, to judge 
 from the permanent improvements made their large 
 court-yards surrounded by mud walls, vast sheds, and 
 even a few houses. There was also a permanent bazaar, 
 to which the people of the neighborhood resorted twice 
 a week, bringing their produce and driving up their 
 cattle to exchange them for wares brought by merchants 
 from Khiva. 
 
 The settlement was encircled by bright-green fields, 
 laid out in rectangular sections, and presenting a pleas- 
 ing picture, breathing peace and plenty. Between the 
 fields meandered countless irrigating ditches, like silvery 
 arteries, covering the cultivated lands with a perfect 
 network. Here and there sparkled square ponds, or 
 reservoirs, their banks planted with trees. The wheat 
 was ripening, and exhibited a rich golden tint as it 
 swayed gently before the breeze. The black roofs of 
 the huts, resembling the tops of mushrooms, loomed up 
 among the fields; columns of smoke from kitchen- 
 fires were rising everywhere all was life and anima- 
 tion. Herds of horned cattle and sheep were grazing 
 in the immediate vicinity, surrounding the whole set- 
 tlement with a living circle; and now all this had to be 
 removed at once. 
 
 They took down the huts, loading the separate pieces 
 upon carts; upon others they placed bundles of pro-
 
 AN UNEXPECTED AND UNDESIRED MOVE. 263 
 
 visions and clothing, chests, rolls of carpets, and mats. 
 They even hastily cut the yet immature wheat to keep 
 it from falling into the hands of the " giaours." 
 
 The women were busy about the carts and the dis- 
 memberment of the huts; the men were driving up the 
 cattle, or simply galloping about the settlement to 
 hurry and drive the women, who were already losing 
 their heads in the general bustle and flurry. 
 
 Not many men were left with the tribe; they ordi- 
 narily counted three hundred mounted men, but at the 
 present moment they could scarcely collect thirty, all 
 told. The remainder had gone to the rallying-points 
 under the banners of Ismet, Irtik-Mergen, and other 
 chiefs who had not yet given up their hopes of arresting 
 the Russians in their progress, and of making them 
 feel their strength, with the help of Allah, and thus 
 extinguish for a long time to come all desire to invade 
 their rich fields and pastures, heretofore considered 
 beyond the reach of any enemy. 
 
 About fifteen carts, not yet hitched up, but ready for 
 the road, were standing in several rows upon a small 
 well-trampled space in front of a detached group of 
 huts. The felt roofs had already been removed from 
 some of the latter, and the bare concentric rafters 
 resembled a huge bird-cage constructed of red poles. 
 The women, in white turbans or with colored kerchiefs 
 tied about their heads, were hard at work rolling the 
 felt covering of the huts into cylindrical shape; others 
 were collecting one by one the pegs and spikes and 
 tying them into bundles, while others again were car- 
 rying to the carts large iron-bound chests, painted in 
 bright colors, chiefly red and gold. All this was depos- 
 ited there to be packed into the vehicles in a more sys- 
 tematic and orderly manner.
 
 264 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Domestic fowls hens with their broods of chicks, 
 tame pheasants, and guinea-hens were noisily running 
 about between the bundles and carts, getting under the 
 feet of the bustling people. Emaciated greyhounds 
 whined pitifully while looking at all this excitement. 
 Half -naked children gathered in groups, gazing with 
 wide-open, astonished eyes at what was going on 
 before them, unable to understand the meaning of 
 this strange, untimely move made by their fathers and 
 mothers. Here and there, in the glaring sun, could be 
 seen cradles for infants, and in these cradles were 
 squirming and feeding dusky little bodies, with their 
 small arms and legs entangled in wraps and rags. 
 Several of them had succeeded in making their escape 
 from their cradles, and, unnoticed by their toiling 
 mothers, were groveling in the dust and digging into 
 the piles of half-dried dung. 
 
 Another rider came up, the flanks of his horse 
 white with foam, and shouting at the top of his voice, 
 " Hurry, hurry! Aren't you ready yet? " He struck 
 his horse with the whip and galloped on straight ahead, 
 over bales and across ditches, not going out of his way 
 to warn others. This cry caused everybody to work 
 with redoubled haste and feverish activity. The loads 
 on the carts rose higher and higher until they loomed 
 up like small hills above the great wooden wheels. 
 They began to lash them down with ropes. It was 
 only necessary to drive up the horses and oxen to drag 
 away all this property piled up for removal. Some of 
 the carts had been provided with covers of cotton 
 cloth, stretched over uprights; these vehicles were 
 intended for the families the wives and children; 
 they were passenger-carts. A majority of the women, 
 however, saddled horses for themselves and mounted
 
 AN UNEXPECTED AND UNDES1RED MOVE. 265 
 
 them, sometimes two together, one in the saddle, the 
 other on the horse's croup, holding onto the girdle of 
 the woman in front. 
 
 More horsemen came galloping up. " What is the 
 matter with you, you lazy cows? Are you coming soon? 
 You must be off before the sun sets, and keep on all 
 night so as to get well away! " 
 
 "Look out! They may catch you to-morrow morn- 
 ing; they are quite near. They have already captured 
 the Budai' tribe; they cut them off from the road. 
 Hurry, hurry! " 
 
 The oxen and horses were speedily driven up to the 
 carts; clouds of dust arose over the settlement, stirred 
 up by the feet of the animals. The confusion increased. 
 The oxen were all small and low, but muscular and 
 strong; each of them bore a saddle with a great wooden 
 horn in front; on their necks were felt collars; the 
 harness was of rope with wooden fastenings. The well- 
 trained animals stood quietly among all this hubbub; 
 the horses were snorting, stamping, and biting at each 
 other whenever they came within reach; the oxen bel- 
 lowed at times, and sniffed with their nostrils, cruelly 
 torn by the iron rings or rough ropes fastened into 
 them. For some of the vehicles there were not cattle 
 enough. 
 
 " Well, those will have to be left." Another horse- 
 man came racing. " Not ready yet? Throw away 
 everything! " But it was a pity to throw such things 
 away. It seemed as if fate had willed it that the carts 
 still left contained all that was most dear and precious 
 to the owners clothing and metallic utensils. Then 
 was begun a hurried repacking. Bales were unlashed; 
 cups and flasks and teakettles fell jingling and rattling 
 to the ground; cloaks and shining silk trousers were
 
 266 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 ruthlessly trampled into the dust and dirt. The women 
 were enraged over this waste, and reproachful and 
 angry cries were heard. 
 
 One woman only in the whole community listened 
 with calm apathy to all this uproar. She sat upon the 
 ground like a statue; her hands were unconsciously 
 stroking the hair of a child that was clinging to her. 
 
 " Why are you sitting there with idle hands? " an old 
 Turkoman hag shouted into her ear. "Here, carry 
 this! " throwing her a bag and hastening on farther her- 
 self, scolding, and threatening to beat somebody. The 
 woman rose to her feet and seized the bag. It was too 
 heavy; she could not lift it. She dragged it along 
 she did not know where. The child put up his little 
 arms to help; he did not cry, but looked quite serious, 
 as if he knew that this was no time for tears. The 
 eyes of this boy did not resemble those of the other 
 children they were large and blue; and the hair on his 
 head was fair, not black and closely cropped. His 
 mother also had bright strands of hair hanging over 
 her shoulders, entirely uncovered; but they concealed 
 the rents in her garment, which was torn and worn and 
 of indistinguishable hue. 
 
 " Bring it here, you Russian slut! " cried from the 
 cart a stout, ruddy Turkoman woman with her arms 
 set akimbo. Her turban had slipped to one side, and 
 her braids, wound with beads, were fluttering in the 
 wind; her face was covered with a paste of dust and 
 perspiration. 
 
 "Not there! Here!" cried another, tall and well- 
 shaped, rattling with bracelets and innumerable coins 
 and trinkets sewed all over the bosom and border of 
 her upper garment. 
 
 "Stand aside, or I run over you! " shouted a third,
 
 ENEMIES. 267 
 
 laughing-, and curveting upon a piebald stallion loaded 
 from tail to ears with cloths and carpets. 
 
 " Where then? " muttered the poor woman. 
 
 " I'll show you! " some one snarled behind her, deal- 
 ing her a heavy blew with the end of a rope. 
 
 " Do not bother with her," advised a very young girl, 
 not yet fourteen, who was seated under the cover of 
 one of the carts. " Leave her; she may stay here. 
 The Russians will not hurt her; she is one of them. 
 Leave her! " 
 
 "Yes leave her that would be well, indeed!" 
 grumbled the old woman. " Ibrahim would probably 
 ask me for her, and beat me on her account. Get up 
 here on this cart, quick take your brat sit here! " 
 
 The sun was already very perceptibly declining 
 toward the horizon, but the train was not yet under 
 way. A few carts were strung out along the road, 
 waiting for the others, when another cloud of dust arose 
 in the distance. Horsemen came galloping by, repeat- 
 ing as they passed the old cry: 
 
 "Hurry! they are near now! Throw away all, and 
 get*on! " 
 
 It was already dark when the last cart filed into the 
 road and hastened to catch up with the rear end of the 
 train just disappearing over the nearest hill. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 ENEMIES. 
 
 SERGEI NIKOLAIVITCH ROVITCH had not known Golo- 
 vin during his former sojourn in Central Asia. On the
 
 268 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 present occasion he had easily guessed from the con- 
 versations in the officers' circles what were the feelings 
 of the lame Cossack for Natalia Martinovna, and that 
 knowledge was enough to arouse in Rovitch a strong 
 dislike of his rival. The dislike grew all the stronger 
 when he learned from the remarks and conversations 
 to which he so eagerly listened that Natalia, at least 
 partially, shared Golovin's feelings. The mere thought 
 of this goaded him to desperation. Thus far, however, 
 he had avoided all meetings with his rival avoided 
 them very carefully, guarding against any accident 
 which might bring them together. 
 
 Sergei Nikolai'evitch even held aloof from his old 
 Chiniaz acquaintances, and ever since the various expe- 
 ditions formed a junction under the walls of Khiva, 
 when he had heard of their presence he had declined 
 all invitations to meet any of them or to enter into con- 
 versation about them. 
 
 Feeling instinctively how the part he had played 
 appeared in their eyes, and how these old friends of 
 Natalia Martinovna must look upon him, he brought 
 himself to hate and despise them with all the strength 
 of his evil mind. Even in the very midst of his ardent 
 dreams and silent vows of proposed self-humiliation, he 
 always cherished one idea which caused an ugly sneer 
 to wreathe his lips: " What a joke it will be if all 
 these friends and admirers, the lame Cossack included, 
 come out of this as losers; and what faces they will 
 make when I, Sergei Nikolai'evitch Rovitch, shall own 
 their precious treasure, their ' holy angel ' ! I shall 
 probably not get out of this without a duel," he thought 
 at such times; and this after consideration threw some 
 ashes upon the flame of his desires. 
 
 The trifling character of Sergei Nikolai'evitch dis-
 
 ENEMIES. 269 
 
 played itself in all these musings. His superficial 
 nature could not imagine or understand that if in one 
 of his spells of self -accusation and humiliation he had 
 openly revealed himself to this circle of Natalia 
 Martinovna's friends, if he had confessed himself to 
 be such as he saw himself in his remorseful, sleepless 
 nights, he would probably have extinguished at once 
 all jealousy in their hearts; and if they, on the other 
 hand, should have observed a revival of Natalia's fond- 
 ness for the father of her child, they would have been 
 the first to extend to him a friendly, helping hand. But 
 this natural, straightforward solution of the difficulty 
 was not within the power of Sergei Nikolai'evitch. 
 
 In the position assumed by the lame Cossack toward 
 Rovitch there was nothing strained, nothing undecided. 
 It had been clearly defined long since, before even 
 Golovin laid eyes upon Sergei Nikolai'evitch; but his 
 feeling toward him grew in intensity the minute he was 
 pointed out to him across a long table on the occasion 
 of a breakfast at the general's headquarters. 
 
 " I do not want to be within a hundred paces of him," 
 he had remarked to his neighbor, who had informed him 
 of Rovitch's presence at the other end of the table. " My 
 hand is itching to get hold of the beast! " And he had 
 exchanged seats with another officer, so as to enable 
 him to turn his back toward' Rovitch and not look at 
 that "beast." 
 
 After this breakfast, however, Golovin had never 
 knowingly avoided any opportunity of meeting his 
 enemy. On the contrary, he had sought him; and 
 often, on perceiving Rovitch walking in the distance, 
 he had gone out of his way and hastened his steps to 
 come face to face with him, to look straight into his
 
 270 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 eyes (not impudently, however), thereby forcing the 
 other to turn aside to avoid an unfriendly altercation. 
 
 The conflict, however, was sure to occur sooner or 
 later it seemed inevitable. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 OVERTAKEN. 
 
 A LARGE detachment of cavalry, consisting of several 
 " sotnias " of Cossacks, and extending over a distance of 
 nearly two versts, was making its way through a part 
 of the Yomud lands crossed and cut up everywhere by 
 irrigating ditches. They did not know the road they 
 were following; the whole region was new and strange 
 to them it was only just being explored, or, we 
 might say, discovered. Some were moving ahead quite 
 rapidly, others branched off to the right and left as if 
 seeking for a better road, while others again halted 
 at times as if in doubt, and then hurried on at 
 increased speed when their doubts had been solved; 
 hurrying as if it were of the utmost importance to 
 make up for the time lost in their brief halt. 
 
 The detachment had guides, but these guides, 
 whether intentionally or not, proved very poor leaders 
 of a column; it would have been much better for the 
 expedition if they had been without them. The guides 
 only caused the loss of time by consultations, during 
 which they made the most absurd and contradictory 
 statements, though they were mostly natives belonging 
 to the region through which the detachment was mov- 
 ing at this time.
 
 OVERTAKEN. 271 
 
 This whole strong detachment, though moving rap- 
 idly enough to tire both horses and men, was evidently 
 groping and feeling its way. This was no ordinary 
 march from one well-known point to another, else there 
 would have been no such frequent breaking into a trot, 
 or even a gallop. Besides, the members of the expedi- 
 tion were acting in an unusual, independent manner 
 which would not have been permitted on ordinary 
 marches, when all proceed in a dreamy, half-dozing 
 manner, moving in accordance with established rules 
 and regulations, when the roads are all alike and the end 
 in view always the same to reach the camp selected 
 for the night Here, on the contrary, all the horsemen 
 were carefully and cautiously looking to either side, 
 but chiefly ahead, as if searching for something along 
 the wavy horizon, broken here and there by groups of 
 trees and patches of brush ; their whole attention was 
 fixed in that direction. 
 
 It was a pursuit, but a pursuit under very unfavor- 
 able circumstances, without any knowledge of the 
 locality, of the roads, without proper guides, and beset 
 with obstacles causing loss of time. 
 
 The pursued, on the other hand, were in a very 
 different position. They knew the country well they 
 were settled there. They could move on without stop- 
 ping for a certain well-known distance, and they could 
 obstruct the road and make it impassable for the pur- 
 suer; but, for all that, the pursued were informed from 
 time to time that the danger was approaching, and 
 that their foes had already gained more than a day's 
 march upon them and a day's march means a great 
 deal on such occasions. 
 
 But, in the words of one of the Turkoman Mullahs 
 who subsequently described this flight, " Allah was
 
 272 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 incensed against his true believers; he closed their eyes 
 and ears and enveloped their minds in fog. He sowed 
 among them confusion and fear, while he cleared the 
 eyes of the unbelieving enemy, gave them strength of 
 legs, speed, and power and everything was lost by 
 the will of Allah, as an example to all, and to proclaim 
 his will in the future." The will of Allah is certainly 
 enough to explain a total reversal of existing affairs by 
 means such as could not be available in the natural 
 course of events. 
 
 This was a force which had been detached from the 
 main body of the army that was marching for the pur- 
 pose of punishing the unruly Turkomans. The object 
 of the movement was to penetrate into the heart of 
 their pastoral and agricultural lands, to flank them 
 and surround them, cutting them off from farther 
 flight. 
 
 At the first glance this detachment appeared to have 
 but little in common with regular troops there was 
 such a jumble of types and costumes; and the very 
 character of their movements reminded one of some- 
 thing Asiatic half-savage. The Cossacks went along 
 at a gallop, now going in single file, one after the other, 
 over narrow, barely perceptible paths, and then again 
 gathering in groups when those in advance halted to 
 look about or to remove some obstacle in the road. 
 Cannons would have been out of place in such a move- 
 ment, and therefore none were to be seen. In their 
 stead each company had a group of men carrying over 
 their shoulders, in place of their carbines, long poles 
 with round knobs at the end this was the rocket 
 detachment, with their noisy and thereby effective 
 weapons, which are in reality as harmless as they are 
 expensive.
 
 OVERTAKEN. 273 
 
 Here and there the colored guidons of the various 
 " sotnias " and the personal flags of commanders flut- 
 tered in the breeze. Nearly every company was march- 
 ing separately, exploring and selecting its own road. 
 At a certain point a group of Orenburg Cossacks had 
 assembled, in their loose gray homespun blouses and yel- 
 low leather trousers; they dismounted to remove with 
 their hands a barricade constructed of broken carts and 
 of trunks of trees felled across the road. In another 
 place some Siberian Cossacks, in their ungainly shaggy 
 caps with red cloth tops, were describing a long circuit 
 in order to avoid a rice-patch which had been purposely 
 flooded to convert it into an impassable swamp. There, 
 again, some Caucasian Cossacks, in helmets, were jump- 
 ing like goats across an irrigating ditch on their 
 slender-legged mountain horses. Native mounted mili- 
 tiamen, in bright-colored cloaks and Turkoman caps 
 and turbans, on untrained horses covered with cloths, 
 were galloping to and fro, mingling with the Cossacks, 
 shouting and talking in their own language, enlivening 
 the scene and adding much to its wild, Asiatic character. 
 One of the " sotnias " which had been detained for some 
 time by an obstruction in the road, finally gave it up, 
 turned aside, and, happening upon a practicable path, 
 gave loose rein to their horses, to catch up, at a full gal- 
 lop, with the others and to make up for loss of time. 
 Dense clouds of dust were rising from under their 
 horses' feet, hiding the company entirely from sight; 
 only the soiled, torn square of the guidon could be seen 
 fluttering above. A patch of liquid mire lay in their 
 course, the horses sinking to their bellies, and all from 
 head to foot being covered with mud. The tails and 
 manes of the horses were clogged with it and the clothes 
 of the riders bespattered, the men saving their guns
 
 274 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 and cartridges only by lifting them up. At last they 
 reached solid ground again, and the burning sun imme- 
 diately dried the mud, restoring the rider almost to his 
 previous condition, until they should meet with another 
 bath or submersion in dust or mud, the common inci- 
 dents of a forced march in pursuit. 
 
 Energy must at last adjust itself to physical powers, 
 and these powers were weakening. Both horses and 
 riders began to feel the effect of overexertion. The 
 horses' sunken sides were heaving; they were snorting 
 and sniffing with their red, inflamed nostrils. They 
 had been in motion for nearly ten hours since day- 
 light, and now it was nearly evening. They had cov- 
 ered a great distance, but how much there was still to 
 be made was not known. Possibly a day, or two days, 
 perhaps only an hour, might end the chase not more. 
 Who knew what lay there before them? It might be 
 only just beyond that undulating line that they would 
 see what they had been pursuing so long. 
 
 The shrill sound of a bugle came from the direction 
 in which could be seen a large red flag with diagonal 
 white stripes. It was an unwelcome, and even unex- 
 pected sound, though nearly every one had been unwill- 
 ingly listening for it long ago. The signal was, " Halt! ' 
 followed by, " Close up on the leading company! " It 
 was necessary to rest, to breathe, or the horses might 
 be permanently injured. The "closing-up " movement 
 began; the companies in rear were gradually approach- 
 ing those in advance. A few companies who had 
 drawn ahead of the leading command turned back 
 slowly and reluctantly, and a vast irregular bivouac was 
 formed, as irregular and unconventional in all its 
 arrangements as the march had been. Fires were 
 lighted, from which rose huge columns of black smoke.
 
 OVERTAKEN. 275 
 
 Tea was being made and meat roasted upon the coals. 
 By good luck a few exhausted calves and sheep had 
 been found on the road. The horses stood still in their 
 places, hanging their heads from weariness a few 
 were rolling on the ground. In the dirty ditches the 
 men bathed and washed, taking the same water for 
 cooking and drinking. In places extemporized shelters 
 and tents were even put up as a protection against the 
 burning rays of the sun. Wherever there was a soli- 
 tary tree or a clump of bushes giving shade, there 
 crowds gathered; and noisy and animated conversation 
 was carried on by the men some grumbling and 
 scolding, some happy and full of irrepressible and irre- 
 sistible vigor. 
 
 It was not purposed to stop long; two hours at the 
 most would give the hardy, strong horses of the steppe 
 time to recuperate sufficiently to enable them to set 
 out again upon another " heat " of the forced march. 
 
 An exchange of news and suppositions was going on 
 on all sides. Everything was listened to eagerly, with 
 feverish anxiety and impatience. The news was so 
 abundant that one piece of it overtook another, the last 
 exceeding all former in absurdity. 
 
 " Now we are close to them," explained one man with 
 some heat; " that is plainly to be seen. But why, in the 
 devil's name, are we stopping? We might just as well 
 rest later on. Ah, it's too bad! " 
 
 " How do you know they are near? If you founder 
 your horse, everything has to stop ; that has hap- 
 pened before." 
 
 " If we had only gone on for half an hour, to those 
 trees see! where the plantains are looming up." 
 
 " I am sorry Golovin is not with us," was the com- 
 plaint in another group. " He is an expert in finding 
 18
 
 276 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 out things ahead of the column. Do you believe me? 
 Once some one told him he thought the enemy was 
 only a little ahead. ' Be easy,' he said; ' in an hour 
 and three quarters we'll be up with them.' And, true 
 as fate, in just one hour and three quarters we had 
 them. We saw that with our own eyes. He is a know- 
 ing one! He follows them up, and catches them! " 
 
 " He has the devil's own scent. I know him some- 
 thing like a hound. You remember when we went to 
 Ukhum, after the attack on Djusak? " 
 
 " Didn't he march with us? I thought I saw him " 
 
 " No; he is laid up. He is very weak and poorly. 
 Ah, he was such a tough fellow once." 
 
 " Gentlemen, some Cossacks have found a fallen 
 horse from a cart. They were taking off its collar 
 when they found the neck still warm it did not have 
 time to cool. It is evident they are near," said a Cos- 
 sack as he was hurrying by. 
 
 "Well, now; do you see? I told you they were quite 
 near. Now it is clear! " 
 
 " Some of the advance have just come back. They 
 found hot cinders the fire had been put out, but the 
 ashes did not have time to cool. They also found 
 a kettle, and brought it back with them." 
 
 " Now what are we dawdling here for? The colonel 
 ought to be told. Does he know it yet? " 
 
 " They have gone to report." 
 
 " See there! the Siberians are mounting. There goes 
 the bugle! " 
 
 " To horse! Blow, bugler; sound the advance! " 
 
 The latest news of the horse's neck still warm and 
 the glowing cinders somewhat shortened the time 
 intended for rest. The companies mounted again and 
 began to string out.
 
 OVERTAKEN. 277 
 
 The country was still very much broken and difficult 
 to travel over. Narrow paths meandered here and 
 there, sometimes between walls of mud, and then again 
 between deep ditches or through thickets of brush, and 
 these paths seemed to cross each other and change 
 direction every few steps, often apparently leading 
 back to the rear. Such surprises were met with every 
 few minutes. To the right and left, among fields 
 planted with wheat and rice, there were traces of huts 
 only just taken down. These round spots, well tramped 
 down, with a pile of ashes in the center, were striking- 
 objects upon the surface of the landscape. They were 
 carefully examined, in the hope of finding in them some 
 indications. 
 
 And now they found fresh cart-tracks. The heavy 
 wheels had been dragged through the yielding soil, 
 leaving deep furrows. There they had crossed a ditch, 
 and were stalled;. they got out again with difficulty, as 
 shown by the number of tracks of oxen and naked feet 
 about the spot. Fowls began to start up from under 
 the Cossacks' horses, but no attention was paid to them; 
 that kind of booty was too insignificant when com- 
 pared with what must be ahead. Now a cart comes in 
 sight! The horses had been unharnessed and taken 
 away, but the cart remained, with all its load, standing 
 there alone in the road. 
 
 Men galloped up to it from all sides; they looked at 
 it, felt it, smelled it. "What have you found? " " The 
 devil knows what! I can never wash off the smell. 
 There, boys; I see cattle grazing over there they are 
 driving them. Cut them off, quick! " 
 
 Far away, on one side of the road, there really could 
 be seen some moving dots on the fields. Perhaps they 
 were cattle, perhaps something else. The Cossacks
 
 278 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 asserted that they saw cows, and men driving them off 
 somewhere. 
 
 " No, brother; you lie! Those are ours some of the 
 Orenburg fellows." 
 
 Again they came across a cart, and then another; 
 then they saw three together, one of them lying on its 
 side with a broken wheel and there were the people! 
 
 Beside one of the carts there stood a large willow 
 basket, and from it protruded two heads of young goats 
 and one of a human being. The latter belonged to a 
 boy not more than a year old. The black eyes looked 
 full of apprehension at the strange men galloping 
 around the carts the little mouth half-open and the 
 small hands clinging desperately to the rim of the bas- 
 ket, as if this diminutive son of the steppe were afraid 
 that they would pull him out of his refuge. 
 
 Now they must be near if they were in such hurry as 
 to forget their little ones. There we*e some huts not 
 yet taken down ; they had not time to take them 
 away. One remained without its felt covering, the 
 other had been stripped. The people were still rushing 
 about, trying to take them down too late! There, 
 they were running. 
 
 Interpreters were now sent out to tell the people, 
 "Whoever remains at home will be left undisturbed; 
 only those are punished who run away or offer resist- 
 ance! " But the flying crowd do not understand per- 
 haps they do not listen to these reassuring phrases. 
 The women gathered in crowds, sat down and covered 
 their faces. Some of the men threw themselves down, 
 pretending to have been killed; one fired straight at a 
 Cossack who was pursuing him, dropped him from his 
 saddle, and spurred on his own faltering beast, trying 
 to escape vain attempt !
 
 OVERTAKEN. 279 
 
 Shots were now heard farther ahead. " The rocket 
 corps to the front! " Two wounded officers were being 
 carried back. Some Caucasians were retreating before 
 a stronger body of natives. " To the rescue, boys! " 
 
 There seemed to be much promiscuous fighting, but 
 nothing definite could be made out for some time. 
 Ahead of them, beyond those hills, was strung out an 
 apparently endless chain of carts upon carts. Cattle 
 and horses were being driven along, while mounted 
 men circled about them, keeping up a desultory fire. 
 A few rallied in groups, endeavoring to beat back the 
 onslaught of the Cossacks ; the others seemed to have 
 but a single thought to fly, to save themselves. 
 
 They were surrounded at last, and were being driven 
 together. The road to the steppe their only salvation 
 was cut off and closed to them. Flight was no longer 
 possible. 
 
 Orders were issued at once, " For the least disorder 
 the culprit will be shot like a dog. Women and chil- 
 dren must not be touched with a finger." 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the commander of the expedition, 
 somewhat excitedly, to his officers, " we must bring 
 order into this chaos." And he passed on, followed by 
 his staff, by his red and white standard, and by a motley 
 crowd of native militiamen, staff -buglers, and others. 
 
 The sun was about to sink beyond the horizon in a 
 crimson haze, and darkness was coming on. All tried 
 to make use of the last rays of light to bring some sys- 
 tem and order into this noisy turmoil. At night that 
 would be impossible. The horses were unhitched from 
 the carts and led aside. With the vehicles a compact 
 square was formed, the unhappy inmates of which sub- 
 mitted to the will of Allah, but still carefully watched 
 their property. The whole was surrounded by a chain
 
 280 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 of sentries, the Cossacks extending their bivouacs in a 
 circle around the entire train. 
 
 The horses were not unsaddled all night; nobody 
 slept; all were on the alert and ready for battle. For 
 who knew but that fresh masses of the enemy might 
 at any moment make their appearance from beyond 
 those sand-hills in front, coming to the rescue of their 
 wives, children, and property? 
 
 On the horizon, to the right and left, there blazed 
 up suspicious-looking red reflections as if from con- 
 flagrations. Flames could be seen shooting up, and 
 black clouds of smoke arose into the darkening sky. 
 Was the steppe on fire? No; those were the fields and 
 the ricks of the Turkomans, which they had ignited, in 
 their blind fear and rage, destroying in a few hours the 
 winter's store, upon which depended the lives of these 
 now sorely punished nomads. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 FOUND. 
 
 SERGEI NIKOLAIEVITCH ROVITCH was with this detach- 
 ment. One may easily imagine the feverish condition in 
 which he had passed this day. He was tortured by im- 
 patience and doubt. Would they catch up with them, or 
 not? If they came up with them, would he find there 
 what he was searching for, or not? Would he come upon 
 some trace of Natalia Martinovna, or would he still be 
 left in this unbearable state of uncertainty? 
 
 He was now galloping about the train looking into
 
 FOUND. 281 
 
 the vehicles, listening, trying to question the prisoners, 
 but all in vain. They would not answer he could not 
 get a word in reply to all his inquiries. How could 
 they answer, these unfortunate women and children 
 whom fear had robbed of their senses? The train was 
 very large several thousand carts; all the space in 
 sight was filled with them. To count them and inspect 
 them a whole day, at least, was needed, and here was 
 the cursed night, with its darkness, precluding all possi- 
 bility of farther research. There was nothing left but 
 to submit to necessity and wait. 
 
 What a dreary wait! But if she was not here if 
 she was with some other train which succeeded in 
 escaping what then? This idea came into his head 
 unbidden, and greatly increased Sergei Nikolai'evitch's 
 sufferings. 
 
 He was by no means the only one in a similar con- 
 dition. All the officers of the commands hailing from 
 Tashkent experienced almost the same feelings, though 
 perhaps not in the same degree. The officers of the 
 Caucasian expedition, who had never known Natalia 
 Martinovna, but had heard of her, also were ready to 
 take an active part in the search, but they went at it 
 more calmly. In the heads of the former still another 
 idea had taken root : "If she should be no longer among 
 the living? " But this unwelcome thought was speedily 
 put away by every one, without permitting a word or 
 even a hint of it to escape through his lips. "That 
 would be altogether unjust! " they considered. Unjust 
 on whose part? Nobody cared to go into such details. 
 It only seemed to every one that this affair could not, 
 must not, end in so sad a manner. 
 
 The square of carts was surrounded by a chain of 
 sentries, who were strictly forbidden to admit any one
 
 282 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 to the interior, with the exception of officers. Sergei 
 Nikolaievitch was wandering about on foot, looking 
 into the nearest carts, at the dark figures sitting mo- 
 tionless in them and under them he was waiting for 
 the dawn. 
 
 "If she were here," said some one not far from Ro- 
 vitch, " she would have come out herself. She has not 
 weaned herself completely from the Russians she 
 would not hide herself from us; she would have come 
 out long ago." 
 
 " But," replied another voice, " if she should be lying 
 ill and could not stir? No, brother; we shall have to 
 search." 
 
 Sergei Nikolai'evitch looked around and observed two 
 other officers, who had evidently come for the same 
 purpose he had in mind. He felt an absurd, insane 
 jealousy of these two dark shadows; he would have 
 been willing to annihilate them that very moment. " I 
 alone," he thought, "have the right to seek her, to wait 
 for her. What did they come here for? By what 
 right?" He was fully convinced of the logic and just- 
 ness of his own ideas on this subject. 
 
 "It is a pity there is no lantern," came from some 
 other voice, evidently a soldier's. " Now would be the 
 time to look from cart to cart we might ask permis- 
 sion! " 
 
 " Don't think of it. You would probably have a knife 
 thrust into you that would finish you. Those Turko- 
 man women are tough ones! " 
 
 Two others walked up, stood for a few minutes, and 
 then walked on along the line of sentries. " They 
 also," groaned Rovitch, biting at the fingers of his 
 gloves in his rage. 
 
 "Tokhta! " (halt) cried the nearest sentry, bringing
 
 FOUND. 283 
 
 his carbine to a " ready." Rovitch trembled, and stared 
 into the darkness he could see nothing. 
 
 " What did you say? " he asked the sentry. 
 
 " Some one came up toward the line from over there, 
 but she went away again. I do not see her now." 
 
 "Where, where?" 
 
 " Who is commander of this detachment?" came in a 
 feeble voice not far from Sergei Nikolai'evitch. It was 
 the voice of a woman. She spoke Russian. Several 
 dark figures rushed out to meet her. Rovitch's head 
 was turning around, sparks were whirling before his 
 eyes, his legs trembled under him, and he fell to the 
 ground unconscious. 
 
 The woman, with a child in her arms, was surrounded 
 in a second. A dozen hands were extended; they seized 
 her, these hands, and lifted her up, and with a shout 
 of triumph and a hoarse "hurrah! " they carried her to 
 the nearest bivouac. 
 
 " Some fire light a fire! we must have some light! " 
 was the cry all around. " Hurrah! " The shout was car- 
 ried all over the camp in endless repetition; hundreds 
 heard it and took it up without knowing what it all 
 was about, but all came running to the place where the 
 shout originated. 
 
 Natalia Martinovna laughed and wept, her tears 
 being again followed by smiles. She talked much, 
 and rapidly, and the others talked to her all at 
 once. Nobody could hear, and nobody wanted to hear 
 all were foolishly merry and happy. If anybody had 
 been asked the following morning how it happened, 
 what was said or done, nobody would have been in a 
 condition to give a correct and truthful answer to these 
 questions. 
 
 Sergei Nikolaievitch, regaining consciousness, quick-
 
 284 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF 
 
 ly sprang to his feet and hurried away in the direc- 
 tion from which the shouts of triumph were coming. 
 The bright light of a camp-fire illuminated Natalia 
 Martinovna's figure with an almost blinding glare. She 
 was still in the old torn Turkoman garment, partly 
 exposing her body; she was seated upon a carpet, hold- 
 ing a large cup of tea in her trembling hands. Little 
 Petka was passing from arm to arm, his musical, silvery 
 laughter ringing through the air. The officers were 
 crowding around. Some Cossacks were busy putting 
 up a fantastic tent of carpets, blankets, and horse-cloths 
 whatever came to their hands. 
 
 Sergei Nikolai'evitch looked upon all this and stood 
 apart. He felt that he could not join them. For such a 
 step he lacked resolution. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 A VERY DISAGREEABLE AND DIFFICULT SITUATION. 
 
 YES; there certainly could not exist a more provok- 
 ing situation than that in which Sergei Nikolai'evitch 
 found himself ever since that night when the first part 
 of his hopes, his most ardent desires the finding of 
 Natalia had been fulfilled. Now that she was found, 
 there remained only the second part to be realized. 
 How easy appeared this second part formerly, and how 
 difficult, almost impossible, it seemed now! 
 
 To go to her, to confess his fault, and to pray for her 
 forgiveness, and finally to receive it Sergei Nikolai'e- 
 vitch never had a doubt on that point; then to pro-
 
 A VERY DISAGREEABLE AND DIFFICULT SITUATION. 285 
 
 pose to her, humbling himself by getting down upon 
 his knees; to ask for her hand, and to receive it of 
 that there could also be no doubt; to gain possession of 
 her as his wife, and to become the lawful father of 
 his child; and at the end of all that 
 
 This phrase "at the end of all that" was especially 
 attractive to Rovitch. In spite of the serious disturb- 
 ance of his moral nature, and of his real heartache, 
 which had even affected his health, this " at the end of 
 all that " suggested an idea so seductive, so pleasing, 
 that it called an involuntary smile to his lips, and some- 
 times even an audible laugh, between his teeth a 
 laugh in which there was a note of mocking joy and of 
 self-satisfaction. What a trick he would play them, and 
 him especially. When they had been giving up hope 
 and pining away, he simply came, took and carried 
 away, perhaps telling them, to console them for their 
 loss, " Pardon, messieurs; que faire! You see, if it had 
 not been the wish of Natalia Martinovna herself, I 
 might perhaps but you see for yourselves, gentle- 
 men, and therefore I trust that our friendly relations 
 will not be interrupted; and if it should ever happen 
 that fate brings you to St. Petersburg, I shall be only 
 too happy and my wife also to entertain you." 
 And much more of this character would Sergei Niko- 
 lai'evitch have told them; only it was necessary in the 
 first place that the thing should happen, but to bring it 
 about was so simple a matter, it was only necessary to 
 make a beginning. 
 
 The matter now stood like this: Natalia had already 
 passed a whole night and a morning in the camp; after 
 that she had, of course, accompanied the detachment 
 on its next march, which occupied another day and 
 night and half of the following day, or altogether
 
 286 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 nearly three days. During this time not only all the 
 officers of the detachment, but also nearly all the com- 
 mon soldiers, had succeeded in talking to her, if not 
 with her all whom she had previously known, and 
 even many who had not known her; while he, as if it 
 had been managed on purpose, had never yet succeeded 
 in saying half a word to her, much less in summoning 
 the necessary resolution .to get near enough to her for 
 a serious conversation. What was still worse, he had 
 not even greeted her yet, and must therefore appear as 
 the only man who felt no interest in her and kept aloof. 
 He always felt like turning away whenever it appeared 
 to him as if she were looking in his direction. Did she 
 know, he wondered, that he, Sergei Nikolai'evitch, was 
 here? Evidently she must know it. It was impossible 
 that she should not have been informed of his presence. 
 But there were those confounded fellows. They would 
 always hang about her like a constant guard of honor. 
 How could one talk with her under such unfavorable 
 conditions? It was out of the question to think of the 
 stupidity of a public declaration. There was certainly 
 much between them which could only be discussed face 
 to face. It was to be hoped that she would think of 
 that; that she would recognize the anomaly and incon- 
 venience of his position, and understand it and feel for 
 him. He understood how burdensome and annoying 
 must be to her these uninvited and undesired pages in 
 her train pages with unshaven chins, in red leather 
 trousers and dirty shirts! Why would they not keep 
 away, these ill-conditioned idiots! 
 
 Thus pondered Sergei Nikola'ievitch, and in his anger 
 smoked cigar after cigar, and viciously drove his spurs 
 into the sides of his horse, which certainly was inno- 
 cent of any fault in the matter.
 
 A VERY DISAGREEABLE AND DIFFICULT SITUATION. 287 
 
 " Well, the devil is in it! But there must be an end 
 to it. I must come to a decision, and that at once! 
 What is the use of letting the matter drag along or of 
 beating about the bush? I might, for instance, simply 
 tell them, " Excuse me, gentlemen; it is necessary that 
 we should talk without witnesses." Then they would 
 go away. I'll do it! " 
 
 But nevertheless the sun had now set three times, 
 and had risen as often, and still Sergei Nikolai'evitch 
 had failed to act up to his resolve, or to summon at the 
 proper moment his courage and energy, which hitherto 
 had never failed him. 
 
 In the meantime Natalia Martinovna, surrounded by 
 her old and new friends, was traveling along with every 
 comfort which could be procured for her under the cir- 
 cumstances. They selected for her use the best cart 
 and there were many to choose from. The cart was 
 lined with a thick layer of carpet, and they erected over 
 it a high shady cover. The kind Cossacks even 
 greased the axles of her vehicle with Koordistan butter 
 in order that the squeak of the wheels might not annoy 
 the passengers. Two strong Cossack horses were har- 
 nessed to the cart, enabling her to travel rapidly, with- 
 out delaying the movement of a detachment in light 
 marching order. Happy and contented, Natalia sat 
 there with her son, the constant object of the greatest 
 care, the most delicate attentions, such as one would 
 never expect to originate with the uncouth, dusty 
 figures that surrounded her vehicle. The pock-marked, 
 homely " sotnik " Podprugin invented some way of 
 tying up the sides of her cart-cover by which, as he 
 expressed it, " the sun would not burn, while the wind 
 would be free blowing through just a little, you
 
 288 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 know!" The"esaul" Masloboinikof, who for himself 
 had never refused the slimy, disgusting water from the 
 desert-wells, designed for the " little mother " a sort of 
 filter, constructed from a large gourd, in which the 
 muddy water from the irrigating ditches was filtered 
 during the march, and by camping-time was clear and 
 pellucid enough for the most fastidious tea-drinker. 
 The bald sotnik Mashkin, Kuzma Fedossovitch, and the 
 junior ensign Kolobkof took a ride of about five versts 
 away from the road, at the risk of their lives for at a 
 distance from the column the people were hostile and 
 returned with some fresh apricots, almost ripe, and a 
 few bunches of grapes, entirely green and unfit for 
 use. 
 
 "You can't eat them that way," kindly explained 
 Mashkin, " but if you were to put them in your tea 
 instead of lemons if you please, I will mash you some 
 in a cup." 
 
 Ensign Kolobkof brought from the same raid a whole 
 basket of roses, packing them very tightly, as they had 
 to get back the best they could, at full speed. Well, 
 the roses were " just a little " squeezed, and compressed 
 into an almost solid mass. 
 
 " Ah! I am so sorry they are crushed a little," he 
 complained; " they do not look right, somehow, but 
 their perfume is excellent it seems better now than 
 when we gathered them." 
 
 " They smell terribly of tar," said Natalia, laughing 
 heartily. 
 
 " That is nothing that is from the basket. Those 
 good-for-nothings! I told them to give me a clean 
 basket. Never mind; that will soon pass away the 
 wind will freshen them. See, there are some buds 
 please look at them. Now, if you would put them in
 
 A VERY DISAGREEABLE AND DIFFICULT SITUATION. 289 
 
 water, they would open over night; they would, by 
 God! " 
 
 Little Petka honored the cart with his presence only 
 to sleep with his mother; during the whole inarch he 
 passed from hand to hand, from one saddle to another. 
 He was in his glory when his little hands got hold of 
 the thick, clumsy reins, which he seized with a very 
 serious expression, not very far from reverence. At 
 times, however, the laughing, merry eyes of the boy 
 assumed a wistful, not at all childlike expression. He 
 would carefully examine the features of the Cossacks 
 around him, and then look down and think the little 
 fellow was searching for some other face that was not 
 present; a face that had somehow survived in his 
 memory. When, however, at such times one of his 
 companions would get up some new game or call his 
 attention to something in view, the boy would brighten 
 up at once, laugh heartily, and, passing again from saddle 
 to saddle, would forget for a time his childish memories. 
 
 Natalia Martinovna, also, in the first moments after 
 her appearance in the Russian camp, had cast a search- 
 ing, inquisitive glance around. The glance was under- 
 stood, and they answered it, hiding from her as much 
 as possible the serious nature of Golovin's illness, and 
 telling her that he was with another expedition. In a 
 short time, however, she learned all that had happened; 
 that was easily done, as the Cossack officers proved 
 themselves very poor diplomats in such an emergency. 
 They also talked to her openly of Sergei Nikolai'evitch, 
 with all the freedom from restraint that characterizes 
 the etiquette of the steppes. They did not know 
 whether this news would be welcome to her or not. 
 They even pointed him out to her, and Natalia had 
 several glimpses of the dejected figure of the once
 
 290 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 dashing officer, who always kept himself at a very 
 respectful distance. 
 
 In spite of the pleasant circumstances of her journey, 
 Natalia Martinovna began to grow more and more 
 thoughtful. She was troubled about something, and 
 this mood of hers did not long remain unnoticed. The 
 simple Cossacks seemed to understand what was dis- 
 turbing her, but they knew of no way of helping her but 
 to send ahead to the camp a native messenger with a 
 letter for Golovin, of which the subjoined is an exact 
 copy: 
 
 " OUR BELOVED CHUM: We found the lady, and we are 
 bringing her. It is all right; she is well, and her son 
 also, thanks be to God. That you are sick grieves her, 
 and therefore, brother, if you are still breathing, and 
 your strength has not left you altogether, try to pick up 
 quickly. Get on your horse and come out to meet us. 
 But if she should find you still in bed what God may 
 prevent! it will grieve her more; she is now fretting, 
 though we, all of us, are trying to divert her, and some- 
 times succeed in our attempts. That ' Petersky ' (St. 
 Petersburgian) is going along with us, and is never far 
 off; he looks sideways at us. Natalia Martinovna has 
 seen him; we pointed him out to her, but it was noth- 
 ing! To judge from her expressions on that subject we 
 may suppose that she would ' spit at him ' if the black- 
 leg were to say a word. Little Petka, thank God, is 
 well, and he is asking for you. He is a boy of the best 
 kind he'll make a smart Cossack. We write this 
 unknown to Natalia Martinovna; that is why she sends 
 you no message. We inform you of this to ease your 
 mind. 
 
 "SOTNIK IVAN PODPRUGIN. 
 
 "ESAUL PAVEL MASLOBOINIKOF."
 
 A VERY DISAGREEABLE AND DIFFICULT SITUATION. 291 
 
 The native who was intrusted with this missive care- 
 fully concealed it in his tobacco-pouch, which in turn he 
 thrust into his bosom ; then he mounted his horse and 
 galloped ahead over the well-known road. He received 
 tenkokans (one dollar) on his departure, and was prom- 
 ised another ten if he reached the Russian camp the 
 same day. Twenty kokans was quite a respectable sum 
 enough to induce the native to push his tall racer and 
 not to spare the whip. 
 
 " I must come to some decision! " thought Sergei 
 Nikolaievitch, and at last he actually decided what to 
 do. Just then a very favorable opportunity presented 
 itself; the expedition halted for a rest. The locality 
 was much obstructed and cut up with walls and ditches. 
 It was impossible for the whole command to close up 
 into a solid body, and the companies were scattered 
 along the road at some distance from each other. 
 Natalia Martinovna's cart had been drawn into a shady 
 little garden a little removed from the road. While the 
 Cossacks were attending to their horses or building 
 fires and cooking, the officers, each with his company, 
 were giving the necessary orders, and thus Natalia 
 Martinovna was left alone with Petka. She had left 
 the cart, where two Cossacks were busying themselves 
 about something, and seated herself upon a piece of 
 carpet, on the bank of a small pond, under the shade 
 of a tree. Petka was still sitting in the cart, watching 
 the Cossacks at their work. Sergei Nikolaievitch saw 
 all this, and resolved to dally no longer. How could 
 he postpone his attempt any longer when the next 
 day, by noon, they would be at home and it would be 
 too late? He was waiting there, and the devil only 
 knew how they stood toward each other. Rovitch 
 
 19
 
 292 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 rode along swiftly between the picket-ropes, jumped 
 across ditches, and coming up to the cart, alighted from 
 his horse, throwing the bridle to one of the Cossacks. 
 Petka looked at him doubtfully, opening wide his great 
 blue eyes. " Ah, this is excellent ! " thought Sergei Niko- 
 lai'evitch, and at once experienced an astonishing rush 
 of paternal love and kindness. "With the child, my 
 son, in my arms, I will go to her, and then " 
 
 "Don't want to!" cried the boy, holding on convul- 
 sively to the carpet. " Don't want to ! Mama ! " 
 
 " My darling ! my own child," cajoled Sergei Niko- 
 laievitch, trying to kiss the struggling youngster, and to 
 hold his hands; but all at once there appeared before 
 him, as if sprung from the earth, the pock-marked face 
 of Podprugin, looking at him over a wall with a glance 
 such as people bestow upon unwelcome visitors. It 
 even seemed to Rovitch as if he smiled yes; it was 
 an evil, diabolical smile, from ear to ear, with teeth 
 grinning and eyes glistening. 
 
 "D n him! " muttered Sergei Nikolai'evitch, almost 
 audibly. 
 
 "Why did you touch him ?" suddenly asked a famil- 
 iar, musical voice behind him. 
 
 Rovitch's hands fell to his side. Petka toddled away 
 triumphantly and climbed upon Podprugin's shoulder. 
 Two officers came up (and where the deuce did they 
 come from ?), and two others dismounted from their 
 dust-covered horses and began to brush themselves. 
 
 "Look! what a carp I've pulled out of that pond," 
 Masloboinikof shouted from somewhere. "Get ready 
 to fry it at once. Didn't I hook him nicely ? Eh, Vas- 
 sutka, bring the lard, some salt, and a frying-pan 
 quick! " 
 
 There was nothing to be done. Sergei Nikolai'evitch
 
 A VERY DISAGREEABLE AND DIFFICULT SITUATION. 293 
 
 had failed again. At first he imagined that when Mas- 
 loboinikof spoke of the carp he hinted at him. 
 
 "Natalia Martinovna," began Rovitch, "you will 
 pardon me for not having thus far " 
 
 "Never mind! " interrupted Natalia. " Tea will be 
 ready immediately; we shall breakfast here. Will you 
 join us ? " 
 
 "Well, really " 
 
 "Sit down! why don't you?" shouted Masloboinikof. 
 "Never mind, Brother Vassutka; try to find another 
 cup somewhere." 
 
 In a moment all was bustle. They dragged forth a 
 large carpet and spread it out, and upon this they 
 placed a horse-blanket for a table-cloth. Dishes were 
 collected from all sorts of receptacles. Natalia Martin- 
 ovna herself took an active part in the arrangements. 
 It was positively impracticable to talk to her, and there 
 remained to Sergei Nikolai'evitch but two modes of 
 procedure either to withdraw quickly and unnoticed 
 in this bustle, during which no attention was being paid 
 to him, or to stay and take breakfast with the whole 
 company, and during the general conversation to con- 
 vey a hint to Natalia as to the necessity of a private 
 audience. Very likely she could bring about such an 
 interview much more skillfully than he could, and 
 assist him in his efforts. Having considered the ad- 
 vantages of these propositions, Rovitch waited for the 
 turmoil to subside to hear Natalia Martinovna's 
 definite invitation, which, however, was not addressed 
 to him, but to all present. 
 
 " Gentlemen, we ask a blessing! " she said, loudly and 
 joyously, seating herself near the teapot, and around 
 her crowded at once the others, forming a semicircle, 
 the most distant point of which only was left for the
 
 294 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 hesitating Rovitch. He sat down, though he would 
 have preferred a more graceful pose, as it happened 
 that his feet were in a higher place than the other parts 
 of his body. The carpet had been spread over some 
 hummocks, and his tight trousers inconvenienced him 
 considerably. At last he got himself into a better posi- 
 tion, and cast upon the hostess of the improvised feast 
 a look full of feeling and secret pleading, then sighed 
 and lowered his eyes, playing absent-mindedly with 
 the tassel of his sword-knot. 
 
 " Do you prefer head or tail?" asked Podprugin, who 
 was carving the carp with his knife and counting the 
 number of guests present. They were among them- 
 selves, but Sergei Nikolai'evitch was a comparative 
 stranger, a guest, and therefore the Cossack thought 
 proper to ascertain his preference. 
 
 Sergei Nikolai'evitch was somewhat startled; the 
 prosaic question had recalled him from the realm of 
 poetic meditation, but he managed to stutter, " Thank 
 you; I have already breakfasted." 
 
 "When did you do it on the road?" inquired the 
 attentive Cossack. " I'm sure I did not see anything." 
 
 " What is the use of lying and standing upon cere- 
 mony? Eat, and may it do you good. Be pleased to 
 take this," said Masloboinikof, holding out to him a 
 piece of fish on the point of his Tartar knife. " Take 
 it it has roe in it." 
 
 Sergei Nikolai'evitch was dumfounded at this breach 
 of table etiquette, but he rallied, and took the fish 
 in his hand, like all the others, but he forgot to 
 take off his white gantlets, and when he noticed this 
 mistake he found it difficult to repair it. There was no 
 place to put down the piece of fish. On the carpet 
 that was full of dust, and there was even a fragment
 
 A VERY DISAGREEABLE AND DIFFICULT SITUATION. 205 
 
 of dried dung clinging to it. On his knee that was 
 also inconvenient; and Natalia Martinovna was look- 
 ing, and probably smiling though Rovitch could not 
 see it he felt it and he was ready to fling away this 
 miserable greasy piece of fried fish. He was already 
 withdrawing his hand a little to do it unobserved, when 
 the black bob-tailed dog Medvedka got him out of his 
 difficulty. The dog had been sitting there for some 
 time, looking at the appetizing morsel; now the oppor- 
 tunity came, and he made use of it. A general laugh 
 ensued, the clear baby-voice of Petka ringing out 
 above all others. 
 
 "Well, now you are without fish," one of the officers 
 condoled with him, " and it is all given out. It was 
 your own fault." 
 
 Sergei Nikolaievitch sprang to his feet. " Excuse 
 me, gentlemen ; I should be only too happy, but but 
 it is absolutely necessary that I should see the com- 
 mander of the expedition immediately. There is so 
 much work " 
 
 " But your tea? " suggested Natalia. 
 
 "No; thank you. I have Rovitch once more 
 essayed to convey to her in a glance all that he would 
 have said in words, bowed gracefully, and stepped back, 
 but came near falling over that cursed dog, which man- 
 aged to get between his legs. At last he succeeded in 
 getting safely out of the little garden, cursing almost 
 audibly the various accidents which had thus far pre- 
 vented him from carrying out his sacred, righteous 
 intentions. 
 
 Suddenly another idea came into his head why not 
 write ? It was true that in a letter he could not express 
 all that he would have said to her face to face, but 
 he could say much. It really seemed to be his only
 
 296 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 outlet from a rather embarrassing position, but an out- 
 let which must be used quickly, in view of their 
 approaching return to the permanent camp. 
 
 Through all that march, from the midday halt to the 
 night camp, Sergei Nikolai'evitch was considering the 
 contents of this letter. He finally came to a conclusion, 
 and the camp had scarcely been established when he 
 went to work at his task. At first he wrote the whole 
 letter in French, but subsequently remembered that 
 Natalia was not very strong in that language and prob- 
 ably would not understand it at all. It had to be trans- 
 lated into Russian, but the result was not satisfactory, 
 and he began anew. How many sheets of paper were 
 spoiled by Sergei Nikolai'evitch while concocting this 
 second letter! 
 
 " What is the matter with me? " he thought. " How 
 easy it came to me formerly to write such letters, and 
 now but wait! Something has to be done. I have 
 simply become stupid I am a fool! " 
 
 What troubled him most was the question how to 
 address her; the remainder would come to him easily 
 enough, but these few words were difficult to frame 
 they always appeared to him stilted and formal, not 
 feeling enough. 
 
 The entire night was consumed in his struggle with 
 this letter, but at last victory perched upon Rovitch's 
 banner the letter was finished, sealed, and addressed. 
 His Cossack orderly was dispatched with the missive, 
 and nothing remained but to submit to fate and wait. 
 
 When the column started upon its march, Sergei 
 Nikolai'evitch managed to watch his orderly from a dis- 
 tance as he delivered the letter to Natalia Martinovna. 
 He saw her take it and open it, looking around inquir-
 
 THE LETTER OF SERGEI NIKOLAIEVITCH. 297 
 
 ingly, and finally read it, blushing up to her ears, when 
 her " body-guard " crowded around her. 
 
 What was that? Merciful God! she gave the letter 
 into their hands; they read it aloud that was clear! 
 Now they were all getting down from their saddles to 
 listen. They were laughing and she smiling. Ah! if 
 that were the treatment he was to receive, they, and 
 she also, should smart for it!? 
 
 Sergei Nikolaievitch held on to the pommel of his 
 saddle with both hands, feeling as if he were losing 
 consciousness and about to fall from his horse. 
 
 However, he held on. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 THE LETTER OF SERGEI NIKOLAlfEVITCH AND THE ANSWER 
 
 TO IT. 
 
 "MY DEAREST MADAM NATALIA MARTINOVNA." 
 
 This was the beginning of Rovitch's letter, a begin- 
 ning which had caused him so much trouble, and which, 
 in his opinion, formed the most difficult part of the 
 whole composition. 
 
 "My treasure; my dear one, ever to be remem- 
 bered; my own; my fondly loved one; my passionately 
 beloved " all these epithets flowed easily from the pen, 
 as they came from the heart; but it would not do to 
 embody all these terms of endearment in a fatal mes- 
 sage upon which depended the future fate of the writer, 
 his future life, as it appeared to Sergei Nikolai'evitch. 
 It was necessary to consider well, he thought; to weigh 
 every word. It would be best to begin plainly, or even
 
 298 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 coldly, in order not to act too suddenly iipon her kind, 
 easily inflamed heart; to induce her, also, to take the 
 letter seriously, to weigh every word, and to appraise at 
 its true value every hint. It was necessary to write in 
 such a way that when she should rest her hand with the 
 letter in it upon her knee, lowering her glistening eyes 
 and sinking into profound meditation, this letter would 
 serve to guide her thoughts, and to assist her in giving 
 answers to its questions and in overcoming any hesita- 
 tion that might still incumber her mind, as well as in 
 conquering the unfavorable promptings which would 
 probably be conveyed to her from those fellows wJio cat 
 fried fish with their fingers those uncouth, ragged 
 pages and knights. Later on, little by little, passion, 
 possessing itself of the writer's whole being, would 
 have to assert itself more and more clearly to act upon 
 her heart after her head had been duly prepared by 
 moderate and sensible phrases. 
 
 This was the plan, of campaign conceived by Sergei 
 Nikolaievitch for his attack by letter; no wonder that 
 he considered it so long. It was a cunningly conceived 
 plan, before which even more experienced and worldly 
 ladies would probably have succumbed why not a 
 simple-minded daughter of the steppe, who once had 
 given him her trustful, unbounded love? 
 
 In conform ance with this plan, the letter began with 
 a formal address: 
 
 "Mv DEAREST MADAM NATALIA MARTINOVNA: 
 
 " Forgive me if I begin by recalling memories which 
 may not be altogether agreeable to you, and perhaps 
 even sorrowful. How can I help it? These memories 
 must create in me a still greater anguish and sor- 
 row the anguish of the criminal in remembering his
 
 THE LETTER OF SERGEI NIKOLAIEVITCH. 299 
 
 crime. But if the criminal finds grim consolation in 
 confessing his fault, it must be surely permitted to one 
 to seek forgiveness before the face of an angel, to con- 
 fess to you, and to disperse all the doubts and distrust 
 which I experience at the present moment. 
 
 " A few years ago we met, and you loved me. You 
 even preferred me to a man who subsequently died on 
 account of this preference. I also loved you, and was 
 consumed by a passion in the ardor of which I was 
 unable to weigh the possible consequences of the con- 
 summation of our love. I was still very young, and did 
 not know how to appreciate the sincere feelings of the 
 woman who evidently had been destined for me by 
 Providence. 
 
 " Under the influence of the maxims and requiremerrts 
 of the circles to which I belong I was induced to sacri- 
 fice the consummation of my love. Circumstances 
 weighed upon me to such an extent that our marriage 
 became impossible, and I was forced to go away with- 
 out taking leave of you in order to avoid, for my own 
 sake as well as for yours, the anguish of the parting 
 moments. I wrote you a letter which may have seemed 
 to you a little cold, but believe me when I say that the 
 words of that letter were far from giving expression to 
 the voice of my heart, or to what I felt in those minutes 
 full of anguish. 
 
 " It appeared as if all were over between us. A dis- 
 tance of several thousand versts separated us. There 
 was no prospect of our ever meeting again. Little by 
 little you could have forgotten me, loved another, and 
 even been happy; and I also, in my turn, hoped to 
 extinguish little by little the flame of my passion, the 
 fire which was consuming my heart, and perhaps to 
 meet a woman fit to eliminate your bright angelic
 
 300 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 image from my soul. But things do not happen as we 
 expect. Grim conscience troubled me; your image 
 pursued me everywhere: in the glare and glitter of life 
 in St. Petersburg, in the splendors of theaters and 
 halls in all the noisy recreations of the great world 
 which surrounded me I could not forget you. I could 
 not still the voice of my heart. I passed untouched by 
 tens and hundreds of women women before whom 
 all fell down and worshiped, ready for any sacrifice. 
 I could not even look upon them you filled my whole 
 soul; and I wandered in loneliness, with pain in my 
 heart, full of cruel reproaches which gave me no rest 
 for even a minute." 
 
 ("If you must lie, do it well!" thought Sergei 
 Nikola'ievitch; but after he had written it he really did 
 not think that he lied, but that all this was true, and 
 must be true only he had never thus far happened to 
 notice his own sufferings. Now he saw them, and con- 
 vinced himself of their existence.) 
 
 " At last my condition became unbearable. I dropped 
 everything and resolved to visit once more this savage 
 country, to search for you, to fall upon my knees and 
 to regain my lost happiness. I have come. 
 
 " You may imagine the terrible shock I received when 
 I heard of all that had befallen you. At first I felt as 
 if I could not bear it I was near self -destruction; but 
 my strength of will saved me from that pitiable end, 
 and I resolved to devote all that remained of my life to 
 the search for you if you were alive, and to solitude 
 within the walls of a monastery if you no longer 
 existed in this world. 
 
 " Providence brought me here, and the same Provi- 
 dence preserved you. Let us not act contrary to its 
 holy will, but let us calmly consider all the circum-
 
 THE LETTER OF SERGEI NIKOLAl'EVITCH. 301 
 
 stances. I am guilty before you, and for that I have 
 suffered much. You will forgive me my guilt, because 
 there exists no crime that can not be forgiven, and 
 this crime has already been expiated by my sufferings. 
 You will find in me a faithful and devoted husband; 
 our child a father and a name. Oh, how I love that 
 boy! With what envy I look from afar upon those who 
 may caress him unrestrainedly, while I, his father, do 
 not dare even to approach him! 
 
 " We will, all three of us, be happy I am fully con- 
 vinced of that and our life will be one endless, 
 merry, bright holiday. 
 
 " Upon your glance, in which I already read forgive- 
 ness upon a single word from you now depends all 
 this happiness. Throw, then, that little glance; speak 
 that little word which must decide my fate. 
 
 " You are dearer to me than anything in this world. 
 You are necessary to me; and, on the other hand, I feel 
 that I may say that only I can make you perfectly 
 happy. My means are such that neither you nor our 
 boy will ever know want or privations. I will sur- 
 round you with luxury and contentment, and will lead 
 you into the brilliant circle of my equals in society, in 
 which you will occupy the most honorable position. 
 Have compassion on me. Do not take from me that 
 one bright, sweet hope; do not deprive your son of his 
 father, but extend to me once more your honest, much- 
 prized hand. 
 
 " Every moment of waiting for your answer seems to 
 mean eternity do not impose an additional burden 
 of pain upon one already well-nigh worn out. I shall 
 follow you at a distance, and I shall read my answer 
 upon your angel face before I hear it. Oh, God! how 
 passionately, how ardently I love you! I feel that my 
 heart may break I feel it!
 
 302 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 " I fondly kiss your feet, your hands, your garments, 
 my cherished, only, worshiped Natalia Martinovna 
 my Natasha! " 
 
 The word Natasha was underlined twice, and near it 
 there appeared a yellowish wrinkled blot. This was 
 an actual, real tear of Sergei Nikolai'evitch nothing 
 else only it had not fallen quite accidentally; it had 
 been carefully prepared by the writer and spread out a 
 little with his finger. Here and there upon the sheet 
 of letter-paper a few more similar blots could be seen 
 weighty arguments that were to strengthen the im- 
 pression of the entire sincerity of all that had been 
 written. 
 
 At the end of the letter came the unavoidable post- 
 script, which read as follows: 
 
 " Please try to keep those who generally surround you 
 at a distance, that I may talk with you face to face it 
 is necessary. You will agree with me that there are 
 subjects of which we can not speak before witnesses." 
 
 The letter was not signed. "Why sign, when she 
 knows very well where it comes from? " very justly 
 considered Sergei Nikolai'evitch. 
 
 On receiving this letter, Natalia Martinovna was at 
 first somewhat disconcerted. She was turning the 
 missive between her fingers, undecided whether to open 
 it or not. She looked about her doubtingly, and finally 
 asked, mechanically, " From whom? " 
 
 "From his honor Troop Commander Rovitch," 
 reported the orderly. " His honor's orders concerning 
 an answer were, that if it were given quickly I was to 
 wait for it." The last clause the qrderly added himself. 
 
 "Oh! " said Natalia, smiling, and began to break the 
 seal, her fingers trembling slightly. " How long it is, 
 and what small writing! "
 
 THE LETTER OP SERGE? NIKOLAfEVITCH. 303 
 
 " It would be interesting to read what he may have 
 to say," said Podprugin, inquisitively, coming nearer. 
 " Very interesting." 
 
 Natalia Martinovna did not seem to think this uncere- 
 monious curiosity at all strange; she even found it very 
 natural. 
 
 " Let us go away,' : Masloboinikof whispered to his 
 neighbor. " Why should we trouble her? " He nudged 
 the other, who did the same to a third, and in a few 
 seconds they all rose and prepared to walk away. 
 
 " Where are you going, gentlemen? " Natalia Martin- 
 ovna asked, quite mechanically. 
 
 "We must make some arrangements about our com- 
 mands and call the sergeants. We'll be back immedi- 
 ately." 
 
 " There seems to be some movement in the rear- 
 guard. Perhaps we are going to march." 
 
 Natalia Martinovna had in the meantime opened the 
 letter and was reading it; the officers, in spite of their 
 many reasons for going, were still waiting about. 
 What happened next was seen by Sergei Nikolai'evitch 
 standing in the distance, and it caused him to break out 
 in a paroxysm of rage. 
 
 " It is outrageous! To show it to all and to boast of 
 it! To laugh at me! " He was repeating these phrases 
 to himself almost throughout the day's march, riding at 
 some distance from the column, and venting his anger 
 upon his innocent horse. "Ah! they do not know 
 me yet. I will show them! " 
 
 In the evening of that day, a few minutes after going 
 into camp, he received his answer. It was brought by 
 Masloboinikof. 
 
 " I was ordered to deliver this to you, Mr. Troop Com- 
 mander," said the ensign, bending from his saddle to
 
 304 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 hand him the letter, and with a certain grace peculiar 
 to the Cossacks he placed the fingers of his right hand 
 against the visor of his cap. " You need not trouble 
 yourself about an answer," he added, as he turned his 
 horse. 
 
 " I thank you," replied Sergei Nikolai'evitch, pressing 
 his teeth together, while seizing the square-folded 
 piece of paper which was not even sealed, and answered 
 the other's salute by bringing his forefinger to his cap. 
 After waiting until Masloboinikof had gone some dis- 
 tance he began to peruse the letter. 
 
 Natalia Martinovna's answer was written in pencil, 
 in a large and not very regular hand, and was not alto- 
 gether without errors in grammar. 
 " DEAR SIR SERGEI NIKOLAI'EVITCH: 
 
 " You remind me of the past, and ask me to pardon 
 you for thus reminding me. I freely forgive you this 
 indelicacy, but hope that you will not repeat it. 
 
 " I am not at all angry with you. I am even thank- 
 ful to you for the lesson which taught me to esteem 
 people at their true value. This has since been of the 
 greatest service to me, and for this I am under some 
 obligations to you. You write that in the ardor of 
 your passion you did not duly consider consequences. 
 I agree with you, and even go further. You are allow- 
 ing yourself to be carried away again now by the 
 'ardor of your passion,' and it is my business to repair 
 the mistake of your new fancy. 
 
 " I refuse all your requests. I am sure that later you 
 will thank me for this refusal. 
 
 " The luxuries which you so kindly offer are un- 
 known to me, and consequently they do not attract me; 
 neither does your brilliant society, in which I would 
 find myself an entire stranger."
 
 THE LETTER OF SERGEI NIKOLAIEVITCH. 305 
 
 When Natalia wrote this last line she smiled ironic- 
 ally. 
 
 " Write to him, matushka, that you would like to spit 
 on his society! "was the advice given by Podprugin, 
 who had taken a violent dislike to Rovitch. " How is 
 our society worse than his in St. Petersburg? The 
 coxcombs and striped pheasants! Just write that you 
 will spit on them, and then finish up!" Natalia Mar- 
 tinovna did not take the advice of the enraged officer. 
 
 " Could I intrust my fate and that of my boy to a 
 man who has once betrayed me? " she wrote. " And 
 who can vouch for you that though you did not forget 
 me you were not carried away by ' the ardor of your 
 passion' for more than one woman? It is also very 
 possible that I was not always constant, and may have 
 been ' carried away ' anew, or found a man who could 
 make me forget my first mistake and love him suffi- 
 ciently to finally eliminate your image, which, how- 
 ever, has never troubled me very much. 
 
 " On the other hand, I am constantly pursued by 
 another image you know of whom I speak and out 
 of respect for this image I could never accept your 
 propositions. 
 
 " As to a name for my son, you must know that he 
 does not bear yours, and I would ask you not to trouble 
 yourself about it. He will have his own name; not 
 as brilliant, perhaps, but perfectly honorable and worthy 
 of respect. 
 
 "Who has told you that Petka is your son? That 
 he is mine of that there can be' no doubt, but that is 
 all. I ask you to understand that in any sense you 
 like. 
 
 " It only remains for me to hope that with this letter 
 may end all correspondence between us, and I feel sure
 
 M 
 
 306 THE TWO-LEGGED \VOI.K. 
 
 that you will spare me in the future all further perse- 
 cution, by killing glances or sighs as well as by spoken 
 or written words." 
 
 Natalia Martinovna's letter was also unsigned, and 
 also accompanied by a postscript: 
 
 " I send you this letter unsealed. You observed your- 
 self that the reading of yours was somewhat public. 
 This ought to convince you that I act openly and freely, 
 and am not at all inconvenienced by the presence of 
 my friends, whom you seem to dislike. Why I do not 
 understand, and do not care to know." 
 
 " That's it! The good-for-nothing! That is good for 
 him! " said the ensign, as he jumped into the saddle. 
 
 "Hurrah! " shouted Kolobkof'and Masloboinikof. 
 
 " I am only sorry," complained Sotnik Mashkin, 
 "that I did not take a copy of the letter, as a 
 memento, especially the last lines. You may believe 
 me, Matushka, I would have sewed it up in a little- 
 bag and carried it under my shirt upon my honor! " 
 
 "We are getting into Chandir! " a voice was heard to 
 say, in the advance. 
 
 On the horizon appeared rows of trees and scattered 
 half-destroyed dwellings beyond them were columns 
 of smoke that rose from the bivouac-fires of the large 
 Russian camp. 
 
 A dense cloud of dust was now seen ahead, advanc- 
 ing rapidly to meet them. Through the dust the heads 
 of horses could be distinguished, shaking their manes; 
 arms and accouterments glistened, and the tunics of 
 officers shone white through the dust. Shouts of 
 " hurrah! " could be distinctly heard above the thunder- 
 ing tramp of the approaching horses. 
 
 "They are ours coming out to meet us all the 
 officers! " shouted Masloboinikof.
 
 THE LETTER OF SERGEI NIKOLAIEVITCH. 307 
 
 " Look, look! There come some soldiers running 
 they are getting ahead of the mounted men! " 
 
 Natalia Martinovna, deeply moved, bent forward 
 from under her cart-cover, and shading her eyes from 
 the sun with one hand, she looked eagerly ahead. Her 
 bosom was heaving violently and her eyes glistened. 
 This woman, dressed in her ragged red Turkoman 
 gown and a white kerchief around her head, felt that 
 she, and she alone, was the object and cause of all 
 this uproar, all this excitement. She could restrain 
 her feelings no longer, but broke into tears, press- 
 ing her boy to her heart. But these were happy, 
 joyous tears. Such tears do not sear the face or give 
 it a sorrowful, suffering expression, but, on the con- 
 trary, they increase the effect of the happy smile as 
 the slanting summer shower increases the brightness 
 of the sun behind it. 
 
 "Ah, well! We'll see what he will have to say 
 to-morrow when we fight! " muttered Sergei Nikola- 
 Yevitch between his teeth, glancing at Golovin, whom 
 he had noticed at once at the head of the cavalcade 
 coming to meet them. 
 
 The native messenger had reached the Russian camp 
 at Chandir in safety, reporting directly to the general, 
 and the news of the successful issue of the expedition 
 rapidly spread through the camp. All were full of 
 excitement, and everybody was moving about. 
 
 Pugovitzin was at the moment engaged in raking in 
 the winnings of his one hundred and fourth cut an 
 unusual streak of luck for him; he had played his third 
 jack and was preparing to put down the fourth, having 
 before him quite a respectable little pile of crumpled, 
 greenish paper money. " Easy, brother! " he exclaimed 
 when Kustikof came flying into the tent, all out of 
 
 20
 
 308 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 breath, nearly upset the table, and shouted, excitedly, 
 " Natalia Martin ovna here! " 
 
 " What! " cried the major, opening his eyes. The 
 other officers, forgetting to count up winnings or losses, 
 hurried away in various directions, stumbling over the 
 tent-ropes. 
 
 " They are bringing her! they are bringing her! " 
 cried the lieutenant. " A native has come. They are 
 bringing her; they are already near! " 
 
 Pugovitzin carefully examined Kustikof's face, and 
 saw that there must be some truth in the report. The 
 whole camp was already in an uproar. He could hear 
 excited phrases and the noise of horses being hurriedly 
 saddled. The major took off his cap he had been 
 playing cards with his head covered reverently made 
 the sign of the cross, and then shouted, " Arkhip, sad- 
 dle up! " Without hurrying, he walked over to the 
 tent of his friend, the lame Cossack. 
 
 "They will surprise him! " he pondered, as. he went 
 on his way. " It will come to him with a shock, and 
 the doctor said only yesterday, ' May God prevent 
 any sudden emotion! ' How can we keep it from him? 
 It will shake him up it would shake a well man 
 that is as true as that twice two is four. I must go to 
 him at once. There, they are rushing in to him the 
 fools! Gentlemen, gentlemen! carefully not too sud- 
 denly! He must be prepared listen! " 
 
 But nobody listened. Four men had already rushed 
 ahead of the corpulent major and stumbled into Golo- 
 vin's tent before his very eyes. He could already hear 
 the excited exclamations of Kustikof, who had preceded 
 everybody. 
 
 "They are near, quite near! " he heard him saying. 
 " The native told us. They'll be here soon to-day
 
 THE LETTER OF SERGEI NIKOLAIEVITCH. 309 
 
 perhaps. Some have already seen dust rising. It must 
 be they! " 
 
 When the major entered the tent it was already so 
 crowded that one could turn round only with the greatest 
 difficulty. Golovin, with a bright hectic flush upon his 
 cheeks, was dressing hurriedly, drawing a pair of high 
 top-boots upon his feet, but rather unsuccessfully; his 
 feeble hands would not serve him, and trembled piti- 
 fully. Great drops of perspiration stood upon the sick 
 man's forehead. In sharp contrast with the hectic 
 cheeks was the deathly pallor of the remainder of his 
 face. His eyes shone with a feverish luster. 
 
 "You are not strong, my poor fellow! Hey! why 
 don't you help him to dress? " said Pugovitzin. " You 
 are overdoing it, brother; you will hurt yourself. Now, 
 what is all this talk about? Why are you hurrying so? 
 They have found her, thanks be to God! But be quiet! " 
 
 " I felt it in my heart! I felt it in my heart! " mut- 
 tered Golovin. " My horse, for God's sake, my horse! 
 Saddle the bay he can run better! " 
 
 " You are going yourself, are you? What are you 
 thinking of? Sit down and wait. I declare you burn 
 like fire! " 
 
 " Do you think I am dying? I am well, don't you 
 see? I can stand quite strongly on my legs. I am per- 
 fectly well look ! " And Golovin squeezed the major's 
 arm until he made him frown against his will. 
 
 "Ah! " grumbled the major, "why did they tell him? 
 They wanted to cheer him! They have been stupid 
 asses. Well, perhaps God will help you I will not 
 keep you back. Hold on, though; let me help you to 
 mount! Hold the horse, Cossack! Why did you not 
 bring mine, you devil's imps quicker! " 
 
 "Here! the horse is ready, your honor," reported
 
 310 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 Arkhip, pushing through the crowd and leading the 
 major's charger by the bridle. "Here! will you please 
 to seat yourself? " 
 
 " You must not run him, however," Pugovitzin 
 warned Golovin. " You will meet them in good time." 
 But the lame Cossack, who had just been staggering 
 with weakness, seemed completely transformed when 
 he found himself astride of a saddle. He sat his horse 
 quite firmly, and soon let him break into a full run, tak- 
 ing the lead of the cavalcade crowding through the 
 narrow avenues between the bivouacs. 
 
 In the ranks of the soldiers the news of Natalia Mar- 
 tinovna's rescue created no less excitement. The 
 white blouses came running, without caps or hats, just 
 as they were, and by cutting "across lots," climbing 
 over fences, jumping across ditches, sometimes wading 
 and sometimes on hands and knees, they were outrun- 
 ning the mounted men. 
 
 " If the Turkomans were to fall upon us now when 
 we are in such a mess! " said a discontented sentry to 
 an orderly; not so much disgusted with the crowd as 
 with the fact that his duties prevented him from being 
 with it, and from taking part in the joyous meeting 
 with the "little mother benefactress." 
 
 This was the crowd of mounted and foot men that 
 was seen pushing forward to meet the Cossack detach- 
 ment returning from its joyful march, or rather its 
 successful reconnaissance.
 
 THE DECISION OF NATALIA MARTINOVNA. 311 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 THE DECISION OF NATALIA MARTINOVNA AND THE 
 RESULTS OF ROVITCH's CHALLENGE. 
 
 DURING the same evening an interesting scene was 
 being enacted in Golovin's tent. 
 
 The lame Cossack, after withstanding a tremendous 
 shock not at all commensurate with his strength, lay 
 upon his bed weak, motionless, white as a sheet, with 
 barely perceptible respiration. Anybody looking in 
 upon him at that moment would have felt sure that he 
 saw a corpse before him; but by looking more closely 
 and attentively one could see that there was much life 
 still left in those eyes that were so fondly gazing upon 
 a woman seated close to his couch. These eyes alone 
 spoke of the feelings that filled this sick man's soul to 
 overflowing, and had reduced him to this sorry plight. 
 
 Golovin lay there silent, but how much he would 
 have wished to say! But he said nothing, not only 
 because his tongue was not strong enough to move in 
 his fever-dried, inflamed mouth, but because of another 
 man sitting at the foot of the bed, in a white blouse, 
 under which a yellow silk shirt could be seen, and a 
 doctor's epaulets upon his broad but somewhat rounded 
 shoulders. 
 
 This man had been repeating a single sentence 
 nearly a hundred times. He repeated it every time 
 that he noticed an inclination on the part of his patient 
 to use his tongue. 
 
 " Do not dare to speak! " commanded the doctor. 
 " If you only open your mouth to talk some foolishness
 
 312 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 I shall send Natalia Martinovna away at once, and will 
 not permit her to visit you again without my written 
 permission! Do you understand? " 
 
 But at this moment the hand of Natalia Martinovna 
 gently covered the mouth of the sick man, who made 
 use of the opportunity to kiss the slender emaciated 
 fingers. 
 
 Upon a camp-stool in the center of the hut sat 
 Pugovitzin, also repeating over and over a single 
 reassuring phrase. 
 
 " Ah, never mind! He will be quite a man yet. You 
 will see whether we do not put him on his legs within 
 a month ! Remember my word as true as that twice 
 two is four! " 
 
 Kustikof was also in the tent, and had so cun- 
 ningly managed to seat himself that he could easily 
 seize Natalia Martinovna's unoccupied hand, which she 
 did not withdraw, being convinced that he was fully 
 aware to whom that hand belonged. 
 
 Podprugin and Masloboinikof, passing by, looked in 
 to ascertain how matters were progressing in the tent, 
 which was easy enough to do as all the walls but one 
 had been hoisted up to procure ventilation. 
 
 At the entrance of the tent stood Major Birnaps, who 
 had tried so hard to have his battalion ordered to join 
 the expedition. The good-hearted but self-satisfied 
 " Estlander " stood with his legs apart and his hands in 
 his pockets, and was blowing great white clouds of 
 smoke from his long pipe, which he had just filled with 
 his special brand of plug. His broad, red face, framed 
 in stiff yellow side-whiskers, was completely hidden 
 behind this curtain of tobacco-smoke. 
 
 Natalia Martinovna had already exchanged her Turk- 
 oman costume for her own gray dress, with black apron
 
 THE DECISION OF NATALIA MARTINOVNA. 313 
 
 and white cape of muslin. Her clothes had been pre- 
 served by Golovin after her flight, and had ever since 
 that time lain in his trunks, jealously guarded as sacred 
 relics. 
 
 "Now listen!" said Natalia Martinovna to the sick 
 man, laying her hand upon his cold though perspiring 
 brow. " I shall cure you, together with the doctor. He 
 will cure your body and I will cure the soul. I want to 
 cure you,, and I shall do it. I am very selfish, you know, 
 and I shall cure you for my own sake only. Nobody 
 but you, my dear, shall be my husband. Now you 
 know it, and you must make an effort to get better." 
 
 "Oh, never mind! He will be a good man yet. 
 You'll sec how we will get him upon his legs in a month. 
 I shall be acting as father what a wedding we shall 
 have! " 
 
 "And I will be best man!" chimed in Kustikof. 
 " May I be best man, Natalia Martinovna? You could 
 not select anybody but me. Yes, will you have me? " 
 
 " And how I shall drink at that wedding! " exclaimed 
 Major Birnaps, through the cloud of tobacco-smoke. 
 "Howl shall drink!" 
 
 " That will help us more -than any drugs," said the 
 doctor; "if this great power can not accomplish his 
 cure, what could our medicine-chest do? I shall bring 
 you a little powder, all the same, and some drops, and 
 all this will be taken in strictest conform ance with 
 instructions as pasted upon the bottle." 
 
 " Am I alive? " whispered the patient almost inaudibly. 
 
 "*Sh!" Natalia Martinovna once more closed his 
 mouth. " Not a word! " 
 
 " Silence, or I shall immediately send away all, with- 
 out exception! " 
 
 " You owe the doctor just as unquestioning obedience
 
 314 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 as you do the general the relations between doctors 
 and patients may be compared " 
 
 " Have you not finished your pipe? " Natalia Mar- 
 tinovna interrupted Birnap's tedious philosophizing. 
 "The whole tent is full of smoke!" 
 
 " I have finished and am now placing it in my 
 pocket," prosed the major, slowly packing up his smok- 
 ing-apparatus. 
 
 "Here is a letter for your honor," said a soldier, 
 coming to " attention " in front of the tent and extend- 
 ing with one hand a sealed envelope. 
 
 " From whom is this? " asked Pugovitzin, seizing the 
 letter. 
 
 " From his honor Mr. Troop Commander Rovitch." 
 
 " For Golovin! " muttered the major, frowning. 
 " Well, excuse me, brother; I will open it for you and 
 read it. Oho! " 
 
 The patient was "not up to letters " at this moment 
 wherever they came from, and he paid no attention 
 whatever to this little occurrence. 
 
 As Pugovitzin read, an expression of anger came 
 over his face. He handed Rovitch's letter to Birnaps, 
 who also read it, and exclaiming, " Coxcomb, beast! " he 
 passed it on to Kustikof, who again read it, passing it 
 in silence into the doctor's hands. In this way the con- 
 tents of the missive became known to all but the one 
 to whom it was addressed. Natalia Martinovna also 
 became very much interested in it when she saw the 
 angry expression of those who read it. She held out 
 her hand for it. " What is it? Give it to me! " 
 
 "This does not concern you at all, matushka," said 
 Pugovitzin, and unceremoniously walked out of the 
 tent, seizing the paper, which was then in the doctor's 
 hand.
 
 THE DECISION OF NATALIA MARTINOVNA. 315 
 
 The letter was very brief only a few straggling 
 lines written in a nervous, uncertain hand: 
 
 "DEAR SIR: All explanations are unnecessary. You 
 must feel convinced that the business between us can 
 only be settled by a duel; therefore, if you are not a 
 coward, I shall await you to-morrow at daylight, 
 behind the grove of Chandir, two versts from the camp. 
 
 " I have no seconds you may bring your own, as 
 many as you like; it is all the same to me. 
 
 "ROVITCH." 
 
 Half an hour later, after consultation with several 
 officers called together for the purpose, an answer was 
 composed, copied, and dispatched to its destination. 
 This answer, not less brief than Rovitch's letter, was 
 as follows: 
 
 " You, my dear sir, must be either a fool or an impu- 
 dent clown. In the first case God will forgive your 
 stupidity, but in the second case you deserve to be 
 soundly thrashed, and in order to avoid this we advise 
 you to immediately leave the expedition and to return 
 to wherever you came from. 
 
 "(Signed) By general request, 
 
 " PUGOVITZIN." 
 
 " I ought to go and shoot them all like dogs! " angrily 
 exclaimed Sergei Nikolai'evitch, after reading the 
 answer to his challenge; but then he began to recon- 
 sider. He was thinking and considering for a long 
 time, nearly all night, and by morning he had arrived 
 at the following conclusions: To embroil himself with 
 them was impracticable for many reasons. In these 
 wild places, with manners and morals of savages, bereft
 
 316 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 of all civilized influences, one might deteriorate or be 
 seriously injured in health. It would really be better 
 to go while still in good health and unaffected in any 
 way by life among savages. And, strange coincidence, 
 he had no sooner made up his mind to this when he 
 experienced a radical change in his own feelings. The 
 flame of his great passion for Natalia Martinovna sud- 
 denly began to flicker, and subsided with astonishing 
 rapidity. And thus he made up his mind. That scan- 
 dalous, libelous letter, Pugovitzin's answer, was imme- 
 diately burned in the blaze of a match, and Rovitch's 
 faithful orderly received orders to pack his master's 
 trunks. 
 
 All that still remained to be done was to send in his 
 request for a furlough, to receive it, and to depart. 
 While attending to these details he received another 
 letter from the same persons, in which he was assured 
 that the whole affair would be kept secret, and that he 
 would not be compromised if he behaved himself in the 
 future and gave no further provocation. This second 
 letter was very consoling and quieting to Sergei' Niko- 
 lai'evitch's soul; he even came to the conclusion that 
 though these knights of the steppe were a little savage, 
 they were also good fellows, and did not bite promiscu- 
 ously like enraged dogs. 
 
 Sergei Nikolai'evitch's request for a furlough was not 
 refused.
 
 EPILOGUE. 317 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 EPILOGUE. 
 
 THE old gunner's house at Chiniaz was waking up. 
 
 For a long time ever since the death of the gunner, 
 Martin Fedorovitch Chishikof, and the subsequent tak- 
 ing off of his scolding helpmeet, the shutters which pro- 
 tected the numerous windows of the little house had 
 been closed, as well as the doors, over the locks of which 
 great seals of red wax, suspended by strings, had been 
 placed by the authorities, to await the appearance of 
 heirs. 
 
 The interior of the little house was dark and damp. 
 Slender threads of sunlight sometimes passed through 
 the cracks of the shutters, gliding over the walls hung 
 thickly with cobwebs, over the angular protuberances 
 of furniture softened in outline by thick layers of dust. 
 How much time had passed away since a single foot 
 had entered here or since a single hand armed with a 
 brush had carefully dusted and rubbed this furniture! 
 All was covered up hidden, forgotten. The place 
 had been left a playground for mice and rats, and a 
 workshop for the spiders, who had filled all corners 
 with the product of their diminutive looms, and taken 
 possession of the whole room. From the stove to the 
 cupboard, from the cupboard to the little hanging 
 lamp, from there to the neck of a bottle that had been 
 forgotten on the window-sill, from there again to the 
 corner their fine frail nets were suspended. 
 
 And now, all at once, there came a revolution. 
 
 The doors had been unsealed and stood wide open;
 
 318 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 the fresh air was penetrating into the long-neglected 
 dwelling, passing through it at will, stirring up the rags 
 and remnants that had outlived the past. The furniture 
 was carried into the yard and carefully overhauled. 
 Two women with petticoats triced up to their belts were 
 throwing water over the floors, wading about with 
 cloths and buckets; the walls were being plastered 
 anew until they shone in snowy whiteness. The 
 alarmed mice looked askance upon all this turmoil from 
 a crack in the floor. The poor things probably won- 
 dered what all this chaos was about these uncalled- 
 for, untimely reforms; how much better it was when 
 they had their own way, in the good old times! And 
 the spiders? They had long since been made to submit 
 to fate, and were swept away and carried off with the 
 other litter into the yard, where the chickens had made 
 short work of most of them. A few that escaped made 
 their way laboriously over the grass- grown yard to 
 some outhouses, where they set up their shop and con- 
 tinued to labor, complacently saying to each other, 
 " The world is large, and there is room for all! " 
 
 But those who were effecting this complete upheaval 
 and attending to the resurrection of the little home 
 the two women and a soldier, who were subsequently 
 reinforced by two Cossacks from Golovin's sotnia 
 they did not care what became of the mice and the sur- 
 viving spiders. They had only one object, one thought. 
 
 " Lively there, children; lively! The master will be 
 here in two days from Tashkent. Let everything be 
 ready!" And they did hurry and strive to prepare, 
 freshen up, and cleanse the house in time for the ar- 
 rival of its owners from Tashkent. They had come to 
 Tashkent from Kazalinsk, and had reached Kazalinsk, 
 coming from the banks of the Amu, on the steamer
 
 EPILOGUE. 319 
 
 Perovsk, by way of the Aral Sea. These owners were 
 Golovin and his wife, Natalia Martinovna, with her son 
 Petka. 
 
 The united efforts of an able physician and a loving 
 woman had conquered the lame Cossack's malady a 
 disease which had been caused chiefly by moral and 
 mental anguish and excitement. Quiet and loving 
 attention aided in restoring the patient's lost strength; 
 his pale cheeks resumed their bright, healthy color, 
 and he was soon upon the high road to perfect re- 
 covery. 
 
 The happy, but, under the circumstances, necessarily 
 quiet and modest wedding of Golovin and Natalia took 
 place in the camp. The lame Cossack's term of active 
 service was approaching its end, and for many reasons 
 he thought it better to remain there, in Central Asia, 
 where fate had given him happiness, than to return to 
 his own home, at Yai'k, where he had no ties. As their 
 place of residence they had selected Chiniaz, on the 
 Syr Daria. This was the cause of the bustle of cleans- 
 ing and restoration of order in the long-forgotten 
 house of the old gunner. 
 
 A year or two ago, during my last journey in Central 
 Asia, I visited Chiniaz, and there met the happy couple. 
 The old gunner's house was altered almost beyond 
 recognition; the change was as great as if a feeble old 
 man had by some secret charm been transformed into 
 a blooming youth of fifteen. 
 
 A dense screen of green climbing vines covered the 
 outer walls of the little house, and between the emerald 
 foliage sparkled and glistened bright windows with 
 clean white curtains. The picket-fence shone in bright 
 colors; over the sand of the cleanly swept yard prome-
 
 320 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 naded the hens, escorted by their conceited rooster- 
 husband; horses snorted and neighed in the shady 
 stable lately filled by their master who was a great 
 lover of those animals. Some one stepped out upon 
 the porch to greet me my host himself. Stately, 
 ruddy with health, contented, and happy who would 
 have recognized in this brawny fellow the sick man 
 dying of supposed, though never really existing, con- 
 sumption? "Only that leg of mine still gives me 
 trouble," he says; " I can not walk even slowly without 
 limping. Well, that is nothing I am not an infantry- 
 man." 
 
 Natalia Martinovna, having abandoned at last her 
 half-mourning, half-monastic costume of a Sister of 
 Mercy, was still more improved in looks. 
 
 It only remains for us to wish all three of them in the 
 future such contentment and happiness as they enjoy 
 at present, and which to draw a moral they have 
 fully deserved. 
 
 Very recently I happened to come in contact with 
 still another hero of my tale; during the present winter 
 in St. Petersburg. 
 
 I happened to turn into Borelli's for supper. At one 
 of the tables, still covered with the remnants of a luxu- 
 rious preliminary course, sat several officers if their 
 lounging attitude may be designated as sitting. They 
 were awaiting the supper they had ordered, and passing 
 the time in badinage not altogether devoid of " res- 
 taurant " witticisms. 
 
 "Yes, gentlemen," one of the officers continued a 
 story he was relating; "yes, that was an exalted, ardent 
 love, entirely disinterested and self-sacrificing."
 
 EPILOGUE. 321 
 
 " You should have brought her here, Sergei! " inter- 
 rupted another, straightening out his lanky figure. 
 
 "Well, I found she was foolish. She was bound to 
 the steppe and could not think of going anywhere else. 
 What could I have done here with this ' Gretchen' ? " 
 
 "All right!" shouted a third listener. "Gentlemen, 
 make room! Here comes our lobster a monster, a 
 colossus'. Make room ! " 
 
 "And then," continued the officer telling the story, 
 " my Don Juanic adventures in Central Asia came to a 
 close with a very singular experience, which might have 
 resulted very disagreeably to me. They were six men 
 I was alone. I conceded them the right of the first 
 fire. I waited. Six pistol-barrels were aimed at me. 
 I must frankly acknowledge that I do not consider 
 myself a coward, but to see six such black little open- 
 ings gaping before you is, to say the least, disagreeable. 
 I looked at my watch. The first report came the ball 
 almost grazed my temple; the second, also the third, 
 missed I did not even hear the bullets; the fourth 
 struck the sand and covered me with dust; the fifth 
 went somewhere over my head; the sixth shattered my 
 revolver. 
 
 "'Gentlemen,' I said, 'fate has saved you!' and dis- 
 played to them my disabled weapon. ' Let us hope 
 that all misunderstandings between us are at an end! ' 
 They shouted 'hurrah!' threw themselves upon me, 
 lifted me upon their hands and prepared to toss me up 
 in triumph a foolish custom they have. Then they 
 went to drinking like swine; but I came back to St. 
 Petersburg I was tired of savage life! " 
 
 "Are you not lying, Sergei'?" curiously interrupted 
 some skeptic. Sergei Nikolai'evitch only shrugged his 
 shoulders contemptuously.
 
 322 THE TWO-LEGGED WOLF. 
 
 The Tartar waiter, in swallow-tail coat and white 
 necktie, brought a tray with some covered dishes 
 and the gentlemen began to satisfy their fastidious 
 stomachs. 
 
 THE END.
 

 
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