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Page 29
I myself had not been long a yunker, an elderly yunker; and as I was
incapable, as yet, of being good-naturedly serviceable to my younger
comrades, and without means, I well knew all the moral difficulties of
this situation for a proud man no longer young, and I sympathized with
all men who found themselves in such a situation, and I endeavored to
make clear to myself their character and rank, and the tendencies of
their intellectual peculiarities, in order to judge of the degree of
their moral sufferings. This yunker or degraded officer, judging by his
restless eyes and that intentionally constant variation of expression
which I noticed in him, was a man very far from stupid, and extremely
egotistical, and therefore much to be pitied.
Captain S. invited us to play another game of skittles, with the stakes
to consist, not only of the usual pickaback ride of the winning party,
but also of a few bottles of red wine, rum, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves
for the mulled wine which that winter, on account of the cold, was
greatly popular in our division.
Guskantini, as S. again called him, was also invited to take part; but
before the game began, the man, struggling between gratification because
he had been invited and a certain timidity, drew Captain S. aside, and
began to say something in a whisper. The good-natured captain punched
him in the ribs with his big, fat hand, and replied, loud enough to be
heard:
"Not at all, old fellow [Footnote: Batenka, Malo-Russian diminutive,
little father], I assure you."
When the game was over, and that side in which the stranger whose rank
was so low had taken part, had come out winners, and it fell to his lot
to ride on one of our officers, Ensign D., the ensign grew red in the
face: he went to the little divan and offered the stranger a cigarette
by way of a compromise.
While they were ordering the mulled wine, and in the steward's tent were
heard assiduous preparations on the part of Nikita, who had sent an
orderly for cinnamon and cloves, and the shadow of his back was
alternately lengthening and shortening on the dingy sides of the tent,
we men, seven in all, sat around on the benches; and while we took turns
in drinking tea from the three glasses, and gazed out over the plain,
which was now beginning to glow in the twilight, we talked and laughed
over the various incidents of the game.
The stranger in the fur jacket took no share in the conversation,
obstinately refused to drink the tea which I several times offered him,
and as he sat there on the ground in Tartar fashion, occupied himself in
making cigarettes of fine-cut tobacco, and smoking them one after
another, evidently not so much for his own satisfaction as to give
himself the appearance of a man with something to do. When it was
remarked that the summons to return was expected on the morrow, and that
there might be an engagement, he lifted himself on his knees, and,
addressing Captain B. only, said that he had been at the adjutant's, and
had himself written the order for the return on the next day. We all
said nothing while he was speaking; and notwithstanding the fact that he
was so bashful, we begged him to repeat this most interesting piece of
news. He repeated what he had said, adding only that he had been
staying at the adjutant's (since he made it his home there) when the
order came.
"Look here, old fellow, if you are not telling us false, I shall have to
go to my company and give some orders for to-morrow," said Captain S.
"No . . . why . . . it may be, I am sure," . . . stammered the stranger,
but suddenly stopped, and, apparently feeling himself affronted, contracted
his brows, and, muttering something between his teeth, again began to
roll a cigarette. But the fine-cut tobacco in his chintz pouch began to
show signs of giving out, and he asked S. to lend him a little
cigarette. [Footnote: PAPIROSTCHKA, diminished diminutive of PAPIROSKA,
from PAPIROS.]
We kept on for a considerable time with that monotonous military chatter
which every one who has ever been on an expedition will appreciate; all
of us, with one and the same expression, complaining of the dullness and
length of the expedition, in one and the same fashion sitting in
judgment on our superiors, and all of us likewise, as we had done many
times before, praising one comrade, pitying another, wondering how much
this one had gained, how much that one had lost, and so on, and so on.
"Here, fellows, this adjutant of ours is completely broken up," said
Captain S. "At headquarters he was everlastingly on the winning side; no
matter whom he sat down with, he'd rake in everything: but now for two
months past he has been losing all the time. The present expedition
hasn't been lucky for him. I think he has got away with two thousand
silver rubles and five hundred rubles' worth of articles,--the carpet
that he won at Mukhin's, Nikitin's pistols, Sada's gold watch which
Vorontsof gave him. He has lost it all."
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