The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories

The Horse-Stealers and Other
Stories

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Title: The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories
Author: Anton Chekhov
Release Date: September 9, 2004 [EBook #13409]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HORSE-STEALERS AND OTHER ***

Produced by James Rusk

THE TALES OF CHEKHOV
VOLUME 10
THE HORSE STEALERS AND OTHER STORIES
BY
ANTON TCHEKHOV
Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT

CONTENTS
THE HORSE-STEALERS WARD NO. 6 THE PETCHENYEG A

DEAD BODY A HAPPY ENDING THE LOOKING-GLASS OLD
AGE DARKNESS THE BEGGAR A STORY WITHOUT A TITLE
IN TROUBLE FROST A SLANDER MINDS IN FERMENT GONE
ASTRAY AN AVENGER THE JEUNE PREMIER A
DEFENCELESS CREATURE AN ENIGMATIC NATURE A HAPPY
MAN A TROUBLESOME VISITOR AN ACTOR'S END

THE HORSE-STEALERS
A HOSPITAL assistant, called Yergunov, an empty-headed fellow,
known throughout the district as a great braggart and drunkard, was
returning one evening in Christmas week from the hamlet of Ryepino,
where he had been to make some purchases for the hospital. That he
might get home in good time and not be late, the doctor had lent him
his very best horse.
At first it had been a still day, but at eight o'clock a violent snow-storm
came on, and when he was only about four miles from home Yergunov
completely lost his way.
He did not know how to drive, he did not know the road, and he drove
on at random, hoping that the horse would find the way of itself. Two
hours passed; the horse was exhausted, he himself was chilled, and
already began to fancy that he was not going home, but back towards
Ryepino. But at last above the uproar of the storm he heard the
far-away barking of a dog, and a murky red blur came into sight ahead
of him: little by little, the outlines of a high gate could be discerned,
then a long fence on which there were nails with their points uppermost,
and beyond the fence there stood the slanting crane of a well. The wind
drove away the mist of snow from before the eyes, and where there had
been a red blur, there sprang up a small, squat little house with a steep
thatched roof. Of the three little windows one, covered on the inside
with something red, was lighted up.
What sort of place was it? Yergunov remembered that to the right of
the road, three and a half or four miles from the hospital, there was
Andrey Tchirikov's tavern. He remembered, too, that this Tchirikov,
who had been lately killed by some sledge-drivers, had left a wife and a
daughter called Lyubka, who had come to the hospital two years before
as a patient. The inn had a bad reputation, and to visit it late in the
evening, and especially with someone else's horse, was not free from

risk. But there was no help for it. Yergunov fumbled in his knapsack
for his revolver, and, coughing sternly, tapped at the window-frame
with his whip.
"Hey! who is within?" he cried. "Hey, granny! let me come in and get
warm!"
With a hoarse bark a black dog rolled like a ball under the horse's feet,
then another white one, then another black one--there must have been a
dozen of them. Yergunov looked to see which was the biggest, swung
his whip and lashed at it with all his might. A small, long-legged puppy
turned its sharp muzzle upwards and set up a shrill, piercing howl.
Yergunov stood for a long while at the window, tapping. But at last the
hoar-frost on the trees near the house glowed red, and a muffled female
figure appeared with a lantern in her hands.
"Let me in to get warm, granny," said Yergunov. "I was driving to the
hospital, and I have lost my way. It's such weather, God preserve us.
Don't be afraid; we are your own people, granny."
"All my own people are at home, and we didn't invite strangers," said
the figure grimly. "And what are you knocking for? The gate is not
locked."
Yergunov drove into the yard and stopped at the steps.
"Bid your labourer take my horse out, granny," said he.
"I am not granny."
And indeed she was not a granny. While she was putting out the lantern
the light fell on her face, and Yergunov saw black eyebrows, and
recognized Lyubka.
"There are no labourers about now," she said as she went into the house.
"Some