The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories | Page 3

on the table; her plait fell across her shoulder--a
long chestnut plait tied with red ribbon at the end --and it almost
touched the floor. She, too, smiled.
"A splendid, wonderful picture," said Kalashnikov. "Wonderful," he
repeated, and motioned with his hand as though he wanted to take the
reins instead of Elijah.
The wind howled in the stove; something growled and squeaked as
though a big dog had strangled a rat.
"Ugh! the unclean spirits are abroad!" said Lyubka.
"That's the wind," said Kalashnikov; and after a pause he raised his
eyes to Yergunov and asked:
"And what is your learned opinion, Osip Vassilyitch--are there devils in
this world or not?"
"What's one to say, brother?" said Yergunov, and he shrugged one
shoulder. "If one reasons from science, of course there are no devils,
for it's a superstition; but if one looks at it simply, as you and I do now,
there are devils, to put it shortly. . . . I have seen a great deal in my

life. . . . When I finished my studies I served as medical assistant in the
army in a regiment of the dragoons, and I have been in the war, of
course. I have a medal and a decoration from the Red Cross, but after
the treaty of San Stefano I returned to Russia and went into the service
of the Zemstvo. And in consequence of my enormous circulation about
the world, I may say I have seen more than many another has dreamed
of. It has happened to me to see devils, too; that is, not devils with
horns and a tail--that is all nonsense--but just, to speak precisely,
something of the sort."
"Where?" asked Kalashnikov.
"In various places. There is no need to go far. Last year I met him
here--speak of him not at night--near this very inn. I was driving, I
remember, to Golyshino; I was going there to vaccinate. Of course, as
usual, I had the racing droshky and a horse, and all the necessary
paraphernalia, and, what's more, I had a watch and all the rest of it, so I
was on my guard as I drove along, for fear of some mischance. There
are lots of tramps of all sorts. I came up to the Zmeinoy
Ravine--damnation take it--and was just going down it, when all at
once somebody comes up to me--such a fellow! Black hair, black eyes,
and his whole face looked smutted with soot . . . . He comes straight up
to the horse and takes hold of the left rein: 'Stop!' He looked at the
horse, then at me, then dropped the reins, and without saying a bad
word, 'Where are you going?' says he. And he showed his teeth in a
grin, and his eyes were spiteful-looking.
"'Ah,' thought I, 'you are a queer customer!' 'I am going to vaccinate for
the smallpox,' said I. 'And what is that to you?' 'Well, if that's so,' says
he, 'vaccinate me. He bared his arm and thrust it under my nose. Of
course, I did not bandy words with him; I just vaccinated him to get rid
of him. Afterwards I looked at my lancet and it had gone rusty."
The peasant who was asleep near the stove suddenly turned over and
flung off the sheepskin; to his great surprise, Yergunov recognized the
stranger he had met that day at Zmeinoy Ravine. This peasant's hair,
beard, and eyes were black as soot; his face was swarthy; and, to add to
the effect, there was a black spot the size of a lentil on his right cheek.
He looked mockingly at the hospital assistant and said:
"I did take hold of the left rein--that was so; but about the smallpox you
are lying, sir. And there was not a word said about the smallpox

between us."
Yergunov was disconcerted.
"I'm not talking about you," he said. "Lie down, since you are lying
down."
The dark-skinned peasant had never been to the hospital, and Yergunov
did not know who he was or where he came from; and now, looking at
him, he made up his mind that the man must be a gypsy. The peasant
got up and, stretching and yawning loudly, went up to Lyubka and
Kalashnikov, and sat down beside them, and he, too, began looking at
the book. His sleepy face softened and a look of envy came into it.
"Look, Merik," Lyubka said to him; "get me such horses and I will
drive to heaven."
"Sinners can't drive to heaven," said Kalashnikov. "That's for holiness."
Then Lyubka laid the table and brought in a big piece of fat bacon,
salted cucumbers, a wooden platter of boiled meat cut up into little
pieces, then a frying-pan, in which there were