“‘Anything he wanted,’ replied Azamat.
“‘In that case, I will get him for you, only on one condition… swear you will do what I ask.’
“‘I swear… And you swear too!’
“‘Good! I swear you will have the horse. Only in exchange for it, you must give me your sister Bela; Karagyoz will be her bride-money. I hope that this trade will be advantageous to you.’
“Azamat said nothing.
“‘You don’t want to? Well, as you like! I thought that you were a man, but you’re still a child. It’s too soon for you to be riding…’
“Azamat blushed.
“‘And what about my father?’ he said.
“‘Doesn’t he ever go anywhere?’
“‘True…’
“‘Are we agreed?’
“‘Agreed,’ Azamat whispered, as pale as death. ‘But when?’
“‘The next time Kazbich comes here. He has promised to drive a dozen sheep to us. The rest is my business. You’ll see, Azamat!’
“So they arranged the matter… and truth be told, it was a bad business! Afterward I was saying so to Pechorin and he only replied that a wild Circassian girl should be happy to have as kind a husband as he, because according to their ways, he would be her husband. And that Kazbich is a bandit, who should be punished. You judge for yourself, what could I have said to that?… At the time, though, I knew no details of their plot. And then Kazbich arrived one day, asking if we needed any sheep or honey; I ordered him to bring some the next day.
“‘Azamat!’ said Grigory Alexandrovich. ‘Tomorrow Karagyoz will be in my hands. If Bela isn’t here tonight, then you won’t set eyes on your horse…’
“‘Fine!’ said Azamat, and galloped to the aul.
“That evening Grigory Alexandrovich armed himself and left the fortress. How they arranged this matter, I don’t know—but that night both returned, and the sentry saw a woman across Azamat’s saddle, whose hands and feet were bound, and whose head was shrouded in a yashmak.”[24]
“And the horse?” I asked the staff captain.
“Yes, yes. The day before, Kazbich had arrived early in the morning, having driven a dozen sheep to us for sale. He tied up his horse at the fence and came in to see me. I treated him to tea, because though he was a bandit, he was my kunak all the same.
“We started talking about this and that… And suddenly I see Kazbich flinch and change countenance. He went to the window: but the window, unfortunately, gave onto the back yard.
“‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
“‘My horse!… Horse!’ he said, trembling all over.
“Indeed, I could clearly hear the trotting of hooves. ‘It’s true, some Cossack has arrived…’
“‘No! Urus—yaman, yaman!’[25] he started to bellow and threw himself headlong in their direction, like a wild snow leopard. In two leaps he was already in the courtyard; at the gates of the fortress, the sentry blocked his way with a rifle; he jumped over the rifle and started running down the road… Dust spiraled up in the distance—Azamat was galloping off on the spirited Karagyoz. As he ran, Kazbich pulled his rifle out of its case and took a shot. For about a minute he stood there trying to believe his bad luck. After that he began to scream. He struck his rifle against a rock and it broke into fragments, he collapsed onto the ground and began to sob like a child… And then, the inhabitants of the fortress gathered around him—but he didn’t notice any of them. They stood around, had a chat, and went back. I ordered money to be put down next to him for the sheep—and he didn’t touch it, but lay face-down, like a corpse. Can you believe that he lay there like that till late evening and then through the night?… It wasn’t until the next morning that he came into the fortress and started requesting that the abductor be named. The sentry, who saw Azamat untie the horse and ride off on him, didn’t consider it necessary to conceal. At the sound of the name, Kazbich’s eyes began to sparkle and he headed for the aul of Azamat’s father.”
“And the father?”
“Yes, well, that’s the thing. Kazbich didn’t find him—he had gone off somewhere for six days, otherwise how could Azamat have managed to make off with his sister?
“And when the father returned, there was no daughter. And there was no son—the cunning boy, it seems he figured out that he would lose his head if he were caught. So he left: and probably, attached himself to some band of abreks. He has laid his head down on the other side of the Terek or the Kuban—and it serves him right!
“I admit that I saw a fair amount of trouble for it too. As soon as I learned that the Circassian girl was with Grigory Alexandrovich, I donned my epaulets and sword, and I went to him.
“He was lying in the front room on a bed, with one arm behind his head, and the other holding an extinguished pipe. The door to the second room was locked, and the key to its lock was missing. I saw all this immediately… I started to cough, and to tap my heels at the threshold—but he pretended he hadn’t heard.
“‘Ensign, sir!’ I said as sternly as I could. ‘Can you not see that you have a visitor?’
“‘Ah, greetings, Maxim Maximych! Would you like a pipe?’ he replied, not rising even slightly.
“‘Excuse me! I am not Maxim Maximych: I am the staff captain.’
“‘All the same. Would you like some tea? If you only knew what worries are troubling me!’
“‘I know everything,’ I said, having walked up to the bed.
“‘All the better: I don’t have it in me to recount it.’
“‘Ensign, sir, you have committed a misdemeanor, for which I too may have to answer…’
“‘Come, come! What is the matter? It would seem that we have long split everything in half.’
“‘How could you make such jokes? Your sword, if you please!’
“‘Mitka, my sword!’
“Mitka brought the sword. Having fulfilled my duty, I sat down on his bed and said: ‘Listen Grigory Alexandrovich, admit that it was a bad thing you did.’
“‘What was a bad thing?’
“‘That you took Bela… And as for that rogue Azamat!… Come on, admit it,’ I said.
“‘And what if I like her?’
“Well, what would you have liked me to reply to that?… I was at a dead end. However, after a certain length of silence I said to him that if her father started to ask for her, then he’d have to give her back!
“‘Totally unnecessary!’
“‘And if he finds out she’s here?’
“‘How will he find out?’
“I was again faced with a dead-end.
“‘Listen, Maxim Maximych!’ said Pechorin, lifting himself up a little. ‘You’re a kind fellow, so consider: if we return the savage’s daughter to him, he will murder her or sell her. The deed is done, and there’s no need to ruin things further—leave her with me, and you can keep my sword…’
“‘Well, show her to me,’ I said.
“‘She is behind that door. But just now, I myself tried in vain to see her—she is sitting in the corner, wrapped in a shawl. She isn’t talking, isn’t looking up—as frightened as a wild chamois. I’ve engaged our lady-innkeeper; she knows Tatar, she will take care of her and will train her to accept the thought that she is mine, because she isn’t going to belong to anyone except me,’ he added, banging his fist on the table. And I agreed to that too… What else could I do? There are people with whom one must absolutely agree.”