We had another three miles to go down along the ice-coated rocky ledges and through soft snow before reaching the station at Kobi. The horses were exhausted and we were thoroughly chilled, while the blizzard blew harder and harder much like our native, northern snow storms, except its wild refrain was sadder and more mournful. "You too are an exile," thought I, "mourning your wide, boundless steppes where there was space to spread out your icy wings, whilst here you are choked and hemmed in like the eagle who beats against the bars of his iron cage."
Looks bad," the captain was saying. "Nothing visible but mist and snow. If we don't take care we'll find ourselves falling into a gorge or getting stuck in some hole, and the Baidara down there will probably be running too high to cross. That's Asia for you! The rivers are as unreliable as the people."
The drivers shouted and swore as they whipped the snorting, balking horses which refused to take another step in spite of the eloquence of the whips. "Your Honor," one of the drivers finally said, "we can't reach Kobi today. Had we not better turn to the left while there is still time? Over on that slope there are some huts, I believe. Travelers always stay over there in bad weather." Then he added, pointing to an Ossetian: "They say they'll guide us there if you give them some money for vodka."
"I know it, buddy, I know without you telling me!" said the captain. "These crooks! They always think up something to pick up a tip."
"All the same you have to admit that we'd be worse off without them," said I.
"Maybe, maybe," he muttered, "but I know these guides! They can tell by instinct when to take advantage of you-as if you couldn't find your way without them."
So we turned to the left and somehow after a good deal of trouble made our way to the scanty refuge consisting of two huts built of slabs and stones and surrounded by a wall of the same material. The tattered inhabitants gave us a cordial welcome. Later I found out that the government pays and feeds them on condition that they take in wayfarers who are caught by the storm.
"It's all for the best," said I, taking a seat by the fire. "Now you'll be able to tell me the rest of the story about Bela; I'm sure that wasn't the end of it."
"What makes you so sure?" replied the captain, with a sly smile and a twinkle in his eye.
"Because things don't happen like that. Anything that begins so strangely must end in the same way."
"Well, you guessed right..."
"Glad to hear it."
"It's all very well for you to be glad, but for me it is really sad to recall. She was a fine girl, Bela was! I grew as fond of her in the end as if she were my own daughter, and she was fond of me too. I ought to tell you that I have no family. I haven't heard about my father or mother for some twelve years now, and I didn't think about getting a wife earlier-and now, you've got to admit, it would no longer be quite right. So I was happy to have found someone to spoil. She would sing to us or dance the Lezghinka... And how she danced! I've seen our provincial fine ladies and once some twenty years ago I was at the Nobles' Club in Moscow, but none of them could hold a candle to her. Pechorin dressed her up like a doll, petted and fondled her, and she grew so lovely that it was amazing. The tan disappeared from her face and arms, and her cheeks grew rosy... How gay she was! How she used to tease me, the little vixen... May God forgive her!"
"What happened when you told her about her father's death?"
"We kept it from her for a long time, until she became accustomed to her new position. And when she was told, she cried for a couple of days and then forgot about it.
"For about four months everything went splendidly. Pechorin, I must have already told you, had a passion for hunting. Some irresistible force used to draw him to the forest to stalk wild boar or goats, but now he scarcely ventured beyond the ramparts. Then I noticed he was growing restless again-he would pace up and down the room with his arms folded behind his back. One day without saying a word to anyone he took his gun and went out, and was gone all morning. That happened once, twice, and then more and more frequently. Things are going badly, I thought, something must have come between them!
"One morning when I dropped in to see them-I can visualize it now-I found Bela sitting on the bed wearing a black silk beshmet and looking so pale and sad that I was really alarmed.
"'Where's Pechorin?' I asked.
"'Hunting.'
"'When did he leave? Today?'
"She did not reply, it seemed difficult for her to speak.
"'No, yesterday,' she finally said with a deep sigh.
"'I hope nothing has happened to him.'
"'All day yesterday I thought and thought,' she said, her eyes full of tears, 'and imagined all kinds of terrible things. First I thought a wild boar had injured him, then that the Chechen had carried him off to the mountains... And now I'm beginning to think that he doesn't love me.'
"'Truly, my dear, you couldn't have imagined anything worse!'
"She broke into tears, and then proudly raised her head, dried her eyes, and continued: 'If he doesn't love me, what prevents him from sending me home? I am not forcing myself on him. And if this goes on I will leave myself! I am not his slave, I am a prince's daughter!'
"I tried to reason with her. 'Listen, Bela, he can't sit here all the time like he's tied to your apron strings. He's a young man and likes to hunt. He'll go and he'll come back, but if you're going to mope around he'll only get tired of you quicker.'
"'You're right,' she replied. 'I'll be happy.' Laughing, she picked up her tambourine and began to sing and dance for me. But very soon she threw herself on the bed again and hid her face in her hands.
"What was I to do? You see, I'd never had dealings with women. I racked my brains for some way to comfort her but couldn't think of anything. For a time we both were silent. A most unpleasant situation, I assure you!
"At length I said: 'Would you like to go for a walk with me on the rampart? The weather's fine.' It was September, and the day was really wonderful, sunny but not too hot, the mountains as clearly visible as if laid out on a platter. We went out, and in silence walked up and down the ramparts of the fortress. After a while she sat down on the turf, and I sat next to her. It's really funny to recall how I fussed over her like a nanny.
"Our fort was on a big hill, and the view from the parapet was excellent: on one side was a wide meadow[59] crossed by gullies and ending in a forest that stretched all the way to the top of the mountain ridge, and here and there on this expanse you could see the smoke of villages and herds of grazing horses, while on the other side flowed a creek bordered by dense bushes that covered the flinty hills merging with the main chain of the Caucasus. We were sitting at a corner of a bastion and so we had a perfect view of either side. As I scanned the landscape, a man riding a gray horse emerged from the woods and came closer and closer, until he finally stopped on the far side of the creek two hundred yards or so from where we were and began spinning around on his horse like mad. What the hell was that?
"'Your eyes are younger than mine, Bela, see if you can make out that horseman,' said I. 'I wonder whom he is trying to impress with that display.'