A Hero of Our Time

  CHAPTER X

  MEANWHILE the staff-captain continued his story.

  "Kazbich never put in an appearance again; but somehow--I don't knowwhy--I could not get the idea out of my head that he had had a reasonfor coming, and that some mischievous scheme was in his mind.

  "Well, one day Pechorin tried to persuade me to go boar-hunting withhim. For a long time I refused. What novelty was a wild boar to me?

  "However, off he dragged me, all the same. We took four or five soldiersand set out early in the morning. Up till ten o'clock we scurried aboutthe reeds and the forest--there wasn't a wild beast to be found!

  "'I say, oughtn't we to be going back?' I said. 'What's the use ofsticking at it? It is evident enough that we have happened on an unluckyday!'

  "But, in spite of heat and fatigue, Pechorin didn't like to returnempty-handed... That is just the kind of man he was; whatever he sethis heart on he had to have--evidently, in his childhood, he had beenspoiled by an indulgent mother. At last, at midday, we discovered oneof those cursed wild boars--Bang! Bang!--No good!--Off it went into thereeds. That was an unlucky day, to be sure!... So, after a short rest,we set off homeward...

  "We rode in silence, side by side, giving the horses their head. We hadalmost reached the fortress, and only the brushwood concealed it fromview. Suddenly a shot rang out... We glanced at each other, both struckwith the selfsame suspicion... We galloped headlong in the direction ofthe shot, looked, and saw the soldiers clustered together on the rampartand pointing towards a field, along which a rider was flying at fullspeed, holding something white across his saddle. Grigori Aleksandrovichyelled like any Chechene, whipped his gun from its cover, and gavechase--I after him.

  "Luckily, thanks to our unsuccessful hunt, our horses were not jaded;they strained under the saddle, and with every moment we drew nearer andnearer... At length I recognised Kazbich, only I could not make out whatit was that he was holding in front of him.

  "Then I drew level with Pechorin and shouted to him:

  "'It is Kazbich!'

  "He looked at me, nodded, and struck his horse with his whip.

  "At last we were within gunshot of Kazbich. Whether it was that hishorse was jaded or not so good as ours, I don't know, but, in spite ofall his efforts, it did not get along very fast. I fancy at that momenthe remembered his Karagyoz!

  "I looked at Pechorin. He was taking aim as he galloped...

  "'Don't shoot,' I cried. 'Save the shot! We will catch up with him as itis.'

  "Oh, these young men! Always taking fire at the wrong moment! The shotrang out and the bullet broke one of the horse's hind legs. It gave afew fiery leaps forward, stumbled, and fell to its knees. Kazbich sprangoff, and then we perceived that it was a woman he was holding in hisarms--a woman wrapped in a veil. It was Bela--poor Bela! He shoutedsomething to us in his own language and raised his dagger over her...Delay was useless; I fired in my turn, at haphazard. Probably the bulletstruck him in the shoulder, because he dropped his hand suddenly. Whenthe smoke cleared off, we could see the wounded horse lying on theground and Bela beside it; but Kazbich, his gun flung away, wasclambering like a cat up the cliff, through the brushwood. I should haveliked to have brought him down from there--but I hadn't a charge ready.We jumped off our horses and rushed to Bela. Poor girl! She was lyingmotionless, and the blood was pouring in streams from her wound. Thevillain! If he had struck her to the heart--well and good, everythingwould at least have been finished there and then; but to stab her inthe back like that--the scoundrel! She was unconscious. We tore theveil into strips and bound up the wound as tightly as we could. In vainPechorin kissed her cold lips--it was impossible to bring her to.

  "Pechorin mounted; I lifted Bela from the ground and somehow managed toplace her before him on his saddle; he put his arm round her and we rodeback.

  "'Look here, Maksim Maksimych,' said Grigori Aleksandrovich, after a fewmoments of silence. 'We will never bring her in alive like this.'

  "'True!' I said, and we put our horses to a full gallop."