The Duel

THEÊ6th CompanyÕs afternoon drill was nearly over, and the junior officers looked with increasing frequency at their watches, and with growing impatience. The rank and file of the new regiment were being instructed in garrison duty. Along the whole of the extensive parade-ground the soldiers stood in scattered groups: by the poplars that bordered the causeway, by the gymnastic apparatus, by the door of the companyÕs school, and in the neighbourhood of the butts. All these places were to represent during the drill the most important buildings in the garrisonÑthe commanderÕs residence, the headquarters, the powder magazine, the administration department, etc. Sentries were posted and relieved; patrols marched here and there, shouting at and saluting each other in military fashion; harsh non-commissioned officers visited and examined the sentries on duty, trying, sometimes by a trick, sometimes by pretended threats, to fool the soldiers into infringing the rules, e.g. to quit their posts, give up their rifles, to take charge of contraband articles, etc. The older men, who had had previous experience of such practical jokes, were very seldom taken in, but answered rudely, ÒThe Tsar alone gives orders here,Ó etc., etc. The young recruits, on the other hand, often enough fell into the snare set for them.

ÒKhliabnikov!Ó a stout little Ònon-com.Ó cried angrily in a voice which betrayed a passion for ruling. ÒWhat did I tell you just now, simpleton? Did I put you under arrest? What are you sticking there for, then? Why donÕt you answer?Ó

In the third platoon a tragi-comic scene took place. Moukhamedjinov, a young soldier, Tartar by birth, was not yet versed in the Russian language. He got more and more confused under the commanderÕs irritating and insidious questions. At last he lost his head entirely, brought his rifle to the charge, and threatened all the bystanders with the bayonet.

ÒStop, you madman!Ó roared Sergeant Bobuilev. ÒCanÕt you recognize your own commander, your own captain?Ó

ÒAnother step and you are a dead man!Ó shouted the Tartar, in a furious rage. His eyes were bloodshot, and he nervously repelled with his bayonet all who approached him. Round about him, but at a respectful distance, a crowd of soldiers flocked together, accepting with joy and gratitude this interesting little interlude in the wearisome drill.

Sliva, the captain of the company, approached to see what was going on. While he was on the opposite side of the parade-ground, where, with bent back and dragging steps, he tottered slowly backwards and forwards, a few young officers assembled in a small group to smoke and chatter. They were three, all told: Lieutenant ViŠtkin, a bald, moustached man of thirty-three, a jovial fellow, chatterbox, singer, and particularly fond of his glass; Sub-Lieutenant Romashov, who had hardly served two years in the regiment; and, lastly, Sub-Ensign Lbov, a lively, well-shaped young man, with an expression of shrewd geniality in his pale eyes and an eternal smile on his thick, innocent lips. He passed for a peripatetic storehouse of anecdotes, specially crammed with old and worn-out officersÕ stories.

ÒThis is an out-and-out scandal,Ó said ViŠtkin, as he looked at his dainty little watch, the case of which he angrily closed with a little click. ÒWhat the devil does he mean by keeping the company all this time?Ó

ÒYou should ask him that question, Pavel Pavlich,Ó replied Lbov, with a sly look.

ÒOh, go to the devil! Go and ask him yourself. But the point which I want to emphasize is that the whole business is utterly futile; there is always this fuss before the review, and every time they overdo it. The soldiers are so worried and badgered, that at the review they stand like blockheads. Do you know that story about the two captains who made a pretty heavy bet as to which of them had in his company the best trencher-man? When one of the ÔchampionsÕ had consumed seven pounds of bread he was obliged to acknowledge himself beaten. His Captain, furious with indignation, sent for his sergeant-major, and said: ÔWhat made you send me a creature like that? After his seventh pound he had to give up, and IÕve lost my wager!Õ The poor sergeant-major stared at his superior. ÔI donÕt know what could have happened to him, your Excellency. This very morning I rehearsed with him, and then he ateeightÊpounds without any ado.Õ ItÕs the same case here, gentlemen. We rehearse without mercy and common-sense up to the very last, and thus, when the tug-of-war comes, the soldier drops down from sheer weariness.Ó