That was the way the neighboring peasants expressed themselves about The Wolf.
"So thou art The Wolf," I repeated. "I"ve heard of you, brother. They say that thou givest no quarter to any one."
"I perform my duty," he replied, surlily; "it is not right to eat the master"s bread for nothing."
He pulled his axe from his girdle, sat down on the floor, and began to chop a pine-knot.
"Hast thou no housewife?" I asked him.
"No," he replied, and brandished his axe fiercely.
"She is dead, apparently."
"No--yes--she is dead," he added, and turned away.
I said nothing; he raised his eyes and looked at me.
"She ran away with a petty burgher who came along," he remarked, with a harsh smile. The little girl dropped her eyes; the baby waked up and began to cry; the girl went to the cradle. "There, give it to him," said The Wolf, thrusting into her hand a soiled horn.[25] "And she abandoned him," he went on, in a low tone, pointing at the baby. He went to the door, paused, and turned round.
"Probably, master," he began, "you cannot eat our bread; and I have nothing but bread."
"I am not hungry."
"Well, suit yourself. I would boil the samovar for you, only I have no tea.... I"ll go and see how your horse is."
He went out and slammed the door. I surveyed my surroundings.
The hut seemed to me more doleful than before. The bitter odor of chilled smoke oppressed my breathing. The little girl did not stir from her place, and did not raise her eyes, from time to time she gave the cradle a gentle shove, or timidly hitched up on her shoulder her chemise which had slipped down; her bare legs hung motionless.
"What is thy name?" I asked.
"Ulita," she said, drooping her sad little face still lower.
The forester entered, and seated himself on the wall-bench.
"The thunderstorm is pa.s.sing over," he remarked, after a brief pause; "if you command, I will guide you out of the forest."
I rose. The Wolf picked up the gun, and inspected the priming.
"What is that for?" I inquired.
"They are stealing in the forest. They"re felling a tree at the Hare"s Ravine," he added, in reply to my inquiring glance.
"Can it be heard from here?"
"It can from the yard."
We went out together. The rain had ceased. Heavy ma.s.ses of cloud were piled up in the distance, long streaks of lightning flashed forth, from time to time; but over our heads, the dark blue sky was visible; here and there, little stars twinkled through the thin, swiftly flying clouds. The outlines of the trees, besprinkled with rain and fluttered by the wind, were beginning to stand out from the gloom. We began to listen. The forester took off his cap and dropped his eyes. "The--there,"
he said suddenly, and stretched out his arm; "you see what a night they have chosen."
I heard nothing except the rustling of the leaves. The Wolf led my horse out from under the shed. "But I shall probably let them slip this way," he added aloud--"I"ll go with you, shall I?"--"All right," he replied, and backed the horse. "We"ll catch him in a trice, and then I"ll guide you out. Come on."
We set out, The Wolf in advance, I behind him. G.o.d knows how he found the road, but he rarely halted, and then only to listen to the sound of the axe. "You see," he muttered between his teeth. "You hear? do you hear?" "But where?" The Wolf shrugged his shoulders. We decended into a ravine, the wind died down for an instant, measured blows clearly reached my ear. The Wolf glanced at me and shook his head. We went on, over the wet ferns and nettles. A dull, prolonged roar rang out....
"He has felled it," muttered The Wolf.
In the meantime the sky had continued to clear; it was almost light in the forest. We made our way out of the ravine at last.
"Wait here," the forester whispered to me, bent over, and raising his gun aloft, vanished among the bushes. I began to listen with strained intentness. Athwart the constant noise of the wind, I thought I discerned faint sounds not far away: an axe was cautiously chopping on branches, a horse was snorting.
"Where art thou going? Halt!" the iron voice of The Wolf suddenly thundered out. Another voice cried out plaintively, like a hare.... A struggle began. "Thou li-iest. Thou li-iest," repeated The Wolf, panting; "thou shalt not escape."
... I dashed forward in the direction of the noise, and ran to the scene of battle, stumbling at every step. Beside the felled tree on the earth the forester was moving about: he held the thief beneath him, and was engaged in tying the man"s hands behind his back with his girdle. I stepped up. The Wolf rose, and set him on his feet. I beheld a peasant, soaked, in rags, with a long, disheveled beard. A miserable little nag, half-covered with a small, stiff mat, stood hard by, with the running-gear of a cart. The forester uttered not a word; the peasant also maintained silence, and merely shook his head.
"Let him go," I whispered in The Wolf"s ear. "I will pay for the tree."
The Wolf, without replying, grasped the horse"s foretop with his left hand; with his right he held the thief by the belt.
"Come, move on, simpleton!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed surlily.
"Take my axe yonder," muttered the peasant. "Why should it be wasted," said the forester, and picked up the axe. We started.
I walked in the rear.... The rain began to drizzle again, and soon was pouring in torrents. With difficulty we made our way to the cottage. The Wolf turned the captured nag loose in the yard, led the peasant into the house, loosened the knot of the girdle, and seated him in the corner. The little girl, who had almost fallen asleep by the oven, sprang up, and with dumb alarm began to stare at us. I seated myself on the wall-bench.
"Ekh, what a downpour," remarked the forester. "We must wait until it stops. Wouldn"t you like to lie down?"
"Thanks."
"I would lock him up in the lumber-room, on account of your grace," he went on, pointing to the peasant, "but, you see, the bolt...."
"Leave him there, don"t touch him," I interrupted The Wolf.
The peasant cast a sidelong glance at me. I inwardly registered a vow that I would save the poor fellow at any cost. He sat motionless on the wall-bench. By the light of the lantern I was able to scrutinize his dissipated, wrinkled face, his pendant, yellow eyebrows, his thin limbs.... The little girl lay down on the floor, at his very feet, and fell asleep again. The Wolf sat by the table with his head propped on his hands. A gra.s.shopper chirped in one corner..... The rain beat down upon the roof and dripped down the windows; we all maintained silence.
"Foma Kuzmitch," began the peasant suddenly, in a dull, cracked voice: "hey there, Foma Kuzmitch!"
"What do you want?"
"Let me go."
The Wolf made no reply.
"Let me go ... hunger drove me to it ... let me go."
"I know you," retorted the forester, grimly. "You"re all alike in your village, a pack of thieves."
"Let me go," repeated the peasant. "The head clerk ... we"re ruined, that"s what it is ... let me go!"
"Ruined!... No one ought to steal!"
"Let me go, Foma Kuzmitch ... don"t destroy me. Thy master, as thou knowest, will devour me, so he will."
The Wolf turned aside. The peasant was twitching all over as though racked with fever. He kept shaking his head, and he breathed irregularly.