"Servant of the Lord," he said, "I have come in to get a drink of water."
"There is none, I say, there is none. There is nothing here for you to take. Go!"
Elisey asked her:
"Is there no well man here to take this woman away?"
"There is n.o.body here: the man is dying in the yard, and we here."
The boy grew quiet when he saw the stranger, but when the old woman began to speak, he again took hold of her sleeve.
"Bread, granny, bread!" and he burst out weeping.
Just as Elisey was going to ask the old woman another question, the man tumbled into the hut; he walked along the wall and wanted to sit down on the bench, but before reaching it he fell down in the corner, near the threshold. He did not try to get up, but began to speak. He would say one word at a time, then draw his breath, then say something again.
"We are sick," he said, "and--hungry. The boy is starving." He indicated the boy with his head and began to weep.
Elisey shifted his wallet on his back, freed his arms, let the wallet down on the ground, lifted it on the bench, and untied it. When it was open, he took out the bread and the knife, out off a slice, and gave it to the man. The man did not take it, but pointed to the boy and the girl, to have it given to them. Elisey gave it to the boy. When the boy saw the bread, he made for it, grabbed the slice with both his hands, and stuck his nose into the bread. A girl crawled out from behind the oven and gazed at the bread. Elisey gave her, too, a piece. He cut off another slice and gave it to the old woman. She took it and began to chew at it.
"If you would just bring us some water," she said. "Their lips are parched. I wanted to bring some yesterday or to-day,--I do not remember when,--but I fell down and left the pail there, if n.o.body took it away."
Elisey asked where their well was. The old woman told him where. Elisey went out. He found the pail, brought some water, and gave the people to drink. The children ate some more bread with water, and the old woman ate some, but the man would not eat.
"My stomach will not hold it," he said.
The woman did not get up or come to: she was just tossing on the bed place. Elisey went to the shop, and bought millet, salt, flour, and b.u.t.ter. He found an axe, chopped some wood, and made a fire in the oven.
The girl helped him. Elisey cooked a soup and porridge, and fed the people.
V.
The man ate a little, and so did the old woman, and the girl and the little boy licked the bowl clean and embraced each other and fell asleep.
The man and the old woman told Elisey how it had all happened.
"We lived heretofore poorly," they said, "but when the crop failed us, we ate up in the fall everything we had. When we had nothing left, we began to beg from our neighbours and from good people. At first they gave us some, but later they refused. Some of them would have been willing to give us to eat, but they had nothing themselves. Besides we felt ashamed to beg: we owed everybody money and flour and bread. I looked for work," said the man, "but could find none. People were everywhere looking for work to get something to eat. One day I would work, and two I would go around looking for more work. The old woman and the girl went a distance away to beg, but the alms were poor,--n.o.body had any bread. Still, we managed to get something to eat: we thought we might squeeze through until the new crop; but in the spring they quit giving us alms altogether, and sickness fell upon us. It grew pretty bad: one day we would have something to eat, and two we went without it.
We began to eat gra.s.s. And from the gra.s.s, or from some other reason, the woman grew sick. She lay down, and I had no strength, and we had nothing with which to improve matters."
"I was the only one," the old woman said, "who worked: but I gave out and grew weak, as I had nothing to eat. The girl, too, grew weak and lost her courage. I sent her to the neighbours, but she did not go. She hid herself in a corner and would not go. A neighbour came in two days ago, but when she saw that we were hungry and sick, she turned around and went out. Her husband has left, and she has nothing with which to feed her young children. So we were lying here and waiting for death."
When Elisey heard what they said, he changed his mind about catching up with his companion, and remained there overnight. In the morning Elisey got up and began to work about the house as though he were the master.
He set bread with the old woman and made a fire in the oven. He went with the girl to the neighbours to fetch what was necessary. Everything he wanted to pick up was gone: there was nothing left for farming, and the clothes were used up. Elisey got everything which was needed: some things he made himself, and some he bought. Elisey stayed with them one day, and a second, and a third. The little boy regained his strength, and he began to walk on the bench and to make friends with Elisey. The girl, too, became quite cheerful and helped him in everything. She kept running after Elisey: "Grandfather, grandfather!"
The old woman got up and went to her neighbour. The man began to walk by holding on to the wall. Only the woman was lying down. On the third day she came to and asked for something to eat.
"Well," thought Elisey, "I had not expected to lose so much time. Now I must go."
VI.
The fourth day was the last of a fast, and Elisey said to himself:
"I will break fast with them. I will buy something for them for the holidays, and in the evening I must leave."
Elisey went once more to the village and bought milk, white flour, and lard. He and the old woman cooked and baked a lot of things, and in the morning Elisey went to ma.s.s and came back and broke fast with the people. On that day the woman got up and began to move about. The man shaved himself, put on a clean shirt,--the old woman had washed it for him,--and went to a rich peasant to ask a favour of him. His mowing and field were mortgaged to the rich man, so he went to ask him to let him have the mowing and the field until the new crop. He came back gloomy in the evening, and burst out weeping. The rich man would not show him the favour; he had asked him to bring the money.
Elisey fell to musing.
"How are they going to live now? People will be going out to mow, but they cannot go, for it is all mortgaged. The rye will ripen and people will begin to harvest it (and there is such a fine stand of it!), but they have nothing to look forward to,--their desyatina is sold to the rich peasant. If I go away, they will fall back into poverty."
And Elisey was in doubt, and did not go away in the evening, but put it off until morning. He went into the yard to sleep. He said his prayers and lay down, but could not fall asleep.
"I ought to go,--as it is I have spent much time and money; but I am sorry for the people. You can"t help everybody. I meant to bring them some water and give each a slice of bread, but see how far I have gone.
Now I shall have to buy out his mowing and field. And if I buy out the field, I might as well buy a cow for the children, and a horse for the man to haul his sheaves with. Brother Elisey Kuzmich, you are in for it!
You have let yourself loose, and now you will not straighten out things."
Elisey got up, took the caftan from under his head, and unrolled it; he drew out his snuff-horn and took a pinch, thinking that he would clear his thoughts, but no,--he thought and thought and could not come to any conclusion. He ought to get up and go, but he was sorry for the people.
He did not know what to do. He rolled the caftan up under his head and lay down to sleep. He lay there for a long time, and the c.o.c.ks crowed, and then only did he fall asleep. Suddenly he felt as though some one had wakened him. He saw himself all dressed, with his wallet and staff, and he had to pa.s.s through a gate, but it was just open enough to let a man squeeze through. He went to the gate and his wallet caught on one side, and as he was about to free it, one of his leg-rags got caught on the other side and came open. He tried to free the leg-rag, but it was not caught in the wicker fence: it was the girl who was holding on to it, and crying, "Grandfather, grandfather, bread!" He looked at his foot, and there was the little boy holding on to it, and the old woman and the man were looking out of the window. Elisey awoke, and he began to speak to himself in an audible voice:
"I will buy out the field and the mowing to-morrow, and will buy a horse, and flour to last until harvest-time, and a cow for the children.
For how would it be to go beyond the sea to seek Christ and lose him within me? I must get the people started."
And Elisey fell asleep until morning. He awoke early. He went to the rich merchant, bought out the rye and gave him money for the mowing. He bought a scythe,--for that had been sold, too,--and brought it home. He sent the man out to mow, and himself went to see the peasants: he found a horse and a cart for sale at the innkeeper"s. He bargained with him for it, and bought it; then he bought a bag of flour, which he put in the cart, and went out to buy a cow. As he was walking, he came across two Little-Russian women, and they were talking to one another. Though they were talking in their dialect, he could make out what they were saying about him:
"You see, at first they did not recognize him; they thought that he was just a simple kind of a man. They say, he went in to get a drink, and he has just stopped there. What a lot of things he has bought them! I myself saw him buy a horse and cart to-day of the innkeeper. Evidently there are such people in the world. I must go and take a look at him."
When Elisey heard that, he understood that they were praising him, and so he did not go to buy the cow. He returned to the innkeeper and gave him the money for the horse. He hitched it up and drove with the flour to the house. When he drove up to the gate, he stopped and climbed down from the cart. When the people of the house saw the horse, they were surprised. They thought that he had bought the horse for them, but did not dare say so. The master came out to open the gates.
"Grandfather, where did you get that horse?"
"I bought it," he said. "I got it cheap. Mow some gra.s.s and put it in the cart, so that the horse may have some for the night. And take off the bag!"
The master unhitched the horse, carried the bag to the granary, mowed a lot of gra.s.s, and put it into the cart. They lay down to sleep. Elisey slept in the street, and thither he had carried his wallet in the evening. All the people fell asleep. Elisey got up, tied his wallet, put on his shoes and his caftan, and started down the road to catch up with Efim.
VII.
Elisey had walked about five versts, when day began to break. He sat down under a tree, untied his wallet, and began to count his money. He found that he had seventeen roubles twenty kopeks left.
"Well," he thought, "with this sum I cannot travel beyond the sea, but if I beg in Christ"s name, I shall only increase my sin. Friend Efim will reach the place by himself, and will put up a candle for me. But I shall evidently never fulfil my vow. The master is merciful, and he will forgive me."
Elisey got up, slung his wallet over his shoulders, and turned back. He made a circle around the village so that people might not see him. And soon he reached home. On his way out he had found it hard: it was hard keeping up with Efim; but on his way home G.o.d made it easy for him, for he did not know what weariness was. Walking was just play to him, and he swayed his staff, and made as much as seventy versts a day.
Elisey came back home. The harvest was all in. The home folk were glad to see the old man. They asked all about him, why he had left his companion and why he had not gone to Jerusalem, but had returned home.
Elisey did not tell them anything.
"G.o.d did not grant me that I should," he said. "I spent my money on the way, and got separated from my companion. And so I did not go. Forgive me for Christ"s sake."
He gave the old woman what money he had left. He asked all about the home matters: everything was right; everything had been attended to and nothing missed, and all were living in peace and agreement.