in the beginning of the year 1920 i happened to be living in thesiberian town of krasnoyarsk, situated on the shores of the riveryenisei, that noble stream which is cradled in the sun-bathedmountains of mongolia to pour its warming life into the arcticocean and to whose mouth nansen has twice come to open the shortestroad for commerce from europe to the heart of asia. there in thedepths of the still siberian winter i was suddenly caught up in thewhirling storm of mad revolution raging all over russia, sowing inthis peaceful and rich land vengeance, hate, bloodshed and crimesthat go unpunished by the law. no one could tell the hour of hisfate. the people lived from day to day and left their homes notknowing whether they should return to them or whether they shouldbe dragged from the streets and thrown into the dungeons of thattravesty of courts, the revolutionary committee, more terrible andmore bloody than those of the mediaeval inquisition. we who werestrangers in this distraught land were not saved from itspersecutions and i personally lived through them.
one morning, when i had gone out to see a friend, i suddenlyreceived the news that twenty red soldiers had surrounded my houseto arrest me and that i must escape. i quickly put on one of myfriend's old hunting suits, took some money and hurried away onfoot along the back ways of the town till i struck the open road,where i engaged a peasant, who in four hours had driven me twentymiles from the town and set me down in the midst of a deeplyforested region. on the way i bought a rifle, three hundredcartridges, an ax, a knife, a sheepskin overcoat, tea, salt, drybread and a kettle. i penetrated into the heart of the wood to anabandoned half-burned hut. from this day i became a genuinetrapper but i never dreamed that i should follow this role as longas i did. the next morning i went hunting and had the good fortuneto kill two heathcock. i found deer tracks in plenty and felt surethat i should not want for food. however, my sojourn in this placewas not for long. five days later when i returned from hunting inoticed smoke curling up out of the chimney of my hut. istealthily crept along closer to the cabin and discovered twosaddled horses with soldiers' rifles slung to the saddles. twodisarmed men were not dangerous for me with a weapon, so i quicklyrushed across the open and entered the hut. from the bench twosoldiers started up in fright. they were bolsheviki. on their bigastrakhan caps i made out the red stars of bolshevism and on theirblouses the dirty red bands. we greeted each other and sat down.
the soldiers had already prepared tea and so we drank this everwelcome hot beverage and chatted, suspiciously eyeing one anotherthe while. to disarm this suspicion on their part, i told themthat i was a hunter from a distant place and was living therebecause i found it good country for sables. they announced to methat they were soldiers of a detachment sent from a town into thewoods to pursue all suspicious people.
"do you understand, 'comrade,'" said one of them to me, "we arelooking for counter-revolutionists to shoot them?"i knew it without his explanations. all my forces were directed toassuring them by my conduct that i was a simple peasant hunter andthat i had nothing in common with the counter-revolutionists. iwas thinking also all the time of where i should go after thedeparture of my unwelcome guests. it grew dark. in the darknesstheir faces were even less attractive. they took out bottles ofvodka and drank and the alcohol began to act very noticeably. theytalked loudly and constantly interrupted each other, boasting howmany bourgeoisie they had killed in krasnoyarsk and how manycossacks they had slid under the ice in the river. afterwards theybegan to quarrel but soon they were tired and prepared to sleep.
all of a sudden and without any warning the door of the hut swungwide open and the steam of the heated room rolled out in a greatcloud, out of which seemed to rise like a genie, as the steamsettled, the figure of a tall, gaunt peasant impressively crownedwith the high astrakhan cap and wrapped in the great sheepskinovercoat that added to the massiveness of his figure. he stoodwith his rifle ready to fire. under his girdle lay the sharp axwithout which the siberian peasant cannot exist. eyes, quick andglimmering like those of a wild beast, fixed themselves alternatelyon each of us. in a moment he took off his cap, made the sign ofthe cross on his breast and asked of us: "who is the master here?"i answered him.
"may i stop the night?""yes," i replied, "places enough for all. take a cup of tea. itis still hot."the stranger, running his eyes constantly over all of us and overeverything about the room, began to take off his skin coat afterputting his rifle in the corner. he was dressed in an old leatherblouse with trousers of the same material tucked in high feltboots. his face was quite young, fine and tinged with somethingakin to mockery. his white, sharp teeth glimmered as his eyespenetrated everything they rested upon. i noticed the locks ofgrey in his shaggy head. lines of bitterness circled his mouth.
they showed his life had been very stormy and full of danger. hetook a seat beside his rifle and laid his ax on the floor below.
"what? is it your wife?" asked one of the drunken soldiers,pointing to the ax.
the tall peasant looked calmly at him from the quiet eyes undertheir heavy brows and as calmly answered:
"one meets a different folk these days and with an ax it is muchsafer."he began to drink tea very greedily, while his eyes looked at memany times with sharp inquiry in them and ran often round the wholecabin in search of the answer to his doubts. very slowly and witha guarded drawl he answered all the questions of the soldiersbetween gulps of the hot tea, then he turned his glass upside downas evidence of having finished, placed on the top of it the smalllump of sugar left and remarked to the soldiers:
"i am going out to look after my horse and will unsaddle yourhorses for you also.""all right," exclaimed the half-sleeping young soldier, "bring inour rifles as well."the soldiers were lying on the benches and thus left for us onlythe floor. the stranger soon came back, brought the rifles and setthem in the dark corner. he dropped the saddle pads on the floor,sat down on them and began to take off his boots. the soldiers andmy guest soon were snoring but i did not sleep for thinking of whatnext to do. finally as dawn was breaking, i dozed off only toawake in the broad daylight and find my stranger gone. i wentoutside the hut and discovered him saddling a fine bay stallion.
"are you going away?" i asked.
"yes, but i want to go together with these ---- comrades,'" hewhispered, "and afterwards i shall come back."i did not ask him anything further and told him only that i wouldwait for him. he took off the bags that had been hanging on hissaddle, put them away out of sight in the burned corner of thecabin, looked over the stirrups and bridle and, as he finishedsaddling, smiled and said:
"i am ready. i'm going to awake my 'comrades.'" half an hourafter the morning drink of tea, my three guests took their leave.
i remained out of doors and was engaged in splitting wood for mystove. suddenly, from a distance, rifle shots rang through thewoods, first one, then a second. afterwards all was still. fromthe place near the shots a frightened covey of blackcock broke andcame over me. at the top of a high pine a jay cried out. ilistened for a long time to see if anyone was approaching my hutbut everything was still.
on the lower yenisei it grows dark very early. i built a fire inmy stove and began to cook my soup, constantly listening for everynoise that came from beyond the cabin walls. certainly iunderstood at all times very clearly that death was ever beside meand might claim me by means of either man, beast, cold, accident ordisease. i knew that nobody was near me to assist and that all myhelp was in the hands of god, in the power of my hands and feet, inthe accuracy of my aim and in my presence of mind. however, ilistened in vain. i did not notice the return of my stranger.
like yesterday he appeared all at once on the threshold. throughthe steam i made out his laughing eyes and his fine face. hestepped into the hut and dropped with a good deal of noise threerifles into the corner.
"two horses, two rifles, two saddles, two boxes of dry bread, halfa brick of tea, a small bag of salt, fifty cartridges, twoovercoats, two pairs of boots," laughingly he counted out. "intruth today i had a very successful hunt."in astonishment i looked at him.
"what are you surprised at?" he laughed. "komu nujny etitovarischi? who's got any use for these fellows? let us have teaand go to sleep. tomorrow i will guide you to another safer placeand then go on."