Chapter 7 07. Accident

the story told by the coachman Look, sir, a misfortune happened in that grove just behind the ravine.My dead father, may his old man go to heaven, and one day drive a cart to send a sum of five hundred rubles to the master.At that time, the peasants in our village and Shepelevo village rented the land of that master, and the money my father sent us was half a year's land rent.My father is a God-fearing man, and he often reads holy books about defrauding others, or bullying others, or, for example, defrauding others of their money--these things are not allowed by God, and he never does them, so the farmers love him .When the village needs to send someone into the city to meet the governor or send money to the landlord, everyone always recommends him to go.He is an old man with outstanding character and is different from ordinary people, but please don't be surprised when I say this, he lacks a little perseverance and has a problem.The elderly are greedy for drinks.Usually pass by a tavern and you can't do it without going in: you always have to turn in and have a few drinks - there's no way, it's terrible!The old man also knew this problem, so when he was asked to send public money, he always brought me or my little sister Anutka with him, lest he fell asleep or lost the money in some accident.

Let's be honest, our family loves to drink.I have been educated and educated, and I have worked at the counter in a tobacco shop in the city for six years. I can handle all kinds of educated gentlemen for a while, and I can speak all kinds of decent words.But I read in a little book that vodka is devil's blood, and it's true, sir.Because of drinking too much, my face turned blue, my mind was dizzy, and I couldn't figure out anything.Later, as you saw it now, you had to become a coachman, like an illiterate peasant, an ignorant rough man. I told you just now that my father sent money to the master, and that time he took Anyutka with him.Anutka was either six or eight at that time—a silly little girl, very small.They had been safe and sound until they reached Karanchik, my father hadn't been drinking and his head was very clear.But when approaching Karanchik, passing Mosheka, the old man went into a tavern, and his old habit relapsed.After three glasses of wine, he started talking nonsense in front of the crowd: "Don't look at me as an ordinary person, I have five hundred rubles in my pocket. As long as I want, this tavern, these pots and jars, don't worry about it." Sheka, and all the jewish women and jewish boys in town, I can buy them all. I've bought them all, and I've got them all."

Needless to say, the old man was joking.Then he complained again: "My friends, it's a terrible thing to be a rich man or a businessman. If you don't have money, you don't have care; if you have money, you have to keep your pockets open all day long, so that the bad guys don't steal it. Those rich people Living in the world is always in a state of fear.” Of course the drinkers understood what he said and took it to heart.At that time, the railway was being built in the Karancheka area, and all kinds of troublemakers and barefoot men were like a swarm of locusts.My dad came to his senses later, but it was too late.Words are not sparrows—if they fly out, they cannot be caught.Sir, they walked this grove then.As he was walking, he suddenly heard someone chasing after him on a horse.My dad is not a coward, so you can't say that about him, but he still became suspicious.The road in the small woods is impassable for vehicles and horses. Usually, there are people dragging some hay or firewood. No one needs to come here on horseback, especially during the busy farming season.To gallop on horseback is not to do good.

"It looks like someone is chasing you," my father said to Anutka. "They were running so fast. I should have kept my mouth shut in the tavern, and I would have had sores on my tongue. Ouch, girl, I feel An accident is about to happen!" The old man thought for a while about the dangerous situation, and said to my sister Annutka: "There is something wrong, I'm afraid someone is chasing us. Anyway, dear Annushka, good boy, take the money , hide them under your clothes, and hide in the bushes. In case those damn people come to rob, you run back to your mother, give her the money, and let her send it to the village chief's house. Just be careful, Don’t let anyone see you, just pick woods and small ravines to run, so as not to be discovered. Run as hard as you can, and then ask the merciful God to bless you. May Christ be with you!”

My dad gave the wallet to Anyutka.She found a dense bush and got into it.After a while, three riders rushed to my father.Two of them were strong, with fat heads and big ears, wearing a red cloth shirt and a pair of big boots.The other two were dressed in rags and looked like they were repairing railways.What my father suspected, sir, really happened.The man in the red cloth shirt was a strong and unusual farmer. He reined in the horse, and then the three of them started to clean up my father together. "Stop, bastard! Where's the money?" "What money? To hell with you!"

"The land rent you sent to the master! Take it out, you pussy, bald man, or we will kill you, and tell you to go to God before you have time to repent!" They started to play tricks on my father. My father didn't beg them for mercy, nor did he cry. On the contrary, he became very angry and began to scold them harshly. "What are you bastards pestering me for? You're a bunch of thugs, you don't have God in you, and you wish you had cholera! You don't deserve the money, you deserve the whippings that give your shoulders three Nian will not be better! Go away, you fools, or I will defend myself! I have a pistol in my arms with six bullets!"

The thieves got tougher when they heard that, and they beat my dad with whatever fuck they had. They rummaged through the contents of the cart, searched my father inside and out, and even pulled his boots off.They saw my father scolded even more after being beaten, so they tried their best to torture him.At this moment Anyutka was hiding in the bushes, and the poor fellow saw everything.Later, when she saw her father lying on the ground, panting heavily, she quickly jumped up, ran through the woods, along the small ravine, and ran home as hard as she could.She is young, doesn't understand anything, and doesn't know the way, so she can only run wherever she goes.That place is eight or nine miles away from my house.Others can run there in an hour, but she is a child, so needless to say, she often takes one step forward and two steps around, and not everyone can run barefoot in the thorny forest.You have to get used to it, and the little girls in our place are all squatting on the top of the kang, or they are afraid to go into the woods if they are not busy in the yard.

In the evening, Anyutka managed to go to a house and saw—a wooden house.It was the home of the forest guard outside the village of Sukholukovo. He was guarding an official forest. At that time, a businessman rented this forest to burn charcoal.She knocked on the door.A woman came out and opened the door for her, the forester's wife.Anyutka immediately burst into tears.The first thing I did was to tell her what had happened, without any concealment, even the matter of money.The forester's wife sympathized with her. "My poor child, darling! God bless you for being so little! My dear girl! Come in, and at least let me give you something to eat!"

That is to say, the woman tried to please Anyutka, gave her food and drink, and even wept with her.She was so nice to Anutka, and guess what, the chick handed her the purse. "My dear, I will hide it first, and I will return it to you tomorrow morning, and then I will send you home, baby!" The woman took the money and put Anyutka to sleep on the hearth, where brooms were drying.The forester's daughter—she was about the size of my Anyutka—was lying on the broom on the hearth.Afterwards, Anyutka told us that those brooms smelled very sweet, like honey!Anyutka lay there but could not sleep, crying secretly by herself: she felt sorry for Daddy and was afraid of him.But, sir, it was only an hour or two before someone came into the house.When she saw it, ouch, it was the three robbers who tormented her father.Their leader, the man in the red cloth shirt walked up to the woman and said:

"Hey, my wife, today we killed people for nothing. Just now, at noon, we killed a person. We beat him to death, but we didn't even search for a small coin." It goes without saying that the man in the red cloth shirt is the forester, the woman's husband. "The man's life was for nothing," said his two ragged companions, "and our souls are for nothing!" The forester's wife looked at the three of them and laughed. "Silly girl, what are you laughing at?" "I'm funny. See, I ain't killed no man, and my soul isn't charged with guilt, and yet I got the money."

"What money? What are you talking about?" "Then let you see if I'm talking nonsense." The woman undid the purse, the damned woman showed them the money, and then she started talking about it: how Anutka came to her, what she said, etc., etc., etc.The murderers were overjoyed, and immediately began to divide the spoils, and almost started a fight, and then, without saying anything, they sat down to eat and drink.Poor Annutka lay, heard everything they said, trembling with fright, like a Jew in a hot pot.What should I do now?From their words, she knew that her father was dead and his body was lying on the road. She, a silly girl, was in a daze, as if she saw a pack of wolves and dogs tearing up poor father, as if our horse ran into the depths of the woods, The wolf was called to eat, and it seemed that she herself was thrown into the prison, and someone wanted to beat her, blaming her for losing the money. Those robbers ate and drank all the time, and sent women to drink.He gave her five rubles and told her to buy vodka and sweet wine.They spent other people's money for fun, drinking and singing.These dogs drank endlessly, and asked the women to fetch wine. Needless to say, they would drink endlessly. "Just drink all night!" they yelled. "Now we have enough money, we don't need to be so stingy! Drink, just don't get drunk!" In this way, in the middle of the night, all three of them were drunk. The woman went to drink for the third time. "Well, boys," he said, "that little girl must be dealt with! If we let her go, she'll be the first to go and tell us." They discussed and discussed, and finally decided: Anutka cannot be left alive—she should be removed.Everyone knows that it is a terrible thing to do to an innocent baby, and only a drunk or a madman can do such a thing.For almost an hour they debated who should kill her.The three of them pushed each other back and forth, almost fighting, but no one agreed.In the end, they had to draw lots, and the forest guard took it.He drank another large glass, cleared his throat, and went to the outhouse to fetch the axe. But Anyutka was a sweet little girl.Don't look at her being silly at ordinary times, the idea she came up with this time, let's put it this way, is definitely not something that any learned person can come up with.Most likely God took pity on her and opened her mind, or maybe she became smarter after being frightened.In short, when it comes to critical moments, she is smarter than anyone else.She got up quietly, prayed to God for a while, and picked up the sheepskin jacket that the forester's wife had put on her.You know, the forester's daughter is lying beside her on the kang, and they are about the same age.Anyutka covered her with the sheepskin jacket, and put the old woman's cotton jacket that covered the little girl on herself.That is, they swapped them out.She covered her head with a padded jacket and walked across the room, past the drunks who thought she was the forest guard's daughter and didn't even look at her.Fortunately for her, the woman was not in the house and went to drink again.Otherwise, Anyutka might not be able to dodge the axe, because women have sharp eyes like falcons.The woman's eyes were very sharp. Anyutka left the house and ran away.She lost her way and wandered through the woods all night, until in the morning she finally reached the clearing, and then got onto the road.By God, she met the clerk Yegor Danyrech—he is dead now, may he go to heaven! —He was going fishing with a fishing rod.Anyutka told him the whole thing.He hurried back - how could he go fishing at this moment?Back in the village, he gathered a group of farmers and rushed to the forest guard's house. When they got there, they saw the murderers lying all drunk on the floor.The woman was also drunk.First search them and get the money back.They looked up on the kang, ouch—please God forgive us!The forester's daughter was still sleeping on the broom and covered with a sheepskin jacket, but her head was covered with blood, which had been cut by an axe.Woke up three men and one woman, tied their hands behind their backs, and took them to the countryside.The woman burst into tears, and the forest guard just shook his head and begged, "Give me some more wine, folks, let me sober up! I have a terrible headache!" Later, a court trial was held in the city according to the procedure, and they were severely punished according to the law. The misfortune, sir, happened in the woods behind the little ravine.At this moment, the woods could not be seen clearly, and the red sun had gone behind the woods.I was so busy talking to you that the horses stopped as if they were listening too.Hey, baby, my good horse!Run more happily, the driver in the car is a good gentleman, and will reward you with tea money!Hi baby, my good horse!

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