Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen One morning at the end of October, Captain Listnitsky received an order from the regimental commander to lead the company on foot to Palace Square. Having given the order to the quartermaster, Listnitsky hurried to dress.The officers all yawned and got up cursing. "What's up?" "The Bolsheviks are looking for something!" "Gentlemen, who took my bullet?" "Where are you going?" "Listen: Is it firing a gun?" "How can there be any gunshots? It's the hallucination of your ears!" All the officers came to the yard.The company had already stood in column.Listnitsky led the Cossacks quickly out of the yard.Nevsky Prospekt was deserted.It is true that here and there sporadic shots sounded.An armored car was patrolling the Palace Square, and cadets were patrolling.The streets are deserted and silent.A detachment of cadets and several Cossack officers from the 4th company greeted the Cossacks at the gate of the Winter Palace.One of the officers, the company commander, called Listnitsky aside and asked:

"Have you brought them all?" "Yes. What's the matter?" "The second, fifth, and sixth companies refused to come and refused to carry out orders, but the machine-gun squad stayed with us. How about the Cossacks?" Listnitsky waved his hand slightly. "Oops! How's the situation with the first and fourth regiments?" "These two regiments didn't come. They didn't come. Do you know that the Bolsheviks might try to do something today? God knows what they're up to!" He sighed sadly. "I really want to run back to the Don and get out of this place." A place of right and wrong..."

Listnitsky led the company into the yard.After the Cossacks racked up their rifles, they spread out in the spacious playground-like yard.The officers gathered in the far wing.They smoked and chatted. An hour later, a regiment of cadets and a women's assault battalion arrived.The cadets were stationed in the corridors of the palace, and the machine guns were dragged there.The women commandos gathered in the courtyard.The wandering Cossacks came up to them and made dirty jokes.Corporal Arzanov patted the back of a short-haired woman in a short coat and said: "Auntie, you can just raise the child at home, why are you doing the old man's business." "Go and raise it yourself!" The hoarse and very rude "Auntie" retorted. "My darling! Are you coming to fight side by side with us?" Qiukovnov, an old believer and pervert, pestered the female commando.

"Hit 'em, stinky rascal!" "Soldier with legs!" "It's good to stay at home obediently! Look, you are needed!" "Double-barreled shotguns made of clay!" "From the front--a soldier, but from the back--I don't know if it's a priest, or something... It's disgusting!" "Hey, you female commando! Put you Put your ass back, or I'll hit you with the butt of a gun!" The Cossack looked at the women and laughed heartily, but he was also very happy.But towards noon the merriment died away.The female commandos carried thick pine pillars from the square in platoons and blocked the gate of the palace.Directing them was a plump masculine woman in a well-fitting military overcoat with an Order of George.Armored vehicles began to patrol the square more frequently, and the cadets brought some suitcases containing bullets and machine gun belts into the palace from nowhere.

"Hey folks, be careful!" "So we're going to war?" "What do you think—what are you here for? You're brought here to molest a female commando?" Folks from Bukanovsk and Slasevsk flocked to Ragutin.They were discussing something and running back and forth.The officer didn't know where he slipped off.There was no one else in the courtyard except the Cossacks and the female commandos.A few machine guns dropped by the machine gunners were placed next to the palace gate, and the shields of the machine guns gleamed with a wet dark light. In the evening, there was light snow.The Cossacks began to feel uneasy.

"What the hell kind of rule is this: brought us here, threw us in the yard, and didn't even care about the food?!" "Listnitsky should be brought back." "Look, look! He's in the palace, but the cadets won't let our brothers in." "Someone should be sent to find the kitchen cart—ask them to bring the meals." So, two Cossacks were sent to find the kitchen cart. "Don't take your guns with you, or they will confiscate your guns," suggested Ragugin. Waited for two hours for the cooking truck.However, not to mention the kitchen cart, even the people sent out did not come back.It turned out that the infantrymen of the Seminov regiment stopped the kitchen cart coming out of the yard.At dusk, the female commandos who had gathered near the palace gate broke up into a dense skirmish line; they crouched under the wooden posts and began shooting somewhere across the square.The Cossacks were not shooting, they were smoking, they were bored.Ragugin called the company to the palace wall, looked worriedly at the windows of the palace from time to time, and said:

"Listen, folks! We ain't got nothing to do here. We ought to get out, or we'll have nothing to lose. What are we doing here when they start attacking the palace? Officer—not even a shadow Well... don't we deserve to die here? Go back to the barracks and don't rub the wall here! As for the provisional government... what use is it to us?! Folks, what do you think?" "As soon as we withdraw from the courtyard, the Red Guards will shoot with machine guns." "They will cut off our heads!" "not necessarily……" "Then think about it for yourself!"

"No, let's stay here honestly to the end." "We're just like calves—fed out to the barn." "Let's each go our own way, we're evacuating!" "We also withdraw!" "Send some men to talk to the Bolsheviks—tell them not to touch us, and we won't touch them." Cossacks from the 1st and 4th companies also joined in.We discussed it.Each company sent one man, and three Cossacks walked out of the palace gate.An hour later they brought in three sailors.The sailors jumped over the pile of square logs blocking the palace entrance, crossed the courtyard with a deliberately casual look; they came up to the Cossack and exchanged pleasantries.A handsome sailor with a black beard, in an open canvas jacket, with his navy cap thrown back on his head, pushed his way into the crowd of Cossacks.

"Comrades Cossacks! We are representatives of the revolutionary Baltic Fleet and we have come to advise you to withdraw from the Winter Palace. You have no need to protect other people's bourgeois government. Let the ghost sons of the bourgeoisie - cadets - protect it Well. Not a single infantryman will come to protect the Provisional Government, and your brethren—the Cossacks of the 1st and 4th regiments—are already cooperating with us. Whoever wants to follow us—stand to the left!" "Wait, man!" said a valiant corporal from the 1st Company, stepping out. "Come along—we're very happy...but the Red Guards are going to shoot us?"

"Comrades! In the name of the Revolutionary Military Council of Petrograd we guarantee your absolute safety. No one will harm you." Next to the black-bearded sailor stood another stubby sailor with a slightly pockmarked face.He glanced at the Cossacks, turned his thick, bull-like neck, patted his high chest, tight in his uniform, and said: "We are escorting you! Brothers, there is no need to be suspicious. We are not your enemy, nor are the proletariat of Petrograd. These are the enemies..." He smiled, raised his thumb and pointed to the palace. , showing fine teeth.The Cossacks hesitated, and the female commandos came over, listened to the Cossacks for a while, and walked back to the palace gate again.

"Hey, sisters-in-law! How about you come with us?" a bearded Cossack called to her. No answer was received. "Pick up the gun—and go!" said Ragugin firmly. The Cossacks took up their rifles in harmony and lined up. "Take the machine gun, too?" a Cossack machine gunner asked the blackbearded sailor. "Take it away. Can't leave it with the cadets." Before the Cossacks set off, all the officers of the companies came out.They stood huddled together, staring intently at the three sailors.The companies lined up and set off.The machine gun team dragged the machine guns and walked in the front, the small wheels creaked and rattled lightly and rolled on the wet stone pavement.Sailors in canvas jackets walked alongside the front platoon of the 1st Company.The tall, white-browed Cossack of Fedoseyevsk tugged at his sleeves, and said apologetically and movedly: "My dear, are we willing to fight against the people? We have been fooled and tricked here. If we understood, would we come?" He shook his forehead sadly. "Please take my word for it—we will never come!" The Fourth Company walked last.They lingered for a while at the gate of the palace, which was crowded by the women's assault battalion.A muscular Cossack climbed onto the square log pile, shook a finger with a long black nail persuasively and meaningfully and said: "Hey, soldiers of the Detachment of Women, listen to me! We are about to withdraw now." Go, you foolish bitches stay here. Don't do anything stupid, though! If you shoot us in the back—we'll come back and chop you all up. I've said enough. Got it? Well, that's it. Now, goodbye." He jumped down from the pile of square logs and hurried to chase his team, looking back from time to time. The Cossacks were almost in the middle of the square.A Cossack looked back and said excitedly: "Look, boys! There's an officer coming after us!" Many people turned their heads to look while walking.A tall officer, saber in hand, came running down the square. He kept waving. "This is Atarshikov, from the third company." "What kind of person is it?" "Tall, with a small wart on one eye." "He wants to come with us." "A very nice lad." Atarshikov was quickly chasing the company, and he could be seen from a distance with a smile on his face.The Cossacks were waving to him, laughing. "Come on, Your Excellency Lieutenant!" "Hurry up!" There was a crisp, monotonous gunshot from the palace gate.Atarshikov waved his hands, leaned back, fell on his back, kicked his feet on the stone road, and tried to stand up.As if hearing a password, each company turned their faces to face the palace.The machine gunners turned their guns and knelt beside the machine guns.There was a rustle of belts.But beside the palace gate, behind the pile of pine logs, there was no one there.The female commandos and officers who had gathered there a minute earlier seemed to have been wiped out by the gunshot.Each company hastily assembled their team and started to walk, the pace quickened.The two Cossacks of the last platoon ran back from where Atarshikov had fallen.In order for the whole company to hear, one of them shouted: "Bullet under his left shoulder blade. Dead!" The sound of footsteps became louder and more regular.Sailors in canvas jackets shouted the password: "Turn left...go!" Several companies turned and walked in a zigzagging manner.The lonely and desolate old palace watched them silently.