Chapter 5 chapter Five

The rain had stopped, but it was foggy and the branches were still dripping.Denisov, the Cossack first-class captain, and Petya followed silently the peasant in the peaked hat, who in bark shoes, walked with figure-splayed steps, stepped on the rain-soaked leaves, and quietly led them to the edge of the forest. go. He walked up a slope, stopped for a moment, looked around, and then walked towards a sparsely wooded area. He stopped under a large oak tree whose leaves had not yet fallen, and waved to them mysteriously. Denisov and his party walked over.The Frenchman can be seen from where the peasant guide stands.Once out of the forest, on the slope was a field of rye.on the right.Across a steep valley there was a small village with a landowner's house whose roof had collapsed.In the small village, in the landlord's house, on the entire hillside, in the garden, by the well and the pond, on the avenue 200 meters uphill from the bridgehead to the village, through the drifting fog, you can see the adult People in groups.The horses pulling the cart uphill can be clearly heard yelling in a non-Russian language, and their voices can be heard echoing each other.

"Bring the prisoners," Denisov ordered in a low voice, his eyes still fixed on the Frenchmen. The Cossack dismounted the boy and brought him to Denisov.Denisov pointed to the French troops and asked him what they were.Putting his frozen hands in his pockets, the boy looked up at Denisov in horror. He was obviously trying to tell what he knew, to answer Denisov's questions, but the boy always The answer is irrelevant.Denisov frowned, turned around and told the first-class Cossack captain his speculation. Petya turned her head rapidly, now from the little drummer, now from Denisov, now from the first-class Cossack captain, now from the Frenchmen in the village and on the road.Afraid of missing something important.

"Whether Dolokhov comes or not, it must be taken down! . . . eh?" Denisov said with a twinkle of pleasure. "It's a good place," said the Cossack First Captain. "Send the infantry down to the hollow," Denisov went on, "and they can climb over to the garden; you lead the Cossack cavalry through there," Denisov pointed to a wood behind the village, "I will lead the This is where the hussars go. A full blow at the gunshot..." "It's hard to get through the depression—there's a quagmire," said the Cossack first captain, "and the horses will sink and have to go around on the left..."

While they were talking in low tones, a shot smacked in the hollow by the pond, a puff of white smoke rose, and then another shot, and the hundreds of Frenchmen on the hillside shouted in what seemed to be a merry chorus .When the shot rang out, Denisov and the Cossack first captain stepped back a little.Because they were so close to the French, they thought they were the cause of the gunshots and shouts.However this has nothing to do with them.Below, a man in red ran swiftly across the hollow, and the French were evidently shooting and shouting at him. "Alas! Isn't this our Tikhon?" said the first-class Cossack captain.

"It's him! It's him!" "Hey, you naughty boy," said Denisov. "Run away!" the Cossack first captain winked and said. The man they called Tikhon ran to the river, jumped into the river with a splash, climbed ashore three times and two times, became a clay figurine, his whole body was black, got up and ran again.The Frenchman who pursued him stopped by the river. "Well, that's really quick," said the first-class Cossack captain. "What a cunning fellow," said Denisov, still indignant, "what has he been up to now?" "Who is he?" asked Petya.

"It's our scout. I sent him to catch a 'tongue.'" "Oh, that's it," said Petya, nodding at the first sentence, as if he understood everything, but he didn't understand anything. Tijon Shcherbart is one of the most useful guys on the team.He was originally a peasant in the village of Pokrovskoye near Gezat.Denisov came to the village of Pokrovskoye at the beginning of the guerrilla campaign. As usual, he called the village chief to ask about the situation of the French. This village chief, like all village chiefs, seemed to protect himself. The general answer is that it is unheard of.Denisov explained to them that his purpose was to destroy the French.When asked again, have the French come here?The village chief said that foreigners did come, but in our village only Tishka Shcherbat ① dealt with them.Denisov ordered Tikhon to be sent for, praised his activities, and said a few words in the presence of the mayor that all sons of the fatherland should be loyal to the tsar and the motherland, and should hate the words of the French.

-------- ① Jiska is Tikhon's pet name. "We didn't do anything bad to the French," Tijon said.It seemed that he was a little timid after hearing Denisov's words. "We were just playing around with those boys. We did kill about twenty foreigners, but we didn't do anything else..." Denisov completely forgot about the peasant the next day, when he had left In the village of Pokrovskoye, the team reported to Denisov that Tikhon refused to leave with the team and asked to take him in.Denisov ordered him to stay. At first, Tikhon only did some rough work, such as lighting fires, carrying water, skinning dead horses, etc., and soon he showed great interest and talent in guerrilla warfare.He used to look for booty by night, and was often able to get French clothing and weapons, and sent him to take prisoners, and he was able to bring them back.Denisov relieved him of chores, took him with him when he went out to scout the enemy, and incorporated him into the Cossack ranks.

Tikhon did not like to ride horses, and often walked, but never fell behind the cavalry.His weapons are an old-fashioned musket, a long-haired musket, and an axe; he carries his musket mostly for fun, and wields the ax like a wolf wields its teeth, which can easily find lice in its fur, and it's okay. Gnaw chunks of bone.Tikhon was able to split wood with an axe, sharpen sticks or dig spoons with the back of the axe. Tikhon held a special and unique place in Denisov's team.Whenever there is some kind of difficult and annoying work to be done, such as shouldering a cart stuck in the mud, pulling a horse out of the mud by its tail, sneaking among the French, a day To walk fifty Russians (one verst equals one, six or seven kilometers-translator's note), people always point to Tikhon with a smile.

"You really can't do anything with this damn thing, he's as strong as a bull." That's what people said about him. Tikhon once tried to catch a Frenchman who shot him in the fleshy part of the back.Tikhon healed the wound with only vodka inhalation and external rubbing. This incident became a joke for the whole team, and Tikhon was willing to be laughed at by everyone. "Well, buddy, quit? Get beaten?" the Cossacks laughed at him.At this moment Tikhon stooped deliberately, made a face, pretended to be angry, and cursed the Frenchman with the most amusing words.The only effect this incident had on Tikhon was that he rarely took prisoners after his injury.

Tikhon was the most useful and courageous man on the team.No one found more opportunities to attack, no one captured and killed more Frenchmen; perhaps for this reason, he was the joke of all the Cossacks and hussars, and he willingly fulfill this role.This time it was Denisov who had sent him the night before to catch a "tongue" in the village of Shamshevo.But, whether he was not content with taking only one prisoner, or because he overslept at night, he slipped into the bushes in broad daylight among the French, and, just as Denisov from It was discovered by the French as seen from the mountain.