A JOURNEY
One day, not long after a traveling merchant had brought us news of
Dimitri, my father called me to the bench on which he sat, and putting
his hands on my head, asked: "How would you like to learn to read and
write?"
At first I did not know what to answer, the question was so unexpected.
Glancing at my mother, I saw that it made her so uneasy that she
dropped a tumbler on the floor, a very unusual happening.
Although father did not insist on my answering, the question kept
coming back to me all that day and the next, until I decided that to
learn to read and write would be a very good thing.
For some days following this question, I noticed that father seemed
to be brooding over something, and finally, to my great surprise, I
accidentally learned that I was the cause of his worry.
One night after I had gone to my bed, where I lay dreaming of having
won distinction in the army, I heard mother say, "What's worrying you,
Alexis? Are you sick? Or is anything wrong with the horses? Or"--here
her voice trembled--"have you had bad tidings of Dimitri that you're
afraid to tell me?"
"Oh, no," father answered. "Nothing is wrong." Then he abruptly changed
the conversation. "Do you remember Mongalov?"
"Do you mean your chum, Vanka, whom my mother spanked when he threw mud
at me as a child?"
"That's the one," replied my father. "But you mustn't call him Vanka
any more. Didn't Mitya tell you that he is now a _sotnik_?"[13]
"What! An officer! Is it possible?"
"Yes,--and I am not," said my father with a certain bitterness in his
voice. "Yet I had a better chance in some ways than he." Here his
voice sank lower. "Now, our Vanka isn't stupid, and if we give him an
education I don't see why he shouldn't become an officer. Too bad that
that fellow Gabrilov, whom we had here as a teacher last spring, turned
out to be such a drunkard. We really had to get rid of him."
Mother interrupted him. "Judging by Gabrilov, education isn't such
a splendid thing. Boys brought up in town learn all sorts of wicked
things. I'd rather keep Vanka here. He can learn to be as good a
Cossack in our village as anywhere else. Mongalov may dress better
than you, but he isn't respected a bit more. After Katia is married I
don't see how I can get along without Vanka."
Here I fell asleep with the pleasant knowledge that, after all, I was
not simply a nuisance but meant something to my parents.
The next morning father went about his work as usual, feeding the
horses and cattle, and bringing wood and cutting it. In the meantime
mother brought water from the well in the middle of the yard, and I
pumped water into a big trough to which I led the horses.
When this had been done, father caught two of the horses, gave them
some grain and tied them to a post.
Seeing my look of inquiry, he smilingly repeated a favorite proverb,
"Don't try to learn too much or your hair will turn gray."
As we went in to breakfast his lips moved as if he were talking to
himself, a habit he had formed whenever he had a great deal on his
mind. Mother watched him with a troubled air, and at last asked:
"What's the matter, Alexis?"
Without replying to her question, he said, "I have to go to Habarovsk
to-day, and I'll take Vanyuska with me. I've been promising him the
ride for a long time."
I jumped up, waved my arms, and with my mouth full of bread, shouted:
"Hurrah!"
My mother stopped me. "Sit down, you foolish boy. You can't go. I need
you."
But, after a long argument, mother agreed to my going. Then father and
I cleaned the horses and tied their tails up as high as possible, for
at this time of the year the roads were very muddy. I placed a light
saddle on the horse I was to ride, and father's military saddle with
its high trees on the other horse. As father put some sacks with forage
behind these, Katia came out with something that mother was sending
Dimitri. I was very glad to see this, for it meant that we were going
to visit the Cossack barracks.
Half an hour later we had left home and were making our way through
the deep mud. It was a beautiful Spring morning. The air was fresh and
clear, and, despite the heavy road, the horses were full of spirit and
went on with a light and springy gait.
At a turn of the road I suddenly saw two rabbits sitting about a
hundred feet from us. Pointing to them, I called to my father to look.
Here my horse jumped to one side and I was all but thrown from the
saddle.
My father was quite angry. He turned to me exclaiming roughly: "What's
the matter with you? A Cossack should always watch his horse. He must
never be taken by surprise even should the horse leap a fence. You
almost fell like a sack."
Since that lesson I have never failed in watchfulness, never "fallen
asleep," as the Cossacks say, even when trying to ride a mule or an ox.
We did not meet many travelers. Once a company of dusky, flat-featured
natives of the Lake Baikal region, passed us, splendidly mounted
on their horses. Their large, squat bodies gave them a somewhat
forbidding air, but I knew how peaceful and harmless they really are.
The Russians call them Bratskie (brotherly people). One was dressed
in a long, purplish blue cloak, lined with fur, and had on a curious
blue cone-shaped hat. The others were evidently Cossacks, for they
had on the distinguishing uniform. They may have been on their way
to some Buddhist shrine, for the Russian Government, severe with its
own people, allows those born into other religions to worship as they
please. "God gave us our religion. He gave them theirs," expresses the
attitude taken.
It was just here that we were overtaken by a man mounted like ourselves
on a shaggy Siberian pony. When he had come up, both he and my father
gave expression to surprised greetings. He proved to be an old-time
acquaintance. There was no end of questions and answers for he rode
with us as far as our destination. He had just come from the city of
Vladivostok,[14] the great growing seaport of Siberia. As he gave a
glowing description of the place, I was reminded of the meaning of the
name Vladi-vostok--possessor of the East.
"We may build a great trade with the United States through
Vladivostok," he remarked among other things. "It has a splendid,
land-locked harbor, large enough for any number of vessels,--and a
beautiful one as well."
"But isn't it frozen a large part of the year?" my father asked.
"From the latter part of December to April. It's really too bad so
great a country as ours hasn't an outlet further south. But all trade
isn't stopped on account of the ice. There is a channel kept open for
the largest ships all winter by means of ice-breakers."
"What kind of people are there in Vladivostok?" I ventured to ask, half
fearful of saying something ridiculous.
The man turned to me with a smile. "Many exactly like those in your
village. Then people from different parts of Europe, and Chinese and
Japanese. Also quite a number of Koreans, whom you can tell by their
white dress. You'll see those in Habarovsk, also." After a moment's
pause, he went on, "The bay is called the Golden Horn (Zolotoy Rog).
The town rises up from it in terraces. It is very picturesque."
"I suppose there is a fort there," I again ventured.
This time the man laughed. "If you visited this seaport you might
think it all forts. There are defenses,--forts and guns,--whole lines
of them, everywhere. The greater part of the population consists of
soldiers and sailors."
Here my father broached the subject of which his mind seemed so full
these days. "I suppose there are fine schools," he said.
I was so stiff by this time, and my back ached so much from the long
unusual ride, that I was no longer able to concentrate my mind on
anything except that I must not disgrace my father and myself by
showing fatigue.
At last we approached the great Amur River. Across it we could just
make out a few black spots and the shining roof of a church.
After a half hour ride we came to a place on the bank where a raft was
stationed. A few people were already aboard, desiring, like ourselves,
to be taken across. Two soldiers had the boat in charge, and as soon
as we were on, every one helped them in making the somewhat difficult
trip.
On the opposite bank we parted from our companion, and then, for the
first time, I fully realized that we had reached our destination,--the
important garrison town of Habarovsk.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 13: An officer in the Cossack cavalry.]
[Footnote 14: Now connected by the longest railroad in the world with
Petrograd (St. Petersburg), Russia.]