"I had a boy, you must know--oh! a straight young man--that went for
a soldier, an' was killed at Inkerman by the Rooshians. Take another
look at his father here; you think 'en a bundle o' frailties, I
dessay. Well, when the news was brought us, this poor old worm lifts
his fist up to the sun an' says, 'God do so to me an' more also,' he
says, 'if ever I falls across a Rooshian!' An' 'God send me a
Rooshian--just one!' he says, meanin' that Rooshians don't grow on
brambles hereabouts. Now the boy was our only flesh.
"Well, sir, nigh sixteen year' went by, an' we two were sittin', one
quakin' night, beside this very fire, hearkenin' to the bedlam
outside: for 'twas the big storm in 'Seventy, an' even indoors we
must shout to make ourselves heard. About ten, as we was thinkin' to
alley-couchey, there comes a bangin' on the door, an' Isaac gets up
an' lets the bar down, singin' out, 'Who is it?'
"There was a big young man 'twixt the doorposts, drippin' wet, wi'
smears o' blood on his face, an' white teeth showin' when he talked.
'Twas a half-furrin talk, an' he spoke a bit faint too, but fairly
grinned for joy to see our warm fire,--an' his teeth were white as
pearl.
"'Ah, sir,' he cried, 'you will help? Our barque is ashore below--
fifteen poor brothers! You will send for help?--you will aid?'
"Then Isaac stepped back, and spoke very slow--'What nation?' he
asked. 'She is Russ--we are all Russ; sixteen poor brothers from
Archangel,' said the young man, as soon as he took in the question.
My man slewed round on his heel, and walked to the hearth here; but
the sailor stretched out his hands, an' I saw the middle finger of
his right hand was gone. 'You will aid, eh? Ah, yes, you will aid.
They are clingin'--_so_--fifteen poor brothers, and many have wives.'
But Isaac said, 'Thank Thee, God,' and picked up a log from the
hearth here. 'Take 'em this message,' said he, facin' round; an',
runnin' on the sailor, who was faint and swayin', beat him forth wi'
the burnin' stick, and bolted the door upon him.
"After that we sat quiet, he an' I, all the night through, never
takin' our clothes off. An' at daybreak Isaac walked down to the
shore. There was nothin' to see but two bodies, an' he buried them
an' waited for more. That evenin' another came in, an' next day,
two; an' so on for a se'nnight. Ten bodies in all he picked up and
buried i' the meadow below. An' on the fourth day he picked up a
body wi' one finger missin', under the Nare Head. 'Twas the young
man he had driven forth, who had wandered there an' broke his neck.
Isaac buried him too. An' that was all, except two that the
coastguard found an' held an inquest over an' carr'd off to
churchyard.
"So it befell; an' for five year' neither Isaac nor me opened mouth
'pon it, not to each other even. An' then, one noonday, a sailor
knocks at the door; an' goin' out, I seed he was a furriner, wi'
great white teeth showin' dro' his beard. 'I be come to see Mister
Isaac Lenine,' he says, in his outlandish English. So I called Isaac
out; an' the stranger grips 'en by the hand an' kisses 'en, sayin',
'Little father, take me to their graves. My name is Feodor Himkoff,
an' my brother Dmitry was among the crew of the _Viatka_. You would
know his body, if you buried it, for the second finger was gone from
his right hand. I myself--wretched one!--chopped it by bad luck when
we were boys, an' played at wood cuttin' wi' our father's axe.
I have heard how they perished, far from aid, and how you gave 'em
burial in your own field: and I pray to all the saints for you,' he
says.
"So Isaac led 'en to the field and showed 'en the grave that was
staked off 'long wi' the rest. God help my poor man! he was too big
a coward to speak. So the man stayed wi' us till sundown, an' kissed
us 'pon both cheeks, an' went his way, blessin' us. God forgi'e us--
God forgi'e us!
"An' ever since he's been breaking our heads dro' the post-office wi'
such-like precious balms as these here." She broke off to settle
Isaac more comfortably in his chair. "'Tis all we can do to get rid
of 'em on poor trampin' fellows same as yourself."