Meanwhile time went by, the day fixed for payment was approaching;
while, far from having two hundred and fifty roubles, Tchertop-hanov had
not even fifty. What was to be done? how could it be met? 'Well,' he
decided at last, 'if the Jew is relentless, if he won't wait any longer,
I'll give him my house and my land, and I'll set off on my horse, no
matter where! I'll starve before I'll give up Malek-Adel!' He was
greatly perturbed and even downcast; but at this juncture Fate, for the
first and last time, was pitiful and smiled upon him; some distant
kinswoman, whose very name was unknown to Tchertop-hanov, left him in
her will a sum immense in his eyes--no less than two thousand roubles!
And he received this sum in the very nick, as they say, of time; the day
before the Jew was to come. Tchertop-hanov almost went out of his mind
with joy, but he never even thought of vodka; from the very day
Malek-Adel came into his hands he had not touched a drop.
He ran into the stable and kissed his favourite on both sides of his
face above the nostrils, where the horse's skin is always so soft. 'Now
we shall not be parted!' he cried, patting Malek-Adel on the neck, under
his well-combed mane. When he went back into the house, he counted out
and sealed up in a packet two hundred and fifty roubles. Then, as he lay
on his back and smoked a pipe, he mused on how he would lay out the rest
of the money--what dogs he would procure, real Kostroma hounds, spot and
tan, and no mistake! He even had a little talk with Perfishka, to whom
he promised a new Cossack coat, with yellow braid on all the seams, and
went to bed in a blissful frame of mind.
He had a bad dream: he dreamt he was riding out, hunting, not on
Malek-Adel, but on some strange beast of the nature of a unicorn; a
white fox, white as snow, ran to meet him.... He tried to crack his
whip, tried to set the dogs on her--but instead of his riding-whip, he
found he had a wisp of bast in his hand, and the fox ran in front of
him, putting her tongue out at him. He jumped off, his unicorn stumbled,
he fell... and fell straight into the arms of a police-constable, who
was taking him before the Governor-General, and whom he recognised as
Yaff....
Tchertop-hanov waked up. The room was dark; the cocks were just crowing
for the second time.... Somewhere in the far, far distance a horse
neighed. Tchertop-hanov lifted up his head.... Once more a faint, faint
neigh was heard.
'That's Malek-Adel neighing!' was his thought.... 'It's his neigh. But
why so far away? Bless us and save us!... It can't be...'
Tchertop-hanov suddenly turned chill all over; he instantly leaped out
of bed, fumbled after his boots and his clothes, dressed himself, and,
snatching up the stable-door key from under his pillow, he dashed out
into the courtyard.