It was daylight when he came home again. He hardly looked like a human
being. His clothes were covered with mud, his face had a wild and
ferocious expression, his eyes looked dull and sullen. In a hoarse
whisper he drove Perfishka away, and locked himself in his room. He
could hardly stand with fatigue, but he did not lie on his bed, but sat
down on a chair by the door and clutched at his head.
'Stolen!... stolen!...'
But in what way had the thief contrived by night, when the stable was
locked, to steal Malek-Adel? Malek-Adel, who would never let a stranger
come near him even by day--steal him, too, without noise, without a
sound? And how explain that not a yard-dog had barked? It was true there
were only two left--two young puppies--and those two probably burrowing
in rubbish from cold and hunger--but still!
'And what am I to do now without Malek-Adel?' Tchertop-hanov brooded.
'I've lost my last pleasure now; it's time to die. Buy another horse,
seeing the money has come? But where find another horse like that?'
'Panteley Eremyitch! Panteley Eremyitch!' he heard a timid call at the
door.
Tchertop-hanov jumped on to his feet.
'Who is it?' he shouted in a voice not his own.
'It's I, your groom, Perfishka.'
'What do you want? Is he found? has he run home?'
'No, Panteley Eremyitch; but that Jew chap who sold him.'...
'Well?'
'He's come.'
'Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!' yelled Tchertop-hanov, and he at once flung open the
door. 'Drag him here! drag him along!'
On seeing the sudden apparition of his 'benefactor's' dishevelled,
wild-looking figure, the Jew, who was standing behind Perfishka's back,
tried to give them the slip; but Tchertop-hanov, in two bounds, was upon
him, and like a tiger flew at his throat.
'Ah! he's come for the money! for the money!' he cried as hoarsely as
though he were being strangled himself instead of strangling the Jew;
'you stole him by night, and are come by day for the money, eh? Eh? Eh?'
'Mercy on us, your ex-shelency,' the Jew tried to groan out.
'Tell me, where's my horse? What have you done with him? Whom have you
sold him to? Tell me, tell me, tell me!'
The Jew by now could not even groan; his face was rapidly turning livid,
and even the expression of fear had vanished from it. His hands dropped
and hung lifeless, his whole body, furiously shaken by Tchertop-hanov,
waved backwards and forwards like a reed.
'I'll pay you your money, I'll pay it you in full to the last farthing,'
roared Tchertop-hanov, 'but I'll strangle you like any chicken if you
don't tell me at once!'...
'But you have strangled him already, master,' observed the groom
Perfishka humbly.
Then only Tchertop-hanov came to his senses.
He let go of the Jew's neck; the latter fell heavily to the ground.
Tchertop-hanov picked him up, sat him on a bench, poured a glass of
vodka down his throat, and restored him to consciousness. And having
restored him to consciousness, he began to talk to him.
It turned out that the Jew had not the slightest idea that Malek-Adel
had been stolen. And, indeed, what motive could he have to steal the
horse which he had himself procured for his 'revered Panteley
Eremyitch.'
Then Tchertop-hanov led him into the stable.
Together they scrutinised the horse-boxes, the manger, and the lock on
the door, turned over the hay and the straw, and then went into the
courtyard. Tchertop-hanov showed the Jew the hoofprints at the fence,
and all at once he slapped his thighs.
'Stay!' he cried. 'Where did you buy the horse?'
'In the district of Maloarchangel, at Verhosensky Fair,' answered the
Jew.
'Of whom?'
'A Cossack.'