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Show 186 THE DARK l"()lll‘,8'l‘ ()NE NIGHT wet night at Nijnietl'. Seven: last night‘s little talk with Semyonov. . . . Yes. I could see now that I had been ad- vancing always forward into the forest. growing ever no; iror and nearer, perceiving now the taeties ot' the enemy. lieaten here, frightened there. but still penetratiugwnot. as yet, retreating . . . and always. my private little history mareliing with me. confused with the private little his- tories of all of the others, all of them penetrating more deeply and more deeply. And if I lost my nerve I was beaten! It l had l ost my nerve no protecting of Marie, no detiauee ol' Semy onov- and, far beyond these, abject submission to my enemy in the forest. If I had lost my nerve.' . . . Hm] I? Was it only weariness the other night? llut. twice now I had been properly beaten, and why, after all. shoul d I imagine that I would be able to put up a tight~1 wl io had never A in all my life fought anything successfully ? back, looked at the sky. I lay on my I sat up. looked at the country. I set my teeth, looked at Xikitin. Nikitin grunted. "I‘ve had a good nap," he said. "You should have had one. There'll be plenty of work for us tonight by the sound of it." We turned a ('oi'iiel‘ of the road through the wood and one of our own b atteries jumped upon us. "I'm glad it's not raining," I said . (.\i;:;:::81St,fl]1 'some way: to £0," said Nikitin, sitting HP. ove y eyening! ' Ihen he added, quite witlim1t apparent connexion, "\Vell, you'r 8 more at home amongst us all now, aren't you ?" "Yes," said I. "I'm glad of that. And what do you think of Andrey Vassilievitch t" 137 I answered: "Oh! I like him! . . . but I don't think . he's happy at the war," I added. "I want you to like him," Nikitin said. "He's a splendid man . . . I have known him many years. He is merry and simple and it is easy to laugh at him, but it is‘al- ways easy to laugh at the best people. You must like him, . ‘Mr.' . . . He likes you very much." I felt as though Nikitin were here forming an alliance between the three of us. \Vell, I liked Nikitiii, I liked Andrey Vassilievitch. I listened to the battery, now some wav behind us, then said: :‘Of course, I am his friend if he wishes." . . . . "Andrey Vassdieviteh is a Nikitin repeated solemnly: splendid fellow." Then we arrived. Here, beside the broad path of the forest there was a clearing and above the clearing a thick slliell. pattern of shining stars curved like the top ot a 1ipsy temporar a made had Here, in the open, the doctors ) e: ta pital, fastening candles on the trees, arranging two fill on trestles, all very white and Clean under a brilliant moon. There were here two Sisters whom I did not know, several doctors, one of them a fat little army doctor whoTl-iad often been a visitor to our Otriad. tin warmly, nodded to me. The latter greeted hiki- He was a gay, merry httllo man with twinkling eyes. "Noe talc. Fine, our hospital, don't you think? Plenty to do this night, my ‘triem‘. Here, gOZIIINJI'Ue) this way. . . . Fingeryvis it? ()h. thiits Here, courage a moment. \V here are the bl is . . ()iw One moment. sors? I. . scissors, some one. nothing. . . . moment. Alil there you are!" The finger that. had been hanging by a shred fell into the basin, The soldier mad: tcred something, slipped on to his knees, his face grey 11111 L! |
