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Hush, father!" THERE was the thud of horses' hoofs on the wooden floor; they brought out of the stable the black horse, Count Nulin; then the white, Giant; then his sister Maika. They were all magnificent, expensive horses. Old Shelestov saddled Giant and said, addressing his daughter Masha: "Well, Marie Godefroi, come, get on! Hopla!"
They seem even to have known the use of iron, as it is called panilgue in their language, and weapons made of it are termed chiuquel, while those made of other materials are called nulin. A smith likewise is called ruthavé, from ruthan, signifying to work in iron.
Her sister Varya got on Maika, Nikitin on Count Nulin, the officers on their horses, and the long picturesque cavalcade, with the officers in white tunics and the ladies in their riding habits, moved at a walking pace out of the yard. Nikitin noticed that when they were mounting the horses and afterwards riding out into the street, Masha for some reason paid attention to no one but himself.
And exhausted by his happiness, he fell asleep at once and went on smiling till the morning. He dreamed of the thud of horses' hoofs on a wooden floor; he dreamed of the black horse Count Nulin, then of the white Giant and its sister Maika, being led out of the stable.
She looked anxiously at him and at Count Nulin and said: "You must hold him all the time on the curb, Sergey Vassilitch. Don't let him shy. He's pretending." And either because her Giant was very friendly with Count Nulin, or perhaps by chance, she rode all the time beside Nikitin, as she had done the day before, and the day before that.
Masha was silent, too, and he felt why she was silent and why she was riding beside him, and was so happy that the earth, the sky, the lights of the town, the black outline of the brewery all blended for him into something very pleasant and comforting, and it seemed to him as though Count Nulin were stepping on air and would climb up into the crimson sky. They arrived home.
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