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Updated: May 18, 2025
It was a bad beginning, but I was full of hope and courage, and believed that I could easily explain my dealings with Pugatchéf. The next day I was summoned to appear before the commission, and asked how long I had been in Pugatchéf's service.
An insolent proclamation from Pugatchéf, inviting us to surrender on peril of death, and the treachery of our Cossacks and of Chvabrine, who went over at once to the rebels, only made the commandant and his wife more resolute. "The scoundrel!" cried Vassilissa. "He has the impudence to invite us to lay our flag at his feet, and he doesn't know we have been forty years in the service!"
I sought with my eyes the body of the Commandant's wife; it had been pushed aside and covered over with an old bark mat. At last Pugatchéf came out of the house. All the crowd uncovered. Pugatchéf stopped on the doorstep and said good-morning to everybody.
Around him stood several of his principal chiefs, with a forced expression of submission and respect. It was easy to see that the news of the arrival of an officer from Orenburg had aroused a great curiosity among the rebels, and that they were prepared to receive me in pomp. Pugatchéf recognized me at the first glance. His feigned gravity disappeared at once.
The council broke up. I could not help deploring the weakness of the honest soldier who, against his own judgment, had decided to abide by the counsel of ignorant and inexperienced people. Several days after this memorable council of war, Pugatchéf, true to his word, approached Orenburg.
The Commandant of Fort Nijnéosern, a gentle and quiet young man, was known to me. Two months previously he had passed on his way from Orenburg with his young wife, and he had stayed with Iván Kouzmitch. The Nijnéosernaia was only twenty-five versts away from our fort. From hour to hour we might expect to be attacked by Pugatchéf.
At last Pugatchéf was beaten by Michelson, and was obliged to fly again. Zourine received soon afterwards the news that the robber had been taken and the order to halt. The war was at an end. It was at last possible for me to go home. The thought of embracing my parents and seeing Marya again, of whom I had no news, filled me with joy. I jumped like a child.
"To Fort Bélogorsk!" said Pugatchéf to the robust Tartar driver, who standing guided the team. My heart beat violently. The horses dashed forward, the little bell tinkled, the "kibitka," bounded across the snow. "Stop! stop!" cried a voice which I knew but too well; and I saw Savéliitch running towards us. Pugatchéf bid the man stop.
My heart failed me when we entered the little room I knew so well, where could still be seen on the wall the commission of the late deceased Commandant, as a sad memorial. Pugatchéf sat down on the same sofa where ofttimes Iván Kouzmitch had dozed to the sound of his wife's scolding. Chvabrine himself brought brandy to his chief. Pugatchéf drank a glass of it, and said to him, pointing to me
"What do they say of me in Orenburg?" asked Pugatchéf, after a short silence. "Well, it is said that you are not easy to get the better of. You will agree we have had our hands full with you." The face of the usurper expressed the satisfaction of self-love. "Yes," said he, with a glorious air, "I am a great warrior. Do they know in Orenburg of the battle of Jouzeïff?
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