...

"Well, you see, it was not until afterwards that I learned the whole
trick--Grigori Aleksandrovich exasperated Azamat to such an extent
with his teasing that the boy was ready even to drown himself. One day
Pechorin suddenly broke out with:

"'I see, Azamat, that you have taken a desperate fancy to that horse
of Kazbich's, but you'll no more see him than you will the back of your
neck! Come, tell me, what would you give if somebody made you a present
of him?'

"'Anything he wanted,' answered Azamat.

"'In that case I will get the horse for you, only on one condition...
Swear that you will fulfil it?'

"'I swear. You swear too!'

"'Very well! I swear that the horse shall be yours. But, in return,
you must deliver your sister Bela into my hands. Karagyoz shall be her
bridegroom's gift. I hope the transaction will be a profitable one for
you.'

"Azamat remained silent.

"'Won't you? Well, just as you like! I thought you were a man, but
it seems you are still a child; it is early for you to be riding on
horseback!'

"Azamat fired up.

"'But my father--' he said.

"'Does he never go away, then?'

"'True.'

"'You agree?'

"'I agree,' whispered Azamat, pale as death. 'But when?'

"'The first time Kazbich rides over here. He has promised to drive in
half a score of rams; the rest is my affair. Look out, then, Azamat!'

"And so they settled the business--a bad business, to tell the truth!
I said as much to Pechorin afterwards, but he only answered that a wild
Circassian girl ought to consider herself fortunate in having such
a charming husband as himself--because, according to their ideas, he
really was her husband--and that Kazbich was a scoundrel, and ought to
be punished. Judge for yourself, what could I say to that?... At the
time, however, I knew nothing of their conspiracy. Well, one day Kazbich
rode up and asked whether we needed any rams and honey; and I ordered
him to bring some the next day.

"'Azamat!' said Grigori Aleksandrovich; 'to-morrow Karagyoz will be in
my hands; if Bela is not here to-night you will never see the horse.'..

"'Very well,' said Azamat, and galloped to the village.

"In the evening Grigori Aleksandrovich armed himself and rode out of the
fortress. How they settled the business I don't know, but at night they
both returned, and the sentry saw that across Azamat's saddle a woman
was lying, bound hand and foot and with her head wrapped in a veil."

"And the horse?"