I asked the staff-captain.

"One minute! One minute! Early next morning Kazbich rode over, driving
in half a score of rams for sale. Tethering his horse by the fence, he
came in to see me, and I regaled him with tea, for, robber though he
was, he was none the less my guest-friend.

"We began to chat about one thing and another... Suddenly I saw Kazbich
start, change countenance, and dart to the window; but unfortunately the
window looked on to the back courtyard.

"'What is the matter with you?' I asked.

"'My horse!... My horse!' he cried, all of a tremble.

"As a matter of fact I heard the clattering of hoofs.

"'It is probably some Cossack who has ridden up.'

"'No! Urus--yaman, yaman!' [151] he roared, and rushed headlong away
like a wild panther. In two bounds he was in the courtyard; at the gate
of the fortress the sentry barred the way with his gun; Kazbich jumped
over the gun and dashed off at a run along the road... Dust was whirling
in the distance--Azamat was galloping away on the mettlesome Karagyoz.
Kazbich, as he ran, tore his gun out of its cover and fired. For a
moment he remained motionless, until he had assured himself that he had
missed. Then he uttered a shrill cry, knocked the gun against a rock,
smashed it to splinters, fell to the ground, and burst out sobbing like
a child... The people from the fortress gathered round him, but he took
no notice of anyone. They stood there talking awhile and then went back.
I ordered the money for the rams to be placed beside him. He didn't
touch it, but lay with his face to the ground like a dead man. Would you
believe it? He remained lying like that throughout the rest of that day
and the following night! It was only on the next morning that he came to
the fortress and proceeded to ask that the name of the thief should
be told him. The sentry who had observed Azamat untying the horse and
galloping away on him did not see any necessity for concealment. At the
name of Azamat, Kazbich's eyes flashed, and he set off to the village
where Azamat's father lived." === "And what about the father?"

"Ah, that was where the trick came in! Kazbich could not find him;
he had gone away somewhere for five or six days; otherwise, how could
Azamat have succeeded in carrying off Bela?

"And, when the father returned, there was neither daughter nor son to be
found. A wily rogue, Azamat! He understood, you see, that he would lose
his life if he was caught. So, from that ti