y to live only one week in the East to be quite
convinced of the possibility of the feat. In a practiced hand the
kinjal is a substitute for the hatchet, the bayonet, and the sabre.]

Bets were laid; all were disputing and doubting. The Captain, with a
smile, seized with his left hand a huge dagger, and in an instant an
immense head fell at the feet of the astonished spectators, whose
surprise was instantly succeeded by a desire to do the same: they
hacked and hewed, but all in vain. Many of the strongest men among
the Russians and Asiatics made unsuccessful attempts to perform the
feat, but to do this strength alone was not sufficient. "You are
children--children!" cried the commander-in-chief: and he rose from
table, calling for his sword--a blade which never struck twice, as he
told us. An immense heavy sabre was brought him, and Alexei Petrovitch,
though confident in his strength, yet, like Ulysses in the Odyssey,
anointing the bow which no one else could bend, first felt the edge,
waved the weapon thrice in the air, and at length addressed himself
to the feat. The betters had hardly time to strike hands when the
buffalo's head bounded at their feet on the earth. So swift and sure
was the blow, that the trunk stood for some instants on its legs,
and then gently, softly, sank down. A cry of astonishment arose from
all: Alexei Petrovitch quietly looked whether his sabre was notched--for
the weapon had cost him many thousands [of roubles], and presented
it as a keepsake to Captain Bekovitch.

We were still whispering among ourselves when there appeared before
the commander-in-chief an officer of the Kazaks of the Line, with a
message from Colonel Kortsareff, who was stationed on the frontier.
When he had received the report, the countenance of Alexei Petrovitch
brightenened--"Kortsareff has gloriously trounced the mountaineers!"
said he. "These rascals have made a plundering expedition beyond the
Terek; they have passed far within the Line, and have plundered a
village--but they have lost not only the cattle they had taken, but
fallen a sacrifice to their own fool-hardiness." Having minutely
questioned Yesoual respecting the details of the affair, he ordered
the prisoners whom they had taken, wounded or recovering, to be
brought before him. Five were led into the presence of the
commander-in-chief.

A cloud passed over his countenance as he beheld them; his brow
contracted, his eyes sparkled. "Villains!" said he to