Part 33 (1/2)
At a little distance, perhaps, would be a small chapel with the priest's house adjacent, and the soatherer and _starosta_--the head e, when he happened to be a farree superior to his fellows One could tell the tax-gatherer's house a mile away by its prosperous appearance, and the kind of courtyard round it, closed in with a solid breast-high log fence; for in these days the hated official ed by a mob of vodka-uard of one or two arniki_ (rural police) are unable to hold out till help comes,--well, there is red y in the frenzied village, and retribution next day or the day after, when the Cossacks arrive, and there is more red murder Then every htered; and the aggloe is burned to the ground
That, at least, is the explanation Mishka gaveand indescribably evil-sn of life, beyond a few disreputable-looking pigs and fowls grubbing about in what should have been the cultivated ground The peasant's holdings are inconceivably neglected, for the _moujik_ is the laziest creature on God's earth In the days of his serfdom he worked under the whip, but as a freeman he has reduced his labor to a andists have told him that he is the true lord of the soil, who should pay no taxes, and should live at ease,--and in sloth
The sight and stench of that holocaust sickened me, but Mishka rode forward stolidly, un it on themselves,” he said philosophically ”If they would work more and drink less they could live and pay their taxes well enough and there would be no trouble”
”But why on earth didn't they make themselves scarce after they'd settled scores with the tax collector, instead of waiting to be massacred?” I mused
”God knows,” said Mishka ”The _ht and sht for the morrow
Also, where would they run to? They would soon be hunted down Now they have had their taste of blood, and paid for it in full, that is all
There were no Jews there,” he jerked his head backwards, ”otherwise they ht have had their taste without payed his broad shoulders
”Wait, and perhaps you will see Have you never heard of a _pogroet out of him at the time
CHAPTER xxxIV
THE OLD JEW
We halted for the night at a small toith soed, of whom three-fourths appeared to be Jews
Coes we had passed, the place was a flourishi+ng one; and seea, there was so ominous in the air Nearly all the business was in the hands of the Jews; and their shops and houses, poor enough, according to civilized notions, were far and away hbors; while their synagogue was themuch, perhaps
We put up at the best inn in the place, where we found fresh horses waiting us, as we had done at a village half-way on our day's march, under the care of a couple of raph wire to Zostrov, and Mishka had sent word of our co I learned later that, when the Grand Duke was in residence, a constant line of coes or riders between the Castle and the railroad
I had wondered, when Mishka told ements for the journey, why on earth e, but when I found what the roads were like, when there were any roads at all, I guessed it ise to rely on horses, and on the light and strong Russian travelling carriages that go gayly over the roughest track, rather than on the best built motor procurable
The landlord of the inn was a Jew, of course,--a lean oldbeard, above which his hooked nose looked like the beak of a dejected eagle He welcoave us of his best I'd have thought the place filthy, if I hadn't seen and ses; but it ell appointed in a way The dinner-table, set in the one bedrooht dine privately and in state, was spread with a cloth, which, though griree, was of fine damask, and displayed forks, spoons, and candlesticks of solid silver The frowsy sheets and coverlids on the three beds were of linen and silk Evidently Moses Barzinsky was a wealthy man; and his wife,--a fat da,--served us up as good a meal as I've ever tasted I coht in the samovar; for here, in the wilds, it didn't seenorance of the language She was flattered, and assue like her husband As I sat there, sipping uessed ould befall the coood-tempered old lady a very few days hence Mishka listened in disapproving silence to our interchange of badinage, and, when our hostess retreated, he entered on a grurunted ”Why do you want to chatter with a thing like that?”
He jerked his pipe towards the doorway; Mishka despised the cigarette which, to every other Russian I have met, seems as necessary to life as the air he breathes; and when he hadn't a cigar fell back on a distinctly malodorous briar
”Why in thunder shouldn't I talk to her?” I deot back into Holy Russia; it cheers one up a bit, even to look at her!”
”You are a fool,” was his complimentary retort ”And she is another--like all wohter But, I tell you once more, you cannot be too cautious You must remember that you know no Russian You are only an American who has co to turn the Zostrov _ood farmers That, in itself, is a form of madness, of course, but doubtless they think it erous mischief”
”Who are 'they'? I wish you'd be a bit ry sometimes
”That is not my business,” he answered stolidly ”My business is to obey orders, and one of those is to bring you safely to Zostrov”