extraordinary size poking her head out ofa dormer window. I went out of the house.
"'Where is my Tresor?' I asked and at once I saw my saviour. He wascoming from the gate limping, covered with wounds and with blood....'What's the meaning of it?' I asked the servants who were dashingabout the yard as though possessed. 'A mad dog!' they answered, 'thecount's; it's been hanging about here since yesterday.'
"We had a neighbour, a count, who bred very fierce foreign dogs. Myknees shook; I rushed to a looking-glass and looked to see whether Ihad been bitten. No, thank God, there was nothing to be seen; only mycountenance naturally looked green; while Nimfodora Semyonovna waslying on the sofa and cackling like a hen. Well, that one could quiteunderstand, in the first place nerves, in the second sensibility. Shecame to herself at last, though, and asked me whether I were alive. Ianswered that I was and that Tresor had saved me. 'Ah,' she said,'what a noble creature! and so the mad dog has strangled him?' 'No,' Isaid, 'it has not strangled him, but has wounded him seriously.' 'Oh,'she said, 'in that case he must be shot this minute!' 'Oh, no,' Isaid, 'I won't agree to that. I shall try to cure him....' At thatmoment Tresor began scratching at the door. I was about to go and openit for him. 'Oh,' she said, 'what are you doing, why, it will bite usall.' 'Upon my word,' I said, 'the poison does not act so quickly.''Oh, how can you?' she said. 'Why, you have taken leave of yoursenses!' 'Nimfotchka,' I said, 'calm yourself, be reasonable....' Butshe suddenly cried, 'Go away at once with your horrid dog.' 'I willgo away,' said I. 'At once,' she said, 'this second! Get along withyou,' she said, 'you villain, and never dare to let me set eyes on youagain. You may go mad yourself!' 'Very good,' said I, 'only let mehave a carriage for I am afraid to go home on foot now.' 'Give him thecarriage, the coach, the chaise, what he likes, only let him be gonequickly. Oh, what eyes! Oh, what eyes he has!' and with those wordsshe whisked out of the room and gave a maid who met her a slap in theface--and I heard her in hysterics again.
"And you may not believe me, gentlemen, but that very day I broke offall acquaintance with Nimfodora Semyonovna; on mature consideration ofeverything, I am bound to add that for that circumstance, too, I shallowe a debt of gratitude to my friend Tresor to the hour of my death.
"Well, I had the carriage brought round, put my Tresor in and drovehome. When I got home I looked him over and washed his wounds, andthought I would take him next day as soon as it was light to the wiseman in the Yefremovsky district. And this wise man was an old peasant,a wonderful man: he would whisper over some water--and some peoplemade out that he dropped some snake spittle into it--would give it asa draught, and the trouble would be gone completely. I thought, by theway, I would be bled myself at Yefremovo: it's a good thing as aprecaution against fright, only not from the arm, of course, but fromthe falcon."
"What place is that, the falcon?" Mr. Finoplentov asked with demurecuriosity.
"Why, don't you know? It is here on the fist near the thumb, the spoton which one shakes the snuff from one's horn, just here. It's thebest place for letting blood. For only consider, the blood from thearm comes from the vein, but here it is of no consequence. The doctorsdon't know that and don't understand it, how should they, the idledrones, the wretched Germans? It's the blacksmiths who go in for it.And aren't they skilful! They get a chisel, give it a tap with ahammer and it's done! ... Well, while I was thinking it over, it gotquite dark, it was time for bed. I went to bed and Tresor, of course,was close by me. But whether it was from the fight, from thestuffiness, from the fleas or from my thoughts, I could not get tosleep, do what I would! I can't describe the depression that came overme; I sipped water, opened the window and played the 'Kamarinsky' withItalian variations on the guitar.... No good! I felt I must get out ofthe room--and that was all about it! I made up my mind at last: I tookmy pillow, my quilt and my sheet and made my way across the garden tothe hayloft; and settled myself there. And how pleasant I felt inthere, gentlemen: it was a still, still night, only from time to timea breath of air like a woman's hand caressed one's cheek; it was sofresh; the hay smelt as sweet as tea; among the apple trees' thegrasshoppers were chirping; then all at once came the cry of thequail--and one felt that he, too, the rogue, was happy, sitting in thedew with his little lady.... And the sky was magnificent.... The starswere glowing, or a cloud would float by, white as cotton wool,scarcely moving...."
At this point in the story Skvorevitch sneezed; Kinarevitch sneezed,too--he never failed in anything to follow his colleague's example.Anton Stepanitch looked approvingly at both of them.
"Well," Porfiry Kapitonitch went on, "well, so I lay there and againcould not go to sleep. I fell to musing, and what I thought of mostwas the strangeness of it all: how correctly Prohoritch had explainedit as a warning and I wondered why it was to me such marvels hadhappened.... I marvelled--particularly because I could make nothing ofit--and Tresor kept whining, as he twisted round in the hay; hiswounds hurt him. And I will tell you what else prevented me fromsleeping--you won't believe it--the moon. It was just facing me, sobig and round and yellow and flat, and it seemed to me that it wasstaring at me, it really did. And so insolently, so persistently.... Iput out my tongue at it at last, I really did. What are you soinquisitive about? I thought. I turned away from it and it seemed tobe creeping into my ear and shining on the back of my head, so that Ifelt caught in it as in rain; I opened my eyes and every blade ofgrass, every paltry being in the hay, the most flimsy spider's web--allwere standing out as though they were chiselled! As though askingto be looked at! There was no help for it: I leaned my head on my handand began gazing. And I couldn't help it: would you believe it: myeyes bulged out like a hare's; they opened so wide--as though they didnot know what sleep was! It seemed as though I would devour it allwith my eyes. The doors of the barn were wide open; I could see forfour miles into the open country, distinctly and yet not, as it alwaysis on a moonlight night. I gazed and gazed without blinking.... Andall at once it seemed as though something were moving, far, faraway ... like a faint glimmer in the distance. A little time passed:again the shadow stirred--now a little nearer; then again nearer still.'What can it be?' I wondered, 'a hare, no,' I thought, 'it is biggerthan a hare and its action is not the same.' I looked, and again theshadow came in sight, and was moving across the grazing meadow (themeadow looked whitish in the moonlight) like a big blur; it was clearthat it was a wild animal, a fox or a wolf. My heart seemed to standstill ... though one might wonder why I was frightened. All sorts ofwild creatures run about the fields at night. But curiosity was evenstronger than fear. I sat up, I opened my eyes wide and I turned coldall over. I felt frozen, as though I had been thrust into the ice, upto my ears, and why? The Lord only knows! And I saw the shadow growingand growing, so it was running straight towards the barn. And I beganto realise that it certainly was a wild beast, big, with a hugehead.... He flew like a whirlwind, like a bullet.... Holy saints! whatwas it? He stopped all at once, as though he scented something.... Whyit was ... the same mad dog! It was ... it was! Heavens! And I couldnot stir, I could not cry out.... It darted to the doors, withglittering eyes, howled and dashed through the hay straight at me!
"Out of the hay like a lion leapt my Tresor, here he was. They hung onto each other's jaws and rolled on the ground. What happened then Idon't remember; all I remember is that I flew headlong between theminto the garden, and home and into my bedroom and almost crept underthe bed--why not make a clean breast of it? And what leaps, whatbounds I took in the garden! The _premiere danseuse_ dancingbefore the Emperor Napoleon on his nameday couldn't have kept pacewith me. However, when I had recovered myself a little, I roused thewhole household; I ordered them all to arm themselves, I myself took asword and a revolver (I bought that revolver, I must own, soon afterthe emancipation, you know, in case anything should happen, but itturned out the man who sold it was such a rogue--it would be sure tomiss fire twice out of every three shots). Well, I took all this andso we went, a regular horde of us with stakes and lanterns, to thebarn. We approached and called--there was not a
sound; at last we wentinto the barn.... And what did we see? My poor Tresor lay dead withhis throat torn open, and of the other, the damned brute, not a traceto be seen!
"And then, gentlemen, I howled like a calf and I am not ashamed to sayso; I stooped down to the friend who had saved my life twice over andkissed his head, again and again. And I stayed in that position untilmy old housekeeper, Praskovya (she, too, had run in at the uproar),brought me to my senses. 'How can you, Porfiry Kapitonitch,' she
Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories Page 25
