id not consider the horse a good one, yet it was worth at
least forty rubles and Lukashka was very glad to have the present. But
why it had been given him he could not at all understand, and therefore
he did not experience the least feeling of gratitude. On the contrary,
vague suspicions that the cadet had some evil intentions filled his
mind. What those intentions were he could not decide, but neither could
he admit the idea that a stranger would give him a horse worth forty
rubles for nothing, just out of kindness; it seemed impossible. Had he
been drunk one might understand it! He might have wished to show off.
But the cadet had been sober, and therefore must have wished to bribe
him to do something wrong. 'Eh, humbug!' thought Lukashka. 'Haven't I
got the horse and we'll see later on. I'm not a fool myself and we
shall see who'll get the better of the other,' he thought, feeling the
necessity of being on his guard, and therefore arousing in himself
unfriendly feelings towards Olenin. He told no one how he had got the
horse. To some he said he had bought it, to others he replied
evasively. However, the truth soon got about in the village, and
Lukashka's mother and Maryanka, as well as Elias Vasilich and other
Cossacks, when they heard of Olenin's unnecessary gift, were perplexed,
and began to be on their guard against the cadet. But despite their
fears his action aroused in them a great respect for his simplicity and
wealth.

'Have you heard,' said one, 'that the cadet quartered on Elias Vasilich
has thrown a fifty-ruble horse at Lukashka? He's rich! ...'

'Yes, I heard of it,' replied another profoundly, 'he must have done
him some great service. We shall see what will come of this cadet. Eh!
what luck that Snatcher has!'

'Those cadets are crafty, awfully crafty,' said a third. 'See if he
don't go setting fire to a building, or doing something!'

Chapter XXIII

Olenin's life went on with monotonous regularity. He had little
intercourse with the commanding officers or with his equals. The
position of a rich cadet in the Caucasus was peculiarly advantageous in
this respect. He was not sent out to work, or for training. As a reward
for going on an expedition he was recommended for a commission, and
meanwhile he was left in peace. The officers regarded him as an
aristocrat and behaved towards him with dignity. Cardplaying and the
officers' carousals accompanied by the soldier-singers, of which he had
had