aty was one of the most indispensable men in their band.
He was a peasant from Pokrovsk, near the river Gzhat. When Denisov had
come to Pokrovsk at the beginning of his operations and had as usual
summoned the village elder and asked him what he knew about the French,
the elder, as though shielding himself, had replied, as all village
elders did, that he had neither seen nor heard anything of them. But
when Denisov explained that his purpose was to kill the French, and
asked if no French had strayed that way, the elder replied that some
"more-orderers" had really been at their village, but that Tikhon
Shcherbaty was the only man who dealt with such matters. Denisov had
Tikhon called and, having praised him for his activity, said a few words
in the elder's presence about loyalty to the Tsar and the country and
the hatred of the French that all sons of the fatherland should cherish.

"We don't do the French any harm," said Tikhon, evidently frightened by
Denisov's words. "We only fooled about with the lads for fun, you know!
We killed a score or so of 'more-orderers,' but we did no harm else..."

Next day when Denisov had left Pokrovsk, having quite forgotten about
this peasant, it was reported to him that Tikhon had attached himself
to their party and asked to be allowed to remain with it. Denisov gave
orders to let him do so.

Tikhon, who at first did rough work, laying campfires, fetching water,
flaying dead horses, and so on, soon showed a great liking and aptitude
for partisan warfare. At night he would go out for booty and always
brought back French clothing and weapons, and when told to would bring
in French captives also. Denisov then relieved him from drudgery and
began taking him with him when he went out on expeditions and had him
enrolled among the Cossacks.

Tikhon did not like riding, and always went on foot, never lagging
behind the cavalry. He was armed with a musketoon (which he carried
rather as a joke), a pike and an ax, which latter he used as a wolf uses
its teeth, with equal case picking fleas out of its fur or crunching
thick bones. Tikhon with equal accuracy would split logs with blows at
arm's length, or holding the head of the ax would cut thin little pegs
or carve spoons. In Denisov's party he held a peculiar and exceptional
position. When anything particularly difficult or nasty had to be
done--to push a cart out of the mud with one's shoulders, pull a horse
out of a swamp by its tail, skin