aside, and
began to say something in a whisper. The good-natured captain punched
him in the ribs with his big, fat hand, and replied, loud enough to be
heard:
"Not at all, old fellow [Footnote: Batenka, Malo-Russian diminutive,
little father], I assure you."
When the game was over, and that side in which the stranger whose rank
was so low had taken part, had come out winners, and it fell to his lot
to ride on one of our officers, Ensign D., the ensign grew red in the
face: he went to the little divan and offered the stranger a cigarette
by way of a compromise.
While they were ordering the mulled wine, and in the steward's tent were
heard assiduous preparations on the part of Nikita, who had sent an
orderly for cinnamon and cloves, and the shadow of his back was
alternately lengthening and shortening on the dingy sides of the tent,
we men, seven in all, sat around on the benches; and while we took turns
in drinking tea from the three glasses, and gazed out over the plain,
which was now beginning to glow in the twilight, we talked and laughed
over the various incidents of the game.
The stranger in the fur jacket took no share in the conversation,
obstinately refused to drink the tea which I several times offered him,
and as he sat there on the ground in Tartar fashion, occupied himself in
making cigarettes of fine-cut tobacco, and smoking them one after
another, evidently not so much for his own satisfaction as to give
himself the appearance of a man with something to do.
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