The soldiers are so worried and badgered, that at the review they stand like blockheads. | Задергают солдата, замучат, затуркают, а на смотру он будет стоять, как пень. |
Do you know that story about the two captains who made a pretty heavy bet as to which of them had in his company the best trencher-man? | Знаете известный случай, как два ротных командира поспорили, чей солдат больше съест хлеба? |
When one of the 'champions' had consumed seven pounds of bread he was obliged to acknowledge himself beaten. His Captain, furious with indignation, sent for his sergeant-major, and said: 'What made you send me a creature like that? After his seventh pound he had to give up, and I've lost my wager!' | Выбрали они оба жесточайших обжор. Пари было большое - что-то около ста рублей. Вот один солдат съел семь фунтов и отвалился, больше не может. Ротный сейчас на фельдфебеля: "Ты что же, такой, разэтакий, подвел меня?" |
The poor sergeant-major stared at his superior. | А фельдфебель только глазами лупает: |
'I don't know what could have happened to him, your Excellency. | "Так что не могу знать, вашескородие, что с ним случилось. |
This very morning I rehearsed with him, and then he ate eight pounds without any ado.' It's the same case here, gentlemen. We rehearse without mercy and common-sense up to the very last, and thus, when the tug-of-war comes, the soldier drops down from sheer weariness." | Утром делали репетицию - восемь фунтов стрескал в один присест..." Так вот и наши... Репетят без толку, а на смотру сядут в калошу. |
"Last night," began Lbov, who could hardly get his words out for laughing-"last night, when the drill was over, I went to my quarters. It was past eight, and quite dark then. | - Вчера... - Лбов вдруг прыснул от смеха. - Вчера, уж во всех ротах кончили занятия, я иду на квартиру, часов уже восемь, пожалуй, темно совсем. |
As I was approaching the barracks of the 11th Company I heard some ear-piercing music from there. | Смотрю, в одиннадцатой роте сигналы учат. |
I go there and am told that the men are being taught our horn signals. All the recruits were obliged to sing in chorus. | Хором. "На-ве-ди, до гру-ди, по-па-ди!" |
It was a hideous concert, and I asked Lieutenant Andrusevich how any one could put up with such a row so late at night. | Я спрашиваю поручика Андрусевича: "Почему это у вас до сих пор идет такая музыка?" |
He answered laughingly, | А он говорит: |
'Why shouldn't we now and then, like the dogs, howl at the moon?'" | "Это мы, вроде собак, на луну воем". |
"Now I can't stand this any longer," interrupted Vi?tkin, with a yawn. | - Все надоело, Кука! - сказал Веткин и зевнул. |
"But who's that riding down there? | - Постойте-ка, кто это едет верхом? |
It looks like Biek." | Кажется, Бек? |
"Yes, it's Biek-Agamalov," replied sharp-sighted Lbov. | - Да. Бек-Агамалов, - решил зоркий Лбов. |
"Look how beautifully he rides." | - Как красиво сидит. |
"Yes, he does," chimed in Romashov. | - Очень красиво, - согласился Ромашов. |
"To my thinking, he rides better than any other of our cavalrymen. | - По-моему, он лучше всякого кавалериста ездит. |
But just look at his horse dancing. | О-о-о! Заплясала. |
Biek is showing off." | Кокетничает Бек. |
An officer, wearing an Adjutant's uniform and white gloves, was riding quietly along the causeway. | По шоссе медленно ехал верхом офицер в белых перчатках и в адъютантском мундире. |
He was sitting on a high, slim-built horse with a gold-coloured and short-clipped tail, after the English fashion. | Под ним была высокая длинная лошадь золотистой масти с коротким, по-английски, хвостом. |
The spirited animal pirouetted under his rider, and impatiently shook its branch-bit by the violent tossings of its long and nobly formed neck. | Она горячилась, нетерпеливо мотала крутой, собранной мундштуком шеей и часто перебирала тонкими ногами. |
"Pavel Pavlich, is it a fact that Biek is a Circassian by birth?" asked Romashov. | - Павел Павлыч, это правда, что он природный черкес? - спросил Ромашов у Веткина. |
"Yes, I think so," answered Vi?tkin. | - Я думаю, правда. |
"Armenians pretend sometimes that they are Circassians or Lezghins, but nobody can be deceived with regard to Biek. | Иногда действительно армяшки выдают себя за черкесов и за лезгин, но Бек вообще, кажется, не врет. |
Only look how he carries himself on horseback." | Да вы посмотрите, каков он на лошади! |
"Wait, I'll call him," said Lbov. | - Подожди, я ему крикну, - сказал Лбов. |
Lbov put his hands to his mouth, and tried to form out of them a sort of speaking-tube, and shouted in a suppressed voice, so as not to be heard by the Commander- | Он приложил руки ко рту и закричал сдавленным голосом, так, чтобы не слышал ротный командир: |
"Lieutenant Biek-Agamalov!" | -Поручик Агамалов! Бек! |
The officer on horseback pulled the reins, stopped for a second, and swung in the saddle towards the right. | Офицер, ехавший верхом, натянул поводья, остановился на секунду и обернулся вправо. |
Then he also turned his horse to the right, bent slightly forward, and, with a springy and energetic movement, jumped the ditch, and rode in a short gallop up to the officers. | Потом, повернув лошадь в эту сторону и слегка согнувшись в седле, он заставил ее упругим движением перепрыгнуть через канаву и сдержанным галопом поскакал к офицерам. |
He was a man somewhat below the medium height, lean, muscular, and very powerful. | Он был меньше среднего роста, сухой, жилистый, очень сильный. |
His countenance, with its receding forehead, delicate, aquiline nose, and strong, resolute lines about the mouth, was manly and handsome, and had not yet got the pale and sickly hue that is so characteristic of the Oriental when he is getting on in years. | Лицо его, с покатым назад лбом, топким горбатым носом и решительными, крепкими губами, было мужественно и красиво в еще до сих пор не утратило характерной восточной бледности -одновременно смуглой и матовой. |
"Good-day, Biek," was Vi?tkin's greeting. | - Здравствуй, Бек, - сказал Веткин. |
"Who was the girl for whom you were exercising your arts of seduction down there, you lady-killer?" | - Ты перед кем там выфинчивал? Дэвыцы? |
Biek-Agamalov shook hands with the officers, whilst with an easy and graceful movement he bent slightly forward in the saddle. | Бек-Агамалов пожимал руки офицерам, низко и небрежно склоняясь с седла. |