Page:Pushkin - Russian Romance (King, 1875).djvu/183

chained bear displays when ordered by his keeper to make his bow to the public. At that moment a hare leapt out of the thicket and ran off into the fields. Beréstoff and the groom shouted with all their might; they loosed the dogs, and followed at full speed. Múromsky's horse, unaccustomed to the chase, started and ran away with him. Múromsky, who considered himself a good horseman, loosened the reins, and was secretly congratulating himself upon such an opportunity for freeing himself from an undesirable companion. But having gone as far as a ravine which it had not hitherto noticed, his horse suddenly swerved and unseated its rider. Having fallen rather heavily on the frozen ground, he lay cursing his short-tailed mare, which, as if coming to her senses, stopped so soon as she became aware of the removal of her burden. Ivan Petróvitch rode up to him, inquiring whether he were hurt. The groom, having in the meantime secured the peccant horse, led it by the bridle. He assisted Múromsky into his saddle, and Beréstoff invited him to his house. Múromsky could not refuse, feeling that he was under an obligation, and it was thus that Beréstoff returned home full of honours, having hunted down a hare, and leading his wounded adversary, almost like a prisoner of war.

The two neighbours breakfasted together, conversing in quite a friendly way. Múromsky asked Beréstoff for his droskhy, acknowledging that he was unable to ride home after his fall. Beréstoff saw him himself over the threshold, and Múromsky would not take his leave until he had exacted the promise that he and Aleksèy Iváno-