Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/273

 Rh "That's because you did not listen to me—you would not go with the driver I wanted you to go with. This one drives better, much quieter. Please change sledges to-morrow."

"Very well," I said, "I'll do as you wish," and the next day I got into the other sledge and we set out again.

I do not know if, during the previous day, I had become accustomed to sitting on this sort of peasant's sledge, or if it was really that this driver managed his long stick better, but it was much more comfortable, and I was even able to converse with him.

I asked him if he was baptized or not.

"No, Bachka, me no baptized, me happy!"

"In what way are you happy?"

"Happy, Bachka; Dzol-Dzayagachy have give me Bachka. She take care me."

Dzol-Dzayagachy is a goddess of the Shamanists, who gives children, and who looks after the happiness and the health of those children who have been born, thanks to prayers addressed to her.

"That's all very well," I said, "but why don't you get baptized."

"She would not allow me to be baptized, Bachka."