Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/298

 282 into the snow, twitched with its hind legs, and fell. My savage knew better than I did what this meant, and what new misfortune was threatening us, but he neither showed alarm nor agitation; now as always he planted his stick into the snow with a firm, steady hand, and gave me this anchor of safety to hold, while he quickly sprang out of the sledge, extracted the exhausted dog from its harness, and dragged it to the back of the sledge. I thought he was going to dispatch it and throw it away, but when I looked back I saw that this dog was also suspended from a tree with its body ripped open and its bloody intestines hanging out. It was a horrible sight.

"What's this again?" I shouted to him.

"It's for Shaytan, Bachka."

"Come, brother, that's enough for your Shaytan. It's too much for him to eat two dogs a day."

"Never mind, Bachka, let him grub."

"No, it's not 'never mind, I said. "But if you go on killing them at this rate, you will soon have killed them all for Shaytan."

"Bachka, I only give him those that die."

"You had better feed them."

"There's no food, Bachka."

"So!" This only proved what I had feared.

The short day was already sinking into evening, and it was evident that the remaining dogs were