Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/117

Rh "I must be steady, and think it all over," he said to himself; and yet for all that he could not take things quietly, but kept urging the horse on, not observing that he was now going with the wind instead of against it. His body, especially the part touching the saddle and uncovered by the furs, was freezing cold, very painful, and trembling all over. He had now forgotten to think of the forester's hut. His mind was now fixed on one thing only: to get back to the sledge, so as not to perish all alone, like that bit of mugwort in the midst of the snowy wilderness.

Suddenly the horse stumbled beneath him, and sinking into a gap, began plunging about and fell upon its side. Vasily Andreich fell with it, clinging on to the harness, in which his foot was entangled, and to the saddle, which turned over with him. No sooner had Vasily Andreich fallen off than the horse righted itself, rushed ahead, took a plunge forward and then another, neighed again, and dragging after it the trailing sacking and the harness, disappeared, leaving Vasily Andreich alone in the pit. Vasily Andreich rushed after him, but the snow was so deep, and the furs he had on him were so heavy, that he sank up to the knee at each stride—he began to pant, and stopped short to breathe after no more than the first twenty paces. "The spinny, the stallions, the shops, the taverns, the land to be rented—what will become of it all? What does it all amount to now? Nothing can come of it all!" This was the thought that now flashed through his head. And then he called to mind again the clump of mugwort swaying 67