Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/78

Tales from Tolstoi "I should be glad to stay the night; but go on we must."

"Well, have a warm up, anyhow; come straight to the samovar," said the old man.

"Well, I don't mind having a warm up," said Vasily Andreich, "it cannot be much darker, nay, the moon is rising, so it will be quite light presently. What do you say, eh, Nik? Shall we go in and have a warm?"

"Yes, I think we may as well have a warm," said Nikita, who was more than half benumbed already, and would have given anything to warm his freezing limbs by the stove.

Vasily Andreich went with the old man into the room, while Nikita entered through the gate opened by Pete, and, directed by him, led the horse under the roof of the shed. This shed was used for housing manure and all sorts of creatures, and its lofty arch was supported on a cross beam. The cocks and hens, which had already gone to roost on this high perch, began to cackle somewhat impatiently and scrape the perch with their claws. Some startled sheep shuffled about on the frozen dung, and crowded to one side. A dog, obviously quite a young animal, whined piteously for fear, and then began barking at the stranger.

Nikita had a word for them all. He apologized to the fowls, reassured them, and begged them not to put themselves about any more; reproached the sheep for getting frightened at nothing at all; and all the time he was attending to the horse, never ceased haranguing the little dog.

"There you are; now you'll do nicely," said Nikita, 28