Hadji Murád, Leo Tolstoy [romantic books to read txt] 📗

are not guilty in anything towards the great Tsar, come to me; fear no one. I am thy defender. The Khan can do nothing to thee; he is himself under my command, so thou has nothing to fear.”

Klügenau added that he always kept his word and was just, and he again exhorted Hadji Murád to appear before him.

When Lóris-Mélikov had read this letter, Hadji Murád, before handing him the second one, told him what he had written in reply to the first.

“I wrote that I wore a turban, not for Shamil’s sake but for my soul’s salvation; that I neither wished nor could go over to Shamil, because he was the cause of my father’s, my brothers’, and my relations’ deaths; but that I could not join the Russians because I had been dishonored by them. (In Khunzákh, while I was bound, a scoundrel sh⁠⸺ on me; and I could not join your people until that man was killed.) But, above all, I feared that liar, Akhmet Khan.

“Then the General sent me this letter,” said Hadji Murád, handing Lóris-Mélikov the other discolored paper.

“Thou has answered my first letter, and I thank thee,” read Lóris-Mélikov. “Thou writest that thou are not afraid to return, but that the insult done thee by a certain giarou prevents it; but I assure thee that the Russian law is just, and that thou shalt see him who dared to offend thee punished before thine eyes. I have already given orders to investigate the matter.

“Hear me, Hadji Murád! I have a right to be displeased with thee for not trusting me and my honor; but I forgive thee, for I know how suspicious mountaineers are in general. If thy conscience is pure, if thou hast put on a turban only for thy soul’s salvation, then thou art right, and mayst look me and the Russian Government boldly in the eyes. He who dishonored thee shall, I assure thee, be punished; and thy property shall be restored to thee, and thou shalt see and know what Russian law is. And besides, we Russians look at things differently, and thou hast not sunk in our eyes because some scoundrel has dishonored thee.

“I myself have consented to the Chimrints wearing turbans; and I regard their actions in the right light, and therefore I repeat that thou hast nothing to fear. Come to me with the man by whom I am sending thee this letter. He is faithful to me, and is not the slave of thy enemies, but is the friend of a man who enjoys the special favor of the Government.”

Further on Klügenau again tried to persuade Hadji Murád to come over to him.

“I did not believe him,” said Hadji Murád when Lóris-Mélikov had finished reading, “and did not go to Klügenau. The chief thing for me was to revenge myself on Akhmet Khan; and that I could not do through the Russians. Then Akhmet Khan surrounded Tselméss, and wanted to take me or kill me. I had too few men, and could not drive him off; and just then came an envoy with a letter from Shamil, promising to help me to defeat and kill Akhmet Khan, and making me ruler over the whole of Avaria. I considered the matter for a long time, and then went over to Shamil; and from that time I have fought the Russians continually.”

Here Hadji Murád related all his military exploits, of which there were very many, and some of which were already familiar to Lóris-Mélikov. All his campaigns and raids had been remarkable for the extraordinary rapidity of his movements and the boldness of his attacks, which were always crowned with success.

“There never was any friendship between me and Shamil,” said Hadji Murád at the end of his story, “but he feared me and needed me. But it so happened that I was asked who should be Imam after Shamil, and I replied: ‘He will be Imam whose sword is sharpest!’

“This was told to Shamil, and he wanted to get rid of me. He sent me into Tabasarán. I went, and captured a thousand sheep and three hundred horses; but he said I had not done the right thing, and dismissed me from being naïb, and ordered me to send him all the money. I sent him a thousand gold pieces. He sent his murids, and they took from me all my property. He demanded that I should go to him; but I knew he wanted to kill me, and I did not go. Then he sent to take me. I resisted, and went over to Vorontsóv. Only I did not take my family. My mother, my wives, and my son are in his hands. Tell the Sirdar that as long as my family is in Shamil’s power, I can do nothing.”

“I will tell him,” said Lóris-Mélikov.

“Take pains, do try!⁠ ⁠… What is mine is thine, only help me with the Prince! I am tied up, and the end of the rope is in Shamil’s hands,” said Hadji Murád concluding his story.

XIV

On the 20th of December Vorontsóv wrote as follows to Chernyshóv, the Minister of War. The letter was in French:

“I did not write to you by the last post, dear Prince, as I wished first to decide what we should do with Hadji Murád, and for the last two or three days I have not been feeling quite well.

“In my last letter I informed you of Hadji Murád’s arrival here. He reached Tiflis on the 8th, and next day I made his acquaintance; and during the following seven or eight days have spoken to him and considered what use we can make of him in the future, and especially what we are to do with him at present; for he is much concerned about the fate of his family, and with every appearance of perfect frankness says that while they are in Shamil’s hands he is paralysed and cannot render