Part Two: Chapter 25

by Leo Tolstoy

　　There were seventeen officers in all riding in this race. Therace course was a large three-mile ring of the form of an ellipsein front of the pavilion. On this course nine obstacles had beenarranged: the stream, a big and solid barrier five feet high,just before the pavilion, a dry ditch, a ditch full of water, aprecipitous slope, an Irish barricade (one of the most difficultobstacles, consisting of a mound fenced with brushwood, beyondwhich was a ditch out of sight for the horses, so that the horsehad to clear both obstacles or might be killed); then two moreditches filled with water, and one dry one; and the end of therace was just facing the pavilion. But the race began not in thering, but two hundred yards away from it, and in that part of thecourse was the first obstacle, a dammed-up stream, seven feet inbreadth, which the racers could leap or wade through as theypreferred.

　　Three times they were ranged ready to start, but each time somehorse thrust itself out of line, and they had to begin again.The umpire who was starting them, Colonel Sestrin, was beginningto lose his temper, when at last for the fourth time he shouted"Away!" and the racers started.

　　Every eye, every opera glass, was turned on the brightly coloredgroup of riders at the moment they were in line to start.

　　"They're off! They're starting!" was heard on all sides afterthe hush of expectation.

　　And little groups and solitary figures among the public beganrunning from place to place to get a better view. In the veryfirst minute the close group of horsemen drew out, and it couldbe seen that they were approaching the stream in two's andthree's and one behind another. To the spectators it seemed asthough they had all started simultaneously, but to the racersthere were seconds of difference that had great value to them.

　　Frou-Frou, excited and over-nervous, had lost the first moment,and several horses had started before her, but before reachingthe stream, Vronsky, who was holding in the mare with all hisforce as she tugged at the bridle, easily overtook three, andthere were left in front of him Mahotin's chestnut Gladiator,whose hind-quarters were moving lightly and rhythmically up anddown exactly in front of Vronsky, and in front of all, the daintymare Diana bearing Kuzovlev more dead than alive.

　　For the first instant Vronsky was not master either of himself orhis mare. Up to the first obstacle, the stream, he could notguide the motions of his mare.

　　Gladiator and Diana came up to it together and almost at the sameinstant; simultaneously they rose above the stream and flewacross to the other side; Frou-Frou darted after them, as ifflying; but at the very moment when Vronsky felt himself in theair, he suddenly saw almost under his mare's hoofs Kuzovlev, whowas floundering with Diana on the further side of the stream.(Kuzovlev had let go the reins as he took the leap, and the marehad sent him flying over her head.) Those details Vronsky learnedlater; at the moment all he saw was that just under him, whereFrou-Frou must alight, Diana's legs or head might be in the way.But Frou-Frou drew up her legs and back in the very act ofleaping, like a falling cat, and, clearing the other mare,alighted beyond her.

　　"O the darling!" thought Vronsky.

　　After crossing the stream Vronsky had complete control of hismare, and began holding her in, intending to cross the greatbarrier behind Mahotin, and to try to overtake him in the clearground of about five hundred yards that followed it.

　　The great barrier stood just in front of the imperial pavilion.The Tsar and the whole court and crowds of people were all gazingat them--at him, and Mahotin a length ahead of him, as they drewnear the "devil," as the solid barrier was called. Vronsky wasaware of those eyes fastened upon him from all sides, but he sawnothing except the ears and neck of his own mare, the groundracing to meet him, and the back and white legs of Gladiatorbeating time swiftly before him, and keeping always the samedistance ahead. Gladiator rose, with no sound of knockingagainst anything. With a wave of his short tail he disappearedfrom Vronsky's sight.

　　"Bravo!" cried a voice.

　　At the same instant, under Vronsky's eyes, right before himflashed the palings of the barrier. Without the slightest changein her action his mare flew over it; the palings vanished, and heheard only a crash behind him. The mare, excited by Gladiator'skeeping ahead, had risen too soon before the barrier, and grazedit with her hind hoofs. But her pace never changed, and Vronsky,feeling a spatter of mud in his face, realized that he was oncemore the same distance from Gladiator. Once more he perceived infront of him the same back and short tail, and again the sameswiftly moving white legs that got no further away.

　　At the very moment when Vronsky thought that now was the time toovertake Mahotin, Frou-Frou herself, understanding his thoughts,without any incitement on his part, gained ground considerably,and began getting alongside of Mahotin on the most favorableside, close to the inner cord. Mahotin would not let her passthat side. Vronsky had hardly formed the thought that he couldperhaps pass on the outer side, when Frou-Frou shifted her paceand began overtaking him on the other side. Frou-Frou'sshoulder, beginning by now to be dark with sweat, was even withGladiator's back. For a few lengths they moved evenly. Butbefore the obstacle they were approaching, Vronsky began workingat the reins, anxious to avoid having to take the outer circle,and swiftly passed Mahotin just upon the declivity. He caught aglimpse of his mud-stained face as he flashed by. He evenfancied that he smiled. Vronsky passed Mahotin, but he wasimmediately aware of him close upon him, and he never ceasedhearing the even-thudding hoofs and the rapid and still quitefresh breathing of Gladiator.

　　The next two obstacles, the water course and the barrier, wereeasily crossed, but Vronsky began to hear the snorting and thudof Gladiator closer upon him. He urged on his mare, and to hisdelight felt that she easily quickened her pace, and the thud ofGladiator's hoofs was again heard at the same distance away.

　　Vronsky was at the head of the race, just as he wanted to be andas Cord had advised, and now he felt sure of being the winner.His excitement, his delight, and his tenderness for Frou-Frougrew keener and keener. He longed to look round again, but hedid not dare do this, and tried to be cool and not to urge on hismare so to keep the same reserve of force in her as he felt thatGladiator still kept. There remained only one obstacle, the mostdifficult; if he could cross it ahead of the others he would comein first. He was flying towards the Irish barricade, Frou-Frouand he both together saw the barricade in the distance, and boththe man and the mare had a moment's hesitation. He saw theuncertainty in the mare's ears and lifted the whip, but at thesame time felt that his fears were groundless; the mare knew whatwas wanted. She quickened her pace and rose smoothly, just as hehad fancied she would, and as she left the ground gave herself upto the force of her rush, which carried her far beyond the ditch;and with the same rhythm, without effort, with the same legforward, Frou-Frou fell back into her pace again.

　　"Bravo, Vronsky!" he heard shouts from a knot of men--he knewthey were his friends in the regiment--who were standing at theobstacle. He could not fail to recognize Yashvin's voice thoughhe did not see him.

　　"O my sweet!" he said inwardly to Frou-Frou, as he listened forwhat was happening behind. "He's cleared it!" he thought,catching the thud of Gladiator's hoofs behind him. Thereremained only the last ditch, filled with water and five feetwide. Vronsky did not even look at it, but anxious to get in along way first began sawing away at the reins, lifting the mare'shead and letting it go in time with her paces. He felt that themare was at her very last reserve of strength; not her neck andshoulders merely were wet, but the sweat was standing in drops onher mane, her head, her sharp ears, and her breath came in short,sharp gasps. But he knew that she had strength left more thanenough for the remaining five hundred yards. It was only fromfeeling himself nearer the ground and from the peculiarsmoothness of his motion that Vronsky knew how greatly the marehad quickened her pace. She flew over the ditch as though notnoticing it. She flew over it like a bird; but at the sameinstant Vronsky, to his horror, felt that he had failed to keepup with the mare's pace, that he had, he did not know how, made afearful, unpardonable mistake, in recovering his seat in thesaddle. All at once his position had shifted and he knew thatsomething awful had happened. He could not yet make out what hadhappened, when the white legs of a chestnut horse flashed byclose to him, and Mahotin passed at a swift gallop. Vronsky wastouching the ground with one foot, and his mare was sinking onthat foot. He just had time to free his leg when she fell on oneside, gasping painfully, and, making vain efforts to rise withher delicate, soaking neck, she fluttered on the ground at hisfeet like a shot bird. The clumsy movement made by Vronsky hadbroken her back. But that he only knew much later. At thatmoment he knew only that Mahotin had down swiftly by, while hestood staggering alone on the muddy, motionless ground, andFrou-Frou lay gasping before him, bending her head back andgazing at him with her exquisite eyes. Still unable to realizewhat had happened, Vronsky tugged at his mare's reins. Again shestruggled all over like a fish, and her shoulders setting thesaddle heaving, she rose on her front legs but unable to lift herback, she quivered all over and again fell on her side. With aface hideous with passion, his lower jaw trembling, and hischeeks white, Vronsky kicked her with his heel in the stomach andagain fell to tugging at the rein. She did not stir, butthrusting her nose into the ground, she simply gazed at hermaster with her speaking eyes.

　　"A--a--a!" groaned Vronsky, clutching at his head. "Ah! whathave I done!" he cried. "The race lost! And my fault! shameful,unpardonable! And the poor darling, ruined mare! Ah! what haveI done!"

　　A crowd of men, a doctor and his assistant, the officers of hisregiment, ran up to him. To his misery he felt that he was wholeand unhurt. The mare had broken her back, and it was decided toshoot her. Vronsky could not answer questions, could not speakto anyone. He turned, and without picking up his cap that hadfallen off, walked away from the race course, not knowing wherehe was going. He felt utterly wretched. For the first time inhis life he knew the bitterest sort of misfortune, misfortunebeyond remedy, and caused by his own fault.

　　Yashvin overtook him with his cap, and led him home, and half anhour later Vronsky had regained his self-possession. But thememory of that race remained for long in his heart, the cruelestand bitterest memory of his life.