Book Ten: 1812 - Chapter IX

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Until Prince Andrew settled in Bogucharovo its owners had alwaysbeen absentees, and its peasants were of quite a different characterfrom those of Bald Hills. They differed from them in speech, dress,and disposition. They were called steppe peasants. The old prince usedto approve of them for their endurance at work when they came toBald Hills to help with the harvest or to dig ponds, and ditches,but he disliked them for their boorishness.

　　Prince Andrew's last stay at Bogucharovo, when he introducedhospitals and schools and reduced the quitrent the peasants had topay, had not softened their disposition but had on the contrarystrengthened in them the traits of character the old prince calledboorishness. Various obscure rumors were always current among them: atone time a rumor that they would all be enrolled as Cossacks; atanother of a new religion to which they were all to be converted; thenof some proclamation of the Tsar's and of an oath to the Tsar Paulin 1797 (in connection with which it was rumored that freedom had beengranted them but the landowners had stopped it), then of PeterFedorovich's return to the throne in seven years' time, wheneverything would be made free and so "simple" that there would be norestrictions. Rumors of the war with Bonaparte and his invasion wereconnected in their minds with the same sort of vague notions ofAntichrist, the end of the world, and "pure freedom."

　　In the vicinity of Bogucharovo were large villages belonging tothe crown or to owners whose serfs paid quitrent and could workwhere they pleased. There were very few resident landlords in theneighborhood and also very few domestic or literate serfs, and inthe lives of the peasantry of those parts the mysterious undercurrentsin the life of the Russian people, the causes and meaning of which areso baffling to contemporaries, were more clearly and stronglynoticeable than among others. One instance, which had occurred sometwenty years before, was a movement among the peasants to emigrateto some unknown "warm rivers." Hundreds of peasants, among them theBogucharovo folk, suddenly began selling their cattle and moving inwhole families toward the southeast. As birds migrate to somewherebeyond the sea, so these men with their wives and children streamed tothe southeast, to parts where none of them had ever been. They set offin caravans, bought their freedom one by one or ran away, and drove orwalked toward the "warm rivers." Many of them were punished, some sentto Siberia, many died of cold and hunger on the road, many returned oftheir own accord, and the movement died down of itself just as ithad sprung up, without apparent reason. But such undercurrents stillexisted among the people and gathered new forces ready to manifestthemselves just as strangely, unexpectedly, and at the same timesimply, naturally, and forcibly. Now in 1812, to anyone living inclose touch with these people it was apparent that these undercurrentswere acting strongly and nearing an eruption.

　　Alpatych, who had reached Bogucharovo shortly before the oldprince's death, noticed an agitation among the peasants, and thatcontrary to what was happening in the Bald Hills district, whereover a radius of forty miles all the peasants were moving away andleaving their villages to be devastated by the Cossacks, thepeasants in the steppe region round Bogucharovo were, it wasrumored, in touch with the French, received leaflets from them thatpassed from hand to hand, and did not migrate. He learned fromdomestic serfs loyal to him that the peasant Karp, who possessed greatinfluence in the village commune and had recently been away drivinga government transport, had returned with news that the Cossackswere destroying deserted villages, but that the French did not harmthem. Alpatych also knew that on the previous day another peasanthad even brought from the village of Visloukhovo, which was occupiedby the French, a proclamation by a French general that no harm wouldbe done to the inhabitants, and if they remained they would be paidfor anything taken from them. As proof of this the peasant had broughtfrom Visloukhovo a hundred rubles in notes (he did not know thatthey were false) paid to him in advance for hay.

　　More important still, Alpatych learned that on the morning of thevery day he gave the village Elder orders to collect carts to move theprincess' luggage from Bogucharovo, there had been a village meetingat which it had been decided not to move but to wait. Yet there was notime to waste. On the fifteenth, the day of the old prince's death,the Marshal had insisted on Princess Mary's leaving at once, as it wasbecoming dangerous. He had told her that after the sixteenth hecould not be responsible for what might happen. On the evening ofthe day the old prince died the Marshal went away, promising to returnnext day for the funeral. But this he was unable to do, for hereceived tidings that the French had unexpectedly advanced, and hadbarely time to remove his own family and valuables from his estate.

　　For some thirty years Bogucharovo had been managed by the villageElder, Dron, whom the old prince called by the diminutive "Dronushka."

　　Dron was one of those physically and mentally vigorous peasantswho grow big beards as soon as they are of age and go on unchangedtill they are sixty or seventy, without a gray hair or the loss of atooth, as straight and strong at sixty as at thirty.

　　Soon after the migration to the "warm rivers," in which he had takenpart like the rest, Dron was made village Elder and overseer ofBogucharovo, and had since filled that post irreproachably fortwenty-three years. The peasants feared him more than they did theirmaster. The masters, both the old prince and the young, and thesteward respected him and jestingly called him "the Minister."During the whole time of his service Dron had never been drunk or ill,never after sleepless nights or the hardest tasks had he shown theleast fatigue, and though he could not read he had never forgotten asingle money account or the number of quarters of flour in any ofthe endless cartloads he sold for the prince, nor a single shock ofthe whole corn crop on any single acre of the Bogucharovo fields.

　　Alpatych, arriving from the devastated Bald Hills estate, sent forhis Dron on the day of the prince's funeral and told him to havetwelve horses got ready for the princess' carriages and eighteen cartsfor the things to be removed from Bogucharovo. Though the peasantspaid quitrent, Alpatych thought no difficulty would be made aboutcomplying with this order, for there were two hundred and thirtyhouseholds at work in Bogucharovo and the peasants were well to do.But on hearing the order Dron lowered his eyes and remained silent.Alpatych named certain peasants he knew, from whom he told him to takethe carts.

　　Dron replied that the horses of these peasants were away carting.Alpatych named others, but they too, according to Dron, had nohorses available: some horses were carting for the government,others were too weak, and others had died for want of fodder. Itseemed that no horses could be had even for the carriages, much lessfor the carting.

　　Alpatych looked intently at Dron and frowned. Just as Dron was amodel village Elder, so Alpatych had not managed the prince'sestates for twenty years in vain. He a model steward, possessing inthe highest degree the faculty of divining the needs and instinctsof those he dealt with. Having glanced at Dron he at once understoodthat his answers did not express his personal views but the generalmood of the Bogucharovo commune, by which the Elder had already beencarried away. But he also knew that Dron, who had acquired propertyand was hated by the commune, must be hesitating between the twocamps: the masters' and the serfs'. He noticed this hesitation inDron's look and therefore frowned and moved closer up to him.

　　"Now just listen, Dronushka," said he. "Don't talk nonsense to me.His excellency Prince Andrew himself gave me orders to move all thepeople away and not leave them with the enemy, and there is an orderfrom the Tsar about it too. Anyone who stays is a traitor to the Tsar.Do you hear?"

　　"I hear," Dron answered without lifting his eyes.

　　Alpatych was not satisfied with this reply.

　　"Eh, Dron, it will turn out badly!" he said, shaking his head.

　　"The power is in your hands," Dron rejoined sadly.

　　"Eh, Dron, drop it!" Alpatych repeated, withdrawing his hand fromhis bosom and solemnly pointing to the floor at Dron's feet. "I cansee through you and three yards into the ground under you," hecontinued, gazing at the floor in front of Dron.

　　Dron was disconcerted, glanced furtively at Alpatych and againlowered his eyes.

　　"You drop this nonsense and tell the people to get ready to leavetheir homes and go to Moscow and to get carts ready for tomorrowmorning for the princess' things. And don't go to any meetingyourself, do you hear?"

　　Dron suddenly fell on his knees.

　　"Yakov Alpatych, discharge me! Take the keys from me and dischargeme, for Christ's sake!"

　　"Stop that!" cried Alpatych sternly. "I see through you and threeyards under you," he repeated, knowing that his skill in beekeeping,his knowledge of the right time to sow the oats, and the fact thathe had been able to retain the old prince's favor for twenty years hadlong since gained him the reputation of being a wizard, and that thepower of seeing three yards under a man is considered an attributeof wizards.

　　Dron got up and was about to say something, but Alpatych interruptedhim.

　　"What is it you have got into your heads, eh?... What are youthinking of, eh?"

　　"What am I to do with the people?" said Dron. "They're quitebeside themselves; I have already told them..."

　　"'Told them,' I dare say!" said Alpatych. "Are they drinking?" heasked abruptly.

　　"Quite beside themselves, Yakov Alpatych; they've fetched anotherbarrel."

　　"Well, then, listen! I'll go to the police officer, and you tellthem so, and that they must stop this and the carts must be gotready."

　　"I understand."

　　Alpatych did not insist further. He had managed people for a longtime and knew that the chief way to make them obey is to show nosuspicion that they can possibly disobey. Having wrung a submissive "Iunderstand" from Dron, Alpatych contented himself with that, though henot only doubted but felt almost certain that without the help oftroops the carts would not be forthcoming.

　　And so it was, for when evening came no carts had been provided.In the village, outside the drink shop, another meeting was beingheld, which decided that the horses should be driven out into thewoods and the carts should not be provided. Without saying anything ofthis to the princess, Alpatych had his own belongings taken out of thecarts which had arrived from Bald Hills and had those horses got readyfor the princess' carriages. Meanwhile he went himself to the policeauthorities.