“Couldn’t I find a place to spend the night?” laughed Lukáshka. “But the corporal asked me to go back.”
“I heard you singing last night, and also saw you.”
“Every one...” and Luke swayed his head.
“Is it true you are getting married?” asked Olénin.
“Mother wants me to marry. But I have not got a horse yet.”
“Aren’t you in the regular service?”
“Oh dear no! I’ve only just joined, and have not got a horse yet, and don’t know how to get one. That’s why the marriage does not come off.”
“And what would a horse cost?”
“We were bargaining for one beyond the river the other day and they would not take sixty rubles for it, though it is a Nogáy horse.”
“Will you come and be my drabánt?” (A drabánt was a kind of orderly attached to an officer when campaigning.) “I’ll get it arranged and will give you a horse,” said Olénin suddenly. “Really now, I have two and I don’t want both.”