"And so he is overjoyed," replied the captain thoughtfully, shaking his head; "it's youth."
"And why shouldn't he be glad? I can see that for a young officer this must be very interesting."
The captain said nothing for two minutes.
"And that's why I say 'it's youth,'" he continued in a deep tone. "What is there to rejoice in, when there's nothing to see? Here when one goes often, one doesn't find any pleasure in it. Here, let us suppose there are twenty of us officers going: some of us will be either killed or wounded; that's likely. To-day my turn, to-morrow his, the next day somebody else's. So what is there to rejoice in?"
[8] mashtak in the Caucasian dialect.
[9] Fourteen hundred feet.
[10] Paliurus, box-thorn, and karachag.
[11] tordoka'yé.
[12] papákha.