"Not at all: he was a soldier," remarked Zhdánof.
"And what became of him, God knows," added Antónof. "Many of our brothers were left there."
"At Dargi?" asked the infantry man, standing up and picking up his pipe, and again frowning and shaking his head.... "There were all sorts of things there."
And he left us.
"Say, are there many of the soldiers in our battery who were at Dargi?" I asked.
"Let us see;[30] here is Zhdánof, myself, Patsan,—who is now on furlough,—and some six men more. There wouldn't be any others."
"Why has our Patsan gone off on leave of absence?" asked Chikin, shaking out his legs, and laying his head on a log. "It's almost a year since he went."
"Well, are you going to take your furlough?" I asked of Zhdánof.
"No, I'm not," he replied reluctantly.