At the immediate side of the road there was an unsightly house, the siding of which was peeling away like scabies. The highway turned past this house and split into two forks.
At the intersection of the highway is an abandoned kiosk with a ruined door and an upside-down sign that reads "mineral water for sale". Next to the broken kiosk, Victor was saying goodbye to Liza.
He held Liza's hand for a long time, and looked into her eyes with affection, asking: "Are you coming? You won't lie to me, will you?"
Lisa replied in a showy manner, "Come, I will come. You can wait for me."
Lisa's lazy, pulsing brown eyes smiled at him again as she said goodbye.
Lisa had just taken about ten steps when she saw two men come out from behind the corner and onto the main road. The one in front was a short, stout, broad-shouldered laborer with his shirt open, revealing his sailor's shirt underneath, his black cap pressed low over his forehead, and one eye bruised and swollen.
The worker wore a pair of short, yellow leather boots, his legs slightly bent and bent, and he walked firmly forward.
About three paces behind him was a Petliura bandit soldier in a gray uniform, two boxes of bullets hanging from his belt, the point of his bayonet almost against the back of the man in front of him.
Beneath the furry leather cap, a pair of narrowed eyes stared warily at the back of the arrestee's head. His beard, yellowed by Maho smoke, curled to either side.
Lisa slowed her pace slightly and walked to the other side of the highway. At that moment, Paul walked up the highway behind her as well.
As he turned right and headed for home, he spotted the two as well.
He immediately recognized the one walking in front as Juhrai. His two feet felt like they had taken root on the ground and he could no longer move.
"No wonder he didn't go home!"
Juhrai came closer and closer. Paul's heart pounded violently. All kinds of thoughts came to his mind one after another, and he simply couldn't make sense of them. Time is too tight, a moment of uncertainty. Only one thing is clear: Zhu Helai is now finished!
He watched them approach, his heart was in turmoil, not knowing what to do.
"What to do?"
At the last minute, he suddenly remembered the pistol in his pocket. When they walked over and put a bullet in the back of the guy with the gun, Joo Hyuk Lae would be saved. After making such a decision in an instant, his thoughts immediately became clearer. He clenched his teeth so tightly that they were raw. Only yesterday, Juhlai had told him, "It takes a brave and strong class brother to do such a thing ......"
Paul glanced quickly behind him. The main road leading into town was empty, not even a soul in sight. A woman in a short spring coat was hurrying along the road ahead. She wouldn't be in the way. He couldn't see what was on the road on the other side of the intersection. Just a few figures in the distance on the road leading to the station.
Paul walked to the edge of the highway. When they were only a few paces apart, Juhrai saw Paul too.
Juhlai looked at him with those good eyes, and with a slight tremor of his two thick eyebrows, he recognized Paul, and was so surprised that he froze for a moment. Whereupon the point of the bayonet immediately pinned him in the back.
"Hey, move, or I'll give you two rifle butts for dawdling!" The escorting soldier yelled shrilly in a piercingly fake voice.
Zuhrai quickened his pace. He was tempted to say something to Paul, but held back and just waved his hand as if in greeting.
Paul, afraid of arousing the suspicion of the yellow-bearded bandit soldier, hurriedly turned his back and let Zhu Helai walk past, as if he didn't care about the two men.
While this was going on, another disturbing thought suddenly drilled into his head, "If I miss this shot, the bullet may hit Zhu Helai ......"
The Petliura bandit soldier had already come up beside him. When it came down to it, was it possible to think too much?
What happened next was this: as the yellow-bearded escort came up to Paul, Paul lunged at him, grabbed his rifle, and pressed down hard.
The bayonet snapped against the stone pavement.
The Petliura bandit soldier didn't expect an attack and froze. Immediately, he did his best to grab his gun back. Paul pressed the weight of his entire body on the gun and wouldn't let go. Suddenly a shot rang out, and the bullet hit a rock, popped up, and landed in a roadside trench.
Juhlai heard the gunshot, flicked to the side, looked back and saw the escort soldier furiously snatching the gun back from Paul's hand. The guy spun the gun and twisted the teenager's hands. But Paul still held on tight. The escort was furious, and with a violent effort, he threw Paul to the ground. That was it, and the gun was still not taken away. When Paul fell, he dragged down the escorting soldier as well. At such a juncture, there was simply no force that could have told Paul to remove the weapon from his hand.
Zuhrai took two arrows and leaped in front of them, he swung his fist and struck the escort in the head. Immediately afterward, the fellow received two more blows as heavy as lead to the face. He let go of Paul, who was lying on the ground, and rolled into the trench like a pocket full of grain.
It was the same strong hands that lifted Paul from the ground.
Victor had taken over a hundred steps out of the crossroads. As he walked, he whistled "Beauty's Heart Toward the End" softly on his whistle. He was still reminiscing about his meeting with Liza earlier, and her promise to meet at the abandoned brick factory tomorrow, and he couldn't help but drift off.
There was a rumor among the female-chasing high school students that Liza was a girl who couldn't care less when it came to romance.
The brazen and proud and conceited Semyon? Zalivanov had once told Victor that he had taken possession of Liza. Viktor didn't fully believe the guy's words, but, after all, Liza was an attractive creature, so he was determined to confirm tomorrow if what Semyon had told him was true.
"As soon as she arrives, I'll go in single-handed. Doesn't she not care about people kissing her? If this Semyon kid isn't lying ......" His thoughts were suddenly interrupted. Two Petliura bandits approached, and Victor dodged aside to make way for them. One of the bandits was riding a bald-tailed pony, with a canvas bucket swinging in his hand, looking like he was going to drink his horse. The other bandit soldier, wearing a long, tight-waisted jacket and a pair of fat blue pants, tugged at the horse rider's pant leg with one hand and spoke animatedly about something.
Victor had let the two men pass and was about to move on when a shot suddenly rang out on the highway. He stopped in his tracks and looked back as the soldier on horseback shook the reins and galloped toward the spot where the shot had been fired. The other, carrying his saber, ran after him.
Victor ran after them. When he was almost to the highway, he heard another shot. The soldier on horseback rushed out from behind the corner in a panic and almost ran into Victor. He kicked and hit the canvas bucket again, urging the horse to run. Running to the first soldier's housing, as soon as he entered the front door, he yelled out to the men in the yard, "Men, get your guns, our men have been killed!"
Immediately several men rushed out of the yard while triggering their guns.
They grabbed Victor.
Several people had been caught on the highway. Among them were Victor and Liza. Liza was held as a witness.
When Juhrai and Paul ran past Liza, she was shocked and froze. She recognized that the one who had attacked the escorting soldier was actually the teenager that Tonya had intended to introduce to her the other day.
The two of them went over the fence of a yard one after the other. At that moment, a cavalryman rushed onto the highway, and when he spotted Juhrai, who was fleeing with his rifle, and the escort soldier, who was struggling to get up from the ground, he immediately drove his horse towards the fence.
Juhlai turned back and discharged a shot at him, frightening him into turning around and running.
The escort soldier strained his broken lip and told what had just happened.
"You fool, letting the prisoner get away from under your nose! It's a wonder you don't get a spanking this time, for less than twenty-five passes."
The escort soldier viciously backed him up, "I think you're the smart one! I'm the one who put it there."
The escorting soldier said fiercely, "I think you're the smart one. Who knows where such a doggie popped up and jumped on me like a madman?"
Lisa was also questioned. She told the same story as the escort, except she didn't say that she knew the teenager who attacked the escort. Those who were captured were taken to the Police Command.
It wasn't until the evening that the police commander ordered their release.
The police commander even offered to take Liza home himself, but she declined. He reeked of alcohol and was clearly up to no good when he offered to take her home.
Victor later accompanied her home.
It was a long way from here to the train station. Victor was holding Liza's hand, and was feeling happy in his heart for this chance occurrence.
Nearing home, Liza asked him, "Do you know who rescued the prisoner?"
"No, how would I know?"
"Do you remember the young man Tonya was going to introduce us to the other night?"
Victor stopped dead in his tracks.
"You mean Paul? Kochakin?" He asked in surprise.
"Yes, I think his last name is Kochakin. Do you remember how odd he was the other day, turning away? Yes, that was him."
Victor stood there frozen.
"You're not mistaken, are you?" He asked Liza again.
"There can be no mistake. I remember his face very well."
"Then why didn't you report him to the Commander of the Guard?"
Lisa said in exasperation, "Do you think I could do such a despicable thing?"
"How is it despicable? Turning in a man who attacked an escorting soldier is despicable in your opinion?"
"Then it is noble according to you? Have you forgotten all the things they did? Don't you realize how many Jewish orphans there are in the school? And you want me to denounce Kochakin? Thank you, I didn't expect that."
Victor couldn't have expected her to answer that way. He wasn't about to argue with Liza, so he tried to digress as much as he could.
"Don't be angry, Liza, I was joking. I didn't realize you could be so serious."
"That was not a very good joke on your part." Lissa said coldly.
As they parted in front of Liza's house, Victor asked, "Liza, are you coming tomorrow?
He was met with an ambiguous reply, "We'll see."
On the way back to town, Victor pondered, "Well, miss, you can think it's mean all you want, but I've got an opinion. Of course, it's none of my business who lets who off the hook."
He, Leszczynski, a Polish hereditary nobleman, was disgusted with both sides of the conflict. The Polish army would soon be driving in anyway. When that time came, a real regime - a genuine Polish aristocracy - would surely be established, and right now, since there was a good chance to take out the bad guy Kochakin, they certainly didn't have to miss it. They'll pull his head off in no time.
Viktor's family was the only one left in the small town. He was boarding at his aunt's house, where his aunt was the assistant manager of the sugar mill. Victor's father, Sigizmund? Leczynski is in an important position in Warsaw, and his mother and Nelly have long since followed his father to Warsaw.
Viktor arrived at the police headquarters and walked through the open doors.
After a while, he led four Petliura bandits toward the Kochakin house.
He pointed to the lighted window and whispered, "This is it." Then, turning to the Cossack ensign beside him, he asked, "May I go now?"
"Go ahead, we can handle ourselves. Thank you for your help."
Viktor hurriedly took big steps down the sidewalk.
Paul took another punch to the back and was propelled into a dark room, slamming both of his outstretched hands against the wall. He felt around for something like a plank bed and sat down. His heart was heavy with the torture and beatings he had endured.
Paul had not expected to be arrested at all. "How did the Petliura bandits know? No one saw me at all! What should I do now? Where is Juhrai?"
Paul parted company with the sailor Jukhlai at Klimka's house. He went to see Seryozha again, and Juhlai stayed at Klimka's so that he could wait for darkness to blend out of the city.
"It's a good thing I hid my pistol in the crow's nest," thought Paul. "If they had turned it over, I'd be dead. But how did they know it was me?" The question called to him in a hurtful way, and he just couldn't find the answer.
The Petliura bandits hadn't rummaged through Kochakin's house to find anything useful. The clothes and accordion had been taken to the country by his brother. Mom also took her small suitcase. The bandits rummaged through every nook and cranny and fished out very little.
However, what happened on the way from his home to the commanding officer's headquarters is something Paul will never forget. It was a pitch-black night, and you couldn't see a thing. The sky was covered with dark clouds. The bandits pushed and shoved him, punching and kicking him from behind or from both sides without mercy.
Paul walked forward drowsily and woodenly.
There was a conversation outside the door. The Commandant's guards lived in the outer room. A bright light filtered in from under the door of the house. Paul stood up, holding onto the wall, and groped his way through the house. Opposite the paneled bed, he felt for a window with sturdy jagged iron bars resting on it. Shaking it with his hand - it didn't budge. It looked like this used to be a warehouse.
He touched the door again, pausing to listen for movement. Then, gently pushed on the doorknob. The door creaked obnoxiously.
"Damn, what a living hell!" Paul cursed.
From the crack in the open door, he saw two feet on the edge of the bed, ten toes splayed and rough skinned. He gave the doorknob another gentle push, and the door screeched relentlessly again. A sleepy-eyed, shaggy-haired fellow sat up from the bed. He scratched his lice-covered head viciously with five fingers and lazily broke into a monotone voice. After cursing, he touched the rifle at the foot of the bed and yelled breathlessly, "Close the door! Look out again and I'll shoot you ......"
Paul covered the door, and a wild laugh rang out from the room outside.
This night Paul tossed and turned and thought a lot. His Kochakin's first participation in the struggle had been so uneventful, and he had just taken his first step when he was caught like a rat and locked in a cage.
He sat there, distracted, dozing off. At this time, the image of his mother came to mind: her face was thin and wrinkled, and how familiar and kind those eyes were! He thought, "Fortunately, mom is not at home, less suffering."
The light coming through the window shone on the floor, reflecting a gray square.
The darkness was receding. Dawn was approaching.
How Steel is Made How Steel is Made Chapter 6
The big, old house was lit only by one window with curtains. In the yard, Trezor, the dog on a chain, suddenly snarled and barked.
Tonya heard her mother's whisper in her sleepy sleep, "Tonya is still awake. Come in, Liza."
The sound of her girlfriend's soft footsteps and her affectionate, warm hug dispelled Tonya's sleepiness completely.
Tonya smiled with a weary look on her face.
"Liza, you've come at a wonderful time. Our whole family is so happy because Daddy was out of harm's way yesterday and he slept peacefully all day today. Mom and I stayed up several nights and we got some rest today as well. Liza, tell me all the news." Tonya pulled Liza to her side and sat down on the long couch.
"News? there is plenty! But there are some I can only tell to you alone."
Lisa smiled while looking mischievously at Tonya's mother, Ekaterina? Mikhailovna.
Tonya's mother smiled back. She was a drop-dead gorgeous woman who, despite being thirty-six years old, still had the lithe demeanor of a young girl. She had intelligent gray eyes, and her features, though not outstanding, were spirited and endearing.
"Well, I'll leave you two alone in a few moments. For now you go ahead and tell us what news you can publicize." She joked, scooting her chair to the heel of the couch as she did so.
"The first piece of news is: we don't have to go to school anymore. The school board has decided to give seventh graders diplomas. I'm overjoyed." Liza said with a raised eyebrow. "All that algebra and geometry just annoys me! Why do we have to learn all that stuff? The boys might still be able to go on to school, but where to, they don't know themselves. There are battlefields everywhere, wars everywhere. It's horrible! ......
We have to get married anyway, what's the point of being a wife and knowing algebra?" Liza said and laughed aloud.
Ekaterina? Mikhailovna sat with the girls for a while and went back to her room.
Lisa moved towards Tonya, put her arm around her and whispered to her about what had happened at the crossroads.
"Tonya, think how surprised I was when I recognized the man who ran away! ...... Guess who that man was?"
Tonia was listening out of her mind, and she shrugged her shoulders inexplicably.
Lisa blurted out, "It's Kochakin!"
Tonya warbled and cringed in pain.
"It's Kochakin?"
Lisa was pleased with the effect her words had had, and proceeded to tell the story of her quarrel with Victor.
She was so focused on her speech that she didn't notice that Tonya's face had turned white, and that her slender fingers were nervously fiddling with the lapels of her blue blouse. Liza was completely unaware of how alarmed Tonya was, even as her heart shrank. Nor did she know why Tonya's beautiful, thick eyelashes were fluttering so nervously.
Lisa then went on to talk about the drunken Vigilante Commander, and Tonya could not care less about listening to it, she had only one thought in her head, "Victor already knows who attacked the escort. Why would Liza tell him?" She unknowingly blurted the words out.
"What did I tell?" Liza asked this without understanding what she meant.
"Why would you tell Victor about Povlusha, I mean, about Kochakin? You have to know that Victor will betray his ......"
Lisa retorted, "No, he won't. I don't think he will. What good would it really do him to do that?"
Tonya sat bolt upright, gripping her knees so hard with both hands that her grip was raw.
"You, Liza, don't understand anything! Viktor and Kochakin were already enemies, not to mention all the other reasons ...... you did a great wrong by telling Viktor about Pauvlusha."
Lisa didn't realize until then that Tonya was in a hurry. Tonya's offhand use of the intimate term "Pauvlusha" made her finally realize what she had always vaguely suspected.
Lisa couldn't help but feel embarrassed that she had done something wrong, and stopped speaking.
She thought to herself, "It seems that there really is something going on. How strange, how could Tonya suddenly fall in love with him? What kind of person is he? A common laborer ......" Liza was tempted to talk to her about it, but didn't open her mouth for fear of being rude. To try and make amends, she took both of Tonya's hands and said, "Tonya, are you worried?"
Donia replied in a trance, "No, maybe Victor is doing better than I thought."
Not long afterward, their classmate Jemianov arrived, a clumsy, unassuming young man.
The two of them couldn't talk to each other before Jemianov arrived.
Donia sent her two classmates away and stood alone in the doorway for a long time. She leaned against the fence gate and stared down the gray avenue that led into town. A never-ending wind wandered everywhere, blowing toward Tonya with a damp chill and the musty smell of spring. In the distance, the windows of many of the houses in the city flickered impishly with dark red lights. That was the little town she hated so much. In one of the houses in the town lived her restless friend, who was afraid he didn't know that trouble was coming. Perhaps he had forgotten her. How many days had passed since we last met! He had been wrong that time, but she had long since forgotten it. To-morrow, when she saw him, the old friendship, that thrillingly beautiful friendship, would be restored. They would be reconciled, of that Tonya had no doubt. May the night be peaceful. Yet the ominous darkness of the night seemed to be peering from the sidelines, ready ...... to strike at any moment It was cold.
Donia glanced one last time toward the main road and went back inside. She lay down on the bed, wrapped in the quilt, and before she went to sleep, she thought: the dark night, but do not betray him ah! ......