Chapter II

Next day in the forest old Gregor worked more rapidly than usual. He spoke very little, in spite of Sasha's eagerness to talk, and kept the boy so busy that all the wood was gathered up and made into bundles two or three hours before the usual time.

They were in a partially cleared spot, near the top of some rising ground. The old man looked at the sky, nodded his head, and said with a satisfied air, "We have plenty of time left for ourselves, Sasha; come with me, and I'll show you something."

Gregor then set out in a direction opposite from home, and the boy, who expected nothing less than the finding of another bear, seized a tough straight club, and followed him. They went for nearly a mile over rolling ground through the forest, and then descended into a narrow glen, at the foot of which ran a rapid stream. Very soon rocks began to appear on both sides, and the glen became a chasm where there was barely room to walk. It was a cold, gloomy, strange place; Sasha had never seen anything like it. He felt a singular creeping of the flesh, but not for the world would he have turned back.

The path ceased, and there was a waterfall in front filling up the whole chasm. Gregor pulled off his boots and stepped into the stream, which reached nearly to his knees; he gave his hand to Sasha, who could hardly have walked alone against the force of the current. They reached the foot of the fall, the spray of which was whirled into their faces. Then Gregor turned suddenly to the left, passed through the thin edge of the falling water, and Sasha, pulled after him, found himself in a low arched vault of rock, into which the light shone down from another opening. They crawled upwards on hands and knees, and came out into a great circular hole, like a kettle, through the middle of which ran the stream. There was no other way of getting into it, for the rocks leaned inward as they rose, making the bottom considerably wider than the top.

On one side, under the middle of the rocky arch, stood a square black stone about five feet high, with a circle of seven smaller stones resembling seats around it. Sasha was dumb with surprise at finding himself in such a wonderful spot.

But old Gregor made the sign of the cross, and muttered something which seemed to be like a prayer. Then he went to the black stone, and put his hand upon it.

"Sasha," he said, "this is one of the places where the old Russian people came many thousand years ago, before ever the name of Christ was heard of. They were dreadful heathens in those days, and this place was what served them for a church. A black stone had to be the altar, because they had a black god, who was never satisfied unless they fed him with human flesh."

"Where is the black god now?" asked Sasha.

"They say he has turned into an evil spirit, and is hiding somewhere in the wilderness; but I cannot say for the truth of it. His name was Perun. Most men do not care to say it, but I have the courage, because I've been a soldier and have an honest conscience. Are you afraid to stand here?" asked Gregor inquiringly.

"Not if you are not, grandfather," answered Sasha, bravely but respectfully.

"If your heart were bad and false, Sasha, you would have reason to be afraid; but as I know it is not, you can come here without fear of danger."

Sasha obeyed. The old man opened the boy's coarse shirt and laid his hand upon his heart; then he made him do the same to himself, so that the heart of each beat directly against the hand of the other.

"Now, boy," said Gregor, after a pause, "I am going to trust you, and if you say a word you do not mean, or think otherwise than you speak, I shall feel it in the motion of your heart. Do you know the difference between a serf and a free-man? Would you rather live like your father, having nothing that he can call his own, or would you live like the Baron Popoff, with wealth, and houses, and lands, and forests, and people, that no one could take from you, except, perhaps, the emperor?"

Sasha's heart gave a great thump before he could open his mouth. The old man smiled, and he said to himself, "I was right." Then he continued: "I should be a free man now, if our colonel had lived. Your father had not wit and courage enough to try, but you can do it, Sasha, if you think of nothing else and work for nothing else. I will help you all I can; but you must begin at once. Will you?"

"Yes, grandfather, yes!" exclaimed Sasha eagerly.

"Promise me that you will say nothing to any living person; that you will obey me and remember all I say to you while I live, and be none the less faithful to the purpose when I am dead!"

Sasha promised everything at once. After a moment's silence Gregor took his hand from the boy's breast, and said:

"Yes, you truly mean it. The people of old used to say that if any one broke a promise made before this stone, the black heathen god would have power over him."

"Perhaps the bear was the black god," suggested Sasha.

"Perhaps he was. Look him in the face, as you did yesterday, remember your promise, and he can't harm you."

As they walked back slowly through the forest Gregor began to talk, and the boy kept close beside him, listening eagerly to every word.

"The first thing, Sasha," said he, "is to get knowledge. You must learn, somehow, to read and write, and count figures. I must tell you all I know, about everything in the world, but that's very little; and it is so mixed up in my head that I don't rightly know where to begin. It's a blessing I have not forgotten much; what I picked up I held on to, and now I see the reason why. There's nothing you can't use, if you wait long enough."

"Tell me about France!" cried Sasha.

"France and Germany too! I was two or three years, off and on, in those foreign parts, and I could talk smartly in the speech of both--_Allez! Sortez! Donnez moi du vin!_"

Gregor stopped and straightened his bent back; his eyes flashed, and he laughed long and heartily.

"_Allez! Sortez! Donnez moi du vin!_" repeated Sasha.

Gregor caught up the boy in his arms and kissed him.

"The very thing, Sasha!" he cried. "I'll teach you both tongues,--and all about the strange habits of the people, their houses, and churches, and which way the battle went, and what queer harness they have on their horses, and a talking bird I once saw, and a man that kept a bottle full of lightning in his room, and--"

So his tongue ran on. It was a great delight to him to recall his memories of more than thirty years, and he was constantly surprised to find how many little things that seemed forgotten came back to his mind. Sasha's breath came quick as he listened; his whole body felt warm and nimble, and it suddenly seemed to him possible to learn anything and everything. Before reaching home he had fixed twenty or thirty French words in his memory. There they were, hard and tight; he knew he should never forget them.

From that day began a new life for both. Old Gregor's method of instruction would simply have confused a pupil less ignorant and eager to be taught; but Sasha was so sure that knowledge would in some way help him to become a free man, that he seized upon everything he heard. In a few months he knew as much German and French as his grandfather, and when they were alone they always spoke, as much as possible, in one or the other language. But the boy's greatest desire was to learn how to read. During the following winter he made himself useful to the priest in various ways, and finally succeeded in getting from him the letters of the alphabet and learning how to put them together. Of course he could not keep secret all that he did; it was enough that no one guessed his object in doing it.

One day in the spring, just after the baron had returned with his wife from St. Petersburg, Sasha was sent on an errand to the castle. He was bare-headed and bare-footed; his shirt and wide trousers were very coarse, but clean, and his hair floated over his shoulders like a mass of shining silk. When he reached the castle the baron and baroness, with a strange lady, were sitting in the balcony. The latter said, in French, "There's a nice-looking boy!"

Sasha was so glad to find that he understood, and so delighted with the remark, that he looked up suddenly and blushed.

"I really believe he understands what I said," exclaimed the lady.

The baron laughed. "Do you suppose my young serfs are educated like princes?" he asked.

"If he were so intelligent as that, how long could I keep him?"

Sasha bent down his head, and kicked the loose pebbles with his feet to hide his excitement. The blood was humming in his ears: the baron had said the same thing as his grandfather had said--to get knowledge was the only way to get freedom!