An Adventure (a Driver's Story)

"An Adventure (A Driver's Story)" by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a compelling short story that explores the life of a humble carriage driver who finds himself involved in a series of unexpected events during a fateful journey. Through vivid characterizations and Chekhov's signature style, the narrative delves into themes of class disparity, the human condition, and the often-overlooked struggles of everyday life. The driver's reflections and encounters reveal profound insights into the nature of existence, leaving readers with a sense of empathy for those who navigate the challenges of their circumstances.

								
IT was in that wood yonder, behind the creek, that it happened, sir. My
father, the kingdom of Heaven be his, was taking five hundred roubles to
the master; in those days our fellows and the Shepelevsky peasants used
to rent land from the master, so father was taking money for the half-
year. He was a God-fearing man, he used to read the scriptures, and as
for cheating or wronging anyone, or defrauding --God forbid, and the
peasants honoured him greatly, and when someone had to be sent to the
town about taxes or such-like, or with money, they used to send him. He
was a man above the ordinary, but, not that I'd speak ill of him, he had
a weakness. He was fond of a drop. There was no getting him past a
tavern: he would go in, drink a glass, and be completely done for! He
was aware of this weakness in himself, and when he was carrying public
money, that he might not fall asleep or lose it by some chance, he
always took me or my sister Anyutka with him.

To tell the truth, all our family have a great taste for vodka. I can
read and write, I served for six years at a tobacconist's in the town,
and I can talk to any educated gentleman, and can use very fine
language, but, it is perfectly true, sir, as I read in a book, that
vodka is the blood of Satan. Through vodka my face has darkened. And
there is nothing seemly about me, and here, as you may see, sir, I am a
cab-driver like an ignorant, uneducated peasant.

And so, as I was telling you, father was taking the money to the master,
Anyutka was going with him, and at that time Anyutka was seven or maybe
eight--a silly chit, not that high. He got as far as Kalantchiko
successfully, he was sober, but when he reached Kalantchiko and went
into Moiseika's tavern, this same weakness of his came upon him. He
drank three glasses and set to bragging before people:

"I am a plain humble man," he says, "but I have five hundred roubles in
my pocket; if I like," says he, "I could buy up the tavern and all the
crockery and Moiseika and his Jewess and his little Jews. I can buy it
all out and out," he said. That was his way of joking, to be sure, but
then he began complaining: "It's a worry, good Christian people," said
he, "to be a rich man, a merchant, or anything of that kind. If you have
no money you have no care, if you have money you must watch over your
pocket the whole time that wicked men may not rob you. It's a terror to
live in the world for a man who has a lot of money."

The drunken people listened of course, took it in, and made a note of
it. And in those days they were making a railway line at Kalantchiko,
and there were swarms and swarms of tramps and vagabonds of all sorts
like locusts. Father pulled himself up afterwards, but it was too late.
A word is not a sparrow, if it flies out you can't catch it. They drove,
sir, by the wood, and all at once there was someone galloping on
horseback behind them. Father was not of the chicken-hearted
brigade--that I couldn't say--but he felt uneasy; there was no regular
road through the wood, nothing went that way but hay and timber, and
there was no cause for anyone to be galloping there, particularly in
working hours. One wouldn't be galloping after any good.

"It seems as though they are after someone," said father to Anyutka,
"they are galloping so furiously. I ought to have kept quiet in the
tavern, a plague on my tongue. Oy, little daughter, my heart misgives
me, there is something wrong!"

He did not spend long in hesitation about his dangerous position, and he
said to my sister Anyutka:

"Things don't look very bright, they really are in pursuit. Anyway,
Anyutka dear, you take the money, put it away in your skirts, and go and
hide behind a bush. If by ill-luck they attack me, you run back to
mother, and give her the money. Let her take it to the village elder.
Only mind you don't let anyone see you; keep to the wood and by the
creek, that no one may see you. Run your best and call on the merciful
God. Christ be with you!"

Father thrust the parcel of notes on Anyutka, and she looked out the
thickest of the bushes and hid herself. Soon after, three men on
horseback galloped up to father. One a stalwart, big-jawed fellow, in a
crimson shirt and high boots, and the other two, ragged, shabby fellows,
navvies from the line. As my father feared, so it really turned out,
sir. The one in the crimson shirt, the sturdy, strong fellow, a man
above the ordinary, left his horse, and all three made for my father.

"Halt you, so-and-so! Where's the money!"

"What money? Go to the devil!"

"Oh, the money you are taking the master for the rent. Hand it over, you
bald devil, or we will throttle you, and you'll die in your sins."

And they began to practise their villainy on father, and, instead of
beseeching them, weeping, or anything of the sort, father got angry and
began to reprove them with the greatest severity.

"What are you pestering me for?" said he. "You are a dirty lot. There is
no fear of God in you, plague take you! It's not money you want, but a
beating, to make your backs smart for three years after. Be off,
blockheads, or I shall defend myself. I have a revolver that takes six
bullets, it's in my bosom!"

But his words did not deter the robbers, and they began beating him with
anything they could lay their hands on.

They looked through everything in the cart, searched my father
thoroughly, even taking off his boots; when they found that beating
father only made him swear at them the more, they began torturing him in
all sorts of ways. All the time Anyutka was sitting behind the bush, and
she saw it all, poor dear. When she saw father lying on the ground and
gasping, she started off and ran her hardest through the thicket and the
creek towards home. She was only a little girl, with no understanding;
she did not know the way, just ran on not knowing where she was going.
It was some six miles to our home. Anyone else might have run there in
an hour, but a little child, as we all know, takes two steps back for
one forwards, and indeed it is not everyone who can run barefoot through
the prickly bushes; you want to be used to it, too, and our girls used
always to be crowding together on the stove or in the yard, and were
afraid to run in the forest.

Towards evening Anyutka somehow reached a habitation, she looked, it was
a hut. It was the forester's hut, in the Crown forest; some merchants
were renting it at the time and burning charcoal. She knocked. A woman,
the forester's wife, came out to her. Anyutka, first of all, burst out
crying, and told her everything just as it was, and even told her about
the money. The forester's wife was full of pity for her.

"My poor little dear! Poor mite, God has preserved you, poor little one!
My precious! Come into the hut, and I will give you something to eat."

She began to make up to Anyutka, gave her food and drink, and even wept

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