The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1848-09-08
The Last Shot.
FROM THE RUSSIAN OF rUsuKlN.

The life Of an officer in the army is well
known. In the morning there is a parade,
and the riding school then comes dinner
with the commander OF the regiment, or al
the Jewish tavern, and, in the evening, of
course, punch and cards. In A-thcre
was not one open house, not one heiresS (;
we assembled in each others rooms, where
no one was seen who did not wear our uni
form.
There was only one man who belonged
to our society without being in the army
He was about thirty-five years Ofage, and
we therefore considered him an old man -
His experience gave him many advantages
over us; added to which, the usual gloomi-
ness Of his temper, his rough manners, and
biting tongue, considerably increased the
influence he had over our young minds. a
kind of mystery attended him he seemed
to be a Russian, yet his name was foreign.
At one period Of his life he had served with
reputation in regiment Of hussars, and no.
body knew the reason why he was induced
to leave them, and to settle in a quiet vii.
lage, where he lived in a strange manner
appearing at the same time poor and prodi.
gal; he always went on foot, aud thread.
bare black coat, and yet he kept open table
|
his dinner consisted of two or three dishes
only, which were prepared by all old veter.
an; but champaign flowed in rivers. Nc
one knew Of his property, or the source from
which he derived his income, and no one
| dared TO ask HIN about it. He had some
| books, for the most part military works and
novels. He was liberal in lending them ont
and never asked them TO be returned. Hi,
! principal exercise was pistol. shooting; tho
walls of his room were, so to speak, inlat
with balls. \ rich collection OF pistols wa,
the only luxury of the poor cottage wher,
he lived. The degree of precision which
| he had attained was extraordinary, and il
| he had proposed to hit pear on he ioraging
cap of my body, there was not one in Uul
regiment who would have hcsitatcd to ofel
his head for the experiment. We offer
talked Of duelS but Silvio, for so shall
call him, never joined in the conversation
To this question whether ne had ever fought
| a dnel, he would drily answer that he had
but he never entered into any details, ant
il was evident that questions on this sub
| ject were by no means pleasant TO his ears
We supposed that the fate of some un!oriu
nate victim Of this terrible fate was weigh
ing on his conscience. II never ono,
struck MS TO suspect him of cowardice; there
are men whose very appearance diSpelS al
suspicious of this kind; yet an academia
acquaintance caused a slight alteration il
our opinion.
One day about ten Of orr officers dnct
with Silvo. We drank as usual, that is
freely. After dinner we begged our host {,
set up bdHk he resisted for long time
for he scarcely ever played: at last he or
dered cards to be brought, and threw on IT,,
/ table some fifty ducats, and sat down t.
| deal; we surrounded him, aud the gam,
| began.
Sivio was in the habit Of being perfect,
! cool while engaged in play; he never dis
puIed, aud never explained. In cases whcrt
! the pOiniUer made n mistake he would i'm
| medatrly pay ont from the bank or writ,
up the score. We knew his system, an,
! allowed him 10 manage in his own way
/ But there as among us an officer who ha,
but lately joined the corps. Through iuad
ver,ence he made a mistake. Silvio tool
the chalk and balanced the account, as h,
was accustomed to do; the officer. believ
ing him to be III the wrong. began TO max,
some observations but Silvo continued t,
dea the cards in silence. The officer, 10
sing all patience, took the brush aud erase,
that which he thought had been wrongl,
marked up. Silvio took the chalk aud wrot
II again; the officer, heated by the wine
the game and the laughter of his compan
ions, considered himself highly offended
and Selling in his rage brass candlesticl
from the table, hurled i, at Silvio. who mar
rowly escaped being struck by il. Silyi
rose pale with rage, aud with sparkling ey e
said--'Sir, 60 away; and thank God this la
happened in my house,
We feared the consequences, and consid
cred our new companion a dead man. II
left the house saying that he was ready I
answer for the offence in whatever name
would be most pleasing TO the banker. Tn
game continued few minutes longer. bu
seeing that our host was not much incline
to go on, we desiStei one after another, an
dispersed to our lodgings, convcrsing abou
the next vacancy.
The next day. questions were put eve
in the riding school as TO tie fate Of III
young officer, when he suddenly appcare
himself among us. He said that he had nc
received any message from Silvio. Ihi
struck us as somewhat curious: we went L
Silvo, and found him as usual in the var
driving ball after ball in target, which h
had stuck up on the gate: he received u
as usual, without even abiding 10 the cir
cumstance OF the preceding evening"
Three days passed over, and the ensign wa
still alive we asked with wonder. is il pos
sibe that Silvio will not fight ?-Sivio d
not fight; he was satisfied with yer,
slight apology, and they became friends
This incident for time injured him
good deal in our opinion: want of courag
is less than all forgiven by the young, win
generally see in courage the highest of hu
man qualities, and the excuse for all posi-
/, BILE vices. However by degrees the ailai
was forgotten, and Slvio regained his for
iner Influence.
) alone could not approach him as before
Being naturally of warm and romanti
+, temperament, | Of all my companions ha,
been especially attached to the man who's
life was an enigma, aud whom / fancie
the hero at some ing stcrious tale, He wa
partial 10 me; al least was the only on
with whom he would lay aside his cuttiu
observation, and speak on all sorts of sub
iects with simplicity aud amenity. But al
ter that unfortunate evening. the though
, that his honor had been stained, and No
. repaired by his own will, haunted me, an
l prevented my associating with him on tn
| S,mn Fnntinu formally I M ,,,, M