The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-11-18
THE CRACK SHOT.
ADAPTED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF roUcuKINE
CHATTER LIN coCHTRY QrARrERs.

CHATTER In COUNTRY QUARTERS.
The mir Of Piodorskow, in the government of
Suwalki, is a dull hole. We lay there. \ monot-
onous life of it we led-about as full of emotion as
that of a tortoise in "a state of hybernation. This
was the daily routine: Morning, drill and the
riding-school; midday, dinner at the command
ants or the Jewish restaurant; evening, punch
and card-playing. There was not a house in the
place worth visiting, nor girl worth falling in
love with We passed our abundant time i'm go
ing from Peter TO Paul, and from Paul to Peter and
back again-the same perpetual round-and in
criticising the buttons on each others uniforms.
Nevertheless, there was just in our little So
ciety who was not a military man. He might be
about five-and-thirty years old, consequently we
''young fellows looked upon him with something
akin to veneration. His experience gave him an
ascendancy over US; and his taciturnity, his
naughty bearing, and the sarcastic manner i'm
which he spoke, added To the impression and
strengthened the superiority of age. It was often
a puzzle 10 me what mysterious destiny over
shadowed him. He appeared 10 be Russian. but
he had foreign name lie had formerly served
in a Hussar regiment, and had even built himself
up some reputation IN it; but he handed in his
papers abruptly one mOrning-nObOdy could tell
why-and he established himself i'm this miserable.
village, where he lived very roughly, but managed
all the same to spend great deal of money. He
kept open house for every officer in our regiment
Nobody knew what his fortune, or whether
he married or single, and nobody cared To ask
him. He looked too stern to answer interroeatorv
of that type. He had a tOlerably large library.
particularly strong in military books and i'm ro-
mances, which he freely lent and never asked
back. ON the other hand, he never thought of re-
turning a book once lent To him. His absorbing
OccupatiOn-it was more than paStime-waS pistol
practice. The walls of his dining room riddled
with bullet-dents, looked like honcy-comb 4
splendid collection of pistols Of every make and
age, was the one vanity of the wretched gaZebo he
called his mansion. The deXterity he had acquired
by his practice was something Incredible: ii he
laid bet that he would knock the tuft off for
aging cap with a shot do not think there was a
fellow IN the regiment who would have hcsitated
TO put the cap on his head. Sometimes amongst
Us the conversation turned upon duelling Silvio
THAT Is what mean to call HIM never took part
in il. If he We're asked if he had ever been out
he drily answered Eyes" but entered into no de
tails, and IL easy To that the question did
not crafty him. We came TO the conclusion that
some victim Of his terrible skill had left "A burden
on his conscience. None of Us for a moment had
the slightest suspicion that there was any element
of feebleness in his composition. There are men
whose exterior is enough to scout suppositions OF
the kind. He was one of them. NOtwithstand-
ing, an event which Unexpectedly turned up sin
gulaTly astOnished us
One day a dozen of US officers dned at Silvio's
We drank "a il was the CUSTOM that is to say, too
much champagne As soon as the dinner was
over we asked the master of the house to make a
bank at faro. After refusing for a long time, for
ne seldom played, he called for the cards, placed
fifty ducats before him on the table, and sat down
to deal. We made a ring around him. and the
play began. When he played, il was SilvioS
habit to preserve an absolute silence; he never
made any objections and never gave any eXplana-
tions. If punter won or lost he paid him exact
ly what was coming to him or marked down to
his own credit what he had gained We all knew
his popularity, and we let him arrange the mat
ter after his own fashion; but there was with US
on that occasion an officer newly Joined, who i'm a
moment of distraction made a false double Silvio
took mp the chalk and made his mark i'm his usual
manner The officer, persuaded that there was a
mistake, eXpOstulated. SilviO, never breaking
silence, continued TO deal. The officer, losing pa
thence, took the brush and rubbed out what he
thought to be the wrong mark. Silvio quietly
made the mark again. Upon this, the officer
heated by the wine the play, and the laughter of
his cOmrades-tOOk serious OfIense and, Selling a
copper chandelier in his fury hurled il at the head
OF Silvio, who just cOntrived to avoid being hit
Silvlo started up, pale with anger, and said, with
fire in his eyes:
'AIy good sir have the kindness TO leave the
room, and thank your God that this has PASSED
under my roof"
Not one Of us had the slightest doubt as 10 what
would be the sequel Of the affair We already
looked upon our comrade as a dead man. The
officer left saying he ready to give satsfac-
tlOn TO the banker at his convenience
The gambling continued for "a few minutes
more DuJ "a we saw that the master of the house
PAID no further interest to the play we left one bv
one, and as we str0lled back 10 our ana rtor- We.
chatted about the vacancy we were soon IN bave
in our regiment.
The following day, in the riding-schooI we were
asking II the poor Lieutenant was dead or merely
wounded, when who should walk i'm but himself
we pHed MN with questions. lie simply an
swered that he had not heard from Silvio we
were astonishcd. We went TO visit SiIvio Ne
came upon him in his courtyard sending buIlef