14
A Visit to the Bai
In the evening, Lavrentiev gave Shevchenko a cunning wink, and said:
“Well, Grigorievich, let’s go on a visit tomorrow.”
“Where to?” Shevchenko wondered, not too keen about seeing Lavrentiev’s friends: Sergeant-Major Laptev and the two dashing noncoms — the curly-headed Zlintsev and the pock-marked, taciturn Kunitsin.
“To the Kirghiz. They arrived yesterday and are staying by the Or for the winter. They come every year. The general told their bai several times to set up the aul at least forty versts from the fortress, because we in the fort, as well as the Cossacks and the people from the settlement need the pastures and hay for our own horses and cattle. As soon as I learned about their arrival I reported to the general, but he waved it off. ‘Let them be,’ he s
