"Ah!" he groaned, and sank helplessly forward on his hands, dropping
the whip, while his cap fell off. He saw nothing, he heard nothing,
being only conscious of the horrible disgrace, and of a dull burning
pain in his eye.
"Oh! God!" screamed Sina Karsavina, holding her head with both hands,
and shutting her eyes tightly.
Horrified and disgusted at the sight of Sarudine crouching there on all
fours, Yourii, followed by Schafroff, rushed at Sanine. Volochine,
losing his pince-nez as he Stumbled over a bush, ran away as fast as
he could across the damp grass, so that his spotless trousers instantly
became black up to the knees.
Tanaroff ground his teeth with fury, and also dashed forward, but
Ivanoff caught him by the shoulders and pulled him back. "That's all
right!" said Sanine scornfully. "Let him come." He stood with legs
apart, breathing hard, and big drops of sweat were on his brow.
Sarudine slowly staggered to his feet. Faint, incoherent words escaped
from his quivering, swollen lips, vague words of menace that to Sanine
sounded singularly ridiculous. The whole left side of Sarudine's face
had instantly became swollen. His eye was no longer visible; blood was
flowing from his nose and mouth, his lips twitched, and his whole body
shook as if in the grip of a fever. Of the smart, handsome officer
nothing remained. That awful blow had robbed him of all that was human;
it had left only something piteous, terrifying, disfigured. He made no
attempt to go away nor to defend himself. His teeth rattled, and, while
he spat blood, he mechanically brushed the sand from his knees. Then,
reeling forward, he fell down again.
"Oh! how horrible! How horrible!" exclaimed Sina Karsavina, hurrying
away from the spot.
"Come along!" said Sanine to Ivanoff, looking upwards to avoid so
revolting a sight.
"Come along, Soloveitchik."
But Soloveitchik did not stir. Wide-eyed he stared at Sarudine, at the
blood, and the dirty sand on the snow-white tunic, trembling all the
while, as his lips moved feebly.
Ivanoff angrily pulled him along, but Soloveitchik shook him off with
surprising vehemence, and he then clung to the trunk of a tree, as if
he wished to resist being dragged away by main force.
"Oh! why, why, did you do that?" he whimpered.
"What a blackguardly thing to do!" shouted Yourii in Sanine's face.
"Yes, blackguardly!" rejoined Sanine, with a scornful smile. "Would it
have been better, do you suppose, to have let him hit me?"