Marya bid me
good-bye all forlorn; I could answer her nothing, not wishing to give
way to the feelings of my heart before the bystanders.
I returned to Zourine's silent and thoughtful; he wished to cheer me. I
hoped to raise my spirits; we passed the day noisily, and on the morrow
we marched.
It was near the end of the month of February. The winter, which had
rendered manoeuvres difficult, was drawing to a close, and our Generals
were making ready for a combined campaign.
Pugatchef had reassembled his troops, and was still to be found before
Orenburg. At the approach of our forces the disaffected villages
returned to their allegiance.
Soon Prince Galitsyn won a complete victory over Pugatchef, who had
ventured near Fort Talitcheff; the victor relieved Orenburg, and
appeared to have given the finishing stroke to the rebellion.
In the midst of all this Zourine had been detached against some mounted
Bashkirs, who dispersed before we even set eyes on them.
Spring, which caused the rivers to overflow, and thus block the roads,
surprised us in a little Tartar village, when we consoled ourselves for
our forced inaction by the thought that this insignificant war of
skirmishers with robbers would soon come to an end.
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