"And I should advise you to shoe him," replied the Captain, observing on the part of the Tartar a desire to jest.
"I will pay you what you like for your work; but I tell you that, whether you like it or not, you must do what I want."
"The will of Allah is above ours; and he does not permit us to work on Djoumá. We sin enough for gain on common days, so on a holiday I do not wish to buy coals with silver."[25]
"But were you not at work just now, obstinate blockhead? Is not one horse the same as another? Besides, mine is a real Mussulman--look at the mark[26]--the blood of Karabákh."
[26] The Asiatics mark their horses by burning them on their haunch with a hot iron. This peculiar mark, the [Greek: stigma] or [Greek: kotpa] of the Greeks is called "távro."
"All horses are alike; but not so those who ride them: Ammalát Bek is my aga (lord.)"
"That is, if you had taken it into your head to refuse him, he would have had your ears cropped; but you will not work for me, in the hope that I would not dare to do the same. Very well, my friend! I certainly will not crop your ears, but be assured that I will warm that orthodox back of yours with two hundred pretty stinging nogaikas (lashes with a whip) if you won't leave off your nonsense--do you hear?"
"I hear--and I answer as I did before: I will not shoe the horse--for I am a good Mussulman."
"And I will make you shoe him, because I am a good soldier. As you have worked at the will of your Bek, you shall work for the need of a Russian officer--without this I cannot proceed. Corporals, forward!"
In the mean time a circle of gazers had been extending round the obstinate blacksmith, like a ring made in the water by casting a stone into it. Some in the crowd were disputing the best places, hardly knowing what they were running to see; and at last more cries were heard: "It is not fair--it cannot be: to-day is a holiday: to-day it is a sin to work!" Some of the boldest, trusting to their numbers, pulled their caps over their eyes, and felt at the hilts of their daggers, pressing close up to the Captain, and crying "Don't shoe him, Alékper! Do nothing for him: here's news, my masters! What new prophets for us are these unwashed Russians?" The Captain was a brave man, and thoroughly understood the Asiatics. "Away, ye rascals!" he cried in a rage, laying his hand on the butt of his pistol. "Be silent, or the first that dares to let an insult pass his teeth, shall have them closed with a leaden seal!"