第166章 第九章
“那么，咱们的作战计划如何？说来听听。”斯捷潘·阿尔卡季奇说道。
“计划是这样的。现在咱们先开车到格沃兹杰夫村。格沃兹杰夫村这边有一片松鸡沼泽地，过了格沃兹杰夫村，就是几片极好的沙锥鸟沼泽，那里也有松鸡。现在天气太热，咱们得赶路——大概十五俄里左右——傍晚时分到达，打一场傍晚的猎；在那儿过夜，明天再去更大的沼泽地。”
“路上就没有什么可打的吗？”
“有倒是有，但咱们得留着体力；况且天又热。有两个不错的小地方，不过我怀疑那里没什么可打的。”
列文本想亲自去这两个小地方，可它们离家太近，随时都可以去打，再说地方又小——容不下三个人一起打。于是，他有点违心地说，怀疑那里没什么可打的。马车经过一片小沼泽时，列文本想直接开过去，但斯捷潘·阿尔卡季奇凭着猎手锐利的眼睛，一眼就看到了路边露出的芦苇。
“咱们不去那儿试试吗？”他指着那片小沼泽说。
“列文，去吧，求你了！多好啊！”瓦先卡·韦斯洛夫斯基开始央求，列文只好同意。
还没等他们停稳车，猎狗们就一只跟着一只地窜进了沼泽地。
“克拉克！拉斯卡！……”
猎狗回来了。
“三个人太挤了。我就待在这儿吧。”列文说，心里希望他们除了被狗惊起的凤头麦鸡之外什么也打不到，那些凤头麦鸡飞起来在空中盘旋，在沼泽地上空哀怨地啼叫着。
“不！来吧，列文，咱们一起去！”韦斯洛夫斯基喊道。
“真的，太挤了。拉斯卡，回来，拉斯卡！你不需要再带一只狗了吧？”
列文留在马车旁，羡慕地看着猎人们。他们径直穿过了沼泽地。除了几只小鸟和凤头麦鸡——韦斯洛夫斯基打中了一只——沼泽地里什么也没有。
“瞧，你看，不是我舍不得那片沼泽吧，”列文说，“只是浪费时间罢了。”
“哦，不，还是很好玩的。你看见我们了吗？”瓦先卡·韦斯洛夫斯基说道，他手里拿着枪和那只凤头麦鸡，笨手笨脚地爬上了马车。“我这只鸟打得棒极了！不是吗？好了，咱们是不是很快就到真正的好地方了？”
马突然起步，列文的头撞在了一个人的枪托上，接着传来一声枪响。那支枪确实先走火了，但列文当时的感觉就是这样。好像是瓦先卡·韦斯洛夫斯基只扣了一个扳机，另一个击锤还张着。霰弹射进了地里，没有伤到任何人。斯捷潘·阿尔卡季奇摇摇头，带着责备的神情对韦斯洛夫斯基笑了笑。但列文不忍心责骂他。首先，任何责备似乎都因为他经历的险情和列文额头上鼓起的包而显得有些过分。其次，韦斯洛夫斯基先是天真地懊恼不已，接着又看到大家惊魂未定的样子，他本人也跟着和善而富有感染力地大笑起来，让人不得不跟着他一起笑。
到达第二片沼泽时，这片沼泽相当大，肯定要花些时间打，列文想说服他们绕过去。但韦斯洛夫斯基又说服了他。同样，因为沼泽地很窄，列文作为好客的主人，又留在了马车旁。
克拉克径直朝几丛莎草冲去。瓦先卡·韦斯洛夫斯基第一个跟着狗跑过去。斯捷潘·阿尔卡季奇还没来得及跟上，一只松鸡就飞了起来。韦斯洛夫斯基没打中，松鸡飞到了一片未割的草地上。这只松鸡就留给韦斯洛夫斯基去追。克拉克又找到了它，并指示了方向，韦斯洛夫斯基开了枪，然后走回马车。“现在你去吧，我来看着马。”他说。
列文开始感到一阵猎手嫉妒的痛苦。他把缰绳递给韦斯洛夫斯基，自己走进了沼泽地。
拉斯卡一直可怜兮兮地呜咽着，为自己受到的不公平待遇而烦恼，此刻它径直朝一个它很熟悉的、有希望的地方冲去，而克拉克还没到那里。
“你怎么不叫住它？”斯捷潘·阿尔卡季奇喊道。
“它不会惊动鸟的。”列文回答，他同情他的母狗的那份快活，匆忙跟在后面。
当拉斯卡越来越靠近那些熟悉的繁殖地时，它的探索也变得越来越认真。一只小沼泽鸟只分散了它一会儿的注意力。它绕着那片芦苇丛转了一圈，开始转第二圈，突然兴奋地颤抖起来，然后一动不动了。
“来，来，斯季瓦！”列文喊道，感到自己的心跳得更加剧烈了；突然间，好像某种快门从他紧绷的耳朵上拉开了一样，所有嘈杂而响亮的声音都开始冲击他的听觉，让他完全失去了距离感。他听到了斯捷潘·阿尔卡季奇的脚步声，却误以为是远处马的蹄声；他听到了自己踩断树枝的脆响，把这声音当成了松鸡飞起的声音。他还听到身后不远处有溅水的声音，这声音他无法解释。
他小心翼翼地迈着步子，向狗走去。
“叼回来！”
从狗旁边飞起来的不是松鸡，而是一只沙锥鸟。列文已经举起了枪，但就在他瞄准的那一刻，溅水声变得更响了，也更近了，还夹杂着韦斯洛夫斯基的声音，他异常响亮地喊着什么。列文看到自己的枪口正指向沙锥鸟的后方，但他还是开了枪。
当确认自己没打中时，列文回头一看，发现马和马车不在路上，而陷进了沼泽里。
韦斯洛夫斯基想看看打猎，竟把车赶进了沼泽地，结果马陷进了泥里。
“该死的家伙！”列文一边自言自语，一边走向陷在泥沼里的马车。“你为什么要赶进来？”他冷冷地对韦斯洛夫斯基说，然后叫来车夫，开始拉马出来。
列文既因为打猎被打断而恼火，又因为自己的马陷进泥里而生气，更因为斯捷潘·阿尔卡季奇和韦斯洛夫斯基都不帮他和车夫卸下马具、把马弄出来而恼火——他们俩对套车一窍不通。对于瓦先卡辩解说那里原本很干燥的话，列文一句也不回答，只是默默地同车夫一起把马往外拉。但干着干着，他暖和了身子，看到韦斯洛夫斯基那么卖力地拽着马车的一个挡泥板，甚至把它都拽坏了，列文便开始自责，觉得自己是因为受昨天情绪的影响，才对韦斯洛夫斯基太冷淡了，于是努力显得特别和蔼，以缓和自己的冷淡态度。当一切处理妥当，马车被拉回大路后，列文让人摆上午餐。
“胃口好——良心安！这只鸡会一直掉到我的靴子里去。”瓦先卡恢复了精神，引用了一句法国谚语，同时吃完了第二只鸡。“好了，现在我们的麻烦结束了，接下来一切都会顺利的。只是，为了赎罪，我得坐在赶车座上。对不对？嗯？不，不！我来当你们的御者。你们会看到我怎么把你们送到目的地的。”当列文请求他让车夫驾车时，他回答道，手里紧紧抓着缰绳不放，“不，我必须赎罪，坐在赶车座上我很舒服。”于是他赶起了车。
列文有点担心他会把马累坏，特别是那匹栗色马，他不知道该怎么控制；但不知不觉中，他被瓦先卡欢快的情绪感染了，听着他在赶车座上唱了一路的歌，或者听他描述和模仿英国人赶四驾马车的样子；午餐后，当他们驱车前往格沃兹杰夫沼泽地时，列文的情绪变得非常好了。
“Well, now what’s our plan of campaign? Tell us all about it,” said
Stepan Arkadyevitch.
“Our plan is this. Now we’re driving to Gvozdyov. In Gvozdyov there’s a
grouse marsh on this side, and beyond Gvozdyov come some magnificent
snipe marshes where there are grouse too. It’s hot now, and we’ll get
there—it’s fifteen miles or so—towards evening and have some evening
shooting; we’ll spend the night there and go on tomorrow to the bigger
moors.”
“And is there nothing on the way?”
“Yes; but we’ll reserve ourselves; besides it’s hot. There are two nice
little places, but I doubt there being anything to shoot.”
Levin would himself have liked to go into these little places, but they
were near home; he could shoot them over any time, and they were only
little places—there would hardly be room for three to shoot. And so,
with some insincerity, he said that he doubted there being anything to
shoot. When they reached a little marsh Levin would have driven by, but
Stepan Arkadyevitch, with the experienced eye of a sportsman, at once
detected reeds visible from the road.
“Shan’t we try that?” he said, pointing to the little marsh.
“Levin, do, please! how delightful!” Vassenka Veslovsky began begging,
and Levin could but consent.
Before they had time to stop, the dogs had flown one before the other
into the marsh.
“Krak! Laska!...”
The dogs came back.
“There won’t be room for three. I’ll stay here,” said Levin, hoping
they would find nothing but peewits, who had been startled by the dogs,
and turning over in their flight, were plaintively wailing over the
marsh.
“No! Come along, Levin, let’s go together!” Veslovsky called.
“Really, there’s not room. Laska, back, Laska! You won’t want another
dog, will you?”
Levin remained with the wagonette, and looked enviously at the
sportsmen. They walked right across the marsh. Except little birds and
peewits, of which Vassenka killed one, there was nothing in the marsh.
“Come, you see now that it was not that I grudged the marsh,” said
Levin, “only it’s wasting time.”
“Oh, no, it was jolly all the same. Did you see us?” said Vassenka
Veslovsky, clambering awkwardly into the wagonette with his gun and his
peewit in his hands. “How splendidly I shot this bird! Didn’t I? Well,
shall we soon be getting to the real place?”
The horses started off suddenly, Levin knocked his head against the
stock of someone’s gun, and there was the report of a shot. The gun did
actually go off first, but that was how it seemed to Levin. It appeared
that Vassenka Veslovsky had pulled only one trigger, and had left the
other hammer still cocked. The charge flew into the ground without
doing harm to anyone. Stepan Arkadyevitch shook his head and laughed
reprovingly at Veslovsky. But Levin had not the heart to reprove him.
In the first place, any reproach would have seemed to be called forth
by the danger he had incurred and the bump that had come up on Levin’s
forehead. And besides, Veslovsky was at first so naïvely distressed,
and then laughed so good-humoredly and infectiously at their general
dismay, that one could not but laugh with him.
