Búlka in Pyatigórsk (Tolstoy)
Division into chapters is editorial.
Life in Pyatigórsk with Búlka
After leaving the Cossack village, the narrator traveled to Pyatigórsk instead of going directly to Russia, where he planned to stay for two months. He gave away his dog Milton to a Cossack hunter but brought Búlka along with him to the spa town.
Pyatigórsk was named after Mount Besh-tau, where 'besh' meant 'five' and 'tau' meant 'mountain' in Tartar. Hot sulphur springs flowed from the mountain, as hot as boiling water, creating constant steam like from a samovar. The city was situated in a cheerful location with the river Podkúmok at the mountain's foot, forests on the slopes, and the snow-capped Caucasus mountains visible in the distance, including the prominent white peak of Elbrus. People came to the hot springs for healing, with arbours and gardens surrounding the treatment areas where music played in the mornings.
The narrator lived in a small house in the suburb at the mountain's foot. The house had a yard with a small garden in front of the windows, where the landlady kept her beehives in round, plaited baskets rather than the hollow stems used in Russia. The bees were so gentle that the narrator could sit with Búlka among the hives each morning.
Búlka walked about between the hives, and sniffed, and listened to the bees' buzzing; he walked so softly among them that he did not interfere with them, and they did not bother him.
One morning after returning from the waters, the narrator sat in the garden drinking coffee when Búlka began scratching behind his ears, making a grating noise with his collar that worried the bees. The narrator removed the collar to quiet them.
The dog killers and Búlkas narrow escape
Soon after, a strange and terrible noise arose from the city and descended toward their suburb. Dogs barked, howled, and whimpered while people shouted. Búlka immediately understood what was happening - he pricked his ears, showed his teeth, jumped up, and began to snarl. When the narrator went to investigate, his landlady explained the situation.
The prisoners of the jail are coming down to kill the dogs. The dogs have been breeding so much that the city authorities have ordered all the dogs in the city to be killed.
The landlady assured him that dogs with collars would not be killed. At that moment, the execution squad approached their house - soldiers in front followed by four prisoners in chains. Two prisoners carried long iron hooks while two others had clubs.
In front of their house, one prisoner caught a watchdog with his hook and dragged it to the middle of the street while another began striking it with a club. The little dog whined dreadfully as the prisoners shouted and laughed cruelly. After confirming the dog was dead, the prisoner with the hook looked around for more victims.
Just then Búlka rushed headlong at that prisoner, as though he were a bear. I happened to think that he was without his collar, so I shouted: 'Búlka, back!'
The narrator called to the prisoners not to strike his dog, but the prisoner laughed when he saw Búlka and nimbly struck him with the hook, catching him by the thigh. Búlka tried to escape, but the prisoner pulled him closer and told his companion to strike. The other prisoner raised his club, and Búlka would have been killed, but he jerked violently and broke the skin where the hook was embedded.
Búlka would have been killed, but he jerked, and broke the skin at the thigh and, taking his tail between his legs, flew, with the red sore on his body, through the gate.
With his tail between his legs and a red wound on his body, Búlka fled through the gate into the house and hid under his master's bed. His life was saved only because the skin had torn at the spot where the hook caught him, allowing him to break free from the deadly grip of the dog killers.