Student of the port school. fateful meeting

This story is about a real person. Nikolai Matveev was a famous person. The main events of his life, his birth in Japan, running away from home, wandering through the taiga with a Chinese, life in the family of a unit commander on Lake Khanka, and, finally, studying at the Port School in the city of Vladivostok are real and well-known facts, all other events, that are described in the book could be, but could ... not be.
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FATEfUl MEETING

Fate decided for him. Kolya did not have time to go even ten steps along the path, when he saw that a horse was rushing at him. The horse was dragging a wagon behind him, which dangled from side to side. The coachman was unconscious, and two frightened faces looked out from the wagon - a young woman and a boy. Not realizing what he was doing, Kolya rushed to the horse and hung on the bridle. He struggled to slow down the horse's run. The horse was covered in soap, something frightened her so much that she had already rushed for many kilometers, not making out the road.

Nikolenka felt that he could not restrain the horse, he understood that a little more and the cart would tip over. Everyone will suffer, including him, Nikolenka. And suddenly Kolya heard magic words inside himself, which his mentor, the Chinese Chen, often spoke to obstinate animals. Without thinking for a long time, the boy shouted these words.

It seemed to him, or it was in fact, but the horse slowed down a little.

Inspired by the success, Kolya, now much calmer, repeated the cherished words, and then again and again. The old Chinese would be proud of his student. The science that was not given to Kolya during his studies with Chen suddenly came in handy at the most critical moment.

The horse slowed down, and then completely stopped. The woman and the boy got out of the wagon, the driver still sat with his head lowered to his chest.

Going up to the coachman, Kolya realized that the man was dead. Horses are afraid of dead people, probably the sudden death of the coachman scared the horse.

The woman was the wife of the commander of the unit, who was stationed in Tury Rog on Lake Khankai, the boy was his son, they went to visit the mother's sister, who lived a few kilometers from Tury Rog. The driver did not complain about anything, only rubbed his temples, and refused to eat when the boy's mother, Anna, offered to stop and have a bite to eat somewhere in the clearing.

After a pause, Anna continued her story.

“Excuse me, I don’t know how to call you father,” the woman stammered, “my son and I set off on the road right after we had dinner, I had to visit my sister today without fail. This should have been done three days earlier, but my son,” the woman turned her eyes to the boy, “Misha,” she suddenly turned to her son who was in prostration, “come here and thank the young man who saved us!”

The boy did not react in any way to the words of his mother, he sat on a stump and looked somewhere into space. The woman shrugged her shoulders in annoyance, but did not insist.

“So, Misha fell very ill, and the next day a messenger arrived from his sister and handed over a letter from her. There was a request in the letter, my sister asked me to come as soon as possible. Of course, there are servants in the house, but at such a delicate moment, the sister wanted her own person to be next to her.

Kolya tried to break into the woman's monologue, but soon realized that it was useless. The woman was in shock. The woman's speech sped up, became incoherent.

Later it became clear that Anna was going to her sister, who was already in her last pregnancy. The sister was waiting for Anna three days earlier, but Misha fell ill, and Anna was not able to go to her sister right away. Beside herself with anxiety, she barely waited for the moment when her son would feel better and ordered the coachman to immediately lay down the horse. Misha followed his mother. The sister had a son a few years older than Misha, Misha missed his cousin and persuaded his mother to take him with her.

But Kolya found out all this later, but now he was a little confused.

The situation was not easy.

There were: a hysterical mother, a boy who did not react to anything, a dead coachman and a horse that snored and squinted at the coachman, who was still lying on the irradiation. The boy was ten or twelve years old. Kolya stomped around next to the boy, and then went up to the woman. Anna sat with her face in her hands. She did not cry, but it was clear that a little more and she would burst into tears.

“My name is Nikolai,” the young man suddenly spoke, “I want to help you!”

Anna removed her hands from her face, but said nothing.

“If you show in which direction your house is,” Nikolenka decided not to pay attention to the behavior of the interlocutor, “then I will try to take you home.”

“And the coachman,” Misha suddenly broke into the conversation, “what will happen to him?”

“I’m afraid of the dead,” Anna sobbed suddenly, “I won’t be able to ride next to him!”

- With your permission, - Kolya lightly touched Anna's hand, - if you allow, I will try to think of something. However…

Nikolai listened, it seemed to him that he heard someone's voices.

Soon the voices became louder. The Chinese spoke, and there were many of them, at least four people.

- Shh, - Kolya pressed his finger to his mouth, - speak more quietly!

- What? Anna cried out. “What else is this?

- Mom, - Misha went up to the mater and close, - speak as Mr. Nikolai ordered you.

Nikolenka looked around, it seemed strange to him that they were talking about him as a gentleman. At some point, it even seemed to him that another Nikolai was somewhere nearby.

Her son's words had an effect, Anna's face turned even whiter, but she did not try to speak. Tears streamed down the woman's face, and Misha sat down right on the ground, near his mother's feet, and looked anxiously at where Kolya had come from an hour earlier.

Nikolenka thought that Chen had returned and was looking for him, but he immediately dismissed this thought. Chen never gathered a large group of people around him. He also dragged Kolya with him, because the boy had a hopeless situation.

The Chinese passed by and the voices subsided.

The day was fading into evening. Kolya finally figured out which way Anna and Mikhail's house is located. The coachman could not be left on the bare ground, wild animals would instantly dine on an unfortunate person. But I couldn't take it with me either. If Nikolai drives the horse, then Anna and Mikhail will have to ride in the company of a coachman. Anna did not succumb to the persuasion of her son and Kolya. The situation was hopeless. Silence fell over the clearing.

However, this silence helped Kolya make a decision. He suggested to Anna that the coachman be placed in the nest for the dead for the time being. Nikolai saw one of these platforms not far from here. He was then still surprised that the nest was built so close to the tract.

Anna agreed with Kolya's idea, Misha only looked respectfully at the adult boy and nodded.

A rope usually hung around each platform. She was needed in order to raise a dead person to the platform. All this would not have been difficult for adult men, but Nikolenka was not yet an adult man in the full sense of the word, and Mikhail even more so. We drove until late in the evening.

Twilight moved in swiftly. Driving at night was dangerous. Kolya unharnessed the horse and led it into the bushes. The carriage was also camouflaged. Having quickly built a temporary hut, Kolya laid out his camp mattress and invited Anna to settle down. The woman was so tired mentally and physically that she did not even object.

Misha refused to sleep. Then Nikolai invited the boy to go with him for the branches of the Mos tree. So called this tree Chen. It was dangerous to light a fire from an ordinary deadwood. The travelers were too close to the road.


In the morning, Kolya, after harnessing the horse to the wagon, once again checked whether the fire was well extinguished and, finally, set off. We drove for about two hours, when suddenly we saw soldiers on horseback. Misha let out an exclamation and tugged at his mother's sleeve. Anna also perked up, only Nikolai looked warily in the direction of the approaching soldiers. He stopped the carriage.

Following the soldiers, a wagon appeared, in it sat the father of the family, Vasily Ivanovich. After tears, exclamations and bewildered glances in the direction of Nikolai, this is what turned out. Anna's sister, Varvara, had a boy born that night. Having recovered a little from childbirth, Varvara ordered her husband to harness the horses and rush with the joyful news to Anna. Varvara's husband complied with his wife's demand and rushed to Turiy Rog, but when he arrived there, he was immensely surprised. He learned from Vasily Ivanych that Anna was supposed to have arrived at her sister's, but she never arrived. While the court and the case, dawn came and Vasily Ivanovich, sensing something bad, ordered the wagon to be harnessed and took the soldiers with him. It would be faster if the father of the family could get on the horse himself, but just the day before he injured his leg while hunting.

Vasily Ivanovich with difficulty got out of the wagon, apparently the injury to his leg was serious. Once again, Chen's science came in handy for Kolya. Or rather, it would be useful if Vasily Ivanovich allowed to cure his leg, but Kolya did not even begin to approach the man with this question. It was just that a list of herbs and ingredients that could be used to make an ointment for a limping man flashed in his head with lightning.

In the meantime, Anna stopped crying and listing the horrors that she had to endure. The intensity of emotions began to decrease. Kolya realized that just a little bit more and the captain's family would set off on their way home. So, it's time to pack on the road and him, Kolya.

Suddenly Vasily Ivanovich went up to Nikolai. Instead of words of gratitude, he hugged the boy.

“Come with us,” the man did not waste words, “I know that you are an orphan, which means you will be my second son.” What you have done for my family is priceless. Life is not enough to pay you back!

The boy did not even have time to think seriously, and events rushed forward. Together with Kolya, several soldiers returned to the platform and removed the coachman's body. The coachman was placed in the wagon where Vasily Ivanovich rode, and Kolya got into the same place. The boy was not afraid of the dead. Soon we were on our way. Soldiers rode ahead, followed by a cart with Anna and Mikhail, driven by one of the soldiers. The cart with Vasily Ivanovich, the dead coachman, closed the column. m and Nicholas. We drove slowly, we were afraid to shake Anna and Mikhail. The road was uneven, so it was impossible to drive along it at the same pace. It took at least an hour when, finally, the first residential buildings appeared. The travelers reached the post of Turiy horn. The house in which Vasily and Anna lived was large, and there was a room for Kolenka as well.

At first, Kolya was burdened by the silence and measured life in the family. He, who had become unaccustomed to the comfort and good relations in the family, was afraid to get used to the comfort and care of the family. But, gradually, he got used to, and even began to find pleasure in life, where everything is measured and planned.

Church attendance on Sundays and major holidays, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner - everything was scheduled by the hour. Households were gathered for a meal by the sound of the ship's bell. The cook who served in the kitchen used to be a ship's cook and did not want to change his habits.

So a month passed, then another.

To the surprise of the family, Vasily Ivanovich did not feel better. This was not a case where time heals. The doctor who was here at the military post, the chief and only doctor so far, said that everything was in order with Vasily Ivanovich's leg, an ordinary sprain.

However, the pain had already spread to the second leg, and the owner of the house got up in the morning with difficulty.

One evening there was a commotion in the house. Returning from the review, Vasily Ivanovich fell down and could not get up on his own. The soldiers brought the man home.

The doctor was called again. The doctor mumbled something, and then it became clear that the doctor simply did not know what was really happening with the owner of the house. Longing and black despondency settled in the house. Telegraphed to Vladivostok.

A message came from there that the doctor would be there no sooner than in two weeks. The roads are muddy because of the rain. It was impossible to drive along these roads even in good weather, so as not to shake, and what can we say about bad weather and the rainy season. On one of those now rare sunny days, Vasily Ivanovich was sitting on the veranda under a canopy. Kolya had been waiting for this moment for a long time, he wanted to talk to the owner of the house one on one, without Anna's exclamations and the servants' tears. Vasily Ivanovich listened to the boy's proposal and asked for time to think.

However, an hour later a soldier came running and called Kolya into Vasily Ivanovich's room. The man felt so bad that he could not even speak plainly, he only nodded his head to Nikolai, who came up to his bed. Also, with a nod of his head, the owner of the house sent the soldier out of the room and invited Kolya to move a chair and sit down, next to him complaining that he himself could not adequately communicate with Kolya. They did not talk for long, it was clear that it was hard for Vasily Ivanovich to speak. Kolya asked to be given the sharpest knife in the house, a hand rake, two or three shovels of various sizes, and a thick box, through the walls of which light would not penetrate. Vasily Ivanovich scribbled a few words to the steward and leaned back on the pillow exhaustedly.

The housekeeper read the note for a long time and glanced incredulously at Kolya. He wanted to ask Kolya something, but his eyes stumbled upon a postscript. The owner knew the nature of his steward, and in order to prevent questions, he ordered in a postscript to issue what was required without questions or reasoning. The task of the young man and Vasily Ivanovich was to ensure that as few people as possible knew about the treatment that Kolya wanted to apply.

Kolya was absent for two days.

He would have stayed in the taiga longer, but he remembered the grave condition of Vasily Ivanovich. Surprisingly, as soon as the boy went a little deeper into the taiga, all the new habits acquired in the house of Vasily Ivanovich evaporated without a trace. He only ate twice in two days. I slept for four hours at most, did not wash my face and did not change my clothes.

However, when the boy returned, it turned out that time was running out. Vasily Ivanovich was unconscious.

The priest has already been invited.

The doctor ordered not to invite him again, since he could no longer help the patient. When Nikolai entered the house, he was surprised at the silence that reigned around. Anna Nikolaevna slept because she did not leave her husband's bed all night, and the servants huddled in dark corners. When Kolya entered the master's bedroom, he immediately felt a heavy smell. Open windows didn't help. Misha dozed next to Vassily Ivanovich's bed.

Nikolenka quietly woke Misha and sent him to bed. He promised the boy that he would now be on duty at the bedside of the patient himself. Mikhail did not resist, he only threw one more glance in the direction of his father and left, quietly shutting the door.

I would love to talk about the treatment that Nikolai used, but I have no right. Everything Chen taught Nikolai must remain a secret.

I can only say that to make the medicine, Kolya had to use Chen's gift, the same ginseng root that Chen gave the boy before leaving, as it turned out, forever.

The boy had only managed to remove the wooden needles from the body of the owner of the house, when a servant came running and said that the priest had arrived.

However, when the priest entered the room, he saw that his visit was premature. Vasily Ivanovich was still, of course, weak, but he was already conscious. Soon the priest left.

treated it was long. Only after six months the owner of the house began to go out into the street, and even then not alone. The household was afraid of a recurrence of the disease, and therefore there was always someone from the household, or from the servants, and, of course, Nikolai.

The family got used to Nikolai, and the boy felt at home in the family of Anna Nikolaevna and Vasily Ivanovich. Vasily Ivanovich, when he felt a little better, took up the inspection of Kolya's knowledge and was very upset when he found out that the boy could not read.

Of course, Kolya could count, but in Chinese. That is, he believed as Chen taught him. Kolya agreed to start home schooling, but was very embarrassed and doubtful. It seemed to Kolya that he could not overcome the science that Vasily Ivanovich was going to teach him with his own hands.

At first, of course, it was really difficult, but the kind attitude of the owner of the house and the inquisitive mind of the boy did their job. Nicholas liked to study. This was that gift, that precious gift that the good Vasily Ivanovich bestowed on his savior.

The whole further life of Nikolai was then built precisely on the basis of the knowledge that Vasily Ivanovich gave Nikolai in that difficult year.

When Kolya only started to study, he lagged behind Mikhail in terms of knowledge, when his studies suddenly ended, he almost caught up with him.

Vasily Ivanovich had a good library. Less than a year later, Kolya became a regular in the large room under the roof, which was set aside for the library. When the boy came here, it seemed to him that the narrow walls of the room were beginning to move apart, as soon as he took a book from the shelf and delved into reading.

Morning gave way to evening, and Kolya slowly moved along the best road in the world, along the road of literature.

Vasily Ivanovich tried to give the boy an idea of the exact sciences, Kolya was well versed in the world of numbers, but still, he liked the natural sciences, history, geography and, of course, literature more.

Sometimes in the evenings, when his eyes were tired and it was already hard to read, Kolya thought about the Chinese Chen, thought about his mother and even about his stepfather. He knew that these pages of his life book had already been turned over, but nothing prevented him from thinking about the past and remembering. However, he did not reminisce very often.

Vasily Ivanovich believed that the boy should develop diversified, and therefore much attention was paid to horse riding and outdoor games.

Work in the stable was the thing that Kolya chose for himself. As Vasily Ivanovich did not resist, but Kolya insisted on his own. The boy believed that he had to do some, at least a small housework.

The year flew by like an arrow.

That day did not portend anything unusual. Yes, there was a language exam at noon. However, this was not a surprise for Nikolai and Mikhail. Vasily Ivanovich conducted such impromptu exams often. This time the boys were joined by Mikhail's cousin, Varvara's eldest son, Pavel.

Three tables were placed in the living room, the tables were at the maximum distance from each other. Kolya knew that the servants even placed bets on the winner of this exam.

Exactly at noon, Vasily Ivanovich held a draw. The gardener's old fur coat served as a container for pieces of paper with numbers. The boys entered the room one by one and took out the number from the hat.

However, when all three of them had already sat down at their tables, checking their quills and inkwells, a commotion broke out in the yard. Shouts and laughter were heard, Kolya even caught the neighing of an unfamiliar horse. A servant came and told Vasily Ivanovich something in his ear.

Vasily Ivanovich smiled, but did not budge, he only asked the servant to convey to the mistress of the house his order that the guest be received with respect.

The exam was in three stages. It was necessary to compose a short story on a given topic, to perform a small grammar exercise. It was also necessary to make an analysis of one of Krylov's fables.

I will say right away that Kolya took the third, last place.

The places were distributed as follows: the first place was taken by Pavel, the second by Mikhail, and the third, respectively, by Nikolai. Pavel had a tutor, in the past a student at Moscow University, Pavel did not study very willingly, but, nevertheless, the tutor prepared the boy well.

This is how the places were distributed. However, when the results were summed up, Nicholas was in for a surprise. The story that Nikolai composed was written so captivatingly that a commission consisting of Vasily Ivanovich, the tutor, Anna and Varvara unanimously awarded a special prize for Kolya.

The prize was the book "History of the Fatherland".

Kolya loved this book, read and re-read it many times. The book had vivid illustrations and was written in a captivating language.

But that's where the pleasant surprises ended.

When the fever of the exam subsided, it turned out that Vasily Ivanovich needed to get ready for the journey. The reason for the turmoil in the yard during the exam was that the orderly arrived with a prescription.

The order concerned the further fate of Vasily Ivanovich and his family. Since Vasily Ivanovich was a military man, he was ready to set off at the first request. Varvara's husband received a similar order. The gathering did not start soon. It was necessary to wait out the autumn and winter, because during the period of autumn mud and winter snowstorms it was simply dangerous to go somewhere.

When spring came, preparations began. Vasily Ivanovich had no doubt that Kolya would go with his family, but the boy refused the proposal of the owner of the house. The path of Vasily Ivanovich and his family lay to the west, but Kolya could not give up his dream, he wanted to finally see the city of Vladivostok. Another hope warmed the boy, he believed and hoped to see his mother someday. If he left with the good Vasily Ivanovich, then the dream could be put an end to.

It is unlikely that the boy would return to this region once.

Seeing that the boy was adamant, Vasily Ivanovich decided to do at least something for Kolya in the end. Vasily Ivanovich had a friend. They came together a few years ago to this harsh region. However, immediately after the arrival of a friend, he was transferred to work in Vladivostok. Parting with Kolya, Vasily Ivanovich put a note in the boy's hand. The note indicated the address at which the friend lived, and the note also contained a request, Vasily Ivanovich asked the friend to take care of Kolya and attach the boy to some business. Kolya's characteristics were listed on the second sheet. After reading them, Kolya blushed. He could not believe at once that the note was written about him.

A note is all that Vasily Ivanovich could do for his young doctor.

On the eve, in the evening, Vasily Ivanovich once again tried to persuade Kolya to leave with them, the boy seemed to hesitate, but then again refused.

Then, later, Anna also spoke to Kolya, and even Misha ran into Kolya's room. Misha, of course, did not persuade Kolya, he just stood in the door for a while, and then, without saying a word, left. However, after a while the boy returned again and gave his older friend a gift. Wrapped in wax paper was another of Colin's favorite books.