He ran off somewhere and came back taking starshina Salo. So, what's up, son?

He ran off somewhere and came back taking starshina Salo.

- So, what's up, son?

He could have shouted instead of calling me ’son', I wish!

- Well, that... Comrade starshina. At night hanging in the car, Arslan took away a machine gun... It was ... mine.

- Who had let him go hanging in the car? - Salo looked at the sergeant.

The bite- sized sergeant stood up raising his chin to the sky.

- Nobody, comrade starshina!

Salo wiped his shivering sweat on his shiny head with his forage- cap.

- Arslan must be found. It will be really bad if we don't find him!.. Kolbaskin!- he shouted.

Drowsing Vasya, whose head was in the tent and feet are up in the sun, stood up quickly.

- I hear, comrade starshina.

- Your pal has lost his machine gun, you know, but you are lying keeping your feet up! Go and find him even if he is under the earth!

Vasya and I went along the lake.

- What has happened? What did you lose? - said Vasya blinking his white eyelashes.

I told the story.

- Don't be afraid if he was Arslan- said Vasya, - he won't be harmed! He must be snoring somewhere! You go there, and I'll look here.

The sun is reclining on the flat hills behind the salty lake, daytime temperature has dropped slightly. Apparently, we can't move here today, the soldiers are still resting and the smoke is rising from the chimneys of the field kitchens.

Not only half our passed as starshina said, but it's already an hour that Arslan disappeared, even I couldn't take any news about him... What should I do now?

From a distance Vasya was seen. My heart went out and I ran towards him.

- Found?

- Oh no! - Vasya turned his eyes away.

- Come on, combat is calling you.

Combat and starshina Salo were talking next to the field kitchen, away from the platoon.

- Comrade captain of the guard!

- No need the report now! - said the captain. Tell me about Arslan. Is there any news?

- No...

Starshina stared at the captain with a questioning appearance: 'What do we do, comrade captain?'

The captain is still staring at me from the ground, he had a faint pink colour and his lips were squeezed.

- Don't you know what to do for this kind of situation? Both of them... should be sent to the military tribunal!

The captain said so and went turning away. I rushed after him.

- Comrade captain!

- What?

- We were wrong. But... Arslan is a good guy...

- No! - the captain turned abruptly, suddenly his eyes narrowed. - Do you remember? - he asked. - That day, before all of you embark on a journey, I begged something from you!

- I remembered, comrade captain...

- No. You have forgotten. Now, during the war to do this, to entrust someone with a weapon- it's a crime!

' Come on, captain!' the voice of Olya interrupted Davron brother's word. Long haired Olya was running towards us spinning something high over his head.

- Come on, comrade captain, dance!

- Olenka! Another time...

- No, no, you should dance now!

Olga hid the letter behind her and took a few steps back.

- What if it's a small letter to dance?

- Well, ok, here you are!

The captain stamped the ground several times, then touched Olga's hand quickly, and took away the letter from her bend, then he looked at the envelope and hurried to go away.

- Comrade captain!- The girl's lips suddenly trembled. -: That's it... the letter you've been waiting for, isn't it?

Staring at the letter, the captain stopped and looked at Olya. His thoughts were flying somewhere.

- What? Yes, yes... Olenka!

The captain continued on his way. Olya, biting her lower lip, he went one by one and walked towards the lake.

- The letter is from Salamathan!

The old pain came back to me for a moment which I forgot when we started our journey. But, at that moment I couldn't think about it. Looking for the salvation, I stared at the starshina.

He coughed and said:

- Comrade captain! What are we going to do this now?

Captain stopped.

- Send him to gaupt vaxta for the moment! - said captain, then, he remembered that there were no any gaupt vaxta in that desert and shook his hand. - Send him to outfit until Arslan is found! He should stay guarding at nights and work in the kitchen! That's it!

I thought that this man... wants to avenue me for what I have said that day. 'Even though I can understand the absurdity of this idea, for some reason, my eyes filled with tears...

XI

When I returned from the police outfit at night and was asleep, they were announced alert.

From the desert the roar of tank wheels, and the sound of hundreds of motors, which have been run at the same time, could be heard.

In the dark:

- First group, line up!

- Third platoon, line up! Follow me, march!

voices were heard.

The commander of our group along with another unfamiliar officer met us next to the studebekkers which were standing by the lake, and showed the cars which reserved for our platoon. I got out of the car quickly, fearing that the captain would see me. A little later, the word was heard:

- Move!

On the horizon, the yellowish half-moon was hiding behind the hills. In it's some cold lights, surrounding flat hills, salty lake as shiny window, the troops that were in action had some mysterious and glorious scene. The soldiers were silent as if they were feeling the glory of the moment, too. Only Kolbaskin was fidgeting and couldn't sit on his place, he stood up and said:

- Wow! There are tanks everywhere! Phew, it's pleasure to have a car, isn't it? - he laughed becau6of his enjoyment to see the car for the first time.

Finally, he was also silent and was sitting on his seat.

- Samurais' disasters may not exceed the tanks. Come here, bro, let's get a little nap!

I couldn't have a rest. As I close my eyes, yesterday's thoughts flooded my mind:

- What has happened to Arslan? Will I ever lose such a friend in this faraway land, in Khingan mountains, indeed? What will happen to me if he doesn't come back?..

I didn't know if I slept a little or not, but I woke up when I heard the sound of cars like wounded lions. It was dawn, we were standing among the dunes. The boundaries of this damp sand like soft oil, were not visible. The blueish dunes, which 'overflowed' like hurricanes, reached to the horizon, and clung to the sky...

Getting stu6in the sand everywhere, the cars, the military tractors, even the jeeps in front of us, stopped, the soldiers began to collect branches and worms holding shovels.

- Take shovels! Collect wormwoods!

A senior lieutenant Kharitonov, who jumped from one of the cars in front, picked up someone's shovel, and began to excavate the worms in the sand. We also got out of the car and started to pluck wormwoods, and to detruncate reddish bushes. The soldiers were saying anecdotes and laughed while they were putting sticks and branches of bushes:

- No, our tenth tram is better than these cars!

- Of course! If there were the tenth tram, we could go far!

- Let's get on our tram!

- No, we can't do that, it's impossible, let's help them, brothers!...

Indeed, as soon as we stepped to the sand, a the weight again fell on the infantries' shoulders. Recently riding the military tractors and saying 'Hot greetings to the Field Princess', artilleren needed the help of that Field princess after entering the sand. The tractors that ignore any obstacles, studebakers which shake the desert when they growl, even rotating the wheels, tanks clogged in the dunes, we were putting saxauls and branches under them, tying ropes on the wheels of the cannons, saying 'come on, guys! Again, one more time, let's pull!:, we were pulling, dragging them out of each heap of sand, each dunes. But the end of sand wasn't visible, as if the whole world had become an infinite dunes and we never could get out of it. Only, occasionally, therr were some abondoned fortresses, Mongol villages with three or four houses, and sometimes half-ruined Buddhist temples. We saw old men in long kaftans next to the garth surrounded by walls, children with bright eyes and with forelock on top of their heads, they quietly welcomed us and silently escorted...

...The night which was the third or fourth day that we entered Khingan sands, I encountered the captain of the guard when we are going up one of the high dunes. He was the chief of the battalion. He was standing with the senior lieutenant with gray hair bear the road, if any vehicle, passing by them, clogged in the sand, they would help the soldiers to push the cars with their hand. The captain joked when he saw Kolbaskin:

- You look wilt as you didnteat sausages for a month, Vasilyok!?

( 'sausage' is ' kolbasa' in Russian)

- I have sausages on my own- said Vasya, twitching his moulted and reddened nose. - But the mood swings after not seeing any samurai for a month walk comrade captain.

Combat laughed.

- Do you really want to see samurais? In that case, you should know that each heap of sand equals one group of samurais. Every time you climbed one of the dune, consider that you have won one of the group of Kvantun's armies, Kolbaskin.