Online reading of books and stories by Murzuk. Online reading of books and stories by Murzuk Jacobs wins a bet

Chapter first.

ON THE CLEAR

The head of an animal with thick sideburns and black tufts on its ears cautiously poked out of the thicket. Slanting yellow eyes glanced at one side of the clearing, then at the other, and the animal froze, ears pricked up.

Old man Andreich would have recognized the lynx hiding in the thicket at one glance. But at that moment he was making his way through the dense undergrowth about a hundred meters from the clearing.

Andreich wanted to smoke for a long time. He stopped and pulled his pouch from his bosom.

In the spruce forest next to him, someone coughed loudly. The pouch flew to the ground. Andreich pulled the gun off his shoulder and quickly cocked it.

Between the trees flashed reddish-brown fur and the head of a roe deer with sharp branched horns.

Andreich immediately lowered his gun and bent down to pick up the pouch: the old man never killed game at an unauthorized time.

Meanwhile, the lynx, not noticing anything suspicious nearby, disappeared into the thicket.

A minute later she went out into the clearing again. Now she carried in her teeth, carefully holding by the collar, a small red lynx.

Having crossed the clearing, the lynx put the cub into the soft moss under a bush and immediately went back.

Two minutes later, the second little lynx floundered next to the first, and the old lynx went after the third and last.

A light crunch of branches was heard in the forest.

In an instant, the lynx climbed up the nearest tree and disappeared into its branches.

At this time, Andreich was looking at the tracks of the roe deer he had scared away. There was still snow in the shadow of the thick spruce forest. It bore the deep imprints of four pairs of narrow hooves.

“Yes, there were two of them,” the hunter thought. - The second one is probably a female. The clearings will not go any further. Shall we go and have a look?”

He got out of the thicket and, trying not to make noise, walked straight towards the clearing.

Andreich knew the habits of the animals well. As he thought, after running a few tens of meters, the roe deer felt safe and immediately began to walk.

The goat was the first to enter the clearing. He raised his head, adorned with horns, and inhaled air.

The wind blew straight from him along the clearing, so the goat could not smell the lynx. He stamped his foot impatiently. A hornless female jumped out of the bushes and stopped next to him.

A minute later, the roe deer were calmly nibbling young greenery under their feet, occasionally raising their heads and looking around.

The lynx saw them clearly through the branches.

She waited until both roe deer lowered their heads at the same time, and silently slid onto the lower branch of the tree. This branch was sticking out right above the clearing, about four meters from the ground.

The thick branches no longer hid the animal from the eyes of the roe deer.

But the lynx pressed itself so tightly against the tree that its motionless body seemed like just a growth on a thick branch.

The roe deer did not pay attention to him. They slowly moved along the clearing towards the predator waiting for them in ambush.

Andreich looked out into a clearing about fifty steps further from the spruce tree on which the lynx was sitting. He immediately noticed both roe deer and, hiding in the bushes, began to follow them.

The old man never missed an opportunity to take a closer look at the timid forest animals.

The female roe deer walked ahead. The goat was a few steps behind her.

Suddenly something dark like a stone fell from a tree onto the roe deer’s back.

The roe deer fell with a broken ridge.

The goat made a desperate jump and instantly disappeared into the thicket.

- Lynx! - Andreich gasped.

There was no time to think.

“Bang! Bang! — double-barreled shots rang out one after another.

The beast jumped high and fell to the ground with a howl.

Andreich jumped out of the bushes and ran with all his might along the clearing. The fear of missing out on rare prey made him forget caution.

Before the old man had time to reach the lynx, the animal suddenly jumped to its feet.

Andreich stopped three steps away from him.

Suddenly the beast jumped.

A strong blow to the chest knocked the old man over backwards.

The gun flew far to the side. Andreich covered his throat with his left hand.

At the same instant, the beast's teeth sank into her to the very bone.

The old man grabbed a knife from his boot and slammed it into the lynx's side.

The blow was fatal. The lynx's teeth unclenched, and the animal fell to the ground.

Once again, to be sure, Andreich struck with a knife and quickly jumped to his feet.

But the beast was no longer breathing.

Andreich took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

- Wow! - he said, taking a deep breath.

A terrible weakness suddenly seized Andreich. The muscles, tense in mortal combat, immediately went limp. My legs were shaking. To avoid falling, he had to sit down on a stump.

Several minutes passed until the old man finally came to his senses.

First of all, he rolled a cigarette with his blood-stained hands and took a deep drag.

Having smoked, Andreich washed his wounds by the stream, bandaged them with a rag and began to skin his prey.

Year of writing: 1925

Genre: story

Main characters: Murzuk- lynx, Andreich- forest guard

Bianchi writes about animals and nature, a wonderful example of his work is revealed in summary story "Murzuk" for a reader's diary.

Plot

Old man Andreich sees a lynx hunting a roe deer and a large branch falls on it. The watchman kills the beast and finds her cub. He takes the baby to him and tames him. Murzuk becomes the old man's faithful companion, learns to herd goats and performs all the duties of a shepherd dog. People learn about him, many come to look at the tamed beast. By cunning, Murzuk is taken by the owner of the menagerie and kept in a cage. He treats animals cruelly. Andreich is sad and comes to visit the little lynx. He helps him escape. Murzuk runs away from the city, gets to the watchman's hut and finds him dead and disappears.

Conclusion (my opinion)

Wild animals are freedom-loving, even if they are born in captivity. They need freedom and space for a happy and fulfilling life; it’s in their genes. You cannot captivate animals, much less treat them cruelly; in response, they can attack for defensive purposes, and then they are mistaken for aggressive and euthanized. Although they are not intelligent like us, they also love life, are afraid, experience a lot of feelings and want a peaceful existence.

Chapter first

ON THE CLEAR

The head of an animal with thick sideburns and black tufts on its ears cautiously poked out of the thicket. Slanting yellow eyes glanced at one side of the clearing, then at the other, and the animal froze, ears pricked up.

Old man Andreich would have recognized the lynx hiding in the thicket at one glance. But at that moment he was making his way through the dense undergrowth about a hundred meters from the clearing.

Andreich wanted to smoke for a long time. He stopped and pulled his pouch from his bosom.

In the spruce forest next to him, someone coughed loudly. The pouch flew to the ground. Andreich pulled the gun off his shoulder and quickly cocked it.

Between the trees flashed reddish-brown fur and the head of a roe deer with sharp branched horns.

Andreich immediately lowered his gun and bent down to pick up the pouch: the old man never killed game at an unauthorized time.

Meanwhile, the lynx, not noticing anything suspicious nearby, disappeared into the thicket.

A minute later she went out into the clearing again. Now she carried in her teeth, carefully holding by the collar, a small red lynx.

Having crossed the clearing, the lynx put the cub into the soft moss under a bush and immediately went back.

Two minutes later, the second little lynx floundered next to the first, and the old lynx went after the third and last.

A light crunch of branches was heard in the forest.

In an instant, the lynx climbed up the nearest tree and disappeared into its branches.

At this time, Andreich was looking at the tracks of the roe deer he had scared away. There was still snow in the shadow of the thick spruce forest. It bore the deep imprints of four pairs of narrow hooves.

“Yes, there were two of them,” the hunter thought. - The second one is probably a female. The clearings will not go any further. Shall we go and have a look?”

He got out of the thicket and, trying not to make noise, walked straight towards the clearing.

Andreich knew the habits of the animals well. As he thought, after running a few tens of meters, the roe deer felt safe and immediately began to walk.

The goat was the first to enter the clearing. He raised his head, adorned with horns, and inhaled air.

The wind blew straight from him along the clearing, so the goat could not smell the lynx. He stamped his foot impatiently. A hornless female jumped out of the bushes and stopped next to him.

A minute later, the roe deer were calmly nibbling young greenery under their feet, occasionally raising their heads and looking around.

The lynx saw them clearly through the branches.

She waited until both roe deer lowered their heads at the same time, and silently slid onto the lower branch of the tree. This branch was sticking out right above the clearing, about four meters from the ground.

The thick branches no longer hid the animal from the eyes of the roe deer.

But the lynx pressed itself so tightly against the tree that its motionless body seemed like just a growth on a thick branch.

The roe deer did not pay attention to him. They slowly moved along the clearing towards the predator waiting for them in ambush.

Andreich looked out into a clearing about fifty steps further from the spruce tree on which the lynx was sitting. He immediately noticed both roe deer and, hiding in the bushes, began to follow them.

The old man never missed an opportunity to take a closer look at the timid forest animals.

The female roe deer walked ahead. The goat was a few steps behind her.

Suddenly something dark like a stone fell from a tree onto the roe deer’s back.

The roe deer fell with a broken ridge.

The goat made a desperate jump and instantly disappeared into the thicket.

Lynx! - Andreich gasped.

There was no time to think.

“Bang! Bang! - double-barreled shots rang out one after another.

The beast jumped high and fell to the ground with a howl.

Andreich jumped out of the bushes and ran with all his might along the clearing. The fear of missing out on rare prey made him forget caution.

Before the old man had time to reach the lynx, the animal suddenly jumped to its feet.

Andreich stopped three steps away from him.

Suddenly the beast jumped.

A strong blow to the chest knocked the old man over backwards.

The gun flew far to the side. Andreich covered his throat with his left hand.

At the same instant, the beast's teeth sank into her to the very bone.

The old man grabbed a knife from his boot and slammed it into the lynx's side.

The blow was fatal. The lynx's teeth unclenched, and the animal fell to the ground.

Once again, to be sure, Andreich struck with a knife and quickly jumped to his feet.

But the beast was no longer breathing.

Andreich took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Wow! - he said, taking a deep breath.

A terrible weakness suddenly seized Andreich. The muscles, tense in mortal combat, immediately went limp. My legs were shaking. To avoid falling, he had to sit down on a stump.

Several minutes passed until the old man finally came to his senses.

First of all, he rolled a cigarette with his blood-stained hands and took a deep drag.

Having smoked, Andreich washed his wounds by the stream, bandaged them with a rag and began to skin his prey.

Chapter two

MURZUK RECEIVES A NAME AND A Pardon

A small brown lynx lay alone in a den under the roots of an upturned tree. His mother dragged away both of his red-haired brothers long ago. He didn't know where or why. He had just opened his eyes the other day, and he still didn’t understand anything. He did not sense how dangerous it was to remain in his native lair.

Last night a storm caused a nearby tree to tip over. The huge trunk threatened every minute to collapse and bury the lynx cubs under it. That's why the old lynx decided to drag her cubs to another place.

The little lynx had been waiting for his mother for a long time. But she didn't return.

About two hours later he felt very hungry and began to meow. The meowing became louder every minute.

Mother still didn't come.

Finally, the hunger became unbearable, and the little lynx himself went to look for his mother. He crawled out of the den and, painfully poking his blind muzzle first into the roots and then into the ground, crawled forward.

Andreich stood in the clearing and looked at the skins of the killed animals. The lynx carcass was already buried in the ground, and the roe deer carcass was carefully put into a bag.

They should probably give you twenty rubles,” the old man said, smoothing the lynx’s thick fur. “If it weren’t for the wounds from the knife, everyone would have given thirty.” Lucky fur!

The skin was indeed extremely large and beautiful. Dark gray fur, almost without any admixture of red color, was densely covered with round brown spots on top.

What should I do with this? - Andreich thought, picking up a roe deer skin from the ground. - Look how riddled it is!

The buckshot aimed at the lynx also hit the roe deer. Thin skin the animal was pierced through in several places.

Someone will see and think: “The old man is beating queens.” Well, don’t throw away the goods; I’ll put it under my head.

Andreich carefully rolled up both skins with the fur inside, tied them with a belt and threw them over his back.

You have to get home before dark! - and the old man was already moving along the clearing. Suddenly a quiet, plaintive meow was heard in the thicket.

Andreich listened.

The squeak repeated.

Andreich threw the burden onto the ground and went into the thicket.

A minute later he returned to the clearing, holding a red lynx in each hand. The animals tried to free themselves and meowed squeakily.

One of them severely scratched the hand holding him.

Look, little witch! - Andreich became embittered. - You’re already using your claws! All like my mother. We can’t leave you to seed! - Having finished them, Andreich grumbled and, picking up a strong branch from the ground, began to dig a hole for the lynx cubs.

From the long cry, the brown lynx became completely hoarse and just crawled and crawled forward, not knowing where.

The thicket ended, and he found himself on open place: the lynx's lair was a few steps from the clearing.

Something was moving ahead. But the eyes of the little lynx, accustomed to the darkness of the thicket, did not see Andreich, digging the ground with a branch.

A vague feeling of fear forced the little lynx to hunch to the ground. However, after a minute, hunger overpowered, and the animal wandered on - straight towards Andreich, who stood with his back to him.

The old man turned around just at the moment when the little lynx crawled up to his feet.

Andreich stretched out his hand for the corpses of the lynx cubs and suddenly saw a living animal next to them.

Where are you from? - the old man was taken aback.

The little lynx sat down on its hind legs and meowed weakly, opening its pink mouth.

Just a kitten! - said Andreich, looking at the animal with curiosity.

The little lynx crawled again, awkwardly fell over a root and rolled head over heels into the hole.

He went to his grave himself! You're stupid! - Andreich laughed, bent down and pulled the little lynx out of the hole.

Look, he's pulled out his mustache! And his slanted eyes are a real Murzuk Batyevich!

Here the hungry little lynx licked the finger offered to him with his rough tongue.

Are you hungry? - Andreich asked sympathetically. - What should I do with you now? We should knock it down and bury it with those...

But I can’t kill you, orphan! - The old man suddenly laughed cheerfully. - Okay, live! You will grow up in my hut and frighten the mice. Get into your bosom, Murzuk!

Andreich quickly threw earth at the dead lynx cubs, threw the bag over his back and hurriedly walked home.

Chapter Three

CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION

Andreich was a forest watchman.

He lived in a hut in the very middle of his plot. The hut was surrounded on three sides by forest. From the fourth stretched a large meadow. The road to the nearby village ran through the meadow.

The old man was lonely. His household consisted of a cow, a horse, a dozen chickens and a decrepit hound dog. The dog's name was Kunak. The owner left him to guard the hut when he went into the forest for a long time. This happened on this day when the old man killed a lynx.

Andreich reached the house at dusk. Kunak greeted the owner with a friendly bark.

“Look,” said the old man, throwing the prey off his shoulders, “what game I got!”

Smelling the scent of a lynx, Kunak raised his fur on end and grumbled.

What, brother, don’t you like? Fierce beast. Almost bit me to death, damn it!

But look: the kitten is tiny. Murzuk is called.

Tsits! Do not touch! We'll live together, get used to it.

Entering the hut, Andreich took out a wickerwork from under the bed and put the animal in it. Then he brought a full glass of water, dipped his finger in the milk and brought it to the little lynx.

The hungry animal immediately licked the milk.

Drinking! - Andreich rejoiced. - Wait, I’ll make you a pacifier.

Rolling up a tube from a thick rag, Andreich poured milk into it and put it in the little lynx’s mouth.

At first Murzuk was choking, then things went smoothly.

Ten minutes later, well-fed and satisfied, the little lynx was fast asleep, curled up in his new bed.

A week later, Murzuk learned to lap milk from a bowl. By this time he had gained strength on his feet and spent days playing happily on the floor, like a domestic kitten.

Andreich often played with him. Kunak still looked suspiciously at the little predator.

But soon he too was defeated.

Once, when the old dog was dozing sweetly under a bench, Murzuk crept up to him and nestled on his chest. Kunak was pleased with this, and he pretended not to notice the impudent kid.

From then on, Murzuk made it a rule to sleep with Kunak and did not pay any attention to his feigned grumbling.

Soon they became so friends that they even ate from the same bowl. “What a deal! - Andreich thought, looking at them. “The dog will teach the little lynx good things.”

And it’s true: the wild kitten noticeably adopted the habits of its older friend. He was just as trusting of his owner and obeyed his every order.

It happened that Murzuk broke and licked a glass of milk, chased chickens or did some other mischief, but an angry shout from the owner was enough for the smart animal to understand his guilt. He immediately lay down on the ground and crawled towards Andreich, writhing guiltily with his whole body.

The old man never once used a stick.

Andreich never had a family, and he gave all his rich reserve of kindness to pets. In his time he kept many wild animals. He knew how to find a job for everyone and patiently teach it.

And all the animals he ever had to keep became his willing servants and true friends.

When Murzuk grew up, a job was found for him on Andreich’s farm.

With the money received for the skin of an old lynx, Andreich bought himself a goat and a goat. The bearded, angry goat had a bad temper. It took a lot of effort for the old man to drive the stubborn man into the stable.

He taught Kunak to do this.

Murzuk did not lag behind his friend a single step and every evening helped him find the goats that wandered far into the forest.

At the sight of a young lynx, the goats began to run in fear, and the beaters could only guide them to the house.

In the fall, the decrepit Kunak died.

From then on, Murzuk took the place of a dog in the forest guardhouse. All her responsibilities were transferred to him.

Andreich took Murzuk with him into the forest, taught him how to drive game while hunting, and left him to guard the hut when he himself went to the village. And Murzuk cheerfully obeyed all the orders of the owner.

The rumor about old man Andreich's tame trot spread through all the surrounding villages. People came from afar to look at the strange beast.

The lonely old man was glad to have guests. To amuse them, he forced Murzuk to perform various tricks. The guests were amazed at the strength, dexterity and remarkable obedience of the beast.

In front of everyone, Murzuk broke thick branches with one blow of his paw, tore rawhide belts with his teeth, looked for a lark in the grass, grabbed it in flight and released it at the first word of its owner.

Many offered Andreich a lot of money for Murzuk. But the old man just shook his head. He loved the animal deeply and never wanted to part with it.

Chapter Four

UNINVITED GUEST

Three years have passed.

The sultry summer day was already approaching evening. On the road to Andreich's lodge a large cart pulled by a couple appeared. In front sat a driver in a coat and a man in a coat and hat. Behind them, a large iron cage was tied to the cart.

At the dilapidated fence the driver held his horses and wanted to get down and open the gate. At that moment, a large lynx silently jumped off the roof of the hut.

In three leaps the animal found itself at the fence. As a fourth, he easily jumped over the high fence - and suddenly appeared in front of the frightened driver.

The horses darted to the side, picked them up and carried them away.

The man in the hat shouted something loudly and waved his arms.

Andreich left the hut.

He saw the rider snatch the reins from the driver's hands and force the horses to make a wide circle across the meadow.

Murzuk! - Andreich shouted. - Go back, friend. There's no point in scaring your guests. Look, hasn't the new management arrived?

Murzuk returned, licked the owner's hand and lay down at his feet.

Take away your devil,” the rider shouted. - The horses will destroy you!

Let's go to the roof! - Andreich ordered quietly. The lynx deftly climbed up the logs. Andreich opened the gate. The horses, leering and shuddering, entered the yard. The rider jumped off and approached Andreich.

Andreich stood stunned by the stream of unfamiliar words.

“I ask you,” Jacobs repeated impatiently, “what amount do you want for the trot?”

“Yes, she’s not corrupt,” the old man stammered in fear, “they told you that in vain.”

On the contrary, I was warned that you would not want to sell it. But this is nonsense! I'll give you forty rubles.

Andreich was confused. Necessary words did not go to memory, and he did not know how to refuse this gentleman.

Fifty rubles? Jacobs suggested. Andreich silently shook his head, shifting from foot to foot.

Ivan! - Jacobs turned to the driver. - Unharness the horses and give them oats. We're spending the night here.

Welcome! - Andreich was delighted. - Welcome to the hut. Now I’ll put on the samovar!

The old man thought to himself: “Look, what a speedster!” Give him Murzuk! Well, okay now: I’ll explain everything clearly over some tea.”

Jacobs looked at the lynx calmly stretched out on the roof for several minutes, turned and resolutely walked onto the porch.

The samovar boiled quickly.

Andreich called to the driver from the porch:

Go, son, to the hut, the tea is ripe.

But the coachman did not dare to move: Murzuk again jumped off the roof and stood next to the owner.

He has grown a lot in three years. Now it was more than a meter from the tip of its nose to its tail. He has even outgrown his mother. He was tall on his feet, tightly built, and his lush sideburns, menacingly spread mustache and tufts of black hair on his ears gave his face a particularly ferocious expression. There was no trace of red hair on the gray fur with dark spots.

He's meek! - Andreich smiled, affectionately patting Murzuk on the cheek. - Go, Murzuk, go into the forest! It's time for you to go hunting. If you need me, I’ll call you.

Murzuk reluctantly went into the forest.

He did not like to leave the owner alone when guests arrived. And these ones also had such a strange look! Murzuk saw people in city dress for the first time.

But the owner's word is law.

Murzuk jumped over the fence and disappeared into the forest.

Over tea, Andreich was the first to speak to the guest.

Don't be offended, Mister Mister, by the old man. Judge for yourself: I am an old, sick man. Without Murzuk there is no way I can manage my household. I can't live without him now.

The old man spoke the truth: for last years he had turned all gray and looked completely decrepit. Rheumatism tormented him.

But Jacobs had absolutely nothing to do with the owner; he needed a beast.

For an hour he convinced the old man to sell the lynx, begged, threatened and raised the price.

Nothing helped.

So you resolutely refuse? - Jacobs finally asked, knitting his eyebrows.

I can’t, at least kill me! - Andreich said firmly. - He is my friend, my dear son, and not a beast.

Jacobs pushed back his chair with a bang and asked briefly:

Where to sleep?

But come here! - Andreich fussed, pointing to the couch. - This place is cleaner. I’ll put a sheepskin coat on you and find something for your head.

The old man was very unpleasant that he had to refuse the guest. He tried his best to please Jacobs in any way he could.

In a pile of old rags he came across the skin of a roe deer, killed by an old lynx - Murzuk's mother. The skin was soft and pleasant to the touch.

Andreich folded it in half, fur side up, and placed it at the guest’s head.

Chapter Five

JACOBS WINS THE BET

Jacobs suffered a major setback: he lost the bet. His pride was severely hurt, and he could not sleep.

Jacobs lived half his life in Russia. But deep down he remained a true American. He loved to exercise his will, making difficult bets, and won them, despite all the obstacles.

Jacobs served in a menagerie that had a pleasure garden. This institution was loudly called the Zoological Garden.

Two days ago, the owner of the menagerie told Jacobs rumors that had reached the city about the forest guard's tame lynx.

It would be good for us,” the owner added, “to get this beast.” The lynx, they say, is unusually beautiful and large. It will attract the public to the garden. I wanted to send you for the trot, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to complete the assignment. The forester, they say, will never part with the animal.

Let's go,” Jacobs said, puffing smoke from a short pipe.

But you'll go for nothing? - the owner said indifferently.

In his mind he was determined to get the trot. It was only necessary to provoke Jacobs well, and he would get the beast even from under seven locks.

Bet? - suggested the American.

“It’s bitten!” - thought the owner. Out loud he said:

There's no need to get excited, mister. The matter still won't work out.

“Bet,” Jacobs repeated insistently.

“He’s coming,” the owner agreed, shrugging his shoulders. The bet was immediately made, and the next day the American set off.

Jacobs shifted restlessly on the couch. He thought about what mocking smile the owner of the garden would greet him with tomorrow.

Tu pigs dogs! - the American swore, quickly jumping to his feet. - To hell with dogs! It's impossible to sleep in such stuffiness! I'd better go and lie down in the air.

He grabbed the sheepskin coat, put the roe deer skin under his arm and went out onto the porch.

It was already dawn in the sky. “Take the animal away by force? - Jacobs thought sadly, spreading out his sheepskin coat. “You will take it with your bare hands!” - he mocked himself.

Here Jacobs straightened the roe deer skin to fold it neatly under his head again. At the same time, his gaze fell on the skin of the animal, perforated by buckshot.

“I hit you with a healthy charge!” - Jacobs thought.

He was a hunter himself and immediately became interested in a successful shot.

“Phew! - the American suddenly whistled: in the place of the skin where the goat should have horns, there were no holes for them. - Female! That's a pound! The old man is apparently beating queens!”

Jacobs turned the roe deer skin in his hands for another minute, intensely thinking about something to himself. Then he slapped himself on the forehead and said loudly:

OK! The bet is won!

Jacobs then lay down and fell fast asleep.

In the morning, the American approached Andreich with a roe deer skin in his hands and said sternly:

Listen, what is this called?

What? - the old man did not understand.

Skin of a female roe deer. You shot the uterus. Here are the traces of the fraction.

“There was no sadness!” - Andreich gasped to himself. Confused with excitement, he began to tell his guest how an old lynx jumped on the back of a roe deer in his presence and how he shot the predator on its prey.

Interpret! - the American interrupted him. - You can’t fool me with fables. I will present the skin to your superiors. You will pay a fine of 25 rubles and will be deprived of your place. I will take care of it.

The old man's legs gave way. He knew well how strictly the court punishes forest guards for violating hunting rules. How can he prove that the shot hit the animal after it was killed by the lynx?

The old forester would have taken Andreich's word for it: he had known his impeccable service for thirty years. But, as luck would have it, the former forester was recently replaced by a young one. This one hasn’t even laid eyes on Andreich yet.

Ivan! Jacobs shouted. - Mortgage the horses! We are leaving.

Andreich sat down on the bench.

The American calmly lit a short pipe.

That's what! - he suddenly turned to Andreich. - I give you two minutes to think: either you give me the lynx, - then I will return the roe deer skin to you, - or you will be kicked out of the service. Then you will still have to part with the beast, because they will not be allowed into any village with it. Choose.

The blow was perfectly timed. Thoughts raced through Andreich’s head like a whirlwind.

Give up Murzuk? Never! It's better to lose your place.

But if it comes to this, you will have to say goodbye to Murzuk. And the old man will go alone and wander around the world, without a corner, without shelter...

Andreich sensed: he didn’t have long to live. It was difficult for the old man to leave the hut, which he considered his own.

However, there was nothing to be done.

Andreich didn’t say a word to the American. He went to the hut to get a gun and fired into the air.

Ready! - the driver announced, leading the horses to the porch.

Well, master,” Jacobs turned to Andreich. - Here's the receipt. I don't want to take the beast from you for nothing. Receive thirty rubles. Subscribe here.

“I don’t need your money,” the old man said gloomily.

At that moment, a flock of blackbirds rose from the edge of the forest with an alarming cry.

Almost immediately Murzuk jumped out of the bushes.

He was far in the forest when he heard Andreich’s shot, and quickly rushed to the owner’s call.

Running up to the old man, the beast jumped onto his chest.

The old man pressed the lynx's head to him and stroked it affectionately. Then he walked up to the cage and pointed it out to Murzuku.

Come here, son! The lynx cheerfully jumped onto the cart and squeezed through the narrow door of the cage. Andreich slammed the door behind her and turned away.

“Take care of the beast,” he quietly asked the American.

Oh, you can rest easy! Jacobs said decisively. - He will be our favorite. You can come and see for yourself.

And he told Andreich the address of the menagerie.

The old man escorted the cart through the gate, once again said goodbye to Murzuk and, ordering him to lie still, wandered into the hut.

At home, Andreich threw a roe deer skin into the fire, sat down in front of the stove and thought bitterly.

Chapter Six

Murzuk was dozing peacefully in his cage. The owner told him to lie here. There was nothing strange in this: Murzuk was accustomed to waiting for Andreich for a long time where he was ordered. In the end, the owner came, and then Murzuk again ran wherever he wanted.

The only strange thing was that they were taking him somewhere strangers. But this didn’t bother Murzuk either: couldn’t he have pushed the door with his paw at any moment, jumped off the cart and run into the forest?

We arrived at the station soon. Jacobs drove the horses mercilessly: he was afraid that the beast would cause him trouble on the road.

Murzuk discovered the first signs of concern when a train rolled up with a roar. The beast jumped to its feet and began to peer vigilantly into the crowd surrounding the cage. His eyes searched for his owner.

The owner was not there.

Jacobs managed to obtain permission to transport the animal in the baggage car and, with great precautions, transferred the cage onto the train.

The train started moving. Iron clanged under the floor and wheels rattled.

Then Murzuk sensed that something was wrong.

He hit the cage door with his paw.

The door didn't budge.

Murzuk began to rush madly from corner to corner, hitting with his paws right and left, gnawing the bars of the cage with his teeth.

All in vain. Iron was clinking rhythmically all around.

Suddenly Murzuk realized: he had fallen into a trap.

This immediately changed his behavior. The animal pressed itself against the back blank wall of the cage and froze.

Only his eyes glowed in the darkness of the carriage.

Sixteen hours later the train arrived in the city. The noise, roar, and screams could not disturb the animal’s stupor.

The American hired a cart and safely delivered the lynx to the menagerie.

Murzuk was released into a new, more spacious cage. He immediately tried to see if he could escape from here.

The blind rage of despair increased his strength tenfold. But people calculated the strength of the structure well: the lynx could not escape from prison.

And while the maddened beast rushed around the cage, the owner of the menagerie admired it, admired its strength, extraordinary size and beauty.

Then they went with Jacobs. At the garden gate they both paused. They heard a long, terrible cry of a lynx. It began with a very high note, turned into a wild cry and roar, and ended with a low, dull groan.

Mourns lost freedom! - the owner said smiling and took Jacobs by the arm.

Both calmly walked towards the exit. These people have long been accustomed to the endlessly sad cry of wild animals, doomed to a slow death in captivity.

All day Murzuk lay motionless on a thick branch driven into the wall of his cage at a height of two meters from the floor.

It was Monday and the garden was closed to the public.

Watchmen walked between the cages of the animals. They cleaned the garden after the big Sunday party, cleaned the cages, and fed the animals.

A piece of horse meat was pushed into Murzuk's cage on a long stick.

Murzuk did not move: melancholy killed his hunger.

Animals roared, fought and trampled around in cramped cages. Further on, in places fenced off with thick wire mesh, birds flapped their wings and screamed.

Chapter Seven

As darkness fell, the watchmen left. Little by little the animals and birds calmed down. When it became completely dark, Murzuk got up. Now human eyes did not follow him.

He knew this because he could see well in the dark, and also because his ears caught and understood every rustle.

The attack of dull despair has passed: C new strength the desire to run awoke. Hunger awoke with him.

The meat was still lying on the floor right next to the grate. Before starting to work on it, Murzuk looked around carefully.

In the next cell to the left there were wolves. Four of them were sleeping peacefully, curled up like dogs. The fifth sat with his front paws on the ground. With his eyes he stared indifferently straight ahead.

Murzuk saw that the wolves were not paying attention to him. This means you can grab the meat and jump onto the branch with it.

But there was a rustling sound to the right.

Murzuk saw a large spotted cat with a long fluffy tail in the next cage.

The cat was sneaking towards the grate, behind which lay the meat. She could reach it with her long paw.

Murzuk felt a sudden surge of rage.

A predator does not tolerate another predator of a similar breed close to itself. Between cats this kindred hatred is especially strong.

The spotted animal carefully put its paw between the bars. His gaze fixed on the motionless figure of the lynx.

Murzuk did not move.

The beast's eyes flickered from him to the meat. The paw stuck out further. The claws dug into the meat.

Murzuk jumped.

The movement was so fast that the spotted cat did not have time to withdraw her paws.

A loud howl deafened Murzuk. The thief recoiled.

Murzuk quickly grabbed the meat in his teeth and jumped onto the branch.

The wounded animal rushed against the bars with a furious howl, but fell, hitting the iron bars.

Murzuk felt that he was completely safe in the middle of his cage.

Paying no more attention to the raging enemy, he began to eat the meat.

Murzuk's instincts were not good. He didn’t immediately understand that the meat was bad.

His long, sensitive mustache told him this now. He felt the horse meat with them and threw it on the floor in disgust. Murzuk had never eaten carrion before.

Hunger tormented him terribly. He carefully examined the entire cage, but did not find anything else edible.

Then Murzuk let out a quiet, thin, sad meow.

As if in response to him, a terrible laughter and howl came from the darkness.

The fur stood on end all over Murzuk’s body. His back arched.

The disgusting cry of the hyena was like a signal for other animals.

Now, next to Murzuk, wolves rose and howled.

In another row of cells - opposite - the bears roared one after another; there were many of them in the menagerie.

From afar came the eerie hooting of an eagle owl. And in the intervals between the roars and screams, the heavy, measured tramp of the elephant’s monstrous legs was heard.

Suddenly all other sounds were drowned out by the booming roar of a lion.

Murzuk's whole body trembled. He didn't need to see the beast. He felt that this voice belonged to a huge cat, that it was much stronger and larger than himself.

The cry of the animals ended as suddenly as it began.

Murzuk’s excitement gradually subsided.

Hunger burned inside him.

A slight noise under the floor immediately attracted Murzuk's attention. He jumped out of the tree. His eyes stared at a small black hole in the floor.

A minute of tense anticipation passed.

The eyes of a small animal flashed in the dark hole. A minute later, a rat jumped out from under the floor and rushed towards the meat.

Murzuk quickly swatted it away with his paw.

Hunger did not force him to immediately tear his prey to pieces.

Murzuk became wary again and waited patiently.

Soon the rustling under the floor was heard again. The second rat poked its head out of the underground - and was instantly picked up by a clawed paw.

The hunt continued for more than an hour. Eight dead rats already lay around Murzuk.

Nine noticed a predator from underground. She disappeared. Under the floor, the tramp of an entire army of rats was heard - and everything fell silent.

Murzuk realized that the rats had gone underground and began to eat lunch.

The first rays of dawn found Murzuk at work. He grabbed the bars of the bars with his teeth and shook them.

One of the rods shook slightly.

Murzuk began to shake him furiously. The rod gave way noticeably, swaying more and more.

Suddenly footsteps were heard along the sandy path between the cells.

Murzuk bounced off the bars and jumped onto a branch.

The watchman first approached the lynx's cage.

The animal lay calmly on a thick branch. He looked full and satisfied.

The watchman scratched his head.

The meat has not been touched, but the animal seems to be full... Others, as soon as they get here, don’t find a place for themselves, but this one doesn’t give a damn. He must be used to being locked up.

Chapter Eight

The public began to gather early in the garden.

As the first visitors entered the gate, Jacobs was finishing his morning tour of the menagerie. He stopped in front of the lynx's cage and called the guard.

The lynx did not eat yesterday's meat. Leave it in the cage. Do not give anything new until it is eaten.

The meat is still that... - the watchman timidly objected, - with a smell. The animal must have gotten used to fresh things.

Do as you are told! - the American flared up. - If you feed the animals fresh, the garden will go down the drain in a month.

The watchman was silent. He did not dare disobey Jacobs: the American was the owner’s assistant.

At this time, a group of schoolchildren approached Murzuk’s cage.

The plump teacher, wearing pince-nez and holding a straw hat, politely addressed Jacobs:

Please tell me, was this beast just caught?

Yes. It was just delivered yesterday.

You can see it right away! Look, children, how evil and wild he looks. He's ready to eat us with his eyes.

It was true: Murzuk became wary and watched every movement of people with evil eyes.

In the last two days there has been a big change. While Murzuk lived with Andreich, he did not feel hostility towards people. Now he sat in the cage of the menagerie beast of prey one of those that always hides in the dark depths of the forest.

This is a lynx,” the teacher continued, “the panther of our northern forests.” Found in European Russia and in Siberian taiga. In cultural countries Western Europe these have long been exterminated dangerous predators. In Germany, for example, the last lynx was killed in the middle of the last century.

Are they killed because they attack people? - asked the little girl.

Well, only a wounded lynx will attack a person.

And who is this? - asked one of the boys, pointing to a large spotted cat in the next cage.

“This is a panther or a leopard,” said the teacher. - Found in Africa and South Asia.

Who is stronger - a lynx or a leopard? - asked another boy.

The teacher did not have time to answer.

Look,” the girl shouted, pointing at the leopard, “his paw is bleeding!”

Jacobs quickly approached the cage.

You are not paying attention to the animals! - he said sternly to the watchman. - We need to go around the cages more often at night. There is no doubt that it was a lynx that fought with a leopard at night. Give her less meat until she goes crazy.

New visitors came up, looked at the lynx, and tried to get her out of patience. The boys threw sand at her.

Murzuk sat on pins and needles all day.

And at night he again began to loosen the iron rod.

The days dragged on. The iron rod was still held at its lower end in the stone floor of the cage.

Murzuk suffered severely.

The cautious rats never appeared from underground again. A long famine forced Murzuk to eat rotten horse meat. But this food was not enough either. The ribs clearly stood out under the lynx's thick fur.

During the day, Murzuk seemed indifferent to everything. No amount of public pestering could piss him off. No matter what people did, he lay motionless on his tree.

Only at night did he perk up.

He quickly ate the meat and immediately went to jail. For hours the same wobbly rod was rocking.

The watchmen did not notice his work: the loose rod was in a dark corner of the cage.

And so, two months after he got into the cage, Murzuk felt that he would soon break free.

The rod completely swung. A few more strong blows and he will jump out of his nest in the floor.

It was in the morning. People showed up.

Murzuk learned patience long ago. He climbed onto his branch again.

On this day there were especially many people in the garden.

For a long time now, the owner has been publishing advertisements in newspapers that any day now an arrival from Africa is expected ape. Finally they brought her.

It was a female chimpanzee.

In her native forest she had a cub, which she fed with her milk.

She was kept tied up the whole way. Now we were released into a spacious cage and the bonds were undone.

Seeing that it was impossible to escape from the cage, the monkey flew into a rage. She furiously threw herself at the walls, bit and pulled at the bars, howled and beat her chest with her fists.

When this did not help, the monkey fell into terrible despair. She sat down on the ground, grabbed her hair with her hands and began to swing. The hoarse howl turned into helpless crying.

People turned away from the cage.

And the animals began to scream.

The jackals began to cry, sobbing like children. The hyena howled and laughed. Bears and wolves rushed about in their cages.

The lion's booming roar was drowned in the general cry of the animals.

The audience rushed to the exit in fear.

Jacobs, sensing something was wrong, sent one of the guards to get a rifle, and ordered the other to call the fire brigade. The animals had never gotten so excited before.

Birds screamed shrilly.

With its trunk raised high, the elephant trumpeted furiously.

The always calm lynx threw itself at the bars of its cage.

Jacobs noticed that one of the bars shook and swayed with each blow.

A breathless guard ran up and handed the American a rifle.

Jacobs hurriedly walked towards Murzuk. Bloodshot eyes sparkled from the cages on all sides.

At that moment, a frightened cry from the guard was heard from behind.

The American quickly turned around. He saw the polar bear open the broken door of his cage with a crash.

The huge body of the beast tumbled out heavily.

But a moment later the bear jumped up on its hind legs with a roar and stepped towards the American.

The American realized that now the enraged monster would crush him under him.

He raised his rifle.

The front sight danced before his eyes, not falling into the sight's cut.

Jacobs fired all five bullets from his rifle at random. The beast suddenly stopped roaring, swayed and collapsed to the ground. One of the bullets hit him in the eye, the other in the ear.

Jacobs, without looking, inserted a new clip into the gun.

Lynx! - he shouted to the watchman. - The rod is swinging.

The watchman ran up to Murzuk's cage.

Murzuk threw himself at the bars with all his might.

The rod bent and jumped out of its socket in the floor.

The watchman screamed in fear.

The head of the beast poked out.

Shoot! - the watchman shouted and ran back.

At that moment, a strong stream of water hit Murzuk’s eyes. Blinded and frightened, the beast jumped away from the bars.

The water from the fire hose knocked him down.

Firefighters quickly placed a portable cage next to the broken grate. The exit was closed.

The jet of the fire cannon was directed at other animals. All cells were filled with water.

The frightened animals hid in the corners.

Chapter Nine

DATE

Life was hard for Andreich without a faithful friend. My health became very bad. The old man could hardly move his legs.

Three months have passed since the American took Murzuk away. A harsh northern winter was approaching.

“It’s apparently time for me to die,” Andreich thought. - Before the end, at least I’ll see a friend in last time. And there you can rest.”

The old man applied for leave and set off on his journey.

Over the thirty years of living in the lodge, Andreich became firmly accustomed to the forest. He had a hard time in the city. The menagerie found it with great effort.

The old man bought a ticket at the entrance and went to look for Murzuk.

The cages with birds came first.

In a corner fenced off with a high wire mesh, Andreich saw a large bird unfamiliar to him.

She was sitting on a dry tree, hunched over and with her hook-nosed head on her long bare neck hunched over her shoulders. The bird raised both huge dark wings above its head, as if it wanted to use them to shield itself from everything it saw around.

“Vulture,” Andreich read the inscription on the tablet. And I thought: “I’m sick of you here. I’m used to flying in the sky.”

Andreich immediately noticed that there was no net over the pool.

“They must be tame,” he thought. “But why are they so sad?”

One of the seagulls rose from the water and waved its stubs of wings in the air.

The old man hastily turned away. He began to look at the spacious cage with a whole flock of siskins, bullfinches, goldfinches and other songbirds.

They hummed and chirped, restlessly flitting from branch to branch.

Only one red-breasted bullfinch sat ruffled below, on a feeder with hemp seeds.

Andreich looked at him carefully and shook his head.

“Listen, son,” he turned to the watchman standing next to the cage, “this bird that’s sitting on the feeding trough, clucking, needs to be put away.” Sick. Look, she closed her eyes. It will disappear by morning.

We know it ourselves! - the watchman said rudely. - It’s not our sadness to pick up the sick. “They have orderlies there,” the watchman nodded at the cage. They'll probably pick you up.

Andreich looked at the cage in bewilderment. Which orderlies did the watchman tell him about?

Suddenly a rat jumped out of a hole in the far corner, rushed headlong across the cage and disappeared into another hole. Now the second one stuck out behind her, sniffed the air and darted back, flashing a long bare tail.

In front of him stretched a long row of cages with squirrels, hares, and foxes.

The old man did not recognize the familiar animals. He was used to seeing them alive, fast, flashing in the grass and branches. And here, in the cages, they sat like stuffed animals, with dull, dead eyes and sluggish movements, indifferent to everything.

A crowd of people stood near cages with brown bears.

One of the animals was sitting on the edge of his cage. He dangled his legs down and held on to the bars of the fence with his front paws.

Andreich felt such melancholy in the bear’s eyes that he quickly looked away from them.

He anxiously looked for Murzuk.

He heard the words of a woman pointing out to the children a fat-headed bull with shabby hair on loose, wrinkled skin.

This bison is so old, the woman said, that he never lies down. He's afraid he won't get up again. And he sleeps, leaning his side against the wall. One side gets tired, it rests against the other - and dozes off.

Pity and anxiety grew in Andreich’s chest. In all his thirty years of living in the forest, he had never seen a decrepit animal. There, among animals, there was a law of death on the move. Animals and birds did not live here - they vegetated indoors when they were full of strength and health - and suffered for a long time, becoming decrepit, waiting for their belated death. The old man thought with fear about Murzuk. Does he recognize his owner? Now all people must seem like enemies to him.

The public blocked the passage near the leopard's cage.

Above the hats Andreich saw the familiar head of an animal with sideburns and black tassels on the ears.

The old man became worried. He tried to walk through the crowd, but was pushed back.

Then, not realizing what he was doing, he climbed through the low wooden fence that separated the cages from the public. Someone shouted to him in fear:

Grandpa, watch out!

But it was too late: the old man pressed his face to the bars.

The audience gasped: the lynx rushed at the old man with a wide leap.

Then something happened that no one expected: the lynx licked the old man right on the lips and purred joyfully.

I found out, son,” Andreich muttered, forgetting about everything around him, “I found out, dear!”

He stuck his hands behind the fence and stroked the bony back of the beast.

The audience was wildly delighted.

Ay, grandpa! Well done! Apparently, before him there was a beast. The beast is as smart as a dog! Recognized the owner!

Please disperse! - suddenly a sharp voice rang out from behind the audience. - Citizen, take the trouble to go beyond the barrier now.

Murzuk growled menacingly. Andreich turned around. Jacobs stood in front of him, his brow furrowed angrily.

May I say goodbye to my son, Mister? - the old man timidly asked.

Come out, I tell you! - the American shouted. - Walking beyond the barrier is strictly prohibited.

“Yes, the beast won’t touch him,” someone from the audience stood up.

Watchman! Jacobs called. - How dare you allow such disgrace! Take the old man out now.

I'll leave, I'll leave! - Andreich hurried, stroked Murzuk’s skinny sides again and, groaning, climbed through the fence.

The public rushed to help him. Curses rained down on Jacobs.

Andreich was afraid of the scandal. He tried to quickly move further away from the cage.

Murzuk growled and rushed after him.

It was not so easy for Andreich to avoid public questioning. They surrounded him and asked him to tell him where he caught the lynx, how long he held it, why the animal loved him so much.

Only half an hour later Andreich managed to hide from the curious into some narrow, smelly passage between the backs of the cells.

Andreich tiredly leaned against the wall. There was a noise in his head.

The old man remembered everything he saw in the menagerie. He would give a lot to buy his beloved animal back from here. But Andreich understood perfectly well that the new owners would never release their victim.

The old man was overcome by despair: to leave Murzuk to such torment!

The passage was dark and quiet. Andreich involuntarily listened - would he hear Murzuk’s voice again?

Little by little he began to distinguish the thin, plaintive meow of a lynx. It was heard somewhere very close, as if Murzuk was nearby.

Andreich looked at the wall. His eyes made out an iron door and an iron bolt on it.

“This is his cage! - the old man realized. “He’s here, nearby.”

An unexpected guess flashed through his head; pull out this bolt and Murzuk will be released!

Now my chest was filled with fear.

“How will they catch you? Then they both disappeared!”

Again, a sad meow was heard behind the wall.

“Whatever happens! - Andreich decided. “He is not a man who does not sympathize with the beast and is a coward for himself.”

The old man pulled the bolt. The iron clanked loudly and a heavy bolt fell to the ground.

Andreich looked around in fear.

Jacobs walked quickly down the aisle.

Andreich quickly got out through the other end of the passage.

It was light in the garden. The brass band played loudly and the audience on the American Mountains screamed.

Andreich hurriedly walked towards the exit. It seemed to him that Jacobs was catching up with him from behind, and he did not dare look back.

My thoughts were confused.

“Can you guess who pulled back the bolt? What if Murzuk catches up with me here now? If he breaks out, they'll shoot him! Or will the watchman notice that the bolt has been removed before the beast?”

This last thought frightened the old man the most: what if Murzuk’s escape failed? And again Andreich remembered the protruding ribs of the lynx, the melancholy eyes of the bear, birds with clipped wings, and the sick bullfinch.

Pity gripped the old man with renewed vigor.

“Whatever happens there, as long as Murzuk breaks out!”

And for a long time, already approaching the station, the old man stubbornly repeated:

He is not a man who does not sympathize with the beast!

Chapter Ten

Mister JACOBS IS TRAINING

The morning after Andreich's appearance, Mr. Jacobs got up very early.

He had a habit of practicing small-caliber shooting before leaving for service.

He lived next to the menagerie. The back wall of his house overlooked a vacant lot.

In the vacant lot there was a large puddle and a dump of various garbage and garbage. Pigeons, jackdaws, and crows gathered here; Jacobs shot them from the attic.

Accurate shooting with a bullet, he said, requires daily training. And certainly against a living target.

After the incident at the menagerie, Jacobs wanted to be sure of his shot. He knew well that only a happy accident helped him to knock down a bear that had escaped from its cage with two bullets.

And that morning, quickly dressing, Jacobs grabbed his rifle and went up to the attic. It was dark in the attic. Only through the holes in the roof did narrow strips of muddy light fall.

Mr. Jacobs walked to one of these holes and looked out.

Below on a pile of garbage, near a puddle, sat a flock of pigeons. The birds did not notice the shooter.

Jacobs carefully aimed one of them from point-blank range and fired.

The dove, wounded in the wing, thrashed convulsively and rolled down a steep heap. The flock took off, but sank to the ground again: no one was visible around.

Jacobs took aim at another pigeon.

At this time, something rustled behind him. He turned around.

It seemed to him as if two shining eyes were looking at his back and instantly went out as soon as he turned to face them.

"Cat!" - Jacobs thought. He began to take aim at the dove again. But the unpleasant feeling of eyes fixed on his back did not leave him. He couldn't seem to focus on his goal.

Shoot! - he shouted loudly into the darkness. A slight rustling sound was heard again in the corner.

For an instant, Jacobs saw two burning eyes under the black arch of the roof. And again nothing happened.

What the hell! - the American swore. - Wait, I’ll get you out of there quickly!

He was nervous and angry with himself for this.

By now he had managed to get a little used to the darkness. In the place where the mysterious eyes had lit up a minute ago, he made out empty boxes piled on top of each other.

Jacobs raised his rifle and fired at one of them at random.

The empty box fell to the floor with a crash.

The head and white chest of a lynx flashed in the streak of light.

Jacobs managed to fire two more charges.

One of the bullets cut off the end of the beast’s short tail like a knife.

Then the heavy body of the lynx hit the shooter in the chest with all its might. He fell.

The rifle hit the floor with a crash - and everything fell silent.

And half a minute later, a large lynx jumped out through a narrow opening and disappeared around the bend of the roof.

Murzuk looked around.

There was a large vacant lot behind. On the other three sides there were endless roofs and deep holes in the streets between them.

There was no choice: he had to avoid open places.

Murzuk reached the end of the roof, got down to the ground, jumped to another house, then to a third - and so headed towards the city center.

Passers-by had already appeared on the streets.

Workers were walking to the factory. One of them accidentally raised his head up and shouted in surprise:

Look how huge the cat is!

But Murzuk had already disappeared behind the pipe.

And at the menagerie at this time the watchman noticed the disappearance of the lynx and raised the alarm. He swore that he walked around the cages twice at night and all the animals were in place.

He could not know that already in the morning Murzuk accidentally leaned against the back door and unexpectedly found himself in a narrow passage between the cells.

And no one saw how the beast carefully crept through the entire garden, climbed over the high fence and climbed onto the first house it came across; how he hid in empty boxes in the attic and met his enemy there.

Chapter Eleven

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the plump teacher left the school and boarded the tram.

He had just told the children about wild, bloodthirsty animals that prowl in the dense forests. He described the hunt for them so fascinatingly that several boys decided to run away to the taiga when they finished school.

Now the teacher was driving home and thought that he himself would not mind hunting a bear or a tiger.

At the first stop, a small newspaperman burst into the carriage. He waved a folded piece of paper and shouted:

Evening episode! The terrible murder of a man by a beast! The beast is wandering around the city. Beware of going into the attic!

Mister! - he suddenly turned to the teacher. Buy a newspaper: your life is in danger!

What's happened? What are you making up? - the plump teacher jumped up. - Give me the newspaper here!

On the first page was printed in large letters:

“Tonight a lynx escaped from the cage of the zoological garden. In the attic of the house next to the garden, the corpse of a servant from the menagerie was discovered in a pool of blood. The killer beast is still at large.”

Further, in a large, hastily composed note, it was reported that early in the morning a lynx was spotted by passers-by on the roof of one of the houses three blocks from the menagerie. During the day in the city center, a chimney sweep was almost thrown from the roof of a five-story building.

It was placed right there detailed description lynx, its way of life, extraordinary bloodthirstiness, agility and strength.

Judging by this article, it turned out that the lynx is much more dangerous than the tiger, lion and, in general, all predatory animals.

The article ended with the words:

“Every predatory animal that has tasted human blood at least once loses fear of people and becomes a cannibal.

Without wanting to contribute to panic in the city, we still cannot help but advise all residents of our city to carefully avoid encounters with a lynx, especially to avoid dark attics.

All measures have been taken, and we have no doubt that the animal will be caught or shot in the coming hours, despite its remarkable ability to hide and elude unharmed even from experienced hunters.”

The plump teacher lowered the newspaper, took off his pince-nez and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He no longer wanted to hunt wild animals.

He remembered how a month ago he looked at the lynx in the menagerie. Even in the cage she made such a creepy impression! What if he had to meet her on the street now?

Goosebumps ran down the teacher's spine.

He had already decided not to leave the house until he knew that the beast had been caught. He had a hunting rifle hanging at home, from which he shot hazel grouse and quail in the summer. He can load it with a bullet and defend himself if the lynx decides to get into his apartment.

Ten minutes later the carriage came to a stop where the teacher had to get off.

All the way home the teacher looked up at the roofs.

On the corner of the city square opposite its windows stood a group of people. Some ragamuffin, short and fat, boastfully assured that the lynx would not touch him, because wild animals rush only at long and skinny ones.

The plump teacher felt a little lighter in his heart.

Entering his house, the teacher examined the stairs from below for a long time before climbing them. His apartment was on the third floor, right under the roof.

Never before had he unlocked a door with a key as quickly as this time.

Finally he was home! He sat down to dinner only after he had carefully examined all the latches on the windows.

After lunch, the teacher wiped his pince-nez and sat down in a chair opposite the window. A shotgun loaded with a bullet stood next to him.

Now the plump man felt brave. He opened the window and began to listen to the voices coming from the street.

Special! - the newspaperman shouted loudly, turning around the corner. - The beast is still on the loose!

There were few people on the street.

A cab driver hurried past, chasing a thin nag. The rider looked up restlessly.

For a minute the street was completely empty.

All of a sudden White cat galloped across the street into the park. A large gray beast rushed behind her in wide leaps.

Both disappeared from sight before the teacher came to his senses.

He jumped out of his chair, rushed to the phone and frantically drummed his fingers on the buttons.

Hello! Duty? Quarterly? Hello Hello! Duty? Lynx! In the park! For the cat! Now! Stop, stop! Write it down: teacher Trusikov said.

Yes, yes, we're done!

The teacher hung up and rushed to the window again.

Five minutes later a detachment of armed men rushed in. They surrounded the garden with a chain.

The teacher saw how the chain, at a signal, slowly moved between the trees. People held their guns at the ready.

Trusikov was pleased: the lynx was surrounded.

She will be killed, and everyone will learn from the newspapers that it was he, the teacher of Panties, who freed the city from the terrible cannibal.

Chapter Twelve

On the night of this late autumn day, two tramps sat on the stone embankment wide river…

The bright moon illuminated their torn dresses and cast a thick shadow on their faces, hidden by the round visors of their caps.

They whiled away long night, occasionally exchanging phrases.

Why are you laughing? - asked one, tucking his long, stick-thin legs under himself.

“And I remembered how yesterday they poisoned the animal, and I was scared,” answered another, short and fat.

And, without waiting for an invitation, he began to tell.

I go into the city park during the day to see the audience. He climbed into a dark place, sat down on a bench, and took a little nap.

I wake up - what is happening! I look: chain; everyone with rifles at the ready, walking leg by leg, and they themselves are still looking up at the trees.

I looked up - insult you! - a huge gray beast is sitting on a branch right above me. Then I immediately realized: it was a lynx that had escaped from its cage. I had only seen her portrait in a newspaper before.

“Hey,” I think, “they want to cover you, my friend!”

Just then one came up. He asks: “Have you seen the beast?”

I say: “No way,” I say, “I didn’t happen to see it.”

So he went. I didn’t even look at the tree I was sitting under. I raised my head: the beast was sitting on a branch, not moving, and his eyes were turned out.

I winked at him: well, I say, dear comrade, you and I managed them cleverly! Happy to stay, I say! And let's get out of the garden.

Now they are writing and investigating who let him out of the cage. They found out that on the third day an old man from the village came to see him. They are looking for his address.

The tramps fell silent.

Somewhere in an empty street a dog began to bark and burst into tears.

Look, it's annoying! - said the long-legged one. - It's like he's chasing a fox.

The barking continued.

Now the tramps could clearly hear the iridescent, squealing voice of a hound running along a fresh trail.

But really - he drives! - the short one said in amazement.

He turned around, looked down the street and suddenly grabbed his comrade’s hand.

It's flying - you can't catch it! No lynx!

Both saw him silently galloping along dark side streets of the beast. Much further, at the end of a long street, a dog suddenly jumped around the corner.

The tramps did not have time to figure out what to do.

The lynx rushed a hundred paces away from them and noisily rushed into the water.

Boat! - the long-legged one caught himself. - Over there by the barge. If we catch you, they will give you a reward.

Both rushed to the barge at once.

The dog ran up to the river and darted along the bank.

A minute later the tramps were in the boat.

Cut the end! - the long-legged man commanded, pulling out an oar from under the can.

The short-legged man slashed the rope with his knife, the boat broke away and floated downstream.

How to row? - the short-legged one asked confused. Instead of a second oar, there was a hook in the boat.

Fry with a hook! Let's catch up!

On the shore, having lost the trail, a dog howled in annoyance, rushing along the embankment.

Ahead, the head of a lynx flashed faintly in the moonlit waves.

The tramps rowed with all their might.

After about five minutes, the short-legged man turned to his friend.

Close! - for some reason he said in a whisper.

The lynx snorted loudly in front of the very bow of the boat.

Turn up your nose! - the long-legged one commanded. - I paddled her along the canopy.

Short-legged did not listen: he himself wanted to kill the beast. He hit the diving head with the hook, but missed.

The long-legged one jumped from the stern to the bow, pushed his comrade and swung his oar.

The animal swam right next to the boat.

The long-legged man brought the oar down on his head with all his might.

The beast dodged.

The oar splashed through the water and slipped out of the tramp's hands.

Hook! - the long-legged one screamed. The short-legged one aimed at the animal’s neck and threw the hook like a spear.

At the same instant, the lynx jumped out of the water with the entire front part of its body.

The hook flew past. The animal's front paws touched the side.

A jump - and Murzuk found himself in the boat, ready for a new jump.

Jump! - the long-legged man shouted desperately and waved overboard. But the short-legged one was already in the water.

The water was terribly cold. Still, the tramps felt better in it than in a boat, face to face with an angry beast.

Fortunately, it was not far from the shore.

A few minutes later, the tramps, desperately swearing and spitting, crawled out onto the embankment. Water flowed from them in streams.

The boat with Murzuk floated far downstream.

Chapter Thirteen

COMPASS AND TELEGRAPH

The boat quickly carried Murzuk beyond the city limits. The animal did not want to go into cold water again. He hated water, like all cats, and ended up in the river against his own will.

Villages, groves, and fields floated before Murzuk’s eyes.

The boat rushed close to the shore.

Here, on a sandy cliff, stretched a pine forest.

Murzuk jumped into the water and a minute later climbed the steep slope.

The forest was sparse and without undergrowth. It was difficult to hide in it.

Still, this was a real forest, and Murzuk felt good for the first time since he left Andreich’s guardhouse. His eyes sparkled.

Murzuk ran forward at a fast cat's trot. He was hungry and very tired, but there was no time for rest now. He paid no attention to the small birds that rose from the ground as he approached. Hunting for them required delay, and he was in a hurry to get to the dense forest.

Only when a mouse crossed his path did Murzuk quickly grab it and eat it as he went.

The forest went downhill. Spruce and birch trees began to appear. The trees grew more often. There was soft damp moss underfoot.

Murzuk ran forward, all in the same direction.

The beast itself was not aware of where it was running. But in his chest there was like a compass that guided his run.

The invisible needle of this non-existent compass pointed to the northeast. There, a hundred kilometers from the place where the beast was, stood the hut of old man Andreich and Murzuk’s native forest was dark. Forests and rivers, fields and villages lie between the beast and the distant goal of his journey.

The sun was already high above the trees. Murzuk was now making his way through the dense thicket.

Finally, he chose a dry place under the branches of a large spruce, crushed moss and fallen pine needles with his belly, and lay down, curled up in a ball. A minute later he was fast asleep.

Two hours passed. Snowflakes swirled in the air.

It was quiet in the forest. Only on the top of the big spruce were tiny kinglets squeaking and tits twittering in the branches.

The beast was still sleeping.

Two hunters carefully made their way through the forest. There was no dog with them to warn them of the proximity of game. They quietly parted the branches in front of them, expecting every minute that a hare would suddenly jump out of the thicket or a wood grouse would rise up noisily.

Deep sleep did not prevent Murzuk from hearing people approaching from afar. His ears, even during sleep, were sensitive to the slightest sound, just as a radio antenna catches the slightest vibrations of electrical waves.

Murzuk's ears turned in the direction where the hunters were coming from. The eyes opened.

Murzuk knew that two people were walking, one to his right, the other to his left. You had to either run straight forward or hide in place.

If you run, people might notice.

Murzuk pressed his whole body into the moss.

The hunters caught up with him. They walked at a distance of thirty steps from each other, not suspecting that there was a beast between them.

One of the hunters stopped.

“Come here,” he quietly shouted to the other, “and let’s have a smoke.” There’s still not a damn thing about this one anyway.

Murzuk stood up.

Muscles bulged under his skin in lumps: he heard the hunters stop and expected them to head in his direction.

Wait a minute! - answered the other hunter. - Let's get to the edge of the forest and smoke there. In such a thicket, you never know what awaits you next step.

OK.

And both went forward.

The lumps under Murzuk’s skin smoothed out. He listened until the hunters' footsteps died away. Then he sank to the ground and fell asleep again.

A squirrel jumped from the top of a nearby tree onto the tree. From branch to branch she sank lower and lower to the ground, until suddenly she noticed a lynx right under the trunk.

The animal froze in place, afraid to give itself away to the predator with a careless movement. The fluffy, red tail completely covered his back, and his eyes glared at the terrible beast.

But the beast did not move.

A minute passed, then two, then three.

The squirrel is tired of sitting in the same position. Her fear passed.

She jumped and quickly ran up the trunk. On high altitude she felt completely safe and began to look at the unprecedented beast with curiosity.

He lay still motionless. The squirrel became more and more curious. She went down again and sat down on the lower branch of a spruce tree.

It was impossible to understand: was the beast sleeping or was it dead?

Or maybe he's just pretending?

The squirrel clicked angrily and waved its fluffy tail. If even the whiskers on the beast's muzzle had twitched, she would have instantly found herself back at the top of the tree. But the lynx did not move.

It's clear she's dead.

The curious animal carefully descended the trunk to the ground, still trying to stay away from the dead enemy.

He saw that the lynx's eyes were tightly closed.

With small, awkward jumps, the squirrel approached the corpse on the ground. She sank down on her short front legs and stretched her whiskered muzzle towards the animal, carefully sniffing it. The lynx's teeth flashed like lightning - and the squirrel's bones crunched in its mouth.

Murzuk's auditory telegraph worked properly even with the beast's eyes closed.

After breakfast, Murzuk set off again in the same direction.

Chapter fourteen

TERRIBLE HORSEMAN

For three days Murzuk moved forward almost non-stop.

Often along the way he came across villages and fields. He made large circles to avoid being seen by people in open places.

Murzuk ate from hand to mouth on the road, whatever he had to. And when, by the night of the third day, he reached a large dense forest, he felt that his strength was failing him.

In the darkness, Murzuk came across an animal trail. The path ran through a thicket and led to a swamp, where in the summer roe deer and other forest animals went to drink.

Here you could hunt big game.

In one place, a tree half torn out of the ground bent over the path itself.

Murzuk climbed onto it and lay down to wait for the prey.

The night was dark and cold. Frost covered the ground. Hour after hour passed, but not a single animal appeared on the path: in the cold, animals lick frost on the grass and trees and do not go to water.

But then Murzuk’s ears caught the distant crunch of steps. Someone was walking on the grass.

Murzuk gathered his strong body into a ball and stared into the darkness with widened eyes.

The footsteps approached slowly.

It couldn't be a roe deer: the tread was too heavy. You could hear thick branches cracking under the animal’s feet. Not yet knowing who was approaching, Murzuk felt that it was better for him to abandon the attack on this giant.

But hunger fueled his bloodthirstiness. His whole body was tense, like the string of a drawn bow. A push - and a three-pound arrow will fall from the trembling tree.

The branches were cracking closer and closer.

And then Murzuk’s sharp eyes discerned the figure of a young elk in the darkness. The animal walked slowly along the path.

Murzuk felt fear: the enemy was too big and strong.

The antlers of a young elk almost touched the trunk bent over the path. Directly below him, Murzuk saw the unprotected back of the animal.

And he jumped.

The lynx's hind paws dug into the ridge and side of the elk; the front ones grabbed the powerful neck with a death grip.

The moose madly rushed forward and ran along the path, shaking its head, kicking and throwing itself from side to side.

Branches whipped Murzuk on the sides and head, threatening to tear out his eyes. The thrown back antlers of the elk tore my back into blood.

Murzuk did not notice anything; all his attention was focused on somehow holding on to the back of the animal, distraught with pain. If he fell to the ground, that would be the end: a terrible blow from the horns, followed by a whole hail of blows from strong, sharp hooves to the head, chest, and stomach. And in a minute the beautiful body of the predator would turn into a shapeless bloody pile of meat.

The elk rushed along the trail with incredible speed for such a huge animal. Every minute the terrible horseman could grab his neck with his teeth and gnaw through the vein.

Only an open place could save the elk: on a narrow path, between two walls of a thicket, the powerful animal could not turn around and throw the lynx off its back.

The mad race continued, and no one could say who would win: the rider or the horse.

Suddenly, a gap flashed before the elk’s bloodshot eyes: the thicket ended.

Behind it began a large clearing.

The elk flew at her with all his might - and immediately plunged up to his belly into a swampy forest swamp.

In vain he strained all his enormous power, trying to stretch out the stuck front legs.

His heavy body sank deeper and deeper into the swamp.

Murzuk slid onto the animal's neck and bit into the scruff of the neck.

A minute later the elk wheezed terribly and fell on his side.

Murzuk won.

Chapter fifteen

WEREWOLF

The village headman was very surprised when he unexpectedly received a piece of paper with an order to immediately arrest and escort the forest guard Andreich to the city.

The headman had known Andreich for a long time and could not understand how the old man could have offended his superiors.

However, there was no need to think for a long time: the piece of paper clearly stated what needed to be done.

The headman called two patrolmen and gave them the order of his superiors. The scouts had already gone to get equipped, but then something happened that their help was immediately needed right here in the village.

A whole crowd of women burst into the elder’s hut, screaming and crying. The women were terribly frightened and made such noise that for a long time nothing could be heard.

They shouted that a werewolf had appeared in the village.

The headman ordered to push them all out of the hut. He left only one, calmer one, and told her to tell everything plainly.

It turned out that the night before the women had nothing to do - the men were all at the station, at work - gathered for a get-together. As usual, songs were played and stories were told. One told a very scary story - about werewolves.

And in the morning - about half an hour ago - the old woman Mitrevna saw this very werewolf.

Here is how it was.

Mitrevna went to let the sheep out of the barn. He looks, the door is open, there are no sheep, and one is lying on the ground, half eaten.

Mitrevna is behind the barn, and there are sheep there. They huddled against the fence, stood in a heap, trembling and shy away from every knock. It immediately occurred to her that she smelled of evil spirits.

I just wanted to call my neighbor, and she looked at the neighbor’s black cat from the fence - and across the yard to her.

I reached the barn, and how he snorts, his tail goes up and he runs back!

It was then that the werewolf turned around - as if he had grown out of the ground!

He’s about the size of a dog, with a cat’s face and a beard, a short tail, and his fur is as white as flour.

He jumped on the cat, tore it apart with his teeth and swung it over the fence, as if through a garden bed, as if he had grown wings.

Mitrevna fell to the ground in fright and screamed. The women came running...

We found out what was going on and went to the headman. “We won’t go,” they say, “to the huts until you kill the werewolf and we ourselves drive an aspen stake into his back.”

The headman ordered that the patrolmen immediately go to Mitrevna with rifles and revolvers. And he went with them.

They found a half-eaten sheep in the barn, and they also found a torn black cat. We walked around the fence and saw large round footprints of an unknown animal in the snow.

Now the headman put all the guys on their feet. They took the dogs and followed the trail.

This happened during the day, and what happened before that at night was never known in the village.

Everyone was still sleeping when Murzuk crept up through the forest to the very outskirts. Several days have passed since he killed and ate the elk. These days he again ate little and finally became very hungry. He heard the bleating of sheep from the forest - and boldly made his way into the village. I walked along the roof of the barn to the barn.

The sheep were alarmed, but Murzuk knocked down one of them with a blow of his paw. Others opened the door and rushed out into the yard.

Murzuk calmly began to eat.

He managed to eat half the sheep when Mitrevna came out to let the cattle out.

Seeing her, Murzuk hid in the barn.

There were sacks of flour there, and he was covered in flour dust.

Through the open door of the barn, Murzuk looked at what was happening in the yard.

The very sight of a black cat made him furious. Forgetting all caution, Murzuk jumped out of the barn and, in front of the woman, immediately tore the cat to pieces.

The tracks of the lynx's large round paws were clearly imprinted on the loose snow. The dogs quickly ran along them towards the forest.

A whole detachment of riflemen hurried behind.

Murzuk was already asleep at this time, having climbed into the thicket.

Chapter sixteen

A seasoned hound, all black with red markings, ran ahead. She confidently and quickly led the entire flock into the depths of the thicket.

There were more than a dozen dogs. They squealed and yelped.

Murzuk heard them from afar.

He immediately understood what was going on. Without wasting a minute, he jumped to his feet and, sliding between the bushes, ran into the depths of the forest.

Good dog can easily catch up with a lynx.

Murzuk knew that he would be in trouble if he did not somehow deceive his pursuers. And he resorted to cunning to throw them off the trail.

He turned and ran back, straight towards the dogs, carefully following the old trail.

After running for a little while, he suddenly jumped sharply to the side - made a discount - and began to zigzag, confusing the trail more and more.

The dogs quickly found the animal's bed.

By their frantic barking, people realized that the dogs had raised the beast and were chasing it along the warm trail. The arrows scattered around the forest in a semicircle so as not to miss the animal when the pack turned it back.

And the dogs had already reached the “deuce”, where Murzuk was retracing his steps. In the heat of the moment, they rushed forward - and suddenly lost the trail.

In vain they ran around in confusion, sniffing the ground: the beast seemed to rise on wings.

Only an experienced hound immediately understood the cunning trick.

She returned to the end of the double track and then made a big circle.

The lynx found itself in the bushes three meters from the trail.

The dogs quickly untangled loop after loop.

The hound was the first to notice that the trail ended at the roots of a thick tree that tilted strongly towards the ground. She sniffed the trunk, and it became clear to her that the lynx had climbed up it.

The dogs jumped wildly around the tree.

Soon the arrows arrived.

Now the beast was in their hands. The dogs did their job: they drove him up a tree. The shooters could only knock the lynx out of there with a well-aimed bullet.

The tree was dense, and the animal was not visible in the branches.

One of the shooters began to hit the barrel hard with his butt to scare the animal away. Others prepared to shoot.

The beast did not show itself.

Then the shooter fired, aiming along the barrel.

Another failure.

It became clear that there was no lynx in the tree.

At this time the hound began to bark again in the thicket. There the lynx trail began again.

It turned out that the animal ran along the entire trunk bent to the ground - and with a strong jump was carried far into the thicket.

The race has begun again.

At that moment Murzuk was already running far ahead. The last trick helped him gain time. But again the dogs rushed at his heels.

The situation was hopeless. If you just run forward, the dogs will catch up. Hide in a tree - the hunters will shoot you.

The beast was starting to get tired. The dogs were pressing.

The persecution was nearing its end.

Suddenly, a fast forest stream crossed Murzuku’s road. The water has not frozen in it yet.

Murzuk jumped into the water and ran along the bottom until the stream came out of the forest into a large clearing.

At the edge of the forest, Murzuk climbed into the bushes and lay down.

Now, finally, he could rest: the dogs would not soon find the trail that had disappeared in the water.

But the old hound knew this trick too.

Having lost the trail in the stream, she set off along the bank and after a few minutes led the pack to dense bushes on the edge of a large clearing.

The hound began to cry “as if he could see.”

In an open clearing, the dogs quickly caught up with the tired lynx. If they themselves fail to strangle the beast, they will hold it until the hunters come running.

There was no escape.

Murzuk desperately tried to get away from the pack in order to be the first to reach the forest.

But the old hound and with it the three fastest dogs were already close.

Behind the trees, people kept pace.

Suddenly Murzuk fell head over heels into the snow.

As he fell, he fell onto his back, his paws flashing in the air.

The shooters saw four dogs immediately attack the animal.

The shooters lowered their guns: the dogs would tear the beast to shreds.

But what happened to them?

With a blow of his paw, the beast crushed the head of the old hound.

Three other dogs, wounded, sank into the snow howling: Murzuk worked with all four paws at once.

Before the lagging flock arrived, he was already on his feet again and disappeared into the forest with huge leaps.

Around him, bullets from confused shooters clicked on the trees.

But Murzuk ran forward calmly, not forgetting to make discounts from time to time.

Left without an experienced leader, the dogs soon completely lost track of the beast.

In vain the hunters wandered through the forest until the evening.

They returned home empty-handed.

Chapter Seventeen

Andreich was sitting on the porch of his hut, his gray head resting on his hand.

He recently returned from the forest. The goats left the yard in the morning. The old man tried for a long time to drive them home, but the stubborn animals did not obey him.

It’s been a month since Andreich’s old cow died, and the old man has been eating goat’s milk since then.

Today he hasn't eaten anything yet and is completely weak. I didn’t have the strength to get up and wander into the forest again to herd the goats.

The old man remembered how deftly his faithful Murzuk did this, and sighed heavily. He really wanted to know what happened to his pet. Has he escaped from the menagerie and is now wandering somewhere in the forests? Or slowly dying in a cage?

The rapid clatter of hooves on the frozen ground made the old man raise his head.

He was surprised to see the goats rushing at a mad gallop across the meadow straight towards his fence.

“Isn’t it a bear?” - Andreich thought anxiously.

The goats rushed across the yard and huddled in the barn in fear.

At that same moment a lynx appeared at the gate and with wide leaps rushed onto the old man’s chest.

Son?! - That’s all Andreich could say, hugging the shaggy head of the beast.

Only an hour later Andreich remembered that he was hungry. He milked the goat and shared the milk with a friend.

This is a gift for you,” he said to Murzuk. - Now go into the forest and hunt for some game for lunch. By nightfall, just turn back: together everything is more fun.

Murzuk listened to the owner, licked his hand, turned and went into the forest.

Only then did the old man notice that the beast’s tail seemed to be chopped off.

“Where did they cut him off like that?” - thought the old man.

But it was unpleasant to think about it.

“Now the evil is over,” Andreich thought joyfully and closed his eyes.

The autumn sun gently warmed his sick body.

The old man dozed off on the porch.

He was awakened by a rude shout:

Hey old man, get up! They've come to arrest you. Collect coins - and follow us!

At first Andreich couldn’t figure out anything. In front of him stood two guards with rifles over their shoulders. They held their horses by the reins.

What are you, dear ones! Are you planning to play a joke on the old man?

The city will show you jokes! - one of the patrolmen said sternly. - They ordered you to be taken to the station.

The word “city” immediately explained everything to Andreich.

“We finally got there! - he thought. - Well, well: I have to die anyway. They'll probably take you to the city. But at least Murzuk is free.”

The old man did not feel any enmity towards those who wanted to bring him to justice for his action.

Apparently, so be it,” he said calmly. - But I have the blame. I felt sorry, my dear ones, for one animal. Released from the cage in the city. This beast was also my first friend.

What animal is this? - the youngest of the patrolmen was curious.

And the lynx. The scouts looked at each other.

Lynx? - the elder asked. - Kutsaya?

Kutsaya. She must have been cut off at the menagerie.

This is true! - said the elder. - Yes, it’s not enough to shoot you for such a pupil. Yesterday he killed the best dog in the village. Wait, we'll skin him some more.

Well, what happened! - he suddenly attacked Andreich. - There’s no time for you and me to sharpen our lasses here! Get out of here quickly!

“Yes, I’m all here,” Andreich said. - Just wait - I’ll take the hat.

He realized that he had to quickly leave the yard. Otherwise, Murzuk will return, and the angry scouts will immediately shoot him.

Two minutes later, Andreich came out of the gate. There were guards on his sides.

The old man turned around to look at his hut for the last time - and shuddered: Murzuk was catching up with him from behind.

The senior tracker also looked back and saw a lynx.

He quickly pulled the rifle off his shoulder, took a shot and fired.

The bullet clicked into the hut, snatching off a narrow sliver.

In one leap, Murzuk rushed onto the horse's croup, but fell. The horses rushed. Andreich shouted something.

But there was no one next to him anymore.

Frightened horses raced across the meadow. The riders could only think about how to somehow stay in the saddle.

Murzuk chased after them.

The riders managed to stop their runaway horses only a kilometer from the forest guardhouse.

It was impossible to even think about going back on horseback.

They decided to report what had happened to the headman and the next day to demand reinforcements to hunt the beast and arrest the old man.

Murzuk did not immediately return home. He again disappeared into the forest and started hunting there.

He was lucky enough to come across black grouse.

The animal silently crept up from behind a bush and grabbed the old scythe the moment it rose from the ground.

However, Murzuk did not eat the prey. He strangled the bird and returned to its owner with it in his teeth.

Andreich was sitting on the ground, leaning his back against the steps of the porch. His eyes were closed.

Murzuk laid the game at his feet and lightly poked the old man with his nose.

Andreich slowly fell to the ground.

Murzuk pressed his shaggy muzzle to him, raised his head and howled quietly, sadly.

CONCLUSION

When the next day a detachment of patrolmen surrounded the forest guardhouse, Andreich’s corpse was still lying on the steps of the porch. But all the searches for the lynx led to nothing. Murzuk disappeared.

Month after month passed.

A new forest watchman has settled in Andreich’s hut.

Soon the lonely old man was forgotten in the surrounding villages. They also forgot his pet animal.

However, articles about an unusually large and daring lynx began to appear in various provincial newspapers.

They wrote that here and there the beast raided villages, slaughtered livestock and tore apart domestic cats. Attempts to shoot him invariably end in failure.

Judging by the short stub of the tail and remarkable knowledge of human habits, it was easy to recognize Murzuk in this fearless beast.

The latest news about him flashed in one of the newspapers in the northern outskirts of our country.

Fleeing from persecution, Murzuk climbed into the depths of the forest, where his traces were lost in a dense thicket.

There, in the North, Murzuk found a safe refuge for himself.

Year: 1925 Genre: story

Main characters: lynx cub Murzuk, forest guard Andreich

An old hunter and forest guard saw how a lynx killed a roe deer. He wanted to kill the predator, but when he shot, he only wounded him. In a fight with the beast, the old man killed him. This was the little lynx's mother, Murzuk, who was later tamed by the old man. A grown-up lynx cub is tricked into being bought from an old man into a private menagerie. The lynx runs away from there and returns to the old man.

The main idea. The story teaches that you cannot keep a wild animal in captivity.

Chapter 1. On the clearing.

Old Andreich was a hunter. It was spring. In a clearing he saw a lynx carrying its cub in its teeth. The old lynx had four of them. She carried everyone under a bush. At the same time, Andreich noticed roe deer: a male and a female. Andreich followed them. The lynx hunted for them, sitting on a branch above the clearing. When the roe deer moved a little away from the goat, suddenly something black fell on its back and broke its spine. The goat galloped off into the thicket. Andreich shot a lynx. Andreich was sure that the lynx was killed. But the beast suddenly rushed at the hunter and knocked him to the ground. The old man dealt the lynx a fatal blow with a knife.

Chapter 2. Murzuk receives a name and pardon.

The little lynx was left alone in the den. The mother dragged the rest of the lynxes into a new den, as a tree was about to fall on this place. The little lynx got hungry and crawled out of the den. Andreich had already buried the killed lynx in the ground, removing the skin from the animals, and put the roe deer in a bag. The old man was about to go home, but heard a squeak. The hunter rushed into the thicket and found a lynx there. He killed them. Left alone, the little lynx crawled up to Andreich. The old man could not kill him and gave him a nickname - Murzuk Batyevich. The hunter took the little lynx to live with him.

Chapter 3. Childhood and education.

Andreich was a forest watchman. He lived in a hut in the forest. On his farm he had a cow, a horse, ten chickens and an old hound cable - Kunak. A week later, Murzuk learned to lap milk. Soon Murzuk began sleeping with Kunak under the bench and even eating from the same bowl. The little lynx began to adopt the dog’s habits. When Murzuk grew up, the hunter bought a goat and a buck. He taught the little lynx to herd them into a flock. Kunak died in the fall. All the responsibilities of the dog were transferred to Murzuk. People came to look at the tamed and trained animal. Many offered to buy it, but the old man refused.

Chapter 4. Uninvited guest.

Three years have passed. Summer. A cart with an iron cage drove up to Andreich's guardhouse. It was Mr. Jacobs who arrived, sent to Andreich by a private zoo with an offer to buy a lynx for forty rubles. The master decided to spend the night.

Chapter 5. Jacobs wins the bet.

Jacobs is an American who lived in Russia. He lost a bet made between him and the owner of the menagerie. According to its terms, Jacob had to get Murzuk by any means. Until the old man gave up. Jacobs served in a menagerie that had a pleasure garden. The old man gave Jacobs a roe deer skin instead of a pillow. Here Jacobs straightened out the roe deer skin to fold it under his head. At the same time, his gaze fell on the perforated skin of the animal. He thought: “Female!” The old man is apparently beating queens!”

In the morning, the American approached Andreich with a roe deer skin in his hands and said sternly:
- Skin of a female roe deer. You shot the uterus.

The old man told the American how it all happened. But he didn’t believe him, but only threatened that he would tell everything to his superiors and the old man would be fined 25 rubles and lose his job. The American did not let up - you are an animal to me, and I will give you back the skin. The American gave him a receipt to sign that he was buying the animal for thirty rubles. The old man didn’t sign anything and didn’t take the money. He put the lynx in a cage and sent him with the American. Chapter 6. In prison.

The lynx was taken to the menagerie. Murzuk refused to eat.

Chapter 8. Riot.

Two months have passed. A great ape was brought to the menagerie. The female monkey screamed furiously, agitating other animals. Jacobs grabbed the rifle and headed towards Murzuk's cage. At this time, the polar bear opened the broken door of his cage. The bear headed towards the American. He shot at the animal with a rifle and hit it in the ear and eye. A rod that had popped out of Murzuk's cage was discovered. The lynx was about to run out of the cage when firefighters began to hose him and all the animals with hoses. The frightened animals calmed down.

Chapter 9. Date.

Before his death, Andreich went on a date with a friend. Murzuk recognized Andreich, he licked his face. Andreich felt sorry for Murzuk. He secretly opened the bolt of his cage, and he himself walked away from the menagerie. Andreich thought: “He is not a man who does not sympathize with the beast!”

Chapter 10. Mr. Jacobs is training.

The morning after Andreich's appearance, Mr. Jacobs got up very early.
He had a habit of practicing small-caliber shooting before leaving for service. He lived next to the menagerie. The back wall of his house overlooked a vacant lot.
In the vacant lot there was a large puddle and a dump of various garbage and garbage. Pigeons, jackdaws, and crows gathered here; Jacobs shot them from the attic.
Murzuk got out of his cage and attacked Jacobs, after which he completely ran away into the city.

Chapter 11. Fear.

The city is in panic. They catch a lynx.

Chapter 12. On the river.

The tramps sat and discussed last news about catching a lynx. Then a lynx suddenly appeared and rushed into the river. They decided to catch her by boarding a boat to receive a reward. Murzuk swam right next to the boat. The tramps wanted to knock him down with an oar, but they missed him. Murzuk jumped into the boat, the rowers jumped overboard. And the lynx swam on it with the flow.

Chapter 13. Compass and telegraph.

Murzuk found himself outside the city. It's dawn. The boat approached pine forest. So Murzuk ended up in the forest.

Chapter 15. Werewolf.

The village headman was very surprised when he unexpectedly received a piece of paper with an order to arrest Andreich. But then a werewolf showed up in the village. This is the name given to Murzuk, who snuck into the barn and ate half a sheep and a cat. Murzuk escaped the persecution and returned to Andreich.

Chapter 17 Friend.

Andreich was sitting on the porch of his hut. Today he hasn't eaten anything yet and is completely weak. I didn’t have the strength to get up and wander into the forest again to herd the goats. The old man remembered how deftly his faithful Murzuk did this, and sighed heavily. The rapid clatter of hooves on the frozen ground made the old man raise his head. He was surprised to see the goats rushing at a mad gallop across the meadow straight towards his fence. At that same moment a lynx appeared at the gate and rushed onto the old man’s chest. While the lynx was hunting, Andreich came to show off.

The old man decided to leave the yard as quickly as possible so that Murzuk would not return, otherwise he would be shot. But Murzuk came to the owner. The military wanted to shoot the lynx, but it attacked them. The horses took off. The sedakas could barely stay in the saddle. Andreich walked up to the porch of the house and died. Murzuk brought him some game to eat. When he realized that the old man was dead, he pressed his muzzle to him and howled.

The next day Murzuk disappeared.

MURZUK

Chapter first

ON THE CLEAR

The head of an animal with thick sideburns and black tufts on its ears cautiously poked out of the thicket. Slanting yellow eyes glanced at one side of the clearing, then at the other, and the animal froze, ears pricked up.

Old man Andreich would have recognized the lynx hiding in the thicket at one glance. But at that moment he was making his way through the dense undergrowth about a hundred meters from the clearing.

Andreich wanted to smoke for a long time. He stopped and pulled his pouch from his bosom.

In the spruce forest next to him, someone coughed loudly. The pouch flew to the ground. Andreich pulled the gun off his shoulder and quickly cocked it.

Between the trees flashed reddish-brown fur and the head of a roe deer with sharp branched horns.

Andreich immediately lowered his gun and bent down to pick up the pouch: the old man never killed game at an unauthorized time.

Meanwhile, the lynx, not noticing anything suspicious nearby, disappeared into the thicket.

A minute later she went out into the clearing again. Now she carried in her teeth, carefully holding by the collar, a small red lynx.

Having crossed the clearing, the lynx put the cub into the soft moss under a bush and immediately went back.

Two minutes later, the second little lynx floundered next to the first, and the old lynx went after the third and last.

A light crunch of branches was heard in the forest.

In an instant, the lynx climbed up the nearest tree and disappeared into its branches.

At this time, Andreich was looking at the tracks of the roe deer he had scared away. There was still snow in the shadow of the thick spruce forest. It bore the deep imprints of four pairs of narrow hooves.

“Yes, there were two of them,” the hunter thought. – The second one is probably a female. The clearings will not go any further. Shall we go and have a look?”

He got out of the thicket and, trying not to make noise, walked straight towards the clearing.

Andreich knew the habits of the animals well. As he thought, after running a few tens of meters, the roe deer felt safe and immediately began to walk.

The goat was the first to enter the clearing. He raised his head, adorned with horns, and inhaled air.

The wind blew straight from him along the clearing, so the goat could not smell the lynx. He stamped his foot impatiently. A hornless female jumped out of the bushes and stopped next to him.

A minute later, the roe deer were calmly nibbling young greenery under their feet, occasionally raising their heads and looking around.

The lynx saw them clearly through the branches.

She waited until both roe deer lowered their heads at the same time, and silently slid onto the lower branch of the tree. This branch was sticking out right above the clearing, about four meters from the ground.

The thick branches no longer hid the animal from the eyes of the roe deer.

But the lynx pressed itself so tightly against the tree that its motionless body seemed like just a growth on a thick branch.

The roe deer did not pay attention to him. They slowly moved along the clearing towards the predator waiting for them in ambush.

Andreich looked out into a clearing about fifty steps further from the spruce tree on which the lynx was sitting. He immediately noticed both roe deer and, hiding in the bushes, began to follow them.

The old man never missed an opportunity to take a closer look at the timid forest animals.

The female roe deer walked ahead. The goat was a few steps behind her.

Suddenly something dark like a stone fell from a tree onto the roe deer’s back.

The roe deer fell with a broken ridge.

The goat made a desperate jump and instantly disappeared into the thicket.

- Lynx! - Andreich gasped.

There was no time to think.

“Bang! Bang! – double-barreled shots rang out one after another.

The beast jumped high and fell to the ground with a howl.

Andreich jumped out of the bushes and ran with all his might along the clearing. The fear of missing out on rare prey made him forget caution.

Before the old man had time to reach the lynx, the animal suddenly jumped to its feet.

Andreich stopped three steps away from him.

Suddenly the beast jumped.

A strong blow to the chest knocked the old man over backwards.

The gun flew far to the side. Andreich covered his throat with his left hand.

At the same instant, the beast's teeth sank into her to the very bone.

The old man grabbed a knife from his boot and slammed it into the lynx's side.

The blow was fatal. The lynx's teeth unclenched, and the animal fell to the ground.

Once again, to be sure, Andreich struck with a knife and quickly jumped to his feet.

But the beast was no longer breathing.

Andreich took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

- Wow! – he said, taking a deep breath.

A terrible weakness suddenly seized Andreich. The muscles, tense in mortal combat, immediately went limp. My legs were shaking. To avoid falling, he had to sit down on a stump.

Several minutes passed until the old man finally came to his senses.

First of all, he rolled a cigarette with his blood-stained hands and took a deep drag.

Having smoked, Andreich washed his wounds by the stream, bandaged them with a rag and began to skin his prey.

Chapter two

MURZUK RECEIVES A NAME AND A Pardon

A small brown lynx lay alone in a den under the roots of an upturned tree. His mother dragged away both of his red-haired brothers long ago. He didn't know where or why. He had just opened his eyes the other day, and he still didn’t understand anything. He did not sense how dangerous it was to remain in his native lair.

Last night a storm caused a nearby tree to tip over. The huge trunk threatened every minute to collapse and bury the lynx cubs under it. That's why the old lynx decided to drag her cubs to another place.

The little lynx had been waiting for his mother for a long time. But she didn't return.

About two hours later he felt very hungry and began to meow. The meowing became louder every minute.

Mother still didn't come.

Finally, the hunger became unbearable, and the little lynx himself went to look for his mother. He crawled out of the den and, painfully poking his blind muzzle first into the roots and then into the ground, crawled forward.

Andreich stood in the clearing and looked at the skins of the killed animals. The lynx carcass was already buried in the ground, and the roe deer carcass was carefully put into a bag.

“They should probably give you twenty rubles,” said the old man, smoothing the lynx’s thick fur. “If it weren’t for the wounds from the knife, everyone would have given thirty.” Lucky fur!

The skin was indeed extremely large and beautiful. Dark gray fur, almost without any admixture of red color, was densely covered with round brown spots on top.

– What should I do with this? - Andreich thought, picking up a roe deer skin from the ground. - Look how riddled it is!

The buckshot aimed at the lynx also hit the roe deer. The thin skin of the animal was pierced through in several places.

- Someone will see and think: “The old man is beating queens.” Well, don’t throw away the goods; I’ll put it under my head.

Andreich carefully rolled up both skins with the fur inside, tied them with a belt and threw them over his back.

- We have to get home before dark! - and the old man was already moving along the clearing. Suddenly a quiet, plaintive meow was heard in the thicket.

Andreich listened.

The squeak repeated.

Andreich threw the burden onto the ground and went into the thicket.

A minute later he returned to the clearing, holding a red lynx in each hand. The animals tried to free themselves and meowed squeakily.

One of them severely scratched the hand holding him.

- Look, little witch! - Andreich became embittered. – You’re already using your claws! All like my mother. We can’t leave you to seed! - Having finished them, Andreich grumbled and, picking up a strong branch from the ground, began to dig a hole for the lynx cubs.

From the long cry, the brown lynx became completely hoarse and just crawled and crawled forward, not knowing where.

The thicket ended, and he found himself in an open place: the lynx’s den was a few steps from the clearing.

Something was moving ahead. But the eyes of the little lynx, accustomed to the darkness of the thicket, did not see Andreich, digging the ground with a branch.

A vague feeling of fear forced the little lynx to hunch to the ground. However, after a minute, hunger overpowered, and the animal wandered on - straight towards Andreich, who stood with his back to him.

The old man turned around just at the moment when the little lynx crawled up to his feet.

Andreich stretched out his hand for the corpses of the lynx cubs and suddenly saw a living animal next to them.

- Where are you from? – the old man was taken aback.

The little lynx sat down on its hind legs and meowed weakly, opening its pink mouth.

- Just a kitten! - said Andreich, looking at the animal with curiosity.

The little lynx crawled again, awkwardly fell over a root and rolled head over heels into the hole.

- He went to his grave himself! You're stupid! – Andreich laughed, bent down and pulled the little lynx out of the hole.

- Look, he's splayed his mustache! And those slanted eyes are a real Murzuk Batyevich!

-Are you hungry? – Andreich asked sympathetically. - What should I do with you now? We should knock it down and bury it with those...

- But I can’t kill you, orphan! – the old man suddenly laughed cheerfully. - Okay, live! You will grow up in my hut and frighten the mice. Get into your bosom, Murzuk!

Andreich quickly threw earth at the dead lynx cubs, threw the bag over his back and hurriedly walked home.

Chapter Three

CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION

Andreich was a forest watchman.

He lived in a hut in the very middle of his plot. The hut was surrounded on three sides by forest. From the fourth stretched a large meadow. The road to the nearby village ran through the meadow.

The old man was lonely. His household consisted of a cow, a horse, a dozen chickens and a decrepit hound dog. The dog's name was Kunak. The owner left him to guard the hut when he went into the forest for a long time. This happened on this day when the old man killed a lynx.

Andreich reached the house at dusk. Kunak greeted the owner with a friendly bark.

“Look,” said the old man, throwing the prey off his shoulders, “what game I got!”

Smelling the scent of a lynx, Kunak raised his fur on end and grumbled.

- What, brother, don’t you like? Fierce beast. Almost bit me to death, damn it!

- But look: the kitten is tiny. Murzuk is called.

- Tsits! Do not touch! We'll live together, get used to it.

Entering the hut, Andreich took out a wickerwork from under the bed and put the animal in it. Then he brought a full glass of water, dipped his finger in the milk and brought it to the little lynx.

The hungry animal immediately licked the milk.

- He’s drinking! - Andreich was happy. - Wait, I’ll make you a pacifier.

Rolling up a tube from a thick rag, Andreich poured milk into it and put it in the little lynx’s mouth.

At first Murzuk was choking, then things went smoothly.

Ten minutes later, well-fed and satisfied, the little lynx was fast asleep, curled up in his new bed.

A week later, Murzuk learned to lap milk from a bowl. By this time he had gained strength on his feet and spent days playing happily on the floor, like a domestic kitten.

Andreich often played with him. Kunak still looked suspiciously at the little predator.

But soon he too was defeated.

Once, when the old dog was dozing sweetly under a bench, Murzuk crept up to him and nestled on his chest. Kunak was pleased with this, and he pretended not to notice the impudent kid.

From then on, Murzuk made it a rule to sleep with Kunak and did not pay any attention to his feigned grumbling.

Soon they became so friends that they even ate from the same bowl. “What a deal! - Andreich thought, looking at them. “The dog will teach the little lynx good things.”

And it’s true: the wild kitten noticeably adopted the habits of its older friend. He was just as trusting of his owner and obeyed his every order.

It happened that Murzuk broke and licked a glass of milk, chased chickens or did some other mischief, but an angry shout from the owner was enough for the smart animal to understand his guilt. He immediately lay down on the ground and crawled towards Andreich, writhing guiltily with his whole body.

The old man never once used a stick.

Andreich never had a family, and he gave all his rich reserve of kindness to pets. In his time he kept many wild animals. He knew how to find a job for everyone and patiently teach it.

And all the animals he ever had to keep became his willing servants and true friends.

When Murzuk grew up, a job was found for him on Andreich’s farm.

With the money received for the skin of an old lynx, Andreich bought himself a goat and a goat. The bearded, angry goat had a bad temper. It took a lot of effort for the old man to drive the stubborn man into the stable.

He taught Kunak to do this.

Murzuk did not lag behind his friend a single step and every evening helped him find the goats that wandered far into the forest.

At the sight of a young lynx, the goats began to run in fear, and the beaters could only guide them to the house.

In the fall, the decrepit Kunak died.

From then on, Murzuk took the place of a dog in the forest guardhouse. All her responsibilities were transferred to him.

Andreich took Murzuk with him into the forest, taught him how to drive game while hunting, and left him to guard the hut when he himself went to the village. And Murzuk cheerfully obeyed all the orders of the owner.

The rumor about old man Andreich's tame trot spread through all the surrounding villages. People came from afar to look at the strange beast.

The lonely old man was glad to have guests. To amuse them, he forced Murzuk to perform various tricks. The guests were amazed at the strength, dexterity and remarkable obedience of the beast.

In front of everyone, Murzuk broke thick branches with one blow of his paw, tore rawhide belts with his teeth, looked for a lark in the grass, grabbed it in flight and released it at the first word of its owner.

Many offered Andreich a lot of money for Murzuk. But the old man just shook his head. He loved the animal deeply and never wanted to part with it.

Chapter Four

UNINVITED GUEST

Three years have passed.

The sultry summer day was already approaching evening. On the road to Andreich's lodge a large cart pulled by a couple appeared. In front sat a driver in a coat and a man in a coat and hat. Behind them, a large iron cage was tied to the cart.

At the dilapidated fence the driver held his horses and wanted to get down and open the gate. At that moment, a large lynx silently jumped off the roof of the hut.

In three leaps the animal found itself at the fence. The fourth he easily jumped over the high fence - and suddenly appeared in front of the frightened driver.

The horses darted to the side, picked them up and carried them away.

The man in the hat shouted something loudly and waved his arms.

Andreich left the hut.

He saw the rider snatch the reins from the driver's hands and force the horses to make a wide circle across the meadow.

- Murzuk! - Andreich shouted. - Go back, friend. There's no point in scaring your guests. Look, hasn't the new management arrived?

Murzuk returned, licked the owner's hand and lay down at his feet.

“Take away your devil,” the rider shouted. - The horses will destroy you!

- Let's go to the roof! – Andreich ordered quietly. The lynx deftly climbed up the logs. Andreich opened the gate. The horses, leering and shuddering, entered the yard. The rider jumped off and approached Andreich.

Andreich stood stunned by the stream of unfamiliar words.

“I ask you,” Jacobs repeated impatiently, “what amount do you want for the trot?”

“Yes, she’s not corrupt,” the old man stammered in fear, “they told you that in vain.”

“On the contrary, I was warned that you would not want to sell it.” But this is nonsense! I'll give you forty rubles.

Andreich was confused. The necessary words did not come to mind, and he did not know how to refuse this master.

- Fifty rubles? Jacobs suggested. Andreich silently shook his head, shifting from foot to foot.

- Welcome! – Andreich was delighted. - Welcome to the hut. Now I’ll put on the samovar!

The old man thought to himself: “Look, what a speedster!” Give him Murzuk! Well, okay now: I’ll explain everything clearly over some tea.”

Jacobs looked at the lynx calmly stretched out on the roof for several minutes, turned and resolutely walked onto the porch.

The samovar boiled quickly.

Andreich called to the driver from the porch:

- Go, son, to the hut, the tea is ripe.

But the coachman did not dare to move: Murzuk again jumped off the roof and stood next to the owner.

He has grown a lot in three years. Now it was more than a meter from the tip of its nose to its tail. He has even outgrown his mother. He was tall on his feet, tightly built, and his lush sideburns, menacingly spread mustache and tufts of black hair on his ears gave his face a particularly ferocious expression. There was no trace of red hair on the gray fur with dark spots.

- He is meek! – Andreich smiled, affectionately patting Murzuk on the cheek. - Go, Murzuk, go into the forest! It's time for you to go hunting. If you need me, I’ll call you.

Murzuk reluctantly went into the forest.

He did not like to leave the owner alone when guests arrived. And these ones also had such a strange look! Murzuk saw people in city dress for the first time.

But the owner's word is law.

Murzuk jumped over the fence and disappeared into the forest.

Over tea, Andreich was the first to speak to the guest.

“Don’t be offended, Mister Mister, by the old man.” Judge for yourself: I am an old, sick man. Without Murzuk there is no way I can manage my household. I can't live without him now.

The old man was telling the truth: in recent years he had turned all gray and looked completely decrepit. Rheumatism tormented him.

But Jacobs had absolutely nothing to do with the owner; he needed a beast.

For an hour he convinced the old man to sell the lynx, begged, threatened and raised the price.

Nothing helped.

- So you resolutely refuse? – Jacobs finally asked, knitting his eyebrows.

- I can’t, at least kill me! – Andreich said firmly. “He is my friend, my dear son, and not a beast.”

Jacobs pushed back his chair with a bang and asked briefly:

-Where to sleep?

- Come here, please! – Andreich fussed, pointing to the bed. - This place is cleaner. I’ll put a sheepskin coat on you and find something for your head.

The old man was very unpleasant that he had to refuse the guest. He tried his best to please Jacobs in any way he could.

In a pile of old rags he came across the skin of a roe deer, killed by an old lynx - Murzuk's mother. The skin was soft and pleasant to the touch.

Andreich folded it in half, fur side up, and placed it at the guest’s head.

Chapter Five

JACOBS WINS THE BET

Jacobs suffered a major setback: he lost the bet. His pride was severely hurt, and he could not sleep.

Jacobs lived half his life in Russia. But deep down he remained a true American. He loved to exercise his will, making difficult bets, and won them, despite all the obstacles.

Jacobs served in a menagerie that had a pleasure garden. This institution was loudly called the Zoological Garden.

Two days ago, the owner of the menagerie told Jacobs rumors that had reached the city about the forest guard's tame lynx.

“It would be good for us,” added the owner, “to get this beast.” The lynx, they say, is unusually beautiful and large. It will attract the public to the garden. I wanted to send you for the trot, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to complete the assignment. The forester, they say, will never part with the animal.

“Let's go,” Jacobs said, puffing smoke from a short pipe.

- But you’ll go for nothing? – the owner said indifferently.

In his mind he was determined to get the trot. It was only necessary to provoke Jacobs well, and he would get the beast even from under seven locks.

- A bet? - suggested the American.

“It’s bitten!” - thought the owner. Out loud he said:

- There's no need to get excited, mister. The matter still won't work out.

“Bet,” Jacobs repeated insistently.

“It’s coming,” the owner agreed, shrugging his shoulders. The bet was immediately made, and the next day the American set off.

Jacobs shifted restlessly on the couch. He thought about what mocking smile the owner of the garden would greet him with tomorrow.

- Tu pigs dogs! – the American swore, quickly jumping to his feet. - To hell with dogs! It's impossible to sleep in such stuffiness! I'd better go and lie down in the air.

He grabbed the sheepskin coat, put the roe deer skin under his arm and went out onto the porch.

It was already dawn in the sky. “Take the animal away by force? – Jacobs thought sadly, spreading out his sheepskin coat. “You will take it with your bare hands!” – he mocked himself.

“I hit you with a healthy charge!” Jacobs thought.

He was a hunter himself and immediately became interested in a successful shot.

“Phew! - the American suddenly whistled: in the place of the skin where the goat should have horns, there were no holes for them. - Female! That's a pound! The old man is apparently beating queens!”

Jacobs turned the roe deer skin in his hands for another minute, intensely thinking about something to himself. Then he slapped himself on the forehead and said loudly:

- OK! The bet is won!

Jacobs then lay down and fell fast asleep.

In the morning, the American approached Andreich with a roe deer skin in his hands and said sternly:

- Listen, what is this called?

- What? – the old man did not understand.

- Skin of a female roe deer. You shot the uterus. Here are the traces of the fraction.

“There was no sadness!” – Andreich gasped to himself. Confused with excitement, he began to tell his guest how an old lynx jumped on the back of a roe deer in his presence and how he shot the predator on its prey.

- Interpret! – the American interrupted him. “You can’t fool me with fables.” I will present the skin to your superiors. You will pay a fine of 25 rubles and will be deprived of your place. I will take care of it.

The old man's legs gave way. He knew well how strictly the court punishes forest guards for violating hunting rules. How can he prove that the shot hit the animal after it was killed by the lynx?

The old forester would have taken Andreich's word for it: he had known his impeccable service for thirty years. But, as luck would have it, the former forester was recently replaced by a young one. This one hasn’t even laid eyes on Andreich yet.

- Ivan! Jacobs shouted. - Mortgage the horses! We are leaving.

Andreich sat down on the bench.

The American calmly lit a short pipe.

- That's what! – he suddenly turned to Andreich. - I give you two minutes to think: either you give me the lynx, - then I will return the roe deer skin to you, - or you will be kicked out of the service. Then you will still have to part with the beast, because they will not be allowed into any village with it. Choose.

The blow was perfectly timed. Thoughts raced through Andreich’s head like a whirlwind.

Give up Murzuk? Never! It's better to lose your place.

But if it comes to this, you will have to say goodbye to Murzuk. And the old man will go alone and wander around the world, without a corner, without shelter...

Andreich sensed: he didn’t have long to live. It was difficult for the old man to leave the hut, which he considered his own.

However, there was nothing to be done.

Andreich didn’t say a word to the American. He went to the hut to get a gun and fired into the air.

- Ready! – the driver announced, leading the horses to the porch.

“I don’t need your money,” the old man said gloomily.

At that moment, a flock of blackbirds rose from the edge of the forest with an alarming cry.

Almost immediately Murzuk jumped out of the bushes.

He was far in the forest when he heard Andreich’s shot, and quickly rushed to the owner’s call.

Running up to the old man, the beast jumped onto his chest.

The old man pressed the lynx's head to him and stroked it affectionately. Then he walked up to the cage and pointed it out to Murzuku.

- Come here, son! The lynx cheerfully jumped onto the cart and squeezed through the narrow door of the cage. Andreich slammed the door behind her and turned away.

“Take care of the beast,” he quietly asked the American.

- Oh, you can rest assured! Jacobs said decisively. - He will be our favorite. You can come and see for yourself.

And he told Andreich the address of the menagerie.

The old man escorted the cart through the gate, once again said goodbye to Murzuk and, ordering him to lie still, wandered into the hut.

At home, Andreich threw a roe deer skin into the fire, sat down in front of the stove and thought bitterly.

Chapter Six

IN PRISON

The only strange thing was that strangers were taking him somewhere. But this didn’t bother Murzuk either: couldn’t he have pushed the door with his paw at any moment, jumped off the cart and run into the forest?

We arrived at the station soon. Jacobs drove the horses mercilessly: he was afraid that the beast would cause him trouble on the road.

Murzuk discovered the first signs of concern when a train rolled up with a roar. The beast jumped to its feet and began to peer vigilantly into the crowd surrounding the cage. His eyes searched for his owner.

The owner was not there.

Jacobs managed to obtain permission to transport the animal in the baggage car and, with great precautions, transferred the cage onto the train.

The train started moving. Iron clanged under the floor and wheels rattled.

He hit the cage door with his paw.

The door didn't budge.

Murzuk began to rush madly from corner to corner, hitting with his paws right and left, gnawing the bars of the cage with his teeth.

All in vain. Iron was clinking rhythmically all around.

Suddenly Murzuk realized: he had fallen into a trap.

Only his eyes glowed in the darkness of the carriage.

Sixteen hours later the train arrived in the city. The noise, roar, and screams could not disturb the animal’s stupor.

The American hired a cart and safely delivered the lynx to the menagerie.

Murzuk was released into a new, more spacious cage. He immediately tried to see if he could escape from here.

The blind rage of despair increased his strength tenfold. But people calculated the strength of the structure well: the lynx could not escape from prison.

And while the maddened beast rushed around the cage, the owner of the menagerie admired it, admired its strength, extraordinary size and beauty.

Then they went with Jacobs. At the garden gate they both paused. They heard a long, terrible cry of a lynx. It began with a very high note, turned into a wild cry and roar, and ended with a low, dull groan.

- Mourns lost freedom! – the owner said smiling and took Jacobs by the arm.

Both calmly walked towards the exit. These people have long been accustomed to the endlessly sad cry of wild animals, doomed to a slow death in captivity.

All day Murzuk lay motionless on a thick branch driven into the wall of his cage at a height of two meters from the floor.

It was Monday and the garden was closed to the public.

Watchmen walked between the cages of the animals. They cleaned the garden after the big Sunday party, cleaned the cages, and fed the animals.

A piece of horse meat was pushed into Murzuk's cage on a long stick.

Murzuk did not move: melancholy killed his hunger.

Animals roared, fought and trampled around in cramped cages. Further on, in places fenced off with thick wire mesh, birds flapped their wings and screamed.

Chapter Seven

AT NIGHT

As darkness fell, the watchmen left. Little by little the animals and birds calmed down. When it became completely dark, Murzuk got up. Now human eyes did not follow him.

He knew this because he could see well in the dark, and also because his ears caught and understood every rustle.

The attack of dull despair passed: The desire to run awoke with renewed vigor. Hunger awoke with him.

The meat was still lying on the floor right next to the grate. Before starting to work on it, Murzuk looked around carefully.

In the next cell to the left there were wolves. Four of them were sleeping peacefully, curled up like dogs. The fifth sat with his front paws on the ground. With his eyes he stared indifferently straight ahead.

Murzuk saw that the wolves were not paying attention to him. This means you can grab the meat and jump onto the branch with it.

But there was a rustling sound to the right.

Murzuk saw a large spotted cat with a long fluffy tail in the next cage.

The cat was sneaking towards the grate, behind which lay the meat. She could reach it with her long paw.

Murzuk felt a sudden surge of rage.

A predator does not tolerate another predator of a similar breed close to itself. Between cats this kindred hatred is especially strong.

The spotted animal carefully put its paw between the bars. His gaze fixed on the motionless figure of the lynx.

Murzuk did not move.

The beast's eyes flickered from him to the meat. The paw stuck out further. The claws dug into the meat.

Murzuk jumped.

The movement was so fast that the spotted cat did not have time to withdraw her paws.

A loud howl deafened Murzuk. The thief recoiled.

Murzuk quickly grabbed the meat in his teeth and jumped onto the branch.

The wounded animal rushed against the bars with a furious howl, but fell, hitting the iron bars.

Murzuk felt that he was completely safe in the middle of his cage.

Paying no more attention to the raging enemy, he began to eat the meat.

Murzuk's instincts were not good. He didn’t immediately understand that the meat was bad.

Hunger tormented him terribly. He carefully examined the entire cage, but did not find anything else edible.

Then Murzuk let out a quiet, thin, sad meow.

As if in response to him, a terrible laughter and howl came from the darkness.

The fur stood on end all over Murzuk’s body. His back arched.

The disgusting cry of the hyena was like a signal for other animals.

Now, next to Murzuk, wolves rose and howled.

In another row of cells - opposite - the bears roared one after another; there were many of them in the menagerie.

From afar came the eerie hooting of an eagle owl. And in the intervals between the roars and screams, the heavy, measured tramp of the elephant’s monstrous legs was heard.

Suddenly all other sounds were drowned out by the booming roar of a lion.

Murzuk's whole body trembled. He didn't need to see the beast. He felt that this voice belonged to a huge cat, that it was much stronger and larger than himself.

The cry of the animals ended as suddenly as it began.

Murzuk’s excitement gradually subsided.

Hunger burned inside him.

A slight noise under the floor immediately attracted Murzuk's attention. He jumped out of the tree. His eyes stared at a small black hole in the floor.

A minute of tense anticipation passed.

The eyes of a small animal flashed in the dark hole. A minute later, a rat jumped out from under the floor and rushed towards the meat.

Murzuk quickly swatted it away with his paw.

Hunger did not force him to immediately tear his prey to pieces.

Murzuk became wary again and waited patiently.

Soon the rustling under the floor was heard again. The second rat poked its head out of the underground and was instantly picked up by a clawed paw.

The hunt continued for more than an hour. Eight dead rats already lay around Murzuk.

Nine noticed a predator from underground. She disappeared. Under the floor, the tramp of an entire army of rats was heard - and everything fell silent.

Murzuk realized that the rats had gone underground and began to eat lunch.

The first rays of dawn found Murzuk at work. He grabbed the bars of the bars with his teeth and shook them.

One of the rods shook slightly.

Murzuk began to shake him furiously. The rod gave way noticeably, swaying more and more.

Suddenly footsteps were heard along the sandy path between the cells.

Murzuk bounced off the bars and jumped onto a branch.

The watchman first approached the lynx's cage.

The animal lay calmly on a thick branch. He looked full and satisfied.

The watchman scratched his head.

“The meat hasn’t been touched, but the animal seems to be full... Others, when they get here, don’t find a place for themselves, but this one doesn’t give a damn.” He must be used to being locked up.

Chapter Eight

REVOLT

The public began to gather early in the garden.

As the first visitors entered the gate, Jacobs was finishing his morning tour of the menagerie. He stopped in front of the lynx's cage and called the guard.

– The lynx didn’t eat yesterday’s meat. Leave it in the cage. Do not give anything new until it is eaten.

“The meat is still that...” the watchman timidly objected, “it’s smelly.” The animal must have gotten used to fresh things.

– Do what you are told! – the American flared up. “If you feed the animals fresh, the garden will go down the drain in a month.”

The watchman was silent. He did not dare disobey Jacobs: the American was the owner’s assistant.

At this time, a group of schoolchildren approached Murzuk’s cage.

The plump teacher, wearing pince-nez and holding a straw hat, politely addressed Jacobs:

- Please tell me, this beast was just caught, right?

- Yes. It was just delivered yesterday.

– It’s immediately obvious! Look, children, how evil and wild he looks. He's ready to eat us with his eyes.

In the last two days there has been a big change in him. While Murzuk lived with Andreich, he did not feel hostility towards people. Now in the cage of the menagerie sat a predatory beast, one of those that always hides in the dark depths of the forest.

“This is a lynx,” the teacher continued, “the panther of our northern forests.” Found in European Russia and the Siberian taiga. In the cultivated countries of Western Europe, these dangerous predators have long been exterminated. In Germany, for example, the last lynx was killed in the middle of the last century.

– Are they killed because they attack people? – asked the little girl.

- Well, only a wounded lynx will attack a person.

- And who is this? – asked one of the boys, pointing to a large spotted cat in the next cage.

“This is a panther or a leopard,” said the teacher. – Found in Africa and South Asia.

– Who is stronger – a lynx or a leopard? – asked another boy.

The teacher did not have time to answer.

“Look,” the girl shouted, pointing at the leopard, “his paw is bleeding!”

Jacobs quickly approached the cage.

– You are not paying attention to the animals! – he said sternly to the watchman. – We need to go around the cages more often at night. There is no doubt that it was a lynx that fought with a leopard at night. Give her less meat until she goes crazy.

New visitors came up, looked at the lynx, and tried to get her out of patience. The boys threw sand at her.

Murzuk sat on pins and needles all day.

And at night he again began to loosen the iron rod.

The days dragged on. The iron rod was still held at its lower end in the stone floor of the cage.

Murzuk suffered severely.

The cautious rats never appeared from underground again. A long famine forced Murzuk to eat rotten horse meat. But this food was not enough either. The ribs clearly stood out under the lynx's thick fur.

During the day, Murzuk seemed indifferent to everything. No amount of public pestering could piss him off. No matter what people did, he lay motionless on his tree.

Only at night did he perk up.

He quickly ate the meat and immediately went to jail. For hours the same wobbly rod was rocking.

The watchmen did not notice his work: the loose rod was in a dark corner of the cage.

And so, two months after he got into the cage, Murzuk felt that he would soon break free.

The rod completely swung. A few more strong blows and he will jump out of his nest in the floor.

Murzuk learned patience long ago. He climbed onto his branch again.

On this day there were especially many people in the garden.

For a long time now, the owner has been publishing advertisements in newspapers that any day now an ape is expected to arrive from Africa. Finally they brought her.

In her native forest she had a cub, which she fed with her milk.

She was kept tied up the whole way. Now we were released into a spacious cage and the bonds were undone.

Seeing that it was impossible to escape from the cage, the monkey flew into a rage. She furiously threw herself at the walls, bit and pulled at the bars, howled and beat her chest with her fists.

When this did not help, the monkey fell into terrible despair. She sat down on the ground, grabbed her hair with her hands and began to swing. The hoarse howl turned into helpless crying.

People turned away from the cage.

And the animals began to scream.

The jackals began to cry, sobbing like children. The hyena howled and laughed. Bears and wolves rushed about in their cages.

The lion's booming roar was drowned in the general cry of the animals.

The audience rushed to the exit in fear.

Jacobs, sensing something was wrong, sent one of the guards to get a rifle, and ordered the other to call the fire brigade. The animals had never gotten so excited before.

Birds screamed shrilly.

With its trunk raised high, the elephant trumpeted furiously.

The always calm lynx threw itself at the bars of its cage.

Jacobs noticed that one of the bars shook and swayed with each blow.

A breathless guard ran up and handed the American a rifle.

Jacobs hurriedly walked towards Murzuk. Bloodshot eyes sparkled from the cages on all sides.

At that moment, a frightened cry from the guard was heard from behind.

The American quickly turned around. He saw the polar bear open the broken door of his cage with a crash.

The huge body of the beast tumbled out heavily.

But a moment later the bear jumped up on its hind legs with a roar and stepped towards the American.

The American realized that now the enraged monster would crush him under him.

He raised his rifle.

The front sight danced before his eyes, not falling into the sight's cut.

Jacobs fired all five bullets from his rifle at random. The beast suddenly stopped roaring, swayed and collapsed to the ground. One of the bullets hit him in the eye, the other in the ear.

Jacobs, without looking, inserted a new clip into the gun.

- Lynx! - he shouted to the watchman. - The rod is swinging.

The watchman ran up to Murzuk's cage.

Murzuk threw himself at the bars with all his might.

The rod bent and jumped out of its socket in the floor.

The watchman screamed in fear.

The head of the beast poked out.

- Shoot! – the watchman shouted and ran back.

At that moment, a strong stream of water hit Murzuk’s eyes. Blinded and frightened, the beast jumped away from the bars.

The water from the fire hose knocked him down.

Firefighters quickly placed a portable cage next to the broken grate. The exit was closed.

The jet of the fire cannon was directed at other animals. All cells were filled with water.

The frightened animals hid in the corners.

Chapter Nine

DATE

Life was hard for Andreich without a faithful friend. My health became very bad. The old man could hardly move his legs.

Three months have passed since the American took Murzuk away. A harsh northern winter was approaching.

“It’s apparently time for me to die,” Andreich thought. “Before the end, at least I’ll see my friend for the last time.” And there you can rest.”

The old man applied for leave and set off on his journey.

Over the thirty years of living in the lodge, Andreich became firmly accustomed to the forest. He had a hard time in the city. The menagerie found it with great effort.

The old man bought a ticket at the entrance and went to look for Murzuk.

The cages with birds came first.

In a corner fenced off with a high wire mesh, Andreich saw a large bird unfamiliar to him.

She was sitting on a dry tree, hunched over and with her hook-nosed head on her long bare neck hunched over her shoulders. The bird raised both huge dark wings above its head, as if it wanted to use them to shield itself from everything it saw around.

Andreich immediately noticed that above the pool but there was no net.

“They must be tame,” he thought. “But why are they so sad?”

One of the seagulls rose from the water and waved its stubs of wings in the air.

The old man hastily turned away. He began to look at the spacious cage with a whole flock of siskins, bullfinches, goldfinches and other songbirds.

They hummed and chirped, restlessly flitting from branch to branch.

Only one red-breasted bullfinch sat ruffled below, on a feeder with hemp seeds.

Andreich looked at him carefully and shook his head.

“Listen, son,” he turned to the watchman standing next to the cage, “this bird that is sitting on the feeding trough, tufting, needs to be put away.” Sick. Look, she closed her eyes. It will disappear by morning.

- We know it ourselves! - the watchman said rudely. “It’s not our sadness to pick up the sick.” “They have orderlies there,” the watchman nodded at the cage. They'll probably pick you up.

Andreich looked at the cage in bewilderment. Which orderlies did the watchman tell him about?

Suddenly a rat jumped out of a hole in the far corner, rushed headlong across the cage and disappeared into another hole. Now the second one stuck out behind her, sniffed the air and darted back, flashing a long bare tail.

In front of him stretched a long row of cages with squirrels, hares, and foxes.

The old man did not recognize the familiar animals. He was used to seeing them alive, fast, flashing in the grass and branches. And here, in the cages, they sat like stuffed animals, with dull, dead eyes and sluggish movements, indifferent to everything.

A crowd of people stood near cages with brown bears.

One of the animals was sitting on the edge of his cage. He dangled his legs down and held on to the bars of the fence with his front paws.

Andreich felt such melancholy in the bear’s eyes that he quickly looked away from them.

He anxiously looked for Murzuk.

He heard the words of a woman pointing out to the children a fat-headed bull with shabby hair on loose, wrinkled skin.

“This bison is so old,” said the woman, “that he never lies down.” He's afraid he won't get up again. And he sleeps, leaning his side against the wall. One side gets tired, it rests against the other - and dozes off.

Pity and anxiety grew in Andreich’s chest. In all his thirty years of living in the forest, he had never seen a decrepit animal. There, among animals, there was a law of death on the move. Animals and birds did not live here - they vegetated indoors when they were full of strength and health - and suffered for a long time, becoming decrepit, waiting for their belated death. The old man thought with fear about Murzuk. Does he recognize his owner? Now all people must seem like enemies to him.

The public blocked the passage near the leopard's cage.

Above the hats Andreich saw the familiar head of an animal with sideburns and black tassels on the ears.

The old man became worried. He tried to walk through the crowd, but was pushed back.

Then, not realizing what he was doing, he climbed through the low wooden fence that separated the cages from the public. Someone shouted to him in fear:

- Grandfather, be careful!

But it was too late: the old man pressed his face to the bars.

The audience gasped: the lynx rushed at the old man with a wide leap.

“I found out, son,” muttered Andreich, forgetting about everything around him, “I found out, dear!”

He stuck his hands behind the fence and stroked the bony back of the beast.

The audience was wildly delighted.

- Hey, grandpa! Well done! Apparently, before him there was a beast. The beast is as smart as a dog! Recognized the owner!

- Please leave! – suddenly a sharp voice rang out from behind the spectators. - Citizen, take the trouble to go beyond the barrier now.

Murzuk growled menacingly. Andreich turned around. Jacobs stood in front of him, his brow furrowed angrily.

- May I say goodbye to my son, mister? – the old man timidly asked.

- Come out, I tell you! - the American shouted. – Walking beyond the barrier is strictly prohibited.

“The beast won’t touch him,” someone from the audience interceded.

- Watchman! Jacobs called. – How dare you allow such outrage! Take the old man out now.

- I'll leave, I'll leave! - Andreich hurried, stroked Murzuk’s skinny sides again and, groaning, climbed through the fence.

The public rushed to help him. Curses rained down on Jacobs.

Andreich was afraid of the scandal. He tried to quickly move further away from the cage.

Murzuk growled and rushed after him.

It was not so easy for Andreich to avoid public questioning. They surrounded him and asked him to tell him where he caught the lynx, how long he held it, why the animal loved him so much.

Only half an hour later Andreich managed to hide from the curious into some narrow, smelly passage between the backs of the cells.

Andreich tiredly leaned against the wall. There was a noise in his head.

The old man remembered everything he saw in the menagerie. He would give a lot to buy his beloved animal back from here. But Andreich understood perfectly well that the new owners would never release their victim.

The old man was overcome by despair: to leave Murzuk to such torment!

The passage was dark and quiet. Andreich involuntarily listened - would he hear Murzuk’s voice again?

Little by little he began to distinguish the thin, plaintive meow of a lynx. It was heard somewhere very close, as if Murzuk was nearby.

Andreich looked at the wall. His eyes made out an iron door and an iron bolt on it.

An unexpected guess flashed through his head; pull out this bolt and Murzuk will be released!

Now my chest was filled with fear.

“How will they catch you? Then they both disappeared!”

Again, a sad meow was heard behind the wall.

“Whatever happens! - Andreich decided. “He is not a man who does not sympathize with the beast and is a coward for himself.”

The old man pulled the bolt. The iron clanked loudly and a heavy bolt fell to the ground.

Andreich looked around in fear.

Jacobs walked quickly down the aisle.

Andreich quickly got out through the other end of the passage.

It was light in the garden. The brass band played loudly and the audience on the American Mountains screamed.

Andreich hurriedly walked towards the exit. It seemed to him that Jacobs was catching up with him from behind, and he did not dare look back.

My thoughts were confused.

This last thought frightened the old man the most: what if Murzuk’s escape failed? And again Andreich remembered the protruding ribs of the lynx, the melancholy eyes of the bear, birds with clipped wings, and the sick bullfinch.

Pity gripped the old man with renewed vigor.

“Whatever happens there, as long as Murzuk breaks out!”

And for a long time, already approaching the station, the old man stubbornly repeated:

- He is not a man who does not sympathize with the beast!

Chapter Ten

Mister JACOBS IS TRAINING

The morning after Andreich's appearance, Mr. Jacobs got up very early.

He had a habit of practicing small-caliber shooting before leaving for service.

He lived next to the menagerie. The back wall of his house overlooked a vacant lot.

In the vacant lot there was a large puddle and a dump of various garbage and garbage. Pigeons, jackdaws, and crows gathered here; Jacobs shot them from the attic.

“Accurate shooting with a bullet,” he said, “requires daily training.” And certainly against a living target.

After the incident at the menagerie, Jacobs wanted to be sure of his shot. He knew well that only a happy accident helped him to knock down a bear that had escaped from its cage with two bullets.

And that morning, quickly dressing, Jacobs grabbed his rifle and went up to the attic. It was dark in the attic. Only through the holes in the roof did narrow strips of muddy light fall.

Mr. Jacobs walked to one of these holes and looked out.

Below on a pile of garbage, near a puddle, sat a flock of pigeons. The birds did not notice the shooter.

Jacobs carefully aimed one of them from point-blank range and fired.

The dove, wounded in the wing, thrashed convulsively and rolled down a steep heap. The flock took off, but sank to the ground again: no one was visible around.

Jacobs took aim at another pigeon.

At this time, something rustled behind him. He turned around.

It seemed to him as if two shining eyes were looking at his back and instantly went out as soon as he turned to face them.

"Cat!" Jacobs thought. He began to take aim at the dove again. But the unpleasant feeling of eyes fixed on his back did not leave him. He couldn't seem to focus on his goal.

- Shoot! – he shouted loudly into the darkness. A slight rustling sound was heard again in the corner.

For an instant, Jacobs saw two burning eyes under the black arch of the roof. And again nothing happened.

- What the hell! – the American swore. “Wait, I’ll get you out of there quickly!”

He was nervous and angry with himself for this.

By now he had managed to get a little used to the darkness. In the place where the mysterious eyes had lit up a minute ago, he made out empty boxes piled on top of each other.

Jacobs raised his rifle and fired at one of them at random.

The empty box fell to the floor with a crash.

The head and white chest of a lynx flashed in the streak of light.

Jacobs managed to fire two more charges.

One of the bullets cut off the end of the beast’s short tail like a knife.

Then the heavy body of the lynx hit the shooter in the chest with all its might. He fell.

The rifle hit the floor with a crash and everything went silent.

And half a minute later, a large lynx jumped out through a narrow opening and disappeared around the bend of the roof.

Murzuk looked around.

There was a large vacant lot behind. On the other three sides there were endless roofs and deep holes in the streets between them.

There was no choice: he had to avoid open places.

Murzuk ran to the end of the roof, got down to the ground, jumped to another house, then to a third - and so headed towards the city center.

Passers-by had already appeared on the streets.

Workers were walking to the factory. One of them accidentally raised his head up and shouted in surprise:

- Look, what a huge cat!

But Murzuk had already disappeared behind the pipe.

And at the menagerie at this time the watchman noticed the disappearance of the lynx and raised the alarm. He swore that he walked around the cages twice at night and all the animals were in place.

He could not know that already in the morning Murzuk accidentally leaned against the back door and unexpectedly found himself in a narrow passage between the cells.

And no one saw how the beast carefully crept through the entire garden, climbed over the high fence and climbed onto the first house it came across; how he hid in empty boxes in the attic and met his enemy there.

Chapter Eleven

FEAR

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the plump teacher left the school and boarded the tram.

He had just told the children about wild, bloodthirsty animals that prowl in the dense forests. He described the hunt for them so fascinatingly that several boys decided to run away to the taiga when they finished school.

Now the teacher was driving home and thought that he himself would not mind hunting a bear or a tiger.

At the first stop, a small newspaperman burst into the carriage. He waved a folded piece of paper and shouted:

- Evening edition! The terrible murder of a man by a beast! The beast is wandering around the city. Beware of going into the attic!

- Master! – he suddenly turned to the teacher. Buy a newspaper: your life is in danger!

- What's happened? What are you making up? – the plump teacher jumped up. - Give me the newspaper here!

On the first page was printed in large letters:

“Tonight a lynx escaped from the cage of the zoological garden. In the attic of the house next to the garden, the corpse of a servant from the menagerie was discovered in a pool of blood. The killer beast is still at large.”

Further, in a large, hastily composed note, it was reported that early in the morning a lynx was spotted by passers-by on the roof of one of the houses three blocks from the menagerie. During the day in the city center, a chimney sweep was almost thrown from the roof of a five-story building.

Judging by this article, it turned out that the lynx is much more dangerous than the tiger, lion and, in general, all predatory animals.

The article ended with the words:

“Every predatory animal that has tasted human blood at least once loses fear of people and becomes a cannibal.

Without wanting to contribute to panic in the city, we still cannot help but advise all residents of our city to carefully avoid encounters with a lynx, especially to avoid dark attics.

All measures have been taken, and we have no doubt that the animal will be caught or shot in the coming hours, despite its remarkable ability to hide and elude unharmed even from experienced hunters.”

The plump teacher lowered the newspaper, took off his pince-nez and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He no longer wanted to hunt wild animals.

He remembered how a month ago he looked at the lynx in the menagerie. Even in the cage she made such a creepy impression! What if he had to meet her on the street now?

Goosebumps ran down the teacher's spine.

He had already decided not to leave the house until he knew that the beast had been caught. He had a hunting rifle hanging at home, from which he shot hazel grouse and quail in the summer. He can load it with a bullet and defend himself if the lynx decides to get into his apartment.

Ten minutes later the carriage came to a stop where the teacher had to get off.

All the way home the teacher looked up at the roofs.

On the corner of the city square opposite its windows stood a group of people. Some ragamuffin, short and fat, boastfully assured that the lynx would not touch him, because wild animals rush only at long and skinny ones.

The plump teacher felt a little lighter in his heart.

Entering his house, the teacher examined the stairs from below for a long time before climbing them. His apartment was on the third floor, right under the roof.

Never before had he unlocked a door with a key as quickly as this time.

Finally he was home! He sat down to dinner only after he had carefully examined all the latches on the windows.

After lunch, the teacher wiped his pince-nez and sat down in a chair opposite the window. A shotgun loaded with a bullet stood next to him.

Now the plump man felt brave. He opened the window and began to listen to the voices coming from the street.

- Extra special! – the newspaperman shouted loudly, turning around the corner. – The beast is still on the loose!

There were few people on the street.

A cab driver hurried past, chasing a thin nag. The rider looked up restlessly.

For a minute the street was completely empty.

Suddenly a white cat galloped across the street into the park. A large gray beast rushed behind her in wide leaps.

Both disappeared from sight before the teacher came to his senses.

He jumped out of his chair, rushed to the phone and frantically drummed his fingers on the buttons.

- Hello! Duty? Quarterly? Hello Hello! Duty? Lynx! In the park! For the cat! Now! Stop, stop! Write it down: teacher Trusikov said.

- Yes, yes, we're done!

The teacher hung up and rushed to the window again.

Five minutes later a detachment of armed men rushed in. They surrounded the garden with a chain.

The teacher saw how the chain, at a signal, slowly moved between the trees. People held their guns at the ready.

Trusikov was pleased: the lynx was surrounded.

She will be killed, and everyone will learn from the newspapers that it was he, the teacher of Panties, who freed the city from the terrible cannibal.

Chapter Twelve

ON THE RIVER

On the night of this late autumn day, two tramps sat on the stone embankment of a wide river...

The bright moon illuminated their torn dresses and cast a thick shadow on their faces, hidden by the round visors of their caps.

They whiled away the long night, occasionally exchanging phrases.

- Why are you laughing? - asked one, tucking his long, stick-thin legs under himself.

“I remembered how yesterday they poisoned the animal, and I was scared,” answered another, short and fat.

And, without waiting for an invitation, he began to tell.

“I go into the city park during the day to see the audience.” He climbed into a dark place, sat down on a bench, and took a little nap.

I wake up - what is happening! I look: chain; everyone with rifles at the ready, walking leg by leg, and they themselves are still looking up at the trees.

I looked up - insult you! – a huge gray beast is sitting on a branch right above me. Then I immediately realized: it was a lynx that had escaped from its cage. I had only seen her portrait in a newspaper before.

“Hey,” I think, “they want to cover you, my friend!”

I say: “No way,” I say, “I didn’t happen to see it.”

So he went. I didn’t even look at the tree I was sitting under. I raised my head: the beast was sitting on a branch, not moving, and his eyes were turned out.

I winked at him: well, I say, dear comrade, you and I managed them cleverly! Happy to stay, I say! And let's get out of the garden.

Now they are writing and investigating who let him out of the cage. They found out that on the third day an old man from the village came to see him. They are looking for his address.

The tramps fell silent.

Somewhere in an empty street a dog began to bark and burst into tears.

- Look, he’s annoying! - said the long-legged one. - It’s like he’s chasing a fox.

The barking continued.

Now the tramps could clearly hear the iridescent, squealing voice of a hound running along a fresh trail.

- But really - he’s driving! – the short one said in amazement.

He turned around, looked down the street and suddenly grabbed his comrade’s hand.

- It's flying - you can't catch it! No lynx!

Both saw a beast silently galloping along the dark side of the street. Much further, at the end of a long street, a dog suddenly jumped around the corner.

The tramps did not have time to figure out what to do.

The lynx rushed a hundred paces away from them and noisily rushed into the water.

- A boat! – the long-legged one caught himself. - Over there by the barge. If we catch you, they will give you a reward.

Both rushed to the barge at once.

The dog ran up to the river and darted along the bank.

A minute later the tramps were in the boat.

- Cut the end! – the long-legged one commanded, pulling out an oar from under the can.

The short-legged man slashed the rope with his knife, the boat broke away and floated downstream.

- How to row? – the short-legged one asked confused. Instead of a second oar, there was a hook in the boat.

- Fry with a hook! Let's catch up!

On the shore, having lost the trail, a dog howled in annoyance, rushing along the embankment.

Ahead, the head of a lynx flashed faintly in the moonlit waves.

The tramps rowed with all their might.

After about five minutes, the short-legged man turned to his friend.

- Close! – for some reason he said in a whisper.

The lynx snorted loudly in front of the very bow of the boat.

- Turn up your nose! – the long-legged one commanded. - I paddled her along the canopy.

Short-legged did not listen: he himself wanted to kill the beast. He hit the diving head with the hook, but missed.

The long-legged one jumped from the stern to the bow, pushed his comrade and swung his oar.

The animal swam right next to the boat.

The long-legged man brought the oar down on his head with all his might.

The beast dodged.

The oar splashed through the water and slipped out of the tramp's hands.

- Hook! - the long-legged one yelled. The short-legged one aimed at the animal’s neck and threw the hook like a spear.

At the same instant, the lynx jumped out of the water with the entire front part of its body.

The hook flew past. The animal's front paws touched the side.

A jump - and Murzuk found himself in the boat, ready for a new jump.

- Jump! – the long-legged one desperately shouted and waved overboard. But the short-legged one was already in the water.

The water was terribly cold. Still, the tramps felt better in it than in a boat, face to face with an angry beast.

Fortunately, it was not far from the shore.

A few minutes later, the tramps, desperately swearing and spitting, crawled out onto the embankment. Water flowed from them in streams.

The boat with Murzuk floated far downstream.

Chapter Thirteen

COMPASS AND TELEGRAPH

The boat quickly carried Murzuk beyond the city limits. The animal did not want to go into cold water again. He hated water, like all cats, and ended up in the river against his own will.

Villages, groves, and fields floated before Murzuk’s eyes.

The boat rushed close to the shore.

Murzuk jumped into the water and a minute later climbed the steep slope.

The forest was sparse and without undergrowth. It was difficult to hide in it.

Still, this was a real forest, and Murzuk felt good for the first time since he left Andreich’s guardhouse. His eyes sparkled.

Murzuk ran forward at a fast cat's trot. He was hungry and very tired, but there was no time for rest now. He paid no attention to the small birds that rose from the ground as he approached. Hunting for them required delay, and he was in a hurry to get to the dense forest.

Only when a mouse crossed his path did Murzuk quickly grab it and eat it as he went.

The forest went downhill. Spruce and birch trees began to appear. The trees grew more often. There was soft damp moss underfoot.

Murzuk ran forward, all in the same direction.

The beast itself was not aware of where it was running. But in his chest there was like a compass that guided his run.

The invisible needle of this non-existent compass pointed to the northeast. There, a hundred kilometers from the place where the beast was, stood the hut of old man Andreich and Murzuk’s native forest was dark. Forests and rivers, fields and villages lie between the beast and the distant goal of his journey.

The sun was already high above the trees. Murzuk was now making his way through the dense thicket.

Finally, he chose a dry place under the branches of a large spruce, crushed moss and fallen pine needles with his belly, and lay down, curled up in a ball. A minute later he was fast asleep.

Two hours passed. Snowflakes swirled in the air.

It was quiet in the forest. Only on the top of the big spruce were tiny kinglets squeaking and tits twittering in the branches.

The beast was still sleeping.

Two hunters carefully made their way through the forest. There was no dog with them to warn them of the proximity of game. They quietly parted the branches in front of them, expecting every minute that a hare would suddenly jump out of the thicket or a wood grouse would rise up noisily.

Deep sleep did not prevent Murzuk from hearing people approaching from afar. His ears, even during sleep, were sensitive to the slightest sound, just as a radio antenna catches the slightest vibrations of electrical waves.

Murzuk's ears turned in the direction where the hunters were coming from. The eyes opened.

Murzuk knew that two people were walking, one to his right, the other to his left. You had to either run straight forward or hide in place.

If you run, people might notice.

Murzuk pressed his whole body into the moss.

The hunters caught up with him. They walked at a distance of thirty steps from each other, not suspecting that there was a beast between them.

One of the hunters stopped.

“Come here,” he quietly shouted to the other, “and let’s have a smoke.” There’s still not a damn thing about this one anyway.

Murzuk stood up.

Muscles bulged under his skin in lumps: he heard the hunters stop and expected them to head in his direction.

- Wait a minute! - answered the other hunter. “We’ll get to the edge of the forest and have a smoke there.” In such a thicket, you never know what awaits you next step.

- OK.

And both went forward.

The lumps under Murzuk’s skin smoothed out. He listened until the hunters' footsteps died away. Then he sank to the ground and fell asleep again.

A squirrel jumped from the top of a nearby tree onto the tree. From branch to branch she sank lower and lower to the ground, until suddenly she noticed a lynx right under the trunk.

The animal froze in place, afraid to give itself away to the predator with a careless movement. The fluffy, red tail completely covered his back, and his eyes glared at the terrible beast.

But the beast did not move.

A minute passed, then two, then three.

The squirrel is tired of sitting in the same position. Her fear passed.

She jumped and quickly ran up the trunk. At a high altitude, she felt completely safe and began to look at the unprecedented beast with curiosity.