To bring Lepage's deadly pieces;*
Then has the horses, on command,
Removed to where two oaklings stand.
26
Impatient, but in no great panic,
Vladimir waited near the dam;
Meanwhile Zaretsky, born mechanic,
Was carping at the millstone's cam.
Onegin, late, made explanation.
Zaretsky frowned in consternation:
'Good God, man, where's your second? Where?'
In duels a purist doctrinaire,
Zaretsky favoured stout reliance
On proper form; he'd not allow
Dispatching chaps just anyhow,
But called for strict and full compliance
With rules, traditions, ancient ways
(Which we, of course, in him should praise).
27
'My second?' said Eugene directly.
'Why here he is: Monsieur Guillot,
A friend of mine, whom you. . .
Will be quite pleased to greet, I know;
Though he's unknown and lives obscurely,
He's still an honest chap, most surely.
' Zaretsky bit his lip, well vexed.
Onegin turned to Lensky next: 'Shall we begin?'
'At my insistence.' Behind the mill, without a word.
And while the 'honest chap' conferred
With our Zaretsky at a distance
And sealed the solemn compact fast,
The foes stood by with eyes downcast.
28
The foes! How long has bloodlust parted
And so estranged these former friends?
How long ago did they, warmhearted,
Share meals and pastimes, thoughts and ends?
And now, malignant in intention,
Like ancient foes in mad dissension,
As in a dreadful senseless dream,
They glower coldly as they scheme
In silence to destroy each other. . . .
Should they not laugh while yet there's time,
Before their hands are stained with crime?
Should each not part once more as brother? . . .
But enmity among their class
Holds shame in savage dread, alas.
29
The gleaming pistols wake from drowsing.
Against the ramrods mallets pound.
