The Captain's Daughter 
Alexander Pushkin 

Although Peter Andreitch Grineff was registered as a sergeant in the Semenovsky regiment when he was very young, he was given leave to stay at home until he had completed his studies. When he was nearly seventeen, his father decided that the time had arrived to begin his military career. With his parents' blessing, Peter set out for distant Orenburg, in the company of his faithful servant, Savelitch. 

The trip was not without incident. One night the travelers put up at Simbirsk. There, while his man went to see about some purchases, Peter was lured into playing billiards with a fellow soldier, Zourin, and quickly lost one hundred roubles. Toward eveing of the following day the young man and Savelitch found themselves on the snowy plain with a storm coming up. As darkness fell the snow grew thicker, until finally the horses could not find their way and the driver confessed that he was lost. They were rescued by another traveler, a man with such sensitive nostrils that he was able to scent smoke from a village some distance away and to lead them to it. The three men and their guide spent the night in the village. The next morning Peter presented his hareskin jacket to his poorly-dressed rescuer. Savelitch warned Peter that the coat would probably be pawned for drink. 

Late that day the young man reached Orenburg and presented himself to the general in command. It was decided that he should join the Bailogorsk fortress garrison under Captain Mironoff. For his superior felt that the dull life at Orenburg might lead the young man into a career of dissipation. 

The Bailogorsk fortress, on the edge of the Kirghis steppes, was nothing more than a village surrounded by a log fence. Its real commandant was not Captain Mironoff but his lady, Vassilissa Egorovna, a lively, firm woman who saw to the discipline of her husband's underlings as well as the running of her own household. 

Peter quickly made friends with a fellow officer, Shvabrin, who had been exiled to the steppes for fighting a duel. He spent much time with his captain's family and grew deeply attached to the couple and to their daughter, Maria Ivanovna. After he had received his commission, he found military discipline so relaxed that he was able to indulge his literary tastes. 

The quiet routine of Peter's life was interrupted by an unexpected quarrel with Shvabrin. One day he showed his friend a love poem he had written to Maria. Shvabrin criticized the work severely and went on to make derogatory remarks about Maria until they quarreled and Peter found himself challenged to a duel for having called the man a liar. 

The next morning the two soldiers met in a field to fight but they were stopped by some of the garrison, for Vassilissa Egorovna had learned of the duel. Peter and his enemy, although apparently reconciled, intended to carry out their plan at the earliest opportunity. Discussing the quarrel with Maria, Peter leaned that Shvabrin's actions could be explained by the fact that he was her rejected suitor. 

Assuring themselves that they were not watched, Shvabrin and Peter fought their duel the following day. Peter, wounded in the breast, lay unconsicous for five days after the fight. When he began to recover, he asked Maria to marry him. Shvabrin had been jailed. Then Peter's father wrote that he disapproved of a match with Captain Mironoff's daughter, and that he intended to have his son transferred from the fortress so that he might forget his foolish ideas. As Savelitch denied having written a letter home,Peter could only conclude that Shvabrin had been the informer. 

Life would have become unbearable for the young man after his father's letter arrived if the unexpected had not happened. One evening Captain Mironoff informed his officers that the Yaikian Cossacks, led by Emelyan Pougatcheff, who claimed to be the dead Emperor Peter III, had risen and were sacking fortresses and committing outrages everywhere. The captain ordered his men to keep on the alert and to ready the cannon. 

The news of Pougatcheff's uprising quickly spread through the garrison. Many of the Cossacks of the town sided with the rebel, so that Captain Mironoff did not know whom he could trust or who might betray him. It was not long before the captain received from the Cossack leader a manifesto ordering him to surender. 

It was decided that Maria should be sent back to Orenburg, but the attack came early the next morning before she could leave. Captain Mironoff and his officers made a valiant effort to defend the town, but with the aid of Cossack traitors inside the walls Pougatcheff was soon master of the fortress. 

Captain Mironoff and his aides were hanged. Shvabrin deserted to the rebels. Peter, at the intercession of old Savelitch, was spared by Pougatcheff. The townspeople and the garrison soldiers had no scruples about pledging allegiance to the rebel leader. Vassilissa Egorovna was slain when she cried out against her husband's murderer. 

When Pougatcheff and his followers rode off to inspect the fortress, Peter began his search for Maria. To his great relief, he found that she had been hidden by the wife of the village priest, and that Shvabrin, who knew her whereabouts, had not revealed her identity. From Savelitch he learned that the servant had recognized Pougatcheff as the man to whom he had given his hareskin coat months before. Later the rebel leader sent for Peter and acknowleged his identity. 

The rebel tried to persuade Peter to join the Cossacks, but respected his wish to rejoin his own forces at Orenburg. The next day Peter and his servant were given safe conduct, and Pougatcheff gave Peter a horse and a sheepskin coat for the journey. 

Several days later the Cossacks attacked Orenburg. During a sally against them Peter received a disturbing message from one of the Bailogorsk Cossacks Shvabrin was forcing Maria to marry him. Peter wennt at once to the general and tried to persuade him to raise the siege and go to the rescue of the village. When the general refused, Peter and Savelitch started out once more for the Bailogorsk fortress. Intercepted and taken before Pougatcheff, Peter persuaded the rebel to give Maria safe conduct to Orenburg. 

On the way they met a detachment of soldiers led by Captain Zourin, who persuaded Peter to send Maria, under Savelitch's protection to his family, while he himself remained with the troops in Orenburg. 

The siege of Orenburg was finally lifted, and the army began its task of tracking down rebel units. Some months later Peter found himself near his own village and set off alone to visit his parents's estate. Reaching his home, he found the serfs in rebellion and his family and Maria captives. That day Shvabrin swooped down upon them with his troops. He was about to have them all hanged, except Maria, when they were rescued by Zourin's men. The renegade was shot during the encounter and taken prisoner. 

Peter's parents had changed their attitude toward the captain's daughter, and Peter was able to rejoin Captain Zourin with the expectation that he and Maria would be wed in a month. Then an order came for his arrest. He was accused of having been in the pay of Pougatcheff, of spying for the rebel, and of having taken presents from him. The author of the accusations was the captive, Shvabrin. though Peter could easily have cleared himself by summoning Maria as a witness, he decided not to drag her into the matter. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in exile in Siberia. 

Maria, however, was not one to let matters stand at that. Leaving Peter's parents, she traveled to St. Petersburg and went to Tsarskoe Selo, where the court was. Walking in the garden there one day, she met a woman who declared that she went to court on occasion and would be pleased to present her petition to the empress. Maria was summoned to the royal presence the same day and discovered that it was the empress herself to whom she had spoken. Peter received his pardon and soon afterward married the captain's daughter. 