Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchon purpose for man’s undoing, and I feel sorry as I look at the fatlittle captain …. Something whispers to me that this poor man,too, will sooner or later sink to the bottom and be choked with saltwater.*I go back to my cabin …. It is stuffy, and there is a smell of cooking.My travelling companion, Suvorin-fils, is asleep already …. Itake off all my clothes and go to bed …. The darkness sways to andfro, the bed seems to breathe …. Boom-boom-boom! Bathed inperspiration, breathless, and feeling an oppression all over with therocking, I ask myself, “What am I here for?”I wake up. It is no longer dark. Wet all over, with a nasty taste inmy mouth, I dress and go out. Everything is covered with dew ….The wild goats look with human eyes through the grating of theircage and seem to be asking “Why are we here?” The captain standsstill as before and looks intently into the distance ….A mountainous shore stretches on the left …. Elborus is seen frombehind the mountains.A blurred sun rises in the sky …. One can see the green valley ofRion and the Bay of Poti by the side of it.*Chekhov’s presentiment about the captain was partly fulfilled: thatvery autumn the Dir was wrecked on the shores of Alupka.88