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| "Good day, 7th Company," was his greeting in a careless, indistinct voice. | - Здорово, шестая! - послышался густой, спокойный голос полковника. |
| An ear-splitting chorus of soldiers, dispersed over the whole extent of the ground, replied instantly: | Солдаты громко и нестройно закричали с разных углов плаца: |
| "God preserve your Excellency!" | - Здравия желаем, ваш-о-о-о! |
| The officers touched their caps. | Офицеры приложили руки к козырькам фуражек. |
| "Proceed with the drill," ordered the Commander, as he went up to the nearest platoon. | - Прошу продолжать занятия, - сказал командир полка и подошел к ближайшему взводу. |
| Colonel Shulgovich was evidently not in a good humour. | - Полковник Шульгович был сильно не в духе. |
| He wandered about the platoons, growling and swearing, all the while repeatedly trying to worry the life out of the unhappy recruits by catch-questions from the "Military Regulations." Time after time he was heard to reel out the most awful strings of insults and threats, and in this he displayed an inventive power and mastery that could hardly be surpassed. | Он обходил взводы, предлагал солдатам вопросы из гарнизонной службы и время от времени ругался матерными словами с той особенной молодеческой виртуозностью, которая в этих случаях присуща старым фронтовым служакам. |
| The soldiers stood before him, transfixed with terror, stiff, motionless, scarcely daring to breathe, and, as it were, hypnotized by the incessant, steadfast glances, as hard as marble, from those senile, colourless, severe eyes. | Солдат точно гипнотизировал пристальный, упорный взгляд его старчески бледных, выцветших, строгих глаз, и они смотрели на него, не моргая, едва дыша, вытягиваясь в ужасе всем телом. |
| Colonel Shulgovich, although much troubled with fatness and advanced in years, nevertheless still contrived to carry his huge, imposing figure. | Полковник был огромный, тучный, осанистый старик. |
| His broad, fleshy face, with its bloated cheeks and deeply receding forehead, was surrounded below by a thick, silvery, pointed beard, whereby the great head came very closely to resemble an awe-inspiring rhomboid. | Его мясистое лицо, очень широкое в скулах, суживалось вверх, ко лбу, а внизу переходило в густую серебряную бороду заступом и таким образом имело форму большого, тяжелого ромба. |
| The eyebrows were grey, bushy, and threatening. | Брови были седые, лохматые, грозные. |
| He always spoke in a subdued tone, but his powerful voice-to which alone he owed his comparatively rapid promotion-was heard all the same as far as the most distant point of the parade-ground, nay! even out on the highroad. |
