six o’clock in the evening
I have not a single piece of gold lace too much ; my weapon is costly , but simply wrought ; the fur on my cap is neither too long nor too short ; my leggings and shoes are matched with all possible accuracy ; my tunic is white ; my Circassian jacket , dark-brown . I have long studied the mountaineer seat on horseback , and in no way is it possible to flatter my vanity so much as by acknowledging my skill in horsemanship in the Cossack mode . I keep four horses -- one for myself and three for my friends , so that I may not be bored by having to roam about the fields all alone ; they take my horses with pleasure , and never ride with me . It was already six o'clock in the evening , when I remembered that it was time to dine . My horse was jaded . I rode out on to the road leading from Pyatigorsk to the German colony , to which the society of the watering-place frequently rides en piquenique . The road meanders between bushes and descends into little ravines , through which flow noisy brooks beneath the shade of tall grasses .