Gabe lives. Gabe Newell: Heavy icon of the gaming industry. Gabe Newell loves My Little Pony

Every gamer can say with confidence who Gabe Newell is. This genius of computer games has achieved immense success in all his endeavors. In his hands is concentrated power over one of the most famous and profitable studios - Valve Corporation. Today Gabe Newell is included in the list of the richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine. His company is worth about $ 3 million, and half of this money belongs to the developer personally.

Biography

Born November 3, 1962. Little is known about the developer's childhood and adolescence. One thing is clear: as a child, Newell had a sufficiently developed mind, thanks to which he entered after leaving school. But he was not destined to get an academic degree, because at that time the whole world was fond of the increasingly popular computer technologies, and Gabe was no exception and gave his time to this science. Risking his future, Newell dropped out of school and took a job at an unknown company at the time, Microsoft. Ultimately, this decision earns him millions of dollars.

Valve Corporation

After working for Bill Gates for 13 years and inspired by the success of Michael Abrash, who had previously left the corporation and created his own Quake project, Gabe Newell decides to go on a free voyage. In 1996, together with his friend Mike Harrington, who also worked at Microsoft, he created his own small game development studio called Valve. Then this small corporation was unknown to anyone, and investors were in no hurry to invest their funds in it, fearing to burn out. Therefore, Gabe and Mike had to part with their money in order to finance their first developments.

Having bought the Quake engine, they reworked it a lot, and on this basis they created their first Half-Life masterpiece, released in 1998. The game was an undeniable hit, and it should come as no surprise that the company set about developing the second installment of the series. After its creation, the world learned who Gabe Newell was. Based on this engine, such popular modifications and games as Team Fortress Classic and Counter-Strike were born. In 2000, having received an impressive monetary compensation, Mike Harrington left Valve, and Gabe became the sole owner of this already famous studio.

Valve Games

If we talk about who Gabe Newell is, then one cannot fail to mention the games that he created. In addition to the Half-Life series, Valve studio became famous for many more high-profile projects. The most popular of them will be discussed below. Let's start with the favorite shooter of all gamers - Counter-Strike. This multiplayer game was released in 1999 as a modification for Half-Life and became famous for its online mode. If you have a desire to shoot terrorists and have fun with your friends, then you can safely launch this old, but still popular game on the grid. Another hit that was released by studio Valve is the zombie apocalypse game Left 4 Dead. Released in 2008, this survival horror shooter won the Game of the Year award. It is not surprising that after a short time there was a sequel that acquired a corporate regime.

Game masterpieces

Do you love mind puzzles? If so, then you should definitely wander through the labyrinths of Portal. Thanks to its original storyline, great music and graphics, this game has won more than 70 awards and has been a top seller for a long time. The puzzle was released by the studio in 2007, and in 2011 a sequel was released, surpassing the first part of the game in its popularity.

Another brainchild of the Valve studio, which almost everyone has heard about, is Dota 2. This multiplayer game has won millions of fans around the world since its release (2013). From that moment on, Gabe's photo became an object of worship for every gamer. Today there is esports with a huge prize pool, where people from all over the world compete in Dota 2, and this says a lot. These games made their creator famous, but that's not all that this developer did.

Steam

Another brainchild that can reveal who Gabe Newell is is the world famous game and software service that appeared in 2003. Through Steam, their products are distributed not only by the Valve studio, but also by other well-known developers, such as id Software, GSC Game World, Rockstar Games, THQ, Capcom, 2K Games, Atari, Ubisoft, Eidos Interactive, Bethesda Softworks, 1C, etc. statistics, this service sells about 10 thousand games a year.

Initially, Steam was conceived to simplify the updates of computer games, in particular Counter-Strike, because at that time any gamer could not be allowed to fight if the version of his game was outdated. But very quickly Gabe came to the conclusion that selling software through such a service is a gold mine. At first, only Valve studio games could be purchased here, but already in 2005 the catalog of virtual products expanded significantly. Steam quickly gained popularity, already in 2007 this service acquired a new system focused on the social component of the community. Through the Steam Community, users from all over the world can chat, create their own groups and invite their friends to games. Today this service is the main leader, leaving the competitors far behind.

Gabe Newell, founder and permanent head of Valve, turned 54 yesterday. His nickname, Gaben (from the combination GabeN), has long become an Internet meme, and he himself has turned into something like Santa Claus for all gamers in the world. In connection with the birthday of this wonderful person, we have collected 13 interesting facts about him.

Gabe Newell has no college degree

Like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and other famous IT people, Gabe Newell dropped out of the university in his time. He was motivated to take this step by none other than the eccentric Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft. At the time, Ballmer was the head of sales for the company. He convinced Newell that getting an education would only take away valuable time from him.

Gabe Newell had a hand in creating Windows

As you might guess, dropping out of college, Gabe got a job at Microsoft. He became 271 employees of the company, and spent 13 years in it. During this time, he managed to have a hand in the development of several early versions of Windows. The years of work and the subsequent success of the operating system brought the future king of PC gaming several million dollars. And then he played Doom.

Gabe immediately understood: games are real art.

Doom, released in December 1993, quickly became a worldwide hit. Since it originally ran under DOS, Gabe Newell was tasked with porting it to Windows. It was after meeting Doom that Gabe realized that computer games are real art.

Founding of Valve

A little later, another fateful event happened. Michael Abrash, an acquaintance of Gabe, left Microsoft to create the computer game Quake. This game has also had huge success in the market. It was then that Gabe realized that he was late at Microsoft. In 1996, along with Mike Harrington, another employee of the company, Newell quit his job and founded Valve, the most anarchist company in the world, with his own money.

The most anarchist company

Earlier, when talking about the history of Valve, we talked about a very unusual internal order of the company. For example, a manual for new Valve employees once leaked online. It says that “ Of all the people in the company who are not your bosses, Gabe is not in the HIGHEST degree.". Indeed, there are no managers in the company, all employees are equal, and all decisions, including hiring new people, are made jointly. And all this does not prevent the company from making big money.

Crazy money

Valve has never released its earnings, however, they run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Five years ago, analysts estimated the company's value at about $ 4 billion. But two years ago, in the fall of 2014, Google tried to buy the company out. Larry Page and Sergey Brin offered Valve $ 18 billion. Gabe Newell refused. This amount is probably still not enough. By the way, Gabe himself is officially recognized as the richest man in the gaming industry. According to Forbes, his personal fortune is estimated at about $ 1.5 billion. How does he manage to make so much money? The answer is simple: it's all thanks to Steam.

Steam

Steam digital distribution service was launched in 2003. Today it is the most famous and popular in the world. Roughly 70% of all digital game sales are made through it. The number of Steam users exceeds 125 million. Of course, some large companies like Ubisoft or Electronic Arts sell their games through their own distribution services. But the vast majority of developers do not bother too much and use Steam as the main way to implement their games. What makes Steam so popular with gamers? Incredibly generous discounts.

Gabe Newell - game Santa Claus

Gabe Newell is perceived by the gaming community as a kind of Santa Claus thanks to the generous sales that are regularly held on the Steam service. The main winter sale is timed to coincide with the New Year. As a rule, there is also a large summer, sometimes autumn and spring themed sales. Within a few days, gamers can buy games at huge discounts. In some cases, discounts go up to 90%. Users joke that during the days of sales they manage to spend half their salary on games. But they keep paying again and again.

Gabe Newell - Meme Man

Gabe Newell has become a human meme not only because of the discounts on Steam. The main object of user jokes is the failed release of the Half-Life 3 game to this day. The latest game in the Half-Life series, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, was released more than nine years ago. At the same time, the general plot of the series remained unfinished. And if earlier representatives of Valve periodically mentioned the development in rare interviews, now there is not even gossip about the continuation.

Half-Life fans were upset at first, then they started joking. According to a fictional fan theory, Half-Life 3 does not come out because Gabe Newell avoids the number "3". By the way, in the portfolio of Valve, indeed, there is not a single game with this figure. Judge for yourself: the company has released Portal and Portal 2, Left 4 dead and Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress and Team Fortress 2... The numbering of games in the Half-Life series also avoids the "three": first comes the original Half-life, then - Half-life 2, and then instead of the third part Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two... While at Microsoft, Gabe Newell worked on Windows 1, Windows 2 and ... Windows 2.1. He also has two children.

There is already a mountain of jokes about Gabe's avoidance of the "troika". For example, " If Gabe Newell becomes president, World War III will never begin". Gabe Newell himself does not remain in debt and replies that each new joke in the style of “ Valve can't count to three»Postpones the release of Half-Life 3 for another two months.

Gabe Newell is always there

Despite having billions of dollars in his pocket, Gabe Newell is not pretending to be a celestial. He personally interacts with fans, replies to emails and regularly unsubscribes himself on the Valve forum. Interestingly, he found many of the company's employees while chatting on the Internet. More than half of Valve's four hundred developers are former hobbyist game mod enthusiasts. There is a well-known case when Gabe Newell personally helped a user to solve problems with an account faster than the company's technical support responded to a request. In general, when going online, know that Gabe is somewhere nearby.

Gabe Newell - gamer

You can meet Gabe not only on the forum, but also in online games. He admitted that he plays quite often in the MMORPG World Of Warcraft, loves Day of Defeat, the Diablo series, Super Mario 64 and Team Fortress. By the way, if someday, while playing Team Fortress, you meet a player with the Rabscuttle login, do not write anything indecent in the chat and do not try to cheat. Otherwise, Rabscuttle (this, you guessed it, Gabe Newell) will take out his special admin weapon and kill you, while banning you from the game.

Gabin is the king of PC gamers

Gabe Newell is an uncompromising critic of consoles and considers the computer the best gaming platform. Even the Steam Machine, introduced by Valve in 2014, is still a gaming PC in a compact package. Gabe Newell especially strongly dislikes Sony and their PlayStation. When the PlayStation 3 console hit the market, Gabe openly called it "a real misunderstanding." All in all, as long as Gabe Newell is alive, you don't have to worry about the future of PC gaming.

Gabe Newell loves metal

Gabe's life is not limited to a computer. The head of Valve loves to tinker with metal. In the garage, he equipped a locksmith's workshop, where he makes various souvenirs, household items and stands for his huge collection of knives. According to the latest data, the collection includes more than 600 knives and swords from all over the world.

By the way, it is Gabe's love for melee weapons that explains the abundance of various knife models in the popular shooter from Valve Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

We thought for a long time what would come out earlier: our article or Half-Life 3? As you can see, we won. It's a pity that old Gabe himself was not warned about this. Perhaps the guy would have at least some kind of incentive. Apparently, all attempts to force Signor Newell to release the third part of the game, which they yearn to see more than the Arabs get European citizenship, are powerless. But did Gabe himself become worse from this? He, of course, is very difficult and tricky (and remembering the volume of priests, you can estimate the volume of cunning), in his 53 years of life he has done enough things for which fans of the gaming industry are ready to pump his gigantic carcass in their arms, earning Schmorl's hernia and protrusion of intervertebral discs ...

"I was born!"

It all started back in 1962, with the help of simple gestures, the parents managed to conceive, and then squeeze into the light of the future main titan, protector and the most famous promoter of the ideas of sacred and righteous PC gaming. Little is known about Gabe Logan Newell's early years, but apparently, even then he knew a lot about commerce and profit. Ancient manuscripts and Egyptian manuscripts of the III dynasty begin their story from that well-known moment when, in the distant 1983, a talented programmer took and dropped out of his studies anywhere, but at Harvard. Why are there such trifles when you are self-confident and follow the example of idols - Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who also dropped out of school.

Actually, Gabe went to them, because the desire to work and the creative talent of the producer were immediately visible. Gabe could be seen from afar not only due to the volume of the body, but also due to his performance. In those days, Windows was not a bunch of programmers of all stripes, aimlessly opening windows with a mouse and coming up with new persuasions to upgrade Windows to tenth. No, then it was a kosher sabantui of very talented and very greedy young professionals, whose names would subsequently roar with a roaring roar over the small country of computer scientists. Gabe, like any cocky guy, claims that it is thanks to him that the first three releases of Windows turned out to be so viable, and he likes to call himself nothing more than "the producer of the first three releases."

Newell would have continued to work in the "corporation of evil", but under the lush folds of fat, near a kind heart, the talent of the creator was hidden, which with each year of work made itself felt more and more. And then at one point, the world of video games shook under the onslaught of his beloved brainchild. The gaming industry was then still a very young and virgin girl, but id Software came up with Quake, and it became clear to everyone that the world would never be the same again. Gabe was impressed by the work of former Microsoft graphic designer Michael Abrash, who painted Quake.

Sensing the wind of change, Gabe realized that he urgently needed to seize the opportunity and occupy the market that had been of interest to him for a long time. Taking the arm of his friend Mike Harrington, he went into the unknown, creating a corporation that will change the world - Valve. Well, in fact, they did not have any unknown, the gaming industry knew Gabe well, because it was thanks to his efforts that the second game from the DOOM series became available to Windows users. And there shouldn't have been any special problems with “creating a company from scratch,” because they had money like dirt. The fact is that Newell and Harrington were among the first so-called "Microsoft millionaires" - the first employees of the company to get rich on the growth of its shares. For 13 years, the money has accumulated immeasurably, plus add here Newell's diplomatic skills. The man who at one time was able to convince the industry of the suitability of "Windows" for games and thus popularized it, could not be doomed to failure.

Jord Lucas was supposed to distribute the Star Wars source code. Millions of fans could create their own movies and stories around the universe. Most of them would be terrible, but some would be brilliant.

What does it take to be successful?

So, 1996, a terrible and leap year. In Russia - the craziest elections in history, in the United States, Tupac Shakur was killed, and the start of broadcasting of the STS TV channel. And in a series of these crazy events, no one noticed how two well-spent millionaires with a large headquarters began to rivet history.

The company's first game was to be a 3D shooter Quiver, powered by the Quake engine. It was assumed that the action would unfold in the space fashionable at that time, the main character would be Ivan, a space biker. The game was ready in 1997, but Newell was not happy with the result and decided to extend the development process for another year. But the game was completed only in 1998, and it was completed so well that until now, old gamers have tears of joy rolling at the mere mention of it. Half-Lif, and nothing more needs to be said. You yourself know the rest. Gordon Freeman, the tire iron and all sorts of monstrous bastards, some of whom are persistently, like a drunken MP, trying to suck your head.

If we were chasing every new fashion we would have gone bankrupt long ago.

It was a real success. Only the lazy did not laugh at the developments and ambitions of the newcomers from Valve, but 2.5 million copies sold quickly made everyone shut up. Half-Life used many innovative techniques: for example, unlike most first-person shooters released at the time, Half-Life did not have in-game videos, and the player could control the character throughout the game. Newell has repeatedly noted that Half-Life was created because the first-person shooters that he admired in the early 1990s became boring - a number of innovative solutions helped Newell solve this problem.

After the success of Half-Life and the release of an equally epic second part, Counter-Strike became the new brainchild of the office. It is possible that you are reading this article during a break between the game, so talking about the degree of its legendaryness is simply pointless. And then - the mysterious Portal, the unbalanced and addicting Team Fortress, the dreadful Left 4 Dead and, of course, Dota 2. Well, should you tell something about the Dotka?

Valve's bright offices

When forming the Valve team, Newell often hired young and talented workers, rather than experienced ones, who then achieved great success in the industry. It was Newell who realized the potential of Counter-Strike, a shooter that was originally a modification of Half-Life. He acquired the rights to the game and recruited its creators to Valve's staff. True, there are other examples. For example, the company employed the Greek economist Janis Varoufakis, hired because Gabe liked his blog about the European financial crisis, a former puppet show artist and special effects creator for The Lord of the Rings and King Kong. This was due to the fact that the office appreciates people who can simplify everything, but we know that personal sympathy is to blame.

More than once people came up to me and said:“I constantly tell my son / daughter how lucky they are to work in such a team and how proud I am of them.” And then I say to myself: "This person will definitely work with us for at least another 5 years."

A handbook was once leaked on the internet that every new Valve employee should read. Opposite the name of Newell, the head of the company, is the inscription: "Of all the people in the company who are not your bosses, Gabe is not in the HIGHEST degree."

In general, Valve's office is an anarchist's dream. Employees independently form working groups, enticing each other from project to project. Among themselves, the group only decides who will become the current leader, who will keep in mind all the information about the project and coordinate it. Valve encourages frequent group lineups so that they don't get swallowed up by the bureaucracy and stay on the user's side. This approach is manifested, in particular, in the fact that the desks of all employees are equipped with wheels - this simplifies constant movement.

In a literal sense, employees have to invent positions for themselves. But such an alignment is possible only if the company is completely independent from publishers, from investors - from anyone. The shares are owned by the employees, and if Valve goes bankrupt one nightmare, no one can buy it, the employees will be disbanded, and the company will smoothly sink into oblivion.
But the main reason why Valve is full of talent is that no one is restricting anyone. They do not put a person in a frame, they do everything to make it convenient for him to work. And how - this is a completely different matter. Valve really appreciates people who can do multiple things at the same time. Even with the public they communicate with ordinary programmers who have shown talent. Valve is a family, they are as cozy as a grandmother's birthday party, they even travel together once a year. True, you don't have to think that you can sit in the office, swing your leg and do nothing. If you screw up, you will answer in full. And if you want to get there, then be known as a mega-talented artist, designer, programmer. Valve has a reputation for being bounty hunters, recruiting massively talent from all walks of life.

For example, we do not clearly track the time on sick leave or on vacation for our employees: since we trust the decisions they make in development, we trust their time management skills as well. In fact, it does not really matter how many days a person spent on sick leave and whether he was three days late with leaving the vacation or not. But for those who came to us to work, say, from Hollywood, this does not fit in the head. And we tell them that this thing with flexible vacations and an unlimited number of sick leaves throughout the year is something like a table on wheels: so that it is convenient for everyone to work.

Probably the most important talent of Gabe can be called a fantastic flair and understanding of what the user wants. In the wake of the success of online multiplayer games, Gabe and the team developed Steam, an online distribution service for games produced by Valve. Initially, Newell, who always thought not only about the products produced, but also about the user experience, negotiated with Amazon, Cisco and Yahoo, but with none of the companies he was unable to conclude a contract for the distribution of games, so Steam was launched in 2003. Over time, other development companies began to distribute their games with the help of the service: SEGA, Atari, Epic Games and others.

Over the 13 years of the service's existence, many features have been added, and recently Valve announced Steam OS, an operating system that will allow players to stream games over their home network and will have additional features. In addition, Valve promises to release its own Steam Machine and Steam Controller for next year. And, of course, let's not forget about the SteamVR virtual reality helmet, developed in conjunction with NTS. All these products have long been favored by the press and spectators at various gaming exhibitions, but I would like to feel them with tenacious user paws and evaluate with my own eyes. For some reason, I really want Gabe to win in the virtual arms race.

Steam's business model has been very successful and has brought huge profits to Valve, thanks to which the company now competes on an equal footing with Sony and Microsoft and has the ability to release not only games, but also its own hardware.

Daddy gabe

As you can imagine, Gabe is a real hustler. He may look big, kind and stupid, like a pillow, but in fact, it is enough to get at least a little familiar with his activities to understand how domineering and enterprising he is. By the way, he runs the company on his own, because Harrington, after he became similar in appearance to the rapper Bastu, decided to leave the charismatic leader.

Newell, of course, is not a despot, but a powerful corporation is concentrated in his big fist, regularly giving people a spectacle. And despite the scandals associated with the use of marijuana, the ordering of prostitutes and the use of prostitutes with marijuana, he has a strong family, with two glorious male toddlers. As for the dope herbs ... Well, who doesn't happen to?

And Gabe also has an interesting hobby - plumbing. In his garage, he set up machines and in his free time grinds out various bells and whistles. I even bought barrels of salt for bluing steel, look, how tricky! The locksmith himself "from the gaming industry" says that this is a great activity after hours spent in front of the monitor.

We should love Newell for his responsiveness. Unlike many other well-known representatives of the game industry, Gabe communicates directly with the audience: he actively participates in discussions on the Steam forums, organizes discussions on issues related to the development of Valve, and often answers letters from users. Just remember the story when Gabe helped the user faster than the moderators on Steam. Largely due to this, Newell is no longer a person, but just a walking meme. And he, looking at the million jokes dedicated to him, only smiles happily. In any case, we hope so.

However, there are things that the fat holy man cannot perceive under any sauce. These are console players. For consoles, he has a persistent gagging urge, he despises people who acquire machines that can be played while lying down. That is why he does not hesitate to throw a couple of sharp phrases to his colleagues.

The PS3 is a complete disaster in many ways. I think it's pretty clear that Sony has simply lost sight of what their customers and developers want. And I believe that even now, they should just cancel everything and start over. Just say, "It was a terrible misunderstanding, we regret it and are going to stop selling consoles and persuade developers to create games for them."
The Wii is a completely different matter. I bet a lot more Wii than Xbox 360 will be sold by next Christmas. Some people think I'm crazy, but I really like what Nintendo is doing.

Although he doesn't like Windows either. He smashed the filthy G8 to smithereens, preferring Linux.

Number 3 in Gabe's life

Now let's touch on Newell's main conspiracy secret: why Valve games don't have third parts? Even when Gabe was at Microsoft, the third release of Windows was referred to as Windows 2.1. Does that mean he's afraid of number 3 and we'll never see a new Half-Life?

According to Gabe, modern Valve focuses on strategic goals, providing players and developers with new platforms: the online store Steam, Steam Machines consoles, the HTC Vive virtual reality helmet and other similar products. This does not mean that Valve will no longer develop games, but the company treats them as "tools" with which you can learn new skills. As for Half-Life 3, the time for this "tool" has not yet come. Newell said that the company is aware of and understands the feelings of fans of the series, but his employees are also clear that sometimes they have to wait a long time. Finally, he hinted that the real impetus for the emergence of a new part of the game could serve as the massive desire of the studio to release it.

Simply put, look at the anarchy in their office. They just can't get together to do it. Even so, Gabe continues to be the heaviest and biggest icon in the gaming industry.

Once upon a time Newell studied at Harvard (Harvard University); however, he never finished his studies. After leaving university ahead of schedule, Gabe entered Microsoft; he worked there for 13 years - having managed, among other things, to take part in the development of the first three versions of the operating system "Windows". Inspired by the example of Michael Abrash, who left Microsoft for id Software, to join the Quake team, Newell left the corporation and, along with another former employee, Mike Harrington, created in 1996 "Valve".

While working on the first major project, Half-Life, Newell and Harrington supported the company with their own cash.

While working on "Half-Life 2," Gabe spent some time concentrating on the "Steam" project - and he made the right decision; now "Steam" is, perhaps, one of the most popular services for the sale of electronic versions of computer games.

In 2007, Newell openly confessed his dislike of software development for game consoles in general and "PlayStation 3" in particular; Newell called the creation of software for consoles a waste of time for all participants in the process. However, in 2010, Gabe changed his anger to mercy - and even announced the development of a console version of one of his most anticipated hits - "Portal 2".

In December 2010, Forbes included Newell on the "Names to Know" list; Gabe earned this in the first place by working on "Steam" and partnering with a number of outstanding developers in the process.

Gabe is married to Lisa Newell; now they have two sons.

For some time Newell suffered from Fuchs's dystrophy - a serious disease of the retina of the eye. He managed to overcome the disease with two retinal transplant operations - in 2006 and 2007.

Gabe calls his favorite computer games "Super Mario 64", "Doom" and "Star Trek" in the variation for the mainframe "Burroughs". Newell said that at one time it was "Doom" that convinced him that the future of the entertainment industry lies behind computer games - and it was "Super Mario 64" that showed him that computer games can be art.

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Biography

Newell, along with Harrington, used their personal capital to fund Valve and the subsequent development of the Half-Life game. For these purposes, the source code of the Quake engine was purchased, which was later heavily reworked. In 1998, the Half-Life series of games was released, which became the basis for such popular games and modifications as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic. Shortly after the release of Half-Life, the company began developing the second part of the game. Harrington left the company in 2000, after which Newell bought out his stake.

  • His favorite games are Super Mario 64, Doom and Star Trek, which he played on the Burroughs system. Doom convinced him that video games were a promising future in entertainment, and Super Mario 64 proved to him that games are art too.

Personal life

He is married to Lisa Newell and has two sons.

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Excerpt from Newell, Gabe

Having passed along the road, on both sides of which the French dialect sounded from the fires, Dolokhov turned into the courtyard of the manor house. Having passed through the gate, he dismounted from his horse and walked over to a large, blazing fire, around which several people were sitting, talking loudly. Something was boiling in a pot on the edge, and a soldier in a cap and a blue greatcoat, kneeling, brightly lit by fire, was stirring in it with a ramrod.
- Oh, c "est un dur a cuire, [You can't get along with this devil.] - said one of the officers sitting in the shade on the opposite side of the fire.
- Il les fera marcher les lapins ... [He will go through them ...] - another said with a laugh. Both fell silent, peering into the darkness at the sound of Dolokhov and Petya's footsteps approaching the fire with their horses.
- Bonjour, messieurs! [Hello, gentlemen!] - Dolokhov said loudly, distinctly.
The officers stirred in the shadow of the fire, and one, a tall officer with a long neck, avoiding the fire, approached Dolokhov.
“C" est vous, Clement? "He said." D "ou, diable ... [Is that you, Clement? Where the hell ...] - but he did not finish, having learned his mistake, and, slightly frowning, as if he were a stranger, he greeted Dolokhov, asking him how he could serve. Dolokhov said that he and his comrade were catching up with their regiment, and asked, addressing everyone in general, if the officers knew anything about the sixth regiment. Nobody knew anything; and it seemed to Petya that the officers began to examine him and Dolokhov with hostility and suspicion. Everyone was silent for a few seconds.
- Si vous comptez sur la soupe du soir, vous venez trop tard, [If you are counting on dinner, then you are late.] - said with a restrained laugh the voice from behind the fire.
Dolokhov replied that they were full and that they had to go on at night.
He handed the horses over to the soldier in the bowler hat and squatted down by the fire next to the long-necked officer. This officer, without taking his eyes off, looked at Dolokhov and asked him again: what kind of regiment was he? Dolokhov did not answer, as if he had not heard the question, and, lighting a short French pipe, which he took out of his pocket, he asked the officers how safe was the road from the Cossacks ahead of them.
- Les brigands sont partout, [These robbers are everywhere.] - the officer answered from behind the fire.
Dolokhov said that the Cossacks are terrible only for such backward ones as he and his comrade, but that the Cossacks probably did not dare to attack large detachments, he added inquiringly. Nobody answered anything.
"Well, now he will leave," Petya thought every minute, standing in front of the fire and listening to his conversation.
But Dolokhov began the conversation that had stopped again and began directly asking how many people they had in the battalion, how many battalions, how many prisoners. Asking about the Russian prisoners who were with their detachment, Dolokhov said:
- La vilaine affaire de trainer ces cadavres apres soi. Vaudrait mieux fusiller cette canaille, [It's a bad thing to carry these corpses with you. It would be better to shoot this bastard.] - and laughed loudly with such a strange laugh that it seemed to Petya that the French would now recognize the deception, and he involuntarily stepped back a step from the fire. No one answered Dolokhov's words and laughter, and the French officer, whom he could not see (he was lying wrapped in his greatcoat), got up and whispered something to his comrade. Dolokhov got up and called the soldier with the horses.
"Will the horses be served or not?" - thought Petya, involuntarily approaching Dolokhov.
The horses were served.
- Bonjour, messieurs, [Here: goodbye, gentlemen.] - said Dolokhov.
Petya wanted to say bonsoir [good evening] and could not finish the word. The officers were whispering something to each other. Dolokhov sat for a long time on a horse that did not stand; then he walked out of the gate at a step. Petya rode beside him, wanting and not daring to look back to see whether the French were running or not running after them.
Having left on the road, Dolokhov drove not back into the field, but along the village. At one point he stopped, listening.
- Do you hear? - he said.
Petya recognized the sounds of Russian voices, saw the dark figures of Russian prisoners by the fires. Going down to the bridge, Petya and Dolokhov passed the sentry, who, without saying a word, walked gloomily across the bridge, and drove into a hollow where the Cossacks were waiting.
- Well, now goodbye. Tell Denisov that at dawn, at the first shot, ”Dolokhov said and wanted to drive, but Petya grabbed him with his hand.
- No! - he cried, - you are such a hero. Oh, how good! How wonderful! How I love you.
- Good, good, - said Dolokhov, but Petya did not let him go, and in the darkness Dolokhov saw that Petya was bent over him. He wanted to kiss. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed and, turning his horse, disappeared into the darkness.

NS
Returning to the guardhouse, Petya found Denisov in the entryway. Denisov, agitated, worried and annoyed with himself that he had let Petya go, was expecting him.
- Thank God! He shouted. - Well, thank God! - he repeated, listening to Petya's enthusiastic story. “And why take you, I didn't sleep because of you!” Denisov said. “Well, thank God, now go to bed. Another vzdg "let's eat until utg" a.
- Yes ... No, - said Petya. “I don’t feel like sleeping yet.” Yes, I know myself, if I fall asleep, it’s over. And then I got used to not sleeping before the battle.
Petya sat for some time in the hut, joyfully recalling the details of his trip and vividly imagining what would happen tomorrow. Then, noticing that Denisov fell asleep, he got up and went into the yard.
It was still completely dark outside. The rain had passed, but drops were still falling from the trees. Not far from the guardhouse were the black figures of Cossack huts and horses tied together. Behind the hut were two wagons with horses, and a dying fire blushed in the ravine. The Cossacks and hussars were not all asleep: in some places one could hear, together with the sound of falling drops and the close sound of horses chewing, quiet, as if whispering voices.



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