A prisoner of the Caucasus.

A Russian army officer named Zhilin was serving in the Caucasus, then one day he was going to travel back home but Tartars captured him and his friend, Kostylin.  At the Tartar village, the two of them in a barn, but when they tried to escape, in a pit.  Kostylin got very sick, so Zhilin planned to escape instead of waiting for a ransom, this became posable when a young girl helps him out of the pit.  Zhilin finds his way back to the fort where was stationed, but Tartars had followed him and they ran at him.  But then Russian soldiers were there and chased the Tartars away, then Zhilin`s comrades were delighted to see him again, and it was a long time until Kostylin`s ransom was paid. I liked this story because it has to do with daring escapes, and enemies hunt Zhilin.