Shtabs-Kapitan Rybnikov by Alexandr Kuprin. Short summary

5 seconds

A Japanese spy poses as staff-captain Rybnikov. Under the guise of an officer wounded in battle, he gathers information about the war. However, the agent’s identity is revealed, after which he is arrested.

1 minute

Staff-Captain Rybnikov receives a telegram from Irkutsk. Having received the mysterious message, the hero moves from his rented apartment to a hotel room. Rybnikov begins to visit various official places of St. Petersburg, pretending that he wants to get a wounded benefit. Actually the hero collects the information connected with the Russian-Japanese war.

In one of restaurants the staff colonel gets acquainted with writer Shchavinsky. To the journalist it seems strange behavior of Rybnikov who pretends to be drunk in order to extract from a local public the information on military operations. Shchavinsky tries to find out who Rybnikov really is. However his attempts to expose the captain lead to nothing.

To reveal Rybnikov’s true identity Clotilde, the woman with whom the captain spends the night, helps him. Clotilde is alarmed by the foreign words escaping from the lips of the sleeping Rybnikov. The woman reports what she has heard to the police, after which the hero is arrested on suspicion of espionage.