Part one. Riders at the Rosa Station

That summer, eleven-year-old Seryozha Kakhovsky first got into a pioneer camp. After some time, a true-minded boy got into a conflict with the director of the camp, Seryozha left his territory without permission and came to the Rosa station to go home by train.

Waiting for the train, the boy became friends with the “no man's” dog, called him Knock and decided to take him home. Meanwhile, Seryozha grabbed at the camp and sent for him a physical education. When the persuasion did not help, the physicist decided to act by force and grabbed Seryozha by the elbow. The dog bristled, growled at the physicist, and he hastily left.

This was watched by a tall man who had just appeared at the station, looking like Don Quixote. The stranger turned out to be a journalist Alexei Borisovich Ivanov, who checked the slanderous anonymous letter that came to the editorial office for the local collective farm chairman.

Seryozha could not explain in words, but felt the kindness of a big stranger. It was restrained kindness, and confidence and firmness were felt in it.

Seryozha told Alexei Borisovich about his conflict with the director of the pioneer camp.

At first, the boy liked the camp, and he entrusted the guys with his secret - the tale of the riders who once dreamed of him, the red cavalrymen who would always come to the aid in difficult times, should only call them.

There were three guys in the camp who had been vacationing here for several years. They carried out the personal instructions of the director, who called the guys “my musketeers” and allowed them more than the rest.

Once Seryozha did not obey the "musketeers", and they began to scoff at the tale of the riders. Almost all the children in the camp joined in the bullying. The boy wrote a letter to his father, asked to go home. The director intercepted the letter and read it on a common line. Seryozha declared that reading other people's letters was a meanness, and left the camp.

Seryozha showed Alexey Borisovich his letter, which was returned to him by the physical instructor, and the journalist was interested in the unusual paper on which it was written - such sheets from old office books were only in the camp.

The boy told the journalist that his mother was a geologist and died when she caught a cold on another expedition. Seryozha always carried her photo with him. Now he lived with his father, stepmother and younger sister.

Then the director himself came to the station, in which Alexei Borisovich recognized the official whose scams he had once exposed. The journalist accused the director of slandering a good man, because the anonymous letter to the collective farm chairman was written on paper from an old office book, and the signature began with the same letter as the director's last name. Then Alexei Borisovich announced that he would take the boy home.

Children also have self-esteem, which no one is allowed to offend, and even publicly. And <..> everyone has the right to break off relations with those who insulted him ...

The strict conductor did not let Nok into the train without a muzzle. Upon learning that there would be no more trains today, the journalist and the boy went to the river, where they found a passing boat.

Seryozha discovered that he had forgotten at the station a jacket with a photograph of his mother in his pocket, and decided to return for things, leaving Noka on the boat.

When the boy ran away, the journalist noticed the director’s “Gazik” in the distance. And "musketeers" were waiting for Seryozha at the station, by whom the director ordered the boy to be returned to the camp by force. At this moment, Seryozha regretted that his riders really did not exist, but then the five cavalrymen quickly jumped to the station, and their commander ordered the boy to be released.

The cavalrymen turned out to be students working in the collective farm in the summer. Alexei Borisovich guessed that Seryozha was in trouble, and sent them to help. Sergei considered it a miracle. The journalist said that such miracles do not happen to everyone, and suggested that the boy himself become a rider - to start helping people.

Part two. The finest hour of Sergei Kakhovsky

When he got home, Seryozha found out from Natasha, his communal neighbor, that his family was allocated a separate apartment, and a new club for children, Espada, was opened in the city.

The director had already informed Seryozha’s father about the exploits of his son, but everyone was so glad that the boy, who was taken by some horsemen from the station, found that they did not scold him and allowed him to leave Nok.

In the fall, eleven-year-old Seryozha joined the Espada club, which was led by Oleg Moskovkin, a correspondence student and a first-class fencer. He taught children not only fencing, but also honesty, courage. The club had a strict charter and its own uniform with stripes. Very quickly, Sergey became the best fencer and captain of the club. He did not forget the promise made to the journalist to protect those who need it, and he always opposed injustice.

In September, the eleven-year-old Mitya Koltsov came to the Espada club. His mother hoped that here her timid and reserved son would become bolder and make friends. The boy turned out to be capable and soon caught up with the rest of the guys.

If a person has talent, he can flare up instantly.

At the same time, Seryozha made close friends with his classmate Genka, nicknamed Grasshopper.

In late October, the club held competitions for the 1973 Espada champion title. Seryozha and Mitya reached the final. Seryozha was stronger, but lost the title to Mitya, having decided that it was very important for this fragile boy to become a champion. At this tournament, the Grasshopper met Natasha and fell in love with her.

Immediately after the competition, four hooligans attacked Mitya and three more espadovites, began to extort money, and then demanded to give the belts with the emblem of the club. Of the four children, only Mitya gave rebuff to the hooligans, and he was beaten.

Skilled fencers were not able to repulse the hooligans - it was a shame for the club. Oleg announced a general gathering, at which he ordered the guilty to take their uniform belts from the hooligans.

The trio came to the line with brand new belts bought at the store. The club council voted to expel them. After the lineup, the Grasshopper asked Oleg to take him to the club, although he was already playing hockey.

On the eve of the October holidays, second-grader Stasik Grachev, whose family now lived in a communal apartment next to Natasha, was in trouble. Before the parent meeting, teacher Stasika put in the class diaries of honors students and losers. Stasik was afraid that his diary, full of twos and remarks, would see his father brutally and regularly beating his son.

Seryozha knew that the young and principled teacher Stasik would not listen to him, so he went to the classroom and took the diaries of two students. The next day, he gave the diaries to his classroom and was immediately called to the director. To the surprise of the boy, the headmaster who recently came to school took his side.

After the holidays, someone knocked out a window in Stasik's class with a snowball. Trying to find out the name of the bully, the teacher detained the children until late, and Seryozha began to take the kids home.

In a dark alley, they were attacked by a gang of juvenile hooligans who once removed their belts from the espadovites. Stasik was numb with fear, and Seryozha could not leave the baby, although he himself was very scared. In one of the hooligans Seryozha recognized one of the recently excluded trinity.

Hooligans began to demand money from Seryozha.

A stone's throw from light houses, from thousands of cheerful and fair people, these grebes crawled out of random darkness and think that they are the masters!

Wielding like a sword, with a thin rail, Seryozha quickly neutralized the hooligans, and then their leader appeared in the alley, an adult thug with a knife in his hand.The boy knocked out a knife from the bandit’s hand, which stuck into a post above Stasik’s head. Then the police arrived. The bandit turned out to be a dangerous recidivist, but the policemen did not find his knife.

The following week, a lineup was held at the school, on which Seryozha was awarded for courage. After the line, Seryozha found out that it was Stasik who hid the gangster knife and gave it to one of the hooligans so that he would not touch him. Angry, Seryozha hit the defenseless, frightened kid on the cheek, and suddenly the boy saw that “the five horsemen who were nearby turned their horses and slowly left.”

Deciding to correct his act, Sergei went to the Grachevs. Father again yelled at Stasik, and his mother was completely indifferent to this. Grachev-father did not listen to the boy, and Seryozha asked for help from a friend of the police lieutenant, who threatened to institute criminal proceedings if the child was not stopped beating. Seryozha perked up - the riders returned to him again.

That same evening, a journalist Alexander Borisovich called Seryozha and said that an article was published in the newspaper about the exploit of the boy. Then in the club Oleg solemnly handed Seryozha a nominal sword. It was a high point of Seryozha Kakhovsky.

Part three. Flag captains

In winter, the measured life of the Espada club was threatened. The new housekeeper needed an old two-story house in which the club was located. He decided to evict the espadovets, having started repair work at the club, and came to inform Oleg about this. This time the club leader managed to expel uninvited guests.

The guys gathered at the club almost every evening. Once Oleg told about himself. Having failed exams at the Polytechnic Institute, he went to serve in the Navy. Oleg did not get on the ship for health reasons, he remained a graphic designer at the local House of Officers, where he engaged in fencing and organized a children's sports section. Returning home, Oleg managed to work as a counselor in an orphanage and Artek, after which he went to study at a pedagogical institute.

Before the spring break, Oleg told the children that Sentsova, the mother of a former espadovan who had contacted with hooligans, became an ally of the housekeeper. She found like-minded inspectors in extracurricular institutions in the district, and now they attacked Espada on all fronts. Oleg walked anxious and upset, because the club was his only source of income.

Soon the house manager ordered the children to take things out of the club, and the children lost the Espada. The police did not help - the managerial house had official permission to repair the premises. Oleg was advised to contact the newspaper, and Sergei remembered the journalist Alexei Borisovich.

The next day, Seryozha went to the editorial office and ... got to the funeral of a journalist who died from a serious illness. At the cemetery, Sergey Lartsev, a friend and colleague of Alexei Borisovich, spoke to Seryozha, and promised to help the guys return the club.

Even in very difficult moments, a person can smile if hope returns to him.

Lartsev wrote an article about the injustice that happened to the club. The manager had to vacate the premises, but out of harm, he “forgot” to shut off the leaking battery. Hot water flooded the old house, which is why a special commission declared it unsuitable for a kids club. The district council promised to give Espada a new building, but the house in which it was allocated was still under construction.

Lartsev believed that it was necessary to fight, but Oleg needed work. He was called a senior counselor in an orphanage, where he had once worked, and Oleg left without saying goodbye so as not to upset the children once again.

The club no longer existed, but the Espada captains still held together and often gathered at the Grasshopper. There Seryozha finally met his brother Sasha, a physical engineer at a shipyard. The captains of the club became guardians of the flag - flag captains.

In April, the brother of Seryozha’s stepmother, scientist-archaeologist Vitaly Alexandrovich, came to visit.Seryozha has long been interested in history and archeology, so he quickly became attached to Uncle Vita.

The stepmother told her brother about Seryozha’s difficult character, and uncle promised the boy in the summer holidays to take him to the excavations in Chersonese, if he promises to go deeper into science and not get stuck in other people's affairs.

There is always good and evil in the world. And all evil cannot be destroyed. Therefore, we must calculate strength, live like everyone else, and not fight with the whole world.

Seryozha agreed.

On May 1, the Espadovans decided to participate in the parade with the whole club. Seryozha was instructed to organize the convoy, but Uncle Vitya believed that he should not create unnecessary fuss, trying to revive a dead detachment long ago. Seryozha did not begin to collect the guys and even convinced himself that this was impossible.

At the end of May, Seryozha and Uncle Vitya went to the ticket office for tickets to Chersonesos. In the trolley, a fat aunt began to accuse the guys who were going to the movies of not paying for the ticket, although she saw very well that they threw a coin into the cash register.

Uncle Vitya did not pay attention to the scandal, but Seryozha realized that he could not live like that. He remembered the riders and stood up for the kids.

Epilogue. Drummers, march!

“Former Uncle Vitya” left that very evening, without saying goodbye to Sergei. The boy believed that the holidays were irreparably spoiled, but then Sasha suggested Seryozha and Kuznechik to go to Sevastopol, where he was sent on a business trip.

The guys also visited Khersones, met Uncle Vitya there, but did not even greet him. A few days later, the boys from Espada called the boys and said that Oleg had found a new counselor for them, the detachment had revived and even summoned the Legend fencing club to the competition, so Sergey and Kuznechik could not do without.

The guys imagined the Espada drummers marching at the head of the band and as if they heard the command: “Drummers, march!”