place
Krivaya Balochka
also: Кривая Балочка, Кривой Балочки, Krivaya Balochka, the Balochka
A ravine or hollow (balka/balochka) halfway along the road between church and the Gorchakovs' farmstead, where the sick Cossack is found sitting by the roadside and where Kuzma and later Maxim search for him in vain.