Who is Piotr Karpenko from Meetings with Remarkable Men and what is their importance?

A jealous rivalry develops between Piotr Karpenko and Gurdjieff over a girl. They both hang around with the same group of friends, and the group decides that they must fight a dual to the death. Not having the customary swords or pistols for a proper dual, the boys decide that spending an evening on a live artillery range will decide if one or the other, or neither, gets the girl. After this harrowing experience in which Karpenko is wounded but not seriously, he and Gurdjieff become fast friends and they both swear off fighting over girls forever. Karpenko accompanies Gurdjieff on several expeditions. On one while negotiating the Himalayas, Karpenko dies by hostile native gunfire.