t was half-past four before the troika drove up to the door, and quite dark. Olga sat huddled up on the box-
m which served as his agent's office, was sleepy; he settled himself comfortably in
red, "don't be startled a
have cried out, too, but Ivan placed a great
knouted as we sit," she whispered presently, when he had
e him drunk in order to take his place. And I have come because-do not be a fool and cry out-because t
rder him would do us no good. The Tsar's officers would come and take
all night by the roads, so as to leave no track, and we will come to
trembling so that she
ons; he will have us registered
ed from our own Barin; he will a
vil and beat us, and that we
" said Olga. "I should fe
; do not be a timid fool, Olga; we cannot live w
he shaft horse, a movement which caused her to grab the narrow board on which she sat and Ivan to collide violently against her, so that bo
in the cringing phraseology of Gavril, for
t slept off, and in a minute or two h
hat the horse shied
"unless it was a shad
n count five, taking both sides of the road; watch between the trees a hundred paces
sing herself; "yes-I see them-Lord have mercy upon
"these wolves may yet prov
it would be dangerous to stop in order to murder the Barin, as he had threatened to do, and that therefore the wol
ey come in closer and closer to the road. There are at least
us!" ejac
e good horses-I would race the brutes from now until daylight!" said I
each side of the road, but twenty paces from the sledge, while others followed behind. The three horses, harnessed abreast, snorted with terror; they laid back their
ld they grow!" whispered Olga.
said Ivan hoarsely. A
, Olga, with both hands; there is a bi
ood at the very edge of the road. The vehicle lurched heavily, glided perilously for a mom
rward both Ivan and Olga jolted back into their places, Olga shrieking with terror, but gripping the board upon which she sat so tightly as to be perfectly secure. Ivan sat still, looking neither to right nor left. He seemed to employ all his energies in ge
d. "He has fallen out, Ivan!-st
oolishness, Olga; you see that I
ond scream from behind; then a cry that
threw them in the road. "D
A few wolves were still following the
o," said Ivan, "and
in, together with the heels of the Count's boots, and a few shreds of his clothes. Olga's boots an
two others clung to the sledge a little longer, it appears, b
and oppressor of the poor. "It is the finger of God!" they said. Why two innocent peasants should have been sacrificed at the
run half a hundred miles-chased by wolves throughout the night, onl
ames they chose to give him. Two new serfs were a godsend not to be despised. It
so forth doubled at once in value; while as for her curses, why, from this time onward until she died, if she but launched a malediction,