"Mates, the old man has given birth to a son in the night!"
Kipjha choked with laughter. Someone else also laughed, and Egorooshka, blushing all over, finally decided that Dimov was a very bad man.
Flaxen-haired and curly Dimov, hatless and with his shirt unfastened, looked handsome and of great strength; in all his movements one detected the athletic and devil-may-care very well aware of his merits. He had a swing of the shoul- ders, held his arms akimbo, spoke and laughed louder than anyone else, and looked as if he were on the point of perform- ing some feat whereby he would astonish the world. He threw a foolish mocking look on the road, on the train of waggons and on the sky, it settled nowhere and seemed to be seeking out of idleness something to kill and something to iaugh at. He evidently feared no one, was ashamed of noth- ing, and very likely was not at all interested in Egorooshka's opinion. But Egorooshka, already hating with his whole soul his flaxen-hair, clean face, and strength, listened to his laugh with disgust and horror and tried to think of some bad words to retort to him.
Panteli also approached the bucket. He pulled a green image-lamp from his pocket, wiped it with a rag, dipped it into the bucket, drank from it, dipped it in once more, then wrapping it in the rag placed it back in his pocket.
"Dad, why do you drink out of a little lamp?" asked Egorooshka in surprise.
"Some drink out of a bucket and some out of little lamps," answered the old man evasively. "Each to his taste . . . you drink mK of a bucket, well, drink, and be well.''
"My pet, fond mother mine!'' suddenly said Vassia in a wheedling, whimpering voice, "my little pet!"
His eyes were fixed on something in the distance, they glistened and smiled, and his face assumed the expression it had earlier when he espied Egorooshka.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Kiruha.
"A dear little fox . . . lying on its back and playing just like a dog. . . ."
They all looked into the distance and searched for the fox with their eyes, but could discover nothing. Vassia alone saw something with those troubled grey little eyes of his, and was in ecstasies. His sight, as Egorooshka afterwards learnt, was astonishingly penetrating. His sight was so good that the brown empty steppe for him was always full of life and matter. He had only to look into the distance to see a fox, or a hare, or a bustard, or some other living creature holding itself aloof from mankind. The wonder was, not to see the running hare or the flying bustard, for anyone driv- ing over the steppe can do that,—but it is not given to every- one to see these creatures in their free daily life when they are not running or hiding or looking about in alarm. Vassia saw foxes and hares playing, washing their faces with their paws, great-bustards smoothing their wings, or little-bustards sitting on their "points." Thanks to his keen-sightedness, be- sides the world which everyone could see Vassia had another world, his own, accessible to no one, and most likely a very pleasant one, for when he looked and grew enraptured it was difficult not to envy him.
When the train of waggons moved on the bells from the church were ringing for l\Iass.
v
The train of waggons set out from the village along the banks of the river. The sun was as scorching as on the previous day, the air was as stagnant and suffocating. There were several willows along the banks of the river, but their shade fell not on the road but over the water, where it was useless, and in the shade of the carts it was so stuffy and tiresome. The water was very blue as the sky was reflected in it, and it looked madly inviting.
The driver, Stepka, on whom Egorooshka's attention only now fell, an eighteen-year-old Little Russian youth, wearing a long shirt without a belt, and wide trousers fluttering about in his walk like a flag, quickly threw off his clothes, ran down the steep bank and flung himself into the water. He dived under the water three times, then swam on his back and blissfully closed his eyes. He smiled and knit his brows as if it tickled, hurt, and amused him. . On those hot days when there is no refuge from the sultry and stifling heat, the splash of water and loud breathing of a man bathing acts on the ear like wonderful music. As Dimov and Kiruha looked at Stepka they quickly threw off their clothes, and one after the other with a loud laugh, anticipat- ing enjoyment, fell into the water. And the quiet modest stream resounded with snuffiings and splashings and shouts. Kiruha choked and laughed and screamed as if they were trying to drown him, and Dimov chased him, trying to catch him by the foot.
"Eh, eh, eh!" he screamed, "catch him, stop him!"
Kiruha went "ho, ho, ho," and enjoyed himself, but the look on his face was the same as on dry land, stupid and stunned, just as if someone had crept up unnoticed to him from behind and dealt him a blow on the head with the butt- end of an axe. Egorooshka also undressed, but instead of slid- ing down the bank he took a run and a leap and dived into the water; he plunged pretty deep but did not reach the bottom for some cold pleasant power gropingly caught hold of him and brought him up to the surface. He spluttered and snuffled, blew bubbles and opened his eyes, and found the sun was shining on the river almost exactly in his face. At first there were blindin^ sparks, then t'ainbows and black spots dancing before his eyes; he hastened to dive once more, opened his eyes in the water, and saw something muddy- green similar to the sky on moonlit nights. Once again that power prevented him from touching the bottom and tarrying where it was cool, it brought him to the surface, where he spluttered and breathed so deeply that he felt refreshed and comfortable even down to his stomach. Then, so as to make the most of the water, he indulged in every luxury: he lay and floated on his back, splashed himself, turned somersaults, swam on his stomach, on one side, on his back and standing up, just as he felt inclined, and until he was tired. The further bank turning gold from the sun, was thickly overgrown with reeds whose flowers were bending over the water in lovely tufts. In one place the reeds shook, their flowers bowed low, there was a dry cracking sound. Stepka and Kiruha were in pursuit of cray-fish.
"A cray-fish—look, mates, a cray-fish!" triumphantly shouted Kiruha as he displayed one.
Egorooshka swam to the reeds, dived in and searched among the roots of the rushes. As he rummaged in the fluid mud he felt something sharp and nasty, maybe it was a cray-fish, but at this moment someone seized him by the leg and drew him to the surface. Coughing and choking Egor- ooshka opened his eyes, and saw before him the wet mocking face of the impudent Dimov. He was breathing heavily and judging by his expression he was inclined to continue his tricks. He held Egorooshka firmly by the leg and was al- ready raising his hand to take him by the neck, when Egorooshka with fear and loathing, as if he apprehended that the athlete might drown him, broke away from him saving:
"Fool! I'll hit you in the face!"
Feeling that this was insufficient to express his hatrea, !le thought a moment, and added:
"Villain! Son of a slut!"
But Dimov, as if nothing was the matter, took no further notice of Egorooshka and swam off towards Kiruha, shouting:
"Hie! Hie! Hie! Let us catch fish! Boys, let's have some fish!"
"Why not?" Kiruha agreed. "There must be a lot of fish about here."
"Stepka, run over to the village and ask the moujiks for a casting-net."
"They won't give it."
"They will. Ask them. Say, for the sake of Christ as we are travellers."
"That's true."
Stepka emerged from the water, quickly put on his clothes, and ran hatless towards the village. After his encounter with Dimov the water lost all its attraction for Egorooshka; he therefore came out of it and put his clothes on again. Panteli and Vassia were sitting on the steep bank dangling their legs and watching the bathers. Emilian was standing naked in water up to his knees close to the bank, he held the grass with one hand so as not to fall in and stroked his body with the other. He presented a very funny appearance with his long shoulder-blades, spungious lump under his eye, doubling himself up and evidently shrinking from the water. He was very seriously and resentfully looking at the water, as if making up his mind to chide it for having given him a cold that time in the Donets, and so deprived him of his voice.