assistance.
«A lantern! Make haste, a lantern! Run for a lantern, wake the
others!» Naum shouted to him. «I can manage him alone for a time—I am
sitting on him…. Make haste! And bring a belt to tie his hands.»
Fyodor ran into the house…. The man whom Naum was holding suddenly
left off struggling.
«So it seems wife and money and home are not enough for you, you want
to ruin me, too,» he said in a choking voice.
Naum recognised Akim’s voice.
«So that’s you, my friend,» he brought out; «very good, you wait a
bit.»
«Let me go,» said Akim, «aren’t you satisfied?»
«I’ll show you before the judge to-morrow whether I am satisfied,» and
Naum tightened his grip of Akim.
The labourers ran up with two lanterns and cords. «Tie his arms,» Naum
ordered sharply. The men caught hold of Akim, stood him up and twisted
his arms behind his back…. One of them began abusing him, but
recognising the former owner of the inn lapsed into silence and only
exchanged glances with the others.
«Do you see, do you see!» Naum kept repeating, meanwhile throwing the
light of the lantern on the ground, «there are hot embers in the pot;
look, there’s a regular log alight here! We must find out where he got
this pot … here, he has broken up twigs, too,» and Naum carefully
stamped out the fire with his foot. «Search him, Fyodor,» he added,
«see if he hasn’t got something else on him.»
Fyodor rummaged Akim’s pockets and felt him all over while the old man
stood motionless, with his head drooping on his breast as though he
were dead.
«Here’s a knife,» said Fyodor, taking an old kitchen knife out of the
front of Akim’s coat.
«Aha, my fine gentleman, so that’s what you were after,» cried Naum.
«Lads, you are witnesses … here he wanted to murder me and set fire
to the house…. Lock him up for the night in the cellar, he can’t get
out of that…. I’ll keep watch all night myself and to-morrow as soon
as it is light we will take him to the police captain … and you are
witnesses, do you hear!»
Akim was thrust into the cellar and the door was slammed…. Naum set
two men to watch it and did not go to bed himself.
Meanwhile, Yefrem’s wife having convinced herself that her uninvited
guest had gone, set about her cooking though it was hardly
daylight…. It was a holiday. She squatted down before the stove to
get a hot ember and saw that someone had scraped out the hot ashes
before her; then she wanted her knife and searched for it in vain;
then of her four cooking pots one was missing. Yefrem’s wife had the
reputation of being a woman with brains, and justly so. She stood and
pondered, then went to the lumber room, to her husband. It was not
easy to wake him—and still more difficult to explain to him why he
was being awakened…. To all that she said to him Yefrem made the
same answer.
«He’s gone away—well, God bless him…. What business is it of mine?
He’s taken our knife and our pot—well, God bless him, what has it to
do with me?»
At last, however, he got up and after listening attentively to his
wife came to the conclusion that it was a bad business, that something
must be done.
«Yes,» his wife repeated, «it is a bad business; maybe he will be
doing mischief in his despair…. I saw last night that he was not
asleep but was just lying on the stove; it would be as well for you to
go and see, Yefrem Alexandritch.»
«I tell you what, Ulyana Fyodorovna,» Yefrem began, «I’ll go myself to
the inn now, and you be so kind, mother, as to give me just a drop to
sober me.»
Ulyana hesitated.
«Well,» she decided at last, «I’ll give you the vodka, Yefrem
Alexandritch; but mind now, none of your pranks.»
«Don’t you worry, Ulyana Fyodorovna.»
And fortifying himself with a glass, Yefrem made his way to the inn.
It was only just getting light when he rode up to the inn but, already
a cart and a horse were standing at the gate and one of Naum’s
labourers was sitting on the box holding the reins.
«Where are you off to?» asked Yefrem.
«To the town,» the man answered reluctantly.
«What for?»
The man simply shrugged his shoulders and did not answer. Yefrem
jumped off his horse and went into the house. In the entry he came
upon Naum, fully dressed and with his cap on.
«I congratulate the new owner on his new abode,» said Yefrem, who knew
him. «Where are you off to so early?»
«Yes, you have something to congratulate me on,» Naum answered grimly.
«On the very first day the house has almost been burnt down.»
Yefrem started. «How so?»
«Oh, a kind soul turned up who tried to set fire to it. Luckily I
caught him in the act; now I am taking him to the town.»
«Was it Akim, I wonder?» Yefrem asked slowly.
«How did you know? Akim. He came at night with a burning log in a pot
and got into the yard and was setting fire to it … all my men are
witnesses. Would you like to see him? It’s time for us to take him, by
the way.»
«My good Naum Ivanitch,» Yefrem began, «let him go, don’t ruin the old
man altogether. Don’t take that sin upon your soul, Naum Ivanitch.
Only think—the man was in despair—he didn’t know what he was doing.»
«Give over that nonsense,» Naum cut him short. «What! Am I likely to
let him go! Why, he’d set fire to the house to-morrow if I did.»
«He wouldn’t, Naum Ivanitch, believe me. Believe me you will be easier
yourself for it—you know there will be questions asked, a trial—you
can see that for yourself.»
«Well, what if there is a trial? I have no reason to be afraid of it.»
«My good Naum Ivanitch, one must be afraid of a trial.»
«Oh, that’s enough. I see you are drunk already, and to-day a saint’s
day, too!»
Yefrem all at once, quite unexpectedly, burst into tears.
«I am drunk but I am speaking the truth,» he muttered. «And for the
sake of the holiday you ought to forgive him.»
«Well, come along, you sniveller.»
And Naum went out on to the steps.
«Forgive him, for Avdotya Arefyevna’s sake,» said Yefrem following him
on to the steps.
Naum went to the cellar and flung the door wide open. With timid
curiosity Yefrem craned his neck from behind Naum and with difficulty
made out the figure of Akim in the corner of the cellar. The once
well-to-do innkeeper, respected all over the neighbourhood, was
sitting on straw with his hands tied behind him like a criminal.
Hearing a noise he raised his head…. It seemed as though he had
grown fearfully thin in those last few days, especially during the
previous night—his sunken eyes could hardly be seen under his high,
waxen-yellow forehead, his parched lips looked dark … his whole face
was changed and wore a strange expression—savage and frightened.
«Get up and come along,» said Naum.
Akim got up and stepped over the threshold.
«Akim Semyonitch!» Yefrem wailed, «you’ve brought ruin on yourself, my
dear!»
Akim glanced at him without speaking.
«If I had known why you asked for vodka I would not have given it to
you, I really would not. I believe I would have drunk it all myself!
Eh, Naum Ivanitch,» he added clutching at Naum’s arm, «have mercy upon
him, let him go!»
«What next!» Naum replied with a grin. «Well, come along,» he added
addressing Akim again. «What are you waiting for?»
«Naum Ivanitch,» Akim began.
«What is it?»
«Naum Ivanitch,» Akim repeated, «listen: I am to blame; I wanted to
settle my accounts with you myself; but God must be the judge between
us. You have taken everything from me, you know yourself, everything I
had. Now you can ruin me, only I tell you this: if you let me go now,
then—so be it—take possession of everything! I agree and wish you
all success. I promise you as before God, if you let me go you will
not regret it. God be with you.»
Akim shut his eyes and ceased speaking.
«A likely story!» retorted Naum, «as though one could believe you!»
«But, by God, you can,» said Yefrem, «you really can. I’d stake my
life on Akim Semyonitch’s good faith—I really would.»
«Nonsense,» cried Naum. «Come along.»
Akim looked at him.
«As you think best, Naum Ivanitch. It’s for you to decide. But you are
laying a great burden on your soul. Well, if you are in such a hurry,
let us start.»
Naum in his turn looked keenly at Akim.
«After all,» he thought to himself, «hadn’t I better let him go? Or
people will never have done pestering me about him. Avdotya will give
me no peace.» While Naum was reflecting, no one uttered a word. The
labourer in the cart who could see it all through the gate did nothing
but toss his head and flick the horse’s sides with the reins. The two
other labourers stood on the steps and they too were silent.
«Well, listen, old man,» Naum began, «when I let you go and tell these
fellows» (he motioned with his head towards the labourers) «not to
talk, shall we be quits—do you understand me—quits … eh?»
«I tell you, you can have it all.»
«You won’t consider me in your debt?»
«You won’t be in my debt, I shall not be in yours.»
Naum was silent again.
«And will you swear it?»
«Yes, as God is holy,» answered Akim.
«Well, I know I shall regret it,» said Naum, «but there, come what
may! Give me your hands.»
Akim turned his back to him; Naum began untying him.
«Now, mind, old man,» he added as he pulled the cord off his wrists,
«remember, I have spared you, mind that!»
«Naum Ivanitch, my dear,» faltered Yefrem, «the Lord will have mercy
upon you!»
Akim freed his chilled and swollen hands and was moving towards the
gate.
Naum suddenly «showed the Jew» as the saying is—he must have
regretted that he had let Akim off.
«You’ve sworn now, mind!» he shouted after him. Akim turned, and
looking round the yard, said mournfully, «Possess it all, so be it
forever! …
