d what do you suppose railway accidents do come from? Unscrew two or
three nuts and you have an accident."

Denis grins, and screws up his eye at the magistrate incredulously.

"Why! how many years have we all in the village been unscrewing nuts,
and the Lord has been merciful; and you talk of accidents, killing
people. If I had carried away a rail or put a log across the line, say,
then maybe it might have upset the train, but... pouf! a nut!"

"But you must understand that the nut holds the rail fast to the
sleepers!"

"We understand that.... We don't unscrew them all... we leave some....
We don't do it thoughtlessly... we understand...."

Denis yawns and makes the sign of the cross over his mouth.

"Last year the train went off the rails here," says the magistrate. "Now
I see why!"

"What do you say, your honour?"

"I am telling you that now I see why the train went off the rails last
year.... I understand!"

"That's what you are educated people for, to understand, you kind
gentlemen. The Lord knows to whom to give understanding.... Here you
have reasoned how and what, but the watchman, a peasant like ourselves,
with no understanding at all, catches one by the collar and hauls one
along.... You should reason first and then haul me off. It's a saying
that a peasant has a peasant's wit.... Write down, too, your honour,
that he hit me twice--in the jaw and in the chest."

"When your hut was searched they found another nut.... At what spot did
you unscrew that, and when?"

"You mean the nut which lay under the red box?"

"I don't know where it was lying, only it was found. When did you
unscrew it?"

"I didn't unscrew it; Ignashka, the son of one-eyed Semyon, gave it me.
I mean the one which was under the box, but the one which was in the
sledge in the yard Mitrofan and I unscrewed together."

"What Mitrofan?"

"Mitrofan Petrov.... Haven't you heard of him? He makes nets in our
village and sells them to the gentry. He needs a lot of those nuts.
Reckon a matter of ten for each net."

"Listen. Article 1081 of the Penal Code lays down that every wilful
damage of the railway line committed when it can expose the traffic on
that line to danger, and the guilty party knows that an accident must
be caused by it... (Do you understand? Knows! And you could not help
knowing what this unscrewing would lead to...) is liable to penal
servitude."

"Of course, you know best.... We are ignorant people.... What do we