ce,
still keeping his eyes fixed on Yegorushka, the mysterious Tit
kicked up one leg, felt with his heel for a niche and clambered up
the rock; from that point he ascended to the next rock, staggering
backwards and looking intently at Yegorushka, as though afraid he
might hit him from behind, and so made his way upwards till he
disappeared altogether behind the crest of the hill.

After watching him out of sight, Yegorushka put his arms round his
knees and leaned his head on them. . . . The burning sun scorched
the back of his head, his neck, and his spine. The melancholy song
died away, then floated again on the stagnant stifling air. The
rivulet gurgled monotonously, the horses munched, and time dragged
on endlessly, as though it, too, were stagnant and had come to a
standstill. It seemed as though a hundred years had passed since
the morning. Could it be that God's world, the chaise and the horses
would come to a standstill in that air, and, like the hills, turn
to stone and remain for ever in one spot? Yegorushka raised his
head, and with smarting eyes looked before him; the lilac distance,
which till then had been motionless, began heaving, and with the
sky floated away into the distance. . . . It drew after it the brown
grass, the sedge, and with extraordinary swiftness Yegorushka floated
after the flying distance. Some force noiselessly drew him onwards,
and the heat and the wearisome song flew after in pursuit. Yegorushka
bent his head and shut his eyes. . . .

Deniska was the first to wake up. Something must have bitten him,
for he jumped up, quickly scratched his shoulder and said:

"Plague take you, cursed idolater!"

Then he went to the brook, had a drink and slowly washed. His
splashing and puffing roused Yegorushka from his lethargy. The boy
looked at his wet face with drops of water and big freckles which
made it look like marble, and asked:

"Shall we soon be going?"

Deniska looked at the height of the sun and answered:

"I expect so."

He dried himself with the tail of his shirt and, making a very
serious face, hopped on one leg.

"I say, which of us will get to the sedge first?" he said.

Yegorushka was exhausted by the heat and drowsiness, but he raced
off after him all the same. Deniska was in his twentieth year, was
a coachman and going to be married, but he had not left off being
a boy. He was very fond of flying kites, chasing pigeons, playing
knuckle-bones, running races, and alway