head, his
shoulders, and part of his chest into the black hole, so that
Yegorushka could see nothing but his short legs, which scarcely
touched the ground. Seeing the reflection of his head far down at
the bottom of the well, he was delighted and went off into his deep
bass stupid laugh, and the echo from the well answered him. When
he got up his neck and face were as red as beetroot. The first to
run up and drink was Dymov. He drank laughing, often turning from
the pail to tell Kiruha something funny, then he turned round, and
uttered aloud, to be heard all over the steppe, five very bad words.
Yegorushka did not understand the meaning of such words, but he
knew very well they were bad words. He knew the repulsion his friends
and relations silently felt for such words. He himself, without
knowing why, shared that feeling and was accustomed to think that
only drunk and disorderly people enjoy the privilege of uttering
such words aloud. He remembered the murder of the grass snake,
listened to Dymov's laughter, and felt something like hatred for
the man. And as ill-luck would have it, Dymov at that moment caught
sight of Yegorushka, who had climbed down from the waggon and gone
up to the well. He laughed aloud and shouted:

"I say, lads, the old man has been brought to bed of a boy in the
night!"

Kiruha laughed his bass laugh till he coughed. Someone else laughed
too, while Yegorushka crimsoned and made up his mind finally that
Dymov was a very wicked man.

With his curly flaxen head, with his shirt opened on his chest and
no hat on, Dymov looked handsome and exceptionally strong; in every
movement he made one could see the reckless dare-devil and athlete,
knowing his value. He shrugged his shoulders, put his arms akimbo,
talked and laughed louder than any of the rest, and looked as though
he were going to lift up something very heavy with one hand and
astonish the whole world by doing so. His mischievous mocking eyes
glided over the road, the waggons, and the sky without resting on
anything, and seemed looking for someone to kill, just as a pastime,
and something to laugh at. Evidently he was afraid of no one, would
stick at nothing, and most likely was not in the least interested
in Yegorushka's opinion of him. . . . Yegorushka meanwhile hated
his flaxen head, his clear face, and his strength with his whole
heart, listened with fear and loathing to his laughter, and kept
thinking what word of abuse he could pay h