t the cross and then at Dymov and asked:

"Nikola, isn't this the place where the mowers killed the merchants?"

Dymov not very readily raised himself on his elbow, looked at the
road and said:

"Yes, it is. . . ."

A silence followed. Kiruha broke up some dry stalks, crushed them
up together and thrust them under the cauldron. The fire flared up
brightly; Styopka was enveloped in black smoke, and the shadow cast
by the cross danced along the road in the dusk beside the waggons.

"Yes, they were killed," Dymov said reluctantly. "Two merchants,
father and son, were travelling, selling holy images. They put up
in the inn not far from here that is now kept by Ignat Fomin. The
old man had a drop too much, and began boasting that he had a lot
of money with him. We all know merchants are a boastful set, God
preserve us. . . . They can't resist showing off before the likes
of us. And at the time some mowers were staying the night at the
inn. So they overheard what the merchants said and took note of
it."

"O Lord! . . . Holy Mother!" sighed Panteley.

"Next day, as soon as it was light," Dymov went on, "the merchants
were preparing to set off and the mowers tried to join them. 'Let
us go together, your worships. It will be more cheerful and there
will be less danger, for this is an out-of-the-way place. . . .'
The merchants had to travel at a walking pace to avoid breaking the
images, and that just suited the mowers. . . ."

Dymov rose into a kneeling position and stretched.

"Yes," he went on, yawning. "Everything went all right till they
reached this spot, and then the mowers let fly at them with their
scythes. The son, he was a fine young fellow, snatched the scythe
from one of them, and he used it, too. . . . Well, of course, they
got the best of it because there were eight of them. They hacked
at the merchants so that there was not a sound place left on their
bodies; when they had finished they dragged both of them off the
road, the father to one side and the son to the other. Opposite
that cross there is another cross on this side. . . . Whether it
is still standing, I don't know. . . . I can't see from here. . . ."

"It is," said Kiruha.

"They say they did not find much money afterwards."

"No," Panteley confirmed; "they only found a hundred roubles."

"And three of them died afterwards, for the merchant had cut them
badly with the scythe, too. They died from loss of blood. One had
his hand cut off, so