d second-class cabins. Among
them was the mate, a man with a black moustache and rubicund features
who inquired of someone amid the confusion: "You are not a doctor, I
suppose?" and received the astonished, high-pitched reply: "No, sir,
nor ever have been one."

To this someone added with a drawl:

"Why is a doctor needed? Surely the man is a fellow of no particular
importance?"

Over the river the radiance of the summer daylight had gathered
increased strength, and, since the date was a Sunday, bells were
sounding seductively from a hill, and a couple of women in gala apparel
who were following the margin of the river waved handkerchiefs towards
the steamer, and shouted some greeting.

Meanwhile the young fellow lay motionless, with his eyes closed.
Divested of his pea-jacket, and wrapped about with wet, clinging
underclothing, he looked more symmetrical than previously--his chest
seemed better developed, his body plumper, and his face more rotund and
less ugly.

Yet though the passengers gazed at him with compassion or distaste or
severity or fear, as the case might be, all did so without ceremony, as
though he had not been a living man at all.

For instance, a gaunt gentleman in a grey frock-coat said to a lady in
a yellow straw hat adorned with a pink ribbon:

"At our place, in Riazan, when a certain master-watchmaker went and
hanged himself to a ventilator, he first of all stopped every watch and
clock in his shop. Now, the question is, why did he stop them?"

"An abnormal case indeed!"

On the other hand, a dark-browed woman who had her hands hidden beneath
her shawl stood gazing at the rescued man in silence, and with her side
turned towards him. As she did so tears were welling in her grey-blue
eyes.

Presently two sailors appeared. One of them bent over the young fellow,
touched him on the shoulder, and said:

"Hi! You are to get up."

Whereupon the young fellow rose, and was removed elsewhither.

* * * * *

When, after an interval, he reappeared on deck, he was clean and dry,
and clad in a cook's white jumper and a sailor's blue serge trousers.
Clasping his hands behind his back, hunching his shoulders, and bending
his head forward, he walked swiftly to the stern, with a throng of
idlers--at first one by one, and then in parties of from three to a
dozen--following in his wake.

The man seated himself upon a coil of rope, and, craning his neck in
wolf-like fashion