ack poplar clumps which rendered the golden glare more glaring
still; yet also there could be discerned on the expanse farm buildings
shaped like lumps of sugar or butter, with, in their vicinity, toylike
human beings and diminutive cattle--the whole shimmering and melting in
a mirage born of the heat. And at the mere sight of those steppes, with
their embroidery of silk under the blue of the zenith, one's muscles
tightened, and one felt inspired with a longing to spring to one's
feet, close one's eyes, and walk for ever with the soft, mournful song
of the waste crooning in one's ears.

To the right also of the defile lay the winding valley of the Sunzha,
with more hills; and above those hills hung the blue sky, and in their
flanks were clefts which, full of grey mist, kept emitting a ceaseless
din of labour, a sound of dull explosions, as a great puissant force
attained release.

Yet almost at the same moment would that hurly-burly so merge with the
echo of our defile, so become buried in the defile's verdure and rock
crevices, that once more the place would seem to be singing only its
own gentle, gracious song.

And, should one turn to glance up the defile, it could be seen to grow
narrower and narrower as it ascended towards the mists, and the latter
to grow thicker and thicker until the whole defile was swathed in a
dark blue pall. Higher yet there could be discerned the brilliant gleam
of blue sky. Higher yet one could distinguish the ice-capped peak of
Kara Dagh, floating and dissolving amid the ( from here) invisible
sunlight. Highest of all again brooded the serene, steadfast peace of
heaven.

Also, everything was bathed in a strange tint of bluish grey: to which
circumstance must have been due the fact that always one's soul felt
filled with restlessness, one's heart stirred to disquietude, and fired
as with intoxication, charged with incomprehensible thoughts, and
conscious as of a summons to set forth for some unknown destination.

* * * * *

The foreman of the carpenters shaded his eyes to gaze in our direction;
and as he did so, he drawled and rasped out in tedious fashion:

"Some shall to the left be sent,
And in the pit of Hell lie pent.
While others, holding palm in hand,
Shall on God's right take up their stand."

"DID you hear that?" the ex-soldier growled through clenched teeth.
"'Palm in hand' indeed! Why, the fellow must be a Mennonite or a
Molokan, thoug