n by 'ourselves'?"

"Us here--you and myself--all Russian folk who may happen to be in
these parts. From the way in which those fellows keep singing about
palms, I should judge them to be sectarians of the sort called
Mennonites."

"Or Molokans, rather?" the other man suggested as he seated himself in
front of the fire.

"Yes, or Molokans. Molokans or Mennonites--they're all one. It is a
German faith and though such fellows love a Teuton, they do not exactly
welcome US."

Upon this the man with the Cossack forelock took a slice of bread which
the ex-soldier cut from a loaf, with an onion and a pinch of salt.
Then, as he regarded us with a pair of good-humoured eyes, he said,
balancing his food on the palms of his hands:

"There is a spot on the Sunzha, near here, where those fellows have a
colony of their own. Yes, I myself have visited it. True, those fellows
are hard enough, but at the same time to speak plainly, NO ONE in these
parts has any regard for us since only too many of the sort of Russian
folk who come here in search of work are not overly-desirable."

"Where do you yourself come from?" The ex-soldier's tone was severe.

"From Kursk, we might say."

"From Russia, then?"

"Yes, I suppose so. But I have no great opinion even of myself."

The ex-soldier glanced distrustfully at the newcomer. Then he remarked:

"What you say is cant, sheer Jesuitism. It is fellows like THOSE,
rather, that ought to have a poor opinion of themselves."

To this the other made no reply--merely he put a piece of bread into
his mouth. For a moment or two the ex-soldier eyed him frowningly. Then
he continued:

"You seem to me to be a native of the Don country?"

"Yes, I have lived on the Don as well."

"And also served in the army?"

"No. I was an only son."

"Of a miestchanin?" [A member of the small commercial class.]

"No, of a merchant."

"And your name--?"

"Is Vasili."

The last reply came only after a pause, and reluctantly; wherefore,
perceiving that the Kurskan had no particular desire to discuss his own
affairs, the ex-soldier said no more on the subject, but lifted the
kettle from the fire.

The Molokans also had kindled a blaze behind the corner of the
barraque, and now its glow was licking the yellow boards of the
structure until they seemed almost to be liquescent, to be about to
dissolve and flow over the ground in a golden stream.

Presently, as their fervour increased, the carpenters, inv