to each other.
These were exiles. They walked as briskly as the others, stopped, and
formed in rows of four. Then came the women in the same order, in gray
coats and 'kerchiefs, those sentenced to hard labor coming first; then
the exiles, and finally those voluntarily following their husbands, in
their native costumes. Some of the women carried infants under the
skirts of their coats.

Children--boys and girls--followed them on foot, hanging on to the
skirts of their mothers. The men stood silently, coughing now and
then, or exchanging remarks, while the women carried on incessant
conversation. Nekhludoff thought that he saw Maslova as she was coming
out, but she was soon lost in the large crowd, and he only saw a lot
of gray creatures almost deprived of all womanly features, with their
children and sacks, grouping themselves behind the men.

Although the convicts had been counted within the walls of the prison,
the guard began to count them over again. This counting took a long
time, because the convicts, moving from one place to another, confused
the count of the officers. The officers cursed and pushed the humbly
but angrily compliant convicts and counted them again. When the
counting was finally over, the officer of the guard gave some command,
and suddenly all became confusion in the crowd. Infirm men, women and
children hastened to the trucks, on which they first placed their
sacks, then climbed in themselves, the infants crying in their
mothers' arms, the children quarreling about the places, the men
looking gloomy and despondent.

Some of the convicts, removing their caps, approached the officer and
made some request. As Nekhludoff afterward learned, they were asking
to be taken on the wagons. The guard officer, without looking at the
applicants, silently inhaled the smoke of his cigarette, then suddenly
swung his short hand at one of the convicts that approached him, who
dodged and sprang back.

"I will elevate you to the nobility with a rope! You can walk!"
shouted the officer.

Only a tall, staggering old man in irons was permitted to ride on a
wagon. The old man removed his cap, and making the sign of the cross,
dragged himself to the wagon; but his fettered legs prevented his
climbing up until an old woman, sitting on the wagon, took his hand
and helped him in.

When all the wagons were loaded with sacks and those that were
permitted to ride, the guard officer uncovered his bald head, wiped
with a