is fellow-serfs. The
superintendent was in the habit of flogging him severely every week, and
he took also Vasili's wife to serve him as cook.

Accordingly, during the evening that followed this meeting in the woods
Michael arrived on the scene on horseback. He began at once to find
fault with the manner in which the work had been done, and to complain
because some lime-trees had been cut down.

"I told you not to cut down any lime-trees!" shouted the enraged
superintendent. "Who did this thing? Tell me at once, or I shall flog
every one of you!"

On investigation, a peasant named Sidor was pointed out as the guilty
one, and his face was roundly slapped. Michael also severely punished
Vasili, because he had not done sufficient work, after which the master
rode safely home.

In the evening the serfs again assembled, and poor Vasili said: "Oh,
what kind of people ARE we, anyway? We are only sparrows, and not men at
all! We agree to stand by each other, but as soon as the time for action
comes we all run and hide. Once a lot of sparrows conspired against a
hawk, but no sooner did the bird of prey appear than they sneaked off in
the grass. Selecting one of the choicest sparrows, the hawk took it away
to eat, after which the others came out crying, 'Twee-twee!' and found
that one was missing. 'Who is killed?' they asked. 'Vanka! Well, he
deserved it.' You, my friends, are acting in just the same manner. When
Michael attacked Sidor you should have stood by your promise. Why didn't
you arise, and with one stroke put an end to him and to our misery?"

The effect of this speech was to make the peasants more firm in their
determination to kill their superintendent. The latter had already given
orders that they should be ready to plough during the Easter holidays,
and to sow the field with oats, whereupon the serfs became stricken
with grief, and gathered in Vasili's house to hold another indignation
meeting. "If he has really forgotten God," they said, "and shall
continue to commit such crimes against us, it is truly necessary that we
should kill him. If not, let us perish, for it can make no difference to
us now."

This despairing programme, however, met with considerable opposition
from a peaceably-inclined man named Peter Mikhayeff. "Brethren," said
he, "you are contemplating a grievous sin. The taking of human life is a
very serious matter. Of course it is easy to end the mortal existence of
a man, but what will become