ay mistrustfully
and skeptically. Nikolay smiled.

"Don't get angry," said the mother jokingly.

Nikolay thoughtfully exclaimed:

"How shall we get the leaflets about Rybin's arrest to the village?"
Ignaty grew attentive.

"I'll speak to Vyesovshchikov to-day."

"Is there a leaflet already?" asked Ignaty.

"Yes."

"Give it to me. I'll take it." Ignaty rubbed his hands at the
suggestion, his eyes flashing. "I know where and how. Let me."

The mother laughed quietly, without looking at him.

"Why, you're tired and afraid, and you said you'd never go there again!"

Ignaty smacked his lips and stroked his curly hair with his broad palm.

"I'm tired; I'll rest; and of course I'm afraid!" His manner was
businesslike and calm. "They beat a man until the blood comes, as you
yourself say--then who wants to be mutilated? But I'll pull through
somehow at night. Never mind! Give me the leaflets; this evening I'll
get on the go." He was silent, thought a while, his eyebrows working.
"I'll go to the forest; I'll hide the literature, and then I'll notify
our fellows: 'Go get it.' That's better. If I myself should
distribute them I might fall into the hands of the police, and it would
be a pity for the leaflets. You must act carefully here. There are
not many such leaflets!"

"And how about your fear?" the mother observed again with a smile. This
curly-haired, robust fellow put her into a good humor by his sincerity,
which sounded in his every word, and shone from his round, determined
face.

"Fear is fear, and business is business!" he answered with a grin. "Why
are you laughing at me, eh? You, too! Why, isn't it natural to be
afraid in this matter? Well, and if it's necessary a man'll go into a
fire. Such an affair, it requires it."

"Ah, you, my child!"

Ignaty, embarrassed, smiled. "Well, there you are--child!" he said.

Nikolay began to speak, all the time looking good-naturedly with
screwed-up eyes at the young peasant.

"You're not going there!"

"Then what'll I do? Where am I to be?" Ignaty asked uneasily.

"Another fellow will go in place of you. And you'll tell him in detail
what to do and how to do it."

"All right!" said Ignaty. But his consent was not given at once, and
then only reluctantly.

"And for you we'll obtain a good passport and make you a forester."

The young fellow quickly threw back his head and asked uneasily:

"But if the peasants come there for wood, or