y a soldier
was leading a horse by a rein, and another soldier tramped noisily
alongside him, shouted, whistled, and laughed. There was no one else
near the prison. On the impulse of the moment the mother walked
straight up to them. As she came near she shouted:

"Soldiers! didn't you see a goat anywhere around here?"

One of them answered:

"No."

She walked slowly past them, toward the fence of the cemetery, looking
slantwise to the right and the back. Suddenly she felt her feet
tremble and grow heavy, as if frozen to the ground. From the corner of
the prison a man came along, walking quickly, like a lamplighter. He
was a stooping man, with a little ladder on his shoulder. The mother,
blinking in fright, quickly glanced at the soldiers; they were stamping
their feet on one spot, and the horse was running around them. She
looked at the ladder--he had already placed it against the wall and was
climbing up without haste. He waved his hand in the courtyard, quickly
let himself down, and disappeared around the corner. That very second
the black head of Mikhail appeared on the wall, followed by his entire
body. Another head, with a shaggy hat, emerged alongside of his. Two
black lumps rolled to the ground; one disappeared around the corner;
Mikhail straightened himself up and looked about.

"Run, run!" whispered the mother, treading impatiently. Her ears were
humming. Loud shouts were wafted to her. There on the wall appeared a
third head. She clasped her hands in faintness. A light-haired head,
without a beard, shook as if it wanted to tear itself away, but it
suddenly disappeared behind the wall. The shouts came louder and
louder, more and more boisterous. The wind scattered the thin trills
of the whistles through the air. Mikhail walked along the wall--there!
he was already beyond it, and traversed the open space between the
prison and the houses of the city. It seemed to her as if he were
walking very, very slowly, that he raised his head to no purpose.
"Everyone who sees his face will remember it forever," and she
whispered, "Faster! faster!" Behind the wall of the prison something
slammed, the thin sound of broken glass was heard. One of the
soldiers, planting his feet firmly on the ground, drew the horse to
him, and the horse jumped. The other one, his fist at his mouth,
shouted something in the direction of the prison, and as he shouted he
turned his head sidewise, with his ear cocked.