barn. The moon was already high above the farm; it must be
near midnight. Who was that creeping off to the gate?

"Stop. Who goes there?"

Could that be Boehnke? "_Psia krew!_" All at once the young fellow
recollected how miserable he had been.

"Heigh, stop!" He set out in pursuit of the man who had just gone out
of the gate.

Boehnke heard neither the calls nor the panting man who rushed after
him. He was staggering across the fields as though intoxicated with
joy, repeating the words, "My darling, my sweet one!"

At that moment somebody caught hold of him by the nape of his neck, and
as he was walking very shakily, he fell down without any show of
resistance and without a cry, so that Mikolai, who had whirled him
round and was now kneeling on his chest, had an [Pg 267] easy time of
it. "It's I, Mikolai," he panted. "I'll teach you!"

Mikolai had hardly ever given anybody such a thrashing before; it was
such a relief to him to get rid of his misery in this way. He flogged
the man until his arm was stiff, and then threw him into the ditch at
the side of the field and went home satisfied. He whistled as he walked
back to the farm. There, now he had given that fellow a good reminder;
he would have a few bruises to show. And if he felt inclined to bring
an action against him, then let him; he would never repent of what he
had done. He felt much brighter now. He looked about for Marianna; how
tiresome, she was no doubt sleeping upstairs by now. He went round to
the gable and began to whistle, but nobody opened the window, and no
eager "Yes, yes!" reached his ear. How tiresome! The woman was sleeping
like a badger in his hole. He would have to enjoy the thought of his
successful stroke by himself, then, and he pressed his fists against
his mouth and hopped about on one leg with joy.

When he came round to the front door again he noticed a light gleaming
through the shutters in the big room. What, was somebody still awake?
Was his father not asleep yet? Perhaps in his drunken condition he had
forgotten to put out the lamp. Then it would be smoking the whole night
through, as it had done a short time before, when the smelling thing
had only gone out for want of paraffin. Did the old fool really want to
set fire to the whole concern? How dreadful it would be to have a fire
with all that straw in the barn. The man cast an anxious look at the
streak of light which found its way through the shutters; it seemed
twice as br