ending haughtiness,
that it was at once evident that she considered herself the most
important person there.

The company were seated on the extreme link of the raft, extending far
into the smooth expanse of the river. Boards were spread out on the
raft and in the centre stood a crudely constructed table; empty bottles,
provision baskets, candy-wrappers and orange peels were scattered about
everywhere. In the corner of the raft was a pile of earth, upon which
a bonfire was burning, and a peasant in a short fur coat, squatting,
warmed his hands over the fire, and cast furtive glances at the people
seated around the table. They had just finished eating their sturgeon
soup, and now wines and fruits were before them on the table.

Fatigued with a two-days' spree and with the dinner that had just been
finished, the company was in a weary frame of mind. They all gazed
at the river, chatting, but their conversation was now and again
interrupted by long pauses.

The day was clear and bright and young, as in spring. The cold,
clear sky stretched itself majestically over the turbid water of the
gigantically-wide, overflowing river, which was as calm as the sky and
as vast as the sea. The distant, mountainous shore was tenderly bathed
in bluish mist. Through it, there, on the mountain tops, the crosses
of churches were flashing like big stars. The river was animated at the
mountainous shore; steamers were going hither and thither, and their
noise came in deep moans toward the rafts and into the meadows, where
the calm flow of the waves filled the air with soft and faint sounds.
Gigantic barges stretched themselves one after another against the
current, like huge pigs, tearing asunder the smooth expanse of the
river. Black smoke came in ponderous puffs from the chimneys of the
steamers, slowly melting in the fresh air, which was full of bright
sunshine. At times a whistle resounded--it was like the roar of some
huge, enraged animal, embittered by toil. And on the meadows near the
rafts, all was calm and silent. Solitary trees that had been drowned
by the flood, were now already covered with light-green spangles of
foliage. Covering their roots and reflecting their tops, the water gave
them the appearance of globes, and it seemed as though the slightest
breeze would send them floating, fantastically beautiful, down the
mirror-like bosom of the river.

The red-haired woman, pensively gazing into the distance, began to sing
softl