, striking against its
bosom, and covered with troubled dark waves, the river was spasmodically
rushing toward the wind with a noisy splash, and all in the froth of
wrath. The willow bushes on the shore bent low to the ground--trembling,
they now were about to lie down on the ground, now, frightened, they
thrust themselves away from it, driven by the blows of the wind. In the
air rang a whistling, a howling, and a deep groaning sound, that burst
from dozens of human breasts:

"It goes--it goes--it goes!"

This exclamation, abrupt as a blow, and heavy as the breath from an
enormous breast, which is suffocating from exertion, was soaring over
the river, falling upon the waves, as if encouraging their mad play with
the wind, and they struck the shores with might.

Two empty barges lay anchored by the mountainous shore, and their tall
masts, rising skyward, rocked in commotion from side to side, as though
describing some invisible pattern in the air. The decks of both barges
were encumbered with scaffolds, built of thick brown beams; huge sheaves
were hanging everywhere; chains and ropes were fastened to them, and
rocking in the air; the links of the chains were faintly clanging. A
throng of peasants in blue and in red blouses pulled a large beam across
the dock and, heavily stamping their feet, groaned with full chest:

"It goes--it goes--it goes!"

Here and there human figures clung to the scaffoldings, like big lumps
of blue and red; the wind, blowing their blouses and their trousers,
gave the men odd forms, making them appear now hump-backed, now round
and puffed up like bladders. The people on the scaffolds and on the
decks of the barges were making fast, hewing, sawing, driving in nails;
and big arms, with shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows were seen
everywhere. The wind scattered splinters of wood, and a varied, lively,
brisk noise in the air; the saw gnawed the wood, choking with wicked
joy; the beams, wounded by the axes, moaned and groaned drily; the
boards cracked sickly as they split from the blows they received; the
jointer squeaked maliciously. The iron clinking of the chains and the
groaning creaking of the sheaves joined the wrathful roaring of the
waves, and the wind howled loudly, scattering over the river the noise
of toil and drove the clouds across the sky.

"Mishka-a! The deuce take you!" cried someone from the top of the
scaffolding. And from the deck, a large-formed peasant, with his head
t