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Tsiganok said: "Stop your fooling, father you will forgive me, but they will hang me. Go to where you came from." And the dark, broad silhouette of the priest moved back silently and quickly and disappeared. Day was breaking: the snow turned whiter, the figures of the people became more distinct, and the forest thinner, more melancholy. "Gentlemen, you must go in pairs.
Tsiganok would retort, coarsely and derisively, and the quarrel would end peacefully because the dispute would soon turn into boorish, unoffending abuse, after which shooting would have seemed absurd and impossible. Tsiganok slept during the nights soundly, without stirring, in unchanging yet live motionlessness, like a wire spring in temporary inactivity.
Tsiganok quickly placed four fingers in his mouth, two fingers of each hand, rolled his eyes fiercely and then the dead air of the courtroom was suddenly rent by a real, wild, murderer's whistle at which frightened horses leap and rear on their hind legs and human faces involuntarily blanch.
The same council-chamber of the military district court which had condemned Yanson had also condemned to death a peasant of the Government of Oryol, of the District of Yeletzk, Mikhail Golubets, nicknamed Tsiganok, also Tatarin. His latest crime, proven beyond question, had been the murder of three people and armed robbery. Behind that, his dark past disappeared in a depth of mystery.
Tsiganok was writhing, catching at the air with his hands. "How is that, gentlemen? Am I to go alone? It's livelier to die together. Gentlemen, what does it mean?" He seized Werner by the hand, his fingers clutching and then relaxing. "Dear master, at least you come with me? Eh? Do me the favor? Don't refuse." Werner answered painfully: "I can't, my dear fellow. I am going with him." "Oh, my God!
At times Tsiganok really lost his senses and whirled absurdly about in the cell, still tapping upon the rough, plastered walls nervously. And he drank water like a horse. At times toward evening when they lit the lamp, Tsiganok would stand on all fours in the middle of his cell and would howl the quivering howl of a wolf.
Tsiganok now felt like standing still, like spreading his legs and standing but a whirling current of thoughts carried him away and there was nothing at which he could clutch everything about him swam. And his sleep also became uneasy. Dreams even more violent than his thoughts appeared new dreams, solid, heavy, like wooden painted blocks.
I am going to be hanged, not you. At least don't be stingy with the government's soap on the noose." "All right, all right! Keep quiet!" "This man here has eaten all your soap," said Tsiganok, pointing to the warden. "See how his face shines." "Silence!" "Don't be stingy!" And Tsiganok burst out laughing.
The sun shone overhead, gaily flashing from the ax, and everything was so gay and bright that even the man whose head was soon to be chopped off was smiling. And behind the crowd, wagons and the heads of horses could be seen the peasants had come from the village; and beyond them, further, he could see the village itself. "Ts-akh!" Tsiganok smacked his lips, licking them, and spat.
Then he must have stumbled over something, for he waved his arms and fell face downward. And there he remained lying on the snow. "Pick up the gun, you sour-faced gray-coat, or I'll pick it up," said Tsiganok sternly to the other soldier. "You don't know your business!" The little lanterns began to move about busily again. Now it was the turn of Werner and Yanson.
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