“Where are the men gathering?” asked a young peasant as the singer was rising from his place. The old man, who was well informed about all the movements of the Cossacks, named a nearby place. The men scattered quickly. Brief outcries could be heard, weapons were taken up, and in front of their doorways, the women cried. An hour later, a company of armed peasants set forth from the town in the direction of Chernigov.

Peter had offered the kobzar a glass of cider in the hope of finding out more from him. The old man sat there, drank, but provided only curt answers to the shoemaker’s many questions. Then he said his thanks and departed. Alyosha led the blind man over the threshold. When they were outside in the night and alone, Alyosha asked him, “Can anyone join in the war?”

“Anyone,” said the old man, and disappeared at a quick pace, as though he could see in the dark.

When everyone was asleep, Alyosha got up off the stove, where he had been lying with his clothes on, took his rifle, and went out. Outside, all at once he felt himself being embraced and kissed gently on his hair. Immediately, then, in the moonlight he recognized Akulina, who was dashing toward the house.

“Mother?” he called out, surprised, and he began to feel very odd. He hesitated for a time. A door closed somewhere and a dog howled nearby. Then Alyosha hung his rifle over his shoulder and set off vigorously, for he intended to catch up with the men before morning. But in the house, everyone behaved as though they did not notice Alyosha’s absence. Only when they resumed their places at the table and Peter noticed the empty place did he get up, go to the corner, and light a candle before the Znamenskaya. A very thin candle. The ugly daughter shrugged her shoulders.

Meanwhile, Ostap, the blind old man, had already arrived at the next village and was beginning, sadly and with a gently plaintive voice, the “Song of Justice.”

The crippled man bided his time for a few moments. Then he looked at me with surprise. “So, why don’t you tell the end? It must be as in the treachery story—the old man was God.”

“Oh,” I said with a shudder, “I hadn’t realized.”

1. The Zaporozhian Sich, or armed camp, was the stronghold of the Cossacks in Zaporozhia.—Ed.

2. A hetman is a Cossack chief.—Ed.

A Scene from the Venice Ghetto

A Scene from the Venice Ghetto