WEBVTT

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Dedication, forward and introduction of the
Seven who Were Hanged. This is a

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libervox recording. All Libervox recordings are
in the public domain. For more information

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not to volunteer, please visit librovox
dot org. Recording by Carolyn The Seven

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who Were Hanged by Leonit Nikolayevitch Andreyev, translated by Hermann Bernstein dedication to Count

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Leuen Tolstoy. This book is dedicated
by Leonid Andreyev. The translation of this

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story is also respectfully inscribed to Count
Leuenn Tolstoy by Hermann Bernstein Forward. Leonid

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Andreyev, who was born nor Yol
in eighteen seventy one, is the most

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popular and next to Tolstoy, the
most gifted writer in Russia to day.

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Andreev has written many important stories and
dramas, the best known among which our

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read Laughter, Life of Man to
the Stars, The Life of Vasily Fiveisky

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Eliazar, Black Masks, and the
Story of the Seven who were Hanged in

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Red Laughter. He depicted the horrors
of war as few men had ever before

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done it. He dipped his pen
into the blood of Russia, and he

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wrote the Tragedy of the Manchurian War. In his Life of Man, Andreyev

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produced a great imaginative morality play which
has been ranked by European critics with some

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of the greatest dramatic masterpieces. The
Story of the Seven Who Were Hanged is

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thus far his most important achievement.
The keen psychological insight and the masterly simplicity

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with which Andreev has penetrated and depicted
each of the tragedies of the Seven Who

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Were Hanged place him in the same
class as an artist with Russia's greatest masters

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of fiction, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev and
Tolstoy. I consider myself fortunate to be

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able to present to the English reading
public this remarkable work, which has already

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produced a profound impression in Europe,
and which I believe is destined for a

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long time to come to play an
important part in opening the eyes of the

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world to the horrors perpetrated in Russia
and to the violence and inquity of the

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destruction of human life, whatever the
eeror of the crime. New York Hermann

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Bernstein introduction translated of the foregoing letter
in Russian. I am very glad that

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the Story of the Seven Who Were
hanged will be read in English. The

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misfortune of us all is that we
know so little, even nothing, about

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one another, neither about the soul, nor the life, the sufferings,

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the habits, the inclinations, the
aspirations of one another. Literature, which

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I have the honor to serve,
is dear to me, just because the

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noblest task it sets before itself is
that of wiping out boundaries and distances.

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As in a hard shell, every
human being is enclosed in a cover of

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body, dress, and life.
Who is man? We may only conjecture

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what constitutes his joy or his sorrow. We may guess only by his acts,

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which are ofttimes enigmatic, by his
laughter, and by his tears,

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which are often entirely incomprehensible to us. And if we Russians, who live

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so closely together in constant misery,
understand one another so poorly that we mercilessly

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put to death those who should be
pitied or even rewarded, and reward those

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who should be punished by contempt and
day, how much more difficult is it

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for you Americans to understand distant Russia. But then it is just as difficult

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for us Russians to understand distant America
of which we dream in our youth,

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and over which we ponder so deeply
in our years of maturity. The Jewish

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massacres and famine, a parliament and
executions, pillage, and the greatest heroism,

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the Black hundred and Leo Tolstoy.
What a mixture of figures and conceptions,

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What a fruitful source of all kinds
of misunderstandings. The truth of life

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stands aghast in silence, and its
brazen falsehood is loudly shouting, uttering,

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pressing painful questions. With whom shall
I sympathize, Whom shall I trust,

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whom shall I love? In the
Story of the Seven who Are Hanged,

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I attempt to give a sincere and
unprejudiced answer to some of those questions.

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That I have treated ruling and slaughtering
Russia with restraint and mildness. May best

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be gathered from the fact that the
Russian censor has permitted my book to circulate.

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This is sufficient evidence when we recall
how many books, brochures, and

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newspapers have found eternal rest in the
peaceful shade of the police stations, where

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they have risen to the patient's sky
in the smoke and flame of bonfires.

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But I did not attempt to condemn
the government, the fame of whose wisdom

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and virtues has already spread far beyond
the boundaries of our unfortunate fatherland. Modest

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and bashful, far beyond all measure
of her virtues. Russia would sincerely wish

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to forego this honor. But unfortunately
the free press of America and Europe has

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not spared her modesty and has given
a sufficiently clear picture of her glorious activities.

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Perhaps I am wrong in this.
It is possible that many honest people

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in America believe in the purity of
the Russian government's intentions. But this question

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is of such importance that it requires
a special treatment, for which it is

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necessary to have both time and calm
of soul. But there is no calm

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soul in Russia. My task was
to point out the horror and the inquity

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of capital punishment under any circumstances.
The horror of capital punishment is great when

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it falls to the lot of courageous
and honest people whose only guilt is their

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excess of love and the sense of
righteousness. In such instances, conscience revolts,

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But the rope is still more horrible
when it forms the news around the

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neck of weak and ignorant people,
And however strange it may appear, I

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look with lesser grief and suffering upon
the execution of the revolutionists such as Werner

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and Mussia than upon the strangling of
ignorant murderers mis in mind and heart like

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Janson and Siganok. Even the last
mad horror of inevitably approaching execution Werna Kennofset

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by his enlightened mind and his iron
will, and Musia by her purity and

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her innocence. But how are the
weak and the sinful to face it if

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not in madness, with the most
violent shock to the very foundation of their

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souls. And these people, now
that the government has steadied its hands through

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its experience with the revolutionists, are
being hanged throughout Russia, in some places

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one at a time, in others
ten at once. Children at play come

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upon badly buried bodies, and the
crowds which gather look with horror upon the

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peasants boots that are sticking out of
the ground. Prosecutors who have witnessed these

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executions are becoming insane and are taken
away to hospitals. While these people are

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being hanged being hanged. I am
deeply grateful to you for the task you

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have undertaken in translating this sad story. Knowing the sensitiveness of the American people,

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who at one time sent across the
ocean steamers full of bread for famine

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stricken Russia, I am convinced that
in this case our people, in their

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misery and bitterness, will also find
understanding and sympathy. And if my truthful

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story about seven of the thousands who
were hanged will help toward destroying at least

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one of the barriers which separate one
nation from another, one human being from

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another, one soul from another soul, I shall consider myself happy. Respectfully,

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Yours Leonit Andreyev, and of dedication, forward and introduction, Chapter one

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of the Seven Who Were Hanged by
Leoniit Nikolayevitch Andreyev, translated by Hermann Bernstein.

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This LibriVox according is in the public
domain recording by Carolyn. Chapter one

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at one o'clock, Your excellency,
as the Minister was a very stout man,

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inclined to apoplexy, they feared to
arouse him in any dangerous excitement,

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and it was with every possible precaution
that they informed him that a very serious

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attempt upon his life had been planned. When they saw that he received the

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news calmly, even with his smile, they gave him also the details The

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attempt was to be made on the
following day, at the time that he

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was to start out with his official
report. Several men terrorists plans had already

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been betrayed by a provocateur and who
were now under the vigilant surveillance of detectives,

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were to meet at one o'clock in
the afternoon in front of his house,

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and armed with bombs and revolvers,
werere to wait till he came out

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there. The terrorists were to be
trapped wait, muttered the minister, perplexed,

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How did they know I was to
leave the house at one o'clock in

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the afternoon with my report when I
myself learned of it only the day before

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yesterday. The chief of the guards
stretched out his arms with a shrug.

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Exactly at one o'clock in the afternoon, Your excellency, he said, half

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surprised, half commending the work of
the police, who had managed everything skillfully.

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The minister shook his head a morose
smile upon his thick, dark lips,

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and still smiling obediently, and not
desiring to interfere with the plans of

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the police, he hastily made ready
and went out to pass the night in

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someone else's hospital palace. His wife
and his two children were also removed from

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the dangerous house before which the bump
throwers were together. Upon the following day,

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while the lights were burning in the
palace, and courteous familiar faces were

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bowing to him, smiling and expressing
their concern, the dignitary experienced a sensation

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of pleasant excitement. He felt as
if he had already received, or was

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soon to receive, some great and
unexpected reward. But the people went away,

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the lights were extinguished, and through
the mirrors, the lacelike and fantastic

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reflection of the electric lamps on the
street quivered across the ceiling and over the

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walls. His stranger in the house, with its paintings, its statues,

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and its silence, the light itself, silent and definite, awakened painful thoughts

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in him as to the vanity of
bolts and guards and walls. And then,

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in the dead of night, in
the silence and solitude of a strange

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bedroom. A sensation of unbearable fear
swept over the dicitary. He had some

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kidney trouble, and whenever he grew
strongly agitated, his face, his hands,

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and his feet became swollen. Now
rising like a mountain of bloated flesh

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above the town springs of the bed, he felt with the anguish of a

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sick man, his swollen face,
which seemed to him to belong to someone

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else. Unceasingly, he kept thinking
of the cruel fate which people were preparing

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for him. He recalled, one
after another, all the recent horrible instances

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of bombs that had been thrown at
men of even greater eminence than himself.

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He recalled how the bombs had torn
bodies to pieces, had spattered brains over

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dirty brick walls, had knocked teeth
from their roots. And influenced by these

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meditations, it seemed to him that
his own stout, sickly body, outspread

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on the bed, was already experiencing
the fiery shock of the explosion. He

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seemed to be able to feel his
arms being severed from the shoulders, his

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teeth knocked out, his brains scattered
into particles, his feet growing numb,

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lying quietly there toes upward like those
of a dead man. He stirred with

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an effort, breathed loudly, and
coughed, in order not to seem to

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himself to resemble a corpse in any
way. He encouraged himself with the live

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noise of the grating springs of the
rustling blanket, and to assure himself that

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he was actually alive and not dead. He uttered in a bast voice,

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loudly and abruptly in the silence and
solitude of the bedroom, Mulotzi, Molotzi,

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Moulotzi, good boys. He was
praising the detectives, the police,

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and the soldiers, all those who
guarded his life and who saw opportunely and

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so cleverly, had averted the assassination. But even though he stirred, even

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though he praised his protectors, even
though he forced an unnatural smile in order

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to express his contempt for the foolish, unsuccessful terrorists, he nevertheless did not

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believe in his safety. He was
not sure that his life would not leave

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him suddenly at once. Death which
people had devised for him, and which

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was only in their minds in their
intention, seemed to him to be already

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standing there in the room. It
seemed to him that death would remain standing

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there, and would not go away
until those people had been captured, until

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the bombs had been taken from them, until they had been placed in a

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strong prison. Their death was standing
in the corner and would not go away.

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It would not go away, even
as an obedient sentinel stationed on guard

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by his superior's will and order.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, Your

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excellency, this phrase kept ringing,
changing its tone continually. Now it was

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cheerfully mocking, now angry, now
dull and obstinate. It sounded as if

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a hundred wound up gramophones had been
placed in his room, and all of

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them, one after another, were
shouting, with idiotic repetition the words they

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had been made to shout at one
o'clock in the afternoon, your excellency.

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And suddenly, this one o'clock in
the afternoon tomorrow, which but a short

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while ago, was not in any
way different from other hours, which was

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only a quiet movement of the hand
along the dial of his gold watch,

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assumed an ominous finality, sprang out
of the dial, began to live separately

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stretched itself into enormously huge black pow
which cut all life in two. It

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seemed as if no other hours had
existed before, and no other hours would

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exist after. It, as if
this hour alone, insolent and presumptuous,

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had a right to a certain peculiar
existence. Well, what do you want,

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asked the minister, angrily, muttering
between his teeth. The gramophone shouted

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at one o'clock in the afternoon,
your excellency, and the black pole smiled

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and bowed, gnashing his teeth.
The minister rose in his bed to his

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sitting posture, leaning his face on
the palms of his hands. He positively

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could not sleep on that dreadful night. Clasping his face in his swollen,

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perfumed palms, he pictured to himself
with horrifying clearness. How on the following

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morning, not knowing anything of the
plot against his life, he would have

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risen, would have drunk his coffee, not knowing anything, and then would

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have put on his coat in the
hallway. And neither he, nor the

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doorkeeper who would have handed him his
fur coat, nor the lackey who would

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have brought him the coffee, would
have known that it was utterly useless.

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To drink coffee and to put on
the coat, since a few instants later

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everything, the fur coat and his
body and the coffee within it, would

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be destroyed by an explosion, would
be seized by death. The doorkeeper would

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have opened the glass door. He
the amiable, kind, gentle doorkeeper,

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with the blue typical eyes of a
soldier, and with medals across his breast.

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He himself, with his own hands, would have opened the terrible door,

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opened it because he knew nothing.
Everybody would have smiled because they did

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not know anything. Oh ho,
he suddenly said aloud, and slowly removed

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his hand from his face, peering
into the darkness far ahead of him with

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a fixed, strained look. He
outstretched his hands, just as slowly,

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felt the button on the wall and
pressed it. Then he arose, and,

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without putting on his slippers, walked
in his bare feet over the rug

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in the strange, unfamiliar bedroom,
found the button of another lamp upon the

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wall, and pressed it. It
became light and pleasant, and only the

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disarranged bed with the blanket which had
slipped off to the floor, spoke of

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the horror, not altogether past in
his nightclothes, with his beard disheveled by

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his restless movements, with his angry
eyes, the Dignitary resembled any other angry

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old man who suffered with insomnia and
shortness of breath. It was as if

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the death which people were preparing for
him had made him bare, had torn

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away from him the magnificence and splendor
which had surrounded him. And it was

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hard to believe that it was he
who had so much power, that his

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body was but an ordinary, plain
human body that must have perished terribly in

205
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the flame and roar of a monstrous
explosion. Without dressing himself, and not

206
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feeling the cold, he sat down
in the first armchair he found, stroking

207
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his disheveled beard, and fixed his
eyes in deep, calm thoughtfulness upon the

208
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unfamiliar plaster figures of the ceiling.
So that was the trouble. That was

209
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why he had trembled and fear and
had become so agitated. That was why

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death seemed to stand in the corner
and would not go away. Could not

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go away, fools, he said
emphatically, with contempt. Fools, he

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repeated more loudly, and turned his
head slightly towards the door, that those

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to whom he was refiring, might
hear it? He was referring to those

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whom he had praised but a moment
before, but in the axis of their

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zeal, had told him of the
plots against his life. Of course,

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he thought deeply, an easy,
convincing idea arising in his mind. Now

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that they have told me, I
know and feel terrified. But if I

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had not been told, I would
not have known anything and would have drunk

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my coffee calmly after that death would
have come. But then am I so

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afraid of death? Here have I
been suffering with kidney trouble, and I

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must surely die from it some day, And yet I am not afraid because

222
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I do not know anything. And
those fools told me at one o'clock in

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the afternoon, Your excellency, and
they thought I would be glad. But

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instead of that, death stationed itself
in the corner and would not go away.

225
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It would not go away, because
it was my thought. It is

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not death, then, is terrible, but the knowledge of it. It

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would be utterly impossible to live if
a man could know exactly and definitely the

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day and hour of his death.
And the fools cautiented me at one o'clock

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in the afternoon, Your excellency,
He began to feel light hearted and cheerful,

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as if some one had told him
that he was immortal, that he

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would never die, And feeling himself
again strong and wise. Amid the hurts

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of fools who had so stupidly and
imprudently broken into the mystery of the future,

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he began to think of the bliss
of ignorance. And his thoughts were

234
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the painful thoughts of an old sick
man who had gone through endless experience.

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It was not given to any living
being, man or beast to know the

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day and hour of death. Here
he had been ill not long ago,

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and the physicians told him that he
must expect the end, that he should

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make his final arrangements. But he
had not believed them, and he remained

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alive. In his youth, he
had become entangled in an affair and had

240
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.400
resolved to end his life. He
had even loaded the revolver, had written

241
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.839
his letters, and had fixed upon
the hour for suicide. But before the

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very end he had suddenly changed his
mind. It would always be thus,

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At the very last moment, something
would change, an unexpected accident would befall

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00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:32.119
no one could tell when he would
die. At one o'clock in the afternoon,

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your excellency, those kind asses had
said to him. And although they

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had told him of it only that
death might be averted, the mere knowledge

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of its possibility at a certain hour
again filled him with horror. It was

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probable that some day he should be
assassinated, but it would not happen to

249
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morrow. It would not happen to
morrow, and he could sleep undisturbed,

250
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as if he were really immortal.
Fools, they did not know what a

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00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.440
great law they had dislodged. What's
an abyss they had opened? When they

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said, in their idiotic kindness,
had one o'clock in the afternoon, your

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excellency, No, not at one
o'clock in the afternoon, your excellency,

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But no one knows when, no
one knows when what? Nothing answered,

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00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:27.960
silence, nothing, But you did
say something nothing nonsense, I say tomorrow

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at one o'clock in the afternoon.
There was a sudden, acute pain in

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his heart, and he understood that
he would have neither sleep, nor peace

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nor joy until that a cursed black
hour standing out of the dial should have

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passed. Only the shadow of the
knowledge of something which no living being could

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know stood there in the corner,
and that was enough to darken the world

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and envelop him in the impenetrable gloom
of horror. The once disturbed fear of

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00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:06.680
death diffused through his body, penetrated
into his bones. He no longer feared

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00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:10.799
the murderers of the next day.
They had vanished, they had been forgotten.

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They had mingled with the crowd of
hostile faces and incidents which surrounded his

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00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:22.720
life. He now feared something sudden
and inevitable, an apoplectic stroke, heart

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failure, some foolish, thin little
vessel which might suddenly fail to withstand the

267
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:33.359
pressure of the blood and might burst
like a tight glove upon swollen fingers.

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His short, thick neck seemed terrible
to him. It became unbearable for him

269
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to look upon his short, swollen
fingers, to feel how short they were,

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and how they were filled with the
moisture of death. And if before,

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when it was dark he had had
to stir in order not to resemble

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a corpse. Now, in the
bright, cold, inimical, dreadful light,

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he was so filled with horror that
he could not move in order to

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00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.519
get a cigarette or to ring for
someone. His nerves were giving why each

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00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:11.039
one of them seemed as if it
were a bent wire, at the top

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of which there was a small head
with mad, wide, open, frightened

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eyes and a convulsively gaping, speechless
mouth. He could not draw his breath.

278
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Suddenly, in the darkness, amidst
the dust and cobwebs, somewhere upon

279
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:33.559
the ceiling, an electric bell came
to life. The small metallic tongue,

280
00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:40.039
agitatedly in terror, kept striking the
edge of the ringing cap, became silent,

281
00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:47.119
and again quivered in an unceasing frightened
din. His Excellency was ringing his

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00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:52.240
bell in his own room. People
began to run here and there in the

283
00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:56.079
shadows upon the walls, lamps flared
up. There were not enough of them

284
00:25:56.119 --> 00:26:02.079
to give light, but there were
enough to cast shadow. The shadows appeared

285
00:26:02.119 --> 00:26:07.000
everywhere. They arose in the corners, they stretched across the ceiling, tremulously,

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00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:11.839
clinging to each and every elevation.
They covered the walls, and it

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00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:18.000
was hard to understand where all these
innumerable, deformed, silent shadows, voiceless

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00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:26.440
souls of voiceless objects had been before. A deep, trembling voice said something

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00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:32.799
loudly. Then the doctor was hastily
summoned by telephone. The dignitary was collapsing.

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The wife of his excellency was also
called. End of chapter one.

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00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:48.799
Chapter two of the seven who were
hanged by Leoni to Nikolayevitch Andreyev translated by

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00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:55.799
Hermann Bernstein. This Liuovox recording is
in the public domain. Recording by Carolyn

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00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:03.920
Chapter two condemned to be hanged everything
befell as the police had foretold. Four

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00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:10.480
terrorists, three men and a woman, armed with bombs, infernal machines and

295
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:15.000
revolvers were seized at the very entrance
of the house, and another woman was

296
00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:22.559
later found and arrested in the house
where the conspiracy had been hatched. She

297
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:26.440
was its mistress. At the same
time, a great deal of dynamite and

298
00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:33.519
half finished bomb explosives were seized.
All those arrested were very young. The

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00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:37.559
eldest of the men was twenty eight
years old, the younger of the women

300
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was only nineteen. They were tried
in the same fortress in which they were

301
00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:48.160
imprisoned after the arrest. They were
tried swiftly and secretly, as was done

302
00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:52.799
during that unmerciful time. At the
trial, all of them were calm,

303
00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:59.640
but very serious and thoughtful. Their
contempt for the judges was so intense that

304
00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:04.480
none of them wished to emphasize his
daring by even a superfluous smile or by

305
00:28:04.519 --> 00:28:11.920
a faint expression of cheerfulness. Each
was simply as calm as was necessary to

306
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:18.720
hetch in his soul from curious evil
and inimical eyes, the great gloom that

307
00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:26.440
precedes death. Sometimes they refused to
answer questions, sometimes answered briefly, simply

308
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:33.119
and precisely, as though they were
answering not the judge but statisticians for the

309
00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:41.759
purpose of supplying information for particular special
tables. Three of them, one woman

310
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:45.680
and two men, gave their real
names, while two others refused and thus

311
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:52.200
remained unknown to the judges. They
manifested for all that was going on at

312
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:56.279
the trial, a certain curiosity softened, as though through a haze, such

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00:28:56.359 --> 00:29:00.440
as is peculiar to persons who are
very ill, who are carried away by

314
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:07.599
some great, all absorbing idea.
They glanced op occasionally caught some word in

315
00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:12.440
the air more interesting than the others, and then resumed the thought from which

316
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:18.839
their attention had been distracted. The
man who was nearest to the judges called

317
00:29:18.920 --> 00:29:25.799
himself Sergey Golovin, the son of
a retired colonel, himself an ex officer.

318
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.720
He was still a very young,
light haired, broad shouldered man,

319
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:37.960
so strong that neither the prison nor
the expectation of inevitable death could remove the

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00:29:37.079 --> 00:29:44.079
color from his cheeks and the expression
of youthful, happy frankness from his blue

321
00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:49.559
eyes. He kept energetically tugging at
his bushy, small beard, to which

322
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:55.319
he had not become accustomed, and
occasionally blinking, kept looking out of the

323
00:29:55.400 --> 00:30:00.960
window. It was towards the end
of winter, when amidst the snow storms

324
00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:07.200
and the gloomy frosty days, the
approaching springs, and as a forerunner a

325
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:11.240
clear, warm sunny day, or
a but an hour yet so full of

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00:30:11.319 --> 00:30:17.599
spring, so eagerly young and beaming, that sparrows on the street lost their

327
00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:23.240
wits for joy, and people seemed
almost as intoxicated. And now this strange

328
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:27.839
and beautiful sky could be seen through
an upper window, which was dust covered

329
00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:33.799
and unwashed since the last summer.
At first sight, the sky seemed to

330
00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:38.759
be milky gray, smoke colored,
But when you looked longer, the dark

331
00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:45.559
blue color began to penetrate through the
shade grew into an ever deeper blue,

332
00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:49.759
ever brighter, ever more intense,
and the fact that it did not reveal

333
00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:56.000
itself all at once, but hid
itself chastily in the smoke of transparent clouds

334
00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:03.440
made it as charming as the girl
you love. And Sergey Golovin looked at

335
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:07.839
the sky, tugged at his beard, blinked now, one eye, now

336
00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:15.200
the other, with its long curved
lashes, earnestly pondering over something. Once

337
00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:19.559
he began to move his fingers rapidly
and thoughtlessly knitted his brow in some joy.

338
00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:25.240
But then he glanced about, and
his joy died out like a spark,

339
00:31:25.319 --> 00:31:32.480
which he stepped upon almost instantly.
An earthen deathly blue, without first

340
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:37.400
changing into pallor, showed through the
color of his cheeks. He clutched his

341
00:31:37.640 --> 00:31:44.519
downy hair, tore their roads painfully
with his fingers, whose tips had turned

342
00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:48.880
white. But the joy of life
in spring was stronger, and a few

343
00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:52.440
minutes later his frank, young face
was again yearning toward the spring sky.

344
00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:59.200
The young, pale girl, known
only by the name of Musia, was

345
00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:04.319
also looking in the same direction at
the sky. She was younger than Golovin,

346
00:32:04.599 --> 00:32:07.799
but she seemed older in her gravity, and in the darkness of her

347
00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:15.160
open, proud eyes. Only her
very thin, slender neck and her delicate,

348
00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:21.279
girlish hands spoke of her youth.
But in addition there was that ineffable

349
00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:25.799
something which his youth itself, and
which sounded so distinctly in her clear,

350
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:34.160
melodious voice, tuned irreproachably like a
precious instrument, every simple word, every

351
00:32:34.200 --> 00:32:38.839
exclamation, giving evidence of its musical
timbre. She was very pale, but

352
00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:44.440
it was not a deathly pallor,
but that peculiar, warm whiteness of a

353
00:32:44.519 --> 00:32:50.160
person within whom, as it were, a great strong fire is burning,

354
00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:59.240
whose body glows transparently like fine savoius
porcelain. She sat almost motionless, and

355
00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:04.759
only at she touched, with an
imperceptible movement of her fingers, the circular

356
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:07.920
mark on the middle finger of her
right hand, the mark of a ring

357
00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:15.559
which had been recently removed. She
gazed at the sky without caressing kindness or

358
00:33:15.640 --> 00:33:21.720
joyous recollection. She looked at it
simply because in all the filthy official hall,

359
00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:25.960
the blue bit of sky was the
most beautiful, the purest, the

360
00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:31.000
most truthful object, and the only
one that did not try to search hidden

361
00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:40.720
depths in her eyes. The judges
pitied Sergey golovin her. They despised her.

362
00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:45.160
Neighbor, known only by the name
of Werner, sat also motionless,

363
00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:52.559
in a somewhat affected pose, his
hands folded between his knees. If a

364
00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:57.839
face may be said to look like
a false door, this unknown man closed

365
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:02.480
his face like an iron door and
bolted it with an iron lock. He

366
00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:07.960
stared motionlessly at the dirty wooden floor, and it was impossible to tell whether

367
00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:13.199
he was calm or whether he was
intensely agitated, whether he was thinking of

368
00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.840
something, or whether he was listening
to the testimony of the detectives as presented

369
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:23.119
to the cord. He was not
tall in stature. His features were refined

370
00:34:23.159 --> 00:34:28.679
and delicate, tender and handsome,
so that he reminded you of a moonlit

371
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:32.679
night in the south near the sea
shore, where the cypress trees through their

372
00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:38.440
dark shadows. He at the same
time gave the impression of tremendous calm,

373
00:34:38.519 --> 00:34:46.800
power, of invincible firmness, of
cold and audacious courage. The very politeness

374
00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:52.679
with which he gave brief and precise
answs seemed dangerous on his lips in his

375
00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:59.559
half bow. And if the prison
garb looked upon the others like the ridiculous

376
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:05.239
costs of a buffoon upon him,
it was not noticeable, so foreign was

377
00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:10.199
it to his personality. And although
the other terrorists had been seized with bombs

378
00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:15.079
and infernal machines upon them, and
Werner had had but a black revolver,

379
00:35:15.639 --> 00:35:21.679
the judges for some reason regarded him
as the leader of the others and treated

380
00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:27.280
him with a certain deference. Although
succinctly and in a business like manner,

381
00:35:28.920 --> 00:35:34.480
the next man, vastly cushied in, was torn between a terrible, dominating

382
00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:39.400
fear of death and desperate desire to
restrain the fear and not betray it to

383
00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:45.280
the judges. From early morning,
from the time they had been led into

384
00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:52.199
Cord, he had been suffocating from
an intolerable palpitation of his heart. Perspiration

385
00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:55.920
came out and drops all along his
forehead. His hands were also perspiring and

386
00:35:57.079 --> 00:36:02.239
cold, and his cold sweat cover
that shirt clung to his body, interfering

387
00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:07.760
with the freedom of his movements.
With his supernatural effort of will power,

388
00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:13.800
he forced his fingers not to tremble, his voice to be firm and distinct,

389
00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:19.039
his eyes to be calm. He
saw nothing about him. The voices

390
00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:22.039
came to him as through a mist, and it was to this mist that

391
00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:29.000
he made his desperate efforts to answer
firmly and to answer loudly. But having

392
00:36:29.079 --> 00:36:34.400
answered, he immediately forgot question as
well as answer, and was again struggling

393
00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:39.599
with himself silently and terribly. Death
was disclosed in him so clearly that the

394
00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:45.960
judges avoided looking at him. It
was hard to define his age, as

395
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:50.760
is the case with the corpse which
had begun to decompose. According to his

396
00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:55.039
passport, he was only twenty three
years old. Once or twice Werner quietly

397
00:36:55.079 --> 00:37:00.800
touched his knee with his hand,
and each time cushier in spoketly, never

398
00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:07.599
mind. The most terrible sensation was
when he was suddenly seized with an insufferable

399
00:37:07.639 --> 00:37:13.679
desire to cry out, without words, the desperate cry of a beast.

400
00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:19.239
He touched Werder quickly, and Werna, without lifting his eyes, said softly,

401
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:27.039
never mind, Fassia, it will
soon be over, and embracing them

402
00:37:27.079 --> 00:37:32.079
all with a motherly anxious look.
The fifth terrorist, Tanya Kovalchuk, was

403
00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:37.079
faint with alarm. She had never
had any children. She was still young.

404
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:42.239
And red cheeked, just as Sergey
Golovin. But she seemed as a

405
00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:45.760
mother to all of them, so
full of anxiety, so boundless love.

406
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:52.360
Were her looks, her smiles,
her sighs. She paid not the slightest

407
00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:57.239
attention to the trial, regarding it
as though it were something entirely irrelevant,

408
00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:01.519
and she listened only to the manner
in which the others were answering the questions,

409
00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:07.159
to hear whether the voice was trembling, whether there was fear, whether

410
00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:12.760
it was necessary to give water to
anyone. She could not look at Vasia

411
00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:17.599
in her anguish and only wrung her
fingers silently. At Musya and Werner,

412
00:38:17.880 --> 00:38:23.440
she gazed proudly and respectfully, and
she assumed a serious and concentrated expression,

413
00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:30.840
and then tried to transfer her smile
to Serge Golovin. The dear boy is

414
00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:36.320
looking at the sky. Look look, my darling, she thought about Golovin

415
00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:40.760
and Vasia. What is it?
My god, my god? What am

416
00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:44.679
I to do with him? If
I should speak to him, I might

417
00:38:44.760 --> 00:38:50.920
make it still worse. He might
suddenly start to cry. So like a

418
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:55.880
colm pond at dawn, reflecting every
hastening passing cloud, she reflected upon her

419
00:38:55.920 --> 00:39:01.880
full, gentle kind face, every
swift sensation, every thought of the other

420
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:06.960
four. She did not give a
single thought to the fact that she too

421
00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:12.400
was upon trial, that she too
would be hanged. She was entirely indifferent

422
00:39:12.440 --> 00:39:15.239
to it. It was in her
house that the bombs in the dynamite had

423
00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:20.519
been discovered, and strange though it
may seem, it was she who had

424
00:39:20.599 --> 00:39:23.960
met the police with pistol shots and
had wounded one of the detectives in the

425
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:30.760
head. The trial ended at about
eight o'clock, when it had become dark

426
00:39:30.280 --> 00:39:36.239
before Musia's and Golovin's eyes. The
sky, which had been turning ever bluer,

427
00:39:36.719 --> 00:39:40.119
was gradually losing its tint, but
it did not turn rosy, did

428
00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:46.559
not smile softly as in summer evenings, but became muddy gray, and suddenly

429
00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:54.159
grew cold wintry. Glovin heard a
sigh, stretched himself, glanced again twice

430
00:39:54.159 --> 00:39:58.760
at the window, but the cold
darkness of the night alone was there.

431
00:39:59.320 --> 00:40:02.519
Then continued kwing to tug at his
short beard. He began to examine with

432
00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:08.039
childish curiosity the judges, the soldiers
with their muskets, and he smiled at

433
00:40:08.119 --> 00:40:15.519
Tanya Kovalchuk. When the sky had
darkened, Musia calmly, without lowering her

434
00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:20.280
eyes to the ground, turned them
to the corner, where a small cobweb

435
00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:27.199
was quivering from the imperceptible radiations of
the steam heat. And thus she remained

436
00:40:27.239 --> 00:40:32.119
until the sentence was pronounced. After
the verdict, having bidden good bye to

437
00:40:32.199 --> 00:40:39.440
their frock coated lawyers and evading each
other's helplessly confused, pitying and guilty eyes,

438
00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:47.400
the convicted terrorists crowded in the doorway
for a moment and exchanged brief words.

439
00:40:49.800 --> 00:40:53.119
Never mind, Vasia, everything will
be over soon, said Verna.

440
00:40:54.400 --> 00:41:00.760
I am all right, brother,
Kasherin replied loudly, calmly, and even

441
00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:06.920
somewhat cheerfully, And indeed his face
had turned slightly rosy, and no longer

442
00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:12.199
looked like that of a decomposing corpse. The devil take them. They've hanged

443
00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:17.519
us, Golovin cursed quaintly. That
was to be expected, replied Werner,

444
00:41:17.639 --> 00:41:22.559
calmly. To morrow, the sentence
will be pronounced in its final form,

445
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:29.360
and we shall all be placed together, said Tanya Kovalchu consolingly. Until the

446
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:35.679
execution. We shall all be together. Monsieur was silent, then she resolutely

447
00:41:35.719 --> 00:41:46.400
moved forward. End of chapter two. Chapter three of the Seven who were

448
00:41:46.440 --> 00:41:53.360
hanged by Leoni T. Nikolayevitch Andreyev
translated by Hermann Bernstein. This libovox according

449
00:41:53.400 --> 00:42:02.199
is in the public domain. Chapter
three why should be hanged? Two weeks

450
00:42:02.199 --> 00:42:07.960
before the terrorists had been tried,
the same military district court with a different

451
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:15.920
set of judges, had tried and
condemned to death by hanging Ivan Janson a

452
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:21.199
peasant. Ivan Janson was a workman
for a well to do farmer, in

453
00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:27.440
no way different from other workmen.
He was an Estonian by birth from Weissenberg,

454
00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:31.280
and in the course of several years, passing from one farm to another,

455
00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:37.519
he had come close to the capitol. He spoke Russian very poorly,

456
00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:42.599
and as his master was a Russian
by name Lazarev, and as there were

457
00:42:42.639 --> 00:42:49.559
no Estonians in the neighborhood, Janson
had practically remained silent for almost two years.

458
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:53.599
In general, he was apparently not
inclined to talk, and was silent

459
00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:59.719
not only with human beings, but
even with animals. He would water the

460
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:05.519
hall in silence, harnessed in silence, moving about it slowly and lazily,

461
00:43:05.920 --> 00:43:09.760
with short irresolute steps, and when
the horse, annoyed by his manner,

462
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:15.159
would begin to frolic to become capricious, he would beat it in silence with

463
00:43:15.239 --> 00:43:22.800
the heavy whip. He would beat
it cruelly with stolid, angry persistency,

464
00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:27.440
And when this happened at a time
when he was suffering from the after effects

465
00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:31.559
of a carouse, he would work
himself into a frenzy. At such times,

466
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:36.360
the crack of the whip would be
heard in the house with the frightened,

467
00:43:36.480 --> 00:43:40.000
painful pounding of the horse's hoofs upon
the board floor of the barn.

468
00:43:42.280 --> 00:43:46.039
For beating his horse, his master
would beat Janson, but then, finding

469
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:52.840
that he could not be reformed,
paid no more attention to him. Once

470
00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:57.960
or twice a month, jan Son
became intoxicated, usually on those days when

471
00:43:57.960 --> 00:44:01.719
he took his master to the large
railroad station where there was a refreshment bar.

472
00:44:02.519 --> 00:44:07.920
After leaving his master at the station, he would drive off about half

473
00:44:07.960 --> 00:44:13.000
a verst away and there stolen the
slid and the horse and the snow on

474
00:44:13.119 --> 00:44:16.199
the side of the road. He
would wait until the train had gone.

475
00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:23.079
The sled would stand sideways, almost
overturned, the horse standing with widely spread

476
00:44:23.159 --> 00:44:27.960
legs up to his belly in a
snow bank, from time to time,

477
00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:32.920
lowering his head to lick the soft, downy snow, while jan Son would

478
00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:39.039
recline an awkward position in the sled, as if dozing away. The unfastened

479
00:44:39.119 --> 00:44:44.639
ear lappids of his worn fur cap
would hang down like the ears of a

480
00:44:44.679 --> 00:44:50.159
setter, and the moist sweat would
stand under his little, reddish nose.

481
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:58.159
Soon he would return to the station
and would quickly become intoxicated. On his

482
00:44:58.280 --> 00:45:01.840
way back to the farm, the
ten versts, he would drive at a

483
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:07.119
fast gallop. The little horse,
driven to madness by the whip, would

484
00:45:07.159 --> 00:45:13.400
rear as if possessed by a demon. This slid would sway almost overturn,

485
00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:19.519
striking against poles, and Jansn letting
the reins go, would half sing,

486
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:25.440
half exclaim abrupt, meaningless phrases in
Extonian. But more often he would not

487
00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:30.880
sing, but with his teeth gritted
together in an onrush of unspeakable rage,

488
00:45:31.239 --> 00:45:37.679
suffering, and delight. He would
drive silently on as though blind. He

489
00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:40.239
would not notice those who passed him. He would not call to them to

490
00:45:40.280 --> 00:45:45.519
look out. He would not slacken
his mad pace either. At the turn

491
00:45:45.559 --> 00:45:50.639
of the road, or on the
long slopes of the mountain roads. How

492
00:45:50.679 --> 00:45:53.800
it happened at such times that he
crushed into no one. How he himself

493
00:45:53.920 --> 00:46:00.119
was never dashed to death in one
of those mad rides was inexplicable. He

494
00:46:00.159 --> 00:46:05.119
would have been driven from his place, as he had been driven from other

495
00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:08.760
places, But he was cheap and
other workmen were not better, and thus

496
00:46:08.800 --> 00:46:15.760
he remained there two years. His
life was uneventful. One day he received

497
00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:20.800
a letter written in Estonian, but
as he himself was illiterate, and as

498
00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:25.400
the others did not understand Estonian,
the letter remained unread, And as if

499
00:46:25.440 --> 00:46:31.119
not understanding that the letter might bring
him tidings from his native home, he

500
00:46:31.280 --> 00:46:37.960
flung it into the manure with a
certain savage, grim indifference. At one

501
00:46:38.039 --> 00:46:43.639
time Janson tried to make love to
the cook, but he was not successful

502
00:46:43.920 --> 00:46:49.800
and was rudely rejected and ridiculed.
He was short in stature, his face

503
00:46:49.920 --> 00:46:54.320
was freckled, and his small,
sleepy eyes were somewhat of an indefinite color.

504
00:46:55.239 --> 00:47:02.119
Janson took his failure indifferently and never
again bothered the cook. But while

505
00:47:02.199 --> 00:47:07.239
Janson spoke but little, he was
listening to something all the time. He

506
00:47:07.239 --> 00:47:13.840
heard the sounds of the dismal snow
covered fields, with their heaps of frozen

507
00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:21.400
manure resembling rows of small snow covered
graves, the sound of the blue tender

508
00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:27.679
distance of the buzzing telegraph wires,
and the conversation of other people. What

509
00:47:28.039 --> 00:47:31.719
the fields and telegraph wires spoke to
him, he alone knew. And the

510
00:47:31.760 --> 00:47:37.519
conversation of the people were disquieting,
full of rumors about murders and robberies and

511
00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:44.679
arson. And one night he heard
in the neighboring village the little church bell

512
00:47:44.800 --> 00:47:50.280
ring faintly and helplessly, and the
crackling of the flames of a fire.

513
00:47:51.199 --> 00:47:54.920
Some vagabonds had plundered a rich farm, had killed the master and his wife,

514
00:47:55.320 --> 00:48:00.320
and had set fire to the house
and on there farm too. They

515
00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:05.039
lived in fear. The dogs were
loose, not only at nights, but

516
00:48:05.079 --> 00:48:08.800
also during the day, and the
master slept with a gun by his side.

517
00:48:09.440 --> 00:48:14.039
He wished to give such a gun
to Yanson, only it was an

518
00:48:14.039 --> 00:48:19.360
old one with one barrel. But
jan Son turned the gun about his hand,

519
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:22.880
shook his head and declined it.
His master did not understand the reason,

520
00:48:22.920 --> 00:48:27.760
and scolded him. But the reason
was that Janson had more faith in

521
00:48:27.840 --> 00:48:32.000
the power of his finished knife than
in the rusty gun. It would kill

522
00:48:32.079 --> 00:48:37.760
me, he said, looking at
his master sleepily with his glassy eyes,

523
00:48:37.199 --> 00:48:43.960
and the master waved his hand in
despair. You fool think of having to

524
00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:51.280
live with such a workmen. And
this same ivon Janson, who distrusted a

525
00:48:51.320 --> 00:48:54.480
gun. One winter evening, when
the other workmen had been sent away to

526
00:48:54.519 --> 00:49:00.599
the station, committed a very complicated
attempt at robbery, murder and rape.

527
00:49:01.320 --> 00:49:06.280
He did it in a surprisingly simple
manner. He locked the cook in the

528
00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:10.239
kitchen lazily with the air of a
man who was longing to sleep, walked

529
00:49:10.280 --> 00:49:15.559
over to his master from behind,
and swiftly stabbed him several times on the

530
00:49:15.639 --> 00:49:22.519
back with his knife. The master
fell unconscious, and the mistress began to

531
00:49:22.599 --> 00:49:29.159
run about screaming, while jan Son, showing his teeth and brandishing his knife,

532
00:49:29.400 --> 00:49:34.760
began to ransack the trunks and the
chests of drawers. He found the

533
00:49:34.800 --> 00:49:38.000
money he sought, and then,
as if noticing the mistress for the first

534
00:49:38.039 --> 00:49:43.960
time, and as though unexpectedly even
to himself, he rushed upon her in

535
00:49:44.079 --> 00:49:47.880
order to violate her. But as
he had let his knife drop to the

536
00:49:47.920 --> 00:49:53.360
floor. The mistress proved stronger than
he and not only did not allow him

537
00:49:53.360 --> 00:50:00.280
to harm her, but almost choked
him into unconsciousness. Then, when the

538
00:50:00.320 --> 00:50:04.719
master on the floor turned, the
cook thundered upon the door with the oven

539
00:50:04.800 --> 00:50:08.920
fork, breaking it open, and
Janson ran away into the fields. He

540
00:50:09.039 --> 00:50:15.280
was caught an hour later kneeling down
behind the corner of the barn, striking

541
00:50:15.360 --> 00:50:20.239
one match after another which would not
ignite, in an attempt to set the

542
00:50:20.280 --> 00:50:25.239
place on fire. A few days
later, the master died of blood poisoning,

543
00:50:25.519 --> 00:50:30.760
and Yanson, when his turn among
other robbers and murderers, came,

544
00:50:30.280 --> 00:50:36.280
was tried and condemned to death.
In court, he was the same as

545
00:50:36.320 --> 00:50:40.880
always, the little man, freckled
with sleepy, glassy eyes. It seemed

546
00:50:40.920 --> 00:50:45.239
as if he did not understand in
the least the meaning of what was going

547
00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:50.719
on about him. He appeared to
be entirely indifferent. He blinked his white

548
00:50:50.840 --> 00:50:59.079
eyelashes stupidly without curiosity, examined the
somber, unfamiliar court room, and picked

549
00:50:59.079 --> 00:51:06.280
his nose when his heart shriveled unbending
finger. Only those who had seen him

550
00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:08.480
on Sunday, said judge, would
have known that he had made an attempt

551
00:51:08.519 --> 00:51:15.199
to adorn himself. He wore on
his neck and knitted muddy red shawl,

552
00:51:15.480 --> 00:51:20.679
and in places had dampened the hair
off his head. Where the hair was

553
00:51:20.719 --> 00:51:23.400
wet, it lay dark and smooth, while on the other side it stuck

554
00:51:23.480 --> 00:51:30.360
up in lightened, sparse tufts,
like straws upon a hail beaten wasted meadow.

555
00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:37.239
When the sentence was pronounced death by
hanging, Jansen suddenly became agitated.

556
00:51:37.840 --> 00:51:43.360
He reddened deeply and began to tie
and untie the shawl about his neck,

557
00:51:43.719 --> 00:51:49.599
as though it were choking him.
Then he waved his arms stupidly and said,

558
00:51:49.960 --> 00:51:52.840
turning to the judge who had not
read the sentence, and pointing with

559
00:51:52.920 --> 00:51:57.719
his finger at the judge who read
it, he said that I should be

560
00:51:57.880 --> 00:52:04.199
hanged. Do you mean, asked
the presiding judge, who had pronounced the

561
00:52:04.360 --> 00:52:10.360
sentence in a deep bass voice.
Everyone smiled, some tried to hide their

562
00:52:10.440 --> 00:52:16.000
smiles behind the mustaches and their papers. Janson pointed his index finger at the

563
00:52:16.039 --> 00:52:25.199
presiding judge and answered angrily, looking
at him as gance you well. Janson

564
00:52:25.280 --> 00:52:30.760
again turned his eyes to the judge, who had been silent restraining a smile,

565
00:52:30.239 --> 00:52:34.440
whom he felt to be a friend
a man who had nothing to do

566
00:52:34.519 --> 00:52:38.199
with the sentence, and repeated he
said, I should be hanged? Why

567
00:52:38.280 --> 00:52:46.280
must I be hanged? Take the
prisoner away? But Janson succeeded in repeating,

568
00:52:46.320 --> 00:52:54.320
once more convincingly and weightily, why
must I be hanged? He looked

569
00:52:54.360 --> 00:53:00.679
so absurd with his small, angry
face, with his outstretching that even the

570
00:53:00.719 --> 00:53:06.599
soldier of the convoy breaking the rule
said to him in an undertone as he

571
00:53:06.679 --> 00:53:09.880
led him away from the court room, you are a fool, young man.

572
00:53:12.920 --> 00:53:19.800
Why must I be hanged? Repeated
Janson stubbornly. They'll swing you up

573
00:53:19.840 --> 00:53:24.840
so quickly that you'll have no time
to kick keep still, cried the other

574
00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:30.840
convoy angrily, but he himself could
not refrain from adding a robber too.

575
00:53:31.360 --> 00:53:36.000
Why did you take a human life, you fool? You must hang for

576
00:53:36.079 --> 00:53:43.000
that? They might pardon him,
said the first soldier, who began to

577
00:53:43.039 --> 00:53:47.760
feel sorry for jansn Oh, yes, they'll pardon people like him, will

578
00:53:47.840 --> 00:53:53.519
they. Well, we've talked enough, but Jansen had become silent again.

579
00:53:55.119 --> 00:53:59.559
He was again placed in the cell
in which he had already set for a

580
00:53:59.639 --> 00:54:02.599
month, and to which he had
grown accustomed, just as he had become

581
00:54:02.599 --> 00:54:08.039
accustomed to everything, to blows,
to vodka, to the dismal snow covered

582
00:54:08.039 --> 00:54:15.039
fields with their snow heaps resembling graves. And now he even began to feel

583
00:54:15.119 --> 00:54:20.440
cheerful when he saw his bed,
the familiar window with the grating, and

584
00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:24.719
when he was given something to eat. He had not eaten anything since morning.

585
00:54:27.320 --> 00:54:30.239
He had an unpleasant recollection of what
had taken place in the court,

586
00:54:30.679 --> 00:54:35.440
but of that he could not think. He was unable to recall it,

587
00:54:36.280 --> 00:54:42.480
and death by hanging he could not
picture to himself at all. Although Jansun

588
00:54:42.559 --> 00:54:46.800
had been condemned to death, there
were many others similarly sentenced, and he

589
00:54:47.000 --> 00:54:52.960
was not regarded as an important criminal. They spoke to him accordingly, with

590
00:54:52.199 --> 00:54:57.679
neither fear nor respect, just as
they would speak to prisoners who were not

591
00:54:57.880 --> 00:55:02.360
to be executed. Warden, on
leaning off the verdict, said to him,

592
00:55:04.360 --> 00:55:07.320
well, my friend, they've hanged
you. When are they going to

593
00:55:07.400 --> 00:55:15.920
hang me? Asked jan Son distrustfully. The warden meditated a moment, Well,

594
00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:20.239
you'll have to wait until they can
get together a whole party. It

595
00:55:20.360 --> 00:55:24.119
isn't worth bothering for one man,
especially for a man like you. It

596
00:55:24.280 --> 00:55:30.800
is necessary to work up the right
spirit, and when will that be persisted

597
00:55:30.880 --> 00:55:35.840
jan Son, He was not at
all offended that it was not worth while

598
00:55:35.880 --> 00:55:38.719
to hang him alone. He didn't
believe it, but considered it as an

599
00:55:38.760 --> 00:55:45.320
excuse for postponing the execution, preparatory
to revoking it altogether, and he was

600
00:55:45.400 --> 00:55:51.360
seized with joy. The confused,
terrible moment of which it was so painful

601
00:55:51.400 --> 00:55:57.360
to think, retreated fine to the
distance, becoming fixtious and improbable, as

602
00:55:57.559 --> 00:56:06.239
death always seems. When when cried
the warden, a dull, morose old

603
00:56:06.360 --> 00:56:10.480
man, growing angrily, it isn't
like hanging a dog, which you take

604
00:56:10.519 --> 00:56:15.599
behind the barn, and it is
done in no time. I suppose you

605
00:56:15.639 --> 00:56:20.119
would like to be hanged like that, you fool. I don't want to

606
00:56:20.119 --> 00:56:24.519
be hanged. And suddenly Jansun frowned
strangely. He said that I should be

607
00:56:24.559 --> 00:56:30.559
hanged, but I don't want it, and perhaps for the first time in

608
00:56:30.599 --> 00:56:35.320
his life, he laughed, a
hoarse, absurd, yet gay and joyous

609
00:56:35.400 --> 00:56:42.719
laughter. It sounded like the cackling
of a goose ga gagarre. The warden

610
00:56:42.760 --> 00:56:47.840
looked at him in astonishment, then
knit his brows sternly This strange gaiety of

611
00:56:47.920 --> 00:56:52.159
a man who was to be executed
was an offense to the prison as well

612
00:56:52.159 --> 00:56:58.400
as to the very executioner. It
made them appear absurd, and suddenly,

613
00:56:58.480 --> 00:57:02.000
for the briefest instant, it appeared
to the old warden, who had passed

614
00:57:02.079 --> 00:57:06.880
all his life in prison, and
who looked upon its laws as the laws

615
00:57:06.880 --> 00:57:10.360
of nature, that the prison and
all the life within it was something like

616
00:57:10.400 --> 00:57:15.960
an insane asylum, in which he, the warden, was the chief lunatic.

617
00:57:17.440 --> 00:57:22.639
Pshaw the devil take you, and
he spat aside. Why are you

618
00:57:22.760 --> 00:57:29.320
giggling here? This is no dram
shop, and I don't want to be

619
00:57:29.400 --> 00:57:37.960
hanged? Cagaghar laughed. Yanson Satan, muttered the inspector, feeling the need

620
00:57:37.000 --> 00:57:43.840
of making the sign of the cross. This little man, with his small,

621
00:57:44.039 --> 00:57:47.840
wizened face, he resembled least of
all the devil. But there was

622
00:57:49.039 --> 00:57:54.159
that in his silly giggling which destroyed
the sanctity and the strength of the prison.

623
00:57:55.119 --> 00:57:59.719
If he laughed longer, it seemed
to the warden as if the walls

624
00:57:59.760 --> 00:58:04.920
might fall asunder, the grating melt
and drop out, as if the warden

625
00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.000
himself might lead the prisoners to the
gates, bowing and saying, take a

626
00:58:09.079 --> 00:58:13.360
walk in the city, gentleman,
or perhaps some of you would like to

627
00:58:13.360 --> 00:58:19.280
go to the village. But Jansen
had stopped laughing and was now winking cunningly.

628
00:58:20.480 --> 00:58:23.840
You had better look out, said
the warden, with an indefinite threat,

629
00:58:24.159 --> 00:58:30.320
and he walked away, glance and
back of him. Janson was calm

630
00:58:30.320 --> 00:58:35.559
and cheerful throughout the evening. He
repeated to himself, I shall not be

631
00:58:35.719 --> 00:58:40.239
hanged. And it seemed to him
so convincing, so wise, so irrefutable,

632
00:58:40.519 --> 00:58:45.039
that it was unnecessary to feel uneasy. He had long forgotten about his

633
00:58:45.159 --> 00:58:50.880
crime. Only sometimes he regretted that
he had not been successful in his attacking

634
00:58:50.920 --> 00:58:58.079
the master's wife, but he soon
forgot that too. Every morning Janson asked

635
00:58:58.119 --> 00:59:01.320
when he was to be hanged,
and every morning the warden answered him angrily,

636
00:59:02.000 --> 00:59:06.719
take your time, you devil,
wait, and he would walk off

637
00:59:06.840 --> 00:59:13.639
quickly before Jansen could begin to laugh. And from these monotonously repeated words,

638
00:59:13.960 --> 00:59:19.159
and from the fact that each day
came passed and ended as every ordinary day

639
00:59:19.199 --> 00:59:23.760
had passed, Jansen became convinced that
there would be no execution. He began

640
00:59:23.840 --> 00:59:28.840
to lose all memory of the trial, and would have rolled about all day

641
00:59:28.880 --> 00:59:34.360
on his court, vaguely and happily, dreaming about the white melancholy fields with

642
00:59:34.719 --> 00:59:38.960
their snow mounds, about the refreshment
bar at the railroad station, and about

643
00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:44.840
other things still more vague and bright. He was well fed in the prison,

644
00:59:45.119 --> 00:59:51.199
and somehow he began to grow stout
rapidly and to assume airs. Now

645
00:59:51.280 --> 00:59:55.079
she would have liked me, he
thought of his master's wife. Now I

646
00:59:55.119 --> 01:00:00.280
am stout, not worse looking than
the master. But he longed for a

647
01:00:00.360 --> 01:00:05.639
drink of vodka, a drink,
and to take a ride on horseback,

648
01:00:06.079 --> 01:00:12.320
to ride fast madly. When the
terrorists were arrested, the news of it

649
01:00:12.440 --> 01:00:17.440
reached the prison, and in answer
to Jansen's usual question, the warden said,

650
01:00:17.519 --> 01:00:23.039
eagerly and unexpectedly, it won't be
long now. He looked at Jansen

651
01:00:23.159 --> 01:00:28.559
calmly with an air of importance,
and repeated, it won't be long now,

652
01:00:28.880 --> 01:00:34.599
I suppose in about a week.
Janson turned pale and as though falling

653
01:00:34.639 --> 01:00:38.400
asleep. So turbid was the look
in his glossy eyes, and asked,

654
01:00:39.400 --> 01:00:45.159
are you joking? First you could
not wait, and now you think I'm

655
01:00:45.239 --> 01:00:49.000
joking. We are not allowed to
joke. Here. You like to joke,

656
01:00:49.239 --> 01:00:52.000
but we are not allowed to,
said the warden with dignity, as

657
01:00:52.039 --> 01:00:58.800
he went away. Toward evening of
that day, Jansen had already grown thinner.

658
01:00:59.519 --> 01:01:02.599
His skin, which had stretched out
and had become smooth for a time,

659
01:01:04.159 --> 01:01:08.199
was suddenly covered with a multitude of
small wrinkles, and in places it

660
01:01:08.280 --> 01:01:15.360
seemed even to hang down. His
eyes became sleepy, and all his motions

661
01:01:15.400 --> 01:01:19.039
were now so slow and languid,
as though each turn of the head,

662
01:01:19.480 --> 01:01:23.840
each move of the fingers, each
step of the foot were a complicated and

663
01:01:23.920 --> 01:01:31.840
combassome undertaking, which required very careful
deliberation. Had nighty leon his coat,

664
01:01:32.000 --> 01:01:37.679
but did not close his eyes,
and thus heavy with sleep, they remained

665
01:01:37.719 --> 01:01:44.840
open until morning. Uh huh,
said the warden with satisfaction, seeing him

666
01:01:44.840 --> 01:01:49.039
on the following day, This is
no dream shop for you, my dear,

667
01:01:50.519 --> 01:01:55.079
with the feeling of pleasant gratification,
Like a scientist whose experiment had proven

668
01:01:55.159 --> 01:02:00.400
successful. Again, he examined the
condemned man closely and carefully, from head

669
01:02:00.440 --> 01:02:07.800
to foot. Now everything would go
along as necessary. Satan was disgraced the

670
01:02:07.920 --> 01:02:14.039
sacredness of the prison, and the
execution was re established and the old man

671
01:02:14.079 --> 01:02:19.960
inquired condescendingly, even with a feeling
of sincere pity. Do you want to

672
01:02:19.960 --> 01:02:24.920
meet somebody or not? What for
well to say good bye? Have you

673
01:02:25.039 --> 01:02:30.800
no mother, for instance, or
a brother? I must not be hanged,

674
01:02:30.440 --> 01:02:37.000
said Jansen softly, and looked askance
at the warden. I don't want

675
01:02:37.039 --> 01:02:42.920
to be hanged. The warden looked
at him and waved his hand in silence.

676
01:02:44.239 --> 01:02:49.880
Toward evening, Yansom grew somewhat calmer. The day had been so ordinary.

677
01:02:50.239 --> 01:02:54.119
The cloudy winter sky looked so ordinary. The footsteps of people and their

678
01:02:54.159 --> 01:03:00.760
conversation on matters of business sounded so
ordinary. This small all of the sour

679
01:03:00.920 --> 01:03:06.599
soup of cabbage was so ordinary,
customary, and natural that he again ceased

680
01:03:06.679 --> 01:03:12.480
believing in the execution. But the
night became terrible to him. Before this,

681
01:03:12.719 --> 01:03:16.599
Janson had felt the night simply as
darkness, as an especially dark time

682
01:03:16.920 --> 01:03:21.320
when it was necessary to go to
sleep. But now he began to be

683
01:03:21.400 --> 01:03:25.760
aware of its mysterious and uncanny nature. In order not to believe and death,

684
01:03:27.079 --> 01:03:30.360
it was necessary to hear and see
and feel ordinary things about him,

685
01:03:30.920 --> 01:03:37.159
footsteps, voices, light, the
soup of sour cabbage. But in the

686
01:03:37.280 --> 01:03:42.880
dark. Everything was unnatural. The
silence and the darkness were in themselves something

687
01:03:43.079 --> 01:03:49.519
like death. And the longer the
night dragged, the more dreadful it became.

688
01:03:50.440 --> 01:03:55.400
With the ignorant innocence of a child
or a savage who believe everything possible,

689
01:03:55.920 --> 01:04:02.039
Jansn felt like crying to the sun
shine. He begged, he implored

690
01:04:02.079 --> 01:04:08.960
that the sun should shine, But
the night drew its long dark hours remorsely

691
01:04:09.039 --> 01:04:13.000
over the earth, and there was
no power that could hasten its cause.

692
01:04:13.880 --> 01:04:18.480
And this impossibility, arising for the
first time before the weak consciousness of Jansun,

693
01:04:18.920 --> 01:04:26.239
filled him with terror. Still not
daring to realize it clearly, he

694
01:04:26.360 --> 01:04:31.800
already felt the inevitability of approaching death
and felt himself making the first step upon

695
01:04:31.840 --> 01:04:39.880
the gallows with benumbed feet. Day
quieted him, but night again filled him

696
01:04:39.880 --> 01:04:44.679
with fear. And so it was
until one night when he realized fully that

697
01:04:44.719 --> 01:04:48.079
death was inevitable, that it would
come in three days at dawn with the

698
01:04:48.159 --> 01:04:55.079
sunrise. He had never thought of
what death was, and it had no

699
01:04:55.239 --> 01:05:00.599
image to him, but now he
realized clearly. He saw he that it

700
01:05:00.679 --> 01:05:05.760
had entered his cell and was looking
for him, groping about with its hands,

701
01:05:05.840 --> 01:05:10.840
and to save himself. He began
to run wildly about the room.

702
01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:15.719
But the cell was so small that
it seemed that its corners were not sharp

703
01:05:15.840 --> 01:05:19.519
but dull, and that all of
them were pushing him into the center of

704
01:05:19.599 --> 01:05:26.400
the room. And there was nothing
behind which to hide, and the door

705
01:05:26.519 --> 01:05:30.920
was locked, and it was dark. Several times he struck his body against

706
01:05:30.920 --> 01:05:35.880
the walls, making no sound,
and once he struck against the door and

707
01:05:36.119 --> 01:05:43.239
gave forth a dull, empty sound. He stumbled over something and fell upon

708
01:05:43.239 --> 01:05:45.920
his face, and then he felt
that it was going to seize him,

709
01:05:46.880 --> 01:05:51.079
lying on his stomach, holding to
the floor, hiding his face in the

710
01:05:51.159 --> 01:05:58.880
dark dirty as falt yansun howled in
terror. He lay and cried at the

711
01:05:58.880 --> 01:06:02.079
top of his voice on till some
one came. And when he was lifted

712
01:06:02.079 --> 01:06:08.199
from the floor and seated upon the
cot and cold water was poured over his

713
01:06:08.360 --> 01:06:14.360
head, he still did not dare
open his tightly closed eyes. He opened

714
01:06:14.360 --> 01:06:17.079
one eye, and, noticing some
one's boot in one of the corners of

715
01:06:17.119 --> 01:06:23.480
the room, he commenced crying again. But the cold water began to produce

716
01:06:23.519 --> 01:06:27.880
its effect in bringing him to his
senses. To help the effect, the

717
01:06:27.960 --> 01:06:32.400
warden on duty. The same old
man administered medicine to Janson in the form

718
01:06:32.440 --> 01:06:38.800
of several blows upon the head,
and his sensation of life returning to him

719
01:06:38.880 --> 01:06:44.519
really drove the fear of death away. Janson opened his eyes, and then

720
01:06:44.880 --> 01:06:48.800
his mind utterly confused, he slept
soundly for the remainder of the night.

721
01:06:49.719 --> 01:06:56.039
He lay on his back with mouth
open and snored loudly, and between his

722
01:06:56.199 --> 01:07:01.119
lashes, which were not tightly closed, his flat eyes, which were upturned

723
01:07:01.159 --> 01:07:08.480
so that the pupil did not show, could be seen. Later, everything

724
01:07:08.519 --> 01:07:13.079
in the world, day and night, footsteps, voices, the soup of

725
01:07:13.239 --> 01:07:18.079
sour cabbage produced in him a continuous
terror, plunging him into a state of

726
01:07:18.280 --> 01:07:26.159
savage, uncomprehending astonishment. His weak
mind was unable to combine these two things,

727
01:07:26.480 --> 01:07:31.079
which so monstrously contradicted each other.
The bright day, the odor and

728
01:07:31.159 --> 01:07:36.880
taste of cabbage, and the fact
that two days later he must die.

729
01:07:38.159 --> 01:07:41.880
He did not think of anything.
He did not even count the hours,

730
01:07:42.159 --> 01:07:47.199
but simply stood in mute stupe affection
before this contradiction, which tore his brain

731
01:07:47.440 --> 01:07:55.039
in two and he became evenly pale, neither white nor redder in parts,

732
01:07:55.360 --> 01:08:00.280
and appeared to be calm. Only
he ate nothing and ceased sleeping altogether.

733
01:08:01.159 --> 01:08:06.559
He sat all night long on a
stool, his legs crossed under him in

734
01:08:06.719 --> 01:08:14.159
fright. Or he walked about his
cell quietly, stealthily and sleepily, looking

735
01:08:14.199 --> 01:08:17.960
about him on all sides. His
mouth was half open all the time,

736
01:08:18.359 --> 01:08:24.880
as though from an incessant astonishment.
And before taking the most ordinary thing into

737
01:08:24.880 --> 01:08:29.279
his hands, he would examine it
stupidly for a long time, and would

738
01:08:29.319 --> 01:08:34.039
take it distrustfully when he became Thus, the warden, as well as the

739
01:08:34.239 --> 01:08:40.600
sentinel who watched him through the little
window, ceased paying further attention to him.

740
01:08:41.479 --> 01:08:45.920
This was the customary condition of prisoners, and reminded the warden of cattle

741
01:08:46.000 --> 01:08:54.640
being led to slaughter after a staggering
blow. Now he is stunned. Now

742
01:08:54.680 --> 01:08:59.439
he will feel nothing until his very
death, said the warden, looking at

743
01:08:59.520 --> 01:09:04.399
him with the experienced eyes. Ivan, do ye hear, Ivan, I

744
01:09:04.479 --> 01:09:10.760
must not be hanged, answered Janson
in a dull voice, and his lower

745
01:09:10.840 --> 01:09:15.079
joy again dropped. You should not
have committed murder. You would not be

746
01:09:15.159 --> 01:09:20.359
hanged, then, answered the chief
warden, a young but very important looking

747
01:09:20.439 --> 01:09:26.359
man with medals on his chest.
You committed murder, yet you do not

748
01:09:26.479 --> 01:09:30.640
want to be hanged. He wants
to kill human beings without paying for it.

749
01:09:31.159 --> 01:09:36.880
Fool fool, said another. I
don't want to be hanged, said

750
01:09:36.960 --> 01:09:42.159
Janson. Well, my friend,
you may want it or not. That's

751
01:09:42.199 --> 01:09:46.279
your affair, replied the chief warden
indifferently. Instead of talking nonsense, you

752
01:09:46.279 --> 01:09:51.880
had better arrange your affairs. You
still have something. He has nothing.

753
01:09:53.319 --> 01:09:59.640
One shirt and a suit of clothes
and a fur cap is sport. Thus

754
01:09:59.760 --> 01:10:03.880
TI passed until Thursday, and on
Thursday, at midnight, a number of

755
01:10:03.920 --> 01:10:10.800
people entered Janson's cell, and one
man with shoulder straps said, well,

756
01:10:10.840 --> 01:10:16.199
get ready, we must go.
Janson, moving slowly and drowsily as before,

757
01:10:16.640 --> 01:10:23.079
put on everything he had and tied
his muddy red muffler about his neck.

758
01:10:24.199 --> 01:10:29.399
The man with shoulder straps, smoking
a cigarette set to someone while watching

759
01:10:29.479 --> 01:10:35.880
Jansen's dress, What a warm day
this will be real spring. Janson's small

760
01:10:35.960 --> 01:10:41.840
eyes were closing. He seemed to
be falling asleep, and he moved so

761
01:10:42.000 --> 01:10:46.159
slowly and stiffly that the warden cried
to him, Hey there, quicker,

762
01:10:46.439 --> 01:10:53.720
have you fallen asleep? Suddenly Janson
stopped, I don't want to be hanged,

763
01:10:54.239 --> 01:10:59.239
said he He was taken by the
arms and led away, and began

764
01:10:59.319 --> 01:11:05.159
to stride obediently, raising his shoulders. Outside, he found himself in the

765
01:11:05.199 --> 01:11:13.399
moist spring air, and beads of
sweat stood under his little nose. Notwithstanding

766
01:11:13.439 --> 01:11:17.239
that it was night, it was
thawing very strongly, and drops of water

767
01:11:17.319 --> 01:11:24.680
were dripping upon the stones and waiting. While the soldiers, clanking their sabers

768
01:11:24.680 --> 01:11:30.199
and bending their heads, were stepping
into the unlighted black carriage. Jensen lazily

769
01:11:30.319 --> 01:11:36.600
moved his finger under his moist nose
and adjusted the badly tight muffler about his

770
01:11:36.880 --> 01:11:54.920
neck. End of chapter three,
Chapter four of the Seven who were Hanged

771
01:11:54.960 --> 01:12:00.920
by Leonit Nikolayevitch Andreyev translated by Hermann
Bernstein. This libovox according is in the

772
01:12:00.960 --> 01:12:12.319
public domain recording by Caroline. Chapter
four, we come from Oriol. This

773
01:12:12.479 --> 01:12:17.560
same council chamber of the Military District
Court which had condemned Yanson, had also

774
01:12:17.680 --> 01:12:24.199
condemned to death a peasant of the
government of Oriol of the district of Yelatsk,

775
01:12:24.640 --> 01:12:32.479
Mikhail Golubets, nicknamed Ziganok also tatarin
his latest crime proven beyond question,

776
01:12:32.960 --> 01:12:39.680
had been the murderer of three people
and armed robbery. Behind that his dark

777
01:12:39.840 --> 01:12:44.520
past disappeared. In the depth of
mystery. There were vague rumors that he

778
01:12:44.560 --> 01:12:48.359
had participated in a series of other
murders and robberies, and in his path

779
01:12:48.760 --> 01:12:56.279
there was felt to be a dark
trail of blood, fire and drunken debauchery.

780
01:12:57.199 --> 01:13:02.520
He called himself murderer with utter franknessnce
charity, and scornfully regarded those who,

781
01:13:02.600 --> 01:13:11.199
according to the latest fashion, styled
themselves expropriators of his last crime.

782
01:13:11.359 --> 01:13:15.479
Since it was useless for him to
deny anything, he spoke freely and in

783
01:13:15.560 --> 01:13:19.840
detail, but in answer to questions
about his past he merely gritted his teeth,

784
01:13:20.199 --> 01:13:27.640
whistled, and said, search for
the wind of the fields. When

785
01:13:27.680 --> 01:13:31.960
he was annoyed in cross examination,
Siganok assumed a serious and dignified air.

786
01:13:33.319 --> 01:13:39.439
All of us from Oriole are thoroughbreds, he would say, gravely and deliberately.

787
01:13:40.439 --> 01:13:46.079
Ariole and Chroma are the homes of
first class thieves. Kalatchev and Livna

788
01:13:46.199 --> 01:13:53.680
are the breeding places of thieves,
and Yelats is the parent of all thieves.

789
01:13:54.600 --> 01:14:00.800
Now what else is there to say? He was nicknamed and Ziganok gipsy

790
01:14:01.319 --> 01:14:06.319
because of his appearance in his Thievish
manner. He was black haired, lean,

791
01:14:06.680 --> 01:14:13.479
with yellow spots on his prominent,
tartar like cheek bones. His glance

792
01:14:13.640 --> 01:14:17.960
was swift, brief, but fearfully
direct and searching, and the thing upon

793
01:14:18.000 --> 01:14:21.920
which he looked for a moment seemed
to lose, something, seemed to deliver

794
01:14:23.079 --> 01:14:27.600
up to him a part of itself, and to become something else. It

795
01:14:27.680 --> 01:14:31.319
was just as unpleasant and repugnant to
take a cigarette at which he looked as

796
01:14:31.399 --> 01:14:36.760
though it had already been in his
mouth. There was a certain constant restlessness

797
01:14:36.760 --> 01:14:42.399
in him, now twisting him like
a rag, now throwing him about like

798
01:14:42.399 --> 01:14:47.800
a body of coiling live wires.
And he drank water almost by the bucket.

799
01:14:48.920 --> 01:14:55.199
To all questions during the trial he
answered shortly, firmly, jumping up

800
01:14:55.319 --> 01:15:00.840
quickly, and at times he seemed
to answer even with pleasure, correct,

801
01:15:00.239 --> 01:15:09.359
he would say, sometimes he emphasized
it correct. At one time, suddenly,

802
01:15:09.680 --> 01:15:13.359
when they were speaking of something that
would hardly have seemed to suggest it,

803
01:15:13.760 --> 01:15:16.920
he jumped to his feet and asked
the presiding judge, will you allow

804
01:15:16.960 --> 01:15:24.319
me to whistle? What for?
Asked the judge, Surprised, they said

805
01:15:24.319 --> 01:15:27.720
that I gave the signal to my
comrades. I would like to show you

806
01:15:27.800 --> 01:15:34.760
how it is very interesting, the
judge consented, somewhat wonderingly. Segamok quickly

807
01:15:34.800 --> 01:15:40.319
placed four fingers in his mouth,
two fingers off each hand, rolled his

808
01:15:40.439 --> 01:15:44.880
eyes fiercely, and then the dead
air of the court room was suddenly rent

809
01:15:45.239 --> 01:15:50.239
by a real, wild, murderous
whistle, at which frightened horses leap and

810
01:15:50.359 --> 01:15:58.039
rear on their hind legs, and
human faces involuntarily blanche. The mortal anguish

811
01:15:58.119 --> 01:16:01.199
of him who was to be assassinated, the wild joy of the murderer,

812
01:16:01.560 --> 01:16:08.640
the dreadful warning the cow, the
gloom and loneliness of a stormy autumn night.

813
01:16:09.239 --> 01:16:14.960
All this rang in his piercing shriek, which was neither human nor beastly.

814
01:16:15.119 --> 01:16:20.199
The presiding officer shouted, then waved
his arm at Siganok, and Siganok

815
01:16:20.239 --> 01:16:28.359
obediently became silent, and like an
artist who had triumphantly performed a difficult aria,

816
01:16:28.840 --> 01:16:32.720
he sat down, wiped his wet
fingers upon his coat, and surveyed

817
01:16:32.760 --> 01:16:40.279
those present with an air of satisfaction. What a robber, said one of

818
01:16:40.319 --> 01:16:45.600
the judges, rubbing his ear.
Another one however, with a wild Russian

819
01:16:45.680 --> 01:16:49.399
beard, but with the eyes of
a tartar like those of Siganok, gazed

820
01:16:49.479 --> 01:16:58.560
pensifully above Siganok's head, then smiled
and remarked, it is indeed interesting with

821
01:16:58.920 --> 01:17:03.920
light hearts, without mercy, without
the slightest pangs of conscience. The judges

822
01:17:04.000 --> 01:17:11.560
brought out against Siganok a verdict of
death. Correct, said Siganok, when

823
01:17:11.600 --> 01:17:16.760
the verdict was pronounced in the open
field on a cross beam, correct and

824
01:17:17.000 --> 01:17:23.239
turning to the convoy, he hurled
with bravado, while are we not going,

825
01:17:23.560 --> 01:17:26.960
Come on your sour coat and hold
your gun. I might take it

826
01:17:27.000 --> 01:17:32.600
away from you. The soldier looked
at him sternly with fear, exchanged glances

827
01:17:32.640 --> 01:17:38.079
with his comrade, and felt the
lock of his gun. The other did

828
01:17:38.119 --> 01:17:42.199
the same, and all the way
to the prison, the soldiers felt that

829
01:17:42.319 --> 01:17:45.880
they were not walking, but flying
through the air, as if hypnotized by

830
01:17:45.880 --> 01:17:51.000
the prisoner. They felt neither the
ground beneath their feet, nor the passage

831
01:17:51.039 --> 01:17:59.680
of time, nor themselves Mishkat Siganok, like Janson, had had to spend

832
01:17:59.720 --> 01:18:04.800
seven eighteen days in prison before his
execution, and all seventeen days passed as

833
01:18:04.960 --> 01:18:12.439
though they were one day they were
bound up in one inextinguishable thought of escape,

834
01:18:12.840 --> 01:18:18.000
of freedom, of life. The
restlessness of Siganok, which was now

835
01:18:18.039 --> 01:18:23.880
repressed by the walls and the bars
and the dead window through which nothing could

836
01:18:23.880 --> 01:18:30.520
be seen, turned all its fury
upon himself and burnt his soul like coals,

837
01:18:30.640 --> 01:18:34.840
scattered upon boards, as though he
were in a drunken vapor. Bright

838
01:18:34.960 --> 01:18:42.079
but incomplete images swarmed upon him,
failing and then becoming confused, and then

839
01:18:42.119 --> 01:18:46.760
again rushing through his mind in an
unrestrainable, blinding whirlwind, and all were

840
01:18:46.840 --> 01:18:54.960
bent towards escape, toward liberty,
toward life. With his nostrils expanded like

841
01:18:55.039 --> 01:18:59.960
those of a horse, Siganok smelt
the air for hours long. It seemed

842
01:19:00.119 --> 01:19:02.640
to him that he could smell the
order of him, of the smoke of

843
01:19:02.760 --> 01:19:09.680
fire, the colorless and biting smell
of burning. Now he whirled about in

844
01:19:09.720 --> 01:19:14.119
the room like a top, touching
the walls, tapping them nervously with his

845
01:19:14.239 --> 01:19:17.600
fingers, from time to time,
taking aim, boring the ceiling with his

846
01:19:17.880 --> 01:19:25.439
gaze, filing the prison bars.
By his restlessness, he had tired out

847
01:19:25.479 --> 01:19:30.119
the soldiers who watched him through the
little window, and who several times in

848
01:19:30.199 --> 01:19:36.159
despair had threatened to shoot, Seganac
would retort coarsely and derisively, and the

849
01:19:36.279 --> 01:19:42.800
quarrel would end peacefully, because the
dispute would soon turn into boorish, unoffending

850
01:19:42.840 --> 01:19:48.720
abuse, after which shooting would have
seemed absurd and impossible. Seganac slept during

851
01:19:48.760 --> 01:19:56.000
the nights soundly, without stirring,
in unchanging yet life motionlessness, like a

852
01:19:56.119 --> 01:20:01.640
wires spring in temporary inactivity. But
as as he arose, he immediately commenced

853
01:20:01.720 --> 01:20:06.760
to walk, to plan, to
grope about. His hands were always dry

854
01:20:06.800 --> 01:20:12.159
and hot, but his heart at
times would suddenly grow cold, as if

855
01:20:12.199 --> 01:20:16.000
a cake of unmelting ice had been
placed upon his chest, sending a slight,

856
01:20:16.520 --> 01:20:23.560
dry shiver through his whole body.
At such times, Siganok, always

857
01:20:23.720 --> 01:20:29.800
dark in complexion, would turn black, assuming the shade of bluish cast iron,

858
01:20:30.840 --> 01:20:33.840
and he acquired a curious habit,
as though he had eaten too much

859
01:20:33.880 --> 01:20:40.199
of something sickeningly sweet. He kept
licking his lips, smacking them, and

860
01:20:40.239 --> 01:20:45.399
would spit on the floor, hissingly
through his teeth. When he spoke,

861
01:20:45.680 --> 01:20:49.239
he did not finish his words.
So rapidly did his thoughts run that his

862
01:20:49.399 --> 01:20:56.399
tongue was unable to compass them.
One day, the chief warden, accompanied

863
01:20:56.399 --> 01:21:00.680
by a soldier, entered his cell. He looked askance at the floor and

864
01:21:00.720 --> 01:21:06.039
said, gruffly, look how dirty
he has made it. Siganok retorted quickly,

865
01:21:06.840 --> 01:21:11.760
you've made the whole world a dirty, you fat face, and yet

866
01:21:11.760 --> 01:21:16.079
I haven't said anything to you.
What brings you here? The warden,

867
01:21:16.439 --> 01:21:21.479
speaking as gruffly as before, asked
him whether he would act as executioner.

868
01:21:23.479 --> 01:21:28.960
Siganok burst out laughing, showing his
teeth. You can't find anyone else.

869
01:21:29.600 --> 01:21:32.359
That's good, Go ahead, hang
ha. The necks are there, the

870
01:21:32.439 --> 01:21:36.199
rope is there, but there's nobody
to string it up. By God,

871
01:21:36.279 --> 01:21:44.119
that's good. You'll save your neck
if you do it. Of course I

872
01:21:44.159 --> 01:21:48.000
couldn't hang them if I were dead. We'll set you fool. Well,

873
01:21:48.039 --> 01:21:53.239
what do you say? Is it
all the same to you? And how

874
01:21:53.279 --> 01:21:58.600
do you hang them here? I
suppose they're choked on the sly? No

875
01:21:59.239 --> 01:22:04.600
with mus snarled the warden. Oh, what a fool. Of course it

876
01:22:04.640 --> 01:22:10.760
can be done with music this way, and he began to sing with a

877
01:22:10.880 --> 01:22:15.960
bold and daring swing. You have
lost your wits, my friend, said

878
01:22:15.960 --> 01:22:24.439
the warden. What do you say
speak sensibly, Syganok grinned, how eager

879
01:22:24.520 --> 01:22:30.239
you are, Come another time,
and I'll tell you after that. Into

880
01:22:30.279 --> 01:22:35.640
that chaos of bright yet incomplete images, which oppressed Siganok by the impetuosity,

881
01:22:36.159 --> 01:22:41.479
a new image came, how good
it would be to become a hangman in

882
01:22:41.520 --> 01:22:46.239
a red shirt. He pictured to
himself vividly a square crowded with people,

883
01:22:46.600 --> 01:22:53.279
a high scaffold, and he Siganok
in a red shirt, walking about upon

884
01:22:53.319 --> 01:22:59.079
the scaffold with an axe. The
sun shone overhead, gaily, flashing from

885
01:22:59.159 --> 01:23:02.680
the axe, and everything was so
gay and bright that even the man whose

886
01:23:02.760 --> 01:23:08.520
head was soon to be chopped off
was smiling. And behind the crowds,

887
01:23:08.880 --> 01:23:13.239
wagons and the heads of horses could
be seen the peasants had come from the

888
01:23:13.279 --> 01:23:18.520
village, and beyond them further he
could see the village itself. Suck.

889
01:23:19.439 --> 01:23:26.359
Segonok smacked his lips, licking them
and spat, and suddenly he felt as

890
01:23:26.439 --> 01:23:29.880
though a fur cap had been pushed
over his head to his very mouth.

891
01:23:30.319 --> 01:23:33.720
It became black and stifling, and
his heart again became like a cake of

892
01:23:33.800 --> 01:23:42.000
unmelting ice, sending a slight,
dry shiver through his whole body. The

893
01:23:42.039 --> 01:23:46.680
warden came in twice again, and
Siganok, showing his teeth, said how

894
01:23:46.720 --> 01:23:54.119
eager you are come in again?
Finally, one day, the warden shouted

895
01:23:54.199 --> 01:23:59.680
through the casement window as he passed
rapidly. You've let your chance slip by,

896
01:23:59.760 --> 01:24:05.600
you fool. We've found somebody else, the devil take you hang yourself,

897
01:24:06.159 --> 01:24:13.359
snarled Siyanok, and he stopped dreaming
of the execution. But toward the

898
01:24:13.560 --> 01:24:16.960
end, nearer he approached the time, the weight of the fragments of his

899
01:24:17.159 --> 01:24:24.600
broken images became unbearable. Sigonoc now
felt like standing still, like spreading his

900
01:24:24.760 --> 01:24:30.079
legs and standing, But a whirling
current of thoughts carried him away, and

901
01:24:30.159 --> 01:24:34.159
there was nothing at which he could
clutch. Everything about him swam, and

902
01:24:34.239 --> 01:24:40.640
his sleep also became uneasy. Dreams
even more violent than his thoughts, appeared

903
01:24:41.199 --> 01:24:46.159
new dreams, solid, heavy,
like wooden painted blocks, and it was

904
01:24:46.239 --> 01:24:50.720
no longer like a current, but
like an endless fall of an endless depth,

905
01:24:51.199 --> 01:24:58.439
a whirling flight through the whole visible
world of colors. When Sigonoc was

906
01:24:58.520 --> 01:25:01.960
free, he had worn only a
pair of dashing mustaches, but in the

907
01:25:02.000 --> 01:25:08.000
prison a short, black, bristly
beard grew on his face. And it

908
01:25:08.119 --> 01:25:15.199
made him look fearsome insane. At
times, Siganok really lost his senses and

909
01:25:15.399 --> 01:25:20.600
whirled absurdly about in the cell,
still tapping upon the rough plastered walls nervously,

910
01:25:21.399 --> 01:25:28.479
and he drank water like a horse. At times, toward evening,

911
01:25:28.520 --> 01:25:31.760
when they lit the lamp, Siganoch
would stand on all fours in the middle

912
01:25:31.800 --> 01:25:36.359
of his cell and would howl the
quivering howl of a wolf. He was

913
01:25:36.399 --> 01:25:42.560
peculiarly serious while doing it, and
would howl as though he were performing an

914
01:25:42.600 --> 01:25:48.079
important and indispensable act. He would
fill his chest with air and then exhale

915
01:25:48.079 --> 01:25:55.760
it slowly in a prolonged, tremulous
howl, and cocking. His eyes would

916
01:25:55.800 --> 01:26:00.840
listen intently as the sound issued forth
and the very very quiver, and his

917
01:26:00.039 --> 01:26:05.520
voice seemed in a manner intentional.
He did not scream wildly, but drew

918
01:26:05.560 --> 01:26:13.520
out each note carefully in that mournful
wail full of untold sorrow and terror.

919
01:26:15.119 --> 01:26:19.119
Then he would suddenly break off howling, and for several minutes would remain silent,

920
01:26:19.600 --> 01:26:26.079
still standing on all fours. Then
suddenly he would mutter softly, staring

921
01:26:26.119 --> 01:26:31.560
at the ground. My darlings,
my sweetheart, my darlings, my sweetheart,

922
01:26:31.640 --> 01:26:39.279
have pity, my darlings, my
sweethearts. And it seemed as if

923
01:26:39.319 --> 01:26:43.319
he were listening intently to his own
voice. As he said each word.

924
01:26:43.359 --> 01:26:46.960
He would listen, then he would
jump up, and for a whole hour

925
01:26:47.039 --> 01:26:55.479
would curse continually. He cursed picturesquely, shouting and rolling his bloodshot eyes.

926
01:26:56.640 --> 01:27:00.880
If you hang me, hang me, and he would burst out, cursing

927
01:27:00.960 --> 01:27:06.119
again. And the Sentinel in the
meantime, white as chalk, weeping with

928
01:27:06.239 --> 01:27:10.520
pain and fright, would knock at
the door with the butt end of the

929
01:27:10.600 --> 01:27:15.439
gun and cry helplessly, I'll fire. I'll kick you as sure as I

930
01:27:15.520 --> 01:27:19.720
live. Do you hear? But
he dared not shoot if there was no

931
01:27:19.880 --> 01:27:25.520
actual rebellion. They never fired at
those who had been condemned to death,

932
01:27:26.520 --> 01:27:31.000
and Seganoc would gnash his teeth,
would curse and spit his brain, thus

933
01:27:31.199 --> 01:27:38.159
racked on a monstrously sharp blade between
life and death, was falling to pieces

934
01:27:38.680 --> 01:27:44.880
like a lump of dry clay.
When they entered the cell at midnight to

935
01:27:45.039 --> 01:27:48.479
lead Siganok to the execution, he
began to bustle about and seemed to have

936
01:27:48.560 --> 01:27:54.600
recovered his spirits again. He had
that sweet taste in his mouth, and

937
01:27:54.680 --> 01:28:00.800
his saliva collected abundantly, but his
cheeks turned rosy and in his eyes began

938
01:28:00.840 --> 01:28:06.600
to glisten his former somewhat savage slyness. Dressing himself, he asked the official,

939
01:28:08.439 --> 01:28:11.840
who is going to do the hanging
a new man. I suppose he

940
01:28:11.880 --> 01:28:16.279
hasn't learnt his job yet. You
needn't worry about it, answered the official

941
01:28:16.399 --> 01:28:21.840
dryly. I can't help worrying your
honor. I am going to be hanged,

942
01:28:21.840 --> 01:28:27.319
not you. At least don't be
stingy with the government's soap on the

943
01:28:27.399 --> 01:28:32.479
noose. All right, all right, keep quiet, This man here has

944
01:28:32.520 --> 01:28:38.199
eaten all your soap, said Segonoc, pointing to the warden. See how

945
01:28:38.239 --> 01:28:45.600
his face shines. Silence. Don't
be stingy, and Segonoc burst out laughing.

946
01:28:46.239 --> 01:28:49.640
But he began to feel that it
was getting every sweeter in his mouth,

947
01:28:49.960 --> 01:28:56.800
and suddenly his legs began to feel
strangely numb. Still, on coming

948
01:28:56.840 --> 01:29:01.640
out into the yard, he managed
to exclaim the carriage of the Count of

949
01:29:01.760 --> 01:29:15.199
Bengal end of chapter four, Chapter
five of the Seven who were hanged by

950
01:29:15.279 --> 01:29:21.239
Leoni Tnikolayevitch Andreyev, translated by Herman
Bernstein. This libovox recording is in the

951
01:29:21.239 --> 01:29:30.600
public domain. Recording by Carolyn.
Chapter five, Kiss and Say Nothing.

952
01:29:31.640 --> 01:29:38.880
The verdict concerning the five terrorists was
pronounced finally and confirmed upon the same day.

953
01:29:39.800 --> 01:29:44.039
The condemned were not told when the
execution would take place, but they

954
01:29:44.079 --> 01:29:47.239
knew from the usual procedure that they
would be hang the same night, or

955
01:29:47.359 --> 01:29:53.199
at the very latest upon the following
night. And when it was proposed to

956
01:29:53.279 --> 01:29:57.920
them that they meet their relatives upon
the following Thursday, they understood that the

957
01:29:58.039 --> 01:30:03.960
execution would take place on five at
dawn. Tanya Kovalchuk had no near relatives,

958
01:30:04.319 --> 01:30:09.479
and those whom she had were somewhere
in the wilderness in Little Russia,

959
01:30:09.840 --> 01:30:13.159
and it was not likely that they
even knew of the trial, were of

960
01:30:13.239 --> 01:30:18.640
the coming execution. Musya and Werner, as unidentified people, were not supposed

961
01:30:18.680 --> 01:30:25.319
to have relatives, and only two
Sage Golovin and Vasly Cushiedin, were to

962
01:30:25.399 --> 01:30:30.600
meet their parents. Both of them
looked upon that meeting with terror and anguish,

963
01:30:30.960 --> 01:30:36.319
yet they dared not refuse the old
people the last word the last kiss.

964
01:30:36.359 --> 01:30:42.239
Sage Golovin was particularly tortured by the
thought of the coming meeting. He

965
01:30:42.399 --> 01:30:45.840
dearly loved his father and mother.
He had seen them but a short while

966
01:30:45.880 --> 01:30:49.640
before, and now he was in
a state of terror as to what would

967
01:30:49.680 --> 01:30:55.840
happen when they came to see him. The execution itself, in all its

968
01:30:55.920 --> 01:31:01.039
monstrous horror, in its brain stunning
madness, could imagine more easily, and

969
01:31:01.119 --> 01:31:08.439
it seemed less terrible than these other
few moments of meeting, brief and unsatisfactory,

970
01:31:08.840 --> 01:31:15.119
which seemed to reach beyond time,
beyond life itself. How to look,

971
01:31:15.479 --> 01:31:19.840
what to think, what to say? His mind could not determine the

972
01:31:19.920 --> 01:31:26.079
most simple and ordinary act to take
his father by the hand, to kiss

973
01:31:26.159 --> 01:31:29.680
him, and to say, how
do you do? Father? Seemed to

974
01:31:29.760 --> 01:31:38.840
him unspeakably horrible in its monstrous,
inhuman, absurd deceitfulness. After this sentence,

975
01:31:38.920 --> 01:31:43.159
the condempt were not placed together in
one cell, as Tanya Kovalchuk had

976
01:31:43.199 --> 01:31:47.000
supposed they would be, but each
was put in solitary confinement, and all

977
01:31:47.119 --> 01:31:54.079
the morning until eleven o'clock when his
parents came. Serdegey Golovin paced his cell

978
01:31:54.319 --> 01:32:00.960
furiously, tugged at his beard,
frowned pitiably, and muttered inaudibly. Sometimes

979
01:32:00.960 --> 01:32:04.960
he would stop abruptly, would breathe
deeply and then exhale, like a man

980
01:32:05.000 --> 01:32:10.520
who has been too long under water. But he was so healthy, his

981
01:32:10.680 --> 01:32:15.640
young life was so strong within him
that even in the moments of most painful

982
01:32:15.760 --> 01:32:20.159
suffering, his blood played under his
skin, reddening his cheeks, and his

983
01:32:20.319 --> 01:32:27.920
blue eyes shone brightly and frankly.
But everything was far different from what he

984
01:32:27.960 --> 01:32:35.479
had anticipated. Nikolay Sergyevitch golovin Seregey's
father, a retired colonel, was the

985
01:32:35.560 --> 01:32:41.520
first to enter the room where the
meeting took place. He was all white,

986
01:32:41.920 --> 01:32:45.399
his face, his beard, his
hair, and his hands, as

987
01:32:45.439 --> 01:32:51.279
if he were a snow statue tied
in a man's clothes. He had on

988
01:32:51.600 --> 01:32:58.159
the same old but well cleaned coat, smelling of Benzene, with the new

989
01:32:58.239 --> 01:33:03.199
shoulder straps crosswise that he had always
worn, and he entered firmly with an

990
01:33:03.239 --> 01:33:10.399
air of stateliness, with strong and
steady steps. He stretched out his white,

991
01:33:10.720 --> 01:33:15.840
thin hand and said loudly, how
do you do, Sergey? Behind

992
01:33:15.920 --> 01:33:23.680
him, Sergey's mother entered with short
steps, smiling strangely, but she also

993
01:33:23.760 --> 01:33:30.000
pressed his hands and repeated loudly,
how do you do, Seryujenka. She

994
01:33:30.079 --> 01:33:33.359
kissed him on the lips and sat
down silently. She did not rush over

995
01:33:33.399 --> 01:33:38.079
to him, She did not burst
into tears, she did not break into

996
01:33:38.079 --> 01:33:42.159
his sob. She did not do
any of the terrible things which Sedige had

997
01:33:42.199 --> 01:33:47.960
feared. She just kissed him and
silently sat down, and with her trembling

998
01:33:48.079 --> 01:33:54.920
hands she even adjusted her black silk
dress. Saggie did not know that the

999
01:33:55.000 --> 01:33:59.760
colonel, having locked himself all the
previous night in his little study, had

1000
01:34:00.119 --> 01:34:05.199
liberated upon this ritual with all his
power. We must not aggravate, but

1001
01:34:05.439 --> 01:34:11.560
ease. The last moments of our
son resolved the colonel firmly, and he

1002
01:34:11.680 --> 01:34:16.479
carefully waited every possible phase of the
conversation, every act and movement that might

1003
01:34:16.600 --> 01:34:23.239
take place on the following day.
But somehow he became confused forgetting what he

1004
01:34:23.279 --> 01:34:28.039
had prepared, and he wept bitterly
in the corner of the oil cloth covered

1005
01:34:28.159 --> 01:34:32.479
couch. In the morning, he
explained to his wife how she should behave

1006
01:34:32.640 --> 01:34:40.399
at the meeting. The main thing
is kiss and say nothing, he told

1007
01:34:40.439 --> 01:34:44.680
her. Later. You may speak
after a while, but when you kiss

1008
01:34:44.760 --> 01:34:48.279
him, be silent. Don't speak
right after the kiss. Do you understand,

1009
01:34:48.720 --> 01:34:54.479
or you will say what you should
not say. I understand, Nikolay

1010
01:34:54.560 --> 01:35:00.840
Syyevitch answered his mother, weeping,
and you must not wi. For God's

1011
01:35:00.880 --> 01:35:02.720
sake, do not weep. You
will kill him if you weep, old

1012
01:35:02.760 --> 01:35:10.039
woman, why do you weep?
With women? One cannot help weeping?

1013
01:35:10.399 --> 01:35:15.439
But you must not weep? Do
ye hear very well? Nikolay Sergyevitch,

1014
01:35:17.319 --> 01:35:23.079
Riding in the Drushgay He had intended
to school her in the instructions again,

1015
01:35:23.520 --> 01:35:28.720
but he forgot, and so they
rode in silence, bent both gray and

1016
01:35:28.800 --> 01:35:31.920
old, and they were lost in
thought. While the city was gay and

1017
01:35:32.119 --> 01:35:39.239
noisy, it was shrove tied,
and the streets were crowded. They sat

1018
01:35:39.319 --> 01:35:44.800
down. The colonel stood up,
assumed a studied pose, placing his right

1019
01:35:44.840 --> 01:35:49.079
hand upon the border of his coat. Sergey sat for an instant, looked

1020
01:35:49.159 --> 01:35:56.279
closely upon the wrinkled face of his
mother, and then jumped up be seated.

1021
01:35:56.399 --> 01:36:03.279
Serujenka begged the mother sit down,
repeated the father. They became silent.

1022
01:36:04.039 --> 01:36:10.119
The mother smiled, how we have
petitioned for you, Seryo Jenka.

1023
01:36:10.800 --> 01:36:15.600
Father, you should not have done
that, mother. The colonel spoke firmly,

1024
01:36:16.159 --> 01:36:18.800
We had to do it, Sergey, so that you should not think

1025
01:36:18.840 --> 01:36:25.960
your parents had forsaken you. They
became silent again. It was terrible for

1026
01:36:26.039 --> 01:36:29.800
them to utter even a word,
as though each word in the language had

1027
01:36:29.880 --> 01:36:36.159
lost its individual meaning and met but
one thing death. Seregei looked at his

1028
01:36:36.199 --> 01:36:42.399
father's coat, which smelt of benzene, and thought, they have no servant.

1029
01:36:42.479 --> 01:36:45.560
Now, consequently, he must have
cleaned it himself. How is it

1030
01:36:45.640 --> 01:36:49.880
that I never before noticed when he
cleaned his coat. I suppose he does

1031
01:36:49.880 --> 01:36:56.399
it in the morning. Suddenly,
he asked, and how sister is she?

1032
01:36:56.479 --> 01:37:02.920
Well? Ninotschka doesn't know anything,
the mother answered hastily. The colonel

1033
01:37:02.960 --> 01:37:08.760
interrupted her sternly, Why would you
tell a falsehood? The child read it

1034
01:37:08.800 --> 01:37:13.000
in the newspapers. Let c again
know that everybody, that those who are

1035
01:37:13.000 --> 01:37:16.920
dearest to him were thinking of him
at this time, And he could not

1036
01:37:17.079 --> 01:37:23.359
say any more and stopped. Suddenly
the mother's face contracted, then it spread

1037
01:37:23.399 --> 01:37:28.159
out, became agitated, wet and
d wild, looking. Her discolored eyes

1038
01:37:28.319 --> 01:37:33.640
stared blindly, and her breathing became
more frequent and briefer. Louder. Say

1039
01:37:34.279 --> 01:37:39.880
say say, sir, she repeated, without moving her lips, Sir,

1040
01:37:41.479 --> 01:37:47.399
dear mother, The colonel strode forward
and all quivering in every fold of his

1041
01:37:47.600 --> 01:37:53.960
coat, in every wrinkle of his
face, not understanding how terrible he himself

1042
01:37:54.000 --> 01:37:59.720
looked in his death like whiteness.
In his heroic, desperate firmness, he

1043
01:37:59.760 --> 01:38:03.399
said to his wife, be silent, don't torture him. Don't torture him.

1044
01:38:03.399 --> 01:38:09.920
He has to die, don't torture
him. Frightened, she had already

1045
01:38:09.920 --> 01:38:14.840
become silent, but he still shook
his clenched fist before him and repeated,

1046
01:38:15.359 --> 01:38:20.720
don't torture him. Then he stepped
back, placed his trembling hands behind his

1047
01:38:20.880 --> 01:38:27.359
back, and loudly, with an
expression of forced calm, asked with pale

1048
01:38:27.399 --> 01:38:34.560
lips when to morrow morning, answered
Sergey, his lips also pale. The

1049
01:38:34.640 --> 01:38:39.920
mother looked at the ground, chewing
her lips as if she did not hear

1050
01:38:40.000 --> 01:38:45.479
anything, and continuing to chew,
she uttered these simple words strangely, as

1051
01:38:45.520 --> 01:38:54.119
though they dropped like lead. Niinatshka
told me to kiss you, Serudenka kiss

1052
01:38:54.119 --> 01:39:01.319
her for me, said Serogey,
very well, the Koschovs sent you their

1053
01:39:01.359 --> 01:39:10.279
regards, which Kostchovs ah. Yes. The colonel interrupted, well, we

1054
01:39:10.399 --> 01:39:15.319
must go get up, mother,
We must go. The two men lifted

1055
01:39:15.359 --> 01:39:19.600
the weakened old woman, bid him
good bye, ordered the colonel make the

1056
01:39:19.720 --> 01:39:25.520
sign of the cross. She did
everything as she was told, But as

1057
01:39:25.560 --> 01:39:29.319
she made the sign of the cross
and kissed her son a brief kiss,

1058
01:39:29.840 --> 01:39:33.640
she shook her head and murmured weakly. No, it isn't the right way.

1059
01:39:33.720 --> 01:39:36.760
It's not the right way. What
will I say? How will I

1060
01:39:36.880 --> 01:39:42.840
say it? No it is not
the right way. Get by, Sergey,

1061
01:39:43.279 --> 01:39:46.920
said the father. They shook hands
and kissed each other quickly but heartily.

1062
01:39:48.319 --> 01:39:56.960
You began, Sergey, well,
asked the father abruptly. No,

1063
01:39:56.960 --> 01:40:00.119
no, it's not the right way. How shall I say it? Repeated

1064
01:40:00.119 --> 01:40:04.600
the mother, weakly, nodding her
head. She had sat down again and

1065
01:40:04.760 --> 01:40:12.640
was rocking herself back and forth,
You, Sergey began again. Suddenly his

1066
01:40:12.720 --> 01:40:18.159
face wrinkled pitiaboly, childish, and
his eyes filled with tears. Immediately threw

1067
01:40:18.279 --> 01:40:23.319
the sparkling gleams of his tears.
He looked closely into the white face of

1068
01:40:23.399 --> 01:40:29.520
his father, whose eyes had also
filled You, father, are a noble

1069
01:40:29.640 --> 01:40:33.640
man. What is that? What
are you saying? Said the colonel,

1070
01:40:33.680 --> 01:40:40.000
surprised, and then, suddenly,
as if broken in two, he fell

1071
01:40:40.079 --> 01:40:44.760
with his head upon his son's shoulder. He had been taller than Sergey,

1072
01:40:45.000 --> 01:40:48.600
but now he became short, and
his dry, downy head lay like a

1073
01:40:48.640 --> 01:40:56.039
white ball upon his son's shoulder.
And they kissed silently and passionately. Serogey

1074
01:40:56.199 --> 01:41:00.880
kissed the silvery white hair, and
the old man kissed the prisoner's garb.

1075
01:41:02.279 --> 01:41:09.720
And I suddenly, said a loud
voice. They looked around. Serige's mother

1076
01:41:09.880 --> 01:41:14.680
was standing, her head thrown back, looking at them angrily, almost with

1077
01:41:14.800 --> 01:41:19.760
contempt. What is it, mother
cried the colonel. And I, she

1078
01:41:19.920 --> 01:41:26.119
said, shaking her head with insane
intensity. You kiss and I you men,

1079
01:41:26.199 --> 01:41:31.239
yes, and I and I mother, Serge rushed over to her.

1080
01:41:32.159 --> 01:41:38.439
What took place? Then? It
is unnecessary and impossible to describe the last

1081
01:41:38.520 --> 01:41:43.039
words of the colonel were, I
give you my blessing for your death Seryoja

1082
01:41:43.680 --> 01:41:49.199
die bravely like an officer. And
they went away. Somehow they went away.

1083
01:41:50.039 --> 01:41:54.479
They had been there, they had
stood, they had spoken, and

1084
01:41:54.600 --> 01:41:59.359
suddenly they had gone. Here,
said his mother, There stood his father,

1085
01:41:59.800 --> 01:42:04.399
and suddenly somehow they had gone away. Returning to the cell, Sergey

1086
01:42:04.520 --> 01:42:09.800
lay down on the cot, his
face turned toward the wall in order to

1087
01:42:09.880 --> 01:42:14.079
hide it from the soldiers that he
wept for a long time. Then,

1088
01:42:14.279 --> 01:42:21.479
exhausted by his tears, he slept
soundly to Vasily kashitin. Only his mother

1089
01:42:21.560 --> 01:42:27.079
came. His father, who was
a wealthy tradesman, did not want to

1090
01:42:27.119 --> 01:42:30.479
come. Vasili met the old woman
as he was pacing up and down the

1091
01:42:30.560 --> 01:42:35.439
room, trembling with cold. Although
it was warm, even hot, and

1092
01:42:35.520 --> 01:42:42.199
the conversation was brief, painful,
it wasn't worth coming, mother, You

1093
01:42:42.199 --> 01:42:45.800
will only talkt tore yourself and me. Why did you do it, Vasia?

1094
01:42:46.359 --> 01:42:50.680
Why did you do it? Oh
lord? The old woman burst out,

1095
01:42:50.680 --> 01:42:56.600
weeping, wiping her face with the
ends of her black woolen kerchief,

1096
01:42:57.680 --> 01:43:01.239
and with the habit which he and
his brother had always had of crying at

1097
01:43:01.279 --> 01:43:05.680
their mother, who did not understand
anything. He stopped, and, shuddering

1098
01:43:05.720 --> 01:43:11.239
as with cold, spoke angrily,
there you see, I knew it.

1099
01:43:11.479 --> 01:43:15.960
You understand nothing, mother, nothing? Well, well, all right,

1100
01:43:15.600 --> 01:43:21.840
do you feel cold? Cold?
Vasili answered bluntly, and again began to

1101
01:43:21.920 --> 01:43:26.920
pace the room, looking at his
mother, askance, as if annoyed,

1102
01:43:28.000 --> 01:43:31.800
perhaps you have caught cold, oh
mother? What is a cold? When?

1103
01:43:32.600 --> 01:43:38.600
And he waved his hand helplessly.
The old woman was about to say,

1104
01:43:39.279 --> 01:43:44.119
and your father ordered wheat cakes beginning
with Monday. But she was frightened

1105
01:43:44.159 --> 01:43:47.960
and said, I told him it
is your son. You should go give

1106
01:43:48.039 --> 01:43:54.479
him your blessing. No, the
old beast persisted, let him go to

1107
01:43:54.560 --> 01:43:57.960
the devil. What sort of father
has he been to me? He has

1108
01:43:58.000 --> 01:44:02.760
been a scoundrel all his life,
and remans a scoundrel. Vasenka, do

1109
01:44:02.840 --> 01:44:08.359
you speak of your father like this? Said the old woman, reproachfully,

1110
01:44:08.720 --> 01:44:15.239
straightening herself, about my father,
about your own father. He is no

1111
01:44:15.479 --> 01:44:21.720
father to me. It was strange
and absurd. Before him was the thought

1112
01:44:21.760 --> 01:44:27.399
of death, while he is something
small, empty and trivial arose and his

1113
01:44:27.560 --> 01:44:32.359
words cracked like the shells of nuts
underfoot, and almost crying with sorrow,

1114
01:44:32.640 --> 01:44:38.279
because of the eternal misunderstanding, which
all his life long had stood like a

1115
01:44:38.319 --> 01:44:42.720
wall between him and those nearest to
him, and which even now, in

1116
01:44:42.800 --> 01:44:47.079
the last hour before death, peered
at him stupidly and strangely through small,

1117
01:44:47.520 --> 01:44:54.159
widely open eyes. Vasily exclaimed,
don't you understand that I am to be

1118
01:44:54.199 --> 01:45:00.319
hanged soon? Hanged? Don't you
understand it? Hanged shouldn't have harmed anybody,

1119
01:45:00.359 --> 01:45:05.039
and nobody would cried the old woman, My god, what is this?

1120
01:45:05.479 --> 01:45:10.119
Even beasts do not act like this? Am I not your son?

1121
01:45:11.600 --> 01:45:15.920
He began to cry and seat himself
in a corner. The old woman also

1122
01:45:15.000 --> 01:45:20.279
burst out, crying in her corner. Powerless even for an instant to blend

1123
01:45:20.359 --> 01:45:24.920
in the feeling of love, and
to offset it by the horror of impending

1124
01:45:25.000 --> 01:45:30.279
death. They wept their cold tears
of loneliness, which did not warm their

1125
01:45:30.319 --> 01:45:35.000
hearts. The mother said, you
ask whether I am a mother to you?

1126
01:45:35.000 --> 01:45:40.359
You reproach me. And I have
grown completely gray during these days.

1127
01:45:40.760 --> 01:45:45.079
I have become an old woman,
and yet you say you reproach me.

1128
01:45:45.960 --> 01:45:49.159
Well, mother, it is all
right. Forgive me. It is time

1129
01:45:49.199 --> 01:45:55.359
for you to go kiss my brothers
for me. Am I not your mother?

1130
01:45:55.760 --> 01:46:00.079
Do I not feel sorry? At
last she went away. She wept

1131
01:46:00.119 --> 01:46:04.479
bitterly, wiping her face with the
edges of her kerchief, and she did

1132
01:46:04.520 --> 01:46:09.279
not see the road. And the
farther she got from the prison, the

1133
01:46:09.359 --> 01:46:14.119
more bitterly she wept. She retracted
her steps to the prison, and then

1134
01:46:14.199 --> 01:46:16.680
she strangely lost her way. In
the city in which she had been born,

1135
01:46:17.159 --> 01:46:23.359
in which she lived to her old
age. She strolled into a deserted

1136
01:46:23.439 --> 01:46:29.000
little garden with a few old,
gnarled trees, and she seated herself upon

1137
01:46:29.000 --> 01:46:34.359
a wet bench from which this snow
had melted, and suddenly she understood he

1138
01:46:34.520 --> 01:46:41.159
was to be hanged upon the morrow. The old woman jumped up, about

1139
01:46:41.159 --> 01:46:45.760
to run, but suddenly her head
began to swim terribly, and she fell

1140
01:46:45.800 --> 01:46:49.600
to the ground. The icy path
was wet and slippery, and she could

1141
01:46:49.600 --> 01:46:55.079
not rise. She turned about,
lifted herself on the elbows, and knelt,

1142
01:46:55.600 --> 01:47:00.760
then fell back on her side.
The black kerchief had slipped down,

1143
01:47:00.239 --> 01:47:05.079
bearing upon the back of her head
a bald spot amid her muddy gray hair.

1144
01:47:05.640 --> 01:47:10.439
And then somehow it seemed to her
that she was feasting at a wedding,

1145
01:47:10.800 --> 01:47:14.079
and that her son was getting married, and that she had been drinking

1146
01:47:14.159 --> 01:47:18.760
wine and had become intoxicated. I
can't, my god, I can't,

1147
01:47:19.520 --> 01:47:28.520
she cried, as though declining something
swaying her head. She crawled over the

1148
01:47:28.560 --> 01:47:32.239
wid frozen crust, and all the
time it seemed to her that they were

1149
01:47:32.319 --> 01:47:39.119
pouring out more wine for her,
more wine, and her heart had already

1150
01:47:39.199 --> 01:47:43.800
begun to pain her from the intoxicated
laughter, from the rejoicing, from the

1151
01:47:43.920 --> 01:47:49.000
wild dancing, and they kept on
pouring more wine for her, pouring more

1152
01:47:49.159 --> 01:48:01.439
wine. End of chapter five.
Chapter six of the Seven who were Hanged

1153
01:48:01.479 --> 01:48:09.520
by Leonity, Nikolayevitch Andreyev translated by
Herman Bernstein. This LibriVox recording is in

1154
01:48:09.560 --> 01:48:17.920
the public domain recording by Carolyn.
Chapter six, The hours are rushing On

1155
01:48:18.000 --> 01:48:24.279
the fortress where the condemned terrorists were
imprisoned. There was a steeple with an

1156
01:48:24.319 --> 01:48:29.119
old fashioned clock upon it. At
every hour, at every half hour,

1157
01:48:29.479 --> 01:48:32.680
and at every quarter hour, the
clock rang out in long, drawn,

1158
01:48:33.239 --> 01:48:41.000
mournful chimes, slowly melting high in
the air, like the distant and plaintive

1159
01:48:41.119 --> 01:48:46.079
call of migrating birds. In the
daytime, this strange and sad music was

1160
01:48:46.119 --> 01:48:50.479
lost in the noise of the city. Of the wide and crowded street which

1161
01:48:50.600 --> 01:48:56.680
passed near the fortress, the cars
bussed along, the hoofs of the horses

1162
01:48:56.720 --> 01:49:02.439
beat upon the pavements, the rocking
automobiles honked in the distance. Peasant easvostchiks

1163
01:49:02.600 --> 01:49:08.039
had come, especially from the outskirts
of the city for the shrove tight season,

1164
01:49:08.640 --> 01:49:12.560
and the tinkling of the bells upon
the necks of their little horses filled

1165
01:49:12.600 --> 01:49:18.399
the air, the prattle of voices, an intoxicated, merry shrove ted prattle

1166
01:49:18.399 --> 01:49:25.560
of voices arose everywhere. And in
the midst of these various noises, there

1167
01:49:25.680 --> 01:49:30.880
was the young thawing spring, the
muddy pools on the meadows, the trees

1168
01:49:30.920 --> 01:49:34.800
on the squares, which had suddenly
become black from the sea. A warm

1169
01:49:34.880 --> 01:49:41.800
breeze was blowing in broad moist gusts. It was almost as if one could

1170
01:49:41.840 --> 01:49:46.359
have seen the tiny fresh particles of
air carried away, merged into the free,

1171
01:49:47.000 --> 01:49:51.960
endless expanse of the atmosphere, could
have heard them laughing in their flight.

1172
01:49:54.600 --> 01:49:59.279
At night, the street grew quiet
in the lonely light of the large

1173
01:49:59.520 --> 01:50:04.520
elect trek sun. And then the
enormous fortress, within whose walls there was

1174
01:50:04.560 --> 01:50:11.319
not a single light, passed into
darkness and silence, separating itself from the

1175
01:50:11.439 --> 01:50:16.560
ever living, stirring city by a
wall of silence, motionlessness, and darkness.

1176
01:50:17.399 --> 01:50:23.199
Then it was that the stroke of
the clock became audible. A strange

1177
01:50:23.239 --> 01:50:30.399
melody foreign to earth was slowly and
mournfully born and died up in the heights.

1178
01:50:30.319 --> 01:50:35.479
It was born again, deceiving the
ear. It rang plaintively and softly.

1179
01:50:35.880 --> 01:50:44.039
It broke off and rang again like
large transparent glassy drops. Hours and

1180
01:50:44.199 --> 01:50:50.600
minutes descended from an unknown height into
a metallic, softly resounding bell. This

1181
01:50:50.920 --> 01:50:55.960
was the only sound that reached the
cells by day and night, where the

1182
01:50:56.039 --> 01:51:01.119
condemned remained in solitary confinement. Through
the roof, through the thickness of the

1183
01:51:01.239 --> 01:51:08.199
stone walls, it penetrated, stirring
the silence. It passed unnoticed, to

1184
01:51:08.279 --> 01:51:15.119
return again, also unnoticed. Sometimes
they waited it in despair, flying from

1185
01:51:15.199 --> 01:51:20.520
one sound to the next, trusting
the silence no longer. Only important criminals

1186
01:51:20.520 --> 01:51:27.359
were sent to this prison. There
were special rules here, stern, grim

1187
01:51:27.439 --> 01:51:30.880
and severe, like the corner of
the fortress wall. And if there be

1188
01:51:31.079 --> 01:51:38.479
nobility and cruelty, then the dull, dead, solemnly mute silence, which

1189
01:51:38.600 --> 01:51:45.159
caught the slightest rustle and breathing,
was noble. And in this solemn silence,

1190
01:51:45.560 --> 01:51:50.680
broken by the mournful tolling of the
departing minutes, separated from all that

1191
01:51:50.800 --> 01:51:57.800
lives, five human beings, two
women and three men, waited for the

1192
01:51:57.840 --> 01:52:02.920
event of night of dawn and the
execution, and all of them prepared for

1193
01:52:03.039 --> 01:52:10.279
it, each in his or her
own way. End of chapter six,

1194
01:52:15.720 --> 01:52:23.039
Chapter seven of the Seven who were
Hanged by Leonid Nikolayevitch Andreyev, translated by

1195
01:52:23.079 --> 01:52:30.039
Hermann Bernstein. This LibriVox recording is
in the public domain recording by Carolyn Chapter

1196
01:52:30.079 --> 01:52:38.920
seven. There is no death.
Just as Tanya Kovalchuk had thought all her

1197
01:52:38.960 --> 01:52:45.119
life only of others and never of
herself, So now she suffered and grieved

1198
01:52:45.159 --> 01:52:50.399
painfully, but only for her comrades. She pictured death only as awaiting them,

1199
01:52:50.960 --> 01:52:58.119
as something tormenting only to Sergey Golovin, to Musia, to the others,

1200
01:52:58.920 --> 01:53:04.119
as for herself, did not concern
her as a recompense for her firmness

1201
01:53:04.119 --> 01:53:09.840
and restraint. In the courtroom,
she wept for long hours, as old

1202
01:53:09.880 --> 01:53:15.119
women who have experienced great misery,
or as very sympathetic and kind hearted young

1203
01:53:15.159 --> 01:53:21.479
people know how to weep. And
the fear that perhaps Serioja was without tobacco

1204
01:53:23.159 --> 01:53:28.159
or Werner, without the strong tea
to which she was accustomed, in addition

1205
01:53:28.319 --> 01:53:31.359
to the fact that they were to
die, caused her no less pain than

1206
01:53:31.399 --> 01:53:39.039
the idea of the execution itself.
Death was something inevitable and even unimportant,

1207
01:53:39.479 --> 01:53:43.560
of which it was not worth while
to think. But a man in prison

1208
01:53:43.960 --> 01:53:50.039
before his execution to be left without
tobacco, that was altogether unbearable. She

1209
01:53:50.199 --> 01:53:56.079
recalled and went over in her mind
all the pleasant details of their life together,

1210
01:53:56.720 --> 01:54:00.520
and then she grew faint in fear. When she pictured to her herself

1211
01:54:00.560 --> 01:54:05.880
the meeting between Serigee and his parents. She felt peculiarly sorry for Musia.

1212
01:54:06.199 --> 01:54:11.479
It had long seemed to her that
Musia loved Werner, and although this was

1213
01:54:11.520 --> 01:54:15.359
not a fact, she still dreamed
of something good and bright for both of

1214
01:54:15.399 --> 01:54:20.279
them. When she had been free, Musya had worn a silver ring on

1215
01:54:20.399 --> 01:54:26.239
which was the design of a skull, bones and a crown of thorns about

1216
01:54:26.279 --> 01:54:30.880
them. Tanya Kovalchuk had often looked
upon the ring as a symbol of doom,

1217
01:54:30.319 --> 01:54:34.159
and she would ask Musya, now
in jest, now in earnest,

1218
01:54:34.600 --> 01:54:40.800
to remove the ring, make me
a present of it. She had begged,

1219
01:54:41.920 --> 01:54:45.399
no, Tanechka, I will not
give it to you, but perhaps

1220
01:54:45.399 --> 01:54:49.600
you will soon have another ring upon
your finger. For some reason or other,

1221
01:54:50.039 --> 01:54:54.960
they all in turn had thought that
she would doubtless soon marry, and

1222
01:54:55.079 --> 01:55:00.560
this had offended her. She wanted
no husband, and recalling these half jesting

1223
01:55:00.640 --> 01:55:05.000
conversations with Musia and the fact that
now Musia was actually condemned to death.

1224
01:55:05.640 --> 01:55:12.199
She choked with tears in her maternal
pity, and each time the clock struck,

1225
01:55:12.560 --> 01:55:16.239
she raised her tears stained face and
listened. How were they and the

1226
01:55:16.319 --> 01:55:24.880
other cells receiving this drawn out,
persistent call of death. But Musia was

1227
01:55:25.000 --> 01:55:30.560
happy. With her hands folded behind
her back, dressed in a prisoner's garb,

1228
01:55:30.680 --> 01:55:33.199
which was much too large for her, and which made her look very

1229
01:55:33.279 --> 01:55:39.239
much like a man, like a
stripling dressed in some one else's clothes,

1230
01:55:39.680 --> 01:55:45.640
she paced her cell evenly and tirelessly. The sleeves of the coat were too

1231
01:55:45.680 --> 01:55:48.680
long for her, and she turned
them up, and her thin, almost

1232
01:55:48.800 --> 01:55:54.840
childish, immense heated hands peeped out
of the white holes, like a beautiful

1233
01:55:54.920 --> 01:56:00.159
flower out of a coarse earthen jug. The rough material of the coat rubbed

1234
01:56:00.159 --> 01:56:05.359
her thin white neck, and sometimes
Musia would free her throat with both hands

1235
01:56:05.720 --> 01:56:11.479
and would cautiously feel the spot where
the irritated skin was red and smarted.

1236
01:56:12.880 --> 01:56:17.000
Musia paced the cell, and,
blushing in agitation, she imagined that she

1237
01:56:17.119 --> 01:56:24.079
was justifying herself before the people.
She tried to justify herself for the fact

1238
01:56:24.079 --> 01:56:29.600
that she who was so young,
so insignificant, who had done so little,

1239
01:56:29.840 --> 01:56:32.359
and who was not at all a
heroine, was yet to undergo the

1240
01:56:32.399 --> 01:56:39.600
same honorable and beautiful death by which
real heroes and martyrs had died before her,

1241
01:56:41.680 --> 01:56:45.880
with unshakable faith and human kindness,
in their compassion, in their love.

1242
01:56:46.279 --> 01:56:50.479
She pictured to herself how people were
now agitated on her account, how

1243
01:56:50.520 --> 01:56:55.920
they suffered, how they pitied her, and she felt so ashamed that she

1244
01:56:56.000 --> 01:57:00.399
blushed, as if by dying upon
the scaffold, she had commit it some

1245
01:57:00.600 --> 01:57:05.840
tremendous, awkward blunder. At the
last meeting with their council, she had

1246
01:57:05.880 --> 01:57:10.920
asked him to bring her poison.
But suddenly she had changed her mind.

1247
01:57:11.720 --> 01:57:15.039
What if he and the others,
she thought, should consider that she was

1248
01:57:15.119 --> 01:57:20.479
doing it merely to become conspicuous,
or out of cowardice, that instead of

1249
01:57:20.600 --> 01:57:27.880
dying modestly and unnoticed, she was
attempting to glorify herself. And she added

1250
01:57:27.920 --> 01:57:33.079
hastily, no, it isn't necessary. And now she desired but one thing

1251
01:57:33.640 --> 01:57:38.279
to be able to explain to people, to prove to them, so that

1252
01:57:38.359 --> 01:57:42.199
they should have not the slightest doubt
that she was not at all a heroine,

1253
01:57:42.760 --> 01:57:45.880
That it was not terrible to die, that they should not feel sorry

1254
01:57:45.920 --> 01:57:51.239
for her nor trouble themselves about her. She wished to be able to explain

1255
01:57:51.279 --> 01:57:55.920
to them that she was not at
all to blame, that she, who

1256
01:57:56.000 --> 01:58:00.680
was so young and so insignificant,
was to undergo such martyr's death, and

1257
01:58:00.920 --> 01:58:06.479
that so much trouble should be made
on her account. Like a person who

1258
01:58:06.600 --> 01:58:14.159
was actually accused of a crime,
Musieur sought justification. She endeavored to find

1259
01:58:14.239 --> 01:58:18.439
something that would at least make her
sacrifice more momentous, which might give it

1260
01:58:18.600 --> 01:58:24.520
real value. She reasoned, of
course, I am young and could have

1261
01:58:24.640 --> 01:58:29.560
lived for a long time. But
and as a candle darkens in the glare

1262
01:58:29.600 --> 01:58:33.000
of a rising sun, so her
youth and her life seemed dull and dark

1263
01:58:33.159 --> 01:58:39.960
compared to that great and resplendent radiance
which would shine above her simple head.

1264
01:58:40.760 --> 01:58:47.199
There was no justification, but perhaps
that peculiar something which she bore in her

1265
01:58:47.279 --> 01:58:55.119
soul, boundless love, boundless eagerness
to the great deeds, her boundless contempt

1266
01:58:55.159 --> 01:59:00.840
for herself was a justification in itself. She felt that she was really not

1267
01:59:00.920 --> 01:59:03.000
to blame, that she was hindered
from doing the things she could have done,

1268
01:59:03.359 --> 01:59:06.920
which she had wished to do,
that she had been smitten upon the

1269
01:59:06.960 --> 01:59:12.960
threshold of the temple, at the
foot of the altar. But if that

1270
01:59:13.039 --> 01:59:15.880
were so, if a person is
appreciated not only for what he has done,

1271
01:59:16.199 --> 01:59:20.479
but also for what he had intended
to do, then then she was

1272
01:59:20.640 --> 01:59:28.000
worthy of the crown of the martyr. Is it possible, thought mousieur bashfully.

1273
01:59:28.880 --> 01:59:31.920
Is it possible that I'm worthy of
it, that I deserved that people

1274
01:59:31.920 --> 01:59:36.199
should weep for me, should be
agitated over my fate, over such a

1275
01:59:36.239 --> 01:59:43.960
little and insignificant girl. And she
was seized with sudden joy. There were

1276
01:59:44.039 --> 01:59:48.760
no doubts, no hesitations. She
was received into their midst. She entered

1277
01:59:49.000 --> 01:59:55.439
justified the ranks of those noble people
who always ascend to heaven through fires,

1278
01:59:55.880 --> 02:00:02.279
torches and executions, bright peace and
tranquility and endless, calmly radiant happiness.

1279
02:00:03.199 --> 02:00:08.720
It was as if she had already
departed from earth and was nearing the unknown

1280
02:00:08.800 --> 02:00:15.720
son of truth and life, and
was incorporeally soaring in its light. And

1281
02:00:15.800 --> 02:00:23.079
that is death, that is not
death, thought Musia blissfully. And if

1282
02:00:23.159 --> 02:00:28.079
scientists, philosophers, and hangmen from
the world over should come to her cel

1283
02:00:28.600 --> 02:00:33.520
spreading before her books sculpels, axes, and uses, and were to attempt

1284
02:00:33.560 --> 02:00:39.159
to prefer that death existed, that
a human being dies and is killed,

1285
02:00:39.439 --> 02:00:44.520
and there is no immortality, they
would only surprise her. How could there

1286
02:00:44.600 --> 02:00:50.199
be no deathlessness since she was already
deathless of what other deathlessness? Of what

1287
02:00:50.439 --> 02:00:55.840
other death? Could there be a
question, since she was already dead and

1288
02:00:55.880 --> 02:01:01.439
immortal alife and death, as she
had been dead in life. And if

1289
02:01:01.479 --> 02:01:05.079
a coffin were brought into her cell
with her own decomposing body in it,

1290
02:01:05.399 --> 02:01:10.760
and she were told, look,
that is you, she would look and

1291
02:01:10.800 --> 02:01:15.920
would answer, no, it is
not I. And if they should attempt

1292
02:01:15.920 --> 02:01:19.720
to convince her, frighten her by
the ominous side of her own decomposed body,

1293
02:01:19.760 --> 02:01:26.560
that it was she, she Musieur
would answer with a smile. No,

1294
02:01:27.359 --> 02:01:30.920
you think that it is I,
but it isn't. I'm the one

1295
02:01:30.960 --> 02:01:34.359
you are speaking to. How can
I be the other one? But you

1296
02:01:34.439 --> 02:01:42.319
will die and become like that?
No, I will not die. You

1297
02:01:42.399 --> 02:01:47.119
will be executed. Here is the
news. I will be executed, But

1298
02:01:47.199 --> 02:01:53.359
I will not die. How can
I die when I am already now immortal?

1299
02:01:55.079 --> 02:02:00.760
And the scientists and philosophers and hangmen
would retreat, speaking with a shudder,

1300
02:02:00.520 --> 02:02:06.000
do not touch this place. It
is wholly What else was Musia thinking

1301
02:02:06.039 --> 02:02:11.680
about? She was thinking of many
things, for to her the thread of

1302
02:02:11.720 --> 02:02:15.720
life was not broken by death,
but kept winding along, calmly and evenly.

1303
02:02:16.520 --> 02:02:20.359
She thought of her comrades, of
those who were far away, and

1304
02:02:20.439 --> 02:02:25.600
who, in pain and sorrow,
were living through the execution together with them,

1305
02:02:26.439 --> 02:02:30.720
and of those nearby who were to
mount the scaffold with her. She

1306
02:02:30.840 --> 02:02:34.520
was surprised at Vasily that he should
have been so disturbed, he who had

1307
02:02:34.520 --> 02:02:41.399
always been so brave, and who
had jested with death thus only on Tuesday

1308
02:02:41.439 --> 02:02:46.399
morning, when altogether they had attached
explosive projectiles to their belts, which several

1309
02:02:46.520 --> 02:02:51.600
hours later were to tear them into
pieces, Tanya Kovalchuk's hand had trembled with

1310
02:02:51.760 --> 02:02:57.960
nervousness, and it had become necessary
to put her aside while Vasily jested.

1311
02:02:58.319 --> 02:03:02.560
Maid Mary turned about and was even
so reckless that Werner had said sternly,

1312
02:03:03.279 --> 02:03:10.000
you must not be too familiar with
death. What was he afraid of now?

1313
02:03:10.760 --> 02:03:15.399
But this incomprehensible fear was so foreign
to Musia's soul that she ceased searching

1314
02:03:15.479 --> 02:03:19.600
for the cause of it, And
suddenly she was seized with a desperate desire

1315
02:03:19.680 --> 02:03:25.960
to see Seryojia Golovin to laugh with
him. She meditated a little while,

1316
02:03:26.199 --> 02:03:30.079
and then an even more desperate desire
came over her to see Werner and convince

1317
02:03:30.159 --> 02:03:34.079
him of something. And, imagining
to herself that Werner was in the next

1318
02:03:34.119 --> 02:03:40.560
cell, driving his heels into the
ground with his distinct measured steps, Musier

1319
02:03:40.680 --> 02:03:45.520
spoke as if addressing him, No, Werner, my dear, it is

1320
02:03:45.560 --> 02:03:48.880
all nonsense. It isn't at all
important whether or not you are killed.

1321
02:03:49.479 --> 02:03:54.640
You are a sensible man. But
you seem to be playing chess, and

1322
02:03:54.680 --> 02:03:59.640
that by taking one figure after another, the game is won. The important

1323
02:03:59.680 --> 02:04:03.840
thing is that we ourselves are ready
to die. Do you understand? What

1324
02:04:03.920 --> 02:04:10.680
do those people think that there is
nothing more terrible than death? They themselves

1325
02:04:10.680 --> 02:04:14.760
have invented death, They are themselves
afraid of it, and they try to

1326
02:04:14.840 --> 02:04:17.920
frighten us with it. I should
like to do this. I should like

1327
02:04:17.960 --> 02:04:23.439
to go out alone before a whole
regiment of soldiers and fire upon them with

1328
02:04:23.479 --> 02:04:27.960
a revolver. It would not matter
that I would be alone while they would

1329
02:04:27.960 --> 02:04:30.800
be thousands, or that I might
not kill any of them. It is

1330
02:04:30.960 --> 02:04:36.840
that which is important that they are
thousands. When thousands kill one, it

1331
02:04:38.000 --> 02:04:42.079
means that the one has conquered.
That is true, Werner, my dear.

1332
02:04:43.760 --> 02:04:46.359
But this too became so clear to
her that she did not feel like

1333
02:04:46.560 --> 02:04:53.720
arguing further. Werner must understand it
himself. Perhaps her mind simply did not

1334
02:04:53.840 --> 02:04:58.039
want to stop at one thought.
Just as a bird that soars with ease,

1335
02:04:58.520 --> 02:05:01.920
which sees endless hor horizons, and
to which all space, all the

1336
02:05:01.960 --> 02:05:08.520
depth, all the joy of the
soft and caressing azure are accessible. The

1337
02:05:08.520 --> 02:05:14.239
bell of the clock rang unceasingly,
disturbing the deep silence, and into this

1338
02:05:14.399 --> 02:05:19.239
harmonious, remote, beautiful sound,
the thought of the people flowed and also

1339
02:05:19.319 --> 02:05:25.039
began to ring for her, and
the smoothly gliding images turned into music.

1340
02:05:25.960 --> 02:05:30.239
It was just as if, on
a quiet, dark night, Musia was

1341
02:05:30.319 --> 02:05:34.560
riding along the broad even road,
while the easy springs of the carriage rocked

1342
02:05:34.600 --> 02:05:41.640
her and the little bells tinkled.
All alarm and agitation had passed, the

1343
02:05:41.800 --> 02:05:47.399
fatigued body had dissolved in the darkness, and her joyously wearied fancy calmly created

1344
02:05:47.439 --> 02:05:55.520
bright images carried away by their color
and their peaceful tranquility. Musia recalled three

1345
02:05:55.560 --> 02:05:59.720
of her comrades who had been hanged
but a short time before, and their

1346
02:05:59.720 --> 02:06:03.840
face seemed bright and happy and near
to her, nearer than those in life.

1347
02:06:04.159 --> 02:06:08.680
Thus does a man think with joy
in the morning of the house of

1348
02:06:08.720 --> 02:06:12.479
his friends, where he is to
go in the evening, and a greeting

1349
02:06:12.640 --> 02:06:17.960
rises to his smiling lips. Musia
became very tired from walking. She lay

1350
02:06:18.039 --> 02:06:25.479
down cautiously on the cot and continued
to dream with slightly closed eyes. The

1351
02:06:25.520 --> 02:06:31.239
cloak bell rang unceasingly, stirring the
mute silence, and bright singing images floated

1352
02:06:31.279 --> 02:06:36.800
calmly before her. Musieur thought,
is it possible that this is death?

1353
02:06:38.319 --> 02:06:42.640
My God? How beautiful it is? Or is it life? I do

1354
02:06:42.720 --> 02:06:47.039
not know. I do not know. I will look and listen. Her

1355
02:06:47.079 --> 02:06:51.479
hearing had long given way to her
imagination. From the first moment of her

1356
02:06:51.520 --> 02:06:57.399
imprisonment. Inclined to be very musical, her ear had become keen in the

1357
02:06:57.520 --> 02:07:01.199
silence, and on this background of
silence, out of the meager bits of

1358
02:07:01.319 --> 02:07:05.800
reality, the footsteps of the guards
in the cordis, the ringing of the

1359
02:07:05.880 --> 02:07:11.399
clock, the rustling of the wind, on the iron roof, the crackling

1360
02:07:11.560 --> 02:07:18.159
of the lantern, it created complete
musical pictures. At first, Mousie was

1361
02:07:18.199 --> 02:07:23.159
afraid of them, brushed them away
from her, as if they were hallucinations

1362
02:07:23.199 --> 02:07:27.359
of a sickly mind. But later
she understood that she herself was well,

1363
02:07:27.720 --> 02:07:31.640
and that this was no derangement of
any kind, and she gave herself up

1364
02:07:31.680 --> 02:07:39.720
to the dreams calmly. And now
suddenly she seemed to hear clearly and distinctly

1365
02:07:39.760 --> 02:07:45.279
the sounds of military music. In
astonishment, she opened her eyes, lifted

1366
02:07:45.319 --> 02:07:48.960
her head. Outside the window was
black night, and the clock was striking

1367
02:07:49.920 --> 02:07:55.680
again. She thought calmly and closed
her eyes, and as soon as she

1368
02:07:55.760 --> 02:08:01.359
did so, the music resounded anew. She could hear distinctly how the soldiers,

1369
02:08:01.680 --> 02:08:05.640
a whole regiment, were coming from
behind the corner of the fortress on

1370
02:08:05.720 --> 02:08:09.479
the right, and now they were
passing her window. Their feet beat time

1371
02:08:09.560 --> 02:08:16.159
with the measured steps upon the frozen
ground, one too one too. She

1372
02:08:16.239 --> 02:08:20.880
could even hear at times the leather
of the boots creaking. How suddenly someone's

1373
02:08:20.880 --> 02:08:26.840
foot slipped and immediately recovered its steps, and the music came ever nearer.

1374
02:08:26.279 --> 02:08:33.119
It was an entirely unfamiliar but very
loud and spirited holiday march. Evidently there

1375
02:08:33.159 --> 02:08:39.520
was some sort of celebration in the
fortress. Now the band came up alongside

1376
02:08:39.520 --> 02:08:43.680
of her window, and the cell
was filled with merry, rhythmic, harmoniously

1377
02:08:43.720 --> 02:08:50.760
blended sounds. One large brass trumpet
brayed harshly out of tune, now too

1378
02:08:50.840 --> 02:08:56.399
late, now comically running ahead.
Musia could almost see the little soldier playing

1379
02:08:56.439 --> 02:09:01.760
it, a great expression of earnestness
on his face, and she laughed.

1380
02:09:01.680 --> 02:09:07.359
Then everything moved away. The footsteps
died out, one too, one too

1381
02:09:07.640 --> 02:09:13.319
at a distance. The music sounded
still more beautiful and cheerful. The trumpet

1382
02:09:13.359 --> 02:09:18.199
resounded now and then with its merry, loud brass voice out of tune.

1383
02:09:18.680 --> 02:09:22.880
And then everything died away, and
the clock on the tower struck again,

1384
02:09:22.399 --> 02:09:30.840
slowly, mournfully, hardly stirring the
silence. They are gone, thought Monsieur,

1385
02:09:31.199 --> 02:09:35.840
with a feeling of slight sadness.
She felt sorry for the departing sounds,

1386
02:09:35.039 --> 02:09:39.039
which had been so cheerful and so
comical. She was even sorry for

1387
02:09:39.119 --> 02:09:45.239
the departed little soldiers, because those
busy soldiers, with their brass trumpets and

1388
02:09:45.279 --> 02:09:50.039
their creaking boots, were of an
entirely different sort, not at all like

1389
02:09:50.119 --> 02:09:54.199
those at whom she had felt like
firing a revolver. Come again, she

1390
02:09:54.319 --> 02:10:01.439
begged tenderly, and more came the
figures bent over her. They surrounded her

1391
02:10:01.479 --> 02:10:05.760
in a transparent cloud and lifted her
up, where the migrating birds were soaring

1392
02:10:05.800 --> 02:10:11.279
and screaming like heralds on the right
of her, on the left, above

1393
02:10:11.319 --> 02:10:16.960
and below her, they screamed like
heralds. They called, they announced from

1394
02:10:16.000 --> 02:10:22.600
afar their flight. They flapped their
white wings, and the darkness supported them

1395
02:10:22.000 --> 02:10:28.399
even as the light had supported them, and on their convex breasts, cleaving

1396
02:10:28.439 --> 02:10:33.039
the air as under the city far
below reflected a blue light. Musia's heart

1397
02:10:33.119 --> 02:10:39.439
beat ever more evenly, her breathing
grew ever more calmly and quiet. She

1398
02:10:39.520 --> 02:10:45.319
was falling asleep. Her face looked
fatigue and pale. Beneath her eyes were

1399
02:10:45.399 --> 02:10:52.079
dark circles. Her girlish, immenseiated
hands seemed so thin, but upon her

1400
02:10:52.119 --> 02:10:56.359
lips was a smile. Tomorrow,
with the rise of the sun, this

1401
02:10:56.600 --> 02:11:01.680
human face would be distorted with any
in human grimace. Her brain would be

1402
02:11:01.720 --> 02:11:07.680
covered with thick blood, and her
eyes would bulge from their sockets and look

1403
02:11:07.760 --> 02:11:16.239
glassy. But now she slept quietly
and smiled in her great immortality. Musia

1404
02:11:16.279 --> 02:11:20.720
fell asleep, and the life of
the prison went on, deaf and sensitive,

1405
02:11:22.159 --> 02:11:28.279
blind and sharp sighted, like eternal
alarm itself. Somewhere people were walking.

1406
02:11:28.880 --> 02:11:33.720
Somewhere, people were whispering. A
gun clanked. It seemed as if

1407
02:11:33.720 --> 02:11:37.520
someone shouted. Perhaps no one shouted
at all, Perhaps it merely seemed so.

1408
02:11:37.760 --> 02:11:43.159
In the silence, the little casement
window in the door opened noiselessly.

1409
02:11:43.880 --> 02:11:48.960
Her dark, mustached face appeared in
the black hole. For a long time,

1410
02:11:50.000 --> 02:11:54.760
it stared at Musia in astonishment,
and then disappeared, as noiselessly as

1411
02:11:54.760 --> 02:12:00.720
it had appeared. The bells rang
and sang for a long time, painfully.

1412
02:12:01.359 --> 02:12:05.000
It seemed as if the tied ours
were climbing up a high mountain toward

1413
02:12:05.119 --> 02:12:11.359
midnight, and that it was becoming
ever harder and harder to ascend. They

1414
02:12:11.479 --> 02:12:16.880
fall this slip, they slide down
with a groan, and then again they

1415
02:12:16.960 --> 02:12:24.720
climb painfully towards the black height.
Somewhere people were walking, Somewhere, people

1416
02:12:24.760 --> 02:12:31.479
were whispering, and they were already
harnessing the horses to the black carriages without

1417
02:12:31.680 --> 02:12:43.199
lanterns. End of chapter seven,
Chapter eight of the Seven who were hanged

1418
02:12:43.239 --> 02:12:50.199
by Leoni to Nikolayevitch Andreyev translated Bohrmann
Bernstein. This Libovox according is in the

1419
02:12:50.239 --> 02:12:58.680
public domain recording by Kirolin. Chapter
eight. There is death as well as

1420
02:12:58.760 --> 02:13:03.800
life. Sergey Golovin never thought of
death as though it were something not to

1421
02:13:03.840 --> 02:13:09.880
be considered, something that did not
concern him in the least. He was

1422
02:13:09.079 --> 02:13:15.840
a strong, healthy, cheerful youth, endowed with that calm, clear joy

1423
02:13:15.920 --> 02:13:22.520
of living which causes every evil thought
and feeling that might injure life to disappear

1424
02:13:22.600 --> 02:13:28.560
from the organism without leaving any trace. Just as all cuts, wounds and

1425
02:13:28.640 --> 02:13:33.600
stings on his body healed rapidly,
so all that weight upon his soul and

1426
02:13:33.720 --> 02:13:39.600
wounded it immediately rose to the surface
and disappeared. And he brought into every

1427
02:13:39.720 --> 02:13:46.800
work, even into his enjoyments,
the same calm and optimistic seriousness. It

1428
02:13:46.039 --> 02:13:52.319
mattered not whether he was occupied with
photography, with bicycling, or with preparations

1429
02:13:52.359 --> 02:13:58.640
for a terrorist act. Everything in
life was joyous, Everything in life was

1430
02:13:58.680 --> 02:14:03.159
important, Everything thing should be done
well, and he did everything well.

1431
02:14:03.359 --> 02:14:09.039
He was an excellent sailor, an
expert shot with the revolver. He was

1432
02:14:09.239 --> 02:14:13.600
faithful in friendship as in love,
and a fanatic believer in the word of

1433
02:14:13.680 --> 02:14:18.439
honor. His comrades laughed at him, saying that if the most notorious spy

1434
02:14:18.640 --> 02:14:22.840
told him upon his word of honor
that he was not a spy, Segey

1435
02:14:22.880 --> 02:14:28.079
would believe him and would shake his
hands with him. As with any comrade.

1436
02:14:28.600 --> 02:14:31.000
He had one fault. He was
convinced that he could sing well,

1437
02:14:31.319 --> 02:14:37.319
whereas in fact he had noear for
music, and even sang the revolutionary songs

1438
02:14:37.359 --> 02:14:43.119
out of tune, and felt offended
when his friends laughed at him. Either

1439
02:14:43.319 --> 02:14:46.640
you are all asses or I am
an ass, he would declare, seriously

1440
02:14:46.680 --> 02:14:52.840
and even angrily, and all his
friends as seriously declared, you are an

1441
02:14:52.880 --> 02:14:58.199
ass. We can tell by your
voice. But as is sometimes the case

1442
02:14:58.239 --> 02:15:01.920
with good people, he was perhaps
liked more for his little foible than for

1443
02:15:03.039 --> 02:15:07.600
his good qualities. He feared death
so little and thought of it so little

1444
02:15:07.640 --> 02:15:13.199
that on the fatal morning, before
leaving the house of Tanya Kovalchuk, he

1445
02:15:13.399 --> 02:15:18.560
was the only one who had breakfasted
properly. With an appetite, he drank

1446
02:15:18.640 --> 02:15:22.399
two glasses of tea with milk and
a whole five kopeck roll of bread.

1447
02:15:24.239 --> 02:15:28.840
Then he glanced at Werna's untouched bread
and said, why don't you eat?

1448
02:15:28.239 --> 02:15:35.399
Eat? We must brace up.
I don't feel like eating the nal eat?

1449
02:15:35.640 --> 02:15:41.359
May I you have a fine appetite, said Eoja. Instead of answering,

1450
02:15:41.479 --> 02:15:46.119
serigee, his mouthful began to sing
in a dull voice out of tune,

1451
02:15:46.760 --> 02:15:54.159
hostile whirlwinds are blowing over us.
After the arrest, he first grew

1452
02:15:54.279 --> 02:15:56.960
sad the work had not been done
well. They had failed. But then

1453
02:15:58.000 --> 02:16:01.479
he thought there's something else now that
must be done well, and that is

1454
02:16:01.600 --> 02:16:07.199
to die, and he cheered up
again. And however strange it may seem,

1455
02:16:07.479 --> 02:16:11.159
beginning with the second morning in the
fortress, he commenced devoting himself to

1456
02:16:11.239 --> 02:16:18.279
gymnastics according to the unusually rational system
of a certain German named Muller, which

1457
02:16:18.479 --> 02:16:24.600
absorbed his interest. He undressed himself
completely, and to the alarm and astonishment

1458
02:16:24.640 --> 02:16:30.000
of the guard who watched him,
he carefully went through all the prescribed eighteen

1459
02:16:30.079 --> 02:16:35.799
exercises. The fact that the guard
watched him and was apparently astonished pleased him

1460
02:16:35.000 --> 02:16:39.200
as a propagandist of the Muller system, And although he knew that he would

1461
02:16:39.239 --> 02:16:43.920
get no answer. He nevertheless spoke
to the eyes staring in the little window.

1462
02:16:45.959 --> 02:16:48.159
It's a good system, my friend, embraces you up. It should

1463
02:16:48.200 --> 02:16:54.479
be introduced in your regiment, he
shouted, convincingly and kindly, so as

1464
02:16:54.600 --> 02:16:58.520
not to frighten the soldier, not
suspecting that the guard considered him a harmless

1465
02:16:58.559 --> 02:17:05.319
lunatic. The fear of death came
over him gradually. It was as if

1466
02:17:05.319 --> 02:17:09.520
somebody were striking his heart a powerful
blow with the fist from below. This

1467
02:17:09.760 --> 02:17:16.159
sensation was rather painful than terrible.
Then the sensation was forgotten, but it

1468
02:17:16.239 --> 02:17:20.479
returned again a few hours later,
and each time it grew more intense and

1469
02:17:20.520 --> 02:17:26.000
of longer duration. And thus it
began to assume vague outlines of some great,

1470
02:17:26.520 --> 02:17:33.440
even unbearable fear. Is it possible
that I am afraid? Thoughts ser

1471
02:17:33.559 --> 02:17:39.360
again, in astonishment, What nonsense. It was not he who was afraid.

1472
02:17:39.600 --> 02:17:43.319
It was his young, sound,
strong body, which could not be

1473
02:17:43.399 --> 02:17:48.399
deceived either by the exercises prescribed by
the Miller system or by the colder up

1474
02:17:48.479 --> 02:17:52.920
downs. On the contrary, the
stronger and the fresher his body became,

1475
02:17:52.959 --> 02:17:58.760
after the cold water, the keener
and the more unbearable became the sensations of

1476
02:17:58.799 --> 02:18:03.600
his recurrent fear, and just at
these moments when during his freedom he had

1477
02:18:03.600 --> 02:18:09.479
felt a special influx of the joy
and power of life in the mornings after

1478
02:18:09.520 --> 02:18:15.360
he had slept soundly and gone through
his physical exercises, now there appeared this

1479
02:18:15.559 --> 02:18:20.959
deadening fear, which was so foreign
to his nature. He noticed this and

1480
02:18:20.079 --> 02:18:24.639
thought, it is foolish, sagey, to die more easily. You should

1481
02:18:24.639 --> 02:18:30.639
weaken the body and not strengthen it. It is foolish. So he dropped

1482
02:18:30.639 --> 02:18:35.440
his gymnastics and the rub downs.
To the soldier, he shouted, as

1483
02:18:35.440 --> 02:18:39.079
if to explain and justify himself.
Never mind that I have stopped. It

1484
02:18:39.200 --> 02:18:41.959
is a good thing, my friend, but not for those who are to

1485
02:18:43.000 --> 02:18:48.159
be hanged, but it is very
good for all others. And indeed he

1486
02:18:48.200 --> 02:18:52.799
began to feel somewhat better. He
tried also to eat less so as to

1487
02:18:52.879 --> 02:18:58.719
grow still weaker. But notwithstanding the
lack of pure air and exercises, his

1488
02:18:58.799 --> 02:19:01.760
appetite was very good. It was
difficult for him to control it, and

1489
02:19:01.879 --> 02:19:07.520
he ate everything that was brought to
him. Then he began to manage differently.

1490
02:19:07.920 --> 02:19:11.200
Before starting to eat, he would
pour out half into the pail,

1491
02:19:11.680 --> 02:19:16.799
and to this seemed to work.
A dull drowsiness and faintness came over him.

1492
02:19:18.520 --> 02:19:20.959
I'll show you what I can do, he threatened his body, and

1493
02:19:22.040 --> 02:19:26.239
at the same time, sadly yet
tenderly, he felt his flabby, softened

1494
02:19:26.360 --> 02:19:33.200
muscles with his hand. Soon,
however, his body grew accustomed to this

1495
02:19:33.319 --> 02:19:37.840
regime as well, and the fear
of death appeared again, not so keen,

1496
02:19:37.920 --> 02:19:43.120
nor so burning, but more disgusting, somewhat akin to a nauseating sensation.

1497
02:19:43.280 --> 02:19:48.399
It's because they are dragging it out
so long, thought Seroge. It

1498
02:19:48.479 --> 02:19:50.559
would be a good idea to sleep
all the time till the day of the

1499
02:19:50.639 --> 02:19:56.920
execution, and he tried to sleep
as much as possible. At first he

1500
02:19:56.000 --> 02:20:01.600
succeeded, but later, either because
he had slip too much or for some

1501
02:20:01.760 --> 02:20:07.280
other reason, insomnia appeared, and
with it came eager, penetrating thoughts and

1502
02:20:07.319 --> 02:20:13.479
a longing for life. I am
not afraid of this devil, he thought

1503
02:20:13.479 --> 02:20:18.120
of death. I simply feel sorry
for my life. It is a splendid

1504
02:20:18.200 --> 02:20:22.040
thing, no matter what the pessimists
say about it. What if they were

1505
02:20:22.079 --> 02:20:26.280
to hang a pessimist? Ah,
I feel sorry for life, very sorry,

1506
02:20:28.000 --> 02:20:31.399
And why does my beard grow now? It didn't grow before, but

1507
02:20:31.479 --> 02:20:37.920
suddenly it grows? Why? He
shook his head mournfully, heaving long,

1508
02:20:37.200 --> 02:20:43.600
painful sighs, silence, then a
sigh, then a brief silence, again

1509
02:20:43.920 --> 02:20:48.360
followed by a longer, deeper sigh. Thus it went on until the trial

1510
02:20:48.680 --> 02:20:54.040
and the terrible meeting with his parents. When he awoke in his cell the

1511
02:20:54.079 --> 02:20:58.399
next day, he realized clearly that
everything between him and life was ended,

1512
02:20:58.840 --> 02:21:01.719
that there were only a few empty
hours of waiting, and then death would

1513
02:21:01.799 --> 02:21:07.760
come. And a strange sensation took
possession of him. He felt as though

1514
02:21:07.799 --> 02:21:11.040
he had been stripped, stripped entirely, as if not only his clothes,

1515
02:21:11.440 --> 02:21:16.399
but the sun, the air,
the noise of voices, and his ability

1516
02:21:16.440 --> 02:21:20.600
to do things had been wrested from
him. Death was not there as yet,

1517
02:21:20.760 --> 02:21:26.399
but life was there no longer.
There was something new, something astonishing,

1518
02:21:26.799 --> 02:21:33.040
inexplicable, not entirely reasonable, and
yet not altogether without meaning, something

1519
02:21:33.120 --> 02:21:39.680
so deep and mysterious and supernatural that
it was impossible to understand. Fhi,

1520
02:21:39.959 --> 02:21:45.879
you devil, wandered Sergey painfully.
What is this? Where am I I?

1521
02:21:46.639 --> 02:21:52.559
Who am I? He examined,
himself attentively with interest, beginning with

1522
02:21:52.680 --> 02:21:56.200
his large prison slippers, ending with
his stomach, where his coat protruded.

1523
02:21:56.959 --> 02:22:01.799
He paced the cell, spreading out
his arms and continuing to survey himself like

1524
02:22:01.840 --> 02:22:05.719
a woman in a new dress which
is too long for her. He tried

1525
02:22:05.760 --> 02:22:11.079
to turn his head, and it
turned, and this strange, terrible,

1526
02:22:11.280 --> 02:22:16.639
uncough creature was. He sat agay
Golovin, and soon he would be no

1527
02:22:16.799 --> 02:22:22.440
more. Everything became strange. He
tried to walk across the cell, and

1528
02:22:22.520 --> 02:22:26.000
it seemed strange to him that he
could walk. He tried to sit down,

1529
02:22:26.040 --> 02:22:28.920
and it seemed strange to him that
he could sit. He tried to

1530
02:22:30.000 --> 02:22:33.440
drink some water, and it seemed
strange to him that he could drink,

1531
02:22:33.760 --> 02:22:37.840
that he could swallow, that he
could hold the cop that he had fingers,

1532
02:22:37.879 --> 02:22:41.360
and that those fingers were trembling.
He choked, began to cough,

1533
02:22:41.559 --> 02:22:48.120
and while coughing, thought, how
strange it is that I'm coughing? Am

1534
02:22:48.120 --> 02:22:52.239
I losing my reason? Thought sedogae
growing cold? Am I coming to that

1535
02:22:52.399 --> 02:22:58.840
too? The devil take them?
He rubbed his forehead with his hand,

1536
02:23:00.239 --> 02:23:05.559
and this also seemed strange to him, And then he remained breathless, motionless,

1537
02:23:05.879 --> 02:23:11.079
petrified for hours, suppressing every thought, all loud, breathing, all

1538
02:23:11.159 --> 02:23:16.000
motion, for every thought seemed to
him but madness, every motion, madness.

1539
02:23:18.120 --> 02:23:22.520
Time was no more. It appeared
transformed into space, airless and transparent,

1540
02:23:22.959 --> 02:23:28.920
into an enormous square upon which all
were there, the earth and life

1541
02:23:28.040 --> 02:23:33.399
and people. He saw all that
at one glance, all to the very

1542
02:23:33.600 --> 02:23:39.399
end, to the mysterious abyss death, and he was tortured not by the

1543
02:23:39.440 --> 02:23:43.760
fact that death was visible, but
that both life and death were visible at

1544
02:23:43.799 --> 02:23:50.280
the same time. The curtain which
through eternity has hidden the mystery of life

1545
02:23:50.639 --> 02:23:54.639
and the mystery of death, was
pushed aside by a sacrilegious hand, and

1546
02:23:54.719 --> 02:24:01.399
the mystery ceased to be mysteries.
Yet they remained incomprehensible, like the truth

1547
02:24:01.479 --> 02:24:05.079
written in a foreign tongue. There
were no conceptions in his human mind,

1548
02:24:05.600 --> 02:24:11.440
no words in his human language that
could define what he saw, and the

1549
02:24:11.520 --> 02:24:16.840
words I am afraid were uttered by
him only because there were no other words,

1550
02:24:16.120 --> 02:24:22.479
because no other conceptions existed, nor
could other conceptions exist which would grasp

1551
02:24:22.719 --> 02:24:28.959
this new unhuman condition. Thus would
it be with the man if while remaining

1552
02:24:28.959 --> 02:24:33.840
within the bounds of human reason,
experience, and feelings. He were suddenly

1553
02:24:33.879 --> 02:24:37.920
to see God himself, he would
see him, but would not understand,

1554
02:24:39.360 --> 02:24:43.760
even though he knew that it was
God, and he would tremble with inconceivable

1555
02:24:43.799 --> 02:24:50.920
sufferings of incomprehension. There is Mullah
for you, he suddenly uttered loudly with

1556
02:24:50.120 --> 02:24:54.920
extreme conviction, and shook his head. And with that unexpected break in his

1557
02:24:56.000 --> 02:25:01.399
feelings of which the human soul is
so capable, he loved tartily and cheerfully.

1558
02:25:01.559 --> 02:25:07.040
Oh Muller, my dear Muller,
Oh you splendid German. After all

1559
02:25:07.120 --> 02:25:11.399
you are right Muller, and I
am an ass. He paced the cell

1560
02:25:11.479 --> 02:25:16.040
quickly several times, and to the
great astonishment of the soldier who was watching

1561
02:25:16.120 --> 02:25:20.760
him through the peep hole, he
quickly undressed himself and cheerfully went through all

1562
02:25:20.840 --> 02:25:26.479
the eighteen exercises with the greatest care. He stretched and expanded his young,

1563
02:25:26.840 --> 02:25:31.920
somewhat emaciated body, sat down for
a moment, drew deep breaths of air,

1564
02:25:31.239 --> 02:25:35.559
and exhaled it, stood up on
tiptoe, stretched his arms and his

1565
02:25:35.680 --> 02:25:41.879
feet, and after each exercise he
announced with satisfaction, that's it, that's

1566
02:25:41.959 --> 02:25:46.719
the real way. Muller. His
cheeks flushed, drops of warm, pleasant

1567
02:25:46.719 --> 02:25:52.479
perspiration came from the pores of his
body, and his heart beat soundly and

1568
02:25:52.559 --> 02:25:58.000
evenly. The fact is Muller philosophized
Sergey, expanding his chest so that the

1569
02:25:58.079 --> 02:26:03.360
ribs under his thin, tight skin
were outlined clearly. The fact is that

1570
02:26:03.479 --> 02:26:09.760
there is a nineteenth exercise to hang
by the neck motionless. That is called

1571
02:26:09.879 --> 02:26:13.040
execution. Do you understand, Mullah. They take a live man, let

1572
02:26:13.120 --> 02:26:18.559
us say Sergey Golovin, they swaddle
him as a doll, and they hang

1573
02:26:18.639 --> 02:26:22.959
him by the neck until he is
dead. It is a foolish exercise,

1574
02:26:22.079 --> 02:26:26.200
Mullah. But it can't be helped. We have to do it. He

1575
02:26:26.280 --> 02:26:30.799
bent over on the right side and
repeated, we have to do it,

1576
02:26:30.920 --> 02:26:43.319
Mullah. End of chapter eight.
Chapter nine of the Seven who were Hanged

1577
02:26:43.360 --> 02:26:50.440
by Leonit, Nikolayevitch Andreyev translated by
Hermann Bernstein. This LibriVox according is in

1578
02:26:50.520 --> 02:27:01.920
the public domain recording by Carolyn.
Chapter nine, dreadful solitude under the same

1579
02:27:01.079 --> 02:27:07.120
ringing of the clock, separated from
Serge and Musia by only a few empty

1580
02:27:07.200 --> 02:27:11.559
cells, but yet so painfully desolate
and alone in the whole world as though

1581
02:27:11.639 --> 02:27:18.360
no other soul existed, Poor,
vastily cushioned in was passing the last hours

1582
02:27:18.399 --> 02:27:26.399
of his life in terror and anguish, perspiring, his moist shirt clinging to

1583
02:27:26.479 --> 02:27:31.760
his body, his once curly hair
disheveled. He tossed about in the cell

1584
02:27:31.879 --> 02:27:37.360
convulsively and hopelessly, like a man
suffering from an unbearable physical torture. He

1585
02:27:37.399 --> 02:27:41.520
would sit down for a while,
then start to run again. He would

1586
02:27:41.520 --> 02:27:46.559
press his forehead against the wall,
stop and seek something with his eyes,

1587
02:27:46.879 --> 02:27:52.840
as if looking for some medicine.
His expression changed as though he had two

1588
02:27:52.920 --> 02:27:58.760
different faces. The former, the
young face, had disappeared somewhere, and

1589
02:28:00.000 --> 02:28:03.120
a new one, a terrible face
that had seemed to have come out of

1590
02:28:03.239 --> 02:28:09.639
darkness, had taken its place.
The fear of death had come upon him

1591
02:28:09.680 --> 02:28:16.440
all at once and taken possession of
him completely and forcibly. In the morning,

1592
02:28:16.760 --> 02:28:20.600
while facing almost certain death, he
had been carefree and scorn dead.

1593
02:28:22.079 --> 02:28:26.760
But toward evening, when he was
placed in a cell in solitary confinement,

1594
02:28:26.239 --> 02:28:31.719
he was whirled and carried away by
a wave of mad fear. So long

1595
02:28:31.760 --> 02:28:35.600
as he went of his own free
will to face danger and death, so

1596
02:28:35.760 --> 02:28:41.440
long as he had death, even
though it seemed terrible in his own hands,

1597
02:28:41.959 --> 02:28:46.840
he felt at ease. He was
even cheerful in this sensation of boundless

1598
02:28:46.879 --> 02:28:52.760
freedom, of brave and firm conviction
of his fearless will. His little shrunken

1599
02:28:54.159 --> 02:29:01.319
womanish fear was drowned, leaving no
trace. With an vernal machine at his

1600
02:29:01.520 --> 02:29:07.319
girdle, he made the cruel force
of dynamite his own, also its fiery

1601
02:29:07.440 --> 02:29:13.600
death bearing power. And as he
walked along the street amidst the bustling plain

1602
02:29:13.680 --> 02:29:18.879
people who were occupied with their affairs, who were hurriedly avoiding the dangers from

1603
02:29:18.920 --> 02:29:22.680
the horses, of carriages and cars, he seemed to himself as a stranger

1604
02:29:22.760 --> 02:29:30.639
from another unknown world, where neither
death nor fear was known. And suddenly

1605
02:29:30.799 --> 02:29:35.159
this harsh, wild, stupefying change. He can no longer go where he

1606
02:29:35.200 --> 02:29:41.079
pleases, but he is let to
where others please. He can no longer

1607
02:29:41.200 --> 02:29:45.159
choose the place he likes, but
he is placed in a stone cage and

1608
02:29:45.200 --> 02:29:50.239
looked up like a thing. He
can no longer choose freely like all people,

1609
02:29:50.479 --> 02:29:54.799
between life and death, but he
will surely and inevitably be put to

1610
02:29:54.879 --> 02:29:58.840
death. The incarnation of will,
power, life, and strength and in

1611
02:30:00.200 --> 02:30:05.239
and before. He has now become
a wretched image of the most pitiful weakness

1612
02:30:05.360 --> 02:30:09.319
in the world. He has been
transformed into an animal waiting to be slaughtered,

1613
02:30:09.719 --> 02:30:13.600
a deaf, mute object which may
be taken from place to place,

1614
02:30:15.000 --> 02:30:18.920
burnt and broken. It matters not
what he might say. Nobody would listen

1615
02:30:18.959 --> 02:30:22.600
to his words, and if he
endeavored to shout, they would stop his

1616
02:30:22.760 --> 02:30:28.120
mouth with a rag. Whether he
can walk alone or not, they will

1617
02:30:28.159 --> 02:30:33.000
take him away and hang him.
And if he should offer resistance, struggle,

1618
02:30:33.079 --> 02:30:37.120
or lie down on the ground,
they will overpower him, lift him,

1619
02:30:37.440 --> 02:30:43.360
bind him, and carry him bound
to the gallows. And the fact

1620
02:30:43.360 --> 02:30:48.479
that this machine like work will be
performed over him by human beings like himself,

1621
02:30:48.000 --> 02:30:54.799
lent to them a new extraordinary and
ominous aspect. They seemed to him

1622
02:30:54.879 --> 02:30:58.920
like ghosts that came to him for
this one purpose, or like automatic popping

1623
02:31:00.280 --> 02:31:05.559
on springs. They would seize him, take him, carry him, hang

1624
02:31:05.680 --> 02:31:09.159
him, pull him by the feet. They would cut the rope, take

1625
02:31:09.239 --> 02:31:13.799
him down, carry him off,
and bury him. From the first day

1626
02:31:13.840 --> 02:31:18.159
of his imprisonment, the people and
life seemed to him to have turned into

1627
02:31:18.200 --> 02:31:24.840
an incomprehensibly terrible world of phantoms and
automatic puppets. Almost maddened with fear,

1628
02:31:26.200 --> 02:31:30.719
he attempted to picture to himself that
human beings had tongs, and that they

1629
02:31:30.760 --> 02:31:35.399
could speak, but he could not. They seemed to him to be mute.

1630
02:31:35.959 --> 02:31:39.159
He tried to recall their speech,
the meaning of the words that people

1631
02:31:39.319 --> 02:31:45.200
used in their relations with one another, but he could not. Their mouths

1632
02:31:45.360 --> 02:31:48.920
seemed to open, some sounds were
heard, then they moved their feet and

1633
02:31:50.000 --> 02:31:54.479
disappeared, and nothing more. Thus
would a man feel if he were at

1634
02:31:54.559 --> 02:32:00.000
night alone in his house, and
suddenly all objects were to come to life,

1635
02:32:00.280 --> 02:32:03.639
to move and overpower him, And
suddenly they would all begin to judge

1636
02:32:03.719 --> 02:32:07.520
him. The cupboard, the chair, the writing table, and the divan.

1637
02:32:09.239 --> 02:32:13.479
He would cry and toss about,
entreating, calling for help, while

1638
02:32:13.479 --> 02:32:16.520
they would speak among themselves in their
own language, and then would lead him

1639
02:32:16.559 --> 02:32:22.319
to the scaffold. They the cupboard, the chair, the writing table,

1640
02:32:22.360 --> 02:32:28.120
and the divan, and the other
objects would look on to vasily. Kashidin,

1641
02:32:28.479 --> 02:32:33.399
who was condemned to death by hanging, everything now seemed like children's playthings.

1642
02:32:33.440 --> 02:32:37.040
His cell, the door with the
peep hole, the strokes of the

1643
02:32:37.079 --> 02:32:43.079
wound up cloak, the carefully molded
fortress, and especially that mechanical puppet with

1644
02:32:43.200 --> 02:32:48.079
the gun who stamped his feet in
the corridor, and the others who,

1645
02:32:48.559 --> 02:32:52.680
frightening him, peeped into his cell
through the little window and handed him the

1646
02:32:52.719 --> 02:32:56.559
foot in silence. And that which
he was experiencing was not the fear of

1647
02:32:56.639 --> 02:33:01.840
death. Death was now rather welcome
to him. Death, with all its

1648
02:33:01.959 --> 02:33:07.840
eternal mysteriousness and incomprehensibility, was more
acceptable to his reason than this strangely and

1649
02:33:09.000 --> 02:33:15.879
fantastically changed world. What is more, death seemed to have been destroyed completely

1650
02:33:15.920 --> 02:33:20.319
in this insane world of phantoms and
puppets, having lost its great and enigmatic

1651
02:33:20.399 --> 02:33:26.719
significance, becoming something mechanical, and
only for that reason terrible. He would

1652
02:33:26.799 --> 02:33:31.680
be seized, taken lid, hanged, pulled by the feet, the rope

1653
02:33:31.719 --> 02:33:35.239
would be cut, he would be
taken down, carried off, and buried,

1654
02:33:37.200 --> 02:33:41.680
and the man would have disappeared from
the world. Had the trial,

1655
02:33:41.760 --> 02:33:46.200
the nearness of his comrades brought cushering
to himself. For an instant he imagined

1656
02:33:46.200 --> 02:33:50.719
he saw real people. They were
sitting and trying him, speaking like human

1657
02:33:50.760 --> 02:33:56.079
beings, listening, apparently understanding him. But as he mentally rehearsed. The

1658
02:33:56.159 --> 02:34:01.479
meeting with his mother, he clearly
felt with the terror of a man who

1659
02:34:01.520 --> 02:34:05.280
is beginning to lose his reason,
and who realizes it that this old woman

1660
02:34:05.319 --> 02:34:11.360
in the black little kerchief was only
an artificial, mechanical puppet, of the

1661
02:34:11.440 --> 02:34:16.280
kind that can say Papa, Mamma, but somewhat better constructed. He tried

1662
02:34:16.319 --> 02:34:20.600
to speak to her, while thinking
at the same time with a shudder,

1663
02:34:20.280 --> 02:34:24.879
Oh, Lord, that is a
puppet, a mother doll, and there

1664
02:34:24.959 --> 02:34:28.159
is a soldier puppet. And there
at home is a father puppet. And

1665
02:34:28.319 --> 02:34:33.159
this is the puppet of Vasily cushied
in. It seemed to him that in

1666
02:34:33.200 --> 02:34:37.639
another moment he would hear somewhere the
creaking of the mechanism, the screeching of

1667
02:34:37.760 --> 02:34:43.319
unoiled wheels. When his mother began
to cry, something human again flashed for

1668
02:34:43.360 --> 02:34:48.079
an instant, but at the very
first words it disappeared again, and it

1669
02:34:48.200 --> 02:34:52.520
was interesting and terrible to see that
water was flowing from the eyes of the

1670
02:34:52.639 --> 02:34:58.399
doll. Then in his cell,
when the terror had become unbearable, Vasily

1671
02:34:58.440 --> 02:35:03.200
cushed it in attempted to pray of
all that had surrounded his childhood days in

1672
02:35:03.280 --> 02:35:07.920
his father's house, under the guise
of religion, only repulsive, bitter and

1673
02:35:09.000 --> 02:35:13.479
irritating sediment remained. But faith there
was none. But once, perhaps in

1674
02:35:13.520 --> 02:35:18.479
his earliest childhood, he had heard
a few words which had filled him with

1675
02:35:18.600 --> 02:35:24.280
palpitating emotion, and which remained during
all his life enwrapt with tender poetry.

1676
02:35:24.120 --> 02:35:31.879
These words were the joy of all
the afflicted. It had happened during painful

1677
02:35:31.920 --> 02:35:35.719
periods in his life that he whispered
to himself, not in prayer, without

1678
02:35:35.760 --> 02:35:41.799
being definitely conscious of it, these
words the joy of all the afflicted.

1679
02:35:43.920 --> 02:35:46.879
And suddenly he would feel relieved,
and a desire would come over him to

1680
02:35:46.959 --> 02:35:52.200
go to some dear friend and question
gently, our life. Is it life?

1681
02:35:52.360 --> 02:35:58.040
Eh, my dearest? Is it
life? And then suddenly it would

1682
02:35:58.079 --> 02:36:01.879
appear laughable to him, and he
would feel like mossing up his hair,

1683
02:36:01.200 --> 02:36:07.040
putting forth his knee, and thrusting
out his chest as though to receive heavy

1684
02:36:07.040 --> 02:36:13.200
blows, saying, here strike.
He did not tell anybody, not even

1685
02:36:13.239 --> 02:36:16.840
his nearest comrades, about his joy
of all the afflicted, and it was

1686
02:36:16.879 --> 02:36:22.040
as though he himself did not know
about it, so deeply was it hidden

1687
02:36:22.079 --> 02:36:28.159
in his soul. He recalled it, but rarely and cautiously. Now,

1688
02:36:28.280 --> 02:36:31.840
when the terror of the insoluble mystery, which appeared so plainly before him,

1689
02:36:33.239 --> 02:36:37.440
enveloped him completely, even as the
water in high flood covers the willow twigs

1690
02:36:37.479 --> 02:36:43.120
on the shore, a desire came
upon him to pray. He felt like

1691
02:36:43.200 --> 02:36:46.360
kneeling that he was ashamed of the
soldier, and folding his arms on his

1692
02:36:46.520 --> 02:36:52.399
chest, he whispered softly, the
joy of all the afflicted, and he

1693
02:36:52.479 --> 02:36:58.719
repeated tenderly, in anguish joy of
all the afflicted, Come to help me,

1694
02:36:58.319 --> 02:37:03.280
help us. Ska Kashirin. Long
ago, while he was yet in

1695
02:37:03.319 --> 02:37:07.040
his first term at the university,
and used to go off on a spree,

1696
02:37:07.159 --> 02:37:11.600
sometimes before he had made the acquaintance
of Werner, and before he had

1697
02:37:11.719 --> 02:37:18.600
entered the organization. He used then
to call himself half boastingly, half pityingly,

1698
02:37:18.319 --> 02:37:24.239
Vaska Kashirin. And now, for
some reason or other, he suddenly

1699
02:37:24.239 --> 02:37:28.639
felt like calling himself by the same
name again, But the words had a

1700
02:37:28.680 --> 02:37:35.600
dead and toneless sound. The joy
of all the afflicted. Something stirred.

1701
02:37:35.239 --> 02:37:41.239
It was as though someone's calm and
mournful image had flashed up in the distance

1702
02:37:41.600 --> 02:37:46.600
and died out quietly without illuminating the
deathly gloom. The wound up clock in

1703
02:37:46.639 --> 02:37:52.079
the steeple struck. The soldier in
the corridor made a noise with his gun

1704
02:37:52.399 --> 02:37:58.639
or with his saber, and yawned
slowly at intervals. Joy of all the

1705
02:37:58.719 --> 02:38:03.159
afflicted, you are silent? Will
you not say anything to Vaska kushit In?

1706
02:38:03.799 --> 02:38:09.440
He smiled patiently and waited. All
was empty within his soul and about

1707
02:38:09.520 --> 02:38:15.719
him, and the calm, mournful
image did not reappear. He recalled painfully

1708
02:38:15.799 --> 02:38:20.959
and unnecessarily, wax candles burning,
the priest in his vestments, the ikon

1709
02:38:22.079 --> 02:38:26.200
painted on the wall. He recalled
his father, bending and stretching himself,

1710
02:38:26.520 --> 02:38:31.440
praying and bowing to the ground,
while looking sidewise to see where the Vaskar

1711
02:38:31.639 --> 02:38:37.000
was praying or whether he was planning
some mischief. And a feeling of still

1712
02:38:37.079 --> 02:38:46.319
greater terror came over vassily than before
the prayer. Everything now disappeared, Madness

1713
02:38:46.360 --> 02:38:52.239
came crawling painfully. His consciousness was
dying out like an extinguished bonfire, growing

1714
02:38:52.600 --> 02:38:56.040
icy, like the corpse of a
man who had just died, whose heart

1715
02:38:56.079 --> 02:39:00.920
is still warm, but whose hands
and feet had already been come stiffened with

1716
02:39:01.120 --> 02:39:05.719
cold. His dying reason flared up
as red as blood again and said that

1717
02:39:05.799 --> 02:39:11.319
he vastly cushion in, might perhaps
become insane here, suffer pains for which

1718
02:39:11.399 --> 02:39:16.920
there's no name, reach a degree
of anguish and suffering that had never been

1719
02:39:16.959 --> 02:39:20.239
experienced by a single living being.
That he might beat his head against the

1720
02:39:20.319 --> 02:39:24.479
wall, pick his eyes out with
his fingers, speak and shout whatever he

1721
02:39:24.559 --> 02:39:28.200
pleased, that he might plead with
tears, that he could endure it no

1722
02:39:28.319 --> 02:39:35.719
longer, and nothing would happen.
Nothing could happen, and nothing happened.

1723
02:39:37.639 --> 02:39:41.840
His feet, which had a consciousness
and life of their own, continued to

1724
02:39:41.879 --> 02:39:46.079
walk and carry his trembling, moist
body. His hands, which had a

1725
02:39:46.159 --> 02:39:52.239
consciousness of their own, endeavored in
vain to fasten the coat which was open

1726
02:39:52.280 --> 02:39:58.680
at his chest, and to warm
his trembling, moist body. His body

1727
02:39:58.760 --> 02:40:03.600
quivered with cold, His eyes stared, and this was calm itself embodied.

1728
02:40:05.719 --> 02:40:09.559
But there was one more moment of
wild terror. That was when people entered

1729
02:40:09.559 --> 02:40:13.479
his cell. He did not even
imagine that this visit meant that it was

1730
02:40:13.520 --> 02:40:18.360
time to go to the execution.
He simply saw the people and was frightened

1731
02:40:18.399 --> 02:40:24.079
like a child. I will not
do it. I will not do it.

1732
02:40:24.760 --> 02:40:28.680
He whispered inaudibly with his livid lips, and silently retreated to the depths

1733
02:40:28.719 --> 02:40:33.200
of the cell. Even as in
childhood, he shrank when his father lifted

1734
02:40:33.200 --> 02:40:41.120
his hand. We must start.
The people were speaking, walking around him,

1735
02:40:41.559 --> 02:40:45.559
handing him something. He closed his
eyes. He shook a little,

1736
02:40:45.879 --> 02:40:50.440
and he began to dress himself slowly. His consciousness must have returned to him,

1737
02:40:50.680 --> 02:40:56.879
for he suddenly asked the official for
a cigarette, and the official generously

1738
02:40:56.920 --> 02:41:01.840
opened his silver cigarette case, upon
which was a chaste figure in the style

1739
02:41:01.000 --> 02:41:13.959
of the decadence. End of chapter
nine, Chapter ten of the Seven who

1740
02:41:13.959 --> 02:41:20.760
were Hanged by Leoni Ta, Nikolayevitch
Andreyev translated by Herman Bernstein. This LibriVox

1741
02:41:20.799 --> 02:41:26.600
recording is in the public domain recording
by Carolyn. Chapter ten, The Walls

1742
02:41:26.760 --> 02:41:35.520
of Falling. The unidentified man who
called himself Werner was tired of life and

1743
02:41:35.639 --> 02:41:39.520
struggle. There was a time when
he loved life very dearly, when he

1744
02:41:39.680 --> 02:41:46.959
enjoyed the theater, literature, and
social intercourse. Endowed with an excellent memory

1745
02:41:46.319 --> 02:41:52.920
and a firm will, he had
mastered several European languages and could easily pass

1746
02:41:52.959 --> 02:41:58.040
for a German, a Frenchman,
or an Englishman. He usually spoke German

1747
02:41:58.120 --> 02:42:03.200
with bavarianas accent, but when he
felt like it, he could speak like

1748
02:42:03.239 --> 02:42:07.399
a born Berlina. He was fond
of dress, His manners were excellent,

1749
02:42:07.799 --> 02:42:13.959
and he alone, of all the
members of the organization dared attend the balls

1750
02:42:13.040 --> 02:42:18.440
given in high society without running the
risk of being recognized as an outsider.

1751
02:42:20.639 --> 02:42:24.639
But for a long time, altogether
unnoticed by his comrades, they had ripened

1752
02:42:24.639 --> 02:42:31.440
in his soul a dark contempt for
mankind, contempt mingled with despair and painful,

1753
02:42:31.959 --> 02:42:37.639
almost deadly fatigue. By nature.
Rather a mathematician than a poet,

1754
02:42:39.000 --> 02:42:43.520
he had not known until now any
inspiration, any ecstasy, and at times

1755
02:42:43.559 --> 02:42:48.360
he felt like a madman looking for
the squaring of a circle in polls of

1756
02:42:48.479 --> 02:42:54.440
human blood. The enemy against whom
he struggled every day, could not inspire

1757
02:42:54.520 --> 02:42:58.920
him with respect. It was a
dense net of stupidity, treachery and falsehood,

1758
02:43:00.399 --> 02:43:05.799
vile insults and base deceptions. The
last incident which seemed to have destroyed

1759
02:43:05.840 --> 02:43:11.840
in him forever the desire to live, was the murder of the provocateur,

1760
02:43:11.200 --> 02:43:16.360
which he had committed by order of
the organization. He had killed him in

1761
02:43:16.479 --> 02:43:22.479
cold blood. But when he saw
that dead, deceitful, now calm and

1762
02:43:22.680 --> 02:43:28.399
after all pitiful, human face,
he suddenly ceased to respect himself and his

1763
02:43:28.559 --> 02:43:33.440
work. Not that he was seized
with a feeling of repentance, but he

1764
02:43:33.520 --> 02:43:39.600
simply stopped appreciating himself. He became
uninteresting to himself, unimportant, a dulled

1765
02:43:39.639 --> 02:43:45.799
stranger. But being a man of
strong, unbroken will power, he did

1766
02:43:45.840 --> 02:43:50.799
not leave the organization. He remained
outwardly the same as before, only there

1767
02:43:50.879 --> 02:43:56.600
was something cold yet painful in his
eyes. He never spoke to any one.

1768
02:43:56.600 --> 02:44:03.760
Of this he possessed another rare quality. Just as there are people who

1769
02:44:03.760 --> 02:44:09.440
have never known headaches, so Werner
had never known fear. When other people

1770
02:44:09.479 --> 02:44:15.559
were afraid, he looked upon them
without censure, but also without any particular

1771
02:44:15.600 --> 02:44:20.799
compassion, just as upon a rather
contagious illness, from which, however,

1772
02:44:20.000 --> 02:44:26.559
he himself had never suffered. He
felt sorry for his comrades, especially for

1773
02:44:26.639 --> 02:44:31.840
Vasya Kashitin, but that was a
cold, almost official pity, which even

1774
02:44:31.959 --> 02:44:37.159
some of the judges may have felt. At times. Werner understood that the

1775
02:44:37.239 --> 02:44:43.280
execution was not merely death, that
it was something different but he resolved to

1776
02:44:43.319 --> 02:44:46.879
face it calmly, as something not
to be considered, to live until the

1777
02:44:48.000 --> 02:44:50.479
end, as if nothing had happened, and as if nothing could happen.

1778
02:44:52.239 --> 02:44:56.959
Only in this way could he express
his greatest contempt for capital punishment and preserve

1779
02:44:58.040 --> 02:45:03.079
his last freedom of the spirit,
which could not be torn away from him

1780
02:45:03.360 --> 02:45:07.239
at the trial. And even his
comrades, who knew well his cold,

1781
02:45:07.559 --> 02:45:13.479
haughty fearlessness, would perhaps not have
believed this. He thought neither of death

1782
02:45:13.639 --> 02:45:18.879
nor of life, but concentrated his
attention deeply and coolly upon a difficult chess

1783
02:45:18.920 --> 02:45:24.360
game which he was playing a superior
chess player. He had started this game

1784
02:45:24.399 --> 02:45:30.799
on the first day of his imprisonment
and continued it uninterruptedly. Even the sentence

1785
02:45:30.920 --> 02:45:35.280
condemning him to death by hanging did
not remove a single figure from his imaginary

1786
02:45:35.399 --> 02:45:41.079
chess board. Even the knowledge that
he would not be able to finish this

1787
02:45:41.200 --> 02:45:45.159
game did not stop him, and
the morning of the last day that he

1788
02:45:45.280 --> 02:45:50.200
was to remain on earth, he
started by correcting a not altogether successful move

1789
02:45:50.239 --> 02:45:54.799
he had made on the previous day. Clasping his lowered hands between his knees,

1790
02:45:56.159 --> 02:45:58.799
he sat for a long time,
motionless, then he rose and began

1791
02:45:58.840 --> 02:46:05.200
to walk, meditating. His walk
was peculiar. He leaned the upper part

1792
02:46:05.239 --> 02:46:11.120
of his body slightly forward and stamped
the ground with his heels firmly and distinctly.

1793
02:46:11.239 --> 02:46:16.440
His steps usually left deep, plain
imprints, even on dry ground.

1794
02:46:18.280 --> 02:46:22.799
He whistled softly in one breath,
a simple Italian melody, which helped his

1795
02:46:22.879 --> 02:46:28.079
meditation. But this time, for
some reason or other, the thing did

1796
02:46:28.120 --> 02:46:33.479
not work well. With an unpleasant
feeling that he had made some important,

1797
02:46:33.879 --> 02:46:37.799
even grave, blunder, he went
back several times and examined the game almost

1798
02:46:37.840 --> 02:46:43.719
from the beginning. He found no
blunder. Yet the feeling about a blunder

1799
02:46:43.760 --> 02:46:48.280
committed not only failed to leave him, but even grew ever more intense and

1800
02:46:48.360 --> 02:46:54.440
unpleasant. Suddenly, an unexpected and
offensive thought came into his mind. Did

1801
02:46:54.520 --> 02:46:58.399
the blunder perhaps consist in his playing
chess simply because he wanted to distract his

1802
02:46:58.479 --> 02:47:05.239
attention from the execution and thus shield
himself against the fear of death, which

1803
02:47:05.319 --> 02:47:11.079
is apparently inevitable in every person condemned
to death. No what for he answered

1804
02:47:11.120 --> 02:47:18.680
coldly and closed calmly his imaginary chess
board, and with the same concentration with

1805
02:47:18.760 --> 02:47:22.479
which he had played chess. He
tried to give himself an account of the

1806
02:47:22.559 --> 02:47:26.399
horror and the helplessness of his situation, as though he were going through his

1807
02:47:26.479 --> 02:47:33.040
strict examination. He looked over the
cell, trying not to let anything escape.

1808
02:47:33.639 --> 02:47:37.200
He counted the hours that remained until
the execution, made for himself an

1809
02:47:37.239 --> 02:47:43.200
approximate and quite exact picture of the
execution itself, and shrugged his shoulders.

1810
02:47:45.479 --> 02:47:50.360
Well, he said to some one
half questioningly, here it is, Where

1811
02:47:50.440 --> 02:47:54.280
is the fear? Indeed there was
no fear. Not only was it not

1812
02:47:54.399 --> 02:48:01.159
there, but something entirely different.
The reverse of fear developed his sensation of

1813
02:48:01.280 --> 02:48:07.319
confused but enormous and savage joy,
and the error, which he had not

1814
02:48:07.440 --> 02:48:13.200
yet discovered, no longer called forth
in him vexation or irritation. It seemed

1815
02:48:13.239 --> 02:48:18.159
to spark loudly of something good and
unexpected, as though he had believed a

1816
02:48:18.200 --> 02:48:20.680
dear friend of his to be dead, and that friend turned out to be

1817
02:48:20.760 --> 02:48:28.120
alive, safe and sound and laughing. Werner again shrugged his shoulders and felt

1818
02:48:28.120 --> 02:48:33.200
his pulse. His heart was beating
faster than usual, but soundly and evenly,

1819
02:48:33.600 --> 02:48:39.200
with especially ringing throbe. He looked
about once more attentively like a novice

1820
02:48:39.280 --> 02:48:43.360
for the first time in prison.
He examined the walls, the bolts,

1821
02:48:43.479 --> 02:48:48.600
the chair, which was screwed to
the floor, and thought, why do

1822
02:48:48.639 --> 02:48:54.000
I feel so uneasy, so joyous? And free? Yes, so free.

1823
02:48:54.200 --> 02:48:56.319
I think of the execution to morrow, and I feel as though it

1824
02:48:56.360 --> 02:49:00.799
is not there. I look at
the walls, and i've feel as though

1825
02:49:00.799 --> 02:49:03.559
they are not there either. And
I feel so free, as though I

1826
02:49:03.600 --> 02:49:07.120
were not in prison, but had
just come out of some prison where I

1827
02:49:07.120 --> 02:49:13.319
had spent all my life. What
does this mean? His hands began to

1828
02:49:13.360 --> 02:49:20.440
tremble, something Werner had not experienced
before. His thoughts fluttered ever more furiously.

1829
02:49:20.200 --> 02:49:24.280
It was as if tongs of fire
had flashed up in his mind,

1830
02:49:24.600 --> 02:49:28.000
and the fire wanted to burst forth
and illumine the distance, which was still

1831
02:49:28.120 --> 02:49:35.559
dark as night. Now the light
pierced through, and the widely illuminated distance

1832
02:49:35.639 --> 02:49:41.200
began to shine. The fatigue that
had tormented Werner during the last two years

1833
02:49:41.239 --> 02:49:46.719
had disappeared. The dead, cold, heavy serpent, with its closed eyes

1834
02:49:46.760 --> 02:49:52.399
and mouth clinched in death, had
fallen away from his breast. Before the

1835
02:49:52.440 --> 02:49:56.639
face of death, beautiful youth came
back to him physically, indeed, it

1836
02:49:56.719 --> 02:50:01.920
was more than beautiful youth, with
that wonderful clarity of the spirit, which

1837
02:50:03.000 --> 02:50:07.239
in rare moments comes over a man
and lifts him to the loftiest peaks of

1838
02:50:07.360 --> 02:50:13.760
meditation. When a suddenly perceived both
life and death, and he was awed

1839
02:50:13.840 --> 02:50:18.959
by the splendor of the unprecedented spectacle. It seemed to him that he was

1840
02:50:18.000 --> 02:50:22.319
walking along the highest mountain ridge,
which was narrow like the blade of a

1841
02:50:22.360 --> 02:50:28.239
knife, and on one side he
saw life, on the other side death

1842
02:50:28.959 --> 02:50:35.239
like two sparkling, deep, beautiful
seas blending in one boundless, broad surface

1843
02:50:35.319 --> 02:50:41.520
at the horizon. What is this? What a divine spectacle? He said,

1844
02:50:41.559 --> 02:50:46.719
slowly, rising involuntarily and straightening himself
as if in the presence of a

1845
02:50:46.799 --> 02:50:52.799
supreme being, and destroying the walls
space and time with the impetuosity of his

1846
02:50:52.920 --> 02:50:58.040
all penetrating look. He cast a
wide glance somewhere into the depths of the

1847
02:50:58.159 --> 02:51:05.040
life to forsake, and life appeared
to him in a new light. He

1848
02:51:05.120 --> 02:51:09.760
did not strive, as before to
clothe in words that which he had seen,

1849
02:51:09.360 --> 02:51:15.799
nor were there such words in the
still poor, meager human language.

1850
02:51:16.239 --> 02:51:20.360
That small, cynical and evil feeling
which had called forth in him contempt for

1851
02:51:20.520 --> 02:51:24.479
mankind, and at times even an
aversion, for the sight of a human

1852
02:51:24.559 --> 02:51:30.280
face had disappeared completely. Thus,
for a man who goes up in an

1853
02:51:30.319 --> 02:51:35.040
airship, the filth and litter of
the narrow streets disappear, and that which

1854
02:51:35.120 --> 02:51:41.159
was ugly becomes beautiful. Unconsciously,
Werner stepped over to the table and leaned

1855
02:51:41.159 --> 02:51:45.559
his right hand on it, proud
in commanding by nature. He had never

1856
02:51:45.600 --> 02:51:50.760
before assumed such a proud, free, commanding pose, had never turned his

1857
02:51:50.840 --> 02:51:54.399
head and never looked as he did
now, For he had never yet been

1858
02:51:54.440 --> 02:51:58.639
as free and dominant as he was
here in the prison, with but a

1859
02:51:58.680 --> 02:52:03.040
few hours from execute us and death. Now men seemed new to him.

1860
02:52:03.319 --> 02:52:09.040
They appeared amiable and charming to his
clarified vision. Soaring over time, he

1861
02:52:09.120 --> 02:52:15.280
saw clearly how young mankind was.
That but yesterday it had been howling like

1862
02:52:15.319 --> 02:52:18.319
a beast in the forest. And
that which had seemed to him terrible in

1863
02:52:18.399 --> 02:52:24.399
human beings, unpardonable and repulsive,
suddenly became very dear to him, like

1864
02:52:24.559 --> 02:52:28.760
the inability of a child to walk
as grown people do, like a child's

1865
02:52:28.840 --> 02:52:35.319
unconnected lisping, flushing with sparks,
of genius, like a child's comical blunders,

1866
02:52:35.639 --> 02:52:43.680
heirs and painful bruises, my dear
people, when a suddenly smiled and

1867
02:52:43.760 --> 02:52:48.120
at once lost all that was imposing
in his pose, He again became a

1868
02:52:48.120 --> 02:52:52.520
prisoner who finds his cell narrow and
uncomfortable under lock, and he was tired

1869
02:52:52.559 --> 02:52:58.239
of the annoying, searching eyes staring
at him through the people in the door,

1870
02:52:58.079 --> 02:53:03.159
and a strange to say, Almost
instantly he forgot all that he had

1871
02:53:03.200 --> 02:53:07.600
seen a little while before, so
clearly and distinctly, and what is still

1872
02:53:07.719 --> 02:53:13.319
stranger. He did not even make
an effort to recall it. He simply

1873
02:53:13.360 --> 02:53:18.040
sat down, as comfortably as possible, without the usual stiffness of his body,

1874
02:53:18.440 --> 02:53:22.840
and surveyed the walls and the bars
with a faint and gentle, strange,

1875
02:53:22.280 --> 02:53:28.040
unwarnerlike smile. Still, another new
thing happened to Werner, something that

1876
02:53:28.120 --> 02:53:35.959
had never happened to him before.
He suddenly started to weep, My dear

1877
02:53:35.040 --> 02:53:43.479
comrades, he whispered, crying bitterly, my dear comrades. By what mysterious

1878
02:53:43.520 --> 02:53:48.879
ways did he change from the feeling
of proud and boundless freedom to this tender

1879
02:53:50.040 --> 02:53:54.799
and passionate compassion. He did not
know, nor did he think of it.

1880
02:53:54.360 --> 02:53:58.799
Did he pity his dear comrades,
or did his tears conceal something else?

1881
02:54:00.360 --> 02:54:05.959
Is still lofty and more passionate feeling
his suddenly revived and rejuvenated heart.

1882
02:54:07.079 --> 02:54:11.520
Did not know this either. He
wept and whispered, my dear comrades,

1883
02:54:11.920 --> 02:54:20.159
my dear dear comrades. In this
man, who was bitterly weeping and smiling

1884
02:54:20.200 --> 02:54:24.799
through tears. No one could have
recognized the cold and haughty, weary yet

1885
02:54:24.920 --> 02:54:31.799
daring Werner, neither the judges,
nor the comrades, nor even he himself.

1886
02:54:35.159 --> 02:54:43.840
End of chapter ten, Chapter eleven
of the Seven who were hanged by

1887
02:54:43.879 --> 02:54:50.639
Ileoni to Nikolayevitch Andreyev translated by Hermann
Bernstein. This LibriVox according is in the

1888
02:54:50.680 --> 02:54:58.040
public domain recording by Caroline, Chapter
eleven, on the way to the Scaffold.

1889
02:55:00.840 --> 02:55:05.600
Before placing the condemned people in coaches, all five were brought together in

1890
02:55:05.680 --> 02:55:11.440
a large cold room with a vaulted
ceiling, which resembled an office where people

1891
02:55:11.479 --> 02:55:16.319
worked no longer, or a deserted
waiting room. They were now permitted to

1892
02:55:16.360 --> 02:55:22.639
speak to one another. Only Tanya
Kovalchuk availed herself at once of the permission,

1893
02:55:22.399 --> 02:55:28.319
the others firmly and silently shook each
other's hands, which were as cold

1894
02:55:28.360 --> 02:55:33.200
as eyes and as hot as fire, and silently, trying not to look

1895
02:55:33.200 --> 02:55:37.079
at each other, they crowded together
in an awkward, absent minded group.

1896
02:55:39.319 --> 02:55:43.760
Now that they were together, they
felt somewhat ashamed of what each of them

1897
02:55:43.799 --> 02:55:48.239
had experienced when alone, and they
were afraid to look, so as not

1898
02:55:48.479 --> 02:55:54.799
to notice or to show that new
peculiar, somewhat shameful sensation that each of

1899
02:55:54.840 --> 02:56:00.520
them felt or suspected the others of
feeling. But after a short silence,

1900
02:56:00.639 --> 02:56:05.040
they glanced at each other, smiled, and immediately began to feel at ease

1901
02:56:05.079 --> 02:56:09.360
and unrestrained. As before. No
change seemed to have occurred, and if

1902
02:56:09.399 --> 02:56:13.399
it had occurred, it had come
so gently over all of them that it

1903
02:56:13.399 --> 02:56:20.079
could not be discerned in anyone separately. All spoke and moved about strangely,

1904
02:56:20.399 --> 02:56:26.879
abruptly by jolts, either too fast
or too slowly. Sometimes they seemed to

1905
02:56:26.079 --> 02:56:31.959
choke with their words and repeated them
a number of times. Sometimes they did

1906
02:56:31.000 --> 02:56:35.040
not finish a phrase they had started, or thought they had finished. They

1907
02:56:35.040 --> 02:56:41.399
didn't notice it. They all blinked
their eyes and examined ordinary objects curiously,

1908
02:56:41.920 --> 02:56:48.520
not recognizing them, like people who
had worn eyeglasses and had suddenly taken them

1909
02:56:48.559 --> 02:56:54.239
off. And all of them frequently
turned around abruptly, as though someone behind

1910
02:56:54.280 --> 02:56:58.159
them was calling them all the time
and showing them something. But they did

1911
02:56:58.200 --> 02:57:05.000
not notice this either. Musia's Antanya
Kovaltchuk's chest and ears were burning. Sergey

1912
02:57:05.159 --> 02:57:09.639
was at first somewhat pale, but
he soon recovered and looked like he always

1913
02:57:09.639 --> 02:57:18.159
did, only vasily attracted everybody's attention. Even among them, he looked strange

1914
02:57:18.159 --> 02:57:22.959
and terrible. Werna became agitated and
said to Musia in a low voice,

1915
02:57:22.280 --> 02:57:28.399
with tender anxiety, what does this
mean, Musyechka? Is it possible that

1916
02:57:28.520 --> 02:57:35.000
he what? I must go to
him? Vasili looked at Werner from the

1917
02:57:35.079 --> 02:57:41.719
distance, as though not recognizing him, and he lowered his eyes. Vasia,

1918
02:57:41.760 --> 02:57:46.200
what have you done with your hair? What's the matter with you?

1919
02:57:46.799 --> 02:57:50.280
Never mind, my dear, never
mind, It will soon be over.

1920
02:57:50.840 --> 02:57:56.479
We must keep up, We must, we must. Vasili was silent,

1921
02:57:56.040 --> 02:58:00.559
but when it seemed that he would
no longer say anything, a dull,

1922
02:58:00.879 --> 02:58:07.000
belated, terribly remote answer came,
like an answer from the grave. I'm

1923
02:58:07.000 --> 02:58:13.680
all right. I hold my own. Then he repeated, I hold my

1924
02:58:13.920 --> 02:58:20.200
own. Werner was delighted. That's
the way. That's the way, good

1925
02:58:20.239 --> 02:58:26.719
boy, that's the way. But
his eyes made Vasily's dark, wearied glance

1926
02:58:26.799 --> 02:58:31.840
fixed upon him from the distance,
and he thought, with instant sorrow,

1927
02:58:31.680 --> 02:58:37.799
from where is he looking? From
where is he speaking? And with profound

1928
02:58:37.959 --> 02:58:43.920
tenderness with which people address a grave, he said, fassier, do ye

1929
02:58:43.000 --> 02:58:50.399
hear? I love you very much? So do I love you? Very

1930
02:58:50.479 --> 02:58:58.360
much? Answered the tongue moving with
difficulty. Suddenly Musia took Werner by the

1931
02:58:58.399 --> 02:59:01.159
hand, and with an expression of
prize, she said, like an actress

1932
02:59:01.200 --> 02:59:07.840
on the stage, with measured emphasis, Werner, what is this? You

1933
02:59:07.959 --> 02:59:11.440
said? I love you? Never
before said I loved to anybody? And

1934
02:59:11.559 --> 02:59:20.479
why are you all so tender and
serene? Why? Why? And like

1935
02:59:20.520 --> 02:59:24.719
an actor, also accentuating what he
felt, Werner pressed Musia's hand firmly.

1936
02:59:26.079 --> 02:59:31.200
Yes, now, I love very
much. Don't tell it to the others,

1937
02:59:31.239 --> 02:59:35.200
it isn't necessary. I feel somewhat
ashamed, but I love deeply.

1938
02:59:37.159 --> 02:59:41.520
Their eyes met and flushed up brightly, and everything about them seemed to have

1939
02:59:41.600 --> 02:59:46.360
plunged in darkness. It is thus
that in the flash of lightning, all

1940
02:59:46.399 --> 02:59:52.559
other lights are instantly darkened, and
the heavy yellow flame casts a shadow upon

1941
02:59:52.639 --> 02:59:58.799
earth. Yes, said monsieur yes, Werner, yes, he answered,

1942
03:00:00.440 --> 03:00:05.040
yes, Monsieur Yes. They understood
each other, and something was firmly settled

1943
03:00:05.040 --> 03:00:11.600
between them at this moment, and
his eyes glistening, Werner again became agitated

1944
03:00:11.840 --> 03:00:20.120
and quickly stepped over to Sergey serlyoja. But Tanya Kovalchuk answered, almost crying

1945
03:00:20.159 --> 03:00:26.479
with maternal pride. She tugged Sergey
frantically by the sleeve. Listen, Werner,

1946
03:00:26.719 --> 03:00:30.239
I am crying here for him,
and I am wearing myself to death,

1947
03:00:30.520 --> 03:00:37.639
and he is occupying himself with gymnastics
according to the Miller system, smiled

1948
03:00:37.680 --> 03:00:43.000
Werner. Sergey knit his brow confusedly. You needn't laugh, Werner, I

1949
03:00:43.040 --> 03:00:50.959
have convinced myself conclusively. All began
to laugh, Drawing strength and courage from

1950
03:00:50.959 --> 03:00:56.200
one another, they gradually regained their
poise became the same as they used to

1951
03:00:56.239 --> 03:01:00.319
be. They did not notice this, however, and thought that they had

1952
03:01:00.360 --> 03:01:05.159
never changed at all. Suddenly Erna
interrupted their laughter and said to Sergey very

1953
03:01:05.200 --> 03:01:11.200
earnestly, you are right, said
Eoja, you are perfectly right. No,

1954
03:01:11.440 --> 03:01:16.520
but you must understand, said gulovin
gladly. Of course we. But

1955
03:01:16.639 --> 03:01:20.239
at this point they were asked to
start, and their jailers were so kind

1956
03:01:20.239 --> 03:01:24.879
as to permit them to ride and
pass as they pleased. Altogether, the

1957
03:01:24.959 --> 03:01:30.799
jailers were extremely kind, even too
kind. It was as if they tried

1958
03:01:30.840 --> 03:01:35.120
partly to show themselves humane and partly
to show that they were not there at

1959
03:01:35.159 --> 03:01:39.079
all, but that everything was being
done as by machinery. But they were

1960
03:01:39.159 --> 03:01:45.840
all pale. Musieur, you go
with him, Verna pointed at Vasili,

1961
03:01:45.920 --> 03:01:52.079
who stood motionless. I understand,
Musia nodded, and you I, Tanya

1962
03:01:52.079 --> 03:01:56.319
will go with Sergey. You go
with Vassia. I will go alone.

1963
03:01:56.600 --> 03:02:00.959
That doesn't matter. I can do
it, you know. When they went

1964
03:02:01.040 --> 03:02:05.440
out in the yard, the moist, soft darkness rushed warmly and strongly against

1965
03:02:05.440 --> 03:02:11.319
their faces, their eyes, taking
their breath away. Then suddenly it penetrated

1966
03:02:11.360 --> 03:02:16.639
their bodies tenderly and refreshingly. It
was hard to believe that this wonderful effect

1967
03:02:16.799 --> 03:02:24.000
was produced simply by the spring wind. Though warm, moist wind and the

1968
03:02:24.079 --> 03:02:28.399
really wonderful spring night was filled with
the odor of melting snow and through the

1969
03:02:28.479 --> 03:02:35.479
boundless space. The noise of drops
resounded hastily and frequently, as though trying

1970
03:02:35.520 --> 03:02:41.600
to overtake one another. Little drops
were falling, striking in unison, a

1971
03:02:41.680 --> 03:02:46.479
ringing tune. Suddenly one of them
would strike out of tune, and all

1972
03:02:46.639 --> 03:02:50.680
was mingled in a merry splash,
in hasty confusion. Then a large,

1973
03:02:50.840 --> 03:02:56.479
heavy drop would strike firmly, and
again the vast spring melody resounded distinctly,

1974
03:02:58.399 --> 03:03:03.719
and over the city. Above the
roofs of the fortress hung a pale redness

1975
03:03:03.760 --> 03:03:11.920
in the sky, reflected by the
electric lights. Ah Sergey Golovin heaved a

1976
03:03:11.959 --> 03:03:16.040
deep sigh, and healt his breath, as though he regretted, to exhale

1977
03:03:16.079 --> 03:03:20.799
from his lungs the fine fresh air. How long have you had such weather,

1978
03:03:22.319 --> 03:03:28.040
inquired Werner. It's real spring.
It's only the second day, was

1979
03:03:28.079 --> 03:03:33.440
the polite answer. Before that we
had mostly frosty weather. The dark carriages

1980
03:03:33.559 --> 03:03:39.559
rolled over noiselessly, one after another, took them in by twos, started

1981
03:03:39.559 --> 03:03:45.120
off in the darkness there where the
lantern was shaking at the gate. The

1982
03:03:45.239 --> 03:03:52.079
convoys, like gray silhouettes, surrounded
each carriage. The horseshoes struck noisily against

1983
03:03:52.079 --> 03:03:58.319
the ground or plashed upon the melting
snow. When Werner bent down about to

1984
03:03:58.360 --> 03:04:03.120
climb into the carriage, the gendarme
whispered to him, there's somebody else going

1985
03:04:03.159 --> 03:04:09.680
along with you. Werna was surprised, Where where's he going? Oh?

1986
03:04:09.760 --> 03:04:16.840
Yes, another one? Who is
he? The gendarme was silent, indeed

1987
03:04:16.920 --> 03:04:20.840
in a dark corner, his small, motionless but living figure pressed close to

1988
03:04:20.920 --> 03:04:26.079
the side of the carriage. By
the reflection of the lantern, Werner noticed

1989
03:04:26.120 --> 03:04:31.360
the flash of an open eye seating
himself. Warna pushed his foot against the

1990
03:04:31.399 --> 03:04:37.319
other man's knee. Excuse me,
comrade. The man made no reply.

1991
03:04:39.280 --> 03:04:43.799
It was only when the carriage started
that he suddenly asked, in broken Russian,

1992
03:04:43.200 --> 03:04:52.479
speaking with difficulty, who are you? I am Werner condemned to hanging

1993
03:04:52.559 --> 03:04:58.879
for the attempt upon n and you
I am Yansn. They must not hang

1994
03:04:58.959 --> 03:05:03.120
me. They were writing thus in
order to appear two hours later, face

1995
03:05:03.200 --> 03:05:09.120
to face before the inexplicable great mystery, in order to pass from life to

1996
03:05:09.159 --> 03:05:15.600
death, and they were introducing each
other. Life and death moved simultaneously,

1997
03:05:16.040 --> 03:05:20.799
and until the very end, life
remained alive to the most ridiculous and insipid

1998
03:05:20.879 --> 03:05:28.360
trifles. What have you done,
Janson? I killed my master with a

1999
03:05:28.440 --> 03:05:33.520
knife. I stole money. It
seemed from the tone of his voice that

2000
03:05:33.639 --> 03:05:39.159
Janson was falling asleep. Then I
found his flabby hand in the darkness and

2001
03:05:39.360 --> 03:05:46.760
pressed it. Janson withdrew it drowsily. Are you afraid, asked Werner.

2002
03:05:48.120 --> 03:05:54.520
I don't want to be hanged.
They became silent. Verna again found the

2003
03:05:54.680 --> 03:06:00.879
Estonian's hand and pressed it firmly between
his dry, burning poems. Jenson's hand

2004
03:06:01.000 --> 03:06:05.079
lay motionless like a board, but
he made no longer any effort to withdraw

2005
03:06:05.120 --> 03:06:11.200
it. It was close and suffocating
in the carriage. The air was filled

2006
03:06:11.200 --> 03:06:16.319
with the smell of soldier's clothes,
mustiness, and the leather of wet boots.

2007
03:06:18.200 --> 03:06:22.120
The young gendarmes, who sat opposite
Werner breathed warmly upon him, and

2008
03:06:22.319 --> 03:06:28.719
in his breath there was the odor
of onions and cheap tobacco. But some

2009
03:06:28.840 --> 03:06:33.399
brisk, fresh air came in through
certain clefts, and because of this spring

2010
03:06:33.559 --> 03:06:41.040
was felt even more intensely in this
small, stifling, moving box than outside.

2011
03:06:41.479 --> 03:06:46.280
The carriage kept turning, now to
the right, now to the left.

2012
03:06:46.760 --> 03:06:50.959
Now it seemed to turn back At
times it seemed as though they had

2013
03:06:50.000 --> 03:06:54.440
been turning around on one in the
same spot for hours for some reason or

2014
03:06:54.520 --> 03:07:01.520
other. At first, a bluish
electric light penetrated the through the lowered heavy

2015
03:07:01.559 --> 03:07:05.760
window shades. Then suddenly, after
a certain turn, it grew dark,

2016
03:07:07.280 --> 03:07:11.360
and only by this could they guess
that they had turned into deserted streets in

2017
03:07:11.440 --> 03:07:16.799
the outskirts of the city, and
that they were nearing the s railroad station.

2018
03:07:18.079 --> 03:07:22.639
Sometimes during sharp turns, Werner's life
bent knee would strike against the life

2019
03:07:24.000 --> 03:07:28.559
bent knee of the gendarme, and
it was hard to believe that the execution

2020
03:07:28.799 --> 03:07:35.200
was approaching. Where are we going, Jansen asked suddenly. He was somewhat

2021
03:07:35.280 --> 03:07:39.159
dizzy from the continuous turning of the
dark books, and he felt slightly sick

2022
03:07:39.200 --> 03:07:46.920
at his stomach. Werner answered and
pressed the Estonian's hand firmly. He felt

2023
03:07:46.959 --> 03:07:52.120
like saying something especially kind and caressing
to this little sleepy man, and he

2024
03:07:52.200 --> 03:07:56.200
already loved him as he had never
loved any one in his life. You

2025
03:07:56.280 --> 03:08:01.000
don't seem to sit comfortably, my
dear man, move over here to me.

2026
03:08:01.600 --> 03:08:07.399
Janson was silent for a while,
then he replied, well, thank

2027
03:08:07.479 --> 03:08:11.000
you, I'm sitting all right.
Are they going to hang you too?

2028
03:08:11.719 --> 03:08:18.000
Yes, answered Werner, almost laughing
with unexpected jollity, and he waved his

2029
03:08:18.079 --> 03:08:24.159
hand easily and freely, as though
he were speaking of some absurd and trifling

2030
03:08:24.239 --> 03:08:30.520
joke, which kind but terribly comical
people wanted to play on him. Have

2031
03:08:30.680 --> 03:08:35.280
you a wife, asked Janson.
No, I have no wife. I

2032
03:08:35.319 --> 03:08:45.399
am single. I am also alone
alone, said Jansn. Werner's head also

2033
03:08:45.479 --> 03:08:48.239
began to feel dizzy, and at
times it seemed that they were going to

2034
03:08:48.319 --> 03:08:54.319
some festival. Strange to say,
almost all those who went to the scaffold

2035
03:08:54.399 --> 03:08:58.559
experienced the same sensation, and mingled
with sorrow and fear, there was a

2036
03:08:58.639 --> 03:09:05.680
vague joy as they anticipated the extraordinary
thing that was soon to befall them.

2037
03:09:05.159 --> 03:09:13.479
Reality was intoxicated with madness, and
death united with life brought forth apparitions.

2038
03:09:13.440 --> 03:09:20.319
It seemed very possible that flags were
waving over the houses. We have arrived,

2039
03:09:20.799 --> 03:09:24.840
said Werner gaily, when the carriage
stopped and he jumped out easily.

2040
03:09:26.719 --> 03:09:31.559
But with Yanson it was a rather
slow affair. Silently and very drowsily,

2041
03:09:31.639 --> 03:09:37.200
he resisted and would not come out. He seized the knob the gendarme opened

2042
03:09:37.239 --> 03:09:41.559
the weak finger and pulled his hand
away. Then Janson seized the corner of

2043
03:09:41.600 --> 03:09:46.840
the carriage, the door, the
high wheel, but immediately let it go

2044
03:09:46.959 --> 03:09:50.239
upon the slightest effort on the part
of the gendarmes. He did not exactly

2045
03:09:50.280 --> 03:09:56.799
seize these things. He rather cleaved
to each object sleepily and silently, and

2046
03:09:56.959 --> 03:10:03.200
was torn away easily without any effort. Finally he got up. There were

2047
03:10:03.280 --> 03:10:09.000
no flags. The railroad station was
dark, deserted, and lifeless. The

2048
03:10:09.040 --> 03:10:15.120
passenger trains were not running any longer, and the train, which was silently

2049
03:10:15.159 --> 03:10:20.319
waiting for these passengers on the way, needed no bright light, no commotion.

2050
03:10:20.319 --> 03:10:26.239
Suddenly, Werner began to feel weary. It was not fear nor anguish,

2051
03:10:26.639 --> 03:10:31.120
but a feeling of enormous, painful, tormenting weariness, which makes one

2052
03:10:31.159 --> 03:10:37.559
feel like going off somewhere, lying
down and closing one's eyes very tightly.

2053
03:10:37.600 --> 03:10:43.760
Werner stretched himself and yawned slowly.
Janson also stretched himself and quickly yawned several

2054
03:10:43.879 --> 03:10:50.920
times. I wish they'd be quicker
about it, said Werner wearily. Jnson

2055
03:10:52.079 --> 03:10:58.399
was silent, shrinking together. When
the condemned moved along the deserted platform,

2056
03:10:58.440 --> 03:11:03.319
which was surrounded by soldiers to the
dimly lighted CAUs Werena found himself near Sergey

2057
03:11:03.360 --> 03:11:09.639
Golovin. Sergey, pointing his hand
somewhere aside, began to say something,

2058
03:11:09.159 --> 03:11:13.879
but only the word lantern was heard
distinctly, and the rest was drowned and

2059
03:11:15.040 --> 03:11:20.879
slow and weary, yawning. What
did you say, asked Werner, also

2060
03:11:20.000 --> 03:11:26.399
yawning, the lantern. The lamp
in the lantern is smoking, said Sergey.

2061
03:11:28.159 --> 03:11:31.959
Warena looked around. Indeed, the
lamp and the lantern was smoking very

2062
03:11:33.040 --> 03:11:37.239
much, and the glass had already
turned black on top. Yes, it

2063
03:11:37.360 --> 03:11:43.120
is smoking. Suddenly he thought,
what have I to do with the smoking

2064
03:11:43.159 --> 03:11:48.840
of the lamp? Since Seregey apparently
thought the same, as he glanced quickly

2065
03:11:48.879 --> 03:11:54.719
at Werner and turned away. But
both stopped yawning. They all went to

2066
03:11:54.799 --> 03:12:00.719
the cast themselves. Only Jansen had
to be led by the arms. At

2067
03:12:00.799 --> 03:12:03.639
first, he stamped his feet and
his boots seemed to stick to the boards

2068
03:12:03.680 --> 03:12:07.440
of the platform. Then he bent
his knees and fell into the arms of

2069
03:12:07.479 --> 03:12:13.559
the gendarmes. His feet dangled like
those of a very intoxicated man, and

2070
03:12:13.639 --> 03:12:18.479
the tips of the boots scrapped against
the wood. It took a long time

2071
03:12:18.559 --> 03:12:24.719
until he was silently pushed through the
door. Vasili cushion also moved himself unconsciously

2072
03:12:24.879 --> 03:12:30.719
imitating the movements of his comrades.
He did everything as they did, but

2073
03:12:30.840 --> 03:12:35.200
on boarding the platform of the car, he stumbled, and de Gendarme took

2074
03:12:35.280 --> 03:12:39.719
him by the elbow to support him. Vasily shuddered and screamed shrilly, drawing

2075
03:12:39.760 --> 03:12:46.719
back his arm. Aye, what
is it, Vasier. Whena rushed over

2076
03:12:46.799 --> 03:12:52.639
to him, Vasili was silent,
trembling in every limb. The confused and

2077
03:12:52.760 --> 03:12:56.959
even offended John Darme explained, I
wanted to keep him from falling, and

2078
03:12:56.079 --> 03:13:01.920
he come, Vasier, let me
hold you, said Werner, about to

2079
03:13:01.959 --> 03:13:05.559
take him by the arm, but
Vasili drew back his arm again and cried

2080
03:13:05.680 --> 03:13:13.200
more loudly than before. Ay e
Vassia, it is I, Werner,

2081
03:13:13.280 --> 03:13:20.920
I know, don't touch me.
I'll go myself, And continuing to tremble,

2082
03:13:20.159 --> 03:13:24.840
he entered the car himself and seated
himself in a corner. Bending over

2083
03:13:24.879 --> 03:13:30.799
to Musia, Werna asked her softly, pointing with his eyes at Vasili.

2084
03:13:31.040 --> 03:13:37.600
How about him, bad, answered
Musia, also in a soft voice.

2085
03:13:37.920 --> 03:13:43.760
He is dead already. Werna tell
me, is there such a thing as

2086
03:13:43.879 --> 03:13:48.360
death? I don't know, Musia, but I think that there is no

2087
03:13:48.520 --> 03:13:54.920
such thing, replied Werner, seriously
and thoughtfully. That's what I have thought.

2088
03:13:56.360 --> 03:14:00.440
But he I was tortured with him
in the carriage. It was like

2089
03:14:00.639 --> 03:14:05.000
riding with a corpse. I don't
know, mousieur. Perhaps there is such

2090
03:14:05.040 --> 03:14:09.559
a thing as death for some people. Meanwhile, perhaps, but later,

2091
03:14:09.680 --> 03:14:15.239
there will be no death for me. Death also existed before, but now

2092
03:14:15.280 --> 03:14:22.559
it exists no longer. Musia's somewhat
pale cheeks flushed as she asked. It

2093
03:14:22.639 --> 03:14:28.079
did exist, Werner? It did, It did, but not now any

2094
03:14:28.120 --> 03:14:33.520
longer, just the same as with
you. A noise was heard in the

2095
03:14:33.520 --> 03:14:39.159
doorway of the car Mishkatziganok entered,
stamping noisily with his heels, breathing loudly

2096
03:14:39.239 --> 03:14:46.200
and spitting. He cast a swift
glance and stopped, obduredly. No room

2097
03:14:46.280 --> 03:14:50.319
here, gendarme, he shouted to
the tire gendarme, who looked at him

2098
03:14:50.360 --> 03:14:54.719
angrily. You make it so that
I am comfortable here, otherwise I won't

2099
03:14:54.799 --> 03:14:58.760
go. Hang me here on the
lamp post. What a carriage they gave

2100
03:14:58.799 --> 03:15:03.680
me? Dogs? Is that a
carriage. It's the devil's belly, not

2101
03:15:03.840 --> 03:15:09.360
a carriage. But suddenly he bent
down his head, stretched out his neck,

2102
03:15:09.399 --> 03:15:13.840
and thus went forward to the others. Out of the disheveled frame of

2103
03:15:13.959 --> 03:15:18.559
hair and beard, his black eyes
looked wildly and sharply with an almost insane

2104
03:15:18.680 --> 03:15:24.840
expression. Ah, gentlemen, he
drawled out. So that's what it is,

2105
03:15:26.319 --> 03:15:31.239
hello, Master. He thrust his
hand to Werner and sat down opposite

2106
03:15:31.360 --> 03:15:35.239
him, and bending closely over to
him, he winked one eye and quickly

2107
03:15:35.280 --> 03:15:43.239
passed his hand over his throat.
You too, what, yes, smiled

2108
03:15:43.280 --> 03:15:50.479
Werner. Are all of us to
be hanged? All? Oh? Cygonard

2109
03:15:50.520 --> 03:15:54.639
grinned, showing his teeth, and
quickly felt everybody with his eyes, stopping

2110
03:15:54.680 --> 03:15:58.920
for an instant longer a mussy an
Jansen. Then he winked again to Werner.

2111
03:16:01.040 --> 03:16:05.399
The minister, Yes, the minister, and you. I am here

2112
03:16:05.440 --> 03:16:09.799
for something else, Master. People
like me don't deal with ministers. I

2113
03:16:09.840 --> 03:16:13.840
am a murderer, Master, That's
what I am, an ordinary murderer.

2114
03:16:15.479 --> 03:16:18.600
Never mind, Master, move away
a little. I haven't common to your

2115
03:16:18.639 --> 03:16:22.079
company. Of my own will there
will be room enough for all of us

2116
03:16:22.120 --> 03:16:26.879
in the other world. He surveyed
them with one swift, suspicious, wild

2117
03:16:28.000 --> 03:16:33.200
glance from under his disheveled hair,
but all looked at him silently and steriously,

2118
03:16:33.639 --> 03:16:39.079
even with apparent interest. He grinned, showing his teeth, and quickly

2119
03:16:39.079 --> 03:16:43.639
clapped Werner on the knee several times. That's the way, master, how

2120
03:16:43.680 --> 03:16:50.520
does the song run? Don't rustle
o green, little mother forest? Why

2121
03:16:50.520 --> 03:16:56.959
do you call me master? Since
we're all going correct Siganok agreed with satisfaction.

2122
03:16:56.680 --> 03:17:01.040
What kind of master are you?
If you're going to hang right beside

2123
03:17:01.079 --> 03:17:05.360
me? There is a master for
you. And he pointed with his finger

2124
03:17:05.399 --> 03:17:09.239
at the silent johndarn Eh, that
fellow there is not worse than all kind.

2125
03:17:09.879 --> 03:17:15.719
He pointed with his eyes at Vasili. Master. He there, Master,

2126
03:17:16.319 --> 03:17:22.879
You afraid, aren't you? No, answered the heavy tong never mind

2127
03:17:22.920 --> 03:17:24.920
that. No, don't be ashamed. There's nothing to be ashamed of.

2128
03:17:26.440 --> 03:17:30.000
Only a dog wags his tail and
snarls when he's taken to be hanged.

2129
03:17:30.239 --> 03:17:33.479
But you are a man. Who
is that dope? He isn't one of

2130
03:17:33.520 --> 03:17:39.120
you, is he? He darted
his glance rapidly about and hissing, kept

2131
03:17:39.159 --> 03:17:46.120
spitting continuously. Jan Son curled up
into a motionless bundle, pressed closely into

2132
03:17:46.159 --> 03:17:50.280
the corner. The flaps of his
outworn fur cap stirred, but he maintained

2133
03:17:50.319 --> 03:17:58.559
silence when answered for him, he
killed his employer. Oh Lord, wandered

2134
03:17:58.639 --> 03:18:03.639
Siganok, Why are so people allowed
to kill for sometimes? Sigonok had been

2135
03:18:03.639 --> 03:18:09.600
looking sideways at Musia. Now turning
quickly, he stared at her sharply,

2136
03:18:09.799 --> 03:18:13.639
straight into her face. Young lady, young lady, what about you?

2137
03:18:15.159 --> 03:18:18.440
Her cheeks are rosy and she is
laughing. Look she is really laughing,

2138
03:18:20.200 --> 03:18:24.600
he said, clasping on his knee
with his clutching iron like fingers. Look,

2139
03:18:26.000 --> 03:18:33.040
look reddening, Smiling confusedly, Musia
also gazed straight into his sharp and

2140
03:18:33.159 --> 03:18:39.879
wildly searching eyes. The wheels rattled
fast and noisily. The small cars kept

2141
03:18:39.920 --> 03:18:43.399
hopping along the narrow rails, now
at a curve or at a crossing.

2142
03:18:43.840 --> 03:18:50.239
The small engine whistled shrilly and carefully. The engineer was afraid lest he might

2143
03:18:50.319 --> 03:18:54.399
run over somebody. It was strange
to think that so much humane, painstaking

2144
03:18:54.440 --> 03:19:00.559
care and exertion was being introduced into
the business of hanging people, that the

2145
03:19:00.600 --> 03:19:05.760
most insane deed on earth was being
committed with such an air of simplicity and

2146
03:19:05.840 --> 03:19:11.120
reasonableness. The cars were running,
and human beings set in them as people

2147
03:19:11.159 --> 03:19:15.399
always do, and they rode as
people usually ride. And then there would

2148
03:19:15.399 --> 03:19:20.680
be a halt as usual. The
train will stop for five minutes, and

2149
03:19:20.840 --> 03:19:28.040
their death would be waiting eternity,
with the great mystery on with friendliness,

2150
03:19:28.520 --> 03:19:33.200
watching how Jansen's fingers took the cigarette, how the match flared, and then

2151
03:19:33.239 --> 03:19:39.440
how the blue smoke issued from Janson's
mouth. Thanks, it's good. How

2152
03:19:39.559 --> 03:19:46.040
strange, said Sergey. What is
strange? Rena turned round? What is

2153
03:19:46.120 --> 03:19:54.280
strange? I mean the cigarette?
Janson held a cigarette, an ordinary cigarette

2154
03:19:54.319 --> 03:19:58.000
in his ordinary life hands, and
pale faced, looked at it with surprise,

2155
03:19:58.440 --> 03:20:03.079
even with Terra, and all fixed
their eyes upon the little tube from

2156
03:20:03.079 --> 03:20:09.200
the end of which smoke was issuing
like a bluish ribbon wafted aside by the

2157
03:20:09.239 --> 03:20:16.200
breathing, with the ashes gathering turning
black. The light went out. The

2158
03:20:16.319 --> 03:20:20.760
light's out, said Tania. Yes, the light's out. Let it go,

2159
03:20:22.200 --> 03:20:26.440
said Werner, frowning, looking uneasily
at Jansen, whose hand holding the

2160
03:20:26.479 --> 03:20:33.079
cigarette was hanging loosely as if did
Suddenly. Tziganok turned quickly bent over to

2161
03:20:33.159 --> 03:20:37.000
Werner, close to him, face
to face, and rolling the whites of

2162
03:20:37.079 --> 03:20:43.920
his eyes like a hoarse whispered master, how about the convoys suppose we wei?

2163
03:20:45.879 --> 03:20:50.360
Shall we try? No, don't
do it, Werner replied, also

2164
03:20:50.360 --> 03:20:56.000
in a whisper, we shall drink
it to the bitter end. Why not?

2165
03:20:56.559 --> 03:21:00.000
It's lively in a fight. Eh. I strike him, he strang

2166
03:21:00.239 --> 03:21:03.680
me. And you don't even know
how the thing is done. It's just

2167
03:21:03.719 --> 03:21:07.879
as if you don't die at all. No, you shouldn't do it,

2168
03:21:07.120 --> 03:21:11.879
said Werner, and turned to Jansen. Why don't you smoke? Friend?

2169
03:21:13.159 --> 03:21:18.959
Suddenly Jansn's wizened face became woefully wrinkled, as if somebody had pulled strings which

2170
03:21:18.120 --> 03:21:22.000
set all the wrinkles in motion,
and as in a dream. He began

2171
03:21:22.079 --> 03:21:28.600
to whimper without tears, in a
dry strained voice. I don't want to

2172
03:21:28.680 --> 03:21:35.040
smoke. Ah ah ah. Why
should I be hanged? Ah ah ah.

2173
03:21:37.760 --> 03:21:43.120
They began to bustle about him.
Tanya Kovalchuk, weeping freely, petted

2174
03:21:43.200 --> 03:21:48.040
him on the arm and adjusted the
drooping earlaps of his worn fur cap.

2175
03:21:48.360 --> 03:21:54.959
My dear, do not cry,
my own, my dear, poor unfortunate

2176
03:21:54.000 --> 03:22:00.879
little fellow, Monsieur looked aside.
Signar caught her gas ants and grinned,

2177
03:22:01.280 --> 03:22:07.319
showing his teeth. What a queer
fellow he drinks tea and yet feels cold,

2178
03:22:07.920 --> 03:22:11.680
he said, with an abrupt laugh. But suddenly his own face became

2179
03:22:11.799 --> 03:22:18.719
bluish black, like cast iron,
and his large yellow teeth flashed. Suddenly,

2180
03:22:18.760 --> 03:22:24.040
the little cars trembled and slackened their
speed. All except Jansonen cushioned and

2181
03:22:24.200 --> 03:22:31.360
rose and sat down again quickly.
Here's the station, said Sergey. It

2182
03:22:31.479 --> 03:22:35.840
seemed to them as if the air
had been suddenly pumped out of the car.

2183
03:22:35.319 --> 03:22:41.159
It became so difficult to breathe.
The heart grew larger, making the

2184
03:22:41.280 --> 03:22:46.840
chest almost burst, beating in the
throat, tossing about madly, shouting in

2185
03:22:46.920 --> 03:22:52.799
horror with its blood filled voice.
And the eyes looked upon the quivering floor,

2186
03:22:52.159 --> 03:22:56.520
and the ears heard how the wheels
were turning ever more slowly. The

2187
03:22:56.559 --> 03:23:03.200
wheels slipped and turned again, and
then suddenly they stopped. The train had

2188
03:23:03.200 --> 03:23:09.680
halted. Then a dream set in. It was not terrible, rather fantastic,

2189
03:23:11.200 --> 03:23:16.280
unfamiliar to the memory, strange.
The dreamer himself seemed to remain aside.

2190
03:23:16.680 --> 03:23:24.520
Only his bodyless apparition moved about spoke
soundlessly, walked noiselessly, suffered without

2191
03:23:24.559 --> 03:23:28.079
suffering, as in a dream.
They walked out of the car, formed

2192
03:23:28.120 --> 03:23:33.920
into parties of two, inhaled the
peculiarly fresh spring air of the forest,

2193
03:23:35.600 --> 03:23:41.479
as in a dream. Jansun resisted
bluntly powerlessly, and was dragged out of

2194
03:23:41.520 --> 03:23:48.360
the car silently. They descended the
steps of the station. Are we to

2195
03:23:48.479 --> 03:23:54.280
walk? Asked someone, almost cheerily. It isn't far now, answered another,

2196
03:23:54.840 --> 03:24:01.319
also cheerily. Then they walked in
a large, black, silent crowd

2197
03:24:01.360 --> 03:24:07.040
amid the forest along a rough,
wet and soft spring road. From the

2198
03:24:07.120 --> 03:24:11.159
forest, from the snow, a
fresh, strong breath of air was wafted.

2199
03:24:11.959 --> 03:24:18.520
The feet slipped, sometimes sinking into
the snow and involuntarily. The hands

2200
03:24:18.520 --> 03:24:22.879
of the comrades clung to each other, and the convoys, breathing with difficulty,

2201
03:24:24.360 --> 03:24:28.200
walked over the untouched snow on each
side of the road. Some one

2202
03:24:28.280 --> 03:24:33.360
said, in an angry voice,
why didn't they clear the road? Did

2203
03:24:33.360 --> 03:24:37.680
they want us to turn somersaults in
the snow? Some one else apologized,

2204
03:24:37.719 --> 03:24:43.000
guiltily, we cleaned it, your
honor, but it is thawing and it

2205
03:24:43.040 --> 03:24:48.200
can't be helped. Consciousness of what
they were doing returned to the prisoners,

2206
03:24:48.520 --> 03:24:54.719
but not completely, in fragments and
strange parts. Now suddenly their minds practically

2207
03:24:54.760 --> 03:25:01.239
admitted, it is indeed impossible to
clear the road. Then again everything died

2208
03:25:01.280 --> 03:25:07.760
out, and only their sense of
smell remained, the unbearably fresh smell of

2209
03:25:07.799 --> 03:25:13.239
the forest and of the melting snow. And everything became unusually clear to the

2210
03:25:13.319 --> 03:25:18.559
consciousness the forest, the night,
the road, and the fact that soon

2211
03:25:18.600 --> 03:25:24.799
they would be hanged. Their conversation
restrained to whispers flashed in fragments. It

2212
03:25:24.879 --> 03:25:31.479
is almost four o'clock, I said, we started too early. The sun

2213
03:25:31.600 --> 03:25:37.559
dawns at five. Of course,
at five we should have. They stopped

2214
03:25:37.559 --> 03:25:41.399
in a meadow in the darkness,
a little distance away, beyond the bare

2215
03:25:41.479 --> 03:25:48.319
trees, two small lanterns moved silently. There were the gallows. I lost

2216
03:25:48.479 --> 03:25:56.440
one of my rubbers, said Seragay
Golovin, really asked Werner, not understanding

2217
03:25:56.440 --> 03:26:01.360
what he said, I lost a
rubber. It's cold. Where is Vasili?

2218
03:26:03.639 --> 03:26:11.639
I dunno. There he is Vasili
stood gloomy, motionless, And where

2219
03:26:11.719 --> 03:26:16.879
is Musia here? I am?
Is that you Werner? They began to

2220
03:26:16.920 --> 03:26:22.360
look about, avoiding the direction of
the gallows, where the lanterns continued to

2221
03:26:22.440 --> 03:26:28.840
move about silently with a terrible suggestiveness. On the left, the bare forest

2222
03:26:28.000 --> 03:26:33.719
seemed to be growing thinner, and
something large and white and flat was visible.

2223
03:26:33.440 --> 03:26:39.639
A damp wind issued from it.
This sea, said Sergey Golovin,

2224
03:26:41.040 --> 03:26:46.799
inhaling the air with nose and mouth. The sea is there, Mousieur answered

2225
03:26:46.840 --> 03:26:52.799
sonorously, My love, which is
as broad as the sea? What is

2226
03:26:52.840 --> 03:26:58.040
that, monsieur? The banks of
life cannot hold my love, which is

2227
03:26:58.079 --> 03:27:03.559
as broad as the sea. My
love, which is as broad as the

2228
03:27:03.680 --> 03:27:09.559
sea, echoed Sergey, thoughtfully,
carried away by the sound of her voice

2229
03:27:09.600 --> 03:27:13.000
and by her words, my love, which is as broad as the sea,

2230
03:27:13.520 --> 03:27:20.559
repeated Werner. And suddenly he spoke, wonderingly, cheerfully, monsieur,

2231
03:27:20.879 --> 03:27:26.719
how young you are? Suddenly Sygonok
whispered warmly out of breath, right into

2232
03:27:26.719 --> 03:27:33.559
Werna's ear, Master, Master,
there's the forest, My god? What's

2233
03:27:33.680 --> 03:27:37.360
that there? Where the lanns are? Are those the gallows? What does

2234
03:27:37.399 --> 03:27:43.360
it mean? When I looked at
him, Segonok was writhing in agony before

2235
03:27:43.360 --> 03:27:50.040
his death. We must bid each
other good bye, said Tannikovalchuk. Wait,

2236
03:27:50.559 --> 03:27:56.399
they have yet to read the sentence, answered Werner, where is Yanson?

2237
03:27:58.120 --> 03:28:01.920
Janson was lying on the snow,
and about him people were busying themselves.

2238
03:28:03.559 --> 03:28:07.840
There was a smell of ammonia in
the air. Well, what is

2239
03:28:07.879 --> 03:28:13.479
a doctor? Will you be through
soon? Someone asked impatiently. It's nothing.

2240
03:28:13.799 --> 03:28:16.559
He has simply fainted. Ropsy is
with snow. He is coming to

2241
03:28:16.639 --> 03:28:24.360
himself already you may read the sentence. The light of the dark lantern flashed

2242
03:28:24.399 --> 03:28:28.799
upon the paper and on the white, gloveless hands holding it. Both the

2243
03:28:28.840 --> 03:28:35.120
paper and the hands quivered slightly,
and the voice also quivered. Gentlemen,

2244
03:28:35.319 --> 03:28:39.399
perhaps it is not necessary to read
the sentence to you. You know it

2245
03:28:39.440 --> 03:28:46.319
already. What do you say,
don't read it? Werner answered, for

2246
03:28:46.440 --> 03:28:50.799
the all, and the little lantern
was soon extinguished. The services of the

2247
03:28:50.840 --> 03:28:56.079
priest were also declined by the mall. Sigonoq said, stop your fooling father.

2248
03:28:56.719 --> 03:29:01.879
You will forgive me, but they
will hang me. Go to where

2249
03:29:01.920 --> 03:29:07.840
you came from, And the dark, broad silhouette of the priest moved back

2250
03:29:07.920 --> 03:29:13.520
silently and quickly and disappeared. Day
was breaking, the snow turned whiter,

2251
03:29:13.959 --> 03:29:18.079
The figures of the people became more
distinct, and the forest thinner, more

2252
03:29:18.159 --> 03:29:24.760
melancholy. Gentlemen, you must go
and pass, take your places and pass

2253
03:29:24.799 --> 03:29:28.639
as you wish. But I ask
you to hurry up. Erna pointed to

2254
03:29:28.719 --> 03:29:35.760
Janson, who is now standing,
supported by two gendarmes. I will go

2255
03:29:35.879 --> 03:29:39.440
with him, and you said,
Eoja, take Vasili, go ahead,

2256
03:29:41.719 --> 03:29:45.920
very well, You and I go
together, Muzotchka, shall we not,

2257
03:29:46.520 --> 03:29:52.200
asked Tanya Kovalchuk. Come let us
kiss each other good bye. They kissed

2258
03:29:52.239 --> 03:29:56.040
one another quickly. Siganok kissed firmly, so that they felt his teeth.

2259
03:29:56.520 --> 03:30:01.559
Yanson softly, drowsily, with his
mouth half open, and it seemed that

2260
03:30:01.600 --> 03:30:07.840
he did not understand what he was
doing. When Seegey Goulovin and Kashirin had

2261
03:30:07.840 --> 03:30:11.399
gone a few steps, Kashirin suddenly
stopped and said, loudly and distinctly,

2262
03:30:13.120 --> 03:30:20.040
goodbye, comrades. Goodbye, comrade, they shouted in answer. They went

2263
03:30:20.120 --> 03:30:24.959
off. It grew quiet. The
lanterns beyond the trees became motionless. They

2264
03:30:24.959 --> 03:30:30.440
awaited an outcry, a voice,
some kind of noise, but it was

2265
03:30:30.600 --> 03:30:35.639
just as quiet there as it was
among them, and the yellow lanterns were

2266
03:30:35.719 --> 03:30:41.920
motionless. Oh my god, someone
cried hoarsely. And wildly. They looked

2267
03:30:41.920 --> 03:30:46.840
about. It was Siganok, writhing
in agony at the thought of death.

2268
03:30:48.639 --> 03:30:54.280
They are hanging. They turned away
from him, and again it became quiet.

2269
03:30:54.000 --> 03:31:00.319
Seganok was writhing, catching the air
with his hands. How is that,

2270
03:31:00.399 --> 03:31:03.159
gentleman? Am I to go alone? It's livelier to die together?

2271
03:31:03.680 --> 03:31:09.920
Gentlemen? What does it mean?
He seized Werner by the hand, his

2272
03:31:09.079 --> 03:31:16.280
fingers clutching and then relaxing. Dear
master, at least you come with me,

2273
03:31:16.799 --> 03:31:22.280
eh, do me the favor.
Don't refuse. Werna answered painfully.

2274
03:31:22.000 --> 03:31:26.680
I can't, my dear fellow,
I'm going with him. Oh, my

2275
03:31:26.959 --> 03:31:31.840
god? Must I go alone?
Then? My god, how is it

2276
03:31:31.879 --> 03:31:37.399
to be? Musia stepped forward and
said softly, you may go with me.

2277
03:31:37.799 --> 03:31:43.479
Segonoch stepped back and rolled the whites
of his eyes wildly. With you,

2278
03:31:43.920 --> 03:31:48.760
yes, just think of her?
What a little girl. And you're

2279
03:31:48.799 --> 03:31:54.440
not afraid? If you are,
I would rather go alone. No,

2280
03:31:54.120 --> 03:32:01.040
I'm not afraid. Segonoch grinned jest
of her. But do you know that

2281
03:32:01.159 --> 03:32:05.920
I am a murderer? Don't you
despise me? You had better not do

2282
03:32:05.040 --> 03:32:11.319
it. I shan't be angry at
you, Monsieur was silent, and in

2283
03:32:11.399 --> 03:32:16.159
the faint light of dawn, her
face was pale and enigmatic. Then suddenly

2284
03:32:16.200 --> 03:32:20.479
she walked over to t Siganok quickly, and throwing her arms about his neck,

2285
03:32:20.840 --> 03:32:24.360
kissed him firmly upon his lips.
He took her by the shoulders with

2286
03:32:24.399 --> 03:32:30.479
his fingers held her away from himself, then shook her and with loud smacks,

2287
03:32:30.680 --> 03:32:33.639
kissed her on the lips, on
the nose, on the eyes.

2288
03:32:35.120 --> 03:32:39.920
Come Suddenly, the soldier standing nearest
to them staggered forward, and, opening

2289
03:32:39.959 --> 03:32:45.399
his hands, let his gun drop. He did not stoop down to regain

2290
03:32:45.440 --> 03:32:48.680
it, but stood for an instant
motionless. Turned abruptly, and like a

2291
03:32:48.719 --> 03:32:54.479
blind man, walked towards the forest
over the untouched snow. Where are you

2292
03:32:54.559 --> 03:33:01.600
going, called out another soldier in
fright halt. But the man continued walking

2293
03:33:01.639 --> 03:33:07.840
through the deep snow silently and with
difficulty. Then he must have stumbled over

2294
03:33:07.920 --> 03:33:11.120
something, for he waved his arms
and fell face downward, and then he

2295
03:33:11.200 --> 03:33:16.719
remained lying in the snow. Pick
up the gun, you sour faced gray

2296
03:33:16.760 --> 03:33:20.040
coat, or I'll pick it up, said Sygonoq sternly to the other soldier.

2297
03:33:20.799 --> 03:33:26.559
You don't know your business. The
little lanterns began to move about busily

2298
03:33:26.600 --> 03:33:31.799
again. Now it was the turn
of Werner and Janson. Good Bye,

2299
03:33:31.959 --> 03:33:37.079
master, called Syganok loudly. We'll
meet each other in the other world you'll

2300
03:33:37.120 --> 03:33:41.280
see. Don't turn away from me
when you see me. Bring me some

2301
03:33:41.440 --> 03:33:46.040
water to drink. It will be
hot there for me. Good Bye.

2302
03:33:48.479 --> 03:33:54.360
I don't want to be hanged,
said jan Son drowsily. Wer Not took

2303
03:33:54.399 --> 03:33:58.040
him by the hand, and then
the Estonian walked a few steps alone.

2304
03:33:58.479 --> 03:34:01.879
But too later they saw him stop
and fall down in the snow. Soldier

2305
03:34:01.959 --> 03:34:07.120
spent over him, lifted him up
and carried him on, and he struggled

2306
03:34:07.120 --> 03:34:11.920
faintly in their arms. Why did
she not cry? He must have forgotten

2307
03:34:11.920 --> 03:34:18.280
even that he had a voice.
And again the little yellow lanterns became motionless.

2308
03:34:18.680 --> 03:34:24.159
And I Muzachhka, said Tanya Kovalchuk
mournfully. Must I go alone?

2309
03:34:24.440 --> 03:34:31.280
We lived together, and now Tanechka
dearest. But Tsiganok took her part,

2310
03:34:31.360 --> 03:34:35.600
heatedly, holding her by the hand, as though fearing that some one would

2311
03:34:35.600 --> 03:34:39.479
take her away from him. He
said quickly, in a business like manner,

2312
03:34:39.479 --> 03:34:43.319
to Tanya, Ah, young lady, you can go alone. You

2313
03:34:43.399 --> 03:34:48.760
are a pure soul. You can
go alone wherever you please. But I

2314
03:34:48.760 --> 03:34:52.639
I can't. A murderer understand.
I can't go alone. Where are you

2315
03:34:52.719 --> 03:34:56.399
going, you murderer? They will
ask me why I even stole horses?

2316
03:34:56.479 --> 03:35:01.200
By God? And with her,
it's just as if if, just as

2317
03:35:01.200 --> 03:35:03.760
if I were with an infant.
You understand? Do you understand me?

2318
03:35:05.799 --> 03:35:11.360
I do go? Come? Let
me kiss you once more. Muzohka kiss

2319
03:35:11.479 --> 03:35:16.440
kiss each other, urged Siganok.
That's a woman's job. You must bid

2320
03:35:16.479 --> 03:35:22.719
each other a hearty good bye.
Musya and Siganok moved forward. Musya walked

2321
03:35:22.719 --> 03:35:28.639
cautiously, slipping and by a force
of habit, raising her skirts slightly,

2322
03:35:28.520 --> 03:35:33.360
and the man led her to death, firmly, holding her arm carefully and

2323
03:35:33.479 --> 03:35:39.639
feeling the ground with his foot.
The lights stopped moving. It was quiet

2324
03:35:39.680 --> 03:35:45.959
and lonely around Tanya Kovalchuk. The
soldiers were silent, all gray in the

2325
03:35:46.000 --> 03:35:52.840
soft, colorless light of daybreak.
I am alone, sighed Tanya Kovalchuk.

2326
03:35:52.879 --> 03:35:58.159
Suddenly, Serioja is dead, Werner
is dead, and Vasya too. I

2327
03:35:58.280 --> 03:36:05.479
am alone, soldiers, soldiers,
I am alone alone. The sun was

2328
03:36:05.639 --> 03:36:11.000
rising over the sea. The bodies
were placed in a box, then They

2329
03:36:11.040 --> 03:36:18.719
were taken away with stretched necks,
with bulging eyes, with blue swollen tongs

2330
03:36:20.200 --> 03:36:24.520
looking like some unknown terrible flowers,
between the lips which were covered with bloody

2331
03:36:24.559 --> 03:36:30.079
foam. The bodies were hurried back
along the same road by which they had

2332
03:36:30.120 --> 03:36:35.120
come alive. And the spring snow
was just as soft and fresh, The

2333
03:36:35.200 --> 03:36:41.559
spring air was just as strong and
fragrant, and on the snow lay set

2334
03:36:41.600 --> 03:36:48.719
against black rubber shoe wet trampled under
foot. Thus did men grate the rising

2335
03:36:48.799 --> 03:36:56.799
sun end of chapter eleven, and
of the seven who were hanged by Leonid

2336
03:36:56.000 --> 03:37:03.639
Nikolayevitch andreyev Red by Carolyn in February
two thousand and twelve in Oslo, Norway.

2337
03:37:05.479 --> 03:37:05.479
Thanks for listening.