serious face, hopped on one leg.

"I say, which of us will get to the sedge first?" he said.

Yegorushka was exhausted by the heat and drowsiness, but he raced
off after him all the same. Deniska was in his twentieth year, was
a coachman and going to be married, but he had not left off being
a boy. He was very fond of flying kites, chasing pigeons, playing
knuckle-bones, running races, and always took part in children's
games and disputes. No sooner had his master turned his back or
gone to sleep than Deniska would begin doing something such as
hopping on one leg or throwing stones. It was hard for any grown-up
person, seeing the genuine enthusiasm with which he frolicked about
in the society of children, to resist saying, "What a baby!" Children,
on the other hand, saw nothing strange in the invasion of their
domain by the big coachman. "Let him play," they thought, "as long
as he doesn't fight!" In the same way little dogs see nothing strange
in it when a simple-hearted big dog joins their company uninvited
and begins playing with them.

Deniska outstripped Yegorushka, and was evidently very much pleased
at having done so. He winked at him, and to show that he could hop
on one leg any distance, suggested to Yegorushka that he should hop
with him along the road and from there, without resting, back to
the chaise. Yegorushka declined this suggestion, for he was very
much out of breath and exhausted.

All at once Deniska looked very grave, as he did not look even when
Kuzmitchov gave him a scolding or threatened him with a stick;
listening intently, he dropped quietly on one knee and an expression