mushrooms, and when you find mushrooms you will find a basket to put
them in. But now" (he winked a second time) "put your axe behind your
back,[23] the gamekeeper is abroad. To the health of your excellency."

So saying he took the glass, made the sign of the cross, and swallowed
his brandy at one gulp, then, bowing to me, returned to his lair above
the stove.

I could not then understand a single word of the thieves' slang they
employed. It was only later on that I understood that they were talking
about the army of the Yaïk, which had only just been reduced to
submission after the revolt of 1772.[24]

Savéliitch listened to them talking with a very discontented manner, and
cast suspicious glances, sometimes on the host and sometimes on the
guide.

The kind of inn where we had sought shelter stood in the very middle of
the steppe, far from the road and from any dwelling, and certainly was
by no means unlikely to be a robber resort. But what could we do? We
could not dream of resuming our journey. Savéliitch's uneasiness amused
me very much. I stretched myself on a bench. My old retainer at last
decided to get up on the top of the stove,[25] while the host lay down
on the floor. They all soon began to snore, and I myself soon fell dead
asleep.

When I awoke, somewhat late, on the morrow I saw that the storm was
over. The sun shone brightly; the snow stretched afar like a dazzling
sheet. The horses were already harnessed. I paid the host, who named
such a mere trifle as my reckoning that Savéliitch did not bargain as he