"Look here, lads. Once upon a time--"

And though for the first two or three minutes the men appeared
not to hear him, and continued their planing and chopping as
before, the moment came when the soft tenor accents caught and
held the men's attention, as they trickled and burbled forth.
Then, screwing up his bright eyes with a humorous air, and
twisting his curly beard between his fingers, Ossip gave a
complacent click of his tongue, and continued measuredly, and
with deliberation:

"So he seized hold of the tench, and thrust it back into the
cave. And as he turned to proceed through the forest he thought
to himself: 'Now I must keep my eyes about me.' And suddenly,
from somewhere (no one could have said where), a woman's voice
shrieked: 'Elesi-a-ah! Elesia-ah!'"

Here a tall, lanky Morduine named Leuka, with, as surname,
Narodetz, a young fellow whose small eyes wore always an
expression of astonishment, laid aside his axe, and stood gaping.

"And from the cave a deep bass voice replied: 'Elesi-a-ah!'
while at the same moment the tench sprang from the cave, and,
champing its jaws, wriggled and wriggled back to the slough."

Here an old soldier named Saniavin, a morose man, a tippler,
and a sufferer from asthma and an inexplicable grudge against
life in general, croaked out:

"How could your tench have wriggled across dry land if it was a