participating in His most holy festival."

And the old soldier, in support of his mate, extended his pipe
towards the river, and muttered with a grin:

"You want to cross to the town, do you? Well, be off with
you, and though the ice may give way beneath your feet
and drown you, at least you'll be taken to the police station,
and so get to your festival. For that's what you want, I
suppose?"

"True enough," Mokei re-echoed.

Then the sun went in, and the river grew darker, while the
town stood out more clearly. Ceaselessly, the younger men gazed
towards the town with wistful, gloomy eyes, though silently they
remained where they were.

Similarly, I myself was beginning to find things irksome and
uncomfortable, as always happens when a number of companions are
thinking different thoughts, and contain in themselves none of
that unity of will which alone can join men into a direct,
uniform force. Rather, I felt as though I could gladly leave my
companions and start out upon the ice alone.

Suddenly Ossip recovered his faculties. Rising, then doffing his
cap and making the sign of the cross in the direction of the
town, he said with a quiet, simple, yet somehow authoritative,
air: