spent all his money in drink.

"Your honour, do you see that I have again fallen into your
hands? What shall we do now?"

"The position, no doubt, is not a very good one, but still you
need not trouble about it," reasoned the Captain. "You must, my
friend, treat everything indifferently, without spoiling yourself
by philosophy, and without asking yourself any question. To
philosophise is always foolish; to philosophise with a drunken
headache, ineffably so. Drunken headaches require vodki and not
the remorse of conscience or gnashing of teeth . . . save your
teeth, or else you will not be able to protect yourself. Here
are twenty kopecks. Go and buy a bottle of vodki for five
kopecks, hot tripe or lungs, one pound of bread and two
cucumbers. When we have lived off our drunken headache we will
think of the condition of affairs . . ."

As a rule the consideration of the "condition of affairs" lasted
some two or three days, and only when the Captain had not a
farthing left of the three roubles or five roubles given him by
his grateful customer did he say:

"You came! Do you see? Now that we have drunk everything with
you, you fool, try again to regain the path of virtue and
soberness. It has been truly said that if you do not sin, you
will not repent, and, if you do not repent, you shall not be
saved. We have done the first, and to repent is useless. Let us
make direct for salvation. Go to the river and work, and if you
think you cannot control yourself, tell the contractor, your