"Did you find your way in easily?" asked the golden-haired Nadezhda
with a friendly but subtle smile. "It's usually not a simple matter,"
she explained.

Elisaveta replied:

"A white boy opened the gate for us. He ran off so quickly that we had
not even the time to thank him."

Nadezhda suddenly ceased smiling.

"Oh yes--he isn't one of us," she said falteringly. "They live over
there with Trirodov. There are several of them. Wouldn't you like to
have lunch with us?" she asked, cutting short her previous remarks.

Elisaveta suspected that Nadezhda wanted to change the subject.

"We live here all day long, we eat here, we learn here, and we play
here--do everything here," said Nadezhda. "People have built cities to
escape the wild beast, but they themselves have become like wild
beasts, like savages."

A bitter note crept into her voice--was it the echo of her past life
or was it a thing foreign to her and grafted upon her sensitive
nature? She continued:

"We have come from the town into the woods. From the wild beast, from
the savages of the town. The beast must be killed. The wolf and the
fox and the hawk--all those who prey upon others--they must be
killed."