consciousness. He did not know whether he was dying or falling asleep,
but felt equally prepared for the one as for the other.



VIII

Meanwhile Vasili Andreevich, with his feet and the ends of the reins,
urged the horse on in the direction in which for some reason he expected
the forest and forester's hut to be. The snow covered his eyes and the
wind seemed intent on stopping him, but bending forward and constantly
lapping his coat over and pushing it between himself and the cold
harness pad which prevented him from sitting properly, he kept urging
the horse on. Mukhorty ambled on obediently though with difficulty, in
the direction in which he was driven.

Vasili Andreevich rode for about five minutes straight ahead, as he
thought, seeing nothing but the horse's head and the white waste, and
hearing only the whistle of the wind about the horse's ears and his coat
collar.

Suddenly a dark patch showed up in front of him. His heart beat with
joy, and he rode towards the object, already seeing in imagination the
walls of village houses. But the dark patch was not stationary, it
kept moving; and it was not a village but some tall stalks of wormwood
sticking up through the snow on the boundary between two fields, and
desperately tossing about under the pressure of the wind which beat
it all to one side and whistled through it. The sight of that wormwood
tormented by the pitiless wind made Vasili Andreevich shudder, he knew
not why, and he hurriedly began urging the horse on, not noticing that