him like this: "If you had not crossed yourself, man," she says, "you should have lived with me in gladness of heart to the end of your days; and I weep, I am grieved at heart because you crossed yourself; but I will not grieve alone; you too shall grieve at heart to the end of your days." Then she vanished, brothers, and at once it was plain to Gavrila how to get out of the forest.... Only since then he goes always sorrowful, as you see.' 'Ugh!' said Fedya after a brief silence; 'but how can such an evil thing of the woods ruin a Christian soul--he did not listen to her?' 'And I say!' said Kostya. 'Gavrila said that her voice was as shrill and plaintive as a toad's.' 'Did your father tell you that himself?' Fedya went on. 'Yes. I was lying in the loft; I heard it all.' 'It's a strange thing. Why should he be sorrowful?... But I suppose she liked him, since she called him.' 'Ay, she liked him!' put in Ilyusha. 'Yes, indeed! she wanted to tickle him to death, that's what she wanted. That's what they do, those russalkas.' 'There ought to be russalkas here too, I suppose,' observed Fedya. 'No,' answered Kostya, 'this is a holy open place. There's one thing, though: the river's near.' All were silent. Suddenly from out of the distance came a prolonged, resonant, almost wailing sound, one of those inexplicable sounds of the night, which break upon a profound stillness, rise upon the air, linger, and slowly die away at last. You listen: it is as though there were nothing, yet it echoes still. It is as though some one had uttered a long, long cry upon the very horizon, as though some other had answered him with shrill harsh laughter in the forest, and a faint, hoarse hissing hovers over the river. The boys looked round about shivering.... 'Christ's aid be with us!' whispered Ilyusha. 'Ah, you craven crows!' cried Pavel, 'what are you frightened of? Look, the potatoes are done.' (They all came up to the pot and began to eat the smoking potatoes; only Vanya did not stir.) 'Well, aren't you coming?' said Pavel. But he did not creep out from under his rug. The pot was soon completely emptied. 'Have you heard, boys,' began Ilyusha, 'what happened with us at Varnavitsi?' 'Near the dam?' asked Fedya. 'Yes, yes, near the dam, the broken-down dam. That is a haunted place, such a haunted place, and so lonely. All round there are pits and quarries, and there are always snakes in pits.' 'Well, what did happen? Tell us.'