We dispersed on the road in various directions, and began to collect dry grass and everything that could possibly burn. Every time we chanced to bend down towards the ground a passionate desire seized upon our whole body to lie down upon the earth--lie there immovably and eat the fat black stuff--eat a lot of it, eat till we could eat no more, and then fall asleep. Only to eat!--if we slept for evermore afterwards--to chew and chew and feel the thick warm mash flow gradually from our mouths along our dried-up gullet and food passages into our famished, extenuated stomachs, burning with the desire to suck up some sort of nutriment. "If only we could find some root or other!" sighed the soldier; "there are roots you can eat, you know." But in the black furrowed earth there were no roots. The southern night came on quickly, and the last ray of the sun had scarce disappeared when the stars were twinkling in the dark blue sky, and around us, more and more solidly, were gathering the dark shadows, and a smooth blankness engulfed the whole steppe. "My brothers," said "the student," "yonder to the left a man is lying." "A man?"--the soldier's tone was dubious--"what should he be lying there for?" "Go and ask. He must certainly have bread with him if he lies down in the steppe," explained "the student." The soldier looked in the direction where the man lay, and spitting with decision, said: "Let us go to him!" Only the keen, green eyes of "the student" could have made out that the dark patch rising up some fifty fathoms to the left of the road was a man. We went towards him, quickly stepping over the ploughed-up hummocks of earth, and we felt the hope of food new-born within us put a fresh edge upon our hunger. We were already quite close--the man did not move. "Perhaps it is not a man at all!"--the soldier had put into words the thought common to us all. But our doubts were resolved that selfsame instant, for the heap on the ground suddenly began to move, grew in size, and we saw that it was a real living man, now on his knees and stretching towards us an arm. And he said to us in a hollow, tremulous voice: "Another step--and I fire!" A short and dry click resounded through the murky air. We stopped short, as if at the word of command, and were silent for some seconds, dumfounded by such an unpleasant encounter. "What a beast!" growled the soldier expressively. "Well, I never!" said "the student," reflectively, "to go about with a revolver. A well-plucked one evidently!" "Aye!" cried the soldier, "pretty resolute too." The man never changed his pose, but remained silent. "Hie, you there! We won't touch you ... Only give us some bread--got any, eh? Give us some, my brother, for Christ's sake--be anathema accursed one!" The last words of the soldier, naturally, were muttered between his teeth. The man was silent.