“I won’t wake them,” he thought. But his heart began beating so fast that he remained motionless, listening. Suddenly the trunk gave a plunge and again began to float across the stream towards our bank. “Suppose I miss?...” thought he, and now by the faint light of the moon he caught a glimpse of a Tartar’s head in front of the floating wood. He aimed straight at the head which appeared to be quite near—just at the end of his rifle’s barrel. He glanced cross. “Right enough it is an _abrek!_” he thought joyfully, and suddenly rising to his knees he again took aim. Having found the sight, barely visible at the end of the long gun, he said: “In the name of the Father and of the Son,” in the Cossack way learnt in his childhood, and pulled the trigger. A flash of lightning lit up for an instant the reeds and the water, and the sharp, abrupt report of the shot was carried across the river, changing into a prolonged roll somewhere in the far distance. The piece of driftwood now floated not across, but with the current, rocking and whirling. “Stop, I say!” exclaimed Ergushóv, seizing his musket and raising himself behind the log near which he was lying. “Shut up, you devil!” whispered Lukáshka, grinding his teeth. “_Abreks!_” “Whom have you shot?” asked Nazárka. “Who was it, Lukáshka?” Lukáshka did not answer. He was reloading his gun and watching the floating wood. A little way off it stopped on a sand-bank, and from behind it something large that rocked in the water came into view. “What did you shoot? Why don’t you speak?” insisted the Cossacks. “_Abreks_, I tell you!” said Lukáshka. “Don’t humbug! Did the gun go off? ...” “I’ve killed an _abrek_, that’s what I fired at,” muttered Lukáshka in a voice choked by emotion, as he jumped to his feet. “A man was swimming...” he said, pointing to the sandbank. “I killed him. Just look there.” “Have done with your humbugging!” said Ergushóv again, rubbing his eyes. “Have done with what? Look there,” said Lukáshka, seizing him by the shoulders and pulling him with such force that Ergushóv groaned. He looked in the direction in which Lukáshka pointed, and discerning a body immediately changed his tone. “O Lord! But I say, more will come! I tell you the truth,” said he softly, and began examining his musket. “That was a scout swimming across: either the others are here already or are not far off on the other side—I tell you for sure!” Lukáshka was unfastening his belt and taking off his Circassian coat. “What are you up to, you idiot?” exclaimed Ergushóv. “Only show yourself and you’ve lost all for nothing, I tell you true! If you’ve killed him he won’t escape. Let me have a little powder for my musket-pan—you have some? Nazárka, you go back to the cordon and look alive; but don’t go along the bank or you’ll be killed—I tell you true.” “Catch me going alone! Go yourself!” said Nazárka angrily. Having taken off his coat, Lukáshka went down to the bank.