PEASANT. So you think soldiers are not wanted at all? TRAVELLER. What good do they do? Millions and millions are collected from you and your folk for them--it's no joke to clothe and feed such a host! There are nearly a million of those idlers, and they're only useful to keep the land from you; and it is on you they will fire. [_The_ PEASANT _sighs, and shakes his head_. PEASANT. That's true enough! If everybody were to do it at once ... but if one or two make a stand, they'll be shot or sent to Siberia, and that will be the end of the matter. TRAVELLER. And yet there are men, even now--young men--who by themselves stand up for the Law of God, and refuse to serve. They say: "According to Christ's Law, I dare not be a murderer! Do as you please, but I won't take a rifle in my hands!" PEASANT. Well, and what happens? TRAVELLER. They are put in prison; they remain there, poor fellows, three years, or four.... But I've heard that it's not so bad for them, for the authorities themselves respect them. And some are even let out as unfit for service--bad health! Though he is sometimes a strapping, broad-shouldered fellow, he's "not fit," because they're afraid of taking a man of that kind, for fear he should tell others that soldiering is against God's Law. So they let him go. PEASANT. Really? TRAVELLER. Yes, sometimes it happens that they are let off; but it also happens that they die there. Still, soldiers die too, and even get maimed in service--lose a leg, or an arm.... PEASANT. Oh, you're a clever fellow! It would be a good thing, only it won't work out like that. TRAVELLER. Why not? PEASANT. _That's_ why. TRAVELLER. What's _that_? PEASANT. That the authorities have power given them. TRAVELLER. They only have power, because you obey them. Do not obey the authorities, and they won't have any power! PEASANT. [_shakes his head_]. You do talk queer! How can one do without the authorities? It is quite impossible to do without some authority. TRAVELLER. Of course it is! Only whom will you take for authority--the policeman, or God? Whom will you obey--the policeman, or God? PEASANT. That goes without saying! No one is greater than God. To live for God is the chief thing. TRAVELLER. Well, if you mean to live for God, you must obey God and not man. And if you live according to God, you will not drive people off the land: you will not be a policeman, a village elder, a tax-collector, a watchman, or above all, a soldier.... You will not promise to kill men. PEASANT. And how about those long-maned fellows--the priests? They must see that things are being done not according to God's Law. Then why don't they teach how it ought to be? TRAVELLER. I don't know anything about that. Let them go their way, and you go yours. PEASANT. They are long-maned devils! TRAVELLER. It's not right to judge others like that! We must each remember our own faults.