Page:Anthology of Modern Slavonic Literature in Prose and Verse by Paul Selver.djvu/204

180 "Because early to-day he surpassed all in stone-throwing, with the exception of Kićun!"

"Is it possible?" exclaimed the serdar in astonishment.

"Yes, by God, it is!" cried several with one accord.

"Then come hither, that I may embrace you!"

And the serdar gave the youth a kiss upon the forehead. "The latter was so abashed at this, that he did not know what he should do with his hands. He drew them across his upper lip, upon which, however, not even the down of a moustache was so far to be observed; at the same time his eyes were beaming with clear fire, and he was splendid to look upon in his beauty.

The rest of the people were not altogether pleased with this, and someone called out:

"First of all we must make sure whether we were contending in sober earnest, or whether it was only in play."

"Don't make any pretence," cried the others. "There were close on thirty of us lads who saw it. Each one of you did his level best to beat him, but he beat you all, Kićun alone excepted."

There was a silence after these words. The older men thought it would be best to broach another subject. Then one of the Lipova men stood up and cried:

"You would hardly believe, serdar, all the things that Luka does in order to appear more