Page:Chekhov - The Witch and Other Stories.djvu/283

272 "But you must understand that the nut holds the rail fast to the sleepers!"

"We understand that. We don't unscrew them all  we leave some.  We don't do it thoughtlessly  we understand"

Denis yawns and makes the sign of the cross over his mouth.

"Last year the train went off the rails here," says the magistrate. "Now I see why!"

"What do you say, your honour?"

"I am telling you that now I see why the train went off the rails last year. I understand!"

"That's what you are educated people for, to understand, you kind gentlemen. The Lord knows to whom to give understanding. Here you have reasoned how and what, but the watchman, a peasant like ourselves, with no understanding at all, catches one by the collar and hauls one along.  You should reason first and then haul me off. It's a saying that a peasant has a peasant's wit.  Write down, too, your honour, that he hit me twice—in the jaw and in the chest."

"When your hut was searched they found another nut. At what spot did you unscrew that, and when?"

"You mean the nut which lay under the red box?"

"I don't know where it was lying, only it was found. When did you unscrew it?"

"I didn't unscrew it; Ignashka, the son of one-eyed Semyon, gave it me. I mean the one which was under the box, but the one which was in the