Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 02.djvu/532

 494 bass, as though imitating a peasant. "'Yes,' says I, 'dear man, he is such by nature. If you tear their hands apart, blood will ooze out, just as from a Chinaman; if you take off their caps, blood will flow.' 'Now tell me, good fellow, how do they carry on war?' says he. 'Like this,' says I, 'if they catch you, they slit open your belly, and begin to wind your guts about your arms. They wind them, but you laugh and laugh, until you give up the ghost—'"

"Well, did they believe you, Chíkin?" said Maksímov, with a slight smile, while the others were rolling in laughter.

"They are such strange people, Fédor Maksímych. They believe everything, upon my word, they do. But when I began to tell them about Mount Kazbék, telling them that the snow did not melt all summer there, they ridiculed me. 'Don't tell such fibs, good fellow,' they said. 'Who has ever heard such a thing: a big mountain, and the snow not melting on it! Why, even with us the snow melts on the mounds long before it has melted in the hollows.' So, go and explain matters to them," concluded Chíkin, winking.