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DIAMONDS TO SIT ON

foundry, a brewery, and a tannery. Apart from ordi­ nary schools, there is a school of forestry.’ ‘The position is more serious than I anticipated,’ said Bender. ‘ It will be pretty difficult to get money out of the inhabitants of Vassuki. I haven’t found a solution for that problem yet, but we must have at least thirty roubles. In the first place, we must feed and secondly we must overtake that rotten httle steamer and meet the Columbus Theatre company in Stalingrad.’ Hippolyte curled himself up on the bench and fell asleep, but Bender walked up and down the landing­ stage plotting and scheming. By midnight he had evolved a magnificent plan, and, after smiling confi­ dently to himself, curled up on another bench and fell last asleep.