Page:Korolenko - Makar's Dream and Other Stories.djvu/251

Rh black object lying upon it was. But when the solitary cock-crow resounded from the village the dark mass stirred. Yankel raised his head in its skull-cap, looked about him, got up, and began to steal softly away, stepping high like a stork with his thin legs, in his stocking-feet.

"Hi, there! Stop him; he's making off!" the startled miller came near shouting, but next moment he saw the devil catch Yankel by his long coattails.

"Wait a bit!" Khapun cried. "There's plenty of time yet. What a hurry you're in! Here you are wanting to be off again before I've had time to rest! It's all right for you, but what about me, who have to drag a big fellow like you along? I'm nearly dead!"

"Very well, then," said the Jew, trying to free his coat-tails from the devil's grasp. "Rest a little longer, and I'll walk to my inn on foot."

The devil jumped up in surprise.

"What's that you're saying?" he cried. "Do you think I have hired myself out to you as a cart to take you home from church, you hound? You must be joking!"

"Why should I be joking?" asked the wily Yankel, pretending to have no idea what the Devil wanted with him. "I am very grateful indeed to you for having brought me so far, and I can now go on