Page:Korolenko - Makar's Dream and Other Stories.djvu/258

234 larger than a sparrow. Then he glimmered for a moment like a fly, then like a gnat, and at last disappeared.

Then the miller was seized with genuine terror. His knees knocked together, his teeth chattered, his hair stood on end so high that, had he been wearing a hat, it would certainly have been knocked off his head. He never could say exactly what he did next.

Bang—bang!

Bang—bang—bang! Bang—bang!

Some one was knocking so loudly at the door of the mill that the whole building was filled with noisy echoes that reverberated in every corner. The miller thought the devil might have come back he and the Jew had not together for nothing!—so he only buried his head under the pillow.

"Bang—bang! Bang—bang! Hey, master, unlock the door!"

"I won't!"

"And why won't you?"

The miller raised his head.

"Ah, that sounds like Gavrilo's voice. Gavrilo, is that you?"

"Who else should it be?"

"Swear that it's you!"

"What?"