Page:Korolenko - Makar's Dream and Other Stories.djvu/57

Rh the snow around him was instantly dyed red, but the blood upon the murderer started out more vividly than ever, and in his eyes there gleamed wild horror and despair. So he ran on, shunning the frightened gaze of all men.

From time to time the little souls of children came flying through the air like birds, winging their way in great flocks, and this was no surprise to Makar. Bad, coarse food, dirt, the heat from the fireplaces, and the cold draughts in the huts drove them from Chalgan alone in hundreds. As they overtook the murderer, the startled flocks wheeled swiftly aside, and long after their passage the air was filled with the quick, anxious whirring of their little pinions.

Makar could not help remarking that, in comparison with the other travellers, he was moving at a fairly swift pace, and he hastened to ascribe this to his own virtue.

"Listen Asabit! (Father!)" he said. "What do you think, even if I was fond of drinking I was a good man, wasn't I? God loves me, doesn't he?"

He looked inquiringly at Father Ivan. He had a secret motive for asking this question, he wanted to find out something from the old priest, but the latter answered curtly:

"Don't be conceited! We are near the end now. You will soon find that out for yourself."

Makar had not noticed until then that a light seemed to be breaking over the plain. First a few