Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/277

 Rh for me, then they began to mock him as Kyz'ka-Demyak."

"And after his first baptism, how did they mock him?"

"I don't know, Bachka—I have forgot."

"But possibly he knows it."

"No, Bachka, he has also forgot it."

"It is impossible," I said.

"No, Bachka—it's true he has forgot it."

"Well, I will have him found and will ask him."

"You may have him found, Bachka, you may have him found; but he will say he has forgot it."

"Yes, but when I find him, brother, I will give him up to the Zaysan."

"It doesn't matter, Bachka, nothing matters to him now, Bachka—he is already lost."

"In what way is he lost? Is it because he has been baptized? Is it that?"

"Yes, Bachka; the Shaman drives him away, the Lama has carried off his reindeer, none of his people trust him."

"What do you mean, you foolish savage? You lie. Why can't the baptized be trusted? Is the baptized man worse than you idolaters?"

"Why worse, Bachka?—he's also a man."

"Now you yourself agree he is not worse."

"I don't know, Bachka—you say he is not worse, and I say so; but he can't be trusted."