Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/318

 302 "Of course, Bachka, He does not like those who do wrong, Bachka."

The reasoning was very much the same as that used by Saint Sirin, when seduced by a temptress, who tried to entice him into her house, but he invited her to sin with him before all the people in the market place, and she said: "We can't there, the people will see us," but he answered: "I don't pay much attention to the people, but what if God should see us? It is better we separate!"

"Well, brother," I thought, "you, too, are not walking far from the heavenly kingdom." During my short reflections he had fallen down in the snow.

"Good night, Bachka; you grub. I want to sleep."

And he began to snore in his own mighty fashion.

It was already dark: again the black sky was stretched over us, and on it again like sparks on pitch the rayless stars appeared.

By that time I began to revive, having swallowed a few small pieces of raw meat, and I stood with the bear's ham in my hands, looking at the sleeping savage, and thinking:

"What an enigma is the journey of this pure, exalted soul in such a clumsy body, and in this terrible wilderness? Why is he incarnated here and not in lands more blessed by nature? Why is his understanding so limited that he is unable to