Page:The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - 08 (Crowell, 1899).djvu/105

Rh I climbed into their sledge. It was handsome well lined. As soon as I sat down, how they spurred on the horses! "Now then, my darlings!"

The roan horses dashed away, making the snow fly in clouds.

What a wonderful thing! It grew lighter and lighter, and the road became as glare as ice, and we flew so fast that it took away my breath, and the twigs lashed my face. It began to be painful.

I looked ahead; there was a steep mountain, a very steep mountain, and at the foot of the mountain a ravine. The roans were flying straight for the ravine.

I was frightened, and cried:—

"Heavens and earth! slow up, you, slow up; you will kill us!"

But the men only laughed, and urged on the horses the more. I saw there was no saving us; the ravine was under our very runners. But I saw a bough right over my head.

"Well," I said to myself, "you may go over alone."

I stood up and seized the bough, and there I hung!

As I caught it I shouted:—

"Hold on!" And then I heard women shouting:—

"Uncle Semyon! what is the matter? Start up the fire, you women! Something is wrong with Uncle Semyon! he is screaming! Stir up the fire!"

I woke up, and there I was in my cottage, clinging to the loft, and screaming at the top of my voice. And all that I had seen had been a dream!

widow Marya lived with her mother and six children. Their means of life were small. But they used their last money in the purchase of a red cow, so as to have milk for the children. The eldest children