Page:The Steel Flea.djvu/57

 it was impossible for an unaccustomed man, coming directly from the fresh air, to breathe it all at once.

The messengers shouted: "What are you doing, you scoundrels, you thus and so? And how dare you to infect us with such a spiral, to boot? After this, God is not with you!"

But they replied: "We will instantly drive in the last little nail, and when that is in place, we will bring out our work."

But the messengers said: "He'll devour us alive before that time, and leave not enough to remember our souls by."

But the gunsmiths replied: "He will not succeed in swallowing you, because, lo! while you have been speaking we have already driven in that last tiny nail. Run and say that we will bring it immediately."

The Suite-Cossacks ran, but not with