Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/237

Rh showed Efim the hole where the earth had yawned open, right down to the abyss, and after that they showed him the place where they had nailed the hands and feet of Christ to the cross; then they showed him the grave of Adam, where the blood of Christ had trickled down upon his bones. After that they went to the stone where Christ had sat down when they put upon His head the crown of thorns; and then to the pillar to which they had tied Christ when they scourged Him. Then Efim saw the stone with the two holes for the feet of Christ. They wanted to show some other things also, but the crowd was in too much of a hurry to look at them, and they all hastened away to the cave of the Sepulchre of the Lord. The pilgrim hastened thither. The foreign mass was just over, and the orthodox mass began. Efim went with the people to the cave.

He wanted to get away from the pilgrim; in thought he kept on sinning against the pilgrim all along, but the pilgrim would not leave him, but went along with him to the mass and to the Sepulchre of the Lord. They wanted to get nearer, but they could not get nearer. There was such a crush of people that they could move neither backwards nor forwards. Efim stood looking in front of him and praying, but it was of no use. Again he felt himself to see if he still had his purse. Two thoughts constantly worried him: "Had the pilgrim deceived him, or had he not deceived him? And if his (the pilgrim's) money had been stolen from him, mightn't the same thing happen to Efim himself too?" 187