Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/291

Rh "Thou canst not draw me out anyhow, and to say thou wilt kill me is nonsense—thou didst kill me long ago. And I'll tell of thee or not according as God puts it into my heart to do."

The next day when they were leading the prisoners out to work, the soldiers observed that Makar Semenov was scattering earth about; they began searching the prison and found the hole. The Governor came into the dungeon and began to ask each one of them, "Who dug out this hole?"

They all denied doing it. Those who knew would not tell of Makar Semenov because they knew that he would be whipped for it till he was half-dead. Then the Governor turned to Aksenov. He knew that Aksenov was a truthful man, and he said,

"Old man, thou art true—before God I charge thee tell me who did this thing?"

Malkar Semenov was standing there as if he had nothing to do with it and looked at the Governor, but cast not a glance at Aksenov. Aksenov's arms and lips trembled, and for a long time he could not speak a word. He thought: "Screen him, eh?—but why should I speak not of him when he has been my ruin? Let him pay for my torments now, say I! Yet if I tell upon him they'll cut him with the knout! What then? Shall I think tenderly of him though it be all in vain? Yea, I will all the same. I shall feel lighter at heart for it!"

The Governor asked him again, "Well, old man! speak the truth! Who dug out the earth?"

Aksenov looked at Makar Semenov and said, "I cannot say, your honour. God has not bidden me tell 241