BARGAMOT AND GARASKA
It would be unjust to say that Nature had injured Ivan Akindinich Bargamotov, who in his official capacity was called "Constable No. 20," and unofficially simply Bargamotov. The inhabitants of one of the outskirts of the provincial towns of Orel, who in their turn were nicknamed "gunners," from the name of their abode (Gunner Street) and, from the moral side were characterized as "broken-headed gunners," when they dubbed Ivan Akindinovich "Bargamot," were without doubt not thinking of the qualities which belong to such a delicate and delicious fruit as the bergamot. By his exterior Bargamot reminded one rather of the mastodon, or of any of those engaging, but extinct creatures, which for want of room have long ago deserted a world already filling up with flaccid little humans. Tall, stout, strong, loud-voiced Bargamot loomed big on the police horizon, and certainly would long ago have attained notable rank, if only his soul, compressed within those stout walls, had not been sunk in an heroic sleep.
Outward impressions in passing to Bargamot's soul by means of his little fat-encased eyes, lost all their sharpness and force, and arrived at their
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