THE STEEL FLEA
just as it is, in its case, and in the Imperial golden snuff-box. Take thy pleasure upon the Don, and heal the wounds which thou hast accepted for the sake of the Fatherland, and when thou returnest through Tula, halt and send for us. By that time, God granting, we shall have devised something."
Platoff was not wholly satisfied that the men of Tula should demand so much time, and moreover, that they should not say plainly just what they intended to make. He questioned them this way and that, and craftily engaged them in conversation in all sorts of manners, after the fashion of the Don; but the Tulamen did not yield to him one whit in cunning, for they had suddenly caught an idea which they could not even hope that Platoff would believe in, and they desired to execute fully their daring plan, and then hand it over.
Said they: "We do not ourselves
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