26
The Way of the Cross
What do the peasantry think about this?
Along the whole road to Bobruisk, no matter where I asked the question:
—Don't the fugitives do you a lot of damage?
—Nitchevo! Nothing, that's all right.
—Don't they dig up your potatoes, and take away your hay?
—Yes, they take it. How not dig them up?
And for hundreds of versts, just as if it were a conspiracy, you will hear these phrases:
—Let them dig them up!
—They've got to eat, haven't they?
—Perhaps we shall have to do it ourselves!
I often heard:
—They take things in extremity. They ask for more, and we make them a present of it.
