The old woman gave Taraska his supper, he ate a bit of it, put on his shubenka[1] and his kaftan,[2] girded himself, took the bread, and went out into the street to the horses. His elder brother wanted to go with him, and Ivan himself got up and stood on the steps before the house. In the courtyard it was now quite dark, it was cloudy, and the wind was rising. Ivan went away from the steps, helped his little son up on horseback, scared away the foals, and stood looking and listening, while Taraska went down along the village and joined the other children, till they were all out of hearing. Ivan still stood at the door, and Gabriel's words would not go out of his head: "Take care I don't warm you with something worse!"
"And he'd do it, too," thought Ivan. "It is very dry, and there's still some wind. He can creep up from behind somewhere and light a fire, and then make himself scarce. He can set a fire going, and I ould not get myself righted. If only I could come upon him while he's at it, he should not get away in a hurry."
And this impish little thought grew so in Ivan's head that he did not go back to the steps, but went right out into the street, behind the gate, behind the corner. "I'll just go round the courtyard. Who knows what he may be up to." And Ivan went very softly along the enclosure. He only went round the corner, and looked along the fence, and it seemed to him as if something was moving in that corner,
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