They felt each other to make sure that they were no longer dreaming, and finally convinced themselves of the sad reality.

Before them stretched the ocean, and behind them was a little spot of earth, beyond which the ocean stretched again.  They began to cry—­the first time since their Department had been shut down.

They looked at each other, and each noticed that the other was clad in nothing but his night shirt with his order hanging about his neck.

“We really should be having our coffee now,” observed the one Official.  Then he bethought himself again of the strange situation he was in and a second time fell to weeping.

“What are we going to do now?” he sobbed.  “Even supposing we were to draw up a report, what good would that do?”

“You know what, your Excellency,” replied the other Official, “you go to the east and I will go to the west.  Toward evening we will come back here again and, perhaps, we shall have found something.”

They started to ascertain which was the east and which was the west.  They recalled that the head of their Department had once said to them, “If you want to know where the east is, then turn your face to the north, and the east will be on your right.”  But when they tried to find out which was the north, they turned to the right and to the left and looked around on all sides.  Having spent their whole life in the Department of Records, their efforts were all in vain.

“To my mind, your Excellency, the best thing to do would be for you to go to the right and me to go to the left,” said one Official, who had served not only in the Department of Records, but had also been teacher of handwriting in the School for Reserves, and so was a little bit cleverer.

So said, so done.  The one Official went to the right.  He came upon trees, bearing all sorts of fruits.  Gladly would he have plucked an apple, but they all hung so high that he would have been obliged to climb up.  He tried to climb up in vain.  All he succeeded in doing was tearing his night shirt.  Then he struck upon a brook.  It was swarming with fish.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had all this fish in Podyacheskaya Street!” he thought, and his mouth watered.  Then he entered woods and found partridges, grouse and hares.

“Good Lord, what an abundance of food!” he cried.  His hunger was going up tremendously.

But he had to return to the appointed spot with empty hands.  He found the other Official waiting for him.

“Well, Your Excellency, how went it?  Did you find anything?”

“Nothing but an old number of the Moscow Gazette, not another thing.”

The Officials lay down to sleep again, but their empty stomachs gave them no rest They were partly robbed of their sleep by the thought of who was now enjoying their pension, and partly by the recollection of the fruit, fishes, partridges, grouse and hares that they had seen during the day.