“Well! does your head ache very much?” asked Tchelkache, kindly.

“Horribly!  It rings like a clock . . .  I’m going to wet it with a little water.”

“What good will that do?  Wet it rather inside; you’ll come to quicker.”

Tchelkache handed the bottle to Gavrilo.

“Do you think so?  With the blessing of God! . . .”  A soft gurgle was heard.

“Eh! you’re not sorry to have the chance?  Enough!” cried Tchelkache, stopping him.

The boat shot on again, noiselessly; it moved easily between the ships. . . .  All at once it cleared itself from the other craft, and the immense shining sea lay before them.  It disappeared in the blue distance, where from its waters rose lilac-gray clouds to the sky; these were edged with down, now yellow, again green as the sea, or again slate-colored, casting those gloomy shadows that oppress soul and mind.  The clouds slowly crept over one another, sometimes melting in one, sometimes dispersing each other; they mingled their forms and colors, dissolving or reappearing with new contours, majestic and mournful.  This slow moving of inanimate masses had something fatal about it.  It seemed as though yonder at the confines of the sea, there was an innumerable quantity of them always crawling indifferently over the sky, with the wicked and stupid intention of never allowing it to illumine the sleeping sea with the million golden eyes of its many-colored stars, which awaken the noble desires of beings in adoration before their holy and pure light.

“Isn’t the sea beautiful?” asked Tchelkache.

“Not bad!  Only one is afraid on it,” replied Gavrilo, rowing evenly and strongly.  The sea could scarcely be heard; it dripped from the long oars and still shone with its warm, blue phosphorescent lights.

“Afraid?  Simpleton!” growled Tchelkache.

He, the cynical robber, loved the sea.  His ardent temperament, greedy for impressions, never tired of contemplating its infinite, free and powerful immensity.  It offended him to receive such a reply to his question concerning the beauty of the sea that he loved.  Seated at the tiller, he cleaved the water with his oar and gazed tranquilly before him, filled with the desire to thus continue rowing forever over this velvet plain.

On the sea, warm and generous impulses rose within him, filled his soul and in a measure purified it of the defilements of life.  He enjoyed this effect and liked to feel himself better, out here, amid the waves and air where the thoughts and occupations of life lose their interest and life itself sinks into insignificance.  In the night, the sound of its soft breathing is wafted over the slumbering sea, and this infinite murmur fills the soul with peace, checks all unworthy impulses and brings forth mighty dreams.

“The nets, where are they, eh?” suddenly asked Gavrilo, inspecting the boat.

Tchelkache shuddered.