In the village and throughout the whole district every one knew quite well that Ivan Mironov was at the bottom of all the horse-stealing; but nobody would give him away, being afraid of the consequences.  Whenever suspicion fell on him, he managed to clear his character.  Once during the night he stole horses from the pasture ground in the village Kolotovka.  He generally preferred to steal horses from landowners or tradespeople.  But this was a harder job, and when he had no chance of success he did not mind robbing peasants too.  In Kolotovka he drove off the horses without making sure whose they were.  He did not go himself to the spot, but sent a young and clever fellow, Gerassim, to do the stealing for him.  The peasants only got to know of the theft at dawn; they rushed in all directions to hunt for the robbers.  The horses, meanwhile, were hidden in a ravine in the forest lands belonging to the state.

Ivan Mironov intended to leave them there till the following night, and then to transport them with the utmost haste a hundred miles away to a man he knew.  He visited Gerassim in the forest, to see how he was getting on, brought him a pie and some vodka, and was returning home by a side track in the forest where he hoped to meet nobody.  But by ill-luck, he chanced on the keeper of the forest, a retired soldier.

“I say!  Have you been looking for mushrooms?” asked the soldier.

“There were none to be found,” answered Ivan Mironov, showing the basket of lime bark he had taken with him in case he might want it.

“Yes, mushrooms are scarce this summer,” said the soldier.  He stood still for a moment, pondered, and then went his way.  He clearly saw that something was wrong.  Ivan Mironov had no business whatever to take early morning walks in that forest.  The soldier went back after a while and looked round.  Suddenly he heard the snorting of horses in the ravine.  He made his way cautiously to the place whence the sounds came.  The grass in the ravine was trodden down, and the marks of horses’ hoofs were clearly to be seen.  A little further he saw Gerassim, who was sitting and eating his meal, and the horses tied to a tree.

The soldier ran to the village and brought back the bailiff, a police officer, and two witnesses.  They surrounded on three sides the spot where Gerassim was sitting and seized the man.  He did not deny anything; but, being drunk, told them at once how Ivan Mironov had given him plenty of drink, and induced him to steal the horses; he also said that Ivan Mironov had promised to come that night in order to take the horses away.  The peasants left the horses and Gerassim in the ravine, and hiding behind the trees prepared to lie in ambush for Ivan Mironov.  When it grew dark, they heard a whistle.  Gerassim answered it with a similar sound.  The moment Ivan Mironov descended the slope, the peasants surrounded him and brought him back to the village.  The next morning