And for that reason, at two o’clock in the night, when the sparrows, a cozy students’ restaurant, had barely closed, and all the eight, excited by alcohol and the plentiful food, had come out of the smoky, fumy underground place into the street, into the sweet, disquieting darkness of the night, with its beckoning fires in the sky and on the earth, with its warm, heady air, from which the nostrils dilate avidly, with its aromas, gliding from unseen gardens and flower-beds,—­the head of each one of them was aflame and the heart quietly and languishingly yearning from vague desires.  It was joyous and arrogant to sense after the rest the new, fresh strength in all the sinews, the deep breathing of the lungs, the red, resilient blood in the veins, the supple obedience of all the members.  And—­without words, without thoughts, without consciousness—­one was drawn on this night to be running without raiment in the somnolent forest, to be sniffing hurriedly the tracks of some one’s feet on the dewy grass, with a loud call to be summoning a female unto one’s self.

But to separate was now very difficult.  The whole day, passed together, had shaken them into an accustomed, tenacious herd.  It seemed that if even one were to go away from the company, a certain attained equilibrium would be disturbed and could not be restored afterwards.  And so they dallied and stamped upon the sidewalk, near the exit of the tavern’s underground vault, interfering with the progress of the infrequent passers-by.  They discussed hypocritically where else they might go to wind up the night.  It proved to be too far to the Tivoli Garden, and in addition to that one also had to pay for admission tickets, and the prices in the buffet were outrageous, and the program had ended long ago.  Volodya Pavlov proposed going to him—­he had a dozen of beer and a little cognac home.  But it seemed a bore to all of them to go in the middle of the night to a family apartment, to enter on tiptoes up the stairs and to talk in whispers all the time.

“Tell you what, brethren ...  Let’s better ride to the girlies, that will be nearer the mark,” said peremptorily Lichonin, an old student, a tall, stooping, morose and bearded fellow.  By convictions he was an anarchist—­theoretic, but by avocation a passionate gambler at billiards, races and cards—­a gambler with a very broad, fatalistic sweep.  Only the day before he had won a thousand roubles at macao in the Merchants’ Club, and this money was still burning a hole in his pockets.

“And why not?  Right-o!” somebody sustained him.  “Let’s go, comrades?”

“Is it worth while?  Why, this is an all night affair ...” spoke another with a false prudence and an insincere fatigue.

And a third said through a feigned yawn: 

“Let’s better go home, gentlemen ... a-a-a ... go bye-bye ...  That’s enough for to-day.”

“You won’t work any wonders when you’re asleep,” Lichonin remarked sneeringly.  “Herr professor, are you coming?”