Summary

The wagon train sets off at sunset in Chapter 6. Egorushka gazes at the stars, feeling lonely. Pantelei says that school will be a good thing for Egorushka, as it will help him provide for his mother. He tells Egorushka that his wife and children died in a fire. Around midnight, the wagoners settle down for another fire near a solitary grave. Egorushka asks Pantelei whose grave they sit by. He says it belongs to some merchants who were killed by mowers. Dymov tells the story. A father-and-son merchant duo stopped at an inn on their way to sell icons. That night, the father got drunk and boasted of how much money he has. Some mowers who were staying at the inn overheard them. The next morning, the mowers suggested they all travel together. The mowers hacked them to death with their scythes and tossed...