his side, on his back and standing up--just
as he pleased till he was exhausted. The other bank was thickly
overgrown with reeds; it was golden in the sun, and the flowers of
the reeds hung drooping to the water in lovely tassels. In one place
the reeds were shaking and nodding, with their flowers rustling--
Styopka and Kiruha were hunting crayfish.

"A crayfish, look, lads! A crayfish!" Kiruha cried triumphantly and
actually showed a crayfish.

Yegorushka swam up to the reeds, dived, and began fumbling among
their roots. Burrowing in the slimy, liquid mud, he felt something
sharp and unpleasant--perhaps it really was a crayfish. But at
that minute someone seized him by the leg and pulled him to the
surface. Spluttering and coughing, Yegorushka opened his eyes and
saw before him the wet grinning face of the dare-devil Dymov. The
impudent fellow was breathing hard, and from a look in his eyes he
seemed inclined for further mischief. He held Yegorushka tight by
the leg, and was lifting his hand to take hold of his neck. But
Yegorushka tore himself away with repulsion and terror, as though
disgusted at being touched and afraid that the bully would drown
him, and said:

"Fool! I'll punch you in the face."

Feeling that this was not sufficient to express his hatred, he
thought a minute and added:

"You blackguard! You son of a bitch!"

But Dymov, as though nothing were the matter, took no further notice
of Yegorushka, but swam off to Kiruha, shouting:

"Ha-ha-ha! Let us catch fish! Mates, let us catch fish."

"To be sure," Kiruha agreed; "there must be a lot of fish here."

"Styopka, run to the village and ask the peasants for a net!

"They won't give it to me."

"They will, you ask them. Tell them that they should give it to us
for Christ's sake, because we are just the same as pilgrims."

"That's true."

Styopka clambered out of the water, dressed quickly, and without a
cap on he ran, his full trousers flapping, to the village. The water
lost all its charm for Yegorushka after his encounter with Dymov.
He got out and began dressing. Panteley and Vassya were sitting on
the steep bank, with their legs hanging down, looking at the bathers.
Emelyan was standing naked, up to his knees in the water, holding
on to the grass with one hand to prevent himself from falling while
the other stroked his body. With his bony shoulder-blades, with the
swelling under his eye, bending down and evidently afraid of the
water