en a soldier, too!"
And Kuvalda did not cease to belabour him with his tongue, as he
snatched the blue parchment from his hands. Then, spreading the papers
out in front of him, and excited all the more by Vaviloff's
inquisitiveness, the Captain began reading and bellowing at the same
time. At last he got up resolutely, and went to the door, leaving all
the papers on the bar, and saying to Vaviloff:

"Wait! Don't lift them!"

Vaviloff gathered them up, put them into the cash-box, and locked it,
then felt the lock with his hand, to see if it were secure. After that,
he scratched his bald head, thoughtfully, and went up on the roof of
the eating-house. There he saw the Captain measuring the front of the
house, and watched him anxiously, as he snapped his fingers, and began
measuring the same line over again. Vaviloff's face lit up suddenly,
and he smiled happily.

"Aristid Fomich, is it possible?" he shouted, when the Captain came
opposite to him.

"Of course it is possible. There is more than one short in the front
alone, and as to the depth I shall see immediately."

"The depth ... seventy-three feet."

"What? Have you guessed, you shaved ugly face?"

"Of course, Aristid Fomich! If you have eyes you can see a thing or
two," shouted Vaviloff, joyfully.

A few minutes afterwards they sat side by side in Vaviloff's parlour,
and the Captain was engaged in drinking large quantities of beer.

"And so all the walls of the factory stand on your ground," said he to
the eating-house keeper. "Now, mind you show no mercy! The teacher
will be here presently, and we will get him to draw up a petition to
the court. As to the amount of the damages you will name a very
moderate sum in order not to waste money in deed stamps, but we will
ask to have the factory knocked down. This, you see, donkey, is the
result of trespassing on other people's property. It is a splendid
piece of luck for you. We will force him to have the place smashed, and
I can tell you it will be an expensive job for him. Off with you to
the court. Bring pressure to bear on Judas. We will calculate how
much it will take to break the factory down to its very foundations.
We will make an estimate of it all, counting the time it will take too,
and we will make honest Judas pay two thousand roubles besides."

"He will never give it!" cried Vaviloff, but his eyes shone with a
greedy light.

"You lie! He will give it ... Use your brains... What e