fer him his hand, but at once
pronounced hurriedly in a loud voice:

"Well, where have you put the spade, and haven't you another lantern?
You needn't be afraid, there's absolutely no one here, and they wouldn't
hear at Skvoreshniki now if we fired a cannon here. This is the place,
here this very spot."

And he stamped with his foot ten paces from the end of the grotto
towards the wood. At that moment Tolkatchenko rushed out from behind
a tree and sprang at him from behind, while Erkel seized him by the
elbows. Liputin attacked him from the front. The three of them at once
knocked him down and pinned him to the ground. At this point Pyotr
Stepanovitch darted up with his revolver. It is said that Shatov had
time to turn his head and was able to see and recognise him. Three
lanterns lighted up the scene. Shatov suddenly uttered a short and
desperate scream. But they did not let him go on screaming. Pyotr
Stepanovitch firmly and accurately put his revolver to Shatov's
forehead, pressed it to it, and pulled the trigger. The shot seems not
to have been loud; nothing was heard at Skvoreshniki, anyway. Shigalov,
who was scarcely three paces away, of course heard it--he heard the
shout and the shot, but, as he testified afterwards, he did not turn nor
even stop. Death was almost instantaneous. Pyotr Stepanovitch was the
only one who preserved all his faculties, but I don't think he was quite
cool. Squatting on his heels, he searched the murdered man's pockets
hastily, though with steady hand. No money was found (his purse had been
left under Marya Ignatyevna's pillow). Two or three scraps of paper
of no importance were found: a note from his office, the title of some
book, and an old bill from a restaurant abroad which had been preserved,
goodness knows why, for two years in his pocket. Pyotr Stepanovitch
transferred these scraps of paper to his own pocket, and suddenly
noticing that they had all gathered round, were gazing at the corpse and
doing nothing, he began rudely and angrily abusing them and urging them
on. Tolkatchenko and Erkel recovered themselves, and running to the
grotto brought instantly from it two stones which they had got ready
there that morning. These stones, which weighed about twenty pounds
each, were securely tied with cord. As they intended to throw the body
in the nearest of the three ponds, they proceeded to tie the stones to
the head and feet respectively. Pyotr Stepanovitch fastened the stones
whi