One of the retired soldiers took to bragging of the courage he and his two comrades had shown at the taking of Plevna, and when one of the other two signed to him to stop boasting, he said, with a blush:
“I am saying all this because—because—what good did it do us? Does the Czar pat us on the head for it? We risked our lives and many of our people died under Plevna, and yet if we tried to settle in Great-Russia we would be kicked out neck and crop, wouldn’t we?”
“Indeed we would, war record, medal and all,” one of the other two chimed in.
“And why? Because we are Jews. We were not chased home from the firing line because we were Jews, were we?”
“Talk of Great-Russia,” somebody put in. “As if in a place like Miroslav we were allowed to live in peace.”
Another man assented with a sigh, adding: “If a thousandth part of the courage shown by the Jews in the war was shown in our self-defence against Gentiles, the Gentiles would have more respect for us.”
The conversation turned on the subject of pistols, but the proposition was overruled.
“Before we get pistols and learn to use them we’ll be asleep under a quilt of earth,” said Zelig. “Why, what ails my cooper’s hatchet, or a hammer, or a plain crowbar?”
Every time Vigdoroff opened his mouth the faces of the others would become tense with expectation. But he had nothing to say except to ask an occasional question, and every time Zelig, playing with his enormous iron key, pressed him for a speech, he would adjure him, in a flutter of embarrassment, to let it go this time.
They talked of the prospective fight in phrases like “forwarding a remittance to one’s snout” or “pulling up sharp under a fellow’s peeper,” which amused and jarred on him at once. For the rest, there was a remarkable flow of common sense, humour and feeling. The gathering cast a spell over him. He had come with the partial intention of speaking against their scheme, yet now he felt that he could much more readily face a gang of armed Gentiles than betray a faint heart to these Jewish artisans. Moreover—and this was the great point with him at the present moment—he felt that with these men by his side he could fling himself into the very thick of the hottest fight. A peculiar sense of solemnity and of gratification came over him. He followed their talk reverentially. He humbly offered to call on one of the leaders of the Defence Committee and to apply for the admission of this group with himself as one of its members.