The clerk laughed.
"That is all very well," he said, "but tell me in particular what each says. What does Vasíli say?"
The elder did not wish to tell on his people, but with Vasíli he had long been in a feud.
"Vasíli," he said, "curses more than the rest."
"What does he say? Tell me!"
"It is too terrible to tell. He says that you will die an unrepenting death."
"What a brave fellow!" he said. "Why, then, is he gaping? Why does he not kill me? Evidently his arms are too short. All right," he said, "Vasíli, we will square up accounts. And Tíshka, that dog, I suppose he says so, too?"
"All speak ill of you."
"But what do they say?"
"I loathe to tell."