"We stay as we are, for it pleases us, dost understand?"
"Too much ceremony."
"What ceremony?" cried Lukash. "Dost thou claim to be a senator, or a bishop, thou--thou Pompeius!"
Yatsek did not move from the chair, but his back began to quiver as if from sudden laughter.
"But why call me Pompeius?" inquired he.
"Because the name fits thee."
"But it may be because thou art a fool," replied Yatsek.
"Strike, whoso believes in God!" shouted Yan.
Evidently Yatsek had had talk enough also, for something seemed to snatch him from the chair on a sudden, and he sprang like a cat toward the brothers.
"Listen, ye road-blockers," said he with a voice cold as steel, "what do ye want of me?"