"The poor man, who was blind in one eye, lame, and poor, had nothing to pay a nurse. He went in vain from cottage to cottage trying to find a woman compassionate enough to be willing to nurse his child; and he had no cow even to furnish him milk. Do you know what he did? He bought a goat with the last half-rouble which remained after the funeral expenses had been paid; and that goat nursed and reared for him the little daughter, who afterward became the loveliest girl in the village."
At these words Iermola trembled and rose.
"Somebody find me a goat!" he cried aloud. "Where is there a goat? I will buy one at once."
"The Jew innkeeper has one."
"Then I shall go and buy it."
He had already started for the door when Chwedko and the cossack's widow stopped him.
"Take care what you do, good man," said his old companion. "The Jew will fleece you if he knows that you really need the goat very much."
"Ah, well, let him ask what he will, provided I get the animal."
"He will take your last shirt from you, old fool," said the cossack's widow, in her turn. "You know Szmula; he is a regular thief, the most miserable rascal that ever lived, even among the Jews of his class. Do not be in too great a hurry, for God's sake! Use a little deception at least, and say that you want the goat to raise a little flock, or else he will make you pay more than you would have to give for a cow."
"I will go with you," said Chwedko, "see if I don't; between us we shall be a match for the Jew."