"Just look at the old devil!" swore Abyedok, looking at Simtsoff, who was smiling in a self-satisfied way.
"And do you know why they love me? Because I know how to cheer up their souls."
"Do you?" inquired Kuvalda.
"And I can make them pity me . . . And a woman, when she pities! Go and weep to her, and ask her to kill you . . . she will pity you— and she will kill you."
"I feel inclined to commit a murder," declared Martyanoff, laughing his dull laugh.
"Upon whom?" asked Abyedok, edging away from him.
"It's all the same to me . . . Petunikoff . . . Egorka or even you!"
"And why?" inquired Kuvalda.
"I want to go to Siberia . . . I have had enough of this vile life . . . one learns how to live there!"
"Yes, they have a particularly good way of teaching in Siberia," agreed the Captain sadly.