He was looked upon as lazy, but it seemed to me that he performed his laborious task in that infernal, suffocating, and fetid heat as conscientiously as any of the others. I never remember that he complained of weariness or heat, as the other stokers did.
One day some one stole a purse containing money from one of the old women passengers. It was a clear, quiet evening; every one was amiable and peaceably inclined. The captain gave the old woman five rubles. The passengers also collected a small sum among themselves. When the old woman was given the money, she crossed herself, and bowed low, saying:
"Kind friends, you have given me three greven too much."
Some one cried gayly:
"Take it all, my good woman,—all that your eyes fall upon. Why do you talk nonsense? No one can have too much."
But Yaakov went to the old woman and said quite seriously:
"Give me what you don't want; I will play cards with it."
The people around laughed, thinking that the stoker was joking, but he went on urging the confused woman perseveringly:
"Come, give it to me, woman! What do you want the money for? To-morrow you will be in the churchyard."
They drove him away with abuse, but he said to me, shaking his head, and greatly surprised: