"Forty thousand! Whew!"
"Did they catch the thieves?" someone asked in great excitement.
"They'll get caught," prophesied another sorrowfully.
"Well, before that happens they'll have a good time."
A mist of envy enveloped the spies, who sank in dreams of revelries, of big stakes, and costly women.
Melnikov was more interested than the others in the course of the war. Often he asked Maklakov, who read the newspapers carefully:
"Are they still licking us?"
"They are."
"But what's the cause?" Melnikov exclaimed in perplexity, rolling his eyes. "Aren't there people enough, or what?"
"Not enough sense," Maklakov retorted drily.