And this led Boev to exclaim to Ossip:
"Why pretend like that?"
"Pretend? I?"
"Yes—you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that it was you who egged us on to cross the river."
"You say that it was I?"
"I do."
"Indeed?"
"Aye," put in Budirin quietly, but incisively. And him the Morduine supported by saying in a sullen undertone: