"Thou double-faced traitor!" exclaimed Gavril with a threatening gesture.
"I was a fool," said Stepan, "to let my own private grievance drive me to join the rest of you—such a black gang, too, and thou, Gavril, blackest of all!"
"Another word, and I brain thee with this axe!" cried Red-scar.
[CHAPTER V.]
STEPAN MAKES COFFEE.
"BAH!" said Stepan, moving not a muscle as Gavril brandished the great axe over his head. "It seems to me that, for a man no longer in his first youth, thou art passing foolish. Hast thou not sin enough yet upon thy soul but thou must add murder to thy wrongdoings? In truth, Red-scar, thou hast much to learn, and thou wilt one day learn thy last lesson too late, with a noose about thy neck."
"Now out upon thee for an old croaker!" cried Gavril, but his cheek had paled, and he had put the axe down.
"Hush!" said Stepan. "No more! The boys are waking."
Two days passed, and Alf and Bert had not much to complain of, save that they were not allowed to leave the hut. Gavril was away most of the time, and they were left with Stepan, who, though often moody, was never unkind.
But on the third day he announced his intention to go and make inquiry about his brother, who was in prison in a town about twenty versts away. As he spoke, the boys' cheeks blanched with terror.