Oh, what a terrible sight he saw! He had till now seen murdered men and drowned men, but never had he witnessed such a terrifying sight before; it was so horrible that, like Gorgon's hideous head, it fascinated him.
After a few minutes' dumb contemplation, Radonic heaved again a deep sigh, and whispered to himself: "It is a pity I did not leave him time to utter a prayer, to confess his sins, to kiss the holy Cross or the image of the saints. After all, I did not mean to kill the soul and body together." Then, prompted by religious superstitions, or by a Christian feeling—for he was of the Orthodox faith—he went to a fount of holy water, dipped in it a withered olive twig, and came to sprinkle the corpse, and made several signs of the holy Cross; then he knelt down and muttered devoutly several prayers for the rest of the soul of the man whom he had just murdered; then he sprinkled and crossed him again.
Had he opened the gates of paradise to the soul that had taken its flight? Evidently he felt much comforted after having performed his religious duties; so, rolling a cigarette, and lighting it at the lantern, he went to sit on the doorstep outside and smoke. That cigarette finished, he made another, and then another. At last, after having puffed and mused for about an hour, he again went into the house and made a bundle of all the things he wanted to take away with him. Everything being ready, and feeling hungry, he went to the cupboard, cut himself a huge slice of bread and a piece of cheese, which he ate as slowly as if he were keeping watch on board; then he took a long draught of wine, and, as midnight was striking, he left the house.
"I wonder," he thought, "where Milena is; anyhow, it is much better she is away, for, had she been in the house, she might have given me no end of useless trouble. Women are so fussy, so unpractical at times."
Thereupon he lighted his pipe.
"Still," he soliloquised, "I should have liked to see her before starting, to bid her good-bye. Who knows when I'll see her again, if I ever do see her? And how I hope this affair will be settled soon, and satisfactorily, too; he has no very near relations, and those he has will be, in their hearts, most grateful to me."
He trudged on wearily. When he passed Mara's house, he stopped, sighed, and muttered to himself:
"Good-bye! Milena. I loved you in my own churlish way; I loved you, and if I've been unkind to you, it was all Vranic's fault, for he drove me on to madness. Anyhow, he has paid for it, and dearly, too; so may his soul rest in peace!"
"And now," thought he, "it is useless fooling about; it is better to be off and free in Montenegro before the murder is discovered and the Austrian police are after me, for there is no trifling with this new-fangled government that will not allow people to arrange their little private affairs—it even belies our own proverb: 'Every one is free in his own house.'"
As he left the town, he bethought himself of what he was to do. First he would see his father-in-law, and ask him to go down to town and fetch his daughter, for it was useless to leave Milena alone in Budua; life would not be pleasant there till the business of the karvarina was settled. Then, as Montenegro was always at war with Turkey, he supposed that he would, as almost all hayduk, have to take to fighting as an occupation, though, thank God, he said to himself, not as a means of subsistence.