"The Chukchee?"
"Why, yes!"
Stefan burst out laughing.
"It's imperative for us to make friends with them; they are said to trade with America."
"Then with whom are we to make friends? With the Yankees?"
"No, with the Chukchee. Do be serious. You must do it, and it will be easy enough for you with your workshop,—all kinds of people constantly come to you. I will persuade Buza, the Cossack, to bring them; you will have a first-rate interpreter."
"By all means persuade Buza——"
"Oh, stop that! You always pretend to be indifferent to everything. If I had your health and strength, and were as clever——"
"Then you would be as homesick as I am, and pretend to care as little——"
"Do you think that I am not homesick?"