Aksenof did not like to talk about his sorrow; so he sighed and said:
“For my sins I’ve been here twenty-six years at hard labor.”
Makar Semenof, however, persisted:
“But what sort of sins?”
Aksenof replied, “I must have deserved what I got.” Further than that he would not say, but the other prisoners told the new-comer why Aksenof was sent to Siberia. They related how some one had murdered a merchant while on a journey and had foisted the knife upon Aksenof, who had been sentenced, though innocent.
When Makar Semenof heard this he looked at Aksenof, clapped his hands upon his knees, and exclaimed:
“Well, that’s strange! Certainly is strange! You’ve grown old, grandfather!”
The rest began to ask him why he was astonished, and where he had seen Aksenof, but Makar Semenof made no reply. He only said:
“A miracle, brothers! That we should meet here!”
And these words suggested to Aksenof the thought that this man knew perhaps who had killed the merchant. He asked: