The Sorrows of Belgium / A Play in Six Scenes

ets, nicknamed Tsiganok, also Tatarin. His latest crime, proven beyond question, had been the murder of three people and armed robbery. Behind that, his dark past disappeared in a depth of m

est fashion, styled themselves "expropriators." Of his last crime, since it was useless for him to deny anything, he s

the wind of

examination, Tsiganok assumed

and Kroma are the homes of first-class thieves. Karachev and Livna are the breeding-pl

earching, and the thing upon which he looked for a moment seemed to lose something, seemed to deliver up to him a part of itself, and to become something else. It was just as unpleasant and repugnant to take a cigarette at which h

shortly, firmly, jumping up quickly, and at

!" he wo

he empha

-r-r

mething that would hardly have seemed to suggest it,

allow me t

sked the judg

to my comrades. I would like to sh

denly rent by a real, wild, murderer's whistle-at which frightened horses leap and rear on their hind legs and human faces involuntarily blanch. The mortal anguish of him who is to be assassi

e silent. And, like an artist who had triumphantly performed a difficult aria, he sat down,

id one of the judge

h the eyes of a Tartar, like those of Tsiganok, gazed pe

deed inte

slightest pangs of conscience, the judges br

erdict was pronounced. "In the open

he convoy, he hu

, you sour-coat. And hold your g

r did the same. And all the way to the prison the soldiers felt that they were not walking but flying through the air-as

right but incomplete images swarmed upon him, failing and then becoming confused, and then again rushing through his mind in an unrestrainable blinding whirlwind-and all were bent toward escape, toward liberty, toward life. With his nostrils expanded, like those of a horse, Tsiganok smelt the air for hours long-it seemed to him that he could smell the odor of hemp, of the smoke of fire-the colorless and biting smell of burning. Now he whirled about in the room like a top, touching the walls, t

would suddenly grow cold, as if a cake of unmelting ice had been placed upon his chest, sending a slight, dry shiver through his whole body. At such times, Tsiganok, always dark in complexion, would turn black, assuming the shade of bluish cast-iron. And he acquired a curious habit;

y a soldier, entered his cell. He looke

dirty he ha

retorte

ou fat-face, and yet I haven't said a

ked him whether he would act as executioner.

g! Ha! ha! ha! The necks are there, the rope is there, b

your neck i

ang them if I were dead

u say? Is it all

em here? I suppose they

sic," snarle

done with music. This way!" and he beg

friend," said the warden. "Wh

nok g

Come another time

e crowded with people, a high scaffold, and he, Tsiganok, in a red shirt walking about upon the scaffold with an ax. The sun shone overhead, gaily flashing from the ax, and everything was so gay and bright that even the

-ak

ad been pushed over his head to his very mouth-it became black and stifling, and his heart ag

e again, and Tsiganok,

you are! Co

houted through the casement

slip by, you fool! We'

lf!" snarled Tsiganok, and he st

a whirling current of thoughts carried him away and there was nothing at which he could clutch-everything about him swam. And his sleep also became uneasy. Dreams even more violent than his thoughts ap

rd grew on his face and it made him look fearsome, insane. At times Tsiganok really lost his senses and whirled ab

howl as though he were performing an important and indispensable act. He would fill his chest with air and then exhale it, slowly in a prolonged tremulous howl, and, cocking his eyes, would listen intently

inutes would remain silent, still standing on all fours. T

darlings, my sweethearts! have pity.

stening intently to his own voice. A

and for a whole hour w

y, shouting and rollin

me!" and he would bur

weeping with pain and fright, would knock at the d

ll you as sure as I

ndemned to death. And Tsiganok would gnash his teeth, would curse and spit. His brain thus racked

ecovered his spirits. Again he had that sweet taste in his mouth, and his saliva collected abundantly, but his cheeks

ing? A new man? I suppose he

about it," answered

g to be hanged, not you. At least don't be st

all right!

oap," said Tsiganok, pointing to th

len

be st

ing ever sweeter in his mouth, and suddenly his legs began to feel str

e of the Cou