Iakov recoiled a step and said, in a choking voice:
"Wait! That is for Malva to--"
"Keep quiet, that's all. You are not the dog that will eat the lamb.
If you get the bones you may be thankful."
Iakov looked at Malva. Her green eyes laughed in a humiliating way at
him and she fondled Serejka so that Iakov felt himself grow hot and cold.
Then they went away side by side and both burst out laughing. Iakov dug
his foot deep in the sand and remained glued to the spot, his body
stretched forward, his face red, his heart beating wildly.
In the distance, on the dead waves of sand, was a small dark human
figure moving slowly away; on his right beamed the sun and the powerful
sea, and on the left, to the horizon, there was sand, nothing but sand,
uniform, deserted,--gloomy. Iakov watched the receding figure of the
lonely man and blinked his eyes, filled with tears--tears of humiliation
and painful uncertainty.
On the fishing grounds everyone was busy at work. Iakov heard Malva's
sonorous voice ask, angrily:
"Who has taken my knife?"
The waves murmured, the sun shone and the sea laughed.
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY-SIX AND ONE AND OTHER
STORIES***
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