All the Cossacks, post-boys, and post-station masters seemed to him simple folk with whom he could jest and converse simply, without having to consider to what class they belonged.

They all belonged to the human race which, without his thinking about it, all appeared dear to Olenin, and they all treated him in a friendly way.
Already in the province of the Don Cossacks his sledge had been exchanged for a cart, and beyond Stavropol it became so warm that Olenin travelled without wearing his fur coat.

It was already spring--an unexpected joyous spring for Olenin.

At night he was no longer allowed to leave the Cossack villages, and they said it was dangerous to travel in the evening.

Vanyusha began to be uneasy, and they carried a loaded gun in the cart.