'Right enough it is an abrek! he thought joyfully, and suddenly rising to his knees he again took aim.

Having found the sight, barely visible at the end of the long gun, he said: 'In the name of the Father and of the Son,' in the Cossack way learnt in his childhood, and pulled the trigger.

A flash of lightning lit up for an instant the reeds and the water, and the sharp, abrupt report of the shot was carried across the river, changing into a prolonged roll somewhere in the far distance.

The piece of driftwood now floated not across, but with the current, rocking and whirling.
'Stop, I say!' exclaimed Ergushov, seizing his musket and raising himself behind the log near which he was lying.
'Shut up, you devil!' whispered Lukashka, grinding his teeth.

'abreks!' 'Whom have you shot ?' asked Nazarka.