He quickly undressed and, crossing himself, jumped, plunging with a splash into the river.
Then with long strokes of his white arms, lifting his back high out of the water and breathing deeply, he swam across the current of the Terek towards the shallows.

A crowd of Cossacks stood on the bank talking loudly.

Three horsemen rode off to patrol.

The skiff appeared round a bend.

Lukashka stood up on the sandbank, leaned over the body, and gave it a couple of shakes.
'Quite dead!' he shouted in a shrill voice.
The Chechen had been shot in the head.