"What nonsense!" It was not he who was afraid,--it was his young, sound, strong body, which could not be deceived either by the exercises prescribed by the Mueller system, or by the cold rub-downs.

On the contrary, the stronger and the fresher his body became after the cold water, the keener and the more unbearable became the sensations of his recurrent fear.

And just at those moments when, during his freedom, he had felt a special influx of the joy and power of life,--in the mornings after he had slept soundly and gone through his physical exercises,--now there appeared this deadening fear which was so foreign to his nature.

He noticed this and thought: "It is foolish, Sergey! To die more easily, you should weaken the body and not strengthen it.

It is foolish!" So he dropped his gymnastics and the rub-downs.