... Towards evening, after seeing off the last cart with Akim's
belongings (Avdotya walked behind it, weeping), he looked all over the
yard, the cellars, sheds, and barns, clambered up into the loft, more
than once instructed his labourers to keep a very, very sharp look-out
and when he was left alone after supper could not go to sleep. It so
happened that day that no visitor stayed at the inn for the night;
this was a great relief to him. "I must certainly buy a dog from the
miller to-morrow, as fierce a one as I can get; they've taken theirs
away," he said to himself, as he tossed from side to side, and all at
once he raised his head quickly ... he fancied that someone had passed
by the window ... he listened ... there was nothing. Only a cricket
from time to time gave a cautious churr, and a mouse was scratching
somewhere; he could hear his own breathing. Everything was still in
the empty room dimly lighted by the little glass lamp which he had
managed to hang up and light before the ikon in the corner.... He let
his head sink; again he thought he heard the gate creak ... then a
faint snapping sound from the fence.... He could not refrain from
jumping up; he opened the door of the room and in a low voice called,
"Fyodor! Fyodor!" No one answered.... He went out into the passage and
almost fell over Fyodor, who was lying on the floor. The man stirred
in his sleep with a faint grunt; Naum roused him. "What's there? What do you want?" Fyodor began. "What are you bawling for, hold your tongue!" Naum articulated in a
whisper. "How you sleep, you damned fellows! Have you heard nothing?" "Nothing," answered the man.... "What is it?" "Where are the others sleeping?" "Where they were told to sleep.... Why, is there anything ..."

"Hold your tongue--come with me." Naum stealthily opened the door and went out into the yard. It was
very dark outside.... The roofed-in parts and the posts could only be
distinguished because they were a still deeper black in the midst of
the black darkness. "Shouldn't we light a lantern?" said Fyodor in a low voice. But Naum waved his hand and held his breath.... At first he could hear
nothing but those nocturnal sounds which can almost always be heard in
an inhabited place: a horse was munching oats, a pig grunted faintly
in its sleep, a man was snoring somewhere; but all at once his ear
detected a suspicious sound coming from the very end of the yard, near
the fence. Someone seemed to be stirring there, and breathing or blowing. Naum
looked over his shoulder towards Fyodor and cautiously descending the
steps went towards the sound.... Once or twice he stopped, listened
and stole on further.... Suddenly he started.... Ten paces from him,
in the thick darkness there came the flash of a bright light: it was a
glowing ember and close to it there was visible for an instant the
front part of a face with lips thrust out.... Quickly and silently,
like a cat at a mouse, Naum darted to the fire.... Hurriedly rising up
from the ground a long body rushed to meet him and, nearly knocking
him off his feet, almost eluded his grasp; but Naum hung on to it with
all his strength. "Fyodor! Andrey! Petrushka!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "Make
haste! here! here! I've caught a thief trying to set fire to the
place...."

The man whom he had caught fought and struggled violently ... but Naum
did not let him go. Fyodor at once ran to his assistance. "A lantern! Make haste, a lantern! Run for a lantern, wake the
others!" Naum shouted to him. "I can manage him alone for a time--I am
sitting on him.... Make haste! And bring a belt to tie his hands." Fyodor ran into the house.... The man whom Naum was holding suddenly
left off struggling. "So it seems wife and money and home are not enough for you, you want
to ruin me, too," he said in a choking voice. Naum recognised Akim's voice. "So that's you, my friend," he brought out; "very good, you wait a
bit." "Let me go," said Akim, "aren't you satisfied?" "I'll show you before the judge to-morrow whether I am satisfied," and
Naum tightened his grip of Akim. The labourers ran up with two lanterns and cords. "Tie his arms," Naum
ordered sharply. The men caught hold of Akim, stood him up and twisted
his arms behind his back.... One of them began abusing him, but
recognising the former owner of the inn lapsed into silence and only
exchanged glances with the others. "Do you see, do you see!" Naum kept repeating, meanwhile throwing the
light of the lantern on the ground, "there are hot embers in the pot;
look, there's a regular log alight here! We must find out where he got
this pot ... here, he has broken up twigs, too," and Naum carefully
stamped out the fire with his foot. "Search him, Fyodor," he added,
"see if he hasn't got something else on him." Fyodor rummaged Akim's pockets and felt him all over while the old man
stood motionless, with his head drooping on his breast as though he
were dead. "Here's a knife," said Fyodor, taking an old kitchen knife out of the
front of Akim's coat. "Aha, my fine gentleman, so that's what you were after," cried Naum. "Lads, you are witnesses ... here he wanted to murder me and set fire
to the house.... Lock him up for the night in the cellar, he can't get
out of that.... I'll keep watch all night myself and to-morrow as soon
as it is light we will take him to the police captain ... and you are
witnesses, do you hear!" Akim was thrust into the cellar and the door was slammed.... Naum set
two men to watch it and did not go to bed himself. Meanwhile, Yefrem's wife having convinced herself that her uninvited
guest had gone, set about her cooking though it was hardly
daylight.... It was a holiday. She squatted down before the stove to
get a hot ember and saw that someone had scraped out the hot ashes
before her; then she wanted her knife and searched for it in vain;
then of her four cooking pots one was missing. Yefrem's wife had the
reputation of being a woman with brains, and justly so. She stood and
pondered, then went to the lumber room, to her husband. It was not
easy to wake him--and still more difficult to explain to him why he
was being awakened.... To all that she said to him Yefrem made the
same answer. "He's gone away--well, God bless him.... What business is it of mine? He's taken our knife and our pot--well, God bless him, what has it to
do with me?" At last, however, he got up and after listening attentively to his
wife came to the conclusion that it was a bad business, that something
must be done. "Yes," his wife repeated, "it is a bad business; maybe he will be
doing mischief in his despair.... I saw last night that he was not
asleep but was just lying on the stove; it would be as well for you to
go and see, Yefrem Alexandritch." "I tell you what, Ulyana Fyodorovna," Yefrem began, "I'll go myself to
the inn now, and you be so kind, mother, as to give me just a drop to
sober me." Ulyana hesitated.