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bled. It was a pitch-dark night without a moon. At the time
fixed, Kolya lay down between the rails. The five others who
had taken the bet waited among the bushes below the em-
bankment, their hearts beating with suspense, which was
followed by alarm and remorse. At last they heard in the
distance the rumble of the train leaving the station. Two
red lights gleamed out of the darkness; the monster roared
as it approached.
‘Run, run away from the rails,’ the boys cried to Kolya
from the bushes, breathless with terror. But it was too late:
the train darted up and flew past. The boys rushed to Kolya.
He lay without moving. They began pulling at him, lifting
him up. He suddenly got up and walked away without a
word. Then he explained that he had lain there as though
he were insensible to frighten them, but the fact was that
he really had lost consciousness, as he confessed long af-
ter to his mother. In this way his reputation as ‘a desperate
character,’ was established for ever. He returned home to
the station as white as a sheet. Next day he had a slight at-
tack of nervous fever, but he was in high spirits and well
pleased with himself. The incident did not become known
at once, but when they came back to the town it penetrated
to the school and even reached the ears of the masters. But
then Kolya’s mother hastened to entreat the masters on her
boy’s behalf, and in the end Dardanelov, a respected and
influential teacher, exerted himself in his favour, and the
affair was ignored.
Dardanelov was a middle-aged bachelor, who had been
passionately in love with Madame Krassotkin for many