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‘Zhutchka! It’s Zhutchka!’ he cried in a blissful voice,
‘Ilusha, this is Zhutchka, your Zhutchka! Mamma, this is
Zhutchka!’ He was almost weeping.
‘And I never guessed!’ cried Smurov regretfully. ‘Bravo,
Krassotkin! I said he’d find the dog and here he’s found
him.’
‘Here he’s found him!’ another boy repeated gleefully.
‘Krassotkin’s a brick! cried a third voice.
‘He’s a brick, he’s a brick!’ cried the other boys, and they
began clapping.
‘Wait, wait,’ Krassotkin did his utmost to shout above
them all. ‘I’ll tell you how it happened, that’s the whole point.
I found him, I took him home and hid him at once. I kept
him locked up at home and did not show him to anyone till
to-day. Only Smurov has known for the last fortnight, but
I assured him this dog was called Perezvon and he did not
guess. And meanwhile I taught the dog all sorts of tricks.
You should only see all the things he can do! I trained him
so as to bring you a well trained dog, in good condition, old
man, so as to be able to say to you, ‘See, old man, what a fine
dog your Zhutchka is now!’ Haven’t you a bit of meat? He’ll
show you a trick that will make you die with laughing. A
piece of meat, haven’t you got any?’
The captain ran across the passage to the landlady, where
their cooking was done. Not to lose precious time, Kolya, in
desperate haste, shouted to Perezvon, ‘Dead!’ And the dog
immediately turned round and lay on his back with its four
paws in the air. The boys laughed, Ilusha looked on with the