A PRISON FLOGGING.
At the usual time the jailer's whistle sounded in the corridors of the prison, the iron doors of the cells rattled, bare feet pattered, heels clattered, and the prisoners who acted as scavengers passed along the corridors, filling the air with disgusting smells. The prisoners washed, dressed, and came out for revision, then went to get boiling water for their tea.
The conversation at breakfast in all the cells was very lively. It was all about two prisoners who were to be flogged that day. One, Vasiliev, was a young man of some education, a clerk, who had killed his mistress in a fit of jealousy. His fellow-prisoners liked him because he was merry and generous and firm in his behaviour with the prison authorities. He knew the laws and insisted on their being carried out. Therefore he was disliked by the authorities. Three weeks before a jailer struck one of the scavengers who had spilt some soup over his new uniform. Vasiliev took the part of the scavenger, saying that it was not lawful to strike a prisoner.
"I'll teach you the law," said the jailer, and gave Vasiliev a scolding. Vasiliev replied in like manner, and the jailer was going to hit him, but Vasiliev seized the jailer's hands, held them fast for about three minutes, and, after giving the hands a twist, pushed the jailer out of the door. The jailer complained to the inspector, who ordered Vasiliev to be put into a solitary cell.
The solitary cells were a row of dark closets, locked from outside, and there were neither beds, nor chairs, nor tables in them, so that the inmates had to sit or lie on the dirty floor, while the rats, of which there were a great many in those cells, ran across them. The rats were so bold that they stole the bread from the prisoners, and even attacked them if they stopped moving. Vasiliev said he would not go into the solitary cell, because he had not done anything wrong; but they used force. Then he began struggling, and two other prisoners helped him to free himself from the jailers. All the jailers assembled, and among them was Petrov, who was distinguished for his strength. The prisoners got thrown down and pushed into the solitary cells.
The governor was immediately informed that something very like a rebellion had taken place. And he sent back an order to flog the two chief offenders, Vasiliev and the tramp, Nepomnishy, giving each thirty strokes with a birch rod. The flogging was appointed to take place in the women's interviewing-room.
All this was known in the prison since the evening, and it was being talked about with animation in all the cells.
Korableva, Khoroshevka, Theodosia, and Maslova sat together in their corner, drinking tea, all of them flushed and animated by the vodka they had drunk, for Maslova, who now had a constant supply of vodka, freely treated her companions to it.
"He's not been a-rioting, or anything," Korableva said, referring to Vasiliev, as she bit tiny pieces off a lump of sugar with her strong teeth. "He only stuck up for a chum, because it's not lawful to strike prisoners nowadays."
"And he's a fine fellow, I've heard say," said Theodosia, who sat bareheaded, with her long plaits round her head, on a log of wood opposite the shelf bedstead on which the teapot stood.
"There, now, if you were to ask _him_," the watchman's wife said to Maslova (by him she meant Nekhludoff).
"I shall tell him. He'll do anything for me," Maslova said, tossing her head, and smiling.
"Yes, but when is he coming? and they've already gone to fetch them," said Theodosia. "It is terrible," she added, with a sigh.
"I once did see how they flogged a peasant in the village. Father-in-law, he sent me once to the village elder. Well, I went, and there" . . . The watchman's wife began her long story, which was interrupted by the sound of voices and steps in the corridor above them.
The women were silent, and sat listening.
"There they are, hauling him along, the devils!" Khoroshavka said. "They'll do him to death, they will. The jailers are so enraged with him because he never would give in to them."
All was quiet again upstairs, and the watchman's wife finished her story of how she was that frightened when she went into the barn and saw them flogging a peasant, her inside turned at the sight, and so on. Khoroshevka related how Schegloff had been flogged, and never uttered a sound. Then Theodosia put away the tea things, and Korableva and the watchman's wife took up their sewing. Maslova sat down on the bedstead, with her arms round her knees, dull and depressed. She was about to lie down and try to sleep, when the woman warder called her into the office to see a visitor.
"Now, mind, and don't forget to tell him about us," the old woman (Menshova) said, while Maslova was arranging the kerchief on her head before the dim looking-glass. "We did not set fire to the house, but he himself, the fiend, did it; his workman saw him do it, and will not damn his soul by denying it. You just tell to ask to see my Mitri. Mitri will tell him all about it, as plain as can be. Just think of our being locked up in prison when we never dreamt of any ill, while he, the fiend, is enjoying himself at the pub, with another man's wife."
"That's not the law," remarked Korableva.
"I'll tell him--I'll tell him," answered Maslova. "Suppose I have another drop, just to keep up courage," she added, with a wink; and Korableva poured out half a cup of vodka, which Maslova drank. Then, having wiped her mouth and repeating the words "just to keep up courage," tossing her head and smiling gaily, she followed the warder along the corridor.
监狱看守到了规定时间在走廊里吹响哨子。铁锁和铁门哐啷啷地响着，走廊门和牢房门纷纷打开，光脚板和棉鞋后跟发出啪哒啪哒和咯噔咯噔的响声。倒便桶的男犯在走廊里来回忙碌，弄得空气里充满恶臭。男犯女犯都在洗脸，穿衣，然后到走廊里点名，点完名就去打开水冲茶。
今天喝茶的时候，各个牢房里群情愤激，纷纷谈论着一件事，就是有两个男犯今天将受笞刑。这两个男犯中有一个是年轻的店员瓦西里耶夫。他很有文化，由于醋劲发作而杀死了自己的情妇。同监犯人都很喜欢他，因为他乐观、慷慨，对长官态度强硬。他懂得法律，要求依法办事。长官因此不喜欢他。三星期前，有个看守殴打倒便桶的男犯，因为那个男犯把粪汁溅到他的新制服上。瓦西里耶夫为那个犯人抱不平，说没有一条法律允许殴打犯人。“我要让你瞧瞧什么叫法律！”看守说，把瓦西里耶夫臭骂了一顿。瓦西里耶夫就回敬他。看守想动手打他，瓦西里耶夫就抓住他的手，紧紧捏了三分钟光景，然后拧着他的手叫他转过身，一下子把他推到门外。看守告到上边，典狱长下令把瓦匹里耶夫关进单身牢房。
单身牢房是一排黑暗的仓房，外面上了锁。这种牢房又黑又冷，没有床，没有桌椅，关在里面的人只能在肮脏的泥地上坐着或者躺着，听任老鼠在身边或者身上跑来跑去，而那里的老鼠又特别多特别大胆，因此在黑暗中连一块面包都无法保存。老鼠常常从囚犯手里抢面包吃，要是囚犯一动不动，它们就会咬他们的身体。瓦西里耶夫不肯蹲单身牢房，因为他没有罪。几个看守硬把他拉去。他拚命挣扎，另外两个男犯帮他从看守手里挣脱身子。看守们都跑拢来，其中有个叫彼得罗夫的，以力气大出名。犯人们敌不过，一个个被推进单身牢房。省长立刻得到报告，说发生了一件类似暴动的事。监狱里接到一纸公文，命令对两个主犯，瓦西里耶夫和流浪汉聂波姆尼亚西，各用树条抽打三十下。
这项刑罚将在女监探望室里执行。
这事昨天傍晚全体囚犯就都听说了，因此各个牢房里的犯人便都纷纷谈论着即将执行的刑罚。
柯拉勃列娃、俏娘们、费多霞和玛丝洛娃坐在她们那个角落里，已经喝过伏特加，个个脸色通红，精神振奋。现在玛丝洛娃手头经常有酒，她总是大方地请伙伴们一起喝。此刻她们正在喝茶，也在谈论这事。
“难道是他闹事还是怎么的？”柯拉勃列娃说到瓦西里耶夫，同时用她坚固的牙齿一小块一小块地咬着糖。“他只是替同伴打抱不平罢了。如今谁也不兴打人哪。”
“听说这人挺好，”费多霞插嘴说，她抱着两条长辫子，没有扎头巾，坐在板铺对面一块劈柴上。板铺上放着一把茶壶。
“我说，这件事得告诉他，玛丝洛娃大姐，”道口工说，这里的他是指聂赫留朵夫。
“我会对他说的。他为了我什么事都肯做，”玛丝洛娃笑吟吟地把头一晃，回答说。
“可就是不知道他几时来。据说马上要去收拾他们了，”费多霞说。“可不得了！”她叹了一口气，又说。
“我有一次看见乡公所里揍一个庄稼汉。那天我公公打发我去找乡长，我一到那里，抬头一看，他呀……”道口工就讲出一个很长的故事来。
道口工故事讲到一半，就被楼上走廊里的说话声和脚步声打断了。
女人们安静下来，留心听着。
“他们来抓人了，那些魔鬼，”俏娘们说。“这下子会把他活活打死的。那些看守可把他恨透了，因为他总是不肯向他们低头。”
楼上的响声又沉寂了。道口工继续讲她的故事，讲到他们在乡公所仓房里怎样毒打那个庄稼汉，吓得她魂不附体。俏娘们却说，谢格洛夫挨过鞭子，可是他一声不吭。随后费多霞把茶具收掉，柯拉勃列娃和道口工动手做针线活，玛丝洛娃则抱住双膝，坐在板铺上，感到十分无聊。她刚想躺下睡觉，女看守就跑过来叫她，说有人探望，要她到办公室去。
“你一定要把我们的事告诉他，”玛丝洛娃正对着水银一半剥落的镜子整理头巾，明肖娃老婆子对她说，“不是我们放了火，是那个坏蛋自己放的。有个工人也看见了，他不会昧着良心乱说的。你对他说，让他把米特里叫来。米特里会原原本本把这事讲给他听的。要不然也太不象话了，我们平白无故被关在牢里，可那个坏蛋却霸占人家的老婆，在酒店里吃喝玩乐。”
“真是无法无天！”柯拉勃列娃肯定地说。
“我去说，我一定去对他说，”玛丝洛娃回答。“要不，再喝一点壮壮胆也好，”她挤挤眼，补充说。
柯拉勃列娃给她倒了半杯酒。玛丝洛娃一饮而尽，擦擦嘴，兴高采烈地又说了一遍“壮壮胆也好”，然后摇摇头，笑嘻嘻地跟着女看守沿长廊走去。