The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy Chapter 9 Page 7

landed!’ cried one of the Cossacks who had assembled in a circle, as the body, lifted out of the skiff, was laid on the bank, pressing down the grass.

‘How yellow he is!’ said another.

‘Where have our fellows gone to search? I expect the rest of them are on the other bank. If this one had not been a scout he would not have swum that way.

Why else should he swim alone?’ said a third.

‘Must have been a smart one to offer himself before the others; a regular brave!’ said Lukashka mockingly, shivering as he wrung out his clothes that had got wet on the bank.

‘His beard is dyed and cropped.’

‘And he has tied a bag with a coat in it to his back.’