DAWN IN THE EAST 329

athlete, nods his head at Prohorov; the latter lies down
without a word. The executioner pulls Prohorov's
trousers down to the knees, silently and without undue
hurry; then he proceeds slowly to tie him to the
bench.

" Prohorov is fixed at last. The executioner takes a
whip with three leather tails and slowly sets it straight.

Don't give way, now!' he says in a low voice and
strikes the first blow without swinging his whip, as if
he were adjusting his stroke.

" * One,' says the warden in a monotonous voice.

** For a moment Prohorov is silent and even the ex-
pression of his face does not change. But suddenly a
spasm of pain runs through his body and he emits not a
scream, but a squeal.

" * Two/ shouts the warden.

" The executioner stands at the side and strikes so
that the whip falls across the body. After every five
strokes he goes slowly round to the other side and gives
the victim half a minute's rest. Prohorov's hair sticks
to his clammy forehead, his neck swells; after the first
five strokes his body, which is covered with scars from
previous whippings, becomes purple; the skin breaks at
every blow.

"'Your honour!' he cries between his agonized
screamings: ' Have pity, your honour! '

" After twenty or thirty strokes Prohorov mutters as if
he were drunk or delirious:

" ' I'm a miserable man ... a finished man. What
am I punished for? . . . Oh . . . Ah!'

" After that come sounds as if he were vomiting and
Prohorov utters not a word more: only groans and a
rattle in his throat. It seems as if an eternity had passed
since the punishment began, but the warden shouts only
forty-two, forty-three, forty-four. . . .

" Ninety comes at last. Prohorov's body is purple
from weals which bleed. His teeth chatter, his face is
yellow, his eyes are wandering. . . ."

Concubinage was taken for granted and practised