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When the superintendent passed through the village the people would run
and hide themselves as from a wild beast. Seeing thus the terror which
he had struck to the hearts of the moujiks, Michael's treatment of them
became still more vindictive, so that from over-work and ill-usage the
lot of the poor serfs was indeed a hard one.
There was a time when it was possible for the peasants, when driven to
despair, to devise means whereby they could rid themselves of an inhuman
monster such as Simeonovitch, and so these unfortunate people began to
consider whether something could not be done to relieve THEM of their
intolerable yoke. They would hold little meetings in secret places to
bewail their misery and to confer with one another as to which would
be the best way to act. Now and then the boldest of the gathering would
rise and address his companions in this strain: "How much longer can
we tolerate such a villain to rule over us? Let us make an end of it at
once, for it were better for us to perish than to suffer. It is surely
not a sin to kill such a devil in human form."
It happened once, before the Easter holidays, that one of these meetings
was held in the woods, where Michael had sent the serfs to make a
clearance for their master. At noon they assembled to eat their dinner
and to hold a consultation. "Why can't we leave now?" said one. "Very
soon we shall be reduced to nothing. Already we are almost worked to
death--there being no rest, night or day, either for us or our poor
women. If anything should be done in a way not exactly to please him he
will find fault and perhaps flog some of us to death--as was the case
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