notice of the guard. But, as generally happened, nothing was found, and matters gradually quieted down to their usual monotonous course.
The following Sunday the same thing occurred and repeated itself for three consecutive weeks. However, on this last occasion the pious convicts, on their return from the church, were sidetracked into the prison office and carefully searched, as a result of which the privilege of religious worship was withdrawn and the mystery of the incredibly potent influence of the alcohol fumes in the prison satisfactorily cleared up. Among the pious was found a vodka smuggler and this was none other than—the venerable Grushko! When ordered to undress, he was exceedingly troubled but failed to prevent the authorities from imposing upon him this indignity. When his prison clothes were off, they found a good-sized, pliant rubber tube filled with vodka wound round his body.
Once uncovered, the old man made a clean breast of it all. While the convicts and their guard were being treated outside the church, the organizers of this hospitable demonstration cleverly managed to fill up Grushko's supply reservoir with the strongest of spirits, which he afterwards diluted and sold on his return to the prison for a very handsome profit to them all. Of course, after this unmasking of the religious pilgrimages, the drinking was ended, and Grushko remained for a long time in the underground cell doing a compulsory penance.
Another of these friends of the librarian, Michel Nikoloff, had been condemned to two years of imprisonment for vagrancy and for a persistent habit of changing his name and documents. Tall of stature, thin, already far from young, he walked with a stoop and was always wrapped in thought. His face was sharp and emaciated,
