"It's lovely!" he cried, jumping about, and splashing wildly.
Sanine watched him and then in leisurely fashion he also undressed, and
took a header into the deeper part of the stream.
"You'll be drowned," cried Ivanoff,
"No fear!" was the laughing rejoinder, when Sanine, gasping, had risen
to the surface.
The sound of their merry voices rang out across the river, and the
green pasture-land. After a time they left the cool water, and lying
down, naked in the grass, rolled over and over in it.
"Jolly, isn't it?" said Ivanoff, as he turned to the sun his broad back
on which little drops of water glistened.
"Here let us build tabernacles!"
"Deuce take your tabernacles," cried Sanine merrily; "No tabernacles
for me!"
"Hurrah!" shouted Ivanoff, as he began dancing a wild, barbaric dance.
Sanine burst out laughing, and leaped about in the same way. Their nude
bodies gleamed in the sun, every muscle showing beneath the tense skin.
"Ouf!" gasped Ivanoff.
Sanine went on dancing by himself, and finished up by turning a
somersault, head foremost.
"Come along, or I shall drink up all the vodka," cried his companion.
Pages:
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421