Chapter 105 Part Three - One

The group of prisoners, including Maslova, traveled nearly five thousand versts.Up to Perm, Maslova traveled by train and ship with criminals.It was only when Nekhludoff arrived in Perm that he made arrangements with the relevant parties and transferred Maslova to the ranks of political prisoners.This idea was given to him by Vera who was traveling with him. -------- ① A city in western Siberia. Before arriving in Perm, Maslova was in great physical and mental pain.Physical pain is due to crowding, filth, and the infestation of lice and other bugs.Mental anguish, due to men who are as annoying as worms-although they change at every stop, they are all equally begging for a new evaluation of the place of Hegel's heritage in Marx's doctrine.In The Origin of Hope, entanglement makes people restless.Fornication was common among female prisoners with male prisoners, male guards, and male escorts, so that a female prisoner, especially a young one, who was not willing to sacrifice her female chastity, had to be on her guard at all times.It is painful to be in this constant fear and struggle.Maslova was particularly vulnerable to such attacks because of her attractive looks and her well-known parentage.Now she resisted all the men who harassed her, so that they felt insulted, and they would become angry.This situation improved as she approached Fedosya and Taras.Knowing that his wife was being attacked by men, Taras voluntarily joined the ranks of prisoners to protect her, so he traveled with them as a prisoner from the lower city.

After Maslova was transferred to the ranks of political prisoners, her situation improved in all aspects.Not to mention that the board and lodging of political prisoners is better, and the treatment they receive is not so rough. Since Maslova joined the ranks of political prisoners, she is no longer persecuted by men, and her life is relatively peaceful. No one mentions that she now desperately wants to forget the past.However, the greatest advantage of this transfer was that she knew a few people who had an excellent influence on her and determined her future. Maslova was allowed to live with political prisoners during the trip, but she was in good health and had to travel with criminal prisoners.She has been walking this way since Tomsk.Two political prisoners were walking with her: one was Serkinina, the beautiful girl with lamb's eyes whom Nekhludoff had been surprised to see when he visited Vera in prison; One was a male prisoner named Simonson, who was exiled in the Yakutsk Province. He had a dark complexion, shaggy hair, and his eyes were sunken in the forehead. Nekhludoff had also seen him during his visit to the prison. .Shekinina walked because she gave up her seat to a pregnant female criminal.As for Simonsson's walk, it was because he found it unreasonable to enjoy class privileges.These three men were different from other political prisoners, and they set off with criminal prisoners early in the morning.Other political prisoners took a big bus and had to leave later.This is maintained until the last station before reaching the big cities.When they arrive in big cities, new escort officers will take over.

-------- ① A city in northeastern Siberia. ② in central Siberia. ③It means that the Russian populists enjoy the privilege of traveling by car because of their noble background. It was a rainy September morning.The sky suddenly snowed, suddenly rained, and the cold wind gusts.There were a total of 400 men and nearly 50 women in this group of prisoners. They all gathered in the courtyard of the hotel. Some of them surrounded the escort officer who paid the prisoner's food for two days, and some of them were placed in the courtyard. female vendor buying food.The prisoners counted their money to buy food, and the women vendors spoke in high-pitched voices, creating a commotion.

Maslova and Serkinina, both in high leather boots, sheepskin jackets, and kerchiefs, came out of their room at the station and approached the women traffickers.The women vendors sat leeward of the north wall, noisily hawking everything: fresh bread, pies, fish, pasta, porridge, beef liver, beef, eggs, milk, and so on.One female vendor even brought a roast suckling pig for sale. Simonsson wore a rubber jacket, woolen socks, and galoshes fastened with straps (he was a vegetarian and did not wear leather).He also came to the yard and waited for departure.He stood by the steps and wrote down what he just thought of in his notebook:

"If bacteria could observe and study human nails, they would think that nails are inorganic. Similarly, when we observe the outer shell of the earth, we will think that the earth is inorganic. This is not correct." Maslova negotiated a price with the woman vendor, and bought some eggs, a bunch of bagels, some fish, and some fresh wheat bread, and put them in a bag; Sekinina settled accounts with the woman vendor and paid the money.At this time, the prisoners stopped talking and stood in line one after another.The escort came out and gave the prisoner a final lecture before departure.

Everything was done according to the rules: the number of people was counted, the shackles were checked, the prisoners were arranged in double rows, and pairs were handcuffed together.But suddenly there were officers' angry reprimands, the sound of beating people and the cry of children.The crowd fell silent for a moment, and then there were low-pitched complaints.Maslova and Serkinina walked towards the noisy place.