B640 <=> B642 [BTG XXXIV Russia, p. 641]

“And the very same night, with the help of forty pairs of buffalo, this original ‘skewer’ was dragged and thrown into the river Nile.

“I saw such punishment meted out in this spirit, both during my stay personally on the surface of this planet of yours, as well as through the large Teskooano from the planet Mars.

“And these contemporary favorites of yours, naive already to the nth degree, grew sincerely indignant that these contemporary ‘Bolsheviks’ of theirs shot a certain Tom Brown.

“If we compare the action of the former three-brained beings there, who were subject to this ‘psychic state,’ with the actions of these contemporary Bolsheviks, then they, i.e., the contemporary Bolsheviks ought even to be given praise and thanks, that in spite of the fact that the various consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer are infallibly completely crystallized in their common presences – as in general in the presences of contemporary three-brained beings – they, in the very heat of that period when they were entirely ‘puppets’ under the influence of the inevitable cosmic law Solioonensius, manifested themselves with these consequences in such a way that the dead body of the person shot by them could at least be recognized as whose it was, namely, ‘Tom Brown’s and nobody else’s.’”

In this place of his tale, Beelzebub deeply sighed, and gazing at one spot, became concentratedly thoughtful.

Hassein and Ahoon, with a shade of surprise, but also with some sadness on their faces, began to stare expectantly at him with, as it were, a stark fixed gaze.