Come with me, and I will conduct you to a place where
there are forty chests of tea. It is a sereka (a robbery), and the
thieves are willing to dispose of it for a trifle, for there is
search being made, and they are in much fear. I can raise one half
of what they demand, do you supply the other, we will then divide
it, each shall go his own way and dispose of his portion.
Myself. - Wherefore, O son of Arbat, do you propose this to me, who
am a stranger? Surely you are mad. Have you not your own people
about you whom you know, and in whom you can confide?
Jew. - It is because I know our people here that I do not confide in
them; we are in the galoot of sin. Were I to confide in my
brethren there would be a dispute, and perhaps they would rob me,
and few of them have any money. Were I to apply to the sabio he
might consent, but when I ask for my portion he would put me in
ndui!
