It was already dark, and would soon be night.
    Gusev, a discharged soldier, sat up in his hammock and said softly: "Pavel Ivanich, are you listening to me? At Suchan there was a soldier who said a big fish came smack against his ship and tore a hole in the bottom."
    He was addressing a rather nondescript individual known to everyone in sick bay as Pavel Ivanich, but there was no answer: the man seemed not to have heard.