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     I remember  the scene impelled  me to sudden  laughter, and in the next
instant I realized I was becoming hysterical myself; for these were women of
my own kind,  like my mother  and sisters, with the fear  of death upon them
and  unwilling to die. And I remember that the sounds they made reminded  me
of  the squealing of pigs under the knife  of the  butcher, and I was struck
with horror at the  vividness  of the  analogy. These  women, capable of the
most sublime emotions, of the  tenderest sympathies,  were  open-mouthed and
screaming. They wanted to live, they were helpless, like rats in a trap, and
they screamed.

     Помню, как, глядя  на это, я вдруг почувствовал, что меня душит смех, и
понял, что я впадаю  в истерику; ведь предо мною были женщины, такие же, как
моя мать  или сестры, -- женщины,  охваченные страхом  смерти и  не желавшие
умирать. Их крики напомнили мне визг свиней под  ножом мясника, и  это
потрясло меня. Эти женщины, способные  на самые  высокие  чувства,  на самую
нежную  привязанность,  вопили,  разинув  рты.  Они  хотели  жить,  но  были
беспомощны, как крысы в крысоловке, и визжали, не помня себя.


     The  horror  of it  drove me  out  on  deck. I  was  feeling  sick  and
squeamish, and  sat  down on  a bench.  In a hazy  way I saw  and  heard men
rushing and shouting as they strove to lower the boats. It was just as I had
read  descriptions of such scenes  in  books.  The  tackles jammed.  Nothing
worked.  One boat  lowered away with the plugs out,  filled  with women  and
children and then with water, and capsized. Another boat had been lowered by
one end, and still  hung in the tackle by the other end,  where it had  been
abandoned. Nothing was to be seen of the strange steamboat which had  caused
the  disaster,  though I  heard  men  saying that she would undoubtedly send

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