"But never mind," said Nozdrev.

"Let us proceed to the blacksmith's shop." So to the blacksmith's shop the party proceeded, and when the said shop had been viewed, Nozdrev said as he pointed to a field: "In this field I have seen such numbers of hares as to render the ground quite invisible.

Indeed, on one occasion I, with my own hands, caught a hare by the hind legs." "You never caught a hare by the hind legs with your hands!" remarked the brother-in-law.
"But I DID" reiterated Nozdrev.

"However, let me show you the boundary where my lands come to an end." So saying, he started to conduct his guests across a field which consisted mostly of moleheaps, and in which the party had to pick their way between strips of ploughed land and of harrowed.

Soon Chichikov began to feel weary, for the terrain was so low-lying that in many spots water could be heard squelching underfoot, and though for a while the visitors watched their feet, and stepped carefully, they soon perceived that such a course availed them nothing, and took to following their noses, without either selecting or avoiding the spots where the mire happened to be deeper or the reverse.