CHAcr Li Ko ih 
THE LAMP OF ST. NICHOLAS 
In the cabin hung three lamps before three ikona. On 
the left St. Philip of Solovetsk, on the right St. Alex- 
ander, in the middle St. Nicholas. These had each its 
lamp; but that of St. Nicholas was the biggest lamp, 
because his ikon was very old—(it had belonged to 
Alexander's father)—and he is patron to all who follow 
the sea. 
This lamp was always the subject of much concern. 
But to-day something surely ailed it, for it would not 
burn. In vain Alexander stirred the wick with a pin, 
in vain Yakoff warmed the holy oil and fed it afresh. It 
would burn perhaps for half an hour, and then die down. 
The oil had thickened with the cold; that was obvious, 
but not obvious enough for Alexander. ‘ Your bolvan,’ 
he said, ‘is in the box right under the Holy Nicholas, 
He likes it not. Can his lamp then burn?’ 
Had this happened earlier I would have shifted it 
just to humour him. But now we were, so to say, pitted 
one against the other : I was sick of all the nonsense, and 
I vowed I wouldn't budge an inch. I knew that to move 
the bolvan would be the first step to losing it altogether. 
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