... The rumor did not deceive him. Carefully approaching the edge of the clay slope, behind which stood his horse, Kordayke saw a group of horsemen arriving here dismounting, forming a procession.

Their long fools' caps protruded distinctly like spikes. Yes, whoever came here, in any case it is better not to put out his head, but it’s definitely not worth having affairs with the Ku Klux Klan.

Kordyke bent lower. The sun was hot, as in hell, and he mentally scolded the sharp-headed, who did not let him go into the shadows.

From his shelter he could clearly see the procession moving along the boardwalk, knocked together over the swamp. Looking closely, Kordyke almost dangled in surprise: with them was a thin girl, dark-haired and completely naked. Her figure, ridiculous among gray robes, stood out on their background with a wax spot. The sharp-headed one who followed her pushed her hard drive in the back.

Reaching the strange ladder hanging over the bog, like a diving board, the procession stopped. Several people stooped, and Kordyke was surprised to see that the ladder was folding: the Ku Klux Klan people had folded the folded half back, stretching it in half.

“What the hell is that? Why spring on the swamp? ”Kordydke thought, still not understanding.

Ostrogolovy, walking at the head of the procession, stood in a solemn pose and raised the hard drive muzzle up. The rest did the same. He said something, and fragments of words came to Korddayk:
- According to the laws ... disgraced ... by drowning in the quagmire ... God's judgment ... may it be done ...

The escort pushed the naked girl to the ramp, and she moved forward, stumbling at every step. Korndike finally realized that he was present at the execution, and he sank in the guts. He threw up the hard drive - but then he ducked back.

Counting the punitive ones, he cursed: thirteen armed bastards for one naked girl — isn't that too much? the same here in the quicksand quicksand rivers? ”Cursing once more, Kordyke froze, watching the execution.

The guard, leading the girl to the edge, froze and turned to the leader. He said something to him, and the guard, having paused, pushed the girl forward with force.

She flew off the ramp, with a cry fell into the slurping slush - and immediately got bogged down in her chest.

Her hands stretched to the gangway, but the guard escaped back, and several sharp-headed ones laid the gangway back. Kordayke saw the girl slowly sinking into the quagmire. He did not hear whether she was screaming, and only saw her hands slapping on the surface of the slurry, trying to swim up or at least delay the suction. When she got stuck in the neck, Kordayke heard a cry, a quiet baby cry, and swore a three-story fence, barely forcing himself to sit still. Sharp-headed watched as the head whitening on a brown background, gradually goes into the muck.

And only when they solemnly blurted out into the air, got off the floor, saddled their horses and disappeared behind the hillside, Kordyke jumped up and rushed to the horse.

The girl had already disappeared under the liquid, but Kordydayk rushed to the flooring, hoping for some unknown reason. Leaving the horse close, he grabbed the ladder, spread it out, cursing like a convict, ran to the edge - and began to poke the hard drive butt in the place where, as it seemed to him, the girl sank.

He did not have time to examine her face and body. He did not know why she was executed, and he did not know why he wanted to save her. Poking his butt into a thick slush, he kneaded it like dough, leaving deep stains ...

***

... Out of it, the crying itself, the stupid, helpless girlish roar of itself, and she could not help it, sobbing like a little.

When the mash flowed to her nose, she tried to tilt her head back to breathe for some time. The sun was in their eyes, and they stubbornly closed, even though she wanted to look at the sky at last.But it was already impossible to turn my head, and she just breathed, thinking that soon, very soon, she would not be able to do this. She remembered how much she could hold out without air, and tried to feel the minutes or seconds separating her from the end.

My thoughts flashed in my head about how they had ripped off her clothes in public, how she realized that she was naked, that everyone saw her pink note ... Stupid, redundant thoughts. Ears have long been covered with sludge, and everything around has stalled, as in a chest. Sensing the dirt in her open mouth, she realized that she was left with a few breaths, and took the air as thickly as she could - before dizziness, before the sparks in her closed eyes. My chest squeezed painfully, and I had to exhale a little; Recalling herself, she tried to inhale again - and squeezed her lungs in a spasm, feeling dirt get into her nostrils instead of air.

Her whole face was already under the slush that hid the light of day. Realizing this, she felt a desperate weeping bursting at her, and pouted with all her strength, not letting the air out of herself. Trying to free her nose, she began to shovel dirt from her face - but she could not do anything. The air was quickly exhausted, and already wanted to breathe ...

She thought that in a minute she would die, that she had already died for everyone - and the fact that she was still alive, still thinking and feeling something under the mud, no one among the living touches ... Suddenly having felt her dying, she wanted to shout - but her mouth immediately filled with dirt, and the precious air came out of her lungs. She was flooded with panic, sticky and viscous, like dirt in her mouth, and her hands were desperately beating, raking the muck above her head. She no longer understood whether her hands were going out or not, and struggled with her last strength, getting stuck in a stuffy, dull, sticky haze. She knew that she was dying, but she could not even think that it would be so desperately scary - and she fought like a beast in a black void without top and bottom, and her hands tried to grab at least something — dirt, air. for emptiness ...

Suddenly her hand touched something hard.

Burnt with hope, she tried to cling - and with some attempt she managed to firmly squeeze a hard object, slipping out of her hands.

Grabbing, she felt how he pulls her hands, moving away from her - and clutching at him even more, squeezing her fingers in a cramp of pain. There was no air - but the object locked in her hands, and the skin felt the movement of the body in the mud ... “Pulling up? ...” The euphoria of hope hit her head, and she desperately, with her last strength, started to kick, trying to push out.

Suddenly, the mind, darkening from the heat, realized the light in his eyes. The mouth opened itself and the air entered, which she inhaled with a hoarse, choking on lumps of dirt ...

***

... Suddenly Kordyke felt like a hard drive twitched. "Pecks" - a stupid thought flashed; his heart was pounding, and Kordyke struggled against the ladder with his free hand.

Boards cracked, and Kordyke desperately cursed, pulling the hard drive higher and higher. The load under the dirt moved to the ladder, but did not emerge to the surface. “Here I’ll take it out now - and there the hell, or an underground miracle ... gee-gee-gee,” Kordayke thought and nervously laughed, drowning out extra thoughts. More, and more, and a little more ...

At last, the ink dusks bloated, and a sticky shapeless mound appeared in it.

"Cactus in the ass, ...!" - Kordydayk swore, not immediately realizing that this is the head. "Is it really a damn thing?" - he thought, pulling that there are forces a mound to the ladder; and he smacked out of the slurry - and suddenly a mouth cut through him, gasping for breath.

- Live! - shouted Kordajk. - Yehhhouou! ... Come on, come on, baby, hold on! - he shouted happily, pulling her up to the ladder, - Come on, come on, work with your legs, work with your legs, dryn you in the ass! Come on, come on, come on, ”he wheezed, pulling up his hard drive, like a rope, until he grasped his black sticky paws, which immediately squeezed him to pain. - Eeee, what are you! ... Come on, come on, I hold you, come on, cling on come on, cling on, baby ... - he muttered, trying to keep his hands slipping out of his ...