Page 23 - English Expedition Class 4

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soaked and his throat parched . His lungs were working like a blacksmith’s bellows , his
heart beat like a hammer. He was terrified.
Although Pakhom feared death, he couldn’t stop. ‘They’d call me an idiot,’ he
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thought. When he was close enough to hear the Bashkirs cheering, he summoned his
last ounce of strength and kept running.
As he finally reached the hill, everything suddenly became dark – the sun had set.

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Pakhom groaned . He wanted to stop, but heard the Bashkirs still cheering him on.
Pakhom took a deep breath and rushed up the hill. Reaching the top, he saw the elder
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sitting by the hat, laughing his head off . Pakhom’s legs gave way and he fell forward
grasping the cap.

‘Oh, well done,’ exclaimed the elder, ‘that’s a lot of land you’ve earned yourself!’
Pakhom’s servant ran up and tried to lift him but Pakhom was dead. The servant
picked up Pakhom’s spade, dug a grave and buried him – six feet from head to heel,
exactly the amount of land a man needs.

Leo Tolstoy (adapted)

7 parched: dried out 9 summoned: (here) gathered
8 bellows: a device with an air bag used for blowing air into 10 groaned: made a sound out of immense pain
a fi re 11 laughing his head off : laughing very loudly for a long
time
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