He had hardly finished speaking when they again heard an unexpectedly violent whistling which suddenly ended with a thud into something soft... f-f-flop! and a Cossack, riding a little to their right and behind the accountant, crashed to earth with his horse.

Zherkov and the staff officer bent over their saddles and turned their horses away.

The accountant stopped, facing the Cossack, and examined him with attentive curiosity.