Both these political prisoners were of the people; the first was Nabatoff, a peasant; the second, Markel Kondratieff, a factory hand.  Markel did not come among the revolutionists till he was quite a man, Nabatoff only eighteen.  After leaving the village school, owing to his exceptional talents Nabatoff entered the gymnasium, and maintained himself by giving lessons all the time he studied there, and obtained the gold medal.  He did not go to the university because, while still in the seventh class of the gymnasium, he made up his mind to go among the people and enlighten his neglected brethren.  This he did, first getting the place of a Government clerk in a large village.  He was soon arrested because he read to the peasants and arranged a co-operative industrial association among them.  They kept him imprisoned for eight months and then set him free, but he remained under police supervision.  As soon as he was liberated he went to another village, got a place as schoolmaster, and did the same as he had done in the first village.  He was again taken up and kept fourteen months in prison, where his convictions became yet stronger.  After that he was exiled to the Perm Government, from where he escaped.  Then he was put to prison for seven months and after that exiled to Archangel.  There he refused to take the oath of allegiance that was required of them and was condemned to be exiled to the Takoutsk Government, so that half his life since he reached manhood was passed in prison and exile.  All these adventures did not embitter him nor weaken his energy, but rather stimulated it.  He was a lively young fellow, with a splendid digestion, always active, gay and vigorous.  He never repented of anything, never looked far ahead, and used all his powers, his cleverness, his practical knowledge to act in the present.  When free he worked towards the aim he had set himself, the enlightening and the uniting of the working men, especially the country labourers.  When in prison he was just as energetic and practical in finding means to come in contact with the outer world, and in arranging his own life and the life of his group as comfortably as the conditions would allow.  Above all things he was a communist.  He wanted, as it seemed to him, nothing for himself and contented himself with very little, but demanded very much for the group of his comrades, and could work for it either physically or mentally day and night, without sleep or food.  As a peasant he had been industrious, observant, clever at his work, and naturally self-controlled, polite without any effort, and attentive not only to the wishes but also the opinions of others.  His widowed mother, an illiterate, superstitious, old peasant woman, was still living, and Nabatoff helped her and went to see her while he was free.  During the time he spent at home he entered into all the interests of his mother’s life, helped her in her work, and continued his intercourse with former playfellows; smoked cheap tobacco with