The Master and Margarita. hurt. To verify this once and for all, one of the men fired five rounds into the accursed head of the beast

hurt. To verify this once and for all, one of the men fired five rounds into the accursed head of the beast, whereupon the cat shot back a vigorous reply. And the same thing happened—no one felt the slightest effect. The cat swung back and forth on the chandelier in ever-diminishing arcs, blowing into the muzzle of his Browning for some reason, and spitting on his paw. An expression of complete befuddlement spread over the faces of the men standing in silence below. It was the only instance, or one of the only instances, when shooting had no effect whatsoever. It was possible, of course, to conclude that the cat's Browning was a toy of some sort, but that would certainly not have applied to the Mausers. The cat's first wound, and of that there could not be the slightest doubt, had been nothing other than a trick and a swinish bit of playacting, as was his drinking of the kerosene.

One last attempt was made to catch the cat. A lasso was thrown, it caught on one of the candles, and the chandelier fell down. The crash it made seemed to shake the whole building, but again with no effect. Shards of glass hailed down on those present, and the cat sailed through the air and settled high under the ceiling, atop the gilded frame of the mirror over the mantel. He showed no signs of wanting to make a getaway. On the contrary, he went so far as to address them once again from the relative safety of his perch.

" I simply cannot understand, " he said from on high, " why you are treating me so harshly..."

Just as he began his speech, it was interrupted by a low, heavy voice coming from no one knew where, " What's going on in this apartment? It's disturbing my work."

An unpleasant, nasal voice replied, " Naturally, it's Behemoth, the devil take him! "

A third, quavering voice said, " Messire! It's Saturday. The sun is setting. It's time for us to go."

" Excuse me, but I can't talk any longer, " said the cat from atop the mirror. " We have to go." He threw his Browning and shattered both windowpanes. Then he splashed down the kerosene, which ignited of itself and sent a wave of flame shooting up to the ceiling.

The blaze broke out with a speed and intensity unusual even for kerosene fires. The wallpaper began smoking immediately, the curtain heaped up on the floor ignited, and the frames of the broken windows began smoldering. The cat curled himself up to spring, meowed, jumped from the mirror to the windowsill, and then disappeared out the window with his primus. Shots came from outside. The man sitting on the iron fire escape that ran alongside the apartment windows sprayed the cat with bullets as the latter flew from windowsill to windowsill, heading for the drainpipe at the corner of the building, which, as already noted, was built in the shape of the Cyrillic letter " n." The cat then climbed up the pipe to the roof. There the men guarding the chimney pipes sprayed him

The End of Apartment No. 50 293