The summer season ended, and Vasily Petrovich Bachey with his sons Petya and Pavlik returned to Odessa.

Petya looked at the endless sea space glowing with gentle blue for the last time. The lines came to the memory: “A lone sail whitens / In the fog of the blue sea ...”

And yet, the main charm of the sea for the nine-year-old boy was not his picturesqueness, but primordial mystery: the phosphoric glow, the hidden life of the depths, the eternal movement of the waves ... The vision of a rebellious battleship that appeared several times on the horizon was also full of mystery.

But the farewell to the sea is over. All three were seated on benches, and the stagecoach set off. When there were only ten miles to Ackerman and solid vineyards were stretching along both sides of the road, the passengers heard a rifle shot, and a minute later the back door of the stagecoach opened and the stocky man stood on the footboard. But then a horse ride appeared ahead, and he quickly ducked under the bench. Petya managed to notice the red naval boots and the armature tattooed on his arm, like dad, he pretended that nothing had happened, and turned away. Half an hour later, dad broke the silence: "It seems we are approaching ... Not a soul on the road." There was a rustle, and now the door slammed ...

On the Turgenev steamboat, Petya, not finding peers suitable for dating, began to observe a strange mustachioed passenger. The mustachioed was clearly looking for someone and finally stopped in front of a man sleeping on the deck and covering his face with a cap. Petya was dumbfounded: the lifted trousers of his legs exposed a redhead of naval boots that peered out from under the stagecoach two hours ago.

When Langeron passed, the mustachioed went to the sleeping man, took by the sleeve: "Rodion Zhukov?" But he pushed the mustachioed, jumped on board and jumped into the water.

... It was evening when Gavrik and his grandfather chose a change and lay down on the oars. More recently, the Turgenev steamer passed. So, it’s already about eight and you have to hurry. Suddenly, someone's hands grabbed the stern of the scow. When the grandfather and grandson dragged the swimmer into the boat, he was almost swooning and barely said: “Do not show me to people. I am a sailor. "

The next morning, Gavrik gathered for Terenty, his elder brother. The sailor was clearly looking for. Near a shooting gallery at a small coastal fair, a mustachioed gentleman in a bowler asked Joseph Karlovich if he had noticed anything suspicious last night. Having learned that Gavrik lives nearby, the mustachioed began to question him, but managed to achieve little. The boy at the age of nine was prudent and cautious.

On the way to the Near Mills, Gavrik met Petya and invited him to his brother. Petya was strictly forbidden to go away so far and so long, but he had not seen Gavrik all summer, and besides, he wanted to talk about the incident at Turgenev.

Already at dusk, Terenty brought into the shack the grandfather of a feeble young man in pince-nez. Ilya Borisovich confirmed that he saw Rodion Zhukov at the coffin of the Potemkin Vakulinchuk, and handed the sailor a bundle of clothes. Gavrik went to see if everything was calm. Around the corner of the boy was grabbed by the mustachioed already familiar to him. Gavrik screamed. "Shut up, kill!" - lard pulled his ear. Three shadows darted from the shack to the cliff, a shot rang out ... Gendarmes, enraged by the failure, interrogated his grandfather and took him to the police station.

Gavrik got over to Terenty, wore a transmission to his grandfather, was very worried to learn that his grandfather was beaten every day. The depot where the brother worked was on strike, and Gavrik tried to earn as much as he could. A good income brought a game of ears.

Petya was also carried away by ears, but was too passionate, impatient and even lost what he borrowed. A disastrous desire for any player to recoup dragged into the abyss. He pulled out the buttons of his father’s military uniform with meat and fell to the point that he first took the change left by the cook Duney from the sideboard and then stole the money he collected on the bike from Pavlik’s piggy bank. But he also lost this, so one day Gavrik announced that he no longer wanted to wait and that Petya was enslaved until he got even.

In the city, meanwhile, several blocks were cordoned off by troops, shooting was heard. Once Gavrik ordered Pete to bring a satchel so as not to forget to take a gymnasium ticket. He loaded the satchel with heavy bags of ears, and they went to the areas cordoned off by the soldiers. Then the ears were taken away already on Malaya Arnautskaya, from the owner of the shooting range, Joseph Karlovich, and by courtyards they made their way to the house with a booming well-yard. A man came down to the whistle of Gavrik and took the “goods”. Petya now well understood what kind of ears they were.

The last flight he had to make alone: ​​at the cordon, a mustachioed memorial for both boys was pacing. In a familiar well-yard, a man peered out at his desperate cry (he never learned to whistle) and called him upstairs. He was a fluent Potemkin sailor, although a beard and mustache prevented him from finding out now. Terenty entered the kitchen: “We still won’t hold back. We will leave on the roofs. They put a gun there. ”

At home, the boy was waiting for new tests. There were pogroms in the city. The Kogan family came to seek refuge, and the Bacheys hid them in the back rooms. When a crowd of rioters entered the porch, dad met them: "Who gave you the right ..." He was seized, hit, and if it were not for the appearance of Dunya with an icon in his hands, the matter would take a nasty turn.

Gavrik showed up on New Year's Eve: "Come on, and we will be counted." He handed four familiar heavy pouches. Petya barely had time to hide them in his satchel, when dad burst into the nursery with a disfigured uniform, and Pavlik flew after him with a roar: Petka robbed him!

Dad has changed in face: he knows what’s the matter. The son is gambling, in these, as they are there, pigs, ears ... Break the satchel, he took out the bags and threw them into the blazing stove. Petya shouted: “Tick!” - and fainted.

He fell ill all winter and only after Easter did he go to Gavrik. Grandfather died, the family of the hiding Terenty now lived in a shack. Pete was delighted and invited to the May Day. It was a great day. Friends sat on the oars, Terenty located aft. At the Small Fountain, a gentleman in a blue suit, cream trousers, green socks and white shoes jumped into the scandal. A straw boater hat, cane, gloves completed his toilet. It was a sailor. He looked back at the shore and winked at the rowers. Far into the sea, fishermen had already gathered to listen to the Potemkin’s speech.

After May Day, the boys, circling for two hours, landed Rodion Zhukov on Langeron, where he immediately mixed with the crowd.

A week later, Gavrik again called Petya to the sea, already sailing. Quickly got to the Big Fountain. There, Gavrik ordered Petya to climb a cliff and, as the span seemed, to wave a handkerchief. The sailor was arrested, but the committee prepared an explosion of the prison wall so that Rodion could escape while walking. On a boat under sail he will leave for Romania.

... Long minutes of waiting, and at the end of the lane a span appeared. Petya waved his handkerchief and saw how Gavrik came to life below.

Terenty and the sailor fled to the scow. A minute later the sail was filled with wind, and a little later it began to decrease, moving away, but still whitened for a long time on the blue expanse of the sea.