4 A.M.
There were few people in the streets , and those who were out tried to keep on the shady side . Only the sunburnt peasants , with their bronzed faces and bark shoes on their feet , who were mending the road , sat hammering the stones into the burning sand in the sun ; while the policemen , in their holland blouses , with revolvers fastened with orange cords , stood melancholy and depressed in the middle of the road , changing from foot to foot ; and the tramcars , the horses of which wore holland hoods on their heads , with slits for the ears , kept passing up and down the sunny road with ringing bells . When Nekhludoff drove up to the prison the gang had not left the yard . The work of delivering and receiving the prisoners that had commenced at 4 A.M. was still going on . The gang was to consist of 623 men and 64 women ; they had all to be received according to the registry lists . The sick and the weak to be sorted out , and all to be delivered to the convoy . The new inspector , with two assistants , the doctor and medical assistant , the officer of the convoy , and the clerk , were sitting in the prison yard at a table covered with writing materials and papers , which was placed in the shade of a wall .