: The cowardly land surveyor suspects that the charioteer hired by him is a robber, begins to lie in order to protect himself from attack, he scares the man very much, he runs away into the forest and comes back soon.

Surveyor Gleb Gavrilovich Smirnov arrives at the station. To the estate, where he goes, he remains 30-40 miles. After a long search, the surveyor finds Klim, "a hefty peasant, sullen, pockmarked, dressed in torn seryaga and bast shoes." He agrees to deliver the surveyor wherever it is required.

The satellites shake for a long time on a dilapidated cart, which is dragged by a miserable horse. It's getting dark. Cowardly land surveyor begin to overcome doubts: is it not his robber charioteer. The cart turns into the forest. The surveyor is even more frightened and begins to boast of incredible strength, revolvers, and tell stories about his battles with bandits.

Having arrived in the forest, Gleb Gavrilovich asks not to drive horses like that - his comrades with revolvers are catching up with him, and riding together is more fun. He pretends to want to show the driver the non-existent revolvers, and begins to rummage through his pockets. Klim gets scared and rushes into the forest. About two hours, Smirnov calls for a frightened man, freezes very much and realizes that because of fear he has “oversalt” with boasting.

Finally, the frightened peasant returns.Smirnov confesses to him his cowardice, reveals deceit, after which they continue on. More land surveyor Klim does not seem dangerous.