Character Analysis
Every group of friends has a few bad apples, and Boris and Grigory are as rotten as they come. Though Boris is the brains of the operation and Grigory is his henchman, both boys deserve an equal amount of blame for the unthinkable way that they betray their friends.
It seems there's always been a great deal of tension between Peter and Boris. After all, Boris was the first boy to join Peter's group and has never shied away from criticizing his boss. While Peter has a strong moral code and prohibits his friends from engaging in shady activity like selling drugs or buying booze, Boris doesn't give a hoot about anything just so long as he gets paid.
This tension finally boils over when the group heads south and sets up shop in a cave system that houses several other groups of boys. After only a few days, Boris and Grigory have already quit the group and are now smuggling drugs with the other gangs.
That would be bad enough, but they make it one million times worse by turning their friends over to the police. So why do they do it? Are they resentful toward Peter because he refuses to get into illicit activity? Or are they being honest when they call their former friends a "bunch of children" and themselves "grown men" (9.87)? Your guess is as good as ours. Regardless, Boris and Grigory prove themselves to be thoroughly despicable dudes by betraying the closest thing they have to a family.