第38章

The sun had not ascended midway in the heavens when all the army assembled in a group.News had come from the Setch that during the Cossacks' absence the Tatars had plundered it completely, unearthed the treasures which were kept concealed in the ground, killed or carried into captivity all who had remained behind, and straightway set out, with all the flocks and droves of horses they had collected, for Perekop.One Cossack only, Maksin Galodukha, had broken loose from the Tatars' hands, stabbed the Mirza, seized his bag of sequins, and on a Tatar horse, in Tatar garments, had fled from his pursuers for two nights and a day and a half, ridden his horse to death, obtained another, killed that one too, and arrived at the Zaporozhian camp upon a third, having learned upon the road that the Zaporozhtzi were before Dubno.He could only manage to tell them that this misfortune had taken place; but as to how it happened--whether the remaining Zaporozhtzi had been carousing after Cossack fashion, and had been carried drunk into captivity, and how the Tatars were aware of the spot where the treasures of the army were concealed--he was too exhausted to say.Extremely fatigued, his body swollen, and his face scorched and weatherbeaten, he had fallen down, and a deep sleep had overpowered him.

In such cases it was customary for the Cossacks to pursue the robbers at once, endeavouring to overtake them on the road; for, let the prisoners once be got to the bazaars of Asia Minor, Smyrna, or the island of Crete, and God knows in what places the tufted heads of Zaporozhtzi might not be seen.This was the occasion of the Cossacks'

assembling.They all stood to a man with their caps on; for they had not met to listen to the commands of their hetman, but to take counsel together as equals among equals."Let the old men first advise," was shouted to the crowd."Let the Koschevoi give his opinion," cried others.

The Koschevoi, taking off his cap and speaking not as commander, but as a comrade among comrades, thanked all the Cossacks for the honour, and said, "There are among us many experienced men and much wisdom;but since you have thought me worthy, my counsel is not to lose time in pursuing the Tatars, for you know yourselves what the Tatar is.He will not pause with his stolen booty to await our coming, but will vanish in a twinkling, so that you can find no trace of him.Therefore my advice is to go.We have had good sport here.The Lyakhs now know what Cossacks are.We have avenged our faith to the extent of our ability; there is not much to satisfy greed in the famished city, and so my advice is to go.""To go," rang heavily through the Zaporozhian kurens.But such words did not suit Taras Bulba at all; and he brought his frowning, iron-grey brows still lower down over his eyes, brows like bushes growing on dark mountain heights, whose crowns are suddenly covered with sharp northern frost.

"No, Koschevoi, your counsel is not good," said he."You cannot say that.You have evidently forgotten that those of our men captured by the Lyakhs will remain prisoners.You evidently wish that we should not heed the first holy law of comradeship; that we should leave our brethren to be flayed alive, or carried about through the towns and villages after their Cossack bodies have been quartered, as was done with the hetman and the bravest Russian warriors in the Ukraine.Have the enemy not desecrated the holy things sufficiently without that?

What are we? I ask you all what sort of a Cossack is he who would desert his comrade in misfortune, and let him perish like a dog in a foreign land? If it has come to such a pass that no one has any confidence in Cossack honour, permitting men to spit upon his grey moustache, and upbraid him with offensive words, then let no one blame me; I will remain here alone."All the Zaporozhtzi who were there wavered.

"And have you forgotten, brave comrades," said the Koschevoi, "that the Tatars also have comrades of ours in their hands; that if we do not rescue them now their lives will be sacrificed in eternal imprisonment among the infidels, which is worse than the most cruel death? Have you forgotten that they now hold all our treasure, won by Christian blood?"The Cossacks reflected, not knowing what to say.None of them wished to deserve ill repute.Then there stepped out in front of them the oldest in years of all the Zaporozhian army, Kasyan Bovdug.He was respected by all the Cossacks.Twice had he been chosen Koschevoi, and had also been a stout warrior; but he had long been old, and had ceased to go upon raids.Neither did the old man like to give advice to any one; but loved to lie upon his side in the circle of Cossacks, listening to tales of every occurrence on the Cossack marches.He never joined in the conversation, but only listened, and pressed the ashes with his finger in his short pipe, which never left his mouth;and would sit so long with his eyes half open, that the Cossacks never knew whether he were asleep or still listening.He always stayed at home during their raids, but this time the old man had joined the army.He had waved his hand in Cossack fashion, and said, "Wherever you go, I am going too; perhaps I may be of some service to the Cossack nation." All the Cossacks became silent when he now stepped forward before the assembly, for it was long since any speech from him had been heard.Every one wanted to know what Bovdug had to say.