"Let Shilo be the Ataman," cried some. "Shilo must be Koschevoï!"
"Away with Shilo!" shouted the angry crowd.
"Is he a Cossack, to have thieved like a Tartar, the dog's son I To the devil with the drunkard Shilo!"
"Let us choose Borodaty—Borodaty!"
"We will not have Borodaty; a curse upon Borodaty!"
"Shout for Kirdiaga," whispered Tarass Boolba.
"Kirdiaga, Kirdiaga," shouted the crowd. "Borodaty! Borodaty!"—"Kirdiaga! Kirdiaga!"
"Shilo!"—"The devil take Shilo!"—"Kirdiaga!"
Each of the proposed candidates, on hearing his name shouted, instantly quitted the crowd, to leave no room for suspecting his personal influence in the election.
"Kirdiaga! Kirdiaga!" was heard above all.