"I treat you now, gentlemen brothers," so spoke Tarass, "not to celebrate my being elected by you as your ataman, however great that honour be, not to solemnize our parting with our comrades; another time would better suit for both matters. But now we have another more solemn occasion before us. A deed of much labour, of great Cossack valour, now awaits us! So let us drink together, comrades, let us drink first to the holy faith, that the time may at last come when everywhere over the whole world one holy faith may be diffused, and all misbelievers, as many as they are, may become Christians! Let us drink together also to the Ssiecha, that it may long stand for the destruction of all unbelievers, that every year it may send forth warriors, each stronger and better than their predecessors! Let us drink also to our own renown, that our grandchildren, and the sons of those grandchildren, may say that there once were those who did not betray comradeship and did not leave their brothers in need! So to the faith, gentlemen brothers, to the faith!"
"To the faith!" shouted the deep voices of those whose ranks stood nearest. "To the faith!" joined in the more remote, and every one of them, old and young, drank to the faith.
"To the Ssiecha!" said Tarass, and lifted his arm high above his head.
"To the Ssiecha!" deeply resounded amidst the foremost ranks. "To the Ssiecha!" slowly said the old ones, twitching their gray mustachios; and excited, like young hawks fluttering their wings, the young Cossacks shouted, "To the Ssiecha!" And far away the field resounded with the shouts of the Cossacks, "To the Ssiecha!"
"And now, a last dram, comrades: To renown and to all Christians in the world!" And all the Cossacks there present drained the last drop to renown, and to all the Christians who are spread all over the world. And long amidst all the ranks, among the koorens, resounded the words, "To all Christians, all over the world!"
The cups were already empty, and still the Cossacks remained standing with uplifted arms; gay were the glances of all eyes, glistening with wine, but profound were their thoughts. They thought not of booty or profit, they thought not of the ducats they might succeed in taking, or of the costly arms, rich dresses, and Circassian steeds. They were thoughtful as eagles sitting on the crests of rocky cliffs, steep and high, from which may be seen the far-expanding sea, all covered with galleys and ships like so many small birds, and bordered by narrow scarcely visible coasts, with towns no bigger than flies, and woods as diminutive as grass. Like eagles did the Cossacks cast their glances over the field, foreboding their fate which darkened far away before them. Thus indeed shall it be! The field shall be strewn with their whitening bones, it shall be richly bathed in their Cossack blood; and broken chariots, broken swords, and spears, shall be scattered all over it; from a long distance off shall be seen mouldering crown-tufted heads with curling and gore-clotted locks, and downward twisted mustachios; and eagles swooping down from the skies shall tear out and feast on their cossack eyes! But great also is the boon of such a widely and freely-scattered repose in death! No feat of valour shall perish, and the Cossack's fame shall no more be cast away than the grain of powder on the gun-lock. The time shall come when some bard with gray beard flowing down on his breast, or peradventure some white-haired man, old in years but full of manly vigour, shall with soothsaying words tell of them with mighty utterance. And all over the world shall their renown extend, and even those who are yet unborn shall speak of them. For widely does the mightily-uttered word spread, like the resonance of bell-metal into which the founder has thrown much pure and precious silver, that its solemn tone may echo far away in city and hamlet, palace and hovel, summoning all equally to holy prayer.
IX.
Nobody in the town knew that one-half of the Zaporoghians had gone in pursuit of the Tartars. The sentries on the tower of the town hall had indeed noticed that part of the waggons had been drawn behind the forest, but they thought that the Cossacks had prepared an ambuscade: the French engineer was of the same opinion. Meanwhile, the words of the Ivoschevoï proved true, and victuals began to be scarce in the town. As was usual in old times, they had not calculated the number of troops and the allowance to be made to them. A sally was tried, but one-half of the daring fellows were killed on the spot by the Cossacks, and the other was driven back into the town with no result. The Jews however, profited by this sally, and ferreted out everything, whither and wherefore the Zaporoghians were gone, and with which of the chiefs, also which of the koorens, in what number, and how many were left behind, and what they intended to do; in a word, some minutes had hardly elapsed when everything was known in the town. The colonels took courage, and prepared to give battle. Tarass perceived this by the movement and noise in the town, and, accordingly, busily occupied himself in forming the troops and giving orders; he divided the koorens into three encampments, which he surrounded with waggons by way of fortification, a mode of entrenchment in which the Zaporoghians were never conquered. He sent two koorens into ambuscade, ordered sharp stakes, broken weapons, and stumps of spears to be scattered over part of the field, intending to drive the enemy's cavalry to that locality when the opportunity should present itself. And when all his orders had been executed, he harangued the Cossacks, not in order to encourage them, or to heighten their spirits, for he knew them to be spirited enough, but simply because he wished to say what weighed on his own heart.
"I wish to tell you, gentlemen, what our comradeship is. You have heard from your fathers and grandfathers how highly esteemed our country has been, how it caused itself to be honoured by the Greeks, how the city of the Caesars[38] paid ducats to it, how rich its towns were, how beautiful its churches, what men were its sovereigns—sovereigns of Russian pedigree, its own bosom sovereigns, and no Popish heretics. All this have the misbelievers destroyed; everything have they laid waste. We remained orphans, and our country like ourselves has been bereft too, like a widow after the loss of a mighty husband! This was the time, comrades, when we held out our hands to one another to be brothers! This is the foundation of our brotherhood! No ties are more holy than those of comradeship. The father loves his child, the mother loves her child, the child loves its father and mother; but this is no wonder. The brute loves its cub, too! but man alone can make to himself relations by the relationship of the heart, without that of blood! There have been comrades in other countries, but such comrades as are in our Russian country, such, I say, have never existed elsewhere. More than one of you have been dragged away into foreign countries; there, too, you have seen men! They also are God's creatures; with them also did you speak as with your own countrymen; but when you had to tell them what you felt in the inmost recesses of your hearts, then you saw the difference! Clever men are they, but not like our countrymen! men, also, but not like us! No, brothers, to love as a Russian heart loves—not to love with your mind, or anything else, but to love with all that God has given us, with all your being, with all, all," said Tarass; and he waved his arm, and shook his gray head, and jerked his mustachios, and then went on: "To love in such a manner, nobody but Russians can love. I know that baseness has found its way into our country; many think only about having heaps of corn and hay, herds of horses, and of preserving untouched in their cellars their sealed casks of mead; many ape the devil knows what customs of misbelievers, and are ashamed of their native speech, they avoid meeting their countrymen, they sell them, as one sells brutes in the market. Higher than any brotherhood do they value the favour of a foreign king, no, not merely of a king, but even the base favour of a Polish magnate, who tramples on their faces with his yellow boots. But yet the basest of them, be he base as man can be, be he all besmeared with dirt and flattery, even he, brothers, has some grain of Russian feeling in his breast; he will wake up at some time, and the poor fellow will wring his hands, he will tear his hair and curse his base life, and be ready by torments of every description to redeem it. Let every one of them know what comradeship means in our Russian country. If it has come to that point, that we must die, well then, let us die as none of them may ever die! no, not one! their mouse-like nature would not dare to confront such death!"