At the same moment the Tartar ran into the room with the joyful
exclamation, "Rescued! rescued!" cried she, beside herself with joy:
"_our own_ have come into the town; they have brought with them,
bread, millet, flour, and Zaporoghian prisoners!" But neither of the
two understood who "_our own_" were who had come into the town, what
they had brought, or what they had to do with the Zaporoghians. Full
of feelings not to be enjoyed on earth, Andrew impressed a kiss on her
fragrant lips; they returned the kiss, and in that mutual, melting
embrace each of them felt all that man can feel but once in his
lifetime.
Then lost was the Cossack for ever! lost to all Cossack knighthood!
Never again will he see the Ssiecha: the farms of his father: the
church of God. Ukraine will never again see the bravest of her children
who went forth for its defence. Old Tarass will tear from his head a
lock of his grey hair, and curse the day and the hour when such a son
was born to bring shame upon him!
VII.
The whole of the Zaporoghian camp was in an uproar. At first nobody
could ascertain how it had come to pass that the Polish reinforcement
had entered the city. It was afterwards found out that all the Cossacks
of the kooren of Percaslavl, encamped before one of the side gates of
the city, were dead drunk; so no wonder if half of them were killed,
and the remainder bound and made prisoners, before any one could
discover what was the matter. While the other koorens, awakened by the
noise, had but time to snatch up their arms, the Poles had already
made their way through the gate, and their rear-ranks alone fired on
the Zaporoghians who, not yet wholly recovered from their slumbers and
their tipsiness, had in disorder rushed upon them. The Koschevoï gave
the order for all to assemble, and when all stood in a circle and kept
silence, their caps off, he spoke thus:--
"Do you see, gentlemen brothers, what has happened this night? You see
now the result of drunkenness? You see the shame that the foe has
brought upon us? It seems to be part of your habits, that, if your
allowance is doubled, you think yourselves entitled to go on drinking
till you bring yourselves into such a state that the foe of Christian
soldiers may not only pull off your trowsers, but even spit in your
face before you are aware of it!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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