"Gentlemen!" cried those who had brought him, "are you willing to have this Cossack for your Koschevoï?" "We are, all of us!" shouted the crowd; and the field resounded far and wide with the cry. One of the elders took up the mace, and offered it to the newly-elected Koschevoï. Kirdiaga refused it, according to custom. The elder offered it a second time; Kirdiaga refused it again; and only after the third invitation, did he take up the mace. A clamour of approval arose from the crowd, and again far and wide the field resounded with the Cossacks' shout. Now stepped out from the midst of the people four of the oldest Cossacks, with gray crown-locks, and gray mustachios (no very old folks were to be found in the Ssiecha, for no Zaporoghian ever died a natural death); each of them took a handful of earth, which recent rain had turned to mud, and put it upon Kirdiaga's head. Down from his head ran the wet earth, which flowed over his mustachios and cheeks, and soiled all his face with mud. But Kirdiaga remained standing upright, and returned thanks to the Cossacks for the honour they had bestowed upon him. So ended the clamorous election. It remains unknown whether others rejoiced in it as much as Boolba: first, for having taken his revenge on the late Koschevoï; and secondly, because Kirdiaga was his old comrade, who had been with him in the same campaigns, over sea and land, and had shared the same hardships and labours of warfare. The crowd dispersed immediately, in order to rejoice over the election; and a revel ensued such as Ostap and Andrew had not yet seen. The brandy-shops were ransacked; mead, brandy, and beer were carried off without any payment being made; the masters of the shops were glad to be suffered to escape untouched. The whole of the night passed in noise and songs, and the moon, rising in the sky, shone for a long time over the hands of musicians walking about the streets with bandooras, torbans, and round balalaikas,[18] and over the group of the singers who were kept in the Ssiecha to chant in the church, and to sing the praises of the feats of the Zaporoghians. At last, tipsiness and fatigue began to get the better of the strong heads; and now began to be seen here and there a Cossack rolling on the ground. Here, two comrades, embracing one another, have grown sentimental, and both roll down weeping. There, a whole crowd has lain down together. There is one, who after fidgetting very much about the most commodious manner of lying down, has stretched himself full length on a log. The last, whose head was somewhat stronger, remained still uttering incoherent sentences; but he, too, finished by submitting to the effects of brandy, and when he fell like the rest, the whole of the Ssiecha was asleep. IV.