When the Russians and Polovtsi had assembled at the Dnieper Mystislav crossed with one thousand men. He attacked the Mongol outposts and scattered them. After some hesitation the Mongols retired. Moving eastward, they lured on the Russians, who soon met a larger detachment of warriors. These they attacked and defeated, driving them far into the steppe land and seizing all their cattle. Encouraged by this success, the Russians moved forward eight days in succession till they neared the river Kalka. Then came an action with outposts and a third Russian victory. Mystislav ordered Daniel of Galitch, son of Roman, to cross the Kalka; after him went all the other princes and encamped on the steppe beyond the river. The Polovtsi were posted in advance, some of them serving as sentries. Mystislav rode forward to reconnoitre. Being satisfied with what was revealed to him he returned hastily, ordered out his own men and also Daniel, giving no command to other princes who were left in their camp awaiting orders; there was keen rivalry between him and them. Mystislav thought, as it seems, to win victory without them and believed that he had power thus to win it. He knew not that he was to meet Chepé Noyon who had hunted to death both Gutchluk and Mohammed, the sovereigns of two Empires; he knew nothing of the Mongols, their numbers, their power or their methods. The battle was opened by Daniel who, in the forefront himself, attacked with great valor and was wounded very early in the action, which was obstinate. Observing the danger, Mystislav supported him, and the Mongols were repulsed to some extent. At this point, for some unknown cause, the whole force of the Polovtsi stampeded, turned, rushed back in panic terror and filled the Russian camp with disorder. The Mongols rallied quickly, brought up fresh forces, and swept all before them. The Russians, not engaged for the greater part, were waiting near the river. The Polovtsi not only left the field, but in fact helped the enemy, hence victory was perfect for the Mongols. “Never in Russia,” states the chronicler, “was there a defeat so disastrous as this one (1224).” Three Russian princes, who had not taken part in the battle, held their ground firmly near the river, on a hill which they fortified with palisades. They fought there with two divisions of Mongols, which remained at the Kalka—the others followed Mystislav toward the Dnieper. Three days did those brave men fight at the river, till assured that they would be freed on surrender, if ransomed. They trusted the plighted word of the Mongols and yielded. The Mongol chiefs bound those three princes hand and foot, and laid them side by side on the ground at some distance one from another. They then placed a heavy platform upon them, sat on that platform and ate and drank while the princes were lying beneath in desperate torture. Thus the three Russians died while the Mongols were feasting above them.