The defence of the Kremlin was in the hands of a Lithuanian, Ostei, and the Tartar attack was repulsed; boiling water being thrown from the towers; stones and baulks of timber dropped from the walls upon the assailants in the ditch. For three days the Tartars tried to effect an entrance by force. Then Tokhtamysh stated that it was not with the people of Moscow the Tartars were at war, but only with their prince and his companions, inviting those who had sought refuge in the Kremlin to come out and occupy their dwellings where they would not be molested. The besieged believed him, and, laden with presents and preceded by the clergy, they went out of the Kremlin to meet the enemy as friends. The Tartars at once fell upon them, killed Ostei and the other leaders, and forced a way into the fortress. The defenders were demoralised, "they cried out like feeble women and tore their hair, making no attempt even to save themselves. The Tartars slew without mercy; 24,000 perished. They broke into the churches and treasuries, pillaged everywhere, and burned a mass of books, papers and whatever they could not otherwise destroy; not a house was left standing save the few built of stone." After Tokhtamysh withdrew Dmitri returned and was horrified at the ruin wrought. He is said to have repented of his victory over the Tartars at Kulikovo, a barren victory after this desolation, and to have called out "Our fathers who never triumphed over Tartars were less unhappy than we." Moscow was quickly rebuilt. When Dmitri died in 1389 the principality was the largest and most thriving of the states in the north-east of Russia. As the Horde withdrew the "Good companions" from Novgorod devastated the country round, but Vladimir and Moscow alike in having a Kremlin on a hill, were far enough away from the Volga to escape the attention of these free-booters from the north-west. Vasili, the son of Dmitri Donskoi, succeeded his father, and twice saw his territory invaded by the Horde. In 1392 he bought a _iarlikh_ of the Tartars freeing to him Moscow, Nijni and Suzdal. In 1395, to escape an inroad of the Tartars, the celebrated ikon of the Virgin (see Frontispiece) was brought from Vladimir to Moscow, but the Tartars did not venture so far. This time they stopped at Eletz-on-the-Don, pillaged Azov--where much Egyptian, Venetian, Genoese, Biscayan and other merchandise was warehoused--and returned to Tartary sacking Sarai and Astrakhan on their way thither.