Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/107

Rh various groups began to discuss the matter, and the atamáns of the different barracks to take counsel together: fortunately, few of these were drunk, so they decided to heed the counsels of reason.

A number of men set out at once for the opposite shore of the Dnyeper, to the treasury of the Army, where, in an inaccessible hiding-place, under water and among the reeds, lay concealed the army-chest, and a part of the arms captured from the enemy. Others hastened to inspect the boats, and prepare them for service. In a twinkling the whole shore was thronged with men. Carpenters appeared, axes in hand. Old, weatherbeaten, broad-shouldered, strong-legged Zaporozhtzi, with black or silvered moustaches, rolled up their trousers, stood knee-deep in the water, and dragged the boats from the shore with stout ropes; others brought thither seasoned lumber, ready for immediate use, and timber of all sorts. Here the boats were freshly planked, turned bottom upwards, calked and tarred; there other skiffs were bound together, side by side, in kazák fashion, with long strands of reeds, that the swell of the waves on the sea might not sink them. Further on, all along the shores, they built fires, and heated tar in copper kettles, to coat the boats. The old and experienced instructed the young. The blows