Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/117

Rh ball grazes you, or a sword cuts your head or any other part, pay no heed to such trifles. Mix a charge of powder in a cup of brandy, quaff heartily of it, and all will pass off—you will not even have any fever; and if the wound is not too large, put simple earth on it, mixing it first with spittle in your palm, and it will dry up the wound. And now, to work, to work, my lads; get into action, but without over-haste."

So spoke the Koshevói; and no sooner had he finished his speech than all the kazáks instantly set to work. All the Syech sobered up, and there was not a single drunken man to be found, any more than if there never had been such a thing among the kazáks. Some kazáks repaired the fellies of the wheels, others shifted the axles of the carts; some carried sacks of provisions to the transport wagons, while other wagons they loaded with arms; others, still, drove up the horses and oxen. On all sides resounded the trampling of horses' hoofs, test-shots from the guns, the clang of swords, the lowing of oxen, the screech of turning wagons, talking, shrill cries, and urging on of cattle;—and soon the kazák camp stretched far over the plain. And he who might have undertaken to run from its head to its tail would have had a long course. In the tiny wooden church the priest held a special service of prayer, and