Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/124

118 attained their full growth, were completely transformed, and had become men; their features, in which, hitherto a trace of youthful softness had been discernible, had now grown grim. And it was pleasant to old Taras, to see both his sons among the leaders. It seemed as though Ostap were designed by nature for the pursuit of war and the difficult art of conducting military operations. Never once losing his head, or becoming confused under any circumstances, with a cool audacity which was almost supernatural in a youth of two and twenty, he could, in an instant, gauge the danger, and grasp the whole scope of the matter, could instantly devise a means of escaping it, but of escaping it only that he might the more surely conquer it. His movements now began to be distinguished by the assurance which springs from experience, and in them could be detected the temperament of the future great leader. His person exhaled strength, and his knightly qualities had already assumed the broad power of the lion. "Oh, what a fine colonel that fellow will make one of these days!" said old Taras. "By God, he'll make a magnificent colonel, far surpassing even his father!"

Andríi surrendered himself wholly to the enchanting music of bullets and swords. He knew not what it was to consider or to calculate, or to