Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/162

156 streets, accompanied by the sound of trumpets and kettle-drums; but he heard them not. He was conscious of nothing save the lovely mouth which was bathing him in its warm, sweet breath, of the tears streaming down his face, and her long unbound, perfumed hair which veiled him completely in its dark, shining silk.

At that moment the Tatár ran in with a cry of joy. "Saved, saved!" she cried, beside herself. "Our troops have arrived in the city. They have brought corn, millet, flour and Zaporozhtzi in chains." But neither of them heard that our troops had arrived in the city, nor what they had brought with them, nor how they had bound the Zaporozhtzi. Filled with feelings untasted elsewhere on earth, Andríi kissed the sweet mouth which pressed his cheek, and the sweet mouth did not remain unresponsive. In this union of kisses they experienced that which it is given to a man to feel but once in his lifetime.

And the kazák was lost! He was lost to Kazák chivalry. Never again will he behold Zaporozhe, nor his father's house, nor the church of God. The Ukraina will never more behold the bravest of her sons, who have undertaken to defend her. Old Taras will tear a grey tuft from his scalp-lock, and curse the day and the hour in which such a son was born to dishonour him.