Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/185

Rh convulsively contracted hand could not direct the shot, and the bullet flew wild across the plain. Ostap immediately unfastened a silken cord which the Cornet carried at his saddle-bow to bind prisoners, and with his own cord bound him hand and foot, attached the cord to his saddle, and dragged him across the plain, calling all the kazáks of the Umansky kurén to come and render the last honour to their atamán.

When the Umantzy heard that the atamán of their kurén, Borodaty, was no longer among the living, they deserted the field of battle, and rushed to recover his body; and they consulted immediately as to whom they should elect to be their leader. At last they said: "But why discuss the matter? It is impossible to appoint a better leader than Bulba's Ostap: he's younger than any of us, it's true; but his judgment is that of an old man."

Ostap, doffing his cap, thanked all his kazáks for the honour, and did not decline, either on the score of his youth, or of his youthful judgment, knowing well that wartime is not a fitting season to waste oneself on such things; but he instantly led them straight at the throng and proceeded to show them all that not in vain had they elected him atamán. The Lyakhs realised that the engagement was growing too hot for them, and retreated across