Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/260

254 was simply an object of horror; its thickness had doubtless been increased by adventitious circumstances. The beard of this Solomon consisted of only about fifteen hairs, and they were all on the left side. Solomon's face bore so many scars of battle, received for his audacity, that he had, no doubt, lost count of them long before, and grown accustomed to regarding them as birthmarks.

Mardokhai departed, accompanied by his comrades, who were filled with admiration for his wisdom. Bulba was left alone. He was in a strange, unaccustomed situation; for the first time in his life, he felt uneasy. His soul was in a state of fever. He was no longer the man he had been, unbending, immovable, strong as an oak; he was faint-hearted now; now he was weak. He trembled at every sound, at every new Jewish figure which showed itself at the end of the street. In this condition he spent the whole day; he neither ate nor drank, and his eye never, for a single moment, quitted the tiny window which looked out on the street. Finally, late at night, Mardokhai and Yankel made their appearance. Taras's heart died within him.

"What news? Are you successful?" he asked, with the restiveness of a wild horse.

But before the Jews had recovered breath to answer, Taras perceived that Mardokhai no