Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/271

Rh you behold, have come hither to see the criminals executed; and that man yonder, my love, who holds an axe and other instruments in his hands, is the executioner, and he will despatch them. And when he begins to break them on the wheel, and to torture them in other ways, the criminal will still be alive; but when he cuts off his head, then, my love, he will die at once. Before that he will cry out and move about, but just as soon as his head is cut off it will be impossible for him to cry out, or to eat or drink, because, my dear, he will no longer have any head." And Yusysya listened to it all with terror and curiosity.

The roofs of the houses were dotted with people. From the dormer windows peered very strange faces with beards and something resembling caps. Upon the balconies, beneath awnings, sat the aristocracy. The lovely little hands of a smiling young lady, gleaming like white sugar, clasped the railing. Illustrious nobles, all decidedly stout of figure, looked on with an air of importance. A servitor in brilliant garb, with backward-flowing sleeves, carried round divers beverages and viands. Sometimes a black-eyed rogue would take her cakes or fruit, and fling them among the crowd with her own noble little hand. The throng of hungry knights held up their caps to catch it; and some tall noble, in faded