Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/288

282 anxiously, the great-hearted man, in the direction whence the kazáks were firing. From his lofty post of observation he could see everything, as in the palm of his hand.

"Take possession, my lads, take possession quickly," he shouted, "of the hillock behind the forest: they can't approach it!" But the wind did not carry his words to them. "They'll perish, perish for nothing!" he said, in despair, and glanced down to where the Dnyeper gleamed. Joy shone in his eyes. He descried the sterns of four boats peeping out from behind the bushes; and he gathered together all the strength of his voice, and shouted in a ringing tone: "To the shore, to the shore, my lads! descend the path on the left, under the cliff. There are boats on the strand; seize them all, that the foe may not catch you!"

This time the breeze blew from the other quarter, and all his words were audible to the kazáks. But for this counsel he received a blow on the head with the butt-end of an axe, which made everything dance before his eyes.

The kazáks rode down the cliff path at full speed; but the pursuers were at their heels. They looked: the path wound and twisted and made many curves aside. "Ah, comrades, luck's against us!" said they all, then halted for an instant, raised their whips—and their Tatár horses