Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/96

90 nice sort of kazák he is! that son of a dog is as thievish as a Tatár! To the devil in a sack with your drunken Shilo!"

"Borodaty! let's make Borodaty Koshevói!"

"We won't have Borodaty! To the devil's mother with Borodaty!"

"Shout Kirdyaga," whispered Taras Bulba to several.

"Kirdyaga, Kirdyaga!" shouted the crowd.

"Borodaty! Borodaty! Kirdyaga! Kirdyaga! Shilo! Away with Shilo! Kirdyaga!"

All the candidates, the moment they heard their names mentioned, stepped out of the crowd, in order not to give any one a chance to suppose that they were taking a part personally in their election.

"Kirdyaga, Kirdyaga!" rang out more strongly than the rest.

"Borodaty!"

They proceeded to decide the matter by a show of fists, and Kirdyaga won.

"Go for Kirdyaga!" they shouted. Half a score of kazáks immediately stepped out from the crowd,—some of them could hardly keep their feet, so intoxicated were they,—and went directly to Kirdyaga to notify him of his election.

Kirdyaga, although very old, was a very shrewd kazák, and had been sitting in his barrack