Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/175

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TARAS BULBA
169

Andríi!' said I. 'Yankel, tell my father, tell my brother, tell all the kazáks, all the Zaporozhtzi, everybody, that my father is no longer my father, nor my brother my brother, nor my comrades my comrades; and that I mean to fight them all, all!'"

"You lie, you devil of a Judas!" shouted Taras, beside himself with rage. "You lie, dog! I'll kill you, Satan! Get away from here! if not, death awaits you!" So saying, Taras unsheathed his sword.

The frightened Jew set off instantly, at the full speed of his shrunken legs. He ran for a long time without looking back, through the Kazák camp, and then far out on the deserted plain, although Taras did not pursue him at all, reasoning that it was foolish to vent his rage on the first person who came to hand. Then he recollected that he had seen Andríi on the night before, traversing the camp with some woman; and he bowed his grey head. And still he would not believe that so disgraceful a thing could have happened, and that his own son had sold his Faith and his soul.

Finally, he led his regiment into ambush, and hid himself, with it behind a forest—the only one which had not been burned by the kazáks. But the Zaporozhtzi, foot and horse, set out for the three gates by three different roads; one after