"Lead on!" said Taras firmly. The Jew obeyed.
At the door of the underground cells, which ran to a peak at the top, stood a heyduke,[1] with a three-storied moustache. The upper story ran back, the second straight forward, and the third downward, which made him greatly resemble a cat.
The Jew shrank into nothing, and sidled up to him almost sideways: "Your High Excellency! High and Illustrious lord!"
"Are you speaking to me, Jew?"
"To you, illustrious lord."
"Hm,—but I'm merely a heyduke," said the merry-eyed man with the three-storied moustache.
"And I thought it was the Voevod himself, God is my witness, I did! Aï, aï, aï!" Thereupon the Jew wagged his head and spread out his fingers. "Aï, what an imposing aspect! A colonel, as God is my witness, a regular colonel! Another finger's breadth and he'd be a colonel. The noble lord ought to mount a stallion, one as fleet as a fly, and drill the regiments!"
The heyduke arranged the lower story of his moustache, and his eyes grew very merry.
- ↑ A heyduke is the lackey of a grandee, selected for his height and massive build, and dressed as a Hungarian, a Hussar or a Kazák. I. F. H.
