d ducats offered for his visitor's head; but he was ashamed of
his avarice, and tried to stifle within him the eternal thought of gold,
which twines, like a snake, about the soul of a Jew.

"Listen, Yankel," said Taras to the Jew, who began to bow low before
him, and as he spoke he shut the door so that they might not be seen,
"I saved your life: the Zaporozhtzi would have torn you to pieces like a
dog. Now it is your turn to do me a service."

The Jew's face clouded over a little.

"What service? If it is a service I can render, why should I not render
it?"

"Ask no questions. Take me to Warsaw."

"To Warsaw? Why to Warsaw?" said the Jew, and his brows and shoulders
rose in amazement.

"Ask me nothing. Take me to Warsaw. I must see him once more at any
cost, and say one word to him."

"Say a word to whom?"

"To him--to Ostap--to my son."

"Has not my lord heard that already--"

"I know, I know all. They offer two thousand ducats for my head. They
know its value, fools! I will give you five thousand. Here are two
thousand on the spot," and Bulba poured out two thousand ducats from a
leather purse, "and the rest when I return."

The Jew instantly seized a towel and concealed the ducats under it. "Ai,
glorious money! ai, good money!" he said, twirling one gold piece in his
hand and testing it with his teeth. "I don't believe the man from
whom my lord took these fine gold pieces remained in the world an hour
longer; he went straight to the river and drowned himself, after the
loss of such magnificent gold pieces."

"I should not have asked you, I might possibly have found my own way
to Warsaw; but some one might recognise me, and then the cursed Lyakhs
would capture me, for I am not clever at inventions; whilst that is just
what you Jews are created for. You would deceive the very devil. You
know every trick: that is why I have come to you; and, besides, I could
do nothing of myself in Warsaw. Harness the horse to your waggon at once
and take me."

"And my lord thinks that I can take the nag at once, and harness him,
and say 'Get up, Dapple!' My lord thinks that I can take him just as he
is, without concealing him?"

"Well, hide me, hide me as you like: in an empty cask?"

"Ai, ai! and my lord thinks he can be concealed in an empty cask? Does
not my lord know that every man thinks that every cast he sees contains
brandy?"

"Well, let them think it is brandy."

"Let them think it is brandy?" said the