rld, woe
is me! What greedy people! There are none such among us: I gave fifty
ducats to each sentinel and to the gaoler."

"Good. Take me to him!" exclaimed Taras, with decision, and with all
his firmness of mind restored. He agreed to Yankel's proposition that he
should disguise himself as a foreign count, just arrived from Germany,
for which purpose the prudent Jew had already provided a costume. It
was already night. The master of the house, the red-haired Jew with
freckles, pulled out a mattress covered with some kind of rug, and
spread it on a bench for Bulba. Yankel lay upon the floor on a similar
mattress. The red-haired Jew drank a small cup of brandy, took off his
caftan, and betook himself--looking, in his shoes and stockings, very
like a lean chicken--with his wife, to something resembling a cupboard.
Two little Jews lay down on the floor beside the cupboard, like a couple
of dogs. But Taras did not sleep; he sat motionless, drumming on the
table with his fingers. He kept his pipe in his mouth, and puffed out
smoke, which made the Jew sneeze in his sleep and pull his coverlet over
his nose. Scarcely was the sky touched with the first faint gleams of
dawn than he pushed Yankel with his foot, saying: "Rise, Jew, and give
me your count's dress!"

In a moment he was dressed. He blackened his moustache and eyebrows, put
on his head a small dark cap; even the Cossacks who knew him best would
not have recognised him. Apparently he was not more than thirty-five.
A healthy colour glowed on his cheeks, and his scars lent him an air of
command. The gold-embroidered dress became him extremely well.

The streets were still asleep. Not a single one of the market folk as
yet showed himself in the city, with his basket on his arm. Yankel and
Bulba made their way to a building which presented the appearance of a
crouching stork. It was large, low, wide, and black; and on one side a
long slender tower like a stork's neck projected above the roof. This
building served for a variety of purposes; it was a barrack, a jail, and
the criminal court. The visitors entered the gate and found themselves
in a vast room, or covered courtyard. About a thousand men were sleeping
here. Straight before them was a small door, in front of which sat two
sentries playing at some game which consisted in one striking the palm
of the other's hand with two fingers. They paid little heed to the new
arrivals, and only turned their heads when Yankel s