uld not have cared to hear the sobs
and anguish of his poor, weak mother, nor the unreasoning cries of a
wife, tearing her hair and beating her white breast; but he would have
liked to see a strong man who might refresh him with a word of wisdom,
and cheer his end. And his strength failed him, and he cried in the
weakness of his soul, "Father! where are you? do you hear?"

"I hear!" rang through the universal silence, and those thousands of
people shuddered in concert. A detachment of cavalry hastened to search
through the throng of people. Yankel turned pale as death, and when the
horsemen had got within a short distance of him, turned round in terror
to look for Taras; but Taras was no longer beside him; every trace of
him was lost.

CHAPTER XII

They soon found traces of Taras. An army of a hundred and twenty
thousand Cossacks appeared on the frontier of the Ukraine. This was no
small detachment sallying forth for plunder or in pursuit of the Tatars.
No: the whole nation had risen, for the measure of the people's patience
was over-full; they had risen to avenge the disregard of their rights,
the dishonourable humiliation of themselves, the insults to the faith of
their fathers and their sacred customs, the outrages upon their church,
the excesses of the foreign nobles, the disgraceful domination of the
Jews on Christian soil, and all that had aroused and deepened the stern
hatred of the Cossacks for a long time past. Hetman Ostranitza, young,
but firm in mind, led the vast Cossack force. Beside him was seen his
old and experienced friend and counsellor, Gunya. Eight leaders led
bands of twelve thousand men each. Two osauls and a bunchuzhniy assisted
the hetman. A cornet-general carried the chief standard, whilst many
other banners and standards floated in the air; and the comrades of the
staff bore the golden staff of the hetman, the symbol of his office.
There were also many other officials belonging to the different bands,
the baggage train and the main force with detachments of infantry and
cavalry. There were almost as many free Cossacks and volunteers as there
were registered Cossacks. The Cossacks had risen everywhere. They came
from Tchigirin, from Pereyaslaf, from Baturin, from Glukhof, from the
regions of the lower Dnieper, and from all its upper shores and islands.
An uninterrupted stream of horses and herds of cattle stretched across
the plain. And among all these Cossacks, among all these bands, one