Kirdyaga stood motionless, and thanked the Cossacks for the honor they had accorded him.

This was how the noisy assembly ended, and in all likelihood no man was happier than Bulba. He had managed to avenge himself on the previous Ataman, and furthermore Kirdyaga had been his comrade-in-arms. They had fought side by side in many battles both on land and sea and shared all the hardships of a life of war.

The crowd immediately dispersed and started celebrating the election, and soon revelries began the like of which Ostap and Andri had never seen. Stores were ransacked of mead, vodka, and beer, and the storekeepers were glad to escape with their lives. The whole night passed with shouting and songs glorifying past battles. The rising moon saw crowds of musicians walking the streets with banduras, horns, and round balalaikas, and singers who were kept at the Sech for church choirs and to sing of the glorious deeds of the Zaporozhians.

Finally the Cossacks’ powerful heads began drooping in drunkenness and fatigue, and here and there men began falling to the ground. Comrades hugged each other, deeply moved and even in tears, as they tumbled over together. A throng of Cossacks lay in a heap. One man, trying to figure out how to lie down most comfortably, settled down in a wooden trough. The last man standing made some rambling speeches. Finally he too succumbed to drunkenness and tumbled to the ground. The whole Sech was asleep.

* A Cossack leader.

4

The very next day, Taras Bulba went to consult with the new Ataman about how to rouse the Cossacks into action. The new Ataman was a clever, crafty man who knew the Zaporozhians inside out. “We cannot break the oath we took. We simply cannot do that!” he said, but after a few moments of silence added, “And yet I’m sure something can be done. We mustn’t actually break our oath, yet there must be a way. Let’s have all the men gather together, but as if they are gathering of their own free will and not by my order. I am sure you know how to manage that. Then the council commanders and I will come out on the square as if we had no idea what was happening.”

Within the hour the drumroll began. Drunken, besotted Zaporozhians appeared. A million Cossack hats came streaming into the square. Voices arose from all sides:

“Who?”

“What?”

“Why has a meeting been called?”

But nobody answered.

Then other voices were heard:

“Our Cossack strength is going to waste, for there is no war!”

“Our commanders are turning into slugs, their faces bloated with fat!”

“Is there justice in this world?”

More and more voices shouted, “No, there is no justice in this world!”

The council commanders looked on in astonishment. Finally the Ataman stepped in front of them.

“Zaporozhian brothers!” he said. “I would like to make a speech.”

“Speak!”

“Word has it—and you may well know more about this than I do—that many Zaporozhians have run up such debts in the stores of the Jews and their cohorts that no devil will give them any more credit. Word also has it that there are many young fellows whose eyes have never seen battle, and, as we all know, a young man cannot make do without war. What kind of Zaporozhian can he be if he has never killed a heathen?”

“He speaks well,” Bulba muttered to himself.

“I do not want you to think that I am speaking these words in order to break the peace! God forbid! I am only saying what I see and hear. We have a church here, but it would be sheer blasphemy to put into words what a disgraceful state it is in! By God’s good grace, the Sech has been located here for many years, and yet the church is completely unadorned, its icons lacking the simplest chasubles. It has not crossed anyone’s mind to create a single silver mounting for an icon. All the church has ever received is what the Cossacks have bequeathed it, not that this has ever amounted to much, for a Cossack will drink up everything during his lifetime. I am not saying this so that we should go to war with the heathens—we promised the Sultan peace, and it would be a great sin if we broke our promise, because we swore to it by our faith.”

“Why is he complicating things?” Bulba muttered to himself.

“So you see, brothers, why we cannot start a war.