Balaban, hetman of a kuren, soon after fell to the ground also from a waggon.Three mortal wounds had he received from a lance, a bullet, and a sword.He had been one of the very best of Cossacks, and had accomplished a great deal as a commander on naval expeditions; but more glorious than all the rest was his raid on the shores of Anatolia.They collected many sequins, much valuable Turkish plunder, caftans, and adornments of every description.But misfortune awaited them on their way back.They came across the Turkish fleet, and were fired on by the ships.Half the boats were crushed and overturned, drowning more than one; but the bundles of reeds bound to the sides, Cossack fashion, saved the boats from completely sinking.Balaban rowed off at full speed, and steered straight in the face of the sun, thus rendering himself invisible to the Turkish ships.All the following night they spent in baling out the water with pails and their caps, and in repairing the damaged places.They made sails out of their Cossack trousers, and, sailing off, escaped from the fastest Turkish vessels.And not only did they arrive unharmed at the Setch, but they brought a gold-embroidered vesture for the archimandrite at the Mezhigorsky Monastery in Kief, and an ikon frame of pure silver for the church in honour of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, which is in Zaporozhe.The guitar-players celebrated the daring of Balaban and his Cossacks for a long time afterwards.Now he bowed his head, feeling the pains which precede death, and said quietly, "I am permitted, brother gentles, to die a fine death.Seven have I hewn in pieces, nine have I pierced with my lance, many have I trampled upon with my horse's hoofs; and I no longer remember how many my bullets have slain.May our Russian land flourish forever!" and his spirit fled.
Cossacks, Cossacks! abandon not the flower of your army.Already was Kukubenko surrounded, and seven men only remained of all the Nezamaikovsky kuren, exhausted and with garments already stained with their blood.Taras himself, perceiving their straits, hastened to their rescue; but the Cossacks arrived too late.Before the enemies who surrounded him could be driven off, a spear was buried just below Kukubenko's heart.He sank into the arms of the Cossacks who caught him, and his young blood flowed in a stream, like precious wine brought from the cellar in a glass vessel by careless servants, who, stumbling at the entrance, break the rich flask.The wine streams over the ground, and the master, hastening up, tears his hair, having reserved it, in order that if God should grant him, in his old age, to meet again the comrade of his youth, they might over it recall together former days, when a man enjoyed himself otherwise and better than now.Kukubenko cast his eyes around, and said, "I thank God that it has been my lot to die before your eyes, comrades.May they live better who come after us than we have lived; and may our Russian land, beloved by Christ, flourish forever!" and his young spirit fled.The angels took it in their arms and bore it to heaven: it will be well with him there."Sit down at my right hand, Kukubenko," Christ will say to him: "you never betrayed your comrades, you never committed a dishonourable act, you never sold a man into misery, you preserved and defended my church." The death of Kukubenko saddened them all.The Cossack ranks were terribly thinned.Many brave men were missing, but the Cossacks still stood their ground.
"How now, gentles," cried Taras to the remaining kurens: "is there still powder in your flasks? Are your swords blunted? Are the Cossack forces wearied? Have the Cossacks given way?""There is still an abundance of powder; our swords are still sharp;the Cossack forces are not wearied, and the Cossacks have not yet yielded."And the Cossacks again strained every nerve, as though they had suffered no loss.Only three kuren hetmans still remained alive.Red blood flowed in streams everywhere; heaps of their bodies and of those of the enemy were piled high.Taras looked up to heaven, and there already hovered a flock of vultures.Well, there would be prey for some one.And there the foe were raising Metelitza on their lances, and the head of the second Pisarenko was dizzily opening and shutting its eyes; and the mangled body of Okhrim Guska fell upon the ground.
"Now," said Taras, and waved a cloth on high.Ostap understood this signal and springing quickly from his ambush attacked sharply.The Lyakhs could not withstand this onslaught; and he drove them back, and chased them straight to the spot where the stakes and fragments of spears were driven into the earth.The horses began to stumble and fall and the Lyakhs to fly over their heads.At that moment the Korsuntzi, who had stood till the last by the baggage waggons, perceived that they still had some bullets left, and suddenly fired a volley from their matchlocks.The Lyakhs became confused, and lost their presence of mind; and the Cossacks took courage."The victory is ours!" rang Cossack voices on all sides; the trumpets sounded and the banner of victory was unfurled.The beaten Lyakhs ran in all directions and hid themselves."No, the victory is not yet complete,"said Taras, glancing at the city gate; and he was right.
The gates opened, and out dashed a hussar band, the flower of all the cavalry.Every rider was mounted on a matched brown horse from the Kabardei; and in front rode the handsomest, the most heroic of them all.His black hair streamed from beneath his brazen helmet; and from his arm floated a rich scarf, embroidered by the hands of a peerless beauty.Taras sprang back in horror when he saw that it was Andrii.
