登陆注册
5189600000049

第49章

"I'll get you there, even if it be not alive! I will not abandon your body for the Lyakhs to make merry over you, and cut your body in twain and fling it into the water.Let the eagle tear out your eyes if it must be so; but let it be our eagle of the steppe and not a Polish eagle, not one which has flown hither from Polish soil.I will bring you, though it be a corpse, to the Ukraine!"Thus spoke his faithful companion.He rode without drawing rein, day and night, and brought Taras still insensible into the Zaporozhian Setch itself.There he undertook to cure him, with unswerving care, by the aid of herbs and liniments.He sought out a skilled Jewess, who made Taras drink various potions for a whole month, and at length he improved.Whether it was owing to the medicine or to his iron constitution gaining the upper hand, at all events, in six weeks he was on his feet.His wounds had closed, and only the scars of the sabre-cuts showed how deeply injured the old Cossack had been.But he was markedly sad and morose.Three deep wrinkles engraved themselves upon his brow and never more departed thence.Then he looked around him.All was new in the Setch; all his old companions were dead.Not one was left of those who had stood up for the right, for faith and brotherhood.And those who had gone forth with the Koschevoi in pursuit of the Tatars, they also had long since disappeared.All had perished.One had lost his head in battle; another had died for lack of food, amid the salt marshes of the Crimea; another had fallen in captivity and been unable to survive the disgrace.Their former Koschevoi was no longer living, nor any of his old companions, and the grass was growing over those once alert with power.He felt as one who had given a feast, a great noisy feast.All the dishes had been smashed in pieces; not a drop of wine was left anywhere; the guests and servants had all stolen valuable cups and platters; and he, like the master of the house, stood sadly thinking that it would have been no feast.In vain did they try to cheer Taras and to divert his mind;in vain did the long-bearded, grey-haired guitar-players come by twos and threes to glorify his Cossack deeds.He gazed grimly and indifferently at everything, with inappeasable grief printed on his stolid face; and said softly, as he drooped his head, "My son, my Ostap!"The Zaporozhtzi assembled for a raid by sea.Two hundred boats were launched on the Dnieper, and Asia Minor saw those who manned them, with their shaven heads and long scalp-locks, devote her thriving shores to fire and sword; she saw the turbans of her Mahometan inhabitants strewn, like her innumerable flowers, over the blood-sprinkled fields, and floating along her river banks; she saw many tarry Zaporozhian trousers, and strong hands with black hunting-whips.The Zaporozhtzi ate up and laid waste all the vineyards.In the mosques they left heaps of dung.They used rich Persian shawls for sashes, and girded their dirty gaberdines with them.Long afterwards, short Zaporozhian pipes were found in those regions.They sailed merrily back.A ten-gun Turkish ship pursued them and scattered their skiffs, like birds, with a volley from its guns.Athird part of them sank in the depths of the sea; but the rest again assembled, and gained the mouth of the Dnieper with twelve kegs full of sequins.But all this did not interest Taras.He went off upon the steppe as though to hunt; but the charge remained in his gun, and, laying down the weapon, he would seat himself sadly on the shores of the sea.He sat there long with drooping head, repeating continually, "My Ostap, my Ostap!" Before him spread the gleaming Black Sea; in the distant reeds the sea-gull screamed.His grey moustache turned to silver, and the tears fell one by one upon it.

At last Taras could endure it no longer."Whatever happens, I must go and find out what he is doing.Is he alive, or in the grave? I will know, cost what it may!" Within a week he found himself in the city of Ouman, fully armed, and mounted, with lance, sword, canteen, pot of oatmeal, powder horn, cord to hobble his horse, and other equipments.

He went straight to a dirty, ill-kept little house, the small windows of which were almost invisible, blackened as they were with some unknown dirt.The chimney was wrapped in rags; and the roof, which was full of holes, was covered with sparrows.A heap of all sorts of refuse lay before the very door.From the window peered the head of a Jewess, in a head-dress with discoloured pearls.

"Is your husband at home?" said Bulba, dismounting, and fastening his horse's bridle to an iron hook beside the door.

"He is at home," said the Jewess, and hastened out at once with a measure of corn for the horse, and a stoup of beer for the rider.

"Where is your Jew?"

"He is in the other room at prayer," replied the Jewess, bowing and wishing Bulba good health as he raised the cup to his lips.

同类推荐
  • 明实录宪宗实录

    明实录宪宗实录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 皇朝经世文编

    皇朝经世文编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 敕赐滁阳王庙碑

    敕赐滁阳王庙碑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 金丹就正篇

    金丹就正篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Further Adventures of Lad

    Further Adventures of Lad

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 九重宫闱:王妃太暴力

    九重宫闱:王妃太暴力

    天下之大无奇不有!南楚太子妃温瑜,留下一封血书死在除夕夜宴那日,东周京都,一道圣旨降罪镇国公府,白玉兰从名门贵女成了罪臣之女。一朝重生。她心中只剩仇恨,誓要查明真相,颠覆这天下!白家将三个女儿送入皇宫,她被天子指婚给三皇子,嫁入了恭王府。恭王龙璟宸,天之骄子,姿容绝世,恨不能宠她上天,她却一心只想浪迹江湖无拘无束。龙璟宸表示:夫人太暴力,本王……心悦之!
  • 异世之建设王朝

    异世之建设王朝

    在接到理想大学录取书时,墨勿飏喜极而泣,正想告诉老家的父母,然?他穿越了,他在被上帝神接见后充满信心,然,刚一进异世,就是一个人拿剑抵着自己的脖子。(作者学生党,更文奇慢,寒假会努力存稿,建议养肥,见谅。)
  • 尚书大论

    尚书大论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 重生南美做国王

    重生南美做国王

    1868年,雇佣兵李明远重生南美,带领华工干翻压迫者,建立南美华人王国。
  • 重生之跨国巨头

    重生之跨国巨头

    燕京一家小游戏公司制作人方哲,因为一场车祸重回2008年。这一年,令无数国人难忘,南方雪灾,汶川地震,北京奥运,金融危机。这一年,iphone,Android,wifi,智能手机,云计算等等一个个名词慢慢走入大众视野。这一年,中国改革开放三十年,更多的中国企业从“引进来”迈向“走出去”。这一年,移动互联网刚刚露出萌芽,时代在呼唤一家伟大企业的诞生。回首未来,方哲整理思绪,书写不一样的传奇人生。
  • 瓜果保健食疗方

    瓜果保健食疗方

    这是一本专门介绍瓜果保健食疗方的大众科普读物。书中依据传统中医理论和现代营养科学,汇集了人们日常饮食中最常用的28种鲜果、20种干果和10种瓜类,简要介绍了每个品种的营养成分、保健功效和食用禁忌,以及500多个食疗方例的配方、制作与服法。本书内容丰富,科学实用,技法简单,易懂好学,是一本极具使用价值的养生保健书。
  • 易晋

    易晋

    自八王之乱、五胡乱华后,中原倾覆、神州陆沉,山河破碎、战乱不止。如今司马晋庭偏安江左,氐族符秦一统北方,南北大战一触即发,孰胜孰败,只系一人。周复说:什么二赵、三秦、四燕、五凉、成夏、拓跋魏,历史得照我说的来写!
  • 反唐演义全传

    反唐演义全传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 黑蜥蜴

    黑蜥蜴

    黑街女王黑蜥蜴让大侦探明智大感棘手,她竟敢主动出击和明智斗智斗勇,谁会是最后的赢家?黑蜥蜴看上了大阪富商岩濑庄兵卫家的千金早苗,甚至还想把岩濑家的宝物“埃及之星”收入囊中。屡收恐吓信的岩濑请求明智保护女儿的人身安全,大侦探却武断地把这次的事件归入恶作剧中,连连失手,不但早苗被绑架、“埃及之星”落入敌手,甚至连他自己都被扔进大海差点儿喂了鱼……敌我双方在交手过程中,名侦探和女贼竟暗生情愫。那么,心生爱慕的黑蜥蜴是否会为明智痛改前非,或者明智是否会陷入迷惘,放弃自己的一切人生价值,追随邪恶的黑蜥蜴?
  • 元之武

    元之武

    杜斐所在的这片大陆名叫——元素大陆。是一片广阔无边的超级陆地,陆地上物质及其丰富,从整个元素大陆的发展史来看,大陆上的人们都离不开一种东西——元素,而元素又分为基本元素和特异元素,基本元素分别是:金木水火土风雷,而能够操纵这些元素的人便称之为——控元师……