comrades, he added, "Well, perhaps the Lyakhs speak the truth: if that
fat-bellied fellow leads them, they will all find a good shelter."

"Why do you think they will find a good shelter?" asked the Cossacks,
knowing that Popovitch was probably preparing some repartee.

"Because the whole army will hide behind him; and the devil himself
couldn't help you to reach any one with your spear through that belly
of his!"

The Cossacks laughed, some of them shaking their heads and saying,
"What a fellow Popovitch is for a joke! but now--" But the Cossacks
had not time to explain what they meant by that "now."

"Fall back, fall back quickly from the wall!" shouted the Koschevoi,
seeing that the Lyakhs could not endure these biting words, and that
the colonel was waving his hand.

The Cossacks had hardly retreated from the wall before the grape-shot
rained down. On the ramparts all was excitement, and the grey-haired
Waiwode himself appeared on horseback. The gates opened and the
garrison sallied forth. In the van came hussars in orderly ranks,
behind them the horsemen in armour, and then the heroes in brazen
helmets; after whom rode singly the highest nobility, each man
accoutred as he pleased. These haughty nobles would not mingle in the
ranks with others, and such of them as had no commands rode apart with
their own immediate following. Next came some more companies, and
after these the cornet, then more files of men, and the stout colonel;
and in the rear of the whole force the little colonel.