"We are all agreed!" cried the Cossacks.

"Then the council is at an end?"

"At an end!" cried the Cossacks.

"Then listen to the military command, children," said the Koschevoi,
stepping forward, and putting on his cap; whilst all the Cossacks took
off theirs, and stood with uncovered heads, and with eyes fixed upon
the earth, as was always the custom among them when the leader
prepared to speak. "Now divide yourselves, brother gentles! Let those
who wish to go stand on the right, and those who wish to stay, on the
left. Where the majority of a kuren goes there its officers are to go:
if the minority of a kuren goes over, it must be added to another
kuren."

Then they began to take up their positions, some to the right and some
to the left. Whither the majority of a kuren went thither the hetman
went also; and the minority attached itself to another kuren. It came
out pretty even on both sides. Those who wished to remain were nearly
the whole of the Nezamaikovsky kuren, the entire Oumansky kuren, the
entire Kanevsky kuren, and the larger half of the Popovitchsky, the
Timoschevsky and the Steblikivsky kurens. All the rest preferred to go
in pursuit of the Tatars. On both sides there were many stout and
brave Cossacks. Among those who decided to follow the Tatars were
Tcherevaty, and those good old Cossacks Pokotipole, Lemisch, and
Prokopovitch Koma. Demid Popovitch also went with that party, because
he could not sit long in one place: he had tried his hand on the
Lyakhs and wanted to try it on the Tatars also. The hetmans of kurens
were Nostiugan, Pokruischka, Nevnimsky, and numerous brave and