"He may."

"But if you have done anything, then - " here the old
inspector lowered his voice still more--"go away!"

"But how and where?" asked Tatarchuk, uneasily.
"The koshevoi has placed guards on all the islands, so that
no one may escape to the Poles and let them know what
is going on. The Tartars are on guard at Bazaluk. A fish
couldn't squeeze through, and a bird couldn't fly over."

"Then hide in the Saitch, wherever you can."

"They will find me, - unless you hide me among the
barrels in the bazaar? You are my relative."

"I wouldn't hide my own brother. If you are afraid of
death, then drink; you won't feel it when you are drunk."

"Maybe there is nothing in the letters."

"Maybe."

"Here is misfortune, misfortune!" said Tatarchuk. "I
don't feel that I have done anything. I am a good fellow,
an enemy to the Poles. But though there is nothing in the
letter, the devil knows what the Pole may say at the coun-
cil. He may ruin me."

"He is a severe man; he won't say anything."

"Have you seen him to-day?"

"Yes; I rubbed his wounds with tar, I poured spirits
and ashes into his throat. He will be all right. He is an
angry fellow! They say that at Hortitsa he slaughtered
the Tartars like swine, before they captured him. Set your
mind at rest about the Pole."

The sullen sound of the kettledrums which were beaten
on the Koshevoi's Square interrupted further conversation.
Tatarchuk, hearing the sound, shuddered and sprang to
his feet. Excessive fear was expressed by his face and
movements.

"They are beating the summons to council," said he,
catching his breath. "God save us! And you, Philip,
don't speak of what we have been saying here. God
save us!"

Having said this, Tatarchuk, seizing the tub with the
liquor, brought it to his mouth with both hands, and drank,
--drank as though he wished to drink himself to death.

"Let us go!" said the inspector.

The sound of the drums came clearer and clearer.

They went out. The field of Hassan Pasha was sepa-
rated from the square by a rampart surrounding the encamp-
ment proper, and by a gate with lofty towers on which were