his horse,--how, dressed, in satin, he had spotted himself
with tar, on purpose to show Cossack contempt for these
lordly stuffs.

He never warmed any place long. Caprice was the
motive of his deeds. At times, when he came to Chigirin,
Cherkasi, or Pereyaslav, he had terrible frolics with other
Zaporojians; at times he lived like a monk, spoke to no
man, escaped to the steppe. Then again he surrounded
himself with blind minstrels, and listened to their songs
and stories for days at a time, heaping gold on them.
Among nobles he knew how to be a polished cavalier;
among Cossacks he was the wildest of Cossacks. In
knightly company he was a knight; among robbers, a
robber. Some held him to be insane; for he was an unbri-
dled, mad spirit. Why he was living in the world, what he
wanted, whither he was tending, whom he served, he knew
not himself. He served the steppes, the whirlwinds, war,
love, his own fancy. This fancy of his distinguished him
from all the other rude leaders, and from the whole robber
herd who had only plunder as an object, and for whom it
was the same whether they plundered Tartars or their own.
Bogun took plunder, but preferred war to pillage; he was
in love with peril for its own charm; he gave gold for
songs; he hunted for glory, and cared for no more.
Of all leaders, he alone personified best the Cossack
knight; therefore songs had sought him out as a favor-
ite, and his name was celebrated throughout the whole
Ukraine.

He had recently become the Pereyaslav lieutenant-colonel,
but he exercised the power of colonel; for old Loboda held
the baton feebly in his stiffening hand.

Pan Yan, therefore, knew well who Bogun was, and
if he asked the old princess whether the Cossack was in
the service of her sons, he did it through studied con-
tempt; for he felt in him an enemy, and in spite of all the
reputation of Bogun, his blood boiled up because the Cos-
sack had begun with him so insolently. He understood,
too, that what had been begun would not end in a trifle.
But Skshetliski was as unbending as an axle, self-con-
fident to excess, yielding before nothing, and really eager
for danger. He was ready even that moment to urge
his horse after Bogun, but he rode near the princess.
Besides, the wagon had already passed the ravine, and
lights were gloaming in Rozlogi.