But the cruel Cossacks paid no heed; and, raising the children in the streets upon the points of their lances, they cast them also into the flames.
"This is a mass for the soul of Ostap, you heathen Lyakhs," was all that Taras said.

And such masses for Ostap he had sung in every village, until the Polish Government perceived that Taras's raids were more than ordinary expeditions for plunder; and Pototzky was given five regiments, and ordered to capture him without fail.
Six days did the Cossacks retreat along the by-roads before their pursuers; their horses were almost equal to this unchecked flight, and nearly saved them.

But this time Pototzky was also equal to the task intrusted to him; unweariedly he followed them, and overtook them on the bank of the Dniester, where Taras had taken possession of an abandoned and ruined castle for the purpose of resting.
On the very brink of the Dniester it stood, with its shattered ramparts and the ruined remnants of its walls.

The summit of the cliff was strewn with ragged stones and broken bricks, ready at any moment to detach themselves.

The royal hetman, Pototzky, surrounded it on the two sides which faced the plain.