"Lord colonel! lord colonel!" said the Jew in a hasty and broken voice, as though desirous of revealing something not utterly useless, "I have been in the city, lord colonel!" Taras looked at the Jew, and wondered how he had succeeded in getting into the city.

"What enemy took you there ?" "I will tell you at once," said Yankel.

"As soon as I heard the uproar this morning, when the Cossacks began to fire, I seized my caftan and, without stopping to put it on, ran at the top of my speed, thrusting my arms in on the way, because I wanted to know as soon as possible the cause of the noise and why the Cossacks were firing at dawn.

I ran to the very gate of the city, at the moment when the last of the army was passing through.

I looked, and in command of the rearguard was Cornet Galyandovitch.