“Boys, if we do not take this town, the Tartars will rejoice, and will not let us pass on. The more we strike them with terror, the easier will it be. Land all, and attack them all at once!”
So they did. There were many Tartars there, and they were brave.
When the Cossacks rushed at them, the Tartars began to shoot their arrows. They covered the Cossacks with them. Some were killed, and some wounded.
The Cossacks became enraged, and when they got to the Tartars, they killed all they could lay their hands on.
In this town the Cossacks found much property—cattle, rugs, furs, and honey. They buried the dead, rested themselves, took away much property, and sailed on. They did not sail far, when they saw on the shore, like a city, an endless number of troops, and the whole army surrounded by a ditch and the ditch protected by timber. The Cossacks stopped. They deliberated. Ermák gathered a circle about him.
“Well, boys, what shall we do?”
The Cossacks were frightened. Some said that they ought to sail past, while others said that they ought to go back.
And they looked gloomy and began to scold Ermák. They said:
“Why did you bring us here? Already a few of ours have been killed, and many have been wounded; and all of us will perish here.”
They began to weep.
But Ermák said to his sub-ataman, Iván Koltsó:
“Well, Ványa, what do you think?”
And Koltsó said: