<b on each side: this hard work was performed by poor Christians of the field (slaves), sitting several people on one oar, chained with heavy ropes to benches in the depths of the galley. They sat until then. Here are slaves until either death comes on its own, or due to old age or infirmity, a living person is thrown overboard the galley. Overseers with whips walked between the rows of benches and brutally lashed the bare backs of the lazy and weak; The slaves were fed sparingly and poorly, and were forced to work both day and night. It was difficult to think of anything worse than the situation of these unfortunate people; the people nicknamed the galley “hard labor”, hence this word came to Rus' as an understanding of the place of the greatest torment.
It is impossible to describe the joy of the freed slaves; Everyone crossed themselves, cried, kissed the Cossacks and each other; It often happened that brothers, relatives, old friends and fellow countrymen met here: there was no end to the jubilation. °
Throwing their broken shackles into the sea, the slaves threw off their rags, dressed in the clothes of the killed Turks, took their weapons and switched to seagulls; Then all the most valuable things were taken from the galley, and it was allowed to sink, having drilled holes in the bottom and sides of the ship.
Former slaves talked long and hard about their stay in the “filthy” land; The Cossacks eagerly listened to these stories, and between the darkness the calm-looking sea was preparing something new for them: a small cloud appeared on the horizon, quickly growing into a huge cloud, covering half the sky in a few minutes. A gusty wind ran over the waves, gray “bunnies” scallops appeared on their tops, and the water in the sea turned black. A cannon shot sounded muffled from the ataman's gull: it was a signal to gather near the pei. Koshevoy ordered the seagulls to stay as close to him as possible.
HER
seagulls and friends to each other so that the wind would not scatter them across the sea, and instilled in newcomers not to be afraid of bad weather. The wind jerked stronger and hummed in the gear, rain suddenly poured out, the light flashed, and a thunderstorm began...
Rolls of thunder were heard continuously, thunder after thunder cut through the black sky, seagulls dived on huge waves; it seemed that the raging sea would swallow the fragile Cossack boats, but it was not for nothing that the Cossacks sailed along the rapids of the Dnieper: they knew how to fight the wave.
In the darkness, as if cut through by dazzling zigzags, under the roar of the wind, among the mountains and splashes of water, the rowers desperately worked under the pouring rain; the voices of the helmsmen were not heard; the water that filled the seagulls poured out in caps, with everything that was suitable for this work. Finally, the storm began to subside, the thunder and moths became less frequent, the sky cleared slightly, the waves became not so large - the Cossacks breathed more freely... An hour later, the sun shone cheerfully again, the thunderstorm definitely never happened: just as unexpectedly it came, so unexpectedly it ended, only the sea was still seething; soon the waves became smaller and stopped rolling over the seagulls, where new work was already underway: everything was put in order, people were counted, they looked to see if anyone had been swept out to sea by the wave, they dried clothes and supplies...
For several more days and nights the Cossacks sailed across the sea, staying away from the shores, and finally, by order of the Koschevoi, they turned towards them. The Cossacks looked with greedy curiosity at this region, about which freed slaves and old Cossacks told so many wonderful and terrible things, having been here either during their previous sea voyages, or as the same poor “polonyanniks”. Having stopped at sea so as not to be noticed from the city, which the Cossacks were planning to attack, they sent two or three people from experience.
ny Cossacks familiar with the Turkish and Tatar languages, as spies, i.e. Shshonov. These Cossacks disguised themselves as Turks or Tatars and in small boats at night, or even during the day, moored to the shore, sometimes even to the pier itself.