"Well, Vanya, what do you think?"

And Koltso said:

"What do I think? If they do not kill us to-day, they will to-morrow; and if not to-morrow, we shall die anyway on the oven. In my opinion, we ought to go out on the sh.o.r.e and rush in a body against the Tartars.

Maybe G.o.d will give us victory."

Ermak said:

"You are a brave man, Vanya! That is what must be done. Oh, you boys!

You are not Cossacks, but old women. All you are good for is to catch sturgeon and frighten Tartar women. Can't you see for yourselves? If we turn back we shall be destroyed; and if we stay here, they will destroy us. How can we go back? After a little work, it will come easier.

Listen, boys! My father had a strong mare. Down-hill she would pull and on an even place she would pull. But when it came to going up-hill, she became stubborn and turned back, thinking that it would be easier. But my father took a club and belaboured her with it. She twisted and tugged and broke the whole cart. My father unhitched her from the cart and gave her a terrible whacking. If she had pulled the cart, she would have suffered no torment. So it is with us, boys. There is only one thing left for us to do, and that is to make straight for the Tartars."

The Cossacks laughed, and said:

"Timofeich, you are evidently more clever than we are. You have no business to ask us fools. Take us where you please. A man does not die twice, and one death cannot be escaped."

And Ermak said:

"Listen, boys! This is what we shall do. They have not yet seen us all.

Let us divide into three parts. Those in the middle will march straight against them, and the other two divisions will surround them on the right and on the left. When the middle detachment begins to walk toward them, they will think that we are all there, and so they will leap forward. Then we will strike them from the sides. That's the way, boys!

If we beat these, we shall not have to be afraid of anybody. We shall ourselves be kings."

And so they did. When the middle detachment with Ermak advanced, the Tartars screamed and leaped forward; then they were attacked by Ivan Koltso on the right, and by Meshcheryakov the ataman on the left. The Tartars were frightened, and ran. The Cossacks killed a great many of them. After that n.o.body dared to oppose Ermak. And thus he entered the very city of Sibir. And there Ermak settled down as though he were a king.

Then kinglets came to see Ermak, to bow to him. Tartars began to settle down in Sibir, and Kuchum and his son-in-law Mametkul were afraid to go straight at him, but kept going around in a circle, wondering how they might destroy him.

In the spring, during high water, the Tartars came running to Ermak, and said:

"Mametkul is again going against you: he has gathered a large army, and is making a stand near the river Vagay."

Ermak made his way over rivers, swamps, brooks, and forests, stole up with his Cossacks, rushed against Mametkul, killed a large number of Tartars, and took Mametkul alive and brought him to Sibir. After that there were only a few unruly Tartars left, and Ermak went that summer against those that had not yet surrendered; and along the Irtsh and the Ob Ermak conquered so much land that one could not march around it in two months.

When Ermak had conquered all that land, he sent a messenger to the Stroganovs, and a letter:

"I have taken Kuchum's city," he said, "and have captured Mametkul, and have brought all the people here under my rule. Only I have lost many Cossacks. Send people to us that we may feel more cheerful. There is no end to the wealth in this country."

He sent to them many costly furs,--fox, marten, and sable furs.

Two years pa.s.sed after that. Ermak was still holding Sibir, but no aid came from Russia, and few Russians were left with Ermak.

One day the Tartar Karacha sent a messenger to Ermak, saying:

"We have surrendered to you, but now the Nogays are oppressing us. Send your brave men to aid us! We shall together conquer the Nogays. And we swear to you that we shall not insult your brave men."

Ermak believed their oath, and sent forty men under Ivan Koltso. When these forty men came there, the Tartars rushed against them and killed them, so there were still fewer Cossacks left.

Another time some Bukhara merchants sent word to Ermak that they were on their way to the city of Sibir with goods, but that Kuchum had taken his stand with an army and would not let them pa.s.s through.

Ermak took with him fifty men and went out to clear the road for the Bukhara merchants. He came to the Irtsh River, but did not find the Bukharans. He remained there over night. It was a dark night, and it rained. The Cossacks had just lain down to sleep, when suddenly the Tartars rushed out and threw themselves on the sleepy men and began to strike them down. Ermak jumped up and began to fight. He was wounded in the hand. He ran toward the river. The Tartars after him. He threw himself into the river. That was the last time he was seen. His body was not recovered, and no one found out how he died.

The following year came the Tsar's army, and the Tartars were pacified.

NATURAL SCIENCE STORIES

1869-1872

NATURAL SCIENCE STORIES

STORIES FROM PHYSICS

THE MAGNET

I.

In olden days there was a shepherd whose name was Magnes. Magnes lost a sheep. He went to the mountains to find it. He came to a place where there were barren rocks. He walked over these rocks, and felt that his boots were sticking to them. He touched them with his hand, but they were dry and did not stick to his hand. He started to walk again, and again his boots stuck to the rocks. He sat down, took off one of his boots, took it into his hand, and touched the rocks with it.

Whenever he touched them with his skin, or with the sole of his boot, they did not stick; but when he touched them with the nails, they did stick.

Magnes had a cane with an iron point.

He touched a rock with the wood; it did not stick; he touched it with the iron end, and it stuck so that he could not pull it off.

Magnes looked at the stone, and he saw that it looked like iron, and he took pieces of that stone home with him. Since then that rock has been known, and has been called Magnet.

II.

Magnet is found in the earth with iron ore. Where there is magnet in the ore, the iron is of the best quality. The magnet resembles iron.

If you put a piece of iron on a magnet, the iron itself begins to attract other iron. And if you put a steel needle on a magnet, and hold it thus for awhile, the needle will become a magnet, and will attract iron. If two magnets are brought together at their ends, one side will turn away from the other, while the other sides will be attracted.

If a magnetic rod is broken in two, each half will attract at one end, and will turn away at the other end. Cut it again, and the same will happen; cut it again, as often as you please, and still the same will happen: equal ends will turn away from each other, while opposite ends will be attracted, as though the magnet were pushing away at one end, and pulling in at the other. No matter how you may break it, it will be as though there were a b.u.mp at one end, and a saucer at the other.

Whichever way you put them together,--a b.u.mp and a saucer will meet, but a b.u.mp and a b.u.mp, or a saucer and a saucer will not.