Classics Illustrated 164 The Cossack Chief

In the grim fifteenth century, the whole of primitive Southern Russia was laid waste and burned to the ground by the Mongols. Robbed of house and home, men grew daring. A warlike flame fired the Slavonic spirit and begot Cossackdom.

There sprang up formidable settlements bound together by common danger and common hatred of Mongols. The Cossacks settled on the ashes of their homes, amid formidable foes. They grew used to looking peril straight in the face and forget there was such a thing as fear in the world.