s woe. The two flotillas, with
fluttering pennants and resounding music, and crowded with
gayly-dressed and sanguine warriors, floated down the streams until
they met, at the confluence of these rivers, near Nizni Novgorod. Here
the two fleets, covering the Volga for many leagues, were united.
Spreading their sails, they passed rapidly down the river about two
hundred miles, until they arrived at Kezan, the capital of the horde.
Deeming their enterprise a religious one, in which the cross of Christ
was to be planted against the banners of the infidel, they all partook
of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and engaged in the most earnest
exercises of devotion the evening before they reached their place of
landing.

In those days intelligence was only transmitted by means of couriers,
at vast expense, and either accompanied by an army or by a strong body
guard. The Mogols had no suspicion of the tempest which was about to
break over their heads. On the 21st of May, 1469, before the dawn of
the morning, the Russians leaped upon the shore near Kezan, the
capital, and with trumpet blasts and appalling cries, rushed upon the
sleeping inhabitants. Without resistance they penetrated the streets.
The Russians, in war, were as barbaric as the Tartars. The city was
set on fire; indiscriminate slaughter ensued, and awful vengeance was
taken for the woes which the horde had for ages inflicted upon Russia.
But few escaped. Those who fell not by the sword perished in the
flames. Many Russian prisoners were found in the city who had been in
slavery for years.

Thus far, success, exceeding the most sanguine anticipations, had
accompanied the enterprise. The victorious Russians, burdened with the
plunder of the city, reembarked, and, descending the river some
distance, landed upon an island which presented every attraction for a
party of pleasure, and there they passed a week in rest, in feasting
and in all festive joys. Ibrahim, prince of the horde, escaped the
general carnage, and, in a few days, rallied such a force of cavalry
as to make a fierce assault upon the invaders. The strife continued,
from morning until night, without any decisive results, when both
parties were glad to seek repose, with the Volga flowing between them.
The next morning neither were willing to renew the combat. Ibrahim
soon had a flotilla upon the Volga nearly equal to that of the
Russians. The war now raged, embittered by every passion which can
goad the