The old and the experienced instructed the young.

The blows and shouts of the workers rose all over the neighbourhood; the bank shook and moved about.
About this time a large ferry-boat began to near the shore.

The mass of people standing in it began to wave their hands from a distance.

They were Cossacks in torn, ragged gaberdines.

Their disordered garments, for many had on nothing but their shirts, with a short pipe in their mouths, showed that they had either escaped from some disaster or had caroused to such an extent that they had drunk up all they had on their bodies.
A short, broad-shouldered Cossack of about fifty stepped out from the midst of them and stood in front.