diff options
Diffstat (limited to '37198-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 37198-h/37198-h.htm | 28468 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37198-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 399350 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37198-h/images/map.jpg | bin | 0 -> 556237 bytes |
3 files changed, 28468 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/37198-h/37198-h.htm b/37198-h/37198-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5965db5 --- /dev/null +++ b/37198-h/37198-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,28468 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Deluge, Vol. I. (of 2), by Henryk Sienkiewicz</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +.center {margin: auto; text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} + +.poem2 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 5em; + margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0px;} +.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0px;} +.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:8em; margin-right:0px;} + +.letter {font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:100%;} + +hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black;} + +p.hang1 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em;} + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +p.caption {font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Deluge, Vol. I. (of 2), by Henryk Sienkiewicz</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Deluge, Vol. I. (of 2)<br /> + An Historical Novel of Poland, Sweden, and Russia.</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Jeremiah Curtin</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 24, 2011 [eBook #37198]<br /> +[Most recently updated: May 15, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Charles Bowen</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DELUGE, VOL. I. (OF 2) ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>THE DELUGE.</h1> + +<h3><span class="sc">Vol. I</span>.</h3> + +<table cellpadding="20" style="border:4px solid black; width:70%; margin-left:17%"> +<tr><td> +<h3>THE WORKS</h3> +<h5>OF</h5> +<h3>HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ.</h3> + +<h4>AUTHORIZED UNABRIDGED TRANSLATIONS BY +JEREMIAH CURTIN.</h4> +<br/> +<h4>LIBRARY EDITION.</h4> + +<hr class="W10" /> + +<h4>Historical Romances.</h4> + +<p style="text-align:center"><i>Poland, Turkey, Russia, and Sweden</i>.</p> + +<p class="continue"><b><span class="sc">With Fire And Sword</span></b>. 1 vol.<br/> +<b><span class="sc">The Deluge</span></b>. 2 vols.<br/> +<b><span class="sc">Pan Michael</span></b>. 1 vol.</p> +<br/> +<p style="text-align:center"><i>Rome in the time of Nero</i>.</p> + +<p class="continue"><b>“<span class="sc">Quo Vadis</span>.”</b> 1 vol. +</p> + +<h4>Novels of Modern Poland.</h4> + +<p class="continue"><b><span class="sc">Children of the Soil</span></b>. 1 vol.<br/> +<b><span class="sc">Without Dogma</span></b>. 1 vol. (Translated by Iza Young.)</p> +<br/> +<h4>Short Stories.</h4> + +<p class="continue"><b><span class="sc">Hania</span></b>, and Other Stories. 1 vol.<br/> +<b><span class="sc">Sielanka, a Forest Picture</span></b>, and Other Stories. 1 vol.</p> + +<hr class="W10" /> + +<p class="continue"><b><span class="sc">On the Bright Shore</span></b>. 1 vol.<br/> +<b><span class="sc">Let Us Follow Him</span></b>. 1 vol. +</p> + +<p class="continue"><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup>The above two are also included in the volume entitled +“Hania.”</p> + +<p class="continue"><b><span class="sc">Yanko the Musician</span></b>, and Other Stories, 1 vol.<br/> +<b><span class="sc">Lillian Morris</span></b>, and Other Stories, 1 vol.</p> + +<p><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup>The tales and sketches included in these two volumes are now +reprinted with others by Sienkiewicz in the volume entitled “Sielanka, a Forest Picture, and Other Stories.”</p></td> +</tr></table> + +<h2>THE DELUGE.</h2> + +<h3>An Historical Novel</h3> + +<h5>OF</h5> + +<h2>POLAND, SWEDEN, AND RUSSIA.</h2> + +<h5>A SEQUEL TO</h5> + +<h3>“WITH FIRE AND SWORD.”</h3> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ.</h3> + +<h4><i>AUTHORIZED AND UNABRIDGED TRANSLATION FROM +THE POLISH BY</i></h4> + +<h3>JEREMIAH CURTIN.</h3> + +<h4>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h4> + +<h4><span class="sc">Vol. I</span>.</h4> + +<h3>BOSTON:<br/> +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br/> +1915.</h3> + +<h4><i>Copyright, 1891</i>, by Jeremiah Curtin.</h4> + +<hr class="W20" /> + +<h5>Printers<br/> +<span class="sc">S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U.S.A.</span></h5> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>TO HON. CHARLES A. DANA,</h2> + +<h3><span class="sc">Editor of “The Sun,”</span></h3> + +<p style="text-indent:60%"><span class="sc">New York</span>.</p> + + +<p><span class="sc">Sir</span>,—I beg to dedicate to you this translation of a remarkable work, +touching a period eventful in the history of the Poles, and the Slav +race in general. You will appreciate the pictures of battle and trial +contained in these volumes, for you know great events not from books +merely but from personal contact. You receive pleasure from various +literatures, and from considering those points of character by which +nations and men are distinguished; hence, as I think, <span class="sc">The Deluge</span> will +give you some mental enjoyment, and perhaps turn your attention to a +new field of history.</p> + +<p class="right">JEREMIAH CURTIN.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:10%; text-indent:-10%"><span class="sc">Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology</span>,<br/> +November 25, 1891.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<p>The wars described in <span class="sc">The Deluge</span> are the most complicated and +significant in the whole career of the Commonwealth, for the political +motives which came into play during these wars had their origin in +early and leading historical causes.</p> + +<p>The policy of the Teutonic Knights gave the first of its final results +in the war of 1655, between Sweden and Poland, since it made the +elector independent in Prussia, where soon after, his son was crowned +king. The war with Great Russia in 1654, though its formal cause came, +partly at least, from the struggle of 1612, in which the Poles had +endeavored to subjugate Moscow, was really roused by the conflict of +Southern Russia with Poland to win religious and material equality.</p> + +<p>The two fundamental events of Polish history are the settlement of the +Teutonic Knights in Prussia, through the action of the Poles +themselves; and the union of Poland with Lithuania and Russia by the +marriage of Yadviga, the Polish princess, to Yagyello, Grand Prince of +Lithuania.</p> + +<p>Before touching on the Teutonic Knights, a few words may be given to +the land where they began that career which cut off Poland from the +sea, took from the Poles their political birthplace, and gave its name +and territory to the chief kingdom of the new German Empire, the +kingdom which is in fact the creator and head of that Empire.</p> + +<p>Prussia in the thirteenth century extended from the Vistula eastward to +the Niemen, and from the Baltic southward about as far as it does at +present. In this territory lived the Prussians. East of the Niemen +lived the Lithuanians, another division of the same stock of people. +West of the Vistula lay Pomorye,<a name="div2Ref_01" href="#div2_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a> now Pomerania, occupied at that +time exclusively by Slavs under Polish dominion.</p> + +<p>The Prussians, a people closely related to the Slavs, were still +Pagans, as were also the Lithuanians; and having a more highly +developed religion than either the pre-Christian Slavs or the Germans, +their conversion was likely to be of a more difficult nature.</p> + +<p>At the end of the tenth and in the beginning of the thirteenth +centuries attempts were made to convert the Prussians; but the only +result was the death of the missionaries, who seem to have been too +greatly filled with zeal to praise their own faith and throw contempt +on that of the people among whom they were really only guests and +sojourners.</p> + +<p>Finally, a man appeared more adroit and ambitious than others,—Christian, +a monk of Olivka, near Dantzig. This monk, we are told, had a knowledge +of the weak points of men, spoke Prussian as well as Polish, was not +seeking the crown of martyrdom, and never made light of things held +sacred by those to whom he was preaching. After a few years his success +was such as to warrant a journey to Rome, where he explained to Innocent +III. the results of his labor. The Pope encouraged the missionary, and +in 1211 instructed the Archbishop of Gnezen to aid Christian with his +co-workers and induce secular princes to help them.</p> + +<p>Christian returned from Rome with renewed zeal; but instead of being +helped he was hindered, for tribute and labor were imposed on his +converts by the secular power. Since the new religion was coupled with +servitude, the Prussians were roused greatly against it.</p> + +<p>Christian strove to obtain relief for his converts, but in vain. Then, +taking two native followers, he made a second journey to Rome, was +created first Bishop of Prussia, and returned again to the field.</p> + +<p>The great body of Prussians now considered all converts as traitors. +The priests of the native religion roused the people, and attacked +those persons as renegades who had deserted the ancient faith and were +bringing slavery to the country. They went farther and fell upon +Mazovia, whence the propaganda had issued. Konrad, unable to defend +himself, bought them off with rich presents. The newly made converts +were killed, captured, or driven to deep forests.</p> + +<p>Christian turned to the Pope a third time, and implored him to direct +against Prussia those Poles who were going to the Holy Land.</p> + +<p>The Archbishop of Gnezen was instructed from Rome to make this change, +and the Poles were summoned against Prussia for the following year. The +crusade was preached also in Germany.</p> + +<p>Warriors arrived from both countries in fairly large numbers, and +during their presence ruined villages and churches were rebuilt in the +district of Culm, where the conversions had taken place mainly. In a +couple of seasons the majority of the warriors found their way home +again. A second crusade was proclaimed, and men responded freely. All +these forces were simply guarding the missionaries and the converts,—a +position which could not endure.</p> + +<p>Christian, seeing this, formed the plan of founding an order of armed +monks in Poland like the Knights of the Sword in Livonia. Konrad gave +his approval at once.</p> + +<p>The Bishop of Modena, at that time papal legate in Poland, hastened the +establishment of the order; for to him it seemed the best agent to bend +the stiff necks of idolaters. Permission to found the order was +obtained from the Pope, and a promise of means to maintain it from +Konrad.</p> + +<p>Christian, who had interested Rome and the West in his work, now gave +great praise before the world to the Prince of Mazovia, who thereupon +rewarded him with a gift of twelve castles and one hundred villages, +reserving merely sovereign rights without income. This gift was +confirmed to the Bishop of Prussia by Honorius III.</p> + +<p>Christian labored so zealously that in 1225 he consecrated twenty-five +superior knights in his new order, which received the same rules as the +Livonian Knights of the Sword,—that is, the rules of the Templars.</p> + +<p>The new knights were called Brothers of Dobjin, from the castle of +Dobjin, which Konrad gave them as a residence, adding the district of +Leslin near Inovratslav as a means of support.</p> + +<p>As soon as the Brothers had settled in their castle, they attacked the +Prussians, ruined villages, and brought in plunder. The enraged +Prussians collected large forces, and attacked the land of Culm, with +the intent to raze Dobjin. On hearing this, Konrad with his own troops +and a general levy hastened to the relief of the order.</p> + +<p>A bloody and stubborn battle of two days’ duration was fought with +great loss on both sides. Konrad, despairing of victory, left the +field, thus causing the complete overthrow of the Poles. The surviving +Brothers of Dobjin took refuge in the castle, which the Prussians were +unable to capture. The order, shattered at its very inception, hoped +for reinforcements from abroad; but the Pope at that juncture was +sending a crusade to Palestine, and would not permit a division in the +forces of the West. The Prussians, elated with victory, plundered at +pleasure the lands bordering on their own.</p> + +<p>In this disaster Christian conceived the idea of calling in the +Teutonic Knights against Prussia. This idea, suicidal from a Polish +point of view, was accepted by the Prince of Mazovia.</p> + +<p>The Teutonic Order was founded in Palestine near the end of the twelfth +century to succeed some German hospitallers who had resided in +Jerusalem till the capture of the city by Saracens in 1187.</p> + +<p>In a few years the new order became military, and under the patronage +of Frederick, Duke of Suabia, afterward the Emperor Frederick II., +acquired much wealth, with great imperial and papal favor. Under Herman +Von Salza, who was grand master from 1210 to 1239, the future of the +order was determined, its main scene of action transferred to the West, +and that career begun which made the Teutonic Order the most remarkable +of the weapon-bearing monks of Europe. Herman Von Salza—a keen, crafty +man, of great political astuteness and ambition—had determined to win +separate territory for the order, and the dignity of Prince of the +Empire for the grand master.</p> + +<p>Nothing therefore could be more timely for his plans than the +invitation from the Prince of Mazovia, who in 1225 sent envoys to +Herman; especially since the order had just been deprived in +Transylvania of lands given to support it while warding off heathen +Kumanians.</p> + +<p>The envoys offered the Teutonic master Culm and some adjoining lands +for the order, in return for curbing the Prussians. Herman resolved to +accept, should the Emperor prove friendly to the offer. He hastened to +Frederick at Rimini, explained the whole question, received a grant in +which Konrad’s endowment was confirmed; besides the order was given all +the land it could conquer and make subject to the Emperor alone. The +grand master’s next care was to obtain papal approval.</p> + +<p>Two envoys from Herman were sent to Poland, where they obtained, as the +chronicles of the order relate, a written title to Culm and the +neighboring land as well as to all Prussia which they could conquer. +Near Torun (Thorn) a wooden fortress was built, called in German +Fogelsang (Bird-song). This fortress was the first residence of the +knights, who later on had so much power and such influence in the +history of Poland.</p> + +<p>Only two years later did Herman send his knights to Culm. One of the +first acts was to purchase for various considerations, from the Bishop +of Plotsk and from Christian, the Bishop of Prussia, their rights over +the lands granted them in Culm. The labor of conversion began, and soon +the grand master prevailed on the Pope to proclaim throughout Europe a +crusade against Prussia.</p> + +<p>From Poland alone came twenty thousand men, and many more from other +parts of Europe. When the knights had made a firm beginning of work, +their design of independence was revealed. They wished to be rid of +even a show of submission to the Prince of Mazovia. They raised the +question by trying to incorporate the remaining Brothers of Dobjin, and +thus acquire the grant given them by Konrad. They had disputes also +with Bishop Christian and the Bishop of Plotsk. In 1234 the Bishop of +Modena was sent as papal legate to settle the disputes. The legate +decided, to the satisfaction of the bishops, that of all lands won from +the Pagans two thirds were to be retained by the knights and one third +given to the bishops, the church administration being under the order +in its own two thirds. For the Prince of Mazovia nothing was left, +though he asserted sovereign rights in Culm and Prussia, and would not +permit the order to acquire the grant given the Brothers of Dobjin by +incorporating the remaining members of that body.</p> + +<p>The Teutonic Order would not recognize the sovereignty of the Polish +prince, and insisted on incorporating the Brothers of Dobjin. The +order, knowing that Konrad would yield only under constraint, placed +its possessions at the feet of the Pope, made them the property of the +Holy See. This action found success; the Pope declared Culm and all the +acquisitions of the order the property of Saint Peter, which the church +for a yearly tax then gave in feudal tenure to the Teutonic Knights, +who therefore could not recognize in those regions the sovereignty of +any secular prince. In August, 1234, the Pope informed Konrad in a +special bull of the position of the order, and enjoined on him to aid +it with all means in his power. The Polish prince could do nothing; he +could not even prevent the incorporation of the majority of the +remaining Brothers of Dobjin, and of the lands and property given for +their use he was able to save nothing but the castle of Dobjin.</p> + +<p>Konrad now found himself in a very awkward position; he had introduced +of his own will a foreign and hostile power which had all Western +Europe and the Holy See to support it, which had unbounded means of +discrediting the Poles and putting them in the wrong before the world; +and these means the order never failed to use. In half a century after +their coming the knights, by the aid of volunteers and contributions +from all Europe, had converted Prussia, and considered Poland and the +adjoining parts of Lithuania as sure conquests to be made at their own +leisure and at the expense of all Western Christendom.</p> + +<p>The first Polish territory acquired was Pomerania. The career of the +knights was easy and successful till the union of Poland and Lithuania +in 1386. In 1410, at the battle called by the names both of Grünwald +and Tannenberg, the power of the order was broken. Some years later +Pomerania was returned to Poland, and the order was allowed to remain +in East Prussia in the position of a vassal to the Commonwealth. In +this reduced state the knights lived for a time, tried to gain allies, +but could not; the most they did—and that was the best for the German +cause—was to induce Albert, a member of the Franconian branch of the +Hohenzollerns, to become grand master. He began to reorganize the +order, and tried to shake off allegiance to Poland; but finding no aid +in the Empire or elsewhere, he acted on Luther’s advice to introduce +Protestantism and convert Prussia into a secular and hereditary duchy. +This he did in 1525. Poland, with a simplicity quite equal to that of +Konrad, who called in the order at first, permitted the change. The +military monks married, and were converted into hereditary nobles. +Albert became Duke of Prussia, and took the oath of allegiance to +Poland. Later the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg inherited the duchy, +became feudatories of Poland as well as electors at home. This was the +position during the war between Sweden and Poland described in THE +DELUGE. Frederick William, known as the Great Elector, was ruling at +that time in Brandenburg and Prussia. He acted with great adroitness +and success; paying no attention to his oath as vassal, he took the +part of one side, and then of the other when he saw fit. He fought on +the Swedish side in the three days’ battle around Warsaw in which Yan +Kazimir was defeated. This service was to be rewarded by the +independence of Prussia.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the scale turned in favor of Poland when the Great Elector +assisted Yan Kazimir against Sweden; and in the treaty of Wehlau (1657) +Poland relinquished its rights over Prussia, which thus became +sovereign and independent in Europe. This most important change was +confirmed three years later at the peace of Oliva.</p> + +<p>Frederick, son of the Great Elector, was crowned “King in Prussia” at +Königsberg in 1701. The Elector of Brandenburg became king in that +territory in which he had no suzerain.</p> + +<p>At the first division of Poland, Royal Prussia of <span class="sc">The Deluge</span>, the +territory lying between the Vistula and Brandenburg, went to the new +kingdom; and Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Prussia became continuous +territory.</p> + +<p>The early success of the Teutonic Knights was so great that in the +third half century of their rule on the Baltic their power overshadowed +Poland, which was thus seriously threatened. Toward the end of the +fourteenth century, however (1386), the Poles escaped imminent danger +by their union with Lithuania and Russia. Through this most important +connection they rose at once from a position of peril to one of safety +and power.</p> + +<p>This union, brought about through the marriage of the Polish princess +Yadviga to Yagyello, Grand Prince of Lithuania, and by exceedingly +adroit management on the part of the Polish nobles and clergy, opened +to the Poles immense regions of country and the way to vast wealth. +Before the union their whole land was composed of Great and Little +Poland, with Mazovia (see map); after the union two thirds of the best +lands of pre-Tartar Russia formed part of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>Since Poland managed to place and maintain itself at the head of +affairs, though this roused at all times opposition of varying violence +in the other two parts of the Commonwealth, the social ideals and +political structure of Poland prevailed in Lithuania and Russia, so far +as the upper classes were concerned. In Lithuania, by the terms of the +union, all were obliged to become Catholic; in different parts of +Russia, which was Orthodox, the people were undisturbed in their +religion at first; but after a time the majority of the nobles became +Catholic in religion, and Poles in language, name, manners, and ideas. +To these was added a large immigration of Polish nobles seeking +advancement and wealth. All Russia found itself after a time under +control of an upper class which was out of all sympathy with the great +mass and majority of the people.</p> + +<p>During the Yagyellon dynasty, which lasted from 1386 to 1572, the +religious question was not so prominent for any save nobles; but +ownership of their own land and their own labor was gradually slipping +away from the people. During the reign of Sigismund III. (1587-1632), +religion was pushed to the foreground, the United Church was brought +into Russia; and land and religion, which raise the two greatest +problems in a State, the material and the spiritual, were the main +objects of thought throughout Russia.</p> + +<p>Under Vladislav in 1648 the storm burst forth in Southern Russia. There +was a popular uprising, the most wide-spread and stubborn in history, +during which the Poles lost many battles and gained one great victory, +that of Berestechko; the Southern Russians turned to the North, and +selected the Tsar Alexai Mihailovich as sovereign.</p> + +<p>Jan. 8, 1654, there was a great meeting in Pereyaslav,<a name="div2Ref_02" href="#div2_02"><sup>[2]</sup></a> at which +Bogdan Hmelnitski, hetman of the Zaporojian army and head of all +Southern Russia, after he had consulted with the Cossacks, took his +place in the centre of the circle, and in presence of the army, the +people, and Buturlin, the envoy of Alexai Mihailovich, said:—</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen, Colonels, Essauls, Commanders of hundreds, the whole +Zaporojian army, and all Orthodox Christians,—You know how the Lord +delivered us from the hands of our enemies who persecuted the Church of +God and were envenomed against all Christians of our Eastern Orthodoxy. +We have lived six years without a sovereign, in endless battles against +our persecutors and enemies who desire to root out the church of God, +so that the Russian name may not be heard in our land. This position +has grown unendurable, and we cannot live longer without a sovereign. +Therefore we have assembled a council before the whole people, so that +you with us may choose from four sovereigns that one whom you wish. The +first is the Sovereign of Turkey, who has invited us under his +authority many times through his envoys; the second is the Khan of the +Crimea; the third the King of Poland, who, if we wish, may receive us +into former favor; the fourth is the Orthodox sovereign, the Tsar and +Grand Prince Alexai Mihailovich, the sole ruler of all Russia, whom we +have been imploring six years with unceasing petitions. Choose whom you +like. The Sovereign of Turkey is a Mussulman; you all know how our +brethren, the Greeks, Orthodox Christians, suffer, and what persecution +they endure from godless men. A Mussulman also is the Khan of the +Crimea, whom we took into friendship of necessity, by reason of the +unendurable woes which we passed through. Of persecutions from Polish +lords it is needless to speak; you know yourselves that they esteemed a +Jew and a dog more than a Christian, our brother. But the great +Orthodox sovereign of the East is of one faith with us, one confession +of the Greek rite; we are one spiritual body with the Orthodoxy of +Great Russia, having Jesus Christ for our head. This great sovereign, +this Christian Tsar, taking pity on the suffering of our Orthodox +church in Little Russia, giving ear to our six years’ entreating, has +inclined his heart to us graciously, and was pleased to send with his +favor dignitaries from near his person. If we love him earnestly, we +shall not find a better refuge than his lofty hand. If any man is not +agreed with us, let him go whither he pleases; the road is free—”</p> + +<p>Here the whole people shouted: “We choose to be under the Orthodox +sovereign; better to die in our Orthodox faith than to go to a hater of +Christ, to a Pagan!”</p> + +<p>Then the Pereyaslav colonel, Teterya, passed around in the circle, and +asked in every direction: “Are all thus agreed?”</p> + +<p>“All with one spirit,” was the answer.</p> + +<p>The hetman now said: “May the Lord our God strengthen us under the +strong hand of the Tsar.”</p> + +<p>The people shouted back in one voice: “God confirm us! God give us +strength to be one for the ages!”</p> + +<p>The hetman, the army, and the representatives of Southern Russia took +the oath of allegiance to the Tsar. The result of this action was a war +between the Commonwealth on one side, and Northern and Southern Russia +on the other. The Commonwealth being thus occupied on the east, Sweden +decided to attack on the west.</p> + +<p>The war between Russia and the Commonwealth lasted thirteen years, and +ended with a truce of thirteen years more, made at Andrusovo. By this +agreement the city and province of Smolensk went to Russia, and all the +left bank of the Dnieper, while Kieff was to be occupied by Poland +after two years. This truce became a treaty during the reign of +Sobyeski. Kieff remained with the Russians, and peace was unbroken till +the second half of the following century, when all Russia west of the +Dnieper was restored to the East in nearly the same limits which it had +before the Tartar invasion; excepting the territory included in +Galicia, and known as Red Russia.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Jeremiah Curtin.</span></p> + +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology</span>,</p> +<p style="text-indent:10%">November 25, 1891.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>REMARKS ON PERSONAGES IN “THE DELUGE.”</h2> + +<hr class="W10" /> + +<p>Yan Kazimir was a son of Sigismund III., who was a son of King John of +Sweden and Catherine, daughter of Sigismund I. of Poland.</p> + +<p>John of Sweden was succeeded by his son Sigismund, who under the name +of Sigismund III. was elected King of Poland in 1587 to succeed his +mother’s brother, Sigismund Augustus, the last descendant of Yagyello +in the male line.</p> + +<p>Sigismund III. was dethroned by the Swedes, and his issue excluded from +the succession. Duke Charles, the ablest of Gustavus Vasa’s sons, and +uncle of Sigismund, was made king as Charles IX.</p> + +<p>This Charles IX. was father of Gustavus Adolphus. Gustavus Adolphus was +succeeded by his only daughter, Christina, who would not marry, and who +after reigning for a time resigned in favor of her cousin Karl Gustav +of Zweibrücken,<a name="div2Ref_03" href="#div2_03"><sup>[3]</sup></a> son of the only sister of Gustavus Adolphus. +Gustavus Vasa was therefore the great-grandfather of both Yan Kazimir +and Karl Gustav, who were thus second cousins. The Polish Vasas laid +claim to the Swedish crown, thereby causing the Commonwealth during +sixty years much loss in money and men. Yan Kazimir relinquished this +claim when he made peace with Sweden.</p> + +<p>Before his election Yan Kazimir, being a cardinal, was dispensed from +his vows by the Pope. Chosen king, he married Louise Marie, daughter of +the Duke of Nevers, a woman of strong will and much beauty.</p> + +<p>Discouraged and wearied by many wars and reverses, and more than all by +the endless dissensions of magnates, Yan Kazimir resigned the kingly +office in 1668, and retired to France. Being now a widower, he became +Abbot of St. Germain and St. Martin, and lived on his stipend from +these foundations, for the Poles refused to continue his pension. It +seems, however, that he did not remain in seclusion till the end, for +he is mentioned as marrying in secret a widow who had once been a +laundress. He died in 1672, remembering the world much more than the +world remembered him.</p> + +<p>Yan Zamoyski, one of the most celebrated nobles in Polish history, was +the grandfather of Sobiepan Zamoyski. The time of Zamoyski’s success +was during the reign of Stephen Batory, who gave him more offices and +power than any citizen of the Commonwealth had ever enjoyed. As +castellan of Cracow, he was the first among lay senators; as starosta +of the same territory, he had extensive jurisdiction over criminals in +Little Poland; as hetman, he was commander of all the military forces +of the kingdom; as chancellor, he held the seals, without which no +official act of the king had validity.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most notable action in Zamoyski’s career as a civilian +during Batory’s reign was his treatment of the Zborovskis, one of whom +he had beheaded, and another condemned to decapitation and infamy. The +hatred of the Zborovskis for Zamoyski became so intense that later on +they tried to seat their candidate, Maximilian of Austria, in +opposition to Sigismund III., Zamoyski’s choice and that of the +majority. The Zborovski party brought their candidate to the gate of +Cracow, intending to enthrone him with armed hand. Zamoyski repulsed +and pursued them to Silesia, where he defeated and made Maximilian +prisoner. The Austrian Archduke was held in captivity till he renounced +all claim to the throne. This is the captivity to which Sobiepan refers +on page 324, Vol. II.</p> + +<p>Zamoyski had Sigismund impeached in 1592, not to condemn him, but to +give him a lesson. Zamoyski’s course in this affair, and his last +speech in the Diet of 1605 are his most prominent acts during a reign +in which he was first in opposition, as he had been first on the king’s +side during Batory’s time. Zamoyski died in 1605, alarmed, as Lelevel +says, for the future of his country.</p> + +<p>Sobiepan Zamoyski, who conceived such a friendship for Zagloba, married +the daughter of Henri de la Grange, a captain in the guard of Philip, +Duke of Orleans. After Zamoyski’s death, his widow, a woman of great +beauty and ambition, married Sobyeski, subsequently elected king to +succeed Michael Vishnyevetski, who is mentioned on page 253, Vol. II.</p> + +<p>Kmita, the hero of <span class="sc">THE DELUGE</span>, was probably of the Kmitas of Little +Poland, and of those who inherited lands granted Poles in Lithuania and +Russia after the union.</p> + +<p>Kmitsits, which means “son of Kmita,” as “starostsits” means “son of a +starosta,” is the name used by Sienkiewicz; but as that word would +baffle most English readers, I have taken Kmita, the original form of +the family name. Kmita is mentioned in Solovyóff’s Russian history as +co-operating with Sapyeha and Charnyetski against Hovanski and +Dolgoruki; in that connection he is called Kmitich.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>NOTES.</h2> + +<hr class="W10" /> + +<h3>POLISH ALPHABET.</h3> + +<p>Since the Polish alphabet has many peculiar phonetic combinations which +are difficult to one who does not know the language, it was decided to +transliterate the names of persons and places in which such +combinations occur in this book. The following are the letters and +combinations which are met with most frequently;—</p> + +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:60%; margin-left:20%"> +<tr> +<td>Polish Letters.</td> +<td>English Sounds.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td><i>c</i></td> +<td><i>ts</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><i>ch</i></td> +<td><i>h</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><i>cz</i></td> +<td><i>ch</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><i>rz</i></td> +<td><i>r</i> followed by the French <i>j</i></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td><i>sz</i></td> +<td><i>sh</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><i>szcz</i></td> +<td><i>shch</i></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td><i>w</i></td> +<td><i>v</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><i>ż</i></td> +<td><i>j</i></td> +</tr></table> + +<p>In this transliteration <i>ch</i> retains its ordinary English sound. <i>J</i> +is the French <i>j</i>; the vowels <i>e</i>, <i>i</i>, <i>u</i>, are, respectively, +<i>ai</i> in “bait,” <i>ee</i> in “beet,” <i>oo</i> in +“pool,” when long; when short, “bet,” “bit,” +“put” would represent their values. <i>I</i>, when unaccented and +followed by a vowel, is sounded as <i>y</i>.</p> + +<p>The following names will illustrate the method of this +transliteration:—</p> + +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:60%; margin-left:20%"> +<tr> +<td>Polish Form of Name.</td> +<td>Form in Transliteration.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Potocki</td> +<td>Pototski</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Chudzynski</td> +<td>Hudzynski</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Czarnkowski</td> +<td>Charnkovski</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Rzendzian</td> +<td>Jendzian</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Bleszynski</td> +<td>Bleshyuski</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Szandarowski</td> +<td>Shandarovski</td> +</tr><tr> + +<td>Wlostowski</td> +<td>Vlostovski</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Żyromski</td> +<td>Jyromski</td> +</tr></table> + +<p>In Jendzian and Jechytsa,—the only names, as I believe, beginning in +Polish with <i>rz</i> in this work,—the initial <i>r</i> has been omitted in +the +transliteration on account of the extreme difficulty, for any one not a +Pole, of pronouncing <i>r</i> followed by the French <i>j</i>.</p> + +<h3>ACCENT.</h3> + +<p>All Polish words, with few exceptions, are accented on the syllable +next the last, the penult. The exceptions are foreign names, some +compounds, some words with enclitics. Polish names of men and places +are generally accented on the penult.</p> + +<hr class="W10" /> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>MAP OF THE POLISH COMMONWEALTH.</h2> + +<p>This map, though diminutive, contains data through which the reader may +see, at least in part, the historical course of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>The territory is indicated which was lost to the Teutonic Knights, and +which became later the kingdom of Prussia. On the east are indicated +the Russian lands which became connected with Poland, and which rose +against Polish rule in 1618. These lands are included between the lines +running north and south on the map, and which are designated, +respectively, “Western limit of Russia before the Tartar invasion,” +“Eastern limit of the Polish Commonwealth at the accession of Yan +Kazimir.”</p> + +<p>The names of more important places mentioned in <span class="sc">Fire and Sword</span> and <span class="sc">The +Deluge</span> appear also on the map. A few of these names are not so familiar +in their Polish forms, which I have preserved; therefore the German is +given, as follows:—</p> + +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:60%; margin-left:20%"> +<tr> +<td>Polish.</td> +<td>German.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Elblang</td> +<td>Elbing</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Glogov</td> +<td>Glogau</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Gnyezno</td> +<td>Gnesen</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Taurogi</td> +<td>Tauroggen</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Tyltsa</td> +<td>Tilsit</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Opol</td> +<td>Oppeln</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Poznan</td> +<td>Posen</td> +</tr></table> + +<hr class="W10" /> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>TITLES OF RANK AND ADDRESS.</h2> + +<p>The highest military rank in Poland was grand hetman; next in order +came field-hetman, which has appeared inadvertently in these volumes as +full hetman. “Your worthiness,” so frequently used, would be better +translated “your dignity,” “dignity” being used in the sense of +“office.” The terms Pan, Pani, and Panna are applied, respectively, to +a gentleman, a married lady, and an unmarried lady; they are now +equivalent to Mr., Mrs. or Madame, and Miss.</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/map.jpg"> +<img src="images/map.jpg" width="750" height="530" alt="Illustration: Map of the Polish Commonwealth at the accession of Yan Kazimir" /></a> +<p class="caption">Map of the Polish Commonwealth at the accession of Yan Kazimir.</p> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>THE DELUGE</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p>There was in Jmud a powerful family, the Billeviches, descended from +Mendog, connected with many, and respected, beyond all, in the district +of Rossyeni. The Billeviches had never risen to great offices, the +highest they had filled were provincial; but in war they had rendered +the country unsurpassed services, for which they were richly rewarded +at various times. Their native nest, existing to this day, was called +Billeviche; but they possessed many other estates, both in the +neighborhood of Rossyeni and farther on toward Krakin, near Lauda, +Shoi, Nyevyaja, and beyond Ponyevyej. In later times they branched out +into a number of houses, the members of which lost sight of one +another. They all assembled only when there was a census at Rossyeni of +the general militia of Jmud on the plain of the invited Estates. They +met also in part under the banners of the Lithuanian cavalry and at +provincial diets; and because they were wealthy and influential, even +the Radzivills, all powerful in Lithuania and Jmud, had to reckon with +them.</p> + +<p>In the reign of Yan Kazimir, the patriarch of all the Billeviches, was +Heraclius, colonel of light-horse and under-chamberlain of Upita. He +did not dwell in the ancestral nest, which was rented at that time by +Tomash, the sword-bearer of Rossyeni; Heraclius Billevich owned also +Vodokty, Lyubich, and Mitruny, situated near Lauda, surrounded, as if +with a sea, by agriculturists of the petty nobility.</p> + +<p>Besides the Billeviches there were only a few of the more considerable +families in the neighborhood, such as the Sollohubs, the Montvills, the +Schyllings, the Koryznis, the Sitsinskis,—though there was no lack of +smaller nobility of these names; finally, the whole river region of +Lauda was thickly studded with so-called “neighborhoods,” or, in common +parlance, <i>zastsianki</i>,<a name="div2Ref_04" href="#div2_04"><sup>[4]</sup></a> occupied by the nobility of Lauda, renowned +and celebrated in the history of Jmud.</p> + +<p>In other neighborhoods of the region the families took their names from +the places, or the places from the families, as was customary in +Podlyasye; but along the river region of Lauda it was different. In +Morezi dwelt the Stakyans, whom Batory in his time settled there for +bravery at Pskoff; in Volmontovichi, on good land, swarmed the Butryms, +the bulkiest fellows in all Lauda, noted for few words and heavy +hands,—men who in time of provincial diets, raids on property, or wars +were wont to go in close rank and in silence. The lands in Drojeykani +and Mozgi were managed by the numerous Domasheviches, famed hunters; +these men tramped through the wilderness of Zyelonka as far as Wilkomir +on bear-trails. The Gashtovts occupied Patsuneli; their women were +famous for beauty, so that finally all pretty girls around Krakin, +Ponyevyej, and Upita were known as Patsuneli girls. The Sollohubs Mali +were rich in horses and excellent cattle, bred in forest pastures. The +Gostsyeviches in Goshchuni made tar in the woods, from which occupation +they were called Gostsyevichi Charni (Black) or Dymni (Smoky),—the +Black or Smoky Gostsyeviches.</p> + +<p>There were other villages and families also. The names of many of them +are still extant; but these villages are not situated as before, and +men call them by other names. Wars came too with misfortunes and fires, +villages were not always rebuilt on the ruins; in a word, much has +changed. But in that time old Lauda was still flourishing in its +primeval estate; and the nobles had reached their highest repute a few +years before, when, fighting at Loyovo against the uprisen Cossacks, +they covered themselves with great glory under the lead of Yanush +Radzivill.</p> + +<p>All the Lauda men served in the regiment of old Heraclius +Billevich,—the richer with two horses, the poorer with one, and the +poorest as attendants. In general, these nobles were warlike, and +especially enamoured of a knightly career; but in questions which +formed the ordinary subjects of discussion at a provincial diet they +were less skilled. They knew that there was a king in Warsaw; that +Radzivill and Pan Hlebovich were starostas in Jmud, and Pan Billevich +at Vodokty in Lauda. That was sufficient for them; and they voted as +Pan Billevich instructed them, convinced that he wanted the same as Pan +Hlebovich, and that the latter went hand in hand with Radzivill. +Radzivill was the king’s arm in Lithuania and Jmud; the king was the +consort of the Commonwealth, the father of the legion of nobles.</p> + +<p>Pan Billevich was, in fact, a friend rather than a client of the +powerful oligarchs in Birji, and a greatly esteemed one at that; for at +every call he had a thousand voices and a thousand Lauda sabres,—and +sabres in the hands of the Stakyans, the Butryms, the Domasheviches, or +the Gashtovts were despised at that period by no man on earth. It was +only later that everything changed, just at the time when Pan Heraclius +Billevich was no more.</p> + +<p>This father and benefactor of the nobles of Lauda died in 1654. In that +year a terrible war<a name="div2Ref_05" href="#div2_05"><sup>[5]</sup></a> flamed forth along the whole eastern line of the +Commonwealth; Pan Billevich did not go to it, for his age and his +deafness did not permit; but the Lauda men went. When tidings came that +Radzivill was defeated at Shklov, and the Lauda regiment in an attack +on the hired infantry of France was cut almost to pieces, the old +colonel, stricken by apoplexy, yielded his soul.</p> + +<p>These tidings were brought by a certain Pan Michael Volodyovski, a +young but very famous warrior, who instead of Heraclius had led the +Lauda regiment by appointment of Radzivill. The survivors came with him +to their inherited fields, wearied, weighed down, and famished; in +common with the whole army, they complained that the grand hetman, +trusting in the terror of his name and the spell of victory, had rushed +with small forces on a power ten times greater than his own, and thus +had overwhelmed the army and the whole country.</p> + +<p>But amid the universal complaining not one voice was raised against +Volodyovski. On the contrary, those who had escaped lauded him to the +skies, relating wonders of his skill and his deeds. And the only solace +left the survivors was the memory of the exploits performed under the +young colonel’s leadership,—how in the attack they had burst through +the first line of reserves as through smoke; how later they fell on the +French mercenaries and cut to pieces with their sabres the foremost +regiment, on which occasion Pan Volodyovski with his own hand killed +the colonel; how at last, surrounded and under fire from four sides, +they saved themselves from the chaos by desperate fighting, falling in +masses, but breaking the enemy.</p> + +<p>Those of the Lauda men who, not serving in the Lithuanian quota, were +obliged to form a part of the general militia, listened in sorrow but +with pride to these narratives. It was hoped on all sides that the +general militia, the final defence of the country, would soon be +called. It was agreed already that Volodyovski would be chosen captain +of Lauda in that event; for though not of the local residents, there +was no man among them more celebrated than he. The survivors said, +besides, that he had rescued the hetman himself from death. Indeed, all +Lauda almost bore him in its arms, and one neighborhood seized him from +another. The Butryms, the Domasheviches, and the Gashtovts disputed as +to whose guest he should be for the longest period. He pleased that +valiant nobility so much that when the remnant of Radzivill’s troops +marched to Birji so as to be brought to some order after the defeat, he +did not go with others, but passing from village to village took up his +abode at last in Patsuneli with the Gashtovts, at the house of Pakosh +Gashtovt, who had authority over all in that place.</p> + +<p>In fact, Pan Volodyovski could not have gone to Birji in any event, for +he was so ill as to be confined to the bed. First an acute fever came +on him; then from the contusion which he had received at Tsybihovo he +lost the use of his right arm. The three daughters of his host, who +were noted for beauty, took him into their tender care, and vowed to +bring back to his original health such a celebrated cavalier. The +nobility to the last man were occupied with the funeral of their former +chief, Heraclius Billevich.</p> + +<p>After the funeral the will of the deceased was opened, from which it +transpired that the old colonel had made his granddaughter, Aleksandra +Billevich, daughter of the chief hunter of Upita, the heiress of all +his property with the exception of the village of Lyubich. Guardianship +over her till her marriage he confided to the entire nobility of +Lauda—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p class="continue">“who, as they were well wishing to me,” continued he in the will, “and +returned kindness for kindness, let them do the same too for the orphan +in these times of corruption and wickedness, when no one is safe from +the license of men or free of fear; let them guard the orphan from +mischance, through memory of me.</p> + +<p>“They are also to see that she has safe use of her property with the +exception of the village of Lyubich, which I give, present, and convey +to the young banneret of Orsha, so that he may meet no obstacle in +entering into possession of it. Should any man wonder at this my +affection for Andrei Kmita, or see in it injustice to my own +granddaughter Aleksandra, he must and should know that I held in +friendship and true brotherly love from youthful years till the day of +his death the father of Andrei Kmita. I was with him in war, he saved +my life many times; and when the malice and envy of the Sitsinskis +strove to wrest from me my fortune, he lent me his aid to defend it. +Therefore I, Heraclius Billevich, under-chamberlain of Upita, and also +an unworthy sinner standing now before the stern judgment of God, went +four years ago, while alive and walking upon the earthly vale, to Pan +Kmita, the father, the sword-bearer of Orsha, to vow gratitude and +steady friendship. On that occasion we made mutual agreement, according +to ancient noble and Christian custom, that our children—namely his +son Andrei and my granddaughter Aleksandra—were to be married, so that +from them posterity might rise to the praise of God and the good of the +State, which I wish most earnestly; and by the will here written I bind +my granddaughter to obedience unless the banneret of Orsha (which God +forbid) stain his reputation with evil deeds and be despoiled of honor. +Should he lose his inheritance near Orsha, which may easily happen, she +is to take him as husband with blessing; and even should he lose +Lyubich, to pay no heed to the loss.</p> + +<p>“However, if by the special favor of God, my granddaughter should wish +in praise of Him to make an offering of her virginity and put on the +habit of a nun, it is permitted her to do so, for I know that the +praise of God is to precede that of man.”</p> +</div> + +<p>In such fashion did Pan Heraclius Billevich dispose of his fortune and +his granddaughter, at which no one wondered much. Panna Aleksandra had +been long aware of what awaited her, and the nobles had heard from of +old of the friendship between Billevich and the Kmitas; besides, in +time of defeat the thoughts of men were occupied with other things, so +that soon they ceased to talk of the will.</p> + +<p>But they talked of the Kmitas continually in the house at Vodokty, or +rather of Pan Andrei, for the old sword-bearer also was dead. The +younger Kmita had fought at Shklov with his own banner and with +volunteers from Orsha. Then he vanished from the eye; but it was not +admitted that he had perished, since the death of so noted a cavalier +would surely not have escaped notice. The Kmitas were people of birth +in Orsha, and lords of considerable fortune; but the flame of war had +ruined those regions. Districts and entire lands were turned into +deserts, fortunes were devoured, and people perished. After the +crushing of Radzivill no one offered firm resistance. Gosyevski, full +hetman, had no troops; the hetmans of the Crown with their armies in +the Ukraine were struggling with what strength they had left and could +not help him, exhausted as well as the Commonwealth by the Cossack +wars. The deluge covered the land more and more, only breaking here and +there against fortified walls; but the walls fell one after another, as +had fallen Smolensk. The province of Smolensk, in which lay the fortune +of the Kmitas, was looked on as lost. In the universal chaos, in the +general terror, people were scattered like leaves in a tempest, and no +man knew what had become of the banneret of Orsha.</p> + +<p>But war had not reached Jmud yet. The nobles of Lauda returned to their +senses by degrees. “The neighborhoods” began to assemble, and discuss +both public and private affairs. The Butryms, readiest for battle, +muttered that it would be necessary to go to Rossyeni to the muster of +the general militia, and then to Gosyevski, to avenge the defeat of +Shklov; the Domasheviches, the hunters, had gone through the wilderness +of Rogovo by the forests till they found parties of the enemy and +brought back news; the Smoky Gostsyeviches smoked meat in their huts +for a future expedition. In private affairs it was decided to send +tried and experienced men to find Pan Andrei Kmita.</p> + +<p>The old men of Lauda held these deliberations under the presidency of +Pakosh Gashtovt and Kassyan Butrym, two neighborhood patriarchs. All +the nobility, greatly flattered by the confidence which the late Pan +Billevich had placed in them, swore to stand faithfully by the letter +of the will, and to surround Panna Aleksandra with well-nigh fatherly +care. This was in time of war, when even in places to which war had not +come disturbance and suffering were felt. On the banks of the Lauda all +remained quiet, there were no disputes, there was no breaking through +boundaries on the estates of the young heiress, landmarks were not +shifted, no ditches were filled, no branded pine-trees were felled on +forest borders, no pastures were invaded. On the contrary, the heiress +was aided with provisions,—whatever the neighborhood had; for +instance, the Stakjans on the river sent salt-fish, wheat came from the +surly Butryms at Voimontovichi, hay from the Gashtovts, game from the +Domasheviches (the hunters), tar and pitch from the Gostsyeviches. Of +Panna Aleksandra no one in the villages spoke otherwise than as “our +lady,” and the pretty girls of Patsuneli waited for Pan Kmita perhaps +as impatiently as she.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile came the summons calling the nobility. The Lauda men began to +move. He who from being a youth had grown to be a man, he whom age had +not bent, had to mount his horse. Yan Kazimir arrived at Grodno, and +fixed that as the place of general muster. There, then, they mustered. +The Butryms in silence went forth; after them others, and the Gashtovts +last,—as they always did, for they hated to leave the Patsuneli girls. +The nobles from other districts appeared in scant numbers only, and the +country was left undefended; but God-fearing Lauda had appeared in full +quota.</p> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski did not march, for he was not able yet to use his arm; +he remained therefore as if district commander among the women. The +neighborhoods were deserted, and only old men and women sat around the +fires in the evening. It was quiet in Ponyevyej and Upita; they were +waiting on all sides for news.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra in like manner shut herself in at Vodokty, seeing no +one but servants and her guardians of Lauda.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p>The new year 1655 came. January was frosty, but dry; a stern winter +covered sacred Jmud with a white coat three feet thick, the forests +were bending and breaking under a wealth of snow bunches, snow dazzled +the eyes during days of sunshine, and in the night by the moon there +glittered as it were sparks vanishing on a surface stiffened by frost; +wild beasts approached the dwellings of men, and the poor gray birds +hammered with their beaks the windows covered with hoar frost and +snow-flowers.</p> + +<p>On a certain evening Panna Aleksandra was sitting in the servants’ hall +with her work-maidens. It was an old custom of the Billeviches, when +there were no guests, to spend evenings with the servants singing hymns +and edifying simple minds by their example. In this wise did Panna +Aleksandra; and the more easily since among her house-maidens were some +really noble, very poor orphans. These performed every kind of work, +even the rudest, and were servants for ladies; in return they were +trained in good manners, and received better treatment than simple +girls. But among them were peasants too, differing mainly in speech,<a name="div2Ref_06" href="#div2_06"><sup>[6]</sup></a> +for many did not know Polish.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra, with her relative Panna Kulvyets, sat in the centre, +and the girls around on benches; all were spinning. In a great chimney +with sloping sides pine-logs were burning, now dying down and now +flaming freshly with a great bright blaze or with sparks, as the youth +standing near the chimney threw on small pieces of birch or pitch-pine. +When the flame shot upward brightly, the dark wooden walls of the +great hall were to be seen, with an unusually low ceiling resting on +cross-beams. From the beams hung, on threads, many-colored stars, made +of wafers, trembling in the warm air; behind, from both sides of the +beams, were bunches of combed flax, hanging like captured Turkish +horse-tail standards. Almost the whole ceiling was covered with them. +On the dark walls glittered, like stars, tin plates, large and small, +standing straight or leaning on long oaken shelves.</p> + +<p>In the distance, near the door, a shaggy-haired man of Jmud was making +a great noise with a hand-mill, and muttering a song with nasal +monotone. Panna Aleksandra slipped her beads through her fingers in +silence; the spinners spun on, saying nothing the one to the other.</p> + +<p>The light of the flame fell on their youthful, ruddy faces. They, with +both hands raised,—with the left feeding the soft flax, with the right +turning the wheel,—spun eagerly, as if vying with one another, urged +on by the stern glances of Panna Kulvyets. Sometimes, too, they looked +at one another with quick eye, and sometimes at Panna Aleksandra, as if +in expectation that she would tell the man to stop grinding, and would +begin the hymn; but they did not cease working. They spun and spun on; +the threads were winding, the wheel was buzzing, the distaff played in +the hand of Panna Kulvyets, the shaggy-haired man of Jmud rattled on +with his mill.</p> + +<p>But at times he stopped his work. Evidently something was wrong with +the mill, for at those times was heard his angry voice: “It’s down!”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra raised her head, as if roused by the silence which +followed the exclamations of the man; then the blaze lighted up her +face and her serious blue eyes looking from beneath black brows. She +was a comely lady, with flaxen hair, pale complexion, and delicate +features. She had the beauty of a white flower. The mourning robes +added to her dignity. Sitting before the chimney, she seemed buried in +thought, as in a dream; doubtless she was meditating over her own lot, +for her fates were in the balance. The will predestined her to be the +wife of a man whom she had not seen for ten years; and as she was now +almost twenty, there remained to her but unclear childhood +reminiscences of a certain boisterous boy, who at the time when he with +his father had come to Vodokty, was more occupied with racing through +the swamps with a gun than in looking at her. “Where is he, and what +manner of man is he now?” These were the questions which thrust +themselves on the mind of the dignified lady. She knew him also, it is +true, from the narratives of the late under-chamberlain, who four +years before had undertaken the long journey to Orsha. According to +those narratives, he was a cavalier “of great courage, though very +quick-tempered.” By the contract of marriage for their descendants +concluded between old Billevich and Kmita the father, Kmita the son was +to go at once to Vodokty and be accepted by the lady; but a great war +broke out just then, and the cavalier, instead of going to the lady, +went to the fields of Berestechko. Wounded at Berestechko, he recovered +at home; then he nursed his sick father, who was near death; after that +another war broke out, and thus four years passed. Since the death of +the old colonel considerable time had elapsed, but no tidings of Kmita.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra therefore had something to meditate upon, and perhaps +she was pining for the unknown. In her pure heart, especially because +it knew not love as yet, she bore a great readiness for that feeling. A +spark only was needed to kindle on that hearth a flame quiet but +bright, and as steady as the undying sacred fire of Lithuania.</p> + +<p>Disquiet then seized her,—at times pleasant, at times bitter; and her +soul was ever putting questions to which there was no answer, or rather +the answer must come from distant fields. The first question was +whether he would marry her with good-will and respond with readiness to +her readiness. In those days contracts by parents for the marriage of +their children were usual; and if the parents died the children, held +by the blessing, observed in most cases the contract. In the engagement +itself the young lady saw nothing uncommon; but good pleasure does not +always go hand in hand with duty; hence the anxiety that weighed down +the blond head of the maiden. “Will he love me?” And then a flock of +thoughts surrounded her, as a flock of birds surround a tree standing +alone in spacious fields: “Who art thou? What manner of person? Art +walking alive in the world, or perhaps thou hast fallen? Art thou +distant or near?” The open heart of the lady, like a door open to a +precious guest, called involuntarily to distant regions, to forests and +snow-fields covered with night: “Come hither, young hero; for there is +naught in the world more bitter than waiting.”</p> + +<p>That moment, as if in answer to the call, from outside, from those +snowy distances covered with night, came the sound of a bell.</p> + +<p>The lady trembled, but regaining her presence of mind, remembered that +almost every evening some one came to Vodokty to get medicine for the +young colonel.</p> + +<p>Panna Kulvyets confirmed that idea by saying, “Some one from the +Gashtovts for herbs.”</p> + +<p>The irregular sound of the bell shaken by the shaft rang more +distinctly each moment; at last it stopped on a sudden. Evidently the +sleigh had halted before the door.</p> + +<p>“See who has come,” said Panna Kulvyets to the man of Jmud who was +turning the mill.</p> + +<p>The man went out of the servants’ hall, but soon returned, and taking +again the handle of the mill, said phlegmatically, “Panas Kmitas.”<a name="div2Ref_07" href="#div2_07"><sup>[7]</sup></a></p> + +<p>“The word is made flesh!” cried Panna Kulvyets.</p> + +<p>The spinners sprang to their feet; the flax and the distaffs fell to +the floor.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra rose also. Her heart beat like a hammer; a flush came +forth on her face, and then pallor; but she turned from the chimney, +lest her emotion might be seen.</p> + +<p>Then in the door appeared a certain lofty figure in a fur mantle and +fur-bound cap. A young man advanced to the middle of the room, and +seeing that he was in the servants’ hall, inquired in a resonant voice, +without removing his cap, “Hei! but where is your mistress?”</p> + +<p>“I am the mistress,” said Panna Billevich, in tones sufficiently clear.</p> + +<p>Hearing this, the newly arrived removed his cap, cast it on the floor, +and inclining said, “I am Andrei Kmita.”</p> + +<p>The eyes of Panna Aleksandra rested with lightning-like swiftness on +the face of Kmita, and then dropped again to the floor; still during +that time the lady was able to see the tuft shaven high, yellow as +wheat, an embrowned complexion, blue eyes, looking quickly to the +front, dark mustache, a face youthful, eagle-like, but joyous and +gallant.</p> + +<p>He rested his left hand on his hip, raised his right to his mustache, +and said: “I have not been in Lyubich yet, for I hastened here like a +bird to bow down at the feet of the lady, the chief hunter’s daughter. +The wind—God grant it was a happy one!—brought me straight from the +camp.”</p> + +<p>“Did you know of the death of my grandfather?” asked the lady.</p> + +<p>“I did not; but I bewailed with hot tears my benefactor when I learned +of his death from those rustics who came from this region to me. He was +a sincere friend, almost a brother, of my late father. Of course it is +well known to you that four years ago he came to us at Orsha. Then he +promised me your ladyship, and showed a portrait about which I sighed +in the night-time. I wished to come sooner, but war is not a mother: +she makes matches for men with death only.”</p> + +<p>This bold speech confused the lady somewhat. Wishing to change the +subject, she said, “Then you have not seen Lyubich yet?”</p> + +<p>“There will be time for that. My first service is here; and here the +dearest inheritance, which I wish to receive first. But you turned from +the hearth, so that to this moment I have not been able to look you in +the eye—that’s the way! Turn, and I will stand next the hearth; that’s +the way!”</p> + +<p>Thus speaking, the daring soldier seized by the hand Olenka,<a name="div2Ref_08" href="#div2_08"><sup>[8]</sup></a> who did +not expect such an act, and brought her face toward the fire, turning +her like a top. She was still more confused, and covering her eyes with +her long lashes, stood abashed by the light and her own beauty. Kmita +released her at last, and struck himself on the doublet.</p> + +<p>“As God is dear to me, a beauty! I’ll have a hundred Masses said for my +benefactor because he left you to me. When the betrothal?”</p> + +<p>“Not yet awhile; I am not yours yet,” said Olenka.</p> + +<p>“But you will be, even if I have to burn this house! As God lives, I +thought the portrait flattered. I see that the painter aimed high, but +missed. A thousand lashes to such an artist, and stoves to paint, not +beauties, with which eyes are feasted! Oh, ’tis a delight to be the +heir to such an inheritance, may the bullets strike me!”</p> + +<p>“My late grandfather told me that you were very hot-headed.”</p> + +<p>“All are that way with us in Smolensk; not like your Jmud people. One, +two! and it must be as we want; if not, then death.”</p> + +<p>Olenka laughed, and said with a voice now more confident, raising her +eyes to the cavalier, “Then it must be that Tartars dwell among you?”</p> + +<p>“All one! but you are mine by the will of parents and by your heart.”</p> + +<p>“By my heart? That I know not yet.”</p> + +<p>“Should you not be, I would thrust myself with a knife!”</p> + +<p>“You say that laughing. But we are still in the servants’ hall; I beg +you to the reception-room. After a long road doubtless supper will be +acceptable. I beg you to follow me.”</p> + +<p>Here Olenka turned to Panna Kulvyets. “Auntie, dear, come with us.”</p> + +<p>The young banneret glanced quickly. “Aunt?” he inquired,—“whose aunt?”</p> + +<p>“Mine,—Panna Kulvyets.”</p> + +<p>“Then she is mine!” answered he, going to kiss her hand. “I have in my +company an officer named Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus. Is he not a +relative?”</p> + +<p>“He is of the same family,” replied the old maid, with a courtesy.</p> + +<p>“A good fellow, but a whirlwind like myself,” added Kmita.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a boy appeared with a light. They went to the antechamber, +where Pan Andrei removed his shuba; then they passed to the +reception-room.</p> + +<p>Immediately after their departure the spinners gathered in a close +circle, and one interrupted another, talking and making remarks. The +stately young man pleased them greatly; therefore they did not spare +words on him, vying with one another in praises.</p> + +<p>“Light shines from him,” said one; “when he came I thought he was a +king’s son.”</p> + +<p>“And he has lynx eyes, so that he cuts with them,” said another; “do +not cross such a man.”</p> + +<p>“That is worst of all,” said a third.</p> + +<p>“He met the lady as a betrothed. It is easily seen that she pleased him +greatly, for whom has she not pleased?”</p> + +<p>“But he is not worse than she, never fear! Could you get his equal, you +would go even to Orsha, though likely that is at the end of the world.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, lucky lady!”</p> + +<p>“It is always best for the rich in the world. Ei, ei, that’s gold, not +a knight.”</p> + +<p>“The Patsuneli girls say that that cavalry captain who is stopping with +old Pakosh is a handsome cavalier.”</p> + +<p>“I have not seen him; but how compare him with Pan Kmita! Such another +as Pan Kmita surely there is not in the world!”</p> + +<p>“It’s down!” cried the man of Jmud on a sudden, when something broke +again in the mill.</p> + +<p>“Go out, shaggy head, with thy freaks! Give us peace, for we cannot +hear.—True, true; hard to find better than Pan Kmita in the whole +world; surely in Kyedani there is none such.”</p> + +<p>“Dream of one like him!”</p> + +<p>“May his like come in a dream!”</p> + +<p>In such fashion did the girls talk among themselves in the servants’ +hall. Meanwhile in the dining-room the table was laid in all haste, +while in the drawing-room Panna Aleksandra conversed face to face with +Kmita, for Aunt Kulvyets had gone to bustle about the supper.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei did not remove his gaze from Olenka, and his eyes shot +sparks more and more every moment; at last he said,—</p> + +<p>“There are men to whom land is dearer than all things else; there are +others who chase after plunder in war, others love horses; but I would +not give you for any treasure. As God lives, the more I look the more I +wish to marry; so that even if it were to-morrow— Oh, that brow,—just +as if painted with burned cork!”</p> + +<p>“I hear that some use such strange things, but I am not of that kind.”</p> + +<p>“And eyes as from heaven! From confusion, words fail me.”</p> + +<p>“You are not greatly confused, if in my presence you can be so urgent +that I am wonder-stricken.”</p> + +<p>“That is our way in Smolensk,—to go boldly at women as we do into +battle. You must, my queen, grow accustomed to this, for thus will it +ever be.”</p> + +<p>“You must put it aside, for thus it cannot be.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps I may yield, may I be slain! Believe, believe me not, but with +gladness would I bend the skies for you. For you, my queen, I am ready +to learn other manners; for I know myself that I am a simple soldier, I +have lived more in camps than in chambers of castles.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, that harms nothing, for my grandfather was a soldier; but I give +thanks for the good-will,” said Olenka; and her eyes looked with such +sweetness on Pan Andrei that his heart melted like wax in a moment, and +he answered,—</p> + +<p>“You will lead me on a thread.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, you are not like those who are led on threads; to do that is most +difficult with men who are unsteady.”</p> + +<p>Kmita showed in a smile teeth as white as a wolf’s teeth, “How is +that?” asked he. “Are the rods few that the fathers broke on me in the +monastery to bring me to steadiness and make me remember various fair +maxims for guidance in life—”</p> + +<p>“And which one do you remember best?”</p> + +<p>“‘When in love, fall at the feet,’—in this fashion.”</p> + +<p>When he had spoken, Kmita was already on his knees. The lady screamed, +putting her feet under the table.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake! they did not teach that in the monastery. Leave off, +or I shall be angry—my aunt will come this minute—”</p> + +<p>Still on his knees, he raised his head and looked into her eyes. “Let a +whole squadron of aunts come; I shall not forbid their pleasure.”</p> + +<p>“But stand up!”</p> + +<p>“I am standing.”</p> + +<p>“Sit down!”</p> + +<p>“I am sitting.”</p> + +<p>“You are a traitor, a Judas!”</p> + +<p>“Not true, for when I kiss ’tis with sincerity,—will you be +convinced?”</p> + +<p>“You are a serpent!”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra laughed, however, and a halo of youth and gladness +came from her. His nostrils quivered like the nostrils of a young steed +of noble blood.</p> + +<p>“Ai! ai!” said he. “What eyes, what a face! Save me, all ye saints, for +I cannot keep away!”</p> + +<p>“There is no reason to summon the saints. You were absent four years +without once looking in here; sit still now!”</p> + +<p>“But I knew only the counterfeit. I will have that painter put in tar +and then in feathers, and scourge him through the square of Upita. I +will tell all in sincerity,—forgive, if it please you; if not, take my +head. I thought to myself when looking at that portrait: ‘A pretty +little rogue, pretty; but there is no lack of pretty ones in the world. +I have time.’ My late father urged me hither, but I had always one +answer: ‘I have time! The little wife will not vanish; maidens go not +to war and do not perish.’ I was not opposed at all to the will of my +father, God is my witness; but I wanted first to know war and feel it +on my own body. This moment I see my folly. I might have married and +gone to war afterward; and here every delight was waiting for me. +Praise be to God that they did not hack me to death! Permit me to kiss +your hand.”</p> + +<p>“Better, I’ll not permit.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will not ask. In Orsha we say, ‘Ask; but if they don’t give, +take it thyself.’”</p> + +<p>Here Pan Andrei clung to the hand of the lady and began to kiss it; and +the lady did not resist too greatly, lest she might exhibit ill-will.</p> + +<p>Just then Panna Kulvyets came in. When she saw what was going on, she +raised her eyes. That intimacy did not please her, but she dared not +scold. She gave invitation to supper.</p> + +<p>Both went to the supper-room, holding each the other’s hand as if they +were related. In the room stood a table covered, and on it an abundance +of all kinds of food, especially choice smoked meats and a mouldy thick +bottle of strength-giving wine. It was pleasant for the young people +with each other, gladsome, vivacious. The lady had supped already; +therefore Kmita sat alone, and began to eat with animation equal to +that with which he had just been conversing.</p> + +<p>Olenka looked at him with sidelong glance, glad that he was eating and +drinking. When he had appeased his first hunger, she began again to +inquire,—</p> + +<p>“Then you are not direct from Orsha?”</p> + +<p>“Scarcely do I know whence I come,—here to-day, tomorrow in another +place. I prowled near the enemy as a wolf around sheep, and what was +possible to seize I seized.”</p> + +<p>“And how had you daring to meet such a power, before which the grand +hetman himself had to yield?”</p> + +<p>“How had I daring? I am ready for all things, such is the nature within +me.”</p> + +<p>“That is what my grandfather said. Great luck that you were not +killed!”</p> + +<p>“Ai, they covered me with cap and with hand as a bird is covered on the +nest; but I, whom they covered, sprang out and bit them in another +place. I made it so bitter for them that there is a price on my +head— A splendid half-goose!”</p> + +<p>“In the name of the Father and the Son!” cried Olenka, with unfeigned +wonder, gazing with homage on that young man who in the same moment +mentions the price on his head and the half-goose. “Had you many troops +for defence?”</p> + +<p>“I had, of course, my poor dragoons,—very excellent men, but in a +month they were all kicked to bits. Then I went with volunteers whom I +gathered wherever I could without question. Good fellows for battle, +but knave upon knave! Those who have not perished already will sooner +or later be meat for the crows.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei laughed, emptied his goblet of wine, and added: “Such +plunderers you have not seen yet. May the hangman light them! +Officers,—all nobles from our parts, men of family, worthy people, but +against almost every one of them is a sentence of outlawry. They are +now in Lyubich, for where else could I send them?”</p> + +<p>“So you have come to us with the whole squadron?”</p> + +<p>“I have. The enemy took refuge in towns, for the winter is bitter. +My men too are as ragged as brooms after long sweeping. The prince +voevoda assigned me winter quarters in Ponyevyej. God knows the +breathing-spell is well earned!”</p> + +<p>“Eat, I beg you.”</p> + +<p>“I would eat poison for your sake! I left a part of my ragged fellows +in Ponyevyej, a part in Upita, and the most worthy officers I invited +to Lyubich as guests. These men will come to beat to you with the +forehead.”</p> + +<p>“But where did the Lauda men find you?”</p> + +<p>“They found me on the way to winter quarters in Ponyevyej. Had I not +met them I should have come here.”</p> + +<p>“But drink.”</p> + +<p>“I would drink even poison for you!”</p> + +<p>“Were the Lauda men the first to tell you of my grandfather’s death and +the will?”</p> + +<p>“They told of the death.—Lord, give light to the soul of my +benefactor!—Did you send those men to me?”</p> + +<p>“Think not such a thing! I had nothing but mourning and prayer on my +mind.”</p> + +<p>“They too said the same. They are an arrogant set of homespuns. I +wanted to give them a reward for their toil; instead of accepting it, +they rose against me and said that the nobility of Orsha might take +drink-money, but the Lauda men never. They spoke very foully to me; +while listening, I thought to myself: ‘If you don’t want money, then +I’ll command to give you a hundred lashes.’”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra seized her head. “Jesus Mary! and did you do that?”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked at her in astonishment. “Have no fears! I did not, though +my soul revolts within me at such trashy nobility, who pretend to be +the equal of us. But I thought to myself, ‘They will cry me down +without cause in those parts, call me tyrant, and calumniate me before +you!’”</p> + +<p>“Great is your luck,” said Olenka, drawing a deep breath of relief, +“for I should not have been able to look you in the eyes.”</p> + +<p>“But how so?”</p> + +<p>“That is a petty nobility, but ancient and renowned. My dear +grandfather always loved them, and went with them to war. He served all +his life with them. In time of peace he received them in his house. +That is an old friendship of our family which you must respect. You +have moreover a heart, and will not break that sacred harmony in which +thus far we have lived.”</p> + +<p>“I knew nothing of them at that moment,—may I be slain if I did!—but +yet I confess that this barefooted nobledom somehow cannot find place +in my head. With us a peasant is a peasant, and nobles are all men of +good family, who do not sit two on one mare. God knows that such scurvy +fellows have nothing to do with the Kmitas nor with the Billeviches, +just as a mudfish has nothing to do with a pike, though this is a fish +and that also.”</p> + +<p>“My grandfather used to say that blood and honor, not wealth, make a +man; and these are honorable people, or grandfather would not have made +them my guardians.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei was astonished and opened wide his eyes, “Did your +grandfather make all the petty nobility of Lauda guardians over you?”</p> + +<p>“He did. Do not frown, for the will of the dead is sacred. It is a +wonder to me that the messengers did not mention this.”</p> + +<p>“I should have— But that cannot be. There is a number of villages. +Will they all discuss about you? Will they discuss me,—whether I am to +their thinking or not? But jest not, for the blood is storming up in +me.”</p> + +<p>“Pan Andrei, I am not jesting; I speak the sacred and sincere truth. +They will not debate about you; but if you will not repulse them nor +show haughtiness, you will capture not only them, but my heart. I, +together with them, will thank you all my life,—all my life, Pan +Andrei.”</p> + +<p>Her voice trembled as if in a beseeching request; but he did not let +the frown go from his brow, and was gloomy. He did not burst into +anger, it is true, though at moments there flew over his face as it +were lightnings; but he answered with haughtiness and pride,—</p> + +<p>“I did not look for this! I respect the will of the dead, and I think +the under-chamberlain might have made those petty nobles your guardians +till the time of my coming; but when once I have put foot here, no +other, save me, will be guardian. Not only those gray coats, but the +Radzivills of Birji themselves have nothing in this place to do with +guardianship.”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra grew serious, and answered after a short silence: “You +do ill to be carried away by pride. The conditions laid down by my late +grandfather must be either all accepted or all rejected. I see no other +way. The men of Lauda will give neither trouble nor annoyance, for they +are worthy people and peaceful. Do not suppose that they will be +disagreeable. Should any trouble arise, they might say a word; but it +is my opinion that all will pass in harmony and peace, and then the +guardianship will be as if it had not been.”</p> + +<p>Kmita held silence a moment, then waved his hand and said: “It is true +that the marriage will end everything. There is nothing to quarrel +about. Let them only sit quietly and not force themselves on me; for +God knows I will not let my mustache be blown upon. But no more of +them. Permit an early wedding; that will be best.”</p> + +<p>“It is not becoming to mention that now, in time of mourning.”</p> + +<p>“Ai, but shall I be forced to wait long?”</p> + +<p>“Grandfather himself stated that no longer than half a year.”</p> + +<p>“I shall be as dried up as a chip before that time. But let us not be +angry. You have begun to look on me as sternly as on an offender. God +be good to you, my golden queen! In what am I to blame if the nature +within me is such that when anger against a man takes me I would tear +him to pieces, and when it passes I would sew him together again.”</p> + +<p>“’Tis a terror to live with such a man,” answered Olenka, more +joyously.</p> + +<p>“Well, to your health! This is good wine; for me the sabre and wine are +the basis. What kind of terror to live with me? You will hold me +ensnared with your eyes, and make a slave of me,—a man who hitherto +would endure no superior. At the present time I chose to go with my own +little company in independence rather than bow to the hetman. My golden +queen, if anything in me does not please you, overlook it; for I +learned manners near cannon and not among ladies, in the tumult of +soldiers and not at the lute. Our region is restless, the sabre is +never let go from the hand. There, though some outlawry rests on a man, +though he be pursued by sentences, ’tis nothing! People respect him if +he has the daring of a warrior. For example, my companions who in some +other place would have long been in prison are in their fashion worthy +persons. Even women among us go in boots, and with sabres lead +parties,—like Pani Kokosinski, the aunt of my lieutenant. She died a +hero’s death; and her nephew in my command has avenged her, though in +life he did not love her. Where should we, even of the greatest +families, learn politeness? But we know when there is war how to fight, +when there is a diet how to talk; and if the tongue is not enough, then +the sabre. That’s the position; as a man of such action did the late +chamberlain know me, and as such did he choose me for you.”</p> + +<p>“I have always followed the will of my grandfather willingly,” answered +the lady, dropping her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Let me kiss your hand once again, my dear girl! God knows you have +come close to my heart. Feeling has so taken hold of me that I know not +how I can find that Lyubich which I have not yet seen.”</p> + +<p>“I will give you a guide.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I shall find the way. I am used to much pounding around by night. +I have an attendant from Ponyevyej who must know the road. And there +Kokosinski and his comrades are waiting for me. With us the Kokosinskis +are a great family, who use the seal of Pypka. This one was outlawed +without reason because he burned the house of Pan Orpishevski, carried +off a maiden, and cut down some servants. A good comrade!— Give me +your hand once more. I see it is time to go.”</p> + +<p>Midnight began to beat slowly on the great Dantzig clock standing in +the hall.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake! ’tis time, ’tis time!” cried Kmita. “I may not stay +longer. Do you love me, even as much as would go around your finger?”</p> + +<p>“I will answer another time. You will visit me, of course?”</p> + +<p>“Every day, even if the ground should open under me! May I be slain!”</p> + +<p>Kmita rose, and both went to the antechamber. The sleigh was already +waiting before the porch; so he enrobed himself in the shuba, and began +to take farewell, begging her to return to the chamber, for the cold +was flying in from the porch.</p> + +<p>“Good-night, my dear queen,” said he, “sleep sweetly, for surely I +shall not close an eye thinking of your beauty.”</p> + +<p>“May you see nothing bad! But better, I’ll give you a man with a light, +for there is no lack of wolves near Volmontovichi.”</p> + +<p>“And am I a lamb to fear wolves? A wolf is a friend to a soldier, for +often has he profit from his hand. We have also firearms in the sleigh. +Good-night, dearest, good-night.”</p> + +<p>“With God.”</p> + +<p>Olenka withdrew, and Pan Kmita went to the porch. But on the way, +through the slightly open door of the servants’ hall he saw a number of +pairs of eyes of maidens who waiting to see him once more had not yet +lain down to sleep. To them Pan Andrei sent, soldier-fashion, kisses +from his mouth with his hand, and went out. After a while the bell +began to jingle, at first loudly, then with a continually decreasing +sound, ever fainter and fainter, till at last it was silent.</p> + +<p>It grew still in Vodokty, till the stillness amazed Panna Aleksandra. +The words of Pan Andrei were sounding in her ears; she heard his +laughter yet, heartfelt, joyous; in her eyes stood the rich form of the +young man; and now after that storm of words, mirth, and joyousness, +such marvellous silence succeeded. The lady bent her ear,—could she +not hear even one sound more from the sleigh? But no! it was sounding +somewhere off in the forest, near Volmontovichi. Therefore a mighty +sadness seized the maiden, and never had she felt so much alone in the +world.</p> + +<p>Taking the light, slowly she went to her chamber, and knelt down to say +the Lord’s Prayer. She began five times before she could finish with +proper attention; and when she had finished, her thoughts, as if on +wings, chased after that sleigh and that figure sitting within. On one +side were pine-woods, pine-woods on the other, in the middle a broad +road, and he driving on,—Pan Andrei! Here it seemed to Olenka that she +saw as before her the blond foretop, the blue eyes, the laughing mouth +in which are gleaming teeth as white as the teeth of a young dog. For +this dignified lady could hardly deny before her own face that this +wild cavalier had greatly pleased her. He alarmed her a little, he +frightened her a little, but he attracted her also with that daring, +that joyous freedom and sincerity, till she was ashamed that he pleased +her, especially with his haughtiness when at mention of the guardians +he reared his head like a Turkish war-horse and said, “Even the +Radzivills of Birji themselves have nothing to do here with +guardianship.”</p> + +<p>“That is no dangler around women; that is a true man,” said the lady to +herself. “He is a soldier of the kind that my grandfather loved most of +all,—and he deserved it!”</p> + +<p>So meditated the lady; and a happiness undimmed by anything embraced +her. It was an unquiet; but that unquiet was something dear. Then she +began to undress; the door creaked, and in came Panna Kulvyets, with a +candle in her hand.</p> + +<p>“You sat terribly long,” said she. “I did not wish to interfere with +young people, so that you might talk your fill the first time. He seems +a courteous cavalier. But how did he please you?”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra gave no answer at first, but barefooted ran up to her +aunt, threw herself on her neck, and placing her bright head on her +bosom, said with a fondling voice, “Auntie, oh, Auntie!”</p> + +<p>“Oho!” muttered the old maid, raising her eyes and the candle toward +heaven.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p>When Pan Andrei drove up to the mansion at Lyubich, the windows were +gleaming, and bustle reached the front yard. The servants, hearing +the bell, rushed out through the entrance to greet their lord, for +they had learned from his comrades that he would come. They greeted +him with submission, kissing his hands and seizing his feet. The old +land-steward, Znikis, stood in the entrance holding bread and salt, and +beating worship with the forehead; all gazed with uneasiness and +curiosity,—how would their future lord look? Kmita threw a purse full +of thalers on the tray, and asked for his comrades, astonished that no +one of them had come forth to meet his proprietary mightiness.</p> + +<p>But they could not come forth, for they were then the third hour at the +table, entertaining themselves at the cup, and perhaps in fact they had +not taken note of the sounding of the bell outside. But when he entered +the room, from all breasts a loud shout burst forth: “The heir, the +heir has come!” and all his comrades, springing from their places, +started toward him with their cups. But he placed his hands on his +hips, and laughed at the manner in which they had helped themselves in +his house, and had gone to drinking before his arrival. He laughed with +increasing heartiness when he saw them advance with tipsy solemnity.</p> + +<p>Before the others went the gigantic Pan Yaromir Kokosinski, with the +seal of Pypka, a famous soldier and swaggerer, with a terrible scar +across his forehead, his eye, and his cheek, with one mustache short, +the other long, the lieutenant and friend of Kmita, the “worthy +comrade,” condemned to loss of life and honor in Smolensk for stealing +a maiden, for murder and arson. At that time war saved him, and the +protection of Kmita, who was of the same age; and their lands were +adjoining in Orsha till Pan Yaromir had squandered his away. He came up +holding in both hands a great-eared bowl filled with dembniak.</p> + +<p>Next came Ranitski, whose family had arms,—Dry Chambers (Suche +Komnaty). He was born in the province of Mstislavsk, from which he was +an outlaw for killing two noblemen, landowners. One he slew in a duel, +the other he shot without an encounter. He had no estate, though he +inherited his step-mother’s land on the death of his father. War saved +him, too, from the executioner. He was an incomparable hand-to-hand +sword-slasher.</p> + +<p>The third in order was Rekuts-Leliva, on whom blood did not weigh, save +the blood of the enemy. But he had played away, drunk away his +substance. For the past three years he had clung to Kmita.</p> + +<p>With him came the fourth, also from Smolensk, Pan Uhlik, under sentence +of death and dishonor for breaking up a court. Kmita protected him +because he played beautifully on the flageolet.</p> + +<p>Besides them was Pan Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus, in stature the equal of +Kokosinski, in strength even his superior; and Zend, a horse-trainer, +who knew how to imitate wild beasts and all kinds of birds,—a man of +uncertain descent, though claiming to be a noble of Courland; being +without fortune he trained Kmita’s horses, for which he received an +allowance.</p> + +<p>These then surrounded the laughing Pan Andrei. Kokosinski raised the +eared bowl and intoned:—</p> + +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-8px"> +“Drink with us, dear host of ours,</p> +<p class="t4">Dear host of ours!</p> +<p class="t0">With us thou mightst drink to the grave,</p> +<p class="t4">Drink to the grave!”</p> +</div> + +<p>Others repeated the chorus; then Kokosinski gave Kmita the eared bowl, +and Zend gave Kokosinski a goblet.</p> + +<p>Kmita raised high the eared bowl and shouted, “Health to my maiden!”</p> + +<p>“Vivat! vivat!” cried all voices, till the window-panes began to rattle +in their leaden fittings. “Vivat! the mourning will pass, the wedding +will come!”</p> + +<p>They began to pour forth questions: “But how does she look? Hei! +Yendrus,<a name="div2Ref_09" href="#div2_09"><sup>[9]</sup></a> is she very pretty, or such as you pictured her? Is there +another like her in Orsha?”</p> + +<p>“In Orsha?” cried Kmita. “In comparison with her you might stop +chimneys with our Orsha girls! A hundred thunders! there’s not another +such in the world.”</p> + +<p>“That’s the kind we wanted for you,” answered Ranitski. “Well, when is +the wedding to be?”</p> + +<p>“The minute the mourning is over.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, fie on the mourning! Children are not born black, but white.”</p> + +<p>“When the wedding comes, there will be no mourning. Hurry, Yendrus!”</p> + +<p>“Hurry, Yendrus!” all began to exclaim at once.</p> + +<p>“The little bannerets of Orsha are crying in heaven for the earth,” +said Kokosinski.</p> + +<p>“Don’t make the poor little things wait!”</p> + +<p>“Mighty lords,” added Rekuts-Leliva, with a thin voice, “at the wedding +we’ll drink ourselves drunk as fools.”</p> + +<p>“My dear lambs,” said Kmita, “pardon me, or, speaking more correctly, +go to a hundred devils, let me look around in my own house.”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense!” answered Uhlik. “To-morrow the inspection, but now all to +the table; there is a pair of demijohns there yet with big bellies.”</p> + +<p>“We have already made inspection for you. This Lyubich is a golden +apple,” said Ranitski.</p> + +<p>“A good stable!” cried Zend; “there are two ponies, two splendid hussar +horses, a pair of Jmud horses, and a pair of Kalmuks,—all in pairs, +like eyes in the head. We will look at the mares and colts to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>Here Zend neighed like a horse; they wondered at his perfect imitation, +and laughed.</p> + +<p>“Is there such good order here?” asked Kmita, rejoiced.</p> + +<p>“And how the cellar looks!” piped Rekuts; “resinous kegs and mouldy +jugs stand like squadrons in ranks.”</p> + +<p>“Praise be to God for that! let us sit down at the table.”</p> + +<p>“To the table! to the table!”</p> + +<p>They had barely taken their places and filled their cups when Ranitski +sprang up again: “To the health of the Under-chamberlain Billevich!”</p> + +<p>“Stupid!” answered Kmita, “how is that? You are drinking the health of +a dead man.”</p> + +<p>“Stupid!” repeated the others. “The health of the master!”</p> + +<p>“Your health!”</p> + +<p>“May we get good in these chambers!”</p> + +<p>Kmita cast his eyes involuntarily along the dining-hall, and he saw on +the larch wood walls, blackened by age, a row of stern eyes fixed on +him. Those eyes were gazing out of the old portraits of the +Billeviches, hanging low, within two ells of the floor, for the wall +was low. Above the portraits in a long unbroken row were fixed skulls +of the aurochs, of stags, of elks, crowned with their antlers: some, +blackened, were evidently very old; others were shining with whiteness. +All four walls were ornamented with them.</p> + +<p>“The hunting must be splendid, for I see abundance of wild beasts,” +said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“We will go to-morrow or the day after. We must learn the +neighborhood,” answered Kokosinski. “Happy are you, Yendrus, to have a +place to shelter your head!”</p> + +<p>“Not like us,” groaned Ranitski.</p> + +<p>“Let us drink for our solace,” said Rekuts.</p> + +<p>“No, not for our solace,” answered Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus, “but once +more to the health of Yendrus, our beloved captain. It is he, my mighty +lords, who has given here in Lyubich an asylum to us poor exiles +without a roof above our heads.”</p> + +<p>“He speaks justly,” cried a number of voices; “Kulvyets is not so +stupid as he seems.”</p> + +<p>“Hard is our lot,” piped Rekuts. “Our whole hope is that you will not +drive us poor orphans out through your gates.”</p> + +<p>“Give us peace,” said Kmita; “what is mine is yours.”</p> + +<p>With that all rose from their places and began to take him by the +shoulders. Tears of tenderness flowed over those stern drunken faces.</p> + +<p>“In you is all our hope, Yendrus,” cried Kokosinski, “Let us sleep even +on pea straw; drive us not forth.”</p> + +<p>“Give us peace,” repeated Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Drive us not forth; as it is, we have been driven,—we nobles and men +of family,” said Uhlik, plaintively.</p> + +<p>“To a hundred fiends with you, who is driving you out? Eat, drink! What +the devil do you want?”</p> + +<p>“Do not deny us,” said Ranitski, on whose face spots came out as on the +skin of a leopard. “Do not deny us, Andrei, or we are lost altogether.”</p> + +<p>Here he began to stammer, put his finger to his forehead as if +straining his wit, and suddenly said, looking with sheepish eyes on +those present, “Unless fortune changes.”</p> + +<p>And all blurted out at once in chorus, “Of course it will change.”</p> + +<p>“And we will yet pay for our wrongs.”</p> + +<p>“And come to fortune.”</p> + +<p>“And to office.”</p> + +<p>“God bless the innocent! Our prosperity!”</p> + +<p>“Your health!” cried Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>“Your words are holy, Yendrus,” said Kokosinski, placing his chubby +face before Kmita. “God grant us improvement of fortune!”</p> + +<p>Healths began to go around, and tufts to steam. All were talking, one +interrupting the other; and each heard only himself, with the exception +of Rekuts, who dropped his head on his breast and slumbered. Kokosinski +began to sing, “She bound the flax in bundles,” noting which Uhlik took +a flageolet from his bosom and accompanied him.</p> + +<p>Ranitski, a great fencer, fenced with his naked hand against an unseen +opponent, repeating in an undertone, “You thus, I thus; you cut, I +strike,—one, two, three, check!”</p> + +<p>The gigantic Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus stared fixedly for some time at +Ranitski; at last he waved his hand and said: “You’re a fool! Strike +your best, but still you can’t hold your own before Kmita with a +sabre.”</p> + +<p>“For no one can stand before him; but try yourself.”</p> + +<p>“You will not win against me with a pistol.”</p> + +<p>“For a ducat a shot.”</p> + +<p>“A ducat! But where and at what?”</p> + +<p>Ranitski cast his eyes around; at last he cried out, pointing at the +skulls, “Between the antlers, for a ducat!”</p> + +<p>“For what?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Between the antlers, for two ducats, for three! Bring the pistols!”</p> + +<p>“Agreed!” cried Kmita. “Let it be three. Zend, get the pistols!”</p> + +<p>All began to shout louder and louder, and bargain among themselves; +meanwhile Zend went to the antechamber, and soon returned with pistols, +a pouch of bullets, and a horn with powder.</p> + +<p>Ranitski grasped for a pistol. “Is it loaded?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“Loaded.”</p> + +<p>“For three, four, five ducats!” blustered Kmita, drunk.</p> + +<p>“Quiet! you will miss, you will miss.”</p> + +<p>“I shall hit at that skull between the antlers—one! two!”</p> + +<p>All eyes were turned to the strong elk-skull fixed in front of +Ranitski. He straightened his arm; the pistol turned in his palm.</p> + +<p>“Three!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>The shot sounded; the room was filled with powder smoke.</p> + +<p>“He has missed, he has missed! See where the hole is!” cried Kmita, +pointing with his hand at the dark wall from which the bullet had torn +out a brighter chip.</p> + +<p>“Two shots each time!”</p> + +<p>“No; give it to me,” cried Kulvyets.</p> + +<p>At that moment the astonished servants ran in at the sound of the shot.</p> + +<p>“Away! away!” called Kmita. “One! two! three!”</p> + +<p>Again the roar of a shot; this time the pieces fell from the bone.</p> + +<p>“But give us pistols too!” shouted all at the same time.</p> + +<p>And springing up, they began to pound on the shoulders of their +attendants, urging them to hurry. Before a quarter of an hour had +passed, the whole room was thundering with shots. The smoke hid the +light of the candles and the forms of the men shooting. The report of +discharges was accompanied by the voice of Zend, who croaked like a +raven, screamed like a falcon, howled like a wolf, bellowed like an +aurochs. The whistle of bullets interrupted him; bits flew from the +skulls, chips from the wall, and portraits from their frames; in the +disorder the Billeviches were shot, and Ranitski, falling into fury, +slashed them with his sabre.</p> + +<p>The servants, astonished and terrified, stood as if bereft of their +senses, gazing with startled eyes on that sport which resembled a +Tartar invasion. The dogs began to howl and bark. All in the house were +on their feet; in the yard groups of people assembled. The girls of the +house ran to the windows, and putting their faces to the panes, +flattening their noses, gazed at what was passing within.</p> + +<p>Zend saw them at last; he whistled so piercingly that it rang in the +ears of all, and then shouted, “Mighty lords! titmice are under the +window,—titmice!”</p> + +<p>“Titmice! titmice!”</p> + +<p>“Now for a dance!” roared dissonant voices.</p> + +<p>The drunken crowd sprang through the anteroom to the porch. The frost +did not sober their steaming heads. The girls, screaming in voices that +rose to the sky, ran in every direction through the yard; but the men +chased them, and brought each one they seized to the room. After a +while they began dancing in the midst of smoke, bits of bone, and chips +around the table on which spilled wine lay in pools.</p> + +<p>In such fashion did Pan Kmita and his wild company revel in Lyubich.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p>For a number of subsequent days Pan Andrei was at Vodokty daily; and +each time he returned more in love, and admired more and more his +Olenka. He lauded her to the skies, too, before his companions, till on +a certain day he said to them,—</p> + +<p>“My dear lambs, you will go to-day to beat with the forehead; then, as +we have stipulated with the maiden, we will go to Mitruny to have a +sleigh-ride through the forests and look at the third estate. She will +entertain us there, and do you bear yourselves decently; for I would +cut into hash the man who offended her in anything.”</p> + +<p>The cavaliers hurried willingly to prepare, and soon four sleighs were +bearing the eager young men to Vodokty. Kmita sat in the first sleigh, +which was highly ornamented and had the form of a silvery bear. This +sleigh was drawn by three captured Kalmuk horses in variegated harness, +in ribbons and peacock feathers, according to the Smolensk fashion, +borrowed from more distant neighbors. A young fellow sitting in the +neck of the bear drove the horses. Pan Andrei was dressed in a green +velvet coat buttoned on golden cords and trimmed with sable, and wore a +sable cap with a heron’s feather. He was gladsome, joyous, and spoke to +Kokosinski sitting at his side,—</p> + +<p>“Listen, Kokoshko! I suppose we played tricks wild beyond measure on +two evenings, and especially the first, when the skulls and the +portraits suffered. But the case of the girls was still worse. The +Devil always pushes forward that Zend, and then on whom does he pound +out the punishment? On me. I am afraid that people will talk, for in +this place my reputation is at stake.”</p> + +<p>“Hang yourself on your reputation; it is good for nothing else, just +like ours.”</p> + +<p>“And who is to blame for that, if not you men? Remember, Kokoshko, they +held me for a disturbing spirit in Orsha, and tongues were sharpened on +me like knives on a whetstone.”</p> + +<p>“But who dragged Pan Tumgrat out in the frost with a horse; who cut up +that official, who asked whether men walked on two feet in Orsha or on +four? Who hacked the Vyzinskis, father and son? Who broke up the last +provincial Diet?”</p> + +<p>“I broke up the Diet in Orsha, not somewhere else; that was a home +affair. Pan Tumgrat forgave me when he was dying; and as to the others, +speak not, for a duel may happen to the most innocent.”</p> + +<p>“I have not told all yet; I have not spoken of the trials in the army, +of which two are still waiting for you.”</p> + +<p>“Not for me, but for you men; for I am to blame only for letting you +rob the people. But no more of this! Shut your mouth, Kokoshko, and say +nothing to Olenka about the duels, and especially nothing of that +shooting at the portraits and of the girls. If it is told, I shall lay +the blame on you. I have informed the servants and the girls that if a +word is said, I will order belts taken out of their skins.”</p> + +<p>“Have yourself shod like a horse, Yendrus, if you are in such dread of +your maiden. You were another man in Orsha. I see already that you will +go in leading-strings, and there is no good in that. Some ancient +philosopher says, ‘If you will not manage Kahna, Kahna will manage +you.’ You have given yourself to be tied up in all things.”</p> + +<p>“You are a fool, Kokoshko! But as to Olenka you will stand on one foot +and then on the other when you put eyes on her, for another woman with +such proper intent is not to be found. What is good she will praise in +a moment, but the bad she will blame without waiting; for she judges +according to virtue, and has in herself a ready measure. The late +under-chamberlain reared her in that way. Should you wish to boast of +warlike daring before her, and say that you trampled on justice, you +will soon be ashamed; for at once she will say, ‘An honorable citizen +should not do that; it is against the country.’ She will speak so to +you that it will be as if some one had slapped you on the face, and +you’ll wonder that you did not know these things yourself. Tfu! shame! +We have raised fearful disorder, and now must stand open-eyed before +virtue and innocence. The worst was those girls—”</p> + +<p>“By no means the worst. I have heard that in the villages there are +girls of the petty nobility like blood and milk, and probably not +stubborn at all.”</p> + +<p>“Who told you?” asked Kmita, quickly.</p> + +<p>“Who told me? Who, if not Zend? Yesterday while trying the roan steed +he rode to Volmontovichi; he merely rode along the highway, but he saw +many titmice, for they were coming from vespers. ‘I thought,’ said he, +‘that I should fly off the horse, they were so handsome and pretty.’ +And whenever he looked at any one of them she showed her teeth +directly. And no wonder! for all the grown men of the nobles have gone +to Rossyeni, and it is dreary for the titmice alone.”</p> + +<p>Kmita punched his companion in the side with his fist. “Let us go, +Kokoshko, some time in the evening,—pretend we are astray,—shall we?”</p> + +<p>“But your reputation?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, to the Devil! Shut your mouth! Go alone, if that is the way; but +better drop the matter. It would not pass without talk, and I want to +live in peace with the nobles here, for the late under-chamberlain made +them Olenka’s guardians.”</p> + +<p>“You have spoken of that, but I would not believe it. How did he have +such intimacy with homespuns?”</p> + +<p>“Because he went with them to war, and I heard of this in Orsha, when +he said that there was honorable blood in those Lauda men. But to tell +the truth, Kokoshko, it was an immediate wonder to me, for it is as if +he had made them guards over me.”</p> + +<p>“You will yield to them and bow to your boots before dish-cloths.”</p> + +<p>“First may the pestilence choke them! Be quiet, for I am angry! They +will bow to me and serve me. Their quota is ready at every call.”</p> + +<p>“Some one else will command this quota. Zend says that there is a +colonel here among them—I forget his name—Volodyovski or something? +He led them at Shklov. They fought well, it appears, but were combed +out there.”</p> + +<p>“I have heard of a Volodyovski, a famous warrior—But here is Vodokty +in sight.”</p> + +<p>“Hei, it is well for people in Jmud; for there is stern order. The old +man must have been a born manager. And the house,—I see how it looks. +The enemy brought fire here seldom, and the people could build.”</p> + +<p>“I think that she cannot have heard yet of that outburst in Lyubich,” +said Kmita, as if to himself. Then he turned to his comrade: “My +Kokoshko, I tell you, and do you repeat it to the others, that you must +bear yourselves decently here; and if any man permits himself anything, +as God is dear to me, I will cut him up like chopped straw.”</p> + +<p>“Well, they have saddled you!”</p> + +<p>“Saddled, saddled not, I will cut you up!”</p> + +<p>“Don’t look at my Kasia or I’ll cut you to pieces,” said Kokosinski, +phlegmatically.</p> + +<p>“Fire out thy whip!” shouted Kmita to the driver.</p> + +<p>The youth standing in the neck of the silvery bear whirled his whip, +and cracked it very adroitly; other drivers followed his example, and +they drove with a rattling, quick motion, joyous as at a carnival.</p> + +<p>Stepping out of the sleighs, they came first to an antechamber as large +as a granary, an unpainted room; thence Kmita conducted them to the +dining-hall, ornamented as in Lyubich with skulls and antlers of slain +beasts. Here they halted, looking carefully and with curiosity at the +door of the adjoining room, by which Panna Aleksandra was to enter. +Meanwhile, evidently keeping in mind Kmita’s warning, they spoke with +one another in subdued tones, as in a church.</p> + +<p>“You are a fellow of speech,” whispered Uhlik to Kokosinski, “you will +greet her for us all.”</p> + +<p>“I was arranging something to say on the road,” answered Kokosinski, +“but I know not whether it will be smooth enough, for Yendrus +interrupted my ideas.”</p> + +<p>“Let it be as it comes, if with spirit. But here she is!”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra entered, halting a little on the threshold, as if in +wonder at such a large company. Kmita himself stood for a while as if +fixed to the floor in admiration of her beauty; for hitherto he had +seen her only in the evening, and in the day she seemed still more +beautiful. Her eyes had the color of star-thistles; the dark brows +above them were in contrast to the forehead as ebony with white, and +her yellow hair shone like a crown on the head of a queen. Not dropping +her eyes, she had the self-possessed mien of a lady receiving guests in +her own house, with clear face seeming still clearer from the black +dress trimmed with ermine. Such a dignified and exalted lady the +warriors had not seen; they were accustomed to women of another type. +So they stood in a rank as if for the enrolling of a company, and +shuffling their feet they also bowed together in a row; but Kmita +pushed forward, and kissing the hand of the lady a number of times, +said,—</p> + +<p>“See, my jewel, I have brought you fellow soldiers with whom I fought +in the last war.”</p> + +<p>“It is for me no small honor,” answered Panna Billevich, “to receive in +my house such worthy cavaliers, of whose virtue and excellent qualities +I have heard from their commander, Pan Kmita.”</p> + +<p>When she had said this she took her skirt with the tips of her fingers, +and raising it slightly, courtesied with unusual dignity. Kmita bit his +lips, but at the same time he was flushed, since his maiden had spoken +with such spirit.</p> + +<p>The worthy cavaliers continuing to shuffle their feet, all nudged at +the same moment Pan Kokosinski: “Well, begin!”</p> + +<p>Kokosinski moved forward one step, cleared his throat, and began as +follows: “Serene great mighty lady, under-chamberlain’s daughter—”</p> + +<p>“Chief-hunter’s daughter,” corrected Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty lady, chief-hunter’s daughter, but to us right +merciful benefactress,” repeated Kokosinski,—“pardon, your ladyship, +if I have erred in the title—”</p> + +<p>“A harmless mistake,” replied Panna Aleksandra, “and it lessens in no +wise such an eloquent cavalier—”</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty lady, chief-hunter’s daughter, benefactress, and +our right merciful lady, I know not what becomes me in the name of all +Orsha to celebrate more,—the extraordinary beauty and virtue of your +ladyship, our benefactress, or the unspeakable happiness of the captain +and our fellow-soldier, Pan Kmita; for though I were to approach the +clouds, though I were to reach the clouds themselves—I say, the +clouds—”</p> + +<p>“But come down out of those clouds!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>With that the cavaliers burst into one enormous laugh; but all at once +remembering the command of Kmita, they seized their mustaches with +their hands.</p> + +<p>Kokosinski was confused in the highest degree. He grew purple, and +said, “Do the greeting yourselves, pagans, since you confuse me.”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra took again, with the tips of her fingers, her skirt. +“I could not follow you gentlemen in eloquence,” said she, “but I know +that I am unworthy of those homages which you give me in the name of +all Orsha.”</p> + +<p>And again she made a courtesy with exceeding dignity, and it was +somehow out of place for the Orsha roisterers in the presence of that +courtly maiden. They strove to exhibit themselves as men of politeness, +but it did not become them. Therefore they began to pull their +mustaches, to mutter and handle their sabres, till Kmita said,—</p> + +<p>“We have come here as if in a carnival, with the thought to take you +with us and drive to Mitruny through the forest, as was the arrangement +yesterday. The snow-road is firm, and God has given frosty weather.”</p> + +<p>“I have already sent Aunt Kulvyets to Mitruny to prepare dinner. But +now, gentlemen, wait just a little till I put on something warm.”</p> + +<p>Then she turned and went out.</p> + +<p>Kmita sprang to his comrades. “Well, my dear lambs, isn’t she a +princess? Now, Kokosinski, you said that she had saddled me, and why +were you as a little boy before her? Where have you seen her like?”</p> + +<p>“There was no call to interrupt me; though I do not deny that I did not +expect to address such a person.”</p> + +<p>“The late under-chamberlain,” said Kmita, “lived with her most of the +time in Kyedani, at the court of the prince voevoda, or lived with the +Hleboviches; and there she acquired those high manners. But her +beauty,—what of that? You cannot let your breath go yet.”</p> + +<p>“We have appeared as fools,” said Ranitski, in anger; “but the biggest +fool was Kokosinski.”</p> + +<p>“Traitor! why punch me with your elbow? You should have appeared +yourself, with your spotted mouth.”</p> + +<p>“Harmony, lambs, harmony!” said Kmita; “I will let you admire, but not +wrangle.”</p> + +<p>“I would spring into the fire for her,” said Rekuts. “Hew me down, +Yendrus, but I’ll not deny that.”</p> + +<p>Kmita did not think of cutting down; he was satisfied, twisted his +mustache, and gazed on his comrades with triumph. Now Panna Aleksandra +entered, wearing a marten-skin cap, under which her bright face +appeared still brighter. They went out on the porch.</p> + +<p>“Then shall we ride in this sleigh?” asked the lady, pointing to the +silvery bear. “I have not seen a more beautiful sleigh in my life.”</p> + +<p>“I know not who has used it hitherto, for it was captured. It suits me +very well, for on my shield is a lady on a bear. There are other Kmitas +who have banners on their shield, but they are descended from Filon +Kmita of Charnobil; he was not of the same house from which the great +Kmitas are descended.”</p> + +<p>“And when did you capture this bear sleigh?”</p> + +<p>“Lately, in this war. We poor exiles who have fallen away from fortune +have only what war gives us in plunder. But as I serve that lady +faithfully, she has rewarded me.”</p> + +<p>“May God grant a better; for war rewards one, but presses tears from +the whole dear fatherland.”</p> + +<p>“God and the hetmans will change that.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kmita wrapped Panna Aleksandra in the beautiful sleigh robe +of white cloth lined with white wolfskin; then taking his own seat, he +cried to the driver, “Move on!” and the horses sprang forward at a run.</p> + +<p>The cold wind struck their faces with its rush; they were silent, +therefore, and nothing was heard save the wheezing of frozen snow under +the runners, the snorting of the horses, their tramp, and the cry of +the driver.</p> + +<p>At last Pan Andrei bent toward Olenka. “Is it pleasant for you?”</p> + +<p>“Pleasant,” answered she, raising her sleeve and holding it to her +mouth to ward off the rush of air.</p> + +<p>The sleigh dashed on like a whirlwind. The day was bright, frosty; the +snow sparkled as if some one were scattering sparks on it. From the +white roofs of the cottages, which were like piles of snow, rosy smoke +curled in high columns. Flocks of crows from among the leafless trees +by the roadside flew before the sleighs with shrill cawing.</p> + +<p>About eighty rods from Vodokty they came out on a broad road into dark +pine-woods which stood gloomy, hoary, and silent as if sleeping under +the thick snow-bunches. The trees flitted before the eye, appeared to +be fleeing to some place in the rear of the sleigh; but the sleigh flew +on, every moment swiftly, more swiftly, as if the horses had wings. +From such driving the head turns, and ecstasy seizes one; it seized +Panna Aleksandra. She leaned back, closed her eyes, and yielded +completely to the impetus. She felt a sweet powerlessness, and it +seemed to her that that boyar of Orsha had taken her by violence: that +he is rushing away like a whirlwind, and she growing weak has no +strength to oppose or to cry,—and they are flying, flying each moment +more swiftly. Olenka feels that arms are embracing her; then on her +cheek as it were a hot burning stamp. Her eyes will not open, as if in +a dream; and they fly, fly.</p> + +<p>An inquiring voice first roused the sleeping lady: “Do you love me?”</p> + +<p>She opened her eyes. “As my own soul.”</p> + +<p>“And I for life and death.”</p> + +<p>Again the sable cap of Kmita bent over the marten-skin cap of Olenka. +She knew not herself which gave her more delight,—the kisses or the +magic ride.</p> + +<p>And they flew farther, but always through pine-woods, through +pine-woods. Trees fled to the rear in whole regiments. The snow was +wheezing, the horses snorting; but the man and the maiden were happy.</p> + +<p>“I would ride to the end of the world in this way,” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>“What are we doing? This is a sin!” whispered Olenka.</p> + +<p>“What sin? Let us commit it again.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible! Mitruny is not far.”</p> + +<p>“Far or near, ’tis all one!”</p> + +<p>And Kmita rose in the sleigh, stretched his arms upward, and began to +shout as if in a full breast he could not find place for his joy: +“Hei-ha! hei-ha!”</p> + +<p>“Hei-hop! hoop-ha!” answered the comrades from the sleighs behind.</p> + +<p>“Why do you shout so?” asked the lady.</p> + +<p>“Oh, so, from delight! And shout you as well!”</p> + +<p>“Hei-ha!” was heard the resonant, thin alto voice.</p> + +<p>“O thou, my queen! I fall at thy feet.”</p> + +<p>“The company will laugh.”</p> + +<p>After the ecstasy a noisy joyousness seized them, as wild as the +driving was wild. Kmita began to sing,—</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-8px"> +“Look thou, my girl! look through the door,</p> +<p class="t8">To the rich fields!</p> +<p class="t0">Oh, knights from the pine-woods are coming, my mother,</p> +<p class="t8">Oh, that’s my fate!</p> +<p class="t0">Look not, my daughter! cover thy eyes,</p> +<p class="t8">With thy white hands,</p> +<p class="t0">For thy heart will spring out of thy bosom</p> +<p class="t8">With them to the war.”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Who taught you such lovely songs?” asked Panna Aleksandra.</p> + +<p>“War, Olenka. In the camp we sang them to one another to drive away +sadness.”</p> + +<p>Further conversation was interrupted by a loud calling from the rear +sleighs: “Stop! stop! Hei there—stop!”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei turned around in anger, wondering how it came to the heads +of his comrades to call and stop him. He saw a few tens of steps from +the sleigh a horseman approaching at full speed of the horse.</p> + +<p>“As God lives, that is my sergeant Soroka; what can have happened?” +said Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>That moment the sergeant coming up, reined his horse on his haunches, +and began to speak with a panting voice: “Captain!—”</p> + +<p>“What is the matter, Soroka?”</p> + +<p>“Upita is on fire; they are fighting!”</p> + +<p>“Jesus Mary!” screamed Olenka.</p> + +<p>“Have no fear!—Who is fighting?”</p> + +<p>“The soldiers with the townspeople. There is a fire on the square! The +townspeople are enraged, and they have sent to Ponyevyej for a +garrison. But I galloped here to your grace. I can barely draw breath.”</p> + +<p>During this conversation the sleighs behind caught up; Kokosinski, +Ranitski, Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus, Uhlik, Rekuts, and Zend, springing +out on the snow, surrounded the speakers with a circle.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“The townspeople would not give supplies for horses or men, because +there was no order for it; the soldiers began to take by force. We +besieged the mayor and those who barricaded themselves in the square. +Firing was begun, and we burned two houses; at present there is +terrible violence, and ringing of bells—”</p> + +<p>Kmita’s eyes gleamed with wrath.</p> + +<p>“We must go to the rescue!” shouted Kokosinski.</p> + +<p>“The rabble are oppressing the army!” cried Ranitski, whose whole face +was covered at once with red, white, and dark spots. “Check, check! +mighty lords!”</p> + +<p>Zend laughed exactly as a screech-owl hoots, till the horses were +frightened; and Rekuts raised his eyes and piped, “Strike, whoso +believes in God! smoke out the ruffians!”</p> + +<p>“Be silent!” roared Kmita, till the woods echoed, and Zend, who stood +nearest, staggered like a drunken man. “There is no need of you there, +no need of slashing! Sit all of you in two sleighs, leave me the third. +Drive back to Lyubich; wait there unless I send for succor.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked Ranitski, opposing.</p> + +<p>But Pan Andrei laid a hand on his throat, and his eyes gleamed more +terribly. “Not a breath out of you!” said he, threateningly.</p> + +<p>They were silent; evidently they feared him, though usually on such +familiar footing.</p> + +<p>“Go back, Olenka, to Vodokty,” said Kmita, “or go for your Aunt +Kulvyets to Mitruny. Well, our party was not a success. But it will be +quieter there soon; only a few heads will fly off. Be in good health +and at rest; I shall be quick to return.”</p> + +<p>Having said this, he kissed her hand, and wrapped her in the wolf-skin; +then he took his seat in the other sleigh, and cried to the driver, “To +Upita!”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p>A number of days passed, and Kmita did not return; but three men of +Lauda came to Vodokty with complaints to the lady. Pakosh Gashtovt from +Patsuneli came,—the same who was entertaining at his house Pan +Volodyovski. He was the patriarch of the village, famed for wealth and +six daughters, of whom three had married Butryms, and received each one +hundred coined dollars as dowry, besides clothing and cattle. The +second who came was Kassyan Butrym, who remembered Batory well, and +with him the son-in-law of Pakosh, Yuzva Butrym; the latter, though in +the prime of life,—he was not more than fifty years old,—did not go +to Rossyeni to the registry of the general militia, for in the Cossack +wars a cannon-ball had torn off his foot. He was called on this account +Ankle-foot, or Yuzva Footless. He was a terrible man, with the strength +of a bear, and great sense, but harsh, surly, judging men severely. For +this reason he was feared somewhat in the capitals, for he could not +pardon either himself or others. He was dangerous also when in liquor; +but that happened rarely.</p> + +<p>These men came, then, to the lady, who received them graciously, though +she divined at once that they had come to make complaints, and wanted +to hear something from her regarding Pan Kmita.</p> + +<p>“We wish to pay our respects to Pan Kmita, but perhaps he has not come +back yet from Upita,” said Pakosh; “so we have come to inquire, our +dear darling, when it will be possible to see him.”</p> + +<p>“I think the only hindrance is that he is not here,” answered the lady. +“He will be glad with his whole soul to see you, my guardians, for he +has heard much good concerning you,—in old times from my grandfather, +and lately from me.”</p> + +<p>“If only he does not receive us as he received the Domasheviches when +they went to him with tidings of the colonel’s death,” muttered Yuzva, +sullenly.</p> + +<p>The lady listened to the end, and answered at once with animation: “Be +not unjust about that. Perhaps he did not receive them politely enough, +but he has confessed his fault in this house. It should be remembered +too that he was returning from a war in which he endured much toil and +suffering. We must not wonder at a soldier, even if he snaps at his +own, for warriors have tempers like sharp swords.”</p> + +<p>Pakosh Gashtovt, who wished always to be in accord with the whole +world, waved his hand and said: “We did not wonder, either. A beast +snaps at a beast when it sees one suddenly; why should not a man snap +at a man? We will go to old Lyubich to greet Pan Kmita, so that +he may live with us, go to war and to the wilderness, as the late +under-chamberlain used to do.”</p> + +<p>“Well, tell us, dear darling, did he please you or did he not please +you?” asked Kassyan Butrym. “It is our duty to ask this.”</p> + +<p>“God reward you for your care. Pan Kmita is an honorable cavalier, and +even if I had found something against him it would not be proper to +speak of it.”</p> + +<p>“But have you not seen something, our dearest soul?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing! Besides, no one has the right to judge him here, and God save +us from showing distrust. Let us rather thank God.”</p> + +<p>“Why thank too early? When there will be something to thank for, then +thank; if not, then not thank,” answered the sullen Yuzva, who, like a +genuine man of Jmud, was very cautious and foreseeing.</p> + +<p>“Have you spoken about the marriage?” inquired Kassyan.</p> + +<p>Olenka dropped her eyes: “Pan Kmita wishes it as early as possible.”</p> + +<p>“That’s it! and why shouldn’t he wish it?” muttered Yuzva; “he is not a +fool! What bear is it that does not want honey from a tree? But why +hurry? Is it not better to see what kind of man he is? Father Kassyan, +tell what you have on your tongue; do not doze like a hare at midday +under a ridge.”</p> + +<p>“I am not dozing, I am only turning in my head what to say,” answered +the old man. “The Lord Jesus has said, ‘As Kuba [Jacob] is to God, so +will God be to Kuba.’ We wish no ill to Pan Kmita, if he wishes no ill +to us,—which God grant, amen.”</p> + +<p>“If he will be to our thinking,” said Yuzva.</p> + +<p>Panna Billevich frowned with her falcon brows, and said with a certain +haughtiness: “Remember that we are not receiving a servant. He will be +master here; and his will must have force, not ours. He will succeed +you in the guardianship.”</p> + +<p>“Does that mean that we must not interfere?” asked Yuzva.</p> + +<p>“It means that you are to be friends with him, as he wishes to be a +friend of yours. Moreover he is taking care of his own property here, +which each man manages according to his wish. Is not this true, Father +Pakosh?”</p> + +<p>“The sacred truth,” answered the old man of Patsuneli.</p> + +<p>Yuzva turned again to old Butrym. “Do not doze, Father Kassyan!”</p> + +<p>“I am not dozing, I am only looking into my mind.”</p> + +<p>“Then tell what you see there.”</p> + +<p>“What do I see? This is what I see: Pan Kmita is a man of great family, +of high blood, and we are small people. Moreover he is a soldier of +fame; he alone opposed the enemy when all had dropped their hands,—God +give as many as possible of such men! But he has a company that is +worthless. Pan Pakosh, my neighbor, what have you heard about them from +the Domasheviches? That they are all dishonored men, against whom +outlawry has been declared, infamous and condemned, with declarations +and trials hanging over them, children of the hangman. They were +grievous to the enemy, but more grievous to their own people. They +burned, they plundered, they rioted; that is what they did. They may +have slain people in duels or carried out executions,—that happens to +honest men; but they have lived in pure Tartar fashion, and long ago +would have been rotting in prison but for the protection of Pan Kmita, +who is a powerful lord. He favors and protects them, and they cling to +him just as flies do in summer to a horse. Now they have come hither, +and it is known to all what they are doing. The first day at Lyubich +they fired out of pistols,—and at what?—at the portraits of the dead +Billeviches, which Pan Kmita should not have permitted, for the +Billeviches are his benefactors.”</p> + +<p>Olenka covered her eyes with her hands. “It cannot be! it cannot be!”</p> + +<p>“It can, for it has been. He let them shoot at his benefactors, with +whom he was to enter into relationship; and then they dragged the girls +of the house into the room for debauchery. Tfu! an offence against God! +That has never been among us! The first day they began shooting and +dissoluteness,—the first day!”</p> + +<p>Here old Kassyan grew angry, and fell to striking the floor with his +staff. On Olenka’s face were dark blushes, and Yuzva said,—</p> + +<p>“And Pan Kmita’s troops in Upita, are they better? Like officers, like +men. Some people stole Pan Sollohub’s cattle; it is said they were Pan +Kmita’s men. Some persons struck down on the road peasants of Meizagol +who were drawing pitch. Who did this? They, the same soldiers. Pan +Sollohub went to Pan Hlebovich for satisfaction, and now there is +violence in Upita again. All this is in opposition to God. It used to +be quiet here as in no other place, and now one must load a gun for the +night and stand guard; but why? Because Pan Kmita and his company have +come.”</p> + +<p>“Father Yuzva, do not talk so,” cried Olenka.</p> + +<p>“But how must I talk? If Pan Kmita is not to blame, why does he keep +such men, why does he live with such men? Great mighty lady, tell him +to dismiss them or give them up to the hangman, for otherwise there +will be no peace. Is it a thing heard of to shoot at portraits and +commit open debauchery? Why, the whole neighborhood is talking of +nothing else.”</p> + +<p>“What have I to do?” asked Olenka. “They may be evil men, but he fought +the war with them. If he will dismiss them at my request?”</p> + +<p>“If he does not dismiss them,” muttered Yuzva, in a low voice, “he is +the same as they.”</p> + +<p>With this the lady’s blood began to boil against those men, murderers +and profligates.</p> + +<p>“Let it be so. He must dismiss them. Let him choose me or them. If what +you say is true,—and I shall know to-day if it is true,—I shall not +forgive them either the shooting or the debauchery. I am alone and a +weak orphan, they are an armed crowd; but I do not fear them.”</p> + +<p>“We will help you,” said Yuzva.</p> + +<p>“In God’s name,” continued Olenka, more and more excited, “let +them do what they like, but not here in Lyubich. Let them be as they +like,—that is their affair, their necks’ answer; but let them not lead +away Pan Kmita to debauchery. Shame and disgrace! I thought they were +awkward soldiers, but now I see that they are vile traitors, who stain +both themselves and him. That’s the truth! Wickedness was looking out +of their eyes; but I, foolish woman, did not recognize it. Well, I +thank you, fathers, for opening my eyes on these Judases. I know what +it beseems me to do.”</p> + +<p>“That’s it!” said old Kassyan. “Virtue speaks through you, and we will +help you.”</p> + +<p>“Do not blame Pan Kmita, for though he has offended against good +conduct he is young; and they tempt him, they lead him away, they urge +him to license with example, and bring disgrace to his name. This is +the condition; as I live, it will not last long.”</p> + +<p>Wrath roused Olenka’s heart more and more, and indignation at the +comrades of Pan Kmita increased as pain increases in a wound freshly +given; for terribly wounded in her were the love special to woman and +that trust with which she had given her whole unmixed feeling to Pan +Andrei. She was ashamed, for his sake and for her own, and anger and +internal shame sought above all guilty parties.</p> + +<p>The nobles were glad when they saw their colonel’s granddaughter so +terrible and ready for unyielding war against the disturbers from +Orsha.</p> + +<p>She spoke on with sparkling eyes: “True, they are to blame; and they +must leave not only Lyubich, but the whole country-side.”</p> + +<p>“Our heart, we do not blame Pan Kmita,” said old Kassyan. “We know that +they tempt him. Not through bitterness nor venom against him have we +come, but through regret that he keeps near his person revellers. It is +evident, of course, that being young he is foolish. Even Pan Hlebovich +the starosta was foolish when he was young, but now he keeps us all in +order.”</p> + +<p>“And a dog,” said the mild old man from Patsuneli, with a voice of +emotion,—“if you go with a young one to the field, won’t the fool +instead of running after the game fall about your feet, begin to play, +and tug you by the skirts?”</p> + +<p>Olenka wanted to say something, but suddenly she burst into tears.</p> + +<p>“Do not cry,” said Yuzva Butrym.</p> + +<p>“Do not cry, do not cry,” repeated the two old men.</p> + +<p>They tried to comfort her, but could not. After they had gone, care, +anxiety, and as it were an offended feeling against them and against +Pan Andrei remained. It pained the proud lady more and more deeply that +she had to defend, justify, and explain him. But the men of that +company! The delicate hands of the lady clinched at thought of them. +Before her eyes appeared as if present the faces of Pan Kokosinski, +Uhlik, Zend, Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus, and the others; and she +discovered what she had not seen at first, that they were shameless +faces, on which folly, licentiousness, and crime had all fixed their +stamps in common. A feeling of hatred foreign to Olenka began to seize +her as a rattling fire seizes fuel; but together with this outburst +offence against Pan Kmita increased every minute.</p> + +<p>“Shame, disgrace,” whispered the maiden, with pallid lips, “that +yesterday he went from me to house-wenches!” and she felt herself +overborne. A crushing burden stopped the breath in her breast.</p> + +<p>It was growing raw out of doors. Panna Aleksandra walked in the room +with hurried step, but anger was seething in her soul without ceasing. +Hers was not the nature to endure the persecutions of fate without +defending herself against them. There was knightly blood in the girl. +She wanted straightway to begin a struggle with that band of evil +spirits,—straightway. But what remained to her? Nothing, save tears +and the prayer that Pan Andrei would send to the four winds those +shame-bringing comrades. But if he will not do that—And she did not +dare to think more of the question.</p> + +<p>The meditations of the lady were interrupted by a youth who brought an +armful of juniper sticks to the chimney, and throwing them down at the +side of the hearth, began to pull out the coals from under the +smouldering ashes. Suddenly a decision came to Olenka’s mind.</p> + +<p>“Kostek!” said she, “sit on horseback for me at once, and ride to +Lyubich. If the master has returned, ask him to come here; but if he is +not there, let the manager, old Znikis, mount with thee and come +straight to me, and quickly.”</p> + +<p>The youth threw some bits of pitch on the coals and covered them with +clumps of dry juniper. Bright flames began to crackle and snap in the +chimney. It grew somewhat lighter in Olenka’s mind.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps the Lord God will change this yet,” thought she to herself, +“and maybe it is not so bad as the guardians have said.”</p> + +<p>After a while she went to the servants’ room to sit, according to the +immemorial custom of the Billeviches, with the maidens to oversee the +spinning and sing hymns.</p> + +<p>In two hours Kostek entered, chilled from cold. “Znikis is in the +antechamber,” said he. “The master is not in Lyubich.”</p> + +<p>The lady rose quickly. The manager in the antechamber bowed to her +feet. “But how is your health, serene heiress? God give you the best.”</p> + +<p>They passed into the dining-hall; Znikis halted at the door.</p> + +<p>“What is to be heard among you people?” asked the lady.</p> + +<p>The peasant waved his hand. “Well, the master is not there.”</p> + +<p>“I know that, because he is in Upita. But what is going on in the +house?”</p> + +<p>“Well!—”</p> + +<p>“Listen, Znikis, speak boldly; not a hair will fall from thy head. +People say that the master is good, but his companions wild?”</p> + +<p>“If they were only wild, serene lady!—”</p> + +<p>“Speak candidly.”</p> + +<p>“But, lady, if it is not permitted me—I am afraid—they have forbidden +me.”</p> + +<p>“Who has forbidden?”</p> + +<p>“My master.”</p> + +<p>“Has he?” asked the lady.</p> + +<p>A moment of silence ensued. She walked quickly in the room, with +compressed lips and frowning brow. He followed her with his eyes. +Suddenly she stopped before him.</p> + +<p>“To whom dost thou belong?”</p> + +<p>“To the Billeviches. I am from Vodokty, not from Lyubich.”</p> + +<p>“Thou wilt return no more to Lyubich; stay here. Now I command thee to +tell all thou knowest.”</p> + +<p>The peasant cast himself on his knees at the threshold where he was +standing. “Serene lady, I do not want to go back; the day of judgment +is there. They are bandits and cut-throats; in that place a man is not +sure of the day nor the hour.”</p> + +<p>Panna Billevich staggered as if stricken by an arrow. She grew very +pale, but inquired calmly, “Is it true that they fired in the room, at +the portraits?”</p> + +<p>“Of course they fired! And they dragged girls into their rooms, and +every day the same debauchery. In the village is weeping, at the house +Sodom and Gomorrah. Oxen are killed for the table, sheep for the table. +The people are oppressed. Yesterday they killed the stable man without +cause.”</p> + +<p>“Did they kill the stable-man?”</p> + +<p>“Of course. And worst of all, they abused the girls. Those at the house +are not enough for them; they chase others through the village.”</p> + +<p>A second interval of silence followed. Hot blushes came out on the +lady’s face, and did not leave it.</p> + +<p>“When do they look for the master’s return?”</p> + +<p>“They do not know, my lady. But I heard, as they were talking to one +another, that they would have to start to-morrow for Upita with their +whole company. They gave command to have horses ready. They will come +here and beg my lady for attendants and powder, because they need both +there.”</p> + +<p>“They are to come here? That is well. Go now, Znikis, to the kitchen. +Thou wilt return to Lyubich no more.”</p> + +<p>“May God give you health and happiness!”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra had learned what she wanted, and she knew how it +behooved her to act.</p> + +<p>The following day was Sunday. In the morning, before the ladies had +gone to church, Kokosinski, Uhlik, Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus, Ranitski, +Rekuts, and Zend arrived, followed by the servants at Lyubich, armed +and on horseback, for the cavaliers had decided to march to Upita with +succor for Kmita.</p> + +<p>The lady went out to meet them calmly and haughtily, altogether +different from the woman who had greeted them for the first time a few +days before. She barely motioned with her head in answer to their +humble bows; but they thought that the absence of Pan Kmita made her +cautious, and took no note of the real situation.</p> + +<p>Kokosinski stepped forward more confidently than the first time, and +said,—</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty lady, chief-hunter’s daughter, benefactress; we +have come in here on our way to Upita to fall at the feet of our lady +benefactress and beg for assistance, such as powder, and that you would +permit your servants to mount their horses and go with us. We will take +Upita by storm, and let out a little blood for the basswood-barks.”</p> + +<p>“It is a wonder to me,” answered Panna Billevich, “that you are going +to Upita, when I heard myself how Pan Kmita commanded you to remain +quietly in Lyubich, and I think that it beseems him to command and you +to obey, as subordinates.”</p> + +<p>The cavaliers hearing these words looked at one another in +astonishment. Zend pursed out his lips as if about to whistle in bird +fashion. Kokosinski began to draw his broad palm over his head.</p> + +<p>“As true as life,” said he, “a man would think that you were speaking +to Pan Kmita’s baggage-boys. It is true that we were to sit at home; +but since the fourth day is passing and Yendrus has not come, we have +reached the conviction that some serious tumult may have risen, in +which our sabres, too, would be of service.”</p> + +<p>“Pan Kmita did not go to a battle, but to punish turbulent soldiers, +and punishment may meet you also if you go against orders. Besides, a +tumult and slashing might come to pass more quickly if you were there.”</p> + +<p>“It is hard to deliberate with your ladyship. We ask only for powder +and men.”</p> + +<p>“Men and powder I will not give. Do you hear me, sirs!”</p> + +<p>“Do I hear correctly?” asked Kokosinski. “How is this? You will not +give? You will spare in the rescue of Kmita, of Yendrus? Do you prefer +that some evil should meet him?”</p> + +<p>“The greatest evil that can meet him is your company.”</p> + +<p>Here the maiden’s eyes began to flash lightning, and raising her head +she advanced some steps toward the cutthroats, and they pushed back +before her in astonishment.</p> + +<p>“Traitors!” said she, “you, like evil spirits, tempt him to sin; you +persuade him on. But I know you,—your profligacy, your lawless deeds. +Justice is hunting you; people turn away from you, and on whom does the +shame fall? On him, through you who are outlaws, and infamous.”</p> + +<p>“Hei, by God’s wounds, comrades, do you hear?” cried Kokosinski. “Hei, +what is this? Are we not sleeping, comrades?”</p> + +<p>Panna Billevich advanced another step, and pointing with her hand to +the door, said, “Be off out of here!”</p> + +<p>The ruffians grew as pale as corpses, and no one of them found a word +in answer. But their teeth began to gnash, their hands to quiver toward +their sword-hilts, and their eyes to shoot forth malign gleams. After a +moment, however, their spirits fell through alarm. That house too was +under the protection of the powerful Kmita; that insolent lady was his +betrothed. In view of this they gnawed their rage in silence, and she +stood unflinchingly with flashing eyes pointing to the door with her +finger.</p> + +<p>At last Kokosinski spoke in a voice broken with rage: “Since we are +received here so courteously, nothing remains to us but to bow to the +polished lady and go—with thanks for the entertainment.”</p> + +<p>Then he bowed, touching the floor with his cap in purposed humility; +after him all the others bowed, and went out in order. When the door +closed after the last man, Olenka fell exhausted into the armchair, +panting heavily, for she had not so much strength as daring.</p> + +<p>They assembled in counsel in front of the entrance near their horses, +but no man wanted to speak first. At last Kokosinski said, “Well, dear +lambs, what’s that?”</p> + +<p>“Do you feel well?”</p> + +<p>“Do you?”</p> + +<p>“Ei! but for Kmita,” said Ranitski, rubbing his hands convulsively, “we +would revel with this lady here in our own fashion.”</p> + +<p>“Go meet Kmita,” piped Rekuts.</p> + +<p>Ranitski’s face was covered completely with spots, like the skin of a +leopard. “I’ll meet him and you too, you reveller, wherever it may +please you!”</p> + +<p>“That’s well!” cried Rekuts.</p> + +<p>Both rushed to their sabres, but the gigantic Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus +thrust himself between. “See this fist!” said he, shaking as it were a +loaf of bread; “see this fist!” repeated he. “I’ll smash the head of +the first man who draws his sabre.” And he looked now at one and now at +the other, as if asking in silence who wished to try first; but they, +addressed in such fashion, were quiet at once.</p> + +<p>“Kulvyets is right,” said Kokosinski. “My dear lambs, we need agreement +now more than ever. I would advise to go with all speed to Kmita, so +that she may not see him first, for she would describe us as devils. It +is well that none of us snarled at her, though my own hands and tongue +were itching. If she is going to rouse him against us, it is better for +us to rouse him first. God keep him from leaving us! Straightway the +people here would surround us, hunt us down like wolves.”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense!” said Ranitski. “They will do nothing to us. There is war +now; are there few men straggling through the world without a roof, +without bread? Let us collect a party for ourselves, dear comrades, and +let all the tribunals pursue us. Give your hand, Rekuts, I forgive +you.”</p> + +<p>“I should have cut off your ears,” piped Rekuts; “but let us be +friends, a common insult has met us.”</p> + +<p>“To order out cavaliers like us!” said Kokosinski.</p> + +<p>“And me, in whom is senatorial blood!” added Ranitski.</p> + +<p>“Honorable people, men of good birth!”</p> + +<p>“Soldiers of merit!”</p> + +<p>“And exiles!”</p> + +<p>“Innocent orphans!”</p> + +<p>“I have boots lined with wool, but my feet are freezing,” said +Kulvyets. “Shall we stand like minstrels in front of this house? They +will not bring us out heated beer. We are of no use here; let us mount +and ride away. Better send the servants home, for what good are they +without guns and weapons? We will go on alone.”</p> + +<p>“To Upita!”</p> + +<p>“To Yendrus, our worthy friend! We will make complaint before him.”</p> + +<p>“If only we do not miss him.”</p> + +<p>“To horse, comrades, to horse!”</p> + +<p>They mounted, and moved on at a walk, chewing their anger and shame. +Outside the gate Ranitski, whom rage still held as it were by the +throat, turned and threatened the house with his fist. “Ei! I want +blood! I want blood!”</p> + +<p>“If we can only raise a quarrel between her and Kmita,” said +Kokosinski, “we shall go through this place yet with fire.”</p> + +<p>“That may happen.”</p> + +<p>“God aid us!” added Uhlik.</p> + +<p>“Oh, pagan’s daughter, mad heath-hen!”</p> + +<p>Railing thus, and enraged at the lady, snarling sometimes too at +themselves, they reached the forest. They had barely passed the first +trees when an enormous flock of crows whirled above their heads. Zend +began at once to croak in a shrill voice; thousands of voices answered +him from above. The flock came down so low that the horses began to be +frightened at the sound of their wings.</p> + +<p>“Shut your mouth!” cried Ranitski to Zend. “You’ll croak out misfortune +on us yet. Those crows are circling over us as over carrion.”</p> + +<p>The others laughed. Zend croaked continually. The crows came down more +and more, and the party rode as if in the midst of a storm. Fools! they +could not see the ill omen.</p> + +<p>Beyond the forest appeared Volmontovichi, toward which the cavaliers +moved at a trot, for the frost was severe; they were very cold, and it +was still a long way to Upita, but they had to lessen their speed in +the village itself. In the broad road of the village the space was full +of people, as is usual on Sundays. The Butryms, men and women, were +returning on foot and in sleighs from Mitruny after receiving +indulgence. The nobles looked on these unknown horsemen, half guessing +who they were. The young women, who had heard of their license in +Lyubich and of the notorious public sinners whom Pan Kmita had brought, +looked at them with still greater curiosity. But they rode proudly in +imposing military posture, with velvet coats which they had captured, +in panther-skin caps, and on sturdy horses. It was to be seen that they +were soldiers by profession,—their gestures frequent and haughty, +their right hands resting on their hips, their heads erect. They gave +the way to no man, advancing in a line and shouting from time to time, +“Out of the road!” One or another of the Butryms looked at them with a +frown, but yielded; the party chatted among themselves about the +village.</p> + +<p>“See, gentlemen,” said Kokosinski, “what sturdy fellows there are here; +one after another like an aurochs, and each with the look of a wolf.”</p> + +<p>“If it were not for their stature and swords, they might be taken for +common trash.”</p> + +<p>“Just look at those sabres,—regular tearers, as God is dear to me!” +remarked Ranitski. “I would like to make a trial with some of those +fellows.” Here he began to fence with his hand: “He thus, I thus! He +thus, I thus—and check!”</p> + +<p>“You can easily have that delight for yourself,” said Rekuts. “Not much +is needed with them for a quarrel.”</p> + +<p>“I would rather engage with those girls over there,” said Zend, all at +once.</p> + +<p>“They are candles, not girls!” cried Rekuts, with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>“What do you say,—candles? Pine-trees! And each one has a face as if +painted with crocus.”</p> + +<p>“It is hard to sit on a horse at such a sight.”</p> + +<p>Talking in this style, they rode out of the village and moved on again +at a trot. After half an hour’s ride they came to a public house called +Dola, which was half-way between Volmontovichi and Mitruny. The +Butryms, men and women, generally stopped there going to and returning +from church, in order to rest and warm themselves in frosty weather. So +the cavaliers saw before the door a number of sleighs with pea-straw +spread in them, and about the same number of saddle-horses.</p> + +<p>“Let us drink some gorailka, for it is cold,” said Kokosinski.</p> + +<p>“It wouldn’t hurt,” answered the others, in a chorus.</p> + +<p>They dismounted, left their horses at the posts, and entered the +drinking-hall, which was enormous and dark. They found there a crowd of +people,—nobles sitting on benches or standing in groups before the +water-pail, drinking warmed beer, and some of them a punch made of +mead, butter, vudka, and spice. Those were the Butryms themselves, +stalwart and gloomy; so sparing of speech that in the room scarcely any +conversation was heard. All were dressed in gray overcoats of home-made +or coarse cloth from Rossyeni, lined with sheepskin; they had leather +belts, with sabres in black iron scabbards. By reason of that +uniformity of dress they had the appearance of soldiers. But they were +old men of sixty or youths under twenty. These had remained at home for +the winter threshing; the others, men in the prime of life, had gone to +Rossyeni.</p> + +<p>When they saw the cavaliers of Orsha, they drew back from the +water-bucket and began to examine them. Their handsome soldierly +appearance pleased that warlike nobility; after a while, too, some one +dropped the word,—</p> + +<p>“Are they from Lyubich?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is Pan Kmita’s company!”</p> + +<p>“Are these they?”</p> + +<p>“Of course.”</p> + +<p>The cavaliers drank gorailka, but the punch had a stronger odor. +Kokosinski caught it first, and ordered some. They sat around a table +then; and when the steaming kettle was brought they began to drink, +looking around the room at the men and blinking, for the place was +rather dark. The snow had blocked the windows; and the broad, low +opening of the chimney in which the fire was burning was hidden +completely by certain figures with their backs to the crowd.</p> + +<p>When the punch had begun to circulate in the veins of the cavaliers, +bearing through their bodies an agreeable warmth, their cheerfulness, +depressed by the reception at Vodokty, sprang up again; and all at once +Zend fell to cawing like a crow, so perfectly that all faces were +turned toward him.</p> + +<p>The cavaliers laughed, and the nobles, enlivened, began to approach, +especially the young men,—powerful fellows with broad shoulders and +plump cheeks. The figures sitting at the chimney turned their faces to +the room, and Rekuts was the first to see that they were women.</p> + +<p>Zend closed his eyes and cawed, cawed. Suddenly he stopped, and in a +moment those present heard the cry of a hare choked by a dog; the hare +cried in the last agony, weaker and lower, then screamed in despair, +and was silent for the ages; in place of it was heard the deep bellow +of a furious stag as loud as in spring-time.</p> + +<p>The Butryms were astonished. Though Zend had stopped, they expected to +hear something again; but they heard only the piping voice of Rekuts,—</p> + +<p>“Those are titmice sitting near the chimney!”</p> + +<p>“That is true!” replied Kokosinski, shading his eyes with his hand.</p> + +<p>“As true as I live!” added Uhlik, “but it is so dark in the room that I +could not see them.”</p> + +<p>“I am curious. What are they doing?”</p> + +<p>“Maybe they have come to dance.”</p> + +<p>“But wait; I will ask,” said Kokosinski. And raising his voice, he +asked, “My dear women, what are you doing there at the chimney?”</p> + +<p>“We are warming our feet,” answered thin voices.</p> + +<p>Then the cavaliers rose and approached the hearth. There were sitting +at it, on a long bench, about ten women, old and young, holding their +bare feet on a log lying by the fire. On the other side of the log +their shoes wet from the snow were drying.</p> + +<p>“So you are warming your feet?” asked Kokosinski.</p> + +<p>“Yes, for they are cold.”</p> + +<p>“Very pretty feet,” piped Rekuts, inclining toward the log.</p> + +<p>“But keep at a distance,” said one of the women.</p> + +<p>“I prefer to come near. I have a sure method, better than fire, for +cold feet; which is,—only dance with a will, and the cold flies away.”</p> + +<p>“If to dance, then dance,” said Uhlik. “We want neither fiddles nor +bass-viols. I will play for you on the flageolet.”</p> + +<p>Taking from its leather case which hung near his sabre the ever-present +flageolet, he began to play; and the cavaliers, pushing forward with +dancing movement to the maidens, sought to draw them from the benches. +The maidens appeared to defend themselves, but more with their voices +than their hands, for in truth they were not greatly opposed. Maybe +the men, too, would have been willing in their turn; for against +dancing on Sunday after Mass and during the carnival no one would +protest greatly. But the reputation of the “company” was already +too well known in Volmontovichi; therefore first the gigantic Yuzva +Butrym, he who had but one foot, rose from the bench, and approaching +Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus, caught him by the breast, held him, and said +with sullen voice,—</p> + +<p>“If your grace wants dancing, then dance with me.”</p> + +<p>Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus blinked, and began to move his mustaches +convulsively. “I prefer a girl,” said he; “I can attend to you +afterward.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Ranitski ran up with face already spotted, for he sniffed a +quarrel. “Who are you, road-blocker?” asked he, grasping his sabre.</p> + +<p>Uhlik stopped playing, and Kokosinski shouted, “Hei, comrades! +together, together!”</p> + +<p>But the Butryms were already behind Yuzva; sturdy old men and great +youths began to assemble, growling like bears.</p> + +<p>“What do you want? Are you looking for bruises?” asked Kokosinski.</p> + +<p>“No talk! Be off out of here!” said Yuzva, stolidly.</p> + +<p>Then Ranitski, whose interest it was that an hour should not pass +without a fight, struck Yuzva with the hilt of his sword in the breast, +so that it was heard in the whole room, and cried, “Strike!”</p> + +<p>Rapiers glittered; the scream of women was heard, the clatter of +sabres, uproar and disturbance. Then the gigantic Yuzva pushed out of +the crowd, took a roughly hewn bench from beside a table, and raising +it as though it were a light strip of wood, shouted, “Make way! make +way!”</p> + +<p>Dust rose from the floor and hid the combatants; but in the confusion +groans were soon heard.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p>In the evening of that same day Pan Kmita came to Vodokty, at the head +of a hundred and some tens of men whom he had brought from Upita so as +to send them to Kyedani; for he saw himself that there were no quarters +in such a small place for a large number of soldiers, and when the +townspeople had been brought to hunger the soldiers would resort to +violence, especially soldiers who could be held in discipline only by +fear of a leader. A glance at Kmita’s volunteers was enough to convince +one that it would be difficult to find men of worse character in the +whole Commonwealth. Kmita could not have others. After the defeat of +the grand hetman, the enemy deluged the whole country. The remnants of +the regular troops of the Lithuanian quota withdrew for a certain time +to Birji and Kyedani, in order to rally there. The nobility of +Smolensk, Vityebsk, Polotsk, Mstislavsk, and Minsk either followed +the army or took refuge in the provinces still unoccupied. Men +of superior courage among the nobility assembled at Grodno around +the under-treasurer, Pan Gosyevski; for the royal proclamation +summoning the general militia appointed that as the place of muster. +Unfortunately few obeyed the proclamation, and those who followed the +voice of duty assembled so negligently that for the time being no one +offered real resistance save Kmita, who fought on his own account, +animated more by knightly daring than patriotism. It is easy to +understand that in the absence of regular troops and nobility he took +such men as he could find, consequently men who were not drawn by duty +to the hetmans and who had nothing to lose. Therefore there gathered +around him vagrants without a roof and without a home, men of low rank, +runaway servants from the army, foresters grown wild, serving-men from +towns, or scoundrels pursued by the law. These expected to find +protection under a flag and win profit from plunder. In the iron hands +of Kmita they were turned into daring soldiers, daring even to madness; +and if Kmita had been prudent he might have rendered high service to +the Commonwealth. But Kmita was insubordinate himself, his spirit was +always seething; besides, whence could he take provisions and arms and +horses, since being a partisan he did not hold even a commission, and +could not look for any aid from the treasury of the Commonwealth? He +took therefore with violence,—often from the enemy, often from his +own,—could suffer no opposition, and punished severely for the least +cause.</p> + +<p>In continual raids, struggles, and attacks he had grown wild, +accustomed to bloodshed in such a degree that no common thing could +move the heart within him, which however was good by nature. He was in +love with people of unbridled temper who were ready for anything. Soon +his name had an ominous sound. Smaller divisions of the enemy did not +dare to leave the towns and the camps in those regions where the +terrible partisan was raging. But the townspeople ruined by war feared +his men little less than they did the enemy, especially when the eye of +Kmita in person was not resting on them. When command was taken by his +officers, Kokosinski, Uhlik, Kulvyets, Zend, and particularly by +Ranitski,—the wildest and most cruel of them all, though a man of high +lineage,—it might always be asked, Are those defenders or ravagers? +Kmita at times punished his own men without mercy when something +happened not according to his humor; but more frequently he took their +part, regardless of the rights, tears, and lives of people. His +companions with the exception of Rekuts, on whom innocent blood was not +weighing, persuaded the young leader to give the reins more and more to +his turbulent nature. Such was Kmita’s army. Just then he had taken his +rabble from Upita to send it to Kyedani.</p> + +<p>When they stopped in front of the house at Vodokty, Panna Aleksandra +was frightened as she saw them through the window, they were so much +like robbers. Each one had a different outfit: some were in helmets +taken from the enemy; others in Cossack caps, in hoods and Polish caps; +some in faded overcoats, others in sheep-skin coats; their arms were +guns, spears, bows, battle-axes; their horses, poor and worn, were +covered with trappings, Polish, Russian, or Turkish.</p> + +<p>Olenka was set at rest only when Pan Andrei, gladsome and lively as +ever, entered the room and rushed straight to her hands with incredible +quickness.</p> + +<p>And she, though resolved in advance to receive him with dignity and +coldness, was still unable to master the joy which his coming had +caused her. Feminine cunning too may have played a certain part, for it +was necessary to tell Pan Andrei about turning his comrades out of +doors; therefore the clever girl wished to incline him first to her +side. And in addition he greeted her so sincerely, so lovingly that the +remnant of her offended feeling melted like snow before a blaze.</p> + +<p>“He loves me! there is no doubt about that,” thought she.</p> + +<p>And he said: “I so longed for you that I was ready to burn all Upita if +I could only fly to you the sooner. May the frost pinch them, the +basswood barks!”</p> + +<p>“I too was uneasy lest it might come to a battle there. Praise be to +God that you have returned!”</p> + +<p>“And such a battle! The soldiers had begun to pull around the basswood +barks a little—”</p> + +<p>“But you quieted them?”</p> + +<p>“This minute I will tell you how it all happened, my jewel; only let me +rest a little, for I am wearied. Ei! it is warm here. It is delightful +in this Vodokty, just as in paradise. A man would be glad to sit here +all his life, look in those beautiful eyes, and never go away—But it +would do no harm, either, to drink something warm, for there is +terrible frost outside.”</p> + +<p>“Right away I will have wine heated, with eggs, and bring it myself.”</p> + +<p>“And give my gallows’ birds some little keg of gorailka, and give +command to let them into the stable, so that they may warm themselves a +little even from the breath of the cattle. They have coats lined with +wind, and are terribly chilled.”</p> + +<p>“I will spare nothing on them, for they are your soldiers.”</p> + +<p>While speaking she smiled, so that it grew bright in Kmita’s eyes, and +she slipped out as quietly as a cat to have everything prepared in the +servants’ hall.</p> + +<p>Kmita walked up and down in the room, rubbing the top of his head, then +twirling his young mustache, thinking how to tell her of what had been +done in Upita.</p> + +<p>“The pure truth must be told,” muttered he; “there is no help for it, +though the company may laugh because I am here in leading-strings.” And +again he walked, and again he pushed the foretop on his forehead; at +last he grew impatient that the maiden was so long in returning.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a boy brought in a light, bowed to the girdle, and went out. +Directly after the charming lady of the house entered, bringing with +both hands a shining tin tray, and on it a small pot, from which rose +the fragrant steam of heated Hungarian, and a goblet of cut glass with +the escutcheon of the Kmitas. Old Billevich got this goblet in his time +from Andrei’s father, when at his house as a guest.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei when he saw the lady sprang toward her. “Hei!” cried he, +“both hands are full, you will not escape me.”</p> + +<p>He bent over the tray, and she drew back her head, which was defended +only by the steam which rose from the pot. “Traitor! desist, or I will +drop the drink.”</p> + +<p>But he feared not the threat; afterward he cried, “As God is in heaven, +from such delight a man might lose his wits!”</p> + +<p>“Then you lost your wit long ago. Sit down.”</p> + +<p>He sat down obediently; she poured the drink into the goblet.</p> + +<p>“Tell me how you sentenced the guilty in Upita.”</p> + +<p>“In Upita? Like Solomon!”</p> + +<p>“Praise to God for that! It is on my heart that all in this region +should esteem you as a steady and just man. How was it then?”</p> + +<p>Kmita took a good draught of the drink, drew breath, and began,—</p> + +<p>“I must tell from the beginning. It was thus: The townspeople with the +mayor spoke of an order for provisions from the grand hetman or the +under-treasurer. ‘You gentlemen,’ said they to the soldiers, ‘are +volunteers, and you cannot levy contributions. We will give you +quarters for nothing, and provisions we will give when it is shown that +we shall be paid.’”</p> + +<p>“Were they right, or were they not?”</p> + +<p>“They were right according to law; but the soldiers had sabres, and in +old fashion whoever has a sabre has the best argument. They said then +to the basswood barks, ‘We will write orders on your skins +immediately.’ And straightway there rose a tumult. The mayor and the +people barricaded themselves in the street, and my men attacked them; +it did not pass without firing. The soldiers, poor fellows, burned a +couple of barns to frighten the people, and quieted a few of them +also.”</p> + +<p>“How did they quiet them?”</p> + +<p>“Whoso gets a sabre on his skull is as quiet as a coward.”</p> + +<p>“As God lives, that is murder!”</p> + +<p>“That is just why I went there. The soldiers ran to me at once with +complaints and outcries against the oppression in which they were +living, being persecuted without cause. ‘Our stomachs are empty,’ said +they, ‘what are we to do?’ I commanded the mayor to appear. He +hesitated long, but at last came with three other men. They began: +‘Even if the soldiers had not orders, why did they beat us, why burn +the place? We should have given them to eat and to drink for a kind +word; but they wanted ham, mead, dainties, and we are poor people, we +have not these things for ourselves. We will seek defence at law, and +you will answer before a court for your soldiers.’”</p> + +<p>“God will bless you,” cried Olenka, “if you have rendered justice as +was proper.”</p> + +<p>“If I have.” Here Pan Andrei wriggled like a student who has to confess +his fault, and began to collect the forelock on his forehead with his +hand. “My queen!” cried he at last, in an imploring voice, “my jewel, +be not angry with me!”</p> + +<p>“What did you do then?” asked Olenka, uneasily.</p> + +<p>“I commanded to give one hundred blows apiece to the mayor and the +councillors,” said Kmita, at one breath.</p> + +<p>Olenka made no answer; she merely rested her hands on her knees, +dropped her head on her bosom, and sank into silence.</p> + +<p>“Cut off my head!” cried Kmita, “but do not be angry! I have not told +all yet!”</p> + +<p>“Is there more?” groaned the lady.</p> + +<p>“There is, for they sent then to Ponyevyej for aid. One hundred stupid +fellows came with officers. These men I frightened away, but the +officers—for God’s sake be not angry!—I ordered to be chased and +flogged with braided whips, naked over the snow, as I once did to Pan +Tumgrat in Orsha.”</p> + +<p>Panna Billevich raised her head; her stern eyes were flashing with +indignation, and purple came out on her cheeks. “You have neither shame +nor conscience!” said she.</p> + +<p>Kmita looked at her in astonishment, he was silent for a moment, then +asked with changed voice, “Are you speaking seriously or pretending?”</p> + +<p>“I speak seriously; that deed is becoming a bandit and not a cavalier. +I speak seriously, since your reputation is near my heart; for it is a +shame to me that you have barely come here, when all the people look on +you as a man of violence and point at you with their fingers.”</p> + +<p>“What care I for the people? One dog watches ten of their cabins, and +then has not much to do.”</p> + +<p>“There is no infamy on those modest people, there is no disgrace on the +name of one of them. Justice will pursue no man here except you.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, let not your head ache for that. Every man is lord for himself in +our Commonwealth, if he has only a sabre in his hand and can gather any +kind of party. What can they do to me? Whom fear I here?”</p> + +<p>“If you fear not man, then know that I fear God’s anger, and the tears +of people; I fear wrongs also. And moreover I am not willing to share +disgrace with any one; though I am a weak woman, still the honor of my +name is dearer to me than it is to a certain one who calls himself a +cavalier.”</p> + +<p>“In God’s name, do not threaten me with refusal, for you do not know me +yet.”</p> + +<p>“I think that my grandfather too did not know you.”</p> + +<p>Kmita’s eyes shot sparks; but the Billevich blood began to play in her.</p> + +<p>“Oh, gesticulate and grit your teeth,” continued she, boldly; “but I +fear not, though I am alone and you have a whole party of robbers,—my +innocence defends me. You think that I know not how you fired at the +portraits in Lyubich and dragged in the girls for debauchery. You do +not know me if you suppose that I shall humbly be silent. I want +honesty from you, and no will can prevent me from exacting it. Nay, it +was the will of my grandfather that I should be the wife of only an +honest man.”</p> + +<p>Kmita was evidently ashamed of what had happened at Lyubich; for +dropping his head, he asked in a voice now calmer, “Who told you of +this shooting?”</p> + +<p>“All the nobles in the district speak of it.”</p> + +<p>“I will pay those homespuns, the traitors, for their good will,” +answered Kmita, sullenly. “But that happened in drink,—in +company,—for soldiers are not able to restrain themselves. As for the +girls I had nothing to do with them.”</p> + +<p>“I know that those brazen ruffians, those murderers, persuade you to +everything.”</p> + +<p>“They are not murderers, they are my officers.”</p> + +<p>“I commanded those officers of yours to leave my house.”</p> + +<p>Olenka looked for an outburst; but she saw with greatest astonishment +that the news of turning his comrades out of the house made no +impression on Kmita; on the contrary, it seemed to improve his humor.</p> + +<p>“You ordered them to go out?” asked be.</p> + +<p>“I did.”</p> + +<p>“And they went?”</p> + +<p>“They did.”</p> + +<p>“As God lives, you have the courage of a cavalier. That pleases me +greatly, for it is dangerous to quarrel with such people. More than one +man has paid dearly for doing so. But they observe manners before +Kmita! You saw they bore themselves obediently as lambs; you saw +that,—but why? Because they are afraid of me.”</p> + +<p>Here Kmita looked boastfully at Olenka, and began to twirl his +mustache. This fickleness of humor and inopportune boastfulness enraged +her to the last degree; therefore she said haughtily and with emphasis, +“You must choose between me and them; there is no other way.”</p> + +<p>Kmita seemed not to note the decision with which she spoke, and +answered carelessly, almost gayly: “But why choose when I have you and +I have them? You may do what you like in Vodokty; but if my comrades +have committed no wrong, no license here, why should I drive them away? +You do not understand what it is to serve under one flag and carry on +war in company. No relationship binds like service in common. Know that +they have saved my life a thousand times at least. I must protect them +all the more because they are pursued by justice. They are almost all +nobles and of good family, except Zend, who is of uncertain origin; but +such a horse-trainer as he there is not in the whole Commonwealth. And +if you could hear how he imitates wild beasts and every kind of bird, +you would fall in love with him yourself.”</p> + +<p>Here Kmita laughed as if no anger, no misunderstanding, had ever found +place between them; and she was ready to wring her hands, seeing how +that whirlwind of a nature was slipping away from her grasp. All that +she had said of the opinions of men, of the need of sedateness, of +disgrace, slipped along on him like a dart on steel armor. The unroused +conscience of this soldier could give no response to her indignation at +every injustice and every dishonorable deed of license. How was he to +be touched, how addressed?</p> + +<p>“Let the will of God be done,” said she at last; “since you will resign +me, then go your way. God will remain with the orphan.”</p> + +<p>“I resign you?” asked Kmita, with supreme astonishment.</p> + +<p>“That is it!—if not in words, then in deeds; if not you me, then I +you. For I will not marry a man weighted by the tears and blood of +people, whom men point at with their fingers, whom they call an outlaw, +a robber, and whom they consider a traitor.”</p> + +<p>“What, traitor! Do not bring me to madness, lest I do something for +which I should be sorry hereafter. May the thunderbolts strike me this +minute, may the devils flay me, if I am a traitor,—I, who stood by the +country when all hands had dropped!”</p> + +<p>“You stand by the country and act like an enemy, for you trample on it. +You are an executioner of the people, regarding the laws neither of God +nor man. No! though my heart should be rent, I will not marry you; +being such a man, I will not!”</p> + +<p>“Do not speak to me of refusal, for I shall grow furious. Save me, ye +angels! If you will not have me in good-will, then I’ll take you +without it, though all the rabble from the villages were here, though +the Radzivills themselves were here, the very king himself and all the +devils with their horns stood in the way, even if I had to sell my soul +to the Devil!”</p> + +<p>“Do not summon evil spirits, for they will hear you,” cried Olenka, +stretching forth her hands.</p> + +<p>“What do you wish of me?”</p> + +<p>“Be honest!”</p> + +<p>Both ceased speaking, and silence followed; only the panting of Pan +Andrei was heard. The last words of Olenka had penetrated, however, the +armor covering his conscience. He felt himself conquered; he knew not +what to answer, how to defend himself. Then he began to go with swift +steps through the room. She sat there motionless. Above them hung +disagreement, dissension, and regret. They were oppressive to each +other, and the long silence became every instant more unendurable.</p> + +<p>“Farewell!” said Kmita, suddenly.</p> + +<p>“Go, and may God give you a different inspiration!” answered Olenka.</p> + +<p>“I will go! Bitter was your drink, bitter your bread. I have been +treated here to gall and vinegar.”</p> + +<p>“And do you think you have treated me to sweetness?” answered she, in a +voice in which tears were trembling.</p> + +<p>“Be well.”</p> + +<p>“Be well.”</p> + +<p>Kmita, advancing toward the door, turned suddenly, and springing to +her, seized both her hands and said, “By the wounds of Christ! do you +wish me to drop from the horse a corpse on the road?”</p> + +<p>That moment Olenka burst into tears; he embraced her and held her in +his arms, all quivering, repeating through her set teeth, “Whoso +believes in God, kill me! kill, do not spare!”</p> + +<p>At last he burst out: “Weep not, Olenka; for God’s sake, do not +weep! In what am I guilty before you? I will do all to please you. +I’ll send those men away, I’ll come to terms in Upita, I will live +differently,—for I love you. As God lives, my heart will burst! I will +do everything; only do not cry, and love me still.”</p> + +<p>And so he continued to pacify and pet her; and she, when she had cried +to the end, said: “Go now. God will make peace between us. I am not +offended, only sore at heart.”</p> + +<p>The moon had risen high over the white fields when Pan Andrei pushed +out on his way to Lyubich, and after him clattered his men, stretching +along the broad road like a serpent. They went through Volmontovichi, +but by the shortest road, for frost had bound up the swamps, which +might therefore be crossed without danger.</p> + +<p>The sergeant Soroka approached Pan Andrei. “Captain,” inquired he, +“where are we to find lodgings in Lyubich?”</p> + +<p>“Go away!” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>And he rode on ahead, speaking to no man. In his heart rose regret, at +moments anger, but above all, vexation at himself. That was the first +night in his life in which he made a reckoning with conscience, and +that reckoning weighed him down more than the heaviest armor. Behold, +he had come into this region with a damaged reputation, and what had he +done to repair it? The first day he had permitted shooting and excess +in Lyubich, and thought that he did not belong to it, but he did; then +he permitted it every day. Further, his soldiers wronged the +townspeople, and he increased those wrongs. Worse, he attacked the +Ponyevyej garrison, killed men, sent naked officers on the snow. They +will bring an action against him; he will lose it. They will punish him +with loss of property, honor, perhaps life. But why can he not, after +he has collected an armed party of the rabble, scoff at the law as +before? Because he intends to marry, settle in Vodokty, serve not on +his own account, but in the contingent; there the law will find him and +take him. Besides, even though these deeds should pass unpunished, +there is something vile in them, something unworthy of a knight. Maybe +this violence can be atoned for; but the memory of it will remain in +the hearts of men, in his own conscience, and in the heart of Olenka.</p> + +<p>When he remembered that she had not rejected him yet, that when he was +going away he read in her eyes forgiveness, she seemed to him as kind +as the angels of heaven. And behold the desire was seizing him to go, +not to-morrow, but straightway, as fast as the horse could spring, fall +at her feet, beg forgetfulness, and kiss those sweet eyes which today +had moistened his face with tears. Then he wished to roar with weeping, +and felt that he loved that girl as he had never in his life loved any +one. “By the Most Holy Lady!” thought he, in his soul, “I will do what +she wishes; I will provide for my comrades bountifully, and send them +to the end of the world; for it is true that they urge me to evil.”</p> + +<p>Then it entered his head that on coming to Lyubich he would find them +most surely drunk or with girls; and such rage seized him that he +wanted to slash somebody with a sabre, even those soldiers whom he was +leading, and cut them up without mercy.</p> + +<p>“I’ll give it to them!” muttered he, twirling his mustache. “They have +not yet seen me as they will see me.”</p> + +<p>Then from madness he began to prick the horse with his spurs, to pull +and drag at the reins till the steed grew wild. Soroka, seeing this, +muttered to the soldiers,—</p> + +<p>“The captain is mad. God save us from falling under his hand!”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei had become mad in earnest. Round about there was great calm. +The moon shone mildly, the heavens were glittering with thousands of +stars, not the slightest breeze was moving the limbs on the trees; but +in the heart of the knight a tempest was raging. The road to Lyubich +seemed to him longer than ever before. A certain hitherto unknown alarm +began to play upon him from the gloom of the forest depths, and from +the fields flooded with a greenish light of the moon. Finally weariness +seized Pan Andrei,—for, to tell the truth, the whole night before he +had passed in drinking and frolicking in Upita; but he wished to +overcome toil with toil, and rouse himself from unquiet by swift +riding; he turned therefore to the soldiers and commanded,—</p> + +<p>“Forward!”</p> + +<p>He shot ahead like an arrow, and after him the whole party. And in +those woods and along those empty fields they flew on like that hellish +band of knights of the cross of whom people tell in Jmud,—how at times +in the middle of bright moonlight nights they appear and rush through +the air, announcing war and uncommon calamities. The clatter flew +before them and followed behind, from the horses came steam, and only +when at the turn of the road the roofs of Lyubich appeared did they +slacken their speed.</p> + +<p>The swinging gate stood open. It astonished Kmita that when the yard +was crowded with his men and horses no one came out to see or inquire +who they were. He expected to find the windows gleaming with lights, to +hear the sound of Uhlik’s flageolet, of fiddles, or the joyful shouts +of conversation. At that time in two windows of the dining-hall +quivered an uncertain light; all the rest of the house was dark, quiet, +silent. The sergeant Soroka sprang first from his horse to hold the +stirrup for the captain.</p> + +<p>“Go to sleep,” said Kmita; “whoever can find room in the servants’ +hall, let him sleep there, and others in the stable. Put the horses in +the cattle-houses and in the barns, and bring them hay from the shed.”</p> + +<p>“I hear,” answered the sergeant.</p> + +<p>Kmita came down from the horse. The door of the entrance was wide open, +and the entrance cold.</p> + +<p>“Hei! Is there any one here?” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>No one answered.</p> + +<p>“Hei there!” repeated he, more loudly.</p> + +<p>Silence.</p> + +<p>“They are drunk!” muttered Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>And such rage took possession of him that he began to grit his teeth. +While riding he was agitated with anger at the thought that he should +find drinking and debauchery; now this silence irritated him still +more.</p> + +<p>He entered the dining-hall. On an enormous table was burning a tallow +lamp-pot with a reddish smoking light. The force of the wind which came +in from the antechamber deflected the flame so that for a time Pan +Andrei could not see anything. Only when the quivering had ceased did +he distinguish a row of forms lying just at the wall.</p> + +<p>“Have they made themselves dead drunk or what?” muttered he, unquietly.</p> + +<p>Then he drew near with impatience to the side of the first figure. He +could not see the face, for it was hidden in the shadow; but by the +white leather belt and the white sheath of the flageolet he recognized +Pan Uhlik, and began to shake him unceremoniously with his foot.</p> + +<p>“Get up, such kind of sons! get up!”</p> + +<p>But Pan Uhlik lay motionless, with his hands fallen without control at +the side of his body, and beyond him were lying others. No one yawned, +no one quivered, no one woke, no one muttered. At the same moment Kmita +noticed that all were lying on their backs in the same position, and a +certain fearful presentiment seized him by the heart. Springing to the +table, he took with trembling hand the light and thrust it toward the +faces of the prostrate men.</p> + +<p>The hair stood on his head, such a dreadful sight met his eyes. Uhlik +he was able to recognize only by his white belt, for his face and his +head presented one formless, foul, bloody mass, without eyes, without +nose or mouth,—only the enormous mustaches were sticking out of the +dreadful pool. Kmita pushed the light farther. Next in order lay Zend, +with grinning teeth and eyes protruding, in which in glassy fixedness +was terror before death. The third in the row, Ranitski, had his eyes +closed, and over his whole face were spots, white, bloody, and dark. +Kmita took the light farther. Fourth lay Kokosinski,—the dearest to +Kmita of all his officers, being his former near neighbor. He seemed +to sleep quietly, but in the side of his neck was to be seen a large +wound surely given with a thrust. Fifth in the row lay the gigantic +Kulvyets-Hippocentaurus, with the vest torn on his bosom and his face +slashed many times. Kmita brought the light near each face; and when at +last he brought it to the sixth, Rekuts, it seemed that the lids of the +unfortunate victim quivered a little from the gleam.</p> + +<p>Kmita put the light on the floor and began to shake the wounded man +gently. After the eyelids the face began to move, the eyes and mouth +opened and closed in turn.</p> + +<p>“Rekuts, Rekuts, it is I!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>The eyes of Rekuts opened for a moment; he recognized the face of his +friend, and groaned in a low voice, “Yendrus—a priest—”</p> + +<p>“Who killed you?” cried Kmita, seizing himself by the hair.</p> + +<p>“Bu-try-my-” (The Butryms), answered he, in a voice so low that it was +barely audible. Then he stretched himself, grew stiff, his open eyes +became fixed, and he died.</p> + +<p>Kmita went in silence to the table, put the tallow lamp upon it, sat +down in an armchair, and began to pass his hands over his face like a +man who waking from sleep does not know yet whether he is awake or +still sees dream figures before his eyes. Then he looked again on the +bodies lying in the darkness. Cold sweat came out on his forehead, the +hair rose on his head, and suddenly he shouted so terribly that the +panes rattled in the windows,—</p> + +<p>“Come hither, every living man! come hither!”</p> + +<p>The soldiers, who had disposed themselves in the servants’ hall, heard +that cry and fell into the room with a rush. Kmita showed them with his +hand the corpses at the wall.</p> + +<p>“Murdered! murdered!” repeated he, with hoarse voice.</p> + +<p>They ran to look; some came with a taper, and held it before the eyes +of the dead men. After the first moment of astonishment came noise and +confusion. Those hurried in who had found places in the stables and +barns. The whole house was bright with light, swarming with men; and in +the midst of all that whirl, shouting, and questioning, the dead lay at +the wall unmoved and quiet, indifferent to everything, and, in +contradiction to their own nature, calm. The souls had gone out of +them, and their bodies could not be raised by the trumpet to battle, or +the sound of the goblets to feasting.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile in the din of the soldiers shouts of threatening and rage +rose higher and higher each instant. Kmita, who till that moment had +been as it were unconscious, sprang up suddenly and shouted, “To +horse!”</p> + +<p>Everything living moved toward the door. Half an hour had not passed +when more than one hundred horsemen were rushing with breakneck speed +over the broad snowy road, and at the head of them flew Pan Andrei, as +if possessed of a demon, bareheaded and with a naked sabre in his hand. +In the still night was heard on every side the wild shouts: “Slay! +kill!”</p> + +<p>The moon had reached just the highest point on its road through the +sky, when suddenly its beams began to be mingled and mixed with a rosy +light, rising as it were from under the ground; gradually the heavens +grew red and still redder as if from the rising dawn, till at last a +bloody glare filled the whole neighborhood. One sea of fire raged over +the gigantic village of the Butryms; and the wild soldiers of Kmita, in +the midst of smoke, burning, and sparks bursting in columns to the sky, +cut down the population, terrified and blinded from fright.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the nearer villages sprang from their sleep. The +greater and smaller companies of the Smoky Gostsyeviches and Stakyans, +Gashtovts and Domasheviches, collected on the road before their houses, +and looking in the direction of the fire, gave alarm from mouth to +mouth: “It must be that an enemy has broken in and is burning the +Butryms,—that is an unusual fire!”</p> + +<p>The report of muskets coming at intervals from the distance confirmed +this supposition.</p> + +<p>“Let us go to assist them!” cried the bolder; “let us not leave our +brothers to perish!”</p> + +<p>And when the older ones spoke thus, the younger, who on account of the +winter threshing had not gone to Rossyeni, mounted their horses. In +Krakin and in Upita they had begun to ring the church bells.</p> + +<p>In Vodokty a quiet knocking at the door roused Panna Aleksandra.</p> + +<p>“Olenka, get up!” cried Panna Kulvyets.</p> + +<p>“Come in, Aunt, what is the matter?”</p> + +<p>“They are burning Volmontovichi!”</p> + +<p>“In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!”</p> + +<p>“Shots are heard, there is a battle! God have mercy on us!”</p> + +<p>Olenka screamed terribly; then she sprang out of bed and began to throw +on her clothes hurriedly. Her body trembled as in a fever. She alone +guessed in a moment what manner of enemy had attacked the ill-fated +Butryms.</p> + +<p>After a while the awakened women of the whole house rushed into the +room with crying and sobbing. Olenka threw herself on her knees before +an image; they followed her example, and all began to repeat aloud the +litany for the dying.</p> + +<p>They had scarcely gone through half of it when a violent pounding shook +the door of the antechamber. The women sprang to their feet; a cry of +alarm was rent from their breasts.</p> + +<p>“Do not open! do not open!”</p> + +<p>The pounding was heard with redoubled force; it seemed that the door +would spring from its hinges. That moment the youth Kostek rushed into +the midst of the assembled women.</p> + +<p>“Panna!” cried he, “some man is knocking; shall I open or not?”</p> + +<p>“Is he alone?”</p> + +<p>“Alone.”</p> + +<p>“Go open.”</p> + +<p>The youth hurried away. She, taking a light, passed into the +dining-room; after her, Panna Kulvyets and all the spinning-women.</p> + +<p>She had barely put the light on the table when in the antechamber was +heard the rattle of iron bolts, the creak of the opening door; and +before the eyes of the women appeared Pan Kmita, terrible, black from +smoke, bloody, panting, with madness in his eyes.</p> + +<p>“My horse has fallen at the forest,” cried he; “they are pursuing me!”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra fixed her eyes on him: “Did you burn Volmontovichi?”</p> + +<p>“I—I—”</p> + +<p>He wanted to say something more, when from the side of the road and the +woods came the sound of voices and the tramp of horses approaching with +uncommon rapidity.</p> + +<p>“The devils are after my soul; let them have it!” cried Kmita, as if in +a fever.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra that moment turned to the women. “If they ask, say +there is no one here; and now go to the servants’ hall and come here at +daylight!” Then to Kmita: “Go in there,” said she, pointing to an +adjoining room; and almost by force she pushed him through the open +door, which she shut immediately.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile armed men filled the front yard; and in the twinkle of an eye +the Butryms, Gostsyeviches, Domasheviches, with others, burst into the +house. Seeing the lady, they halted in the dining-room; but she, +standing with a light in her hand, stopped with her person the passage +to doors beyond.</p> + +<p>“Men, what has happened? What do you want?” asked she, without blinking +an eye before the terrible looks and the ominous gleam of drawn sabres.</p> + +<p>“Kmita has burned Volmontovichi!” cried the nobles, in a chorus. “He +has slaughtered men, women, children,—Kmita did this.”</p> + +<p>“We have killed his men,” said Yuzva Butrym; “now we are seeking his +own head.”</p> + +<p>“His head, his blood! Cut down the murderer!”</p> + +<p>“Pursue him!” cried the lady. “Why do you stand here? Pursue him!”</p> + +<p>“Is he not hidden here? We found his horse at the woods.”</p> + +<p>“He is not here! The house was closed. Look for him in the stables and +barns.”</p> + +<p>“He has gone off to the woods!” cried some noble. “Come, brothers.”</p> + +<p>“Be silent!” roared with powerful voice Yuzva Butrym. “My lady,” said +he, “do not conceal him! That is a cursed man!”</p> + +<p>Olenka raised both hands above her head: “I join you in cursing him!”</p> + +<p>“Amen!” shouted the nobles. “To the buildings, to the woods! We will +find him! After the murderer!”</p> + +<p>“Come on! come on!”</p> + +<p>The clatter of sabres and tramp of feet was heard again. The nobles +hurried out through the porch, and mounted with all speed. A part of +them searched still for a time in the stables, the cow-houses, and +hay-shed; then their voices began to retreat toward the woods.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra listened till they had ceased altogether; then she +tapped feverishly at the door of the room in which she had hidden +Kmita. “There is no one here now, come out.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei pushed himself forth from the room as if drunk. “Olenka!” he +began.</p> + +<p>She shook her loosened tresses, which then covered her face like a +veil. “I wish not to see you or know you. Take a horse and flee hence!”</p> + +<p>“Olenka!” groaned Kmita, stretching forth his hands.</p> + +<p>“There is blood on your hands, as on Cain’s!” screamed she, springing +back as if at the sight of a serpent. “Be gone, for the ages!”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p>The day rose gray, and lighted a group of ruins in Volmontovichi,—the +burned remnants of houses, out-buildings, bodies of people and horses +burned or slain with swords. In the ashes amidst dying embers crowds of +pale people were seeking for the bodies of the dead or the remains of +their property. It was a day of mourning and misfortune for all Lauda. +The numerous nobility had obtained, it is true, a victory over Kmita’s +men, but a grievous and bloody one. Besides the Butryms, who had fallen +in greater numbers than the others, there was not a village in which +widows were not bewailing husbands, parents sons, or children their +fathers. It was the more difficult for the Lauda people to finish the +invaders, since the strongest were not at home; only old men or youths +of early years took part in the battle. But of Kmita’s soldiers not one +escaped. Some yielded their lives in Volmontovichi, defending +themselves with such rage that they fought after they were wounded; +others were caught next day in the woods and killed without mercy. +Kmita himself was as if he had dropped into water. The people were lost +in surmising what had become of him. Some insisted that he had reached +the wilderness of Zyelonka and gone thence to Rogovsk, where the +Domasheviches alone might find him. Many too asserted that he had gone +over to Hovanski and was bringing the enemy; but these were the fewest, +their fears were untimely.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the surviving Butryms marched to Vodokty, and disposed +themselves as in a camp. The house was full of women and children. +Those who could not find a place there went to Mitruny, which Panna +Aleksandra gave up to those whose homes had been burned. There were, +besides, in Vodokty for defence about a hundred armed men in parties +which relieved one another regularly, thinking that Kmita did not +consider the affair ended, but might any day make an attempt on the +lady with armed hand. The most important houses in the neighborhood, +such as the Schyllings, the Sollohubs, and others, sent their attendant +Cossacks and haiduks. Vodokty looked like a place awaiting a siege. And +Panna Aleksandra went among the armed men, the nobles, the crowds of +women, mournful, pale, suffering, hearing the weeping of people, and +the curses of men against Pan Kmita,—which pierced her heart like +swords, for she was the mediate cause of all the misfortune. For her it +was that that frenzied man had come to the neighborhood, disturbed the +peace, and left the memory of blood behind, trampled on laws, killed +people, visited villages with fire and sword like an infidel, till it +was a wonder that one man could commit so much evil in such a short +time, and he a man neither entirely wicked nor entirely corrupt. If +there was any one who knew this best, it was Panna Aleksandra, who had +become acquainted with him most intimately. There was a precipice +between Pan Kmita himself and his deeds. But it was for this reason +precisely that so much pain was caused Panna Aleksandra by the thought +that that man whom she had loved with the whole first impulse of a +young heart might be different, that he possessed qualities to make him +the model of a knight, of a cavalier, of a neighbor, worthy to receive +the admiration and love of men instead of their contempt, and blessings +instead of curses.</p> + +<p>At times, therefore, it seemed to the lady that some species of +misfortune, some kind of power, great and unclean, impelled him to all +those deeds of violence; and then a sorrow really measureless possessed +her for that unfortunate man, and unextinguished love rose anew in her +heart, nourished by the fresh remembrance of his knightly form, his +words, his imploring, his loving.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a hundred complaints were entered against him in the town, a +hundred actions threatened, and the starosta, Pan Hlebovich, sent men +to seize the criminal. The law was bound to condemn him.</p> + +<p>Still, from sentences to their execution the distance was great, for +disorder increased every hour in the Commonwealth. A terrible war was +hanging over the land, and approaching Jmud with bloody steps. The +powerful Radzivill of Birji, who was able alone to support the law with +arms, was too much occupied with public affairs and still more immersed +in great projects touching his own house, which he wished to elevate +above all others in the country, even at the cost of the common weal. +Other magnates too were thinking more of themselves than of the State. +All the bonds in the strong edifice of the Commonwealth had burst from +the time of the Cossack war.</p> + +<p>A country populous, rich, filled with a valiant knighthood, had become +the prey of neighbors; and straightway arbitrariness and license raised +their heads more and more, and insulted the law, so great was the power +which they felt behind them. The oppressed could find the best and +almost the only defence against the oppressor in their own sabres; +therefore all Lauda, while protesting in the courts against Kmita, did +not dismount for a long time, ready to resist force with force.</p> + +<p>But a month passed, and no tidings of Kmita. People began to breathe +with greater freedom. The more powerful nobility withdrew the armed +servants whom they had sent to Vodokty as a guard. The lesser nobles +were yearning for their labors and occupations at home, and they too +dispersed by degrees. But when warlike excitement calmed down, as time +passed, an increased desire came to that indigent nobility to overcome +the absent man with law and to redress their wrongs before the +tribunals. For although decisions could not reach Kmita himself, +Lyubich remained a large and handsome estate, a ready reward and a +payment for losses endured. Meanwhile Panna Aleksandra restrained with +great zeal the desire for lawsuits in the Lauda people. Twice did the +elders of Lauda meet at her house for counsel; and she not only took +part in these deliberations but presided over them, astonishing all +with her woman’s wit and keen judgment, so that more than one lawyer +might envy her. The elders of Lauda wanted to occupy Lyubich with armed +hand and give it to the Butryms, but “the lady” advised against this +firmly.</p> + +<p>“Do not return violence for violence,” said she; “if you do, your case +will be injured. Let all the innocence be on your side. He is a +powerful man and has connections, he will find too in the courts +adherents, and if you give the least pretext you may suffer new wrongs. +Let your case be so clear that any court, even if made up of his +brothers, could not decide otherwise than in your favor. Tell the +Butryms to take neither tools nor cattle, and to leave Lyubich +completely in peace. Whatever they need I will give them from Mitruny, +where there is more than all the property that was at any time in +Volmontovichi. And if Pan Kmita should appear here again, leave him in +peace till there is a decision, let them make no attempt on his person. +Remember that only while he is alive have you some one from whom to +recover for your wrongs.”</p> + +<p>Thus spoke the wise lady with prudent intent, and they applauded her +wisdom, not seeing that delay might benefit also Pan Andrei, and +especially in this that it secured his life. Perhaps too Olenka wished +to guard that unfortunate life against sudden attack. But the nobility +obeyed her, for they were accustomed from very remote times to esteem +as gospel every word that came from the mouth of a Billevich. Lyubich +remained intact, and had Pan Andrei appeared he might have settled +there quietly for a time. He did not appear, but a month and a half +later a messenger came to the lady with a letter. He was some strange +man, known to no one. The letter was from Kmita, written in the +following words:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“Beloved of my heart, most precious, unrelinquished Olenka! It is +natural for all creatures and especially for men, even the lowest, to +avenge wrongs done them, and when a man has suffered evil he will pay +it back gladly in kind to the one who inflicted it. If I cut down those +insolent nobles, God sees that I did so not through cruelty, but +because they murdered my officers in defiance of laws human and divine, +without regard to their youth and high birth, with a death so pitiless +that the like could not be found among Cossacks or Tartars. I will not +deny that wrath more than human possessed me; but who will wonder at +wrath which had its origin in the blood of one’s friends? The spirits +of Kokosinski, Ranitski, Uhlik, Rekuts, Kulvyets, and Zend, of sacred +memory; slain in the flower of their age and repute, slain without +reason, put arms in my hands when I was just thinking,—and I call God +to witness,—just thinking of peace and friendship with the nobles of +Lauda, wishing to change my life altogether according to your pleasant +counsels. While listening to complaints against me, do not forget my +defence, and judge justly. I am sorry now for those people in the +village. The innocent may have suffered; but a soldier avenging the +blood of his brothers cannot distinguish the innocent from the guilty, +and respects no one. God grant that nothing has happened to injure me +in your eyes. Atonement for other men’s sins and faults and my own just +wrath is most bitter to me, for since I have lost you I sleep in +despair and I wake in despair, without power to forget either you or my +love. Let the tribunals pass sentence on me, unhappy man; let the diets +confirm the sentences, let them trumpet me forth to infamy, let the +ground open under my feet, I will endure everything, suffer everything, +only, for God’s sake, cast me not out of your heart! I will do all that +they ask, give up Lyubich, give up my property in Orsha,—I have +captured rubles buried in the woods, let them take those,—if you will +promise to keep faith with me as your late grandfather commands from +the other world. You have saved my life, save also my soul; let me +repair wrongs, let me change my life for the better; for I see that if +you will desert me God will desert me, and despair will impel me to +still worse deeds.”</p> +</div> + +<p>How many voices of pity rose in the soul of Olenka in defence of Pan +Andrei, who can tell! Love flies swiftly, like the seed of a tree borne +on by the wind; but when it grows up in the heart like a tree in the +ground, you can pluck it out only with the heart. Panna Billevich was +of those who love strongly with an honest heart, therefore she covered +that letter of Kmita’s with tears. But still she could not forget +everything, forgive everything after the first word. Kmita’s +compunction was certainly sincere, but his soul remained wild and his +nature untamed; surely it had not changed so much through those events +that the future might be thought of without alarm. Not words, but deeds +were needed for the future on the part of Pan Andrei. Finally, how +could she say to a man who had made the whole neighborhood bloody, +whose name no one on either bank of the Lauda mentioned without curses, +“Come! in return for the corpses, the burning, the blood, and the +tears, I will give you my love and my hand”? Therefore she answered him +otherwise:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“Since I have told you that I do not wish to know you or see you, I +remain in that resolve, even though my heart be rent. Wrongs such as +you have inflicted on people here are not righted either with property +or money, for it is impossible to raise the dead. You have not lost +property only, but reputation. Let these nobles whose houses you have +burned and whom you have killed forgive you, then I will forgive you; +let them receive you, and I will receive you; let them rise up for you +first, then I will listen to their intercession. But as this can never +be, seek happiness elsewhere; and seek the forgiveness of God before +that of man, for you need it more.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra poured tears on every word of the letter; then she +sealed it with the Billevich seal and took it herself to the messenger.</p> + +<p>“Whence art thou?” asked she, measuring with her glance that strange +figure, half peasant, half servant.</p> + +<p>“From the woods, my lady.”</p> + +<p>“And where is thy master?”</p> + +<p>“That is not permitted me to say. But he is far from here; I rode five +days, and wore out my horse.”</p> + +<p>“Here is a thaler!” said Olenka. “And thy master is well?”</p> + +<p>“He is as well, the young hero, as an aurochs.”</p> + +<p>“And he is not in hunger or poverty?”</p> + +<p>“He is a rich lord.”</p> + +<p>“Go with God.”</p> + +<p>“I bow to my lady’s feet.”</p> + +<p>“Tell thy master—wait—tell thy master—may God aid him!”</p> + +<p>The peasant went away; and again began to pass days, weeks, without +tidings of Kmita, but tidings of public affairs came worse and worse. +The armies of Moscow under Hovanski spread more and more widely over +the Commonwealth. Without counting the lands of the Ukraine, in the +Grand Duchy of Lithuania alone, the provinces of Polotsk, Smolensk, +Vitebsk, Mstislavsk, Minsk, and Novgorodek were occupied; only a part +of Vilna, Brest-Litovsk, Trotsk, and the starostaship of Jmud breathed +yet with free breast, but even these expected guests from day to day.</p> + +<p>The Commonwealth had descended to the last degree of helplessness, +since it was unable to offer resistance to just those forces which +hitherto had been despised and which had always been beaten. It is true +that those forces were assisted by the unextinguished and re-arisen +rebellion of Hmelnitski, a genuine hundred-headed hydra; but in spite +of the rebellion, in spite of the exhaustion of forces in preceding +wars, both statesmen and warriors gave assurance that the Grand Duchy +alone might be and was in a condition not only to hurl back attack, but +to carry its banners victoriously beyond its own borders. Unfortunately +internal dissension stood in the way of that strength, paralyzing the +efforts even of those citizens who were willing to sacrifice their +lives and fortunes.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile thousands of fugitives had taken refuge in the lands still +unoccupied,—both nobles and common people. Towns, villages, and +hamlets in Jmud were filled with men brought by the misfortunes of war +to want and despair. The inhabitants of the towns were unable either to +give lodgings to all or to give them sufficient food; therefore people +died not infrequently of hunger,—namely, those of low degree. Not +seldom they took by force what was refused them; hence tumults, +battles, and robbery became more and more common.</p> + +<p>The winter was excessive in its severity. At last April came, and deep +snow was lying not only in the forests but on the fields. When the +supplies of the preceding year were exhausted and there were no new +ones yet, Famine, the brother of War, began to rage, and extended its +rule more and more widely. It was not difficult for the wayfarer to +find corpses of men lying in the field, at the roadside, emaciated, +gnawed by wolves, which having multiplied beyond example approached the +villages and hamlets in whole packs. Their howling was mingled with the +cries of people for charity; for in the woods, in the fields, and +around the many villages as well, there gleamed in the night-time fires +at which needy wretches warmed their chilled limbs; and when any man +rode past they rushed after him, begging for a copper coin, for bread, +for alms, groaning, cursing, threatening all at the same time. +Superstitious dread seized the minds of men. Many said that those wars +so disastrous, and those misfortunes till then unexampled, were coupled +with the name of the king; they explained readily that the letters “J. +C. K.” stamped on the coins signified not only “Joannes Casimirus Rex,” +but also “Initium Calamitatis Regni” (beginning of calamity for the +kingdom). And if in the provinces, which were not yet occupied by war, +such terror rose with disorder, it is easy to understand what happened +in those which were trampled by the fiery foot of war. The whole +Commonwealth was distracted, torn by parties, sick and in a fever, like +a man before death. New wars were foretold, both foreign and domestic. +In fact, motives were not wanting. Various powerful houses in the +Commonwealth, seized by the storm of dissension, considered one another +as hostile States, and with them entire lands and districts formed +hostile camps. Precisely such was the case in Lithuania, where the +fierce quarrel between Yanush Radzivill, the grand hetman, and +Gosyevski, full hetman, and also under-treasurer of Lithuania, became +almost open war. On the side of the under-treasurer stood the powerful +Sapyeha, to whom the greatness of the house of Radzivill had long been +as salt in the eye. These partisans loaded the grand hetman with heavy +reproaches indeed,—that wishing glory for himself alone, he had +destroyed the army at Shklov and delivered the country to plunder; that +he desired more than the fortune of the Commonwealth, the right for his +house of sitting in the diets of the German Empire; that he even +imagined for himself an independent crown, and that he persecuted the +Catholics.</p> + +<p>It came more than once to battles between the partisans of both sides, +as if without the knowledge of their patrons; and the patrons made +complaints against one another in Warsaw. Their quarrels were fought +out in the diets; at home license was let loose and disobedience +established. Such a man as Kmita might be sure of the protection of one +of those magnates the moment he stood on his side against his opponent.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the enemy were stopped only here and there by a castle; +everywhere else the advance was free and without opposition. Under such +circumstances all in the Lauda region had to be on the alert and under +arms, especially since there were no hetmans near by, for both hetmans +were struggling with the troops of the enemy without being able to +effect much, it is true, but at least worrying them with attacks and +hindering approach to the provinces still unoccupied. Especially did +Pavel Sapyeha show resistance and win glory. Yanush Radzivill, a famous +warrior, whose name up to the defeat at Shklov had been a terror to the +enemy, gained however a number of important advantages. Gosyevski now +fought, now endeavored to restrain the advance of the enemy by +negotiations; both leaders assembled troops from winter quarters and +whencesoever they could, knowing that with spring war would blaze up +afresh. But troops were few, and the treasury empty; the general +militia in the provinces already occupied could not assemble, for the +enemy prevented them. “It was necessary to think of that before the +affair at Shklov,” said the partisans of Grosyevski; “now it is too +late.” And in truth it was too late. The troops of the kingdom could +not give aid, for they were all in the Ukraine and had grievous work +against Hmelnitski, Sheremetyeff, and Buturlin.</p> + +<p>Tidings from the Ukraine of heroic battles, of captured towns, of +campaigns without parallel, strengthened failing hearts somewhat, and +gave courage for defence. The names of the hetmans of the kingdom +thundered with a loud glory, and with them the name of Stefan +Charnetski was heard more and more frequently in the mouths of men; but +glory could not take the place of troops nor serve as an auxiliary. The +hetmans of Lithuania therefore retreated slowly, without ceasing to +fight among themselves.</p> + +<p>At last Radzivill was in Jmud. With him came momentary peace in Lauda. +But the Calvinists, emboldened by the vicinity of their chief, raised +their heads in the towns, inflicting wrongs and attacking Catholic +churches. As an offset, the leaders of various volunteer bands and +parties—it is unknown whose—who under the colors of Radzivill, +Grosyevski, and Sapyeha had been ruining the country, vanished in the +forests, discharged their ruffians, and let people breathe more freely.</p> + +<p>Since it is easy to pass from despair to hope, a better feeling sprang +up at once in Lauda. Panna Aleksandra lived quietly in Vodokty. Pan +Volodyovski, who dwelt continually in Patsuneli, and just now had begun +to return gradually to health, gave out the tidings that the king with +newly levied troops would come in the spring, when the war would take +another turn. The encouraged nobles began to go out to the fields with +their ploughs. The snows too had melted, and on the birch-trees the +first buds were opening. Lauda River overflowed widely. A milder sky +shone over that region, and a better spirit entered the people.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile an event took place which disturbed anew the quiet of Lauda, +tore away hands from the plough, and let not the sabres be stained with +red rust.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski—a famous and seasoned soldier, though a young man—was +living, as we have said, in Patsuneli with the patriarch of the place, +Pakosh Gashtovt, who had the reputation of being the wealthiest noble +among all the small brotherhood of Lauda. In fact, he had dowered +richly with good silver his three daughters who had married Butryms, +for he gave to each one a hundred thalers, besides cattle, and an +outfit so handsome that not one noble woman or family had a better. The +other three daughters were at home unmarried; and they nursed +Volodyovski, whose arm was well at one time and sore at another, when +wet weather appeared in the world. All the Lauda people were occupied +greatly with that arm, for Lauda men had seen it working at Shklov and +Sepyel, and in general they were of the opinion that it would be +difficult to find a better in all Lithuania. The young colonel, +therefore, was surrounded with exceeding honor in all the +neighborhoods. The Gashtovts, the Domasheviches, the Gostsyeviches, the +Stakyans, and with them others, sent faithfully to Patsuneli fish, +mushrooms, and game for Volodyovski, and hay for his horses, so that +the knight and his servants might want for nothing. Whenever he felt +worse they vied with one another in going to Ponyevyej for a +barber;<a name="div2Ref_10" href="#div2_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> in a word, all strove to be first in serving him.</p> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski was so much at ease that though he might have had more +comforts in Kyedani and a noted physician at his call, still he +remained in Patsuneli. Old Gashtovt was glad to be his host, and almost +blew away the dust from before him, for it increased his importance +extremely in Lauda that he had a guest so famous that he might have +added to the importance of Radzivill himself.</p> + +<p>After the defeat and expulsion of Kmita, the nobility, in love with +Volodyovski, searched in their own heads for counsel, and formed the +project of marrying him to Panna Aleksandra. “Why seek a husband for +her through the world?” said the old men at a special meeting at which +they discussed this question. “Since that traitor has so befouled +himself with infamous deeds that if he is now alive he should be +delivered to the hangman, the lady must cast him out of her heart, for +thus was provision made in the will by a special clause. Let Pan +Volodyovski marry her. As guardians we can permit that, and she will +thus find an honorable cavalier, and we a neighbor and leader.”</p> + +<p>When this proposition was adopted unanimously, the old men went first +to Volodyovski, who, without thinking long, agreed to everything, and +then to “the lady,” who with still less hesitation opposed it +decisively. “My grandfather alone had the right to dispose of Lyubich,” +said she, “and the property cannot be taken from Pan Kmita until the +courts punish him with loss of life; and as to my marrying, do not even +mention it. I have too great sorrow on my mind to be able to think of +such a thing. I have cast that man out of my heart; but this one, even +though the most worthy, bring not hither, for I will not receive him.”</p> + +<p>There was no answer to such a resolute refusal, and the nobles returned +home greatly disturbed. Less disturbed was Pan Volodyovski, and least +of all the young daughters of Gashtovt,—Terka, Maryska, and Zonia. +They were well-grown, blooming maidens, with hair like flax, eyes like +violets, and broad shoulders. In general the Patsuneli girls were famed +for beauty; when they went in a flock to church, they were like flowers +of the field. Besides, old Gashtovt spared no expense on the education +of his daughters. The organist from Mitruny had taught them reading and +church hymns, and the eldest, Terka, to play on the lute. Having kind +hearts, they nursed Volodyovski sedulously, each striving to surpass +the others in watchfulness and care. People said that Maryska was in +love with the young knight; but the whole truth was not in that talk, +for all three of them, not she alone, were desperately in love with Pan +Michael. He loved them too beyond measure, especially Maryska and +Zonia, for Terka had the habit of complaining too much of the +faithlessness of men.</p> + +<p>It happened often in the long winter evenings that old Gashtovt, after +drinking his punch, went to bed, and the maidens with Pan Michael sat +by the chimney; the charming Terka spinning flax, mild Maryska amusing +herself with picking down, and Zonia reeling thread from the spindle +into skeins. But when Volodyovski began to tell of the wars or of +wonders which he had seen in the great houses of magnates, work ceased, +the girls gazed at him as at a rainbow, and one would cry out in +astonishment, “Oh! I do not live in the world! Oh, my dears!” and +another would say, “I shall not close an eye the whole night!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski, as he returned to health and began at times to use his +sword with perfect freedom, was more joyous and told stories more +willingly. A certain evening they were sitting as usual, after supper, +in front of the chimney, from beneath which the light fell sharply on +the entire dark room. They began to chat; the girls wanted stories, and +Volodyovski begged Terka to sing something with the lute.</p> + +<p>“Sing something yourself,” answered she, pushing away the instrument +which Volodyovski was handing her; “I have work. Having been in the +world, you must have learned many songs.”</p> + +<p>“True, I have learned some. Let it be so to-day; I will sing first, and +you afterward. Your work will not run away. If a woman had asked, you +would not have refused; you are always opposed to men.”</p> + +<p>“For they deserve it.”</p> + +<p>“And do you disdain me too?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, why should I? But sing something.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski touched the lute; he assumed a comic air, and began to sing +in falsetto,—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“I have come to such places<br/> +Where no girl will have me!—” +</p> + +<p>“Oh, that is untrue for you,” interrupted Maryska, blushing as red as a +raspberry.</p> + +<p>“That’s a soldier’s song,” said Volodyovski, “which we used to sing in +winter quarters, wishing some good soul to take pity on us.”</p> + +<p>“I would be the first to take pity on you.”</p> + +<p>“Thanks to you. If that is true, then I have no reason to sing longer, +and I will give the lute into worthier hands.”</p> + +<p>Terka did not reject the instrument this time, for she was moved by +Volodyovski’s song, in which there was more cunning indeed than truth. +She struck the strings at once, and with a simpering mien began,—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“For berries of elder go not to the green wood.<br/> +Trust not a mad dog, believe not a young man.<br/> +Each man in his heart bears rank poison;<br/> +If he says that he loves thee, say No.” +</p> + +<p>Volodyovski grew so mirthful that he held his sides from laughter, and +cried out: “All the men are traitors? But the military, my +benefactress!”</p> + +<p>Panna Terka opened her mouth wider and sang with redoubled energy,—</p> + + +<p class="center" style="font-size:90%">“Far worse than mad dogs are they, far worse, oh, far worse!”</p> + + +<p>“Do not mind Terka; she is always that way,” said Marysia.<a name="div2Ref_11" href="#div2_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a></p> + +<p>“Why not mind,” asked Volodyovski, “when she speaks so ill of the whole +military order that from shame I know not whither to turn my eyes?”</p> + +<p>“You want me to sing, and then make sport of me and laugh at me,” said +Terka, pouting.</p> + +<p>“I do not attack the singing, but the cruel meaning of it for the +military,” answered the knight. “As to the singing I must confess that +in Warsaw I have not heard such remarkable trills. All that would be +needed is to dress you in trousers. You might sing at St. Yan’s, which +is the cathedral church, and in which the king and queen have their +box.”</p> + +<p>“Why dress her in trousers?” asked Zonia, the youngest, made curious by +mention of Warsaw, the king, and the queen.</p> + +<p>“For in Warsaw women do not sing in the choir, but men and young +boys,—the men with voices so deep that no aurochs could bellow like +them, and the boys with voices so thin that on a violin no sound could +be thinner. I heard them many a time when we came, with our great and +lamented voevoda of Rus, to the election of our present gracious lord. +It is a real wonder, so that the soul goes out of a man. There is a +host of musicians there: Forster, famous for his subtle trills, and +Kapula, and Gian Battista, and Elert, a master at the lute, and Marek, +and Myelchevski,—beautiful composers. When all these are performing +together in the church, it is as if you were listening to choirs of +seraphim in the flesh.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, that is as true as if living!” said Marysia, placing her hands +together.</p> + +<p>“And the king,—have you seen him often?” asked Zonia.</p> + +<p>“I have spoken with him as with you. After the battle of Berestechko he +pressed my head. He is a valiant lord, and so kind that whoso has once +seen him must love him.”</p> + +<p>“We love him without having seen him. Has he the crown always on his +head?”</p> + +<p>“If he were to go around every day in the crown, his head would need to +be iron. The crown rests in the church, from which its importance +increases; but his Grace the King wears a black cap studded with +diamonds from which light flashes through the whole castle.”</p> + +<p>“They say that the castle of the king is even grander than that at +Kyedani?”</p> + +<p>“That at Kyedani! The Kyedani castle is a mere plaything in comparison. +The king’s castle is a tremendous building, all walled in so that you +cannot see a stick of wood. Around are two rows of chambers, one more +splendid than the other. In them you can see different wars and +victories painted with brushes on the wall,—such as the battles of +Sigismund III. and Vladislav; a man could not satisfy himself with +looking at them, for everything is as if living. The wonder is that +they do not move, and that those who are fighting do not shout. But not +even the best artist can paint men to shout. Some chambers are all +gold; chairs and benches covered with brocade or cloth of gold, tables +of marble and alabaster, and the caskets, bottle-cases, clocks showing +the hour of day and night, could not be described on an ox-hide. The +king and queen walk through those chambers and delight themselves in +plenty; in the evening they have a theatre for their still greater +amusement—”</p> + +<p>“What is a theatre?”</p> + +<p>“How can I tell you? It is a place where they play comedies and exhibit +Italian dances in a masterly manner. It is a room so large that no +church is the equal of it, all with beautiful columns. On one side sit +those who wish to see, and on the other the arts are exhibited. +Curtains are raised and let down; some are turned with screws to +different sides. Darkness and clouds are shown at one moment; at +another pleasant light. Above is the sky with the sun or the stars; +below you may see at times hell dreadful—”</p> + +<p>“Oh, God save us!” cried the girls.</p> + +<p>“—with devils. Sometimes the boundless sea; on it ships and sirens. +Some persons come down from the skies; others rise out of the earth.”</p> + +<p>“But I should not like to see hell,” cried Zonia, “and it is a wonder +to me that people do not run away from such a terrible sight.”</p> + +<p>“Not only do they not run away, but they applaud from pleasure,” said +Volodyovski; “for it is all pretended, not real, and those who take +farewell do not go away. There is no evil spirit in the affair, only +the invention of men. Even bishops come with his Grace the King, and +various dignitaries who go with the king afterward and sit down to a +feast before sleeping.”</p> + +<p>“And what do they do in the morning and during the day?”</p> + +<p>“That depends on their wishes. When they rise in the morning they take +a bath. There is a room in which there is no floor, only a tin tank +shining like silver, and in the tank water.”</p> + +<p>“Water, in a room—have you heard?”</p> + +<p>“It is true; and it comes and goes as they wish. It can be warm or +altogether cold; for there are pipes with spigots, running here and +there. Turn a spigot and the water runs till it is possible to swim in +the room as in a lake. No king has such a castle as our gracious lord, +that is known, and foreign proverbs tell the same. Also no king reigns +over such a worthy people; for though there are various polite nations +on earth, still God in his mercy has adorned ours beyond others.”</p> + +<p>“Our king is happy!” sighed Terka.</p> + +<p>“It is sure that he would be happy were it not for unfortunate wars +which press down the Commonwealth in return for our discords and sins. +All this rests on the shoulders of the king, and besides at the diets +they reproach him for our faults. And why is he to blame because people +will not obey him? Grievous times have come on the country,—such +grievous times as have not been hitherto. Our most despicable enemy now +despises us,—us who till recently carried on victorious wars against +the Emperor of Turkey. This is the way that God punishes pride. Praise +be to Him that my arm works well in its joints,—for it is high time to +remember the country and move to the field. ’Tis a sin to be idle in +time of such troubles.”</p> + +<p>“Do not mention going away.”</p> + +<p>“It is difficult to do otherwise. It is pleasant for me here among you; +but the better it is, the worse it is. Let men in the Diet give wise +reasons, but a soldier longs for the field. While there is life there +is service. After death God, who looks into the heart, will reward best +those who serve not for advancement, but through love of the country; +and indeed the number of such is decreasing continually, and that is +why the black hour has come.”</p> + +<p>Marysia’s eyes began to grow moist; at last they were filled with tears +which flowed down her rosy cheeks. “You will go and forget us, and we +shall pine away here. Who in this place will defend us from attack?”</p> + +<p>“I go, but I shall preserve my gratitude. It is rare to find such +honest people as in Patsuneli. Are you always afraid of this Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“Of course. Mothers frighten their children with him as with a +werewolf.”</p> + +<p>“He will not come back, and even if he should he will not have with him +those wild fellows, who, judging from what people say, were worse than +he. It is a pity indeed that such a good soldier stained his reputation +and lost his property.”</p> + +<p>“And the lady.”</p> + +<p>“And the lady. They say much good in her favor.”</p> + +<p>“Poor thing! for whole days she just cries and cries.”</p> + +<p>“H’m!” said Volodyovski; “but is she not crying for Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“Who knows?” replied Marysia.</p> + +<p>“So much the worse for her, for he will not come back. The hetman sent +home a part of the Lauda men, and those forces are here now. We wanted +to cut him down at once without the court. He must know that the Lauda +men have returned, and he will not show even his nose.”</p> + +<p>“Likely our men must march again,” said Terka, “for they received only +leave to come home for a short time.”</p> + +<p>“Eh!” said Volodyovski, “the hetman let them come, for there is no +money in the treasury. It is pure despair! When people are most needed +they have to be sent away. But good-night! it is time to sleep, and let +none of you dream of Pan Kmita with a fiery sword.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski rose from the bench and prepared to leave the room, but had +barely made a step toward the closet when suddenly there was a noise in +the entrance and a shrill voice began to cry outside the door—</p> + +<p>“Hei there! For God’s mercy! open quickly, quickly!”</p> + +<p>The girls were terribly frightened. Volodyovski sprang for his sabre to +the closet, but had not been able to get it when Terka opened the door. +An unknown man burst into the room and threw himself at the feet of the +knight.</p> + +<p>“Rescue, serene Colonel!—The lady is carried away!”</p> + +<p>“What lady?”</p> + +<p>“In Vodokty.”</p> + +<p>“Kmita!” cried Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Kmita!” screamed the girls.</p> + +<p>“Kmita!” repeated the messenger.</p> + +<p>“Who art thou?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“The manager in Vodokty.”</p> + +<p>“We know him,” said Terka; “he brought herbs for you.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the drowsy old Gashtovt came forth from behind the stove, and +in the door appeared two attendants of Pan Volodyovski whom the uproar +had drawn to the room.</p> + +<p>“Saddle the horses!” cried Volodyovski. “Let one of you hurry to the +Butryms, the other give a horse to me!”</p> + +<p>“I have been already at the Butryms,” said the manager, “for they are +nearer to us; they sent me to your grace.”</p> + +<p>“When was the lady carried away?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Just now—the servants are fighting yet—I rushed for a horse.”</p> + +<p>Old Gashtovt rubbed his eyes. “What’s that? The lady carried off?”</p> + +<p>“Yes; Kmita carried her off,” answered Volodyovski. “Let us go to the +rescue!” Then he turned to the messenger: “Hurry to the Domasheviches; +let them come with muskets.”</p> + +<p>“Now, my kids,” cried the old man suddenly to his daughters, “hurry to +the village, wake up the nobles, let them take their sabres! Kmita has +carried off the lady—is it possible—God forgive him, the murderer, +the ruffian! Is it possible?”</p> + +<p>“Let us go to rouse them,” said Volodyovski; “that will be quicker! +Come; the horses are ready, I hear them.”</p> + +<p>In a moment they mounted, as did also the two attendants, Ogarek and +Syruts. All pushed on their way between the cottages of the village, +striking the doors and windows, and crying with sky-piercing voices: +“To your sabres, to your sabres! The lady of Vodokty is carried away! +Kmita is in the neighborhood!”</p> + +<p>Hearing these cries, this or that man rushed forth from his cottage, +looked to see what was happening, and when he had learned what the +matter was, fell to shouting himself, “Kmita is in the neighborhood; +the lady is carried away!” And shouting in this fashion, he rushed +headlong to the out-buildings to saddle his horse, or to his cottage to +feel in the dark for his sabre on the wall. Every moment more voices +cried, “Kmita is in the neighborhood!” There was a stir in the village, +lights began to shine, the cry of women was heard, the barking of dogs. +At last the nobles came out on the road,—some mounted, some on foot. +Above the multitude of heads glittered in the night sabres, pikes, +darts, and even iron forks.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski surveyed the company, sent some of them immediately in +different directions, and moved forward himself with the rest.</p> + +<p>The mounted men rode in front, those on foot followed, and they marched +toward Volmontovichi to join the Butryms. The hour was ten in the +evening, and the night clear, though the moon had not risen. Those of +the nobles whom the grand hetman had sent recently from the war dropped +into ranks at once; the others, namely the infantry, advanced with less +regularity, making a clatter with their weapons, talking and yawning +aloud, at times cursing that devil of a Kmita who had robbed them of +pleasant rest. In this fashion they reached Volmontovichi, at the edge +of which an armed band pushed out to meet them.</p> + +<p>“Halt! who goes?” called voices from that band.</p> + +<p>“The Gashtovts!”</p> + +<p>“We are the Butryms. The Domasheviches have come already.”</p> + +<p>“Who is leading you?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Yuzva the Footless at the service of the colonel.”</p> + +<p>“Have you news?”</p> + +<p>“He took her to Lyubich. They went through the swamp to avoid +Volmontovichi.”</p> + +<p>“To Lyubich?” asked Volodyovski, in wonder. “Can he think of defending +himself there? Lyubich is not a fortress, is it?”</p> + +<p>“It seems he trusts in his strength. There are two hundred with him. No +doubt he wants to take the property from Lyubich; they have wagons and +a band of led horses. It must be that he did not know of our return +from the army, for he acts very boldly.”</p> + +<p>“That is good for us!” said Volodyovski. “He will not escape this time. +How many guns have you?”</p> + +<p>“We, the Butryms, have thirty; the Domasheviches twice as many.”</p> + +<p>“Very good. Let fifty men with muskets go with you to defend the +passage in the swamps, quickly; the rest will come with me. Remember +the axes.”</p> + +<p>“According to command.”</p> + +<p>There was a movement; the little division under Yuzva the Footless went +forward at a trot to the swamp. A number of tens of Butryms who had +been sent for other nobles now came up.</p> + +<p>“Are the Gostsyeviches to be seen?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Yes, Colonel. Praise be to God!” cried the newly arrived. “The +Gostsyeviches are coming; they can be heard through the woods. You know +that they carried her to Lyubich?”</p> + +<p>“I know. He will not go far with her.”</p> + +<p>There was indeed one danger to his insolent venture on which Kmita had +not reckoned; he knew not that a considerable force of the nobles had +just returned home. He judged that the villages were as empty as at the +time of his first stay in Lyubich; while on the present occasion +counting the Gostsyeviches, without the Stakyans, who could not come up +in season, Volodyovski was able to lead against him about three hundred +sabres held by men accustomed to battle and trained.</p> + +<p>In fact, more and more nobles joined Volodyovski as he advanced. At +last came the Gostsyeviches, who had been expected till that moment. +Volodyovski drew up the division, and his heart expanded at sight of +the order and ease with which the men stood in ranks. At the first +glance it was clear that they were soldiers, not ordinary untrained +nobles. Volodyovski rejoiced for another reason; he thought to himself +that soon he would lead them to more distant places.</p> + +<p>They moved then on a swift march toward Lyubich by the pine-woods +through which Kmita had rushed the winter before. It was well after +midnight. The moon sailed out at last in the sky, and lighting the +woods, the road, and the marching warriors, broke its pale rays on the +points of the pikes, and was reflected on the gleaming sabres. The +nobles talked in a low voice of the unusual event which had dragged +them from their beds.</p> + +<p>“Various people have been going around here,” said one of the +Domasheviches; “we thought they were deserters, but they were surely +his spies.”</p> + +<p>“Of course. Every day strange minstrels used to visit Vodokty as if for +alms,” said others.</p> + +<p>“And what kind of soldiers has Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“The servants in Vodokty say they are Cossacks. It is certain that +Kmita has made friends with Hovanski or Zolotarenko. Hitherto he was a +murderer, now he is an evident traitor.”</p> + +<p>“How could he bring Cossacks thus far?”</p> + +<p>“With such a great band it is not easy to pass. Our first good company +would have stopped him on the road.”</p> + +<p>“Well, they might go through the forests. Besides, are there few lords +travelling with domestic Cossacks? Who can tell them from the enemy? If +these men are asked they will say that they are domestic Cossacks.”</p> + +<p>“He will defend himself,” said one of the Gostsyeviches, “for he is a +brave and resolute man; but our colonel will be a match for him.”</p> + +<p>“The Butryms too have vowed that even if they have to fall one on the +other, he will not leave there alive. They are the most bitter against +him.”</p> + +<p>“But if we kill him, from whom will they recover their losses? Better +take him alive and give him to justice.”</p> + +<p>“What is the use in thinking of courts now when all have lost their +heads? Do you know that people say war may come from the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“May God preserve us from that! The Moscow power and Hmelnitski at +present; only the Swedes are wanting, and then the last day of the +Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>At this moment Volodyovski riding in advance turned and said, “Quiet +there, gentlemen!”</p> + +<p>The nobles grew silent, for Lyubich was in sight. In a quarter of an +hour they had come within less than forty rods of the building. All the +windows were illuminated; the light shone into the yard, which was full +of armed men and horses. Nowhere sentries, no precautions,—it was +evident that Kmita trusted too much in his strength. When he had drawn +still nearer, Pan Volodyovski with one glance recognized the Cossacks +against whom he had warred so much during the life of the great Yeremi, +and later under Radzivill.</p> + +<p>“If those are strange Cossacks, then that ruffian has passed the +limit.”</p> + +<p>He looked farther; brought his whole party to a halt. There was a +terrible bustle in the court. Some Cossacks were giving light with +torches; others were running in every direction, coming out of the +house and going in again, bringing out things, packing bags into the +wagons; others were leading horses from the stable, driving cattle from +the stalls. Cries, shouts, commands, crossed one another in every +direction. The gleam of torches lighted as it were the moving of a +tenant to a new estate on St. John’s Eve.</p> + +<p>Kryshtof, the oldest among the Domasheviches, pushed up to Volodyovski +and said, “They want to pack all Lyubich into wagons.”</p> + +<p>“They will take away,” answered Volodyovski, “neither Lyubich nor their +own skins. I do not recognize Kmita, who is an experienced soldier. +There is not a single sentry.”</p> + +<p>“Because he has great force,—it seems to me more than three hundred +strong. If we had not returned he might have passed with the wagons +through all the villages.”</p> + +<p>“Is this the only road to the house?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“The only one, for in the rear are ponds and swamps.”</p> + +<p>“That is well. Dismount!”</p> + +<p>Obedient to this command, the nobles sprang from their saddles. The +rear ranks of infantry deployed in a long line, and began to surround +the house and the buildings. Volodyovski with the main division +advanced directly on the gate.</p> + +<p>“Wait the command!” said he, in a low voice. “Fire not before the +order.”</p> + +<p>A few tens of steps only separated the nobles from the gate when they +were seen at last from the yard. Men sprang at once to the fence, bent +forward, and peering carefully into the darkness, called threateningly, +“Hei! Who are there?”</p> + +<p>“Halt!” cried Volodyovski; “fire!”</p> + +<p>Shots from all the guns which the nobles carried thundered together; +but the echo had not come back from the building when the voice of +Volodyovski was heard again: “On the run!”</p> + +<p>“Kill! slay!” cried the Lauda men, rushing forward like a torrent.</p> + +<p>The Cossacks answered with shots, but they had not time to reload. The +throng of nobles rushed against the gate, which soon fell before the +pressure of armed men. A struggle began to rage in the yard, among +the wagons, horses, and bags. The powerful Butryms, the fiercest in +hand-to-hand conflict and the most envenomed against Kmita, advanced in +line. They went like a herd of stags bursting through a growth of young +trees, breaking, trampling, destroying, and cutting wildly. Alter them +rolled the Domasheviches and the Gostsyeviches.</p> + +<p>Kmita’s Cossacks defended themselves manfully from behind the wagons +and packs; they began to fire too from all the windows of the house and +from the roof,—but rarely, for the trampled torches were quenched, and +it was difficult to distinguish their own from the enemy. After a while +the Cossacks were pushed from the yard and the house to the stables; +cries for quarter were heard. The nobles had triumphed.</p> + +<p>But when they were alone in the yard, fire from the house increased at +once. All the windows were bristling with muskets, and a storm of +bullets began to fall on the yard. The greater part of the Cossacks had +taken refuge in the house.</p> + +<p>“To the doors!” cried Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>In fact, the discharges from the windows and from the roof could not +injure those at the very walls. The position, however, of the besiegers +was difficult. They could not think of storming the windows, for fire +would greet them straight in the face. Volodyovski therefore commanded +to hew down the doors. But that was not easy, for they were bolts +rather than doors, made of oak pieces fixed crosswise and fastened with +many gigantic nails, on the strong heads of which axes were dented +without breaking the doors. The most powerful men pushed then from time +to time with their shoulders, but in vain. Behind the doors wore iron +bars, and besides they were supported inside by props. But the Butryms +hewed with rage. At the doors of the kitchen leading also to the +storehouse the Domasheviches and Gashtovts were storming.</p> + +<p>After vain efforts of an hour the men at the axes were relieved. Some +cross-pieces had fallen, but in place of them appeared gun-barrels. +Shots sounded again. Two Butryms fell to the ground with pierced +breasts. The others, instead of being put to disorder, hewed still more +savagely.</p> + +<p>By command of Volodyovski the openings were stopped with bundles of +coats. Now in the direction of the road new shouts were heard from the +Stakyans, who had come to the aid of their brethren; and following them +were armed peasants from Vodokty.</p> + +<p>The arrival of these reinforcements had evidently disturbed the +besieged, for straightway a voice behind the door called loudly: “Stop +there! do not hew! listen! Stop, a hundred devils take you! let us +talk.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski gave orders to stop the work and asked; “Who is speaking?”</p> + +<p>“The banneret of Orsha, Kmita; and with whom am I speaking?”</p> + +<p>“Col. Michael Volodyovski.”</p> + +<p>“With the forehead!” answered the voice from behind the door.</p> + +<p>“There is no time for greetings. What is your wish?”</p> + +<p>“It would be more proper for me to ask what you want. You do not know +me, nor I you; why attack me?”</p> + +<p>“Traitor!” cried Volodyovski. “With me are the men of Lauda who have +returned from the war, and they have accounts with you for robbery, for +blood shed without cause and for the lady whom you have carried away. +But do you know what <i>raptus puellæ</i> means? You must yield your life.”</p> + +<p>A moment of silence followed.</p> + +<p>“You would not call me traitor a second time,” said Kmita, “were it not +for the door between us.”</p> + +<p>“Open it, then! I do not hinder.”</p> + +<p>“More than one dog from Lauda will cover himself with his legs before +it is open. You will not take me alive.”</p> + +<p>“Then we will drag you out dead, by the hair. All one to us!”</p> + +<p>“Listen with care, note what I tell you! If you do not let us go, I +have a barrel of powder here, and the match is burning already. I’ll +blow up the house and all who are in it with myself, so help me God! +Come now and take me!”</p> + +<p>This time a still longer silence followed. Volodyovski sought an answer +in vain. The nobles began to look at one another in fear. There was so +much wild energy in the words of Kmita that all believed his threat. +The whole victory might be turned into dust by one spark, and Panna +Billevich lost forever.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake!” muttered one of the Butryms, “he is a madman. He is +ready to do what he says.”</p> + +<p>Suddenly a happy thought came to Volodyovski, as it seemed to him. +“There is another way!” cried he. “Meet me, traitor, with a sabre. If +you put me down, you will go away in freedom.”</p> + +<p>For a time there was no answer. The hearts of the Lauda men beat +unquietly.</p> + +<p>“With a sabre?” asked Kmita, at length. “Can that be?”</p> + +<p>“If you are not afraid, it will be.”</p> + +<p>“The word of a cavalier that I shall go away in freedom?”</p> + +<p>“The word—”</p> + +<p>“Impossible!” cried a number of voices among the Butryms.</p> + +<p>“Quiet, a hundred devils!” roared Volodyovski; “if not, then let him +blow you up with himself.”</p> + +<p>The Butryms were silent; after a while one of them said, “Let it be as +you wish.”</p> + +<p>“Well, what is the matter there?” asked Kmita, derisively. “Do the gray +coats agree?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, and they will take oath on their swords, if you wish.”</p> + +<p>“Let them take oath.”</p> + +<p>“Come together, gentlemen, come together!” cried Volodyovski to the +nobles who were standing under the walls and surrounding the whole +house.</p> + +<p>After a while all collected at the main door, and soon the news that +Kmita wanted to blow himself up with powder spread on every side. They +were as if petrified with terror. Meanwhile Volodyovski raised his +voice and said amid silence like that of the grave,—</p> + +<p>“I take you all present here to witness that I have challenged Pan +Kmita, the banneret of Orsha, to a duel, and I have promised that if he +puts me down he shall go hence in freedom, without obstacle from you; +to this you must swear on your sword-hilts, in the name of God and the +holy cross—”</p> + +<p>“But wait!” cried Kmita,—“in freedom with all my men, and I take the +lady with me.”</p> + +<p>“The lady will remain here,” answered Volodyovski, “and the men will go +as prisoners to the nobles.”</p> + +<p>“That cannot be.”</p> + +<p>“Then blow yourself up with powder! We have already mourned for her; as +to the men, ask them what they prefer.”</p> + +<p>Silence followed.</p> + +<p>“Let it be so,” said Kmita, after a time. “If I do not take her to-day, +I will in a month. You will not hide her under the ground! Take the +oath!”</p> + +<p>“Take the oath!” repeated Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“We swear by the Most High God and the Holy Cross. Amen!”</p> + +<p>“Well, come out, come out!” cried Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“You are in a hurry to the other world?”</p> + +<p>“No matter, no matter, only come out quickly.”</p> + +<p>The iron bars holding the door on the inside began to groan.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski pushed back, and with him the nobles, to make room. Soon +the door opened, and in it appeared Pan Andrei, tall, straight as a +poplar. The dawn was already coming, and the first pale light of day +fell on his daring, knightly, and youthful face. He stopped in the +door, looked boldly on the crowd of nobles, and said,—</p> + +<p>“I have trusted in you. God knows whether I have done well, but let +that go. Who here is Pan Volodyovski?”</p> + +<p>The little colonel stepped forward. “I am!” answered he.</p> + +<p>“Oh! you are not like a giant,” said Kmita, with sarcastic reference to +Volodyovski’s stature, “I expected to find a more considerable figure, +though I must confess you are evidently a soldier of experience.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot say the same of you, for you have neglected sentries. If you +are the same at the sabre as at command, I shall not have work.”</p> + +<p>“Where shall we fight?” asked Kmita, quickly.</p> + +<p>“Here,—the yard is as level as a table.”</p> + +<p>“Agreed! Prepare for death.”</p> + +<p>“Are you so sure?”</p> + +<p>“It is clear that you have never been in Orsha, since you doubt. Not +only am I sure, but I am sorry, for I have heard of you as a splendid +soldier. Therefore I say for the last time, let me go! We do not know +each other; why should we stand the one in the way of the other? Why +attack me? The maiden is mine by the will, as well as this property; +and God knows I am only seeking my own. It is true that I cut down the +nobles in Volmontovichi, but let God decide who committed the first +wrong. Whether my officers were men of violence or not, we need not +discuss; it is enough that they did no harm to any one here, and they +were slaughtered to the last man because they wanted to dance with +girls in a public house. Well, let blood answer blood! After that my +soldiers were cut to pieces. I swear by the wounds of God that I came +to these parts without evil intent, and how was I received? But let +wrong balance wrong, I will still add from my own and make losses good +in neighbor fashion. I prefer that to another way.”</p> + +<p>“And what kind of people have you here? Where did you get these +assistants?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Where I got them I got them. I did not bring them against the country, +but to obtain my own rights.”</p> + +<p>“Is that the kind of man you are? So for private affairs you have +joined the enemy. And with what have you paid him for this service, if +not with treason? No, brother, I should not hinder you from coming to +terms with the nobles, but to call in the enemy is another thing. You +will not creep out. Stand up now, stand up, or I shall say that you are +a coward, though you give yourself out as a master from Orsha.”</p> + +<p>“You would have it,” said Kmita, taking position.</p> + +<p>But Volodyovski did not hurry, and not taking his sabre out yet, he +looked around on the sky. Day was already coming in the east. The first +golden and azure stripes were extended in a belt of light, but in the +yard it was still gloomy enough, and just in front of the house +complete darkness reigned.</p> + +<p>“The day begins well,” said Volodyovski, “but the sun will not rise +soon. Perhaps you would wish to have light?”</p> + +<p>“It is all one to me.”</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen!” cried Volodyovski, turning to the nobles, “go for some +straw and for torches; it will be clearer for us in this Orsha dance.”</p> + +<p>The nobles, to whom this humorous tone of the young colonel gave +wonderful consolation, rushed quickly to the kitchen. Some of them fell +to collecting the torches trampled at the time of the battle, and in a +little while nearly fifty red flames were gleaming in the semi-darkness +of the early morning.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski showed them with his sabre to Kmita. “Look, a regular +funeral procession!”</p> + +<p>And Kmita answered at once: “They are burying a colonel, so there must +be parade.”</p> + +<p>“You are a dragon!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the nobles formed in silence a circle around the knights, and +raised the burning torches aloft; behind them others took their places, +curious and disquieted; in the centre the opponents measured each other +with their eyes. A grim silence began; only burned coals fell with a +crackle to the ground. Volodyovski was as lively as a goldfinch on a +bright morning.</p> + +<p>“Begin!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>The first clash raised an echo in the heart of every onlooker. +Volodyovski struck as if unwillingly; Kmita warded and struck in his +turn; Volodyovski warded. The dry clash grew more rapid. All held +breath. Kmita attacked with fury. Volodyovski put his left hand behind +his back and stood quietly, making very careless, slight, almost +imperceptible movements; it seemed that he wished merely to defend +himself, and at the same time spare his opponent. Sometimes he pushed a +short step backward, again he advanced; apparently he was studying the +skill of Kmita. Kmita was growing heated; Volodyovski was cool as a +master testing his pupil, and all the time calmer and calmer. At last, +to the great surprise of the nobles, he said,—</p> + +<p>“Now let us talk; it will not last long. Ah, ha! is that the Orsha +method? ’Tis clear that you must have threshed peas there, for you +strike like a man with a flail. Terrible blows! Are they really the +best in Orsha? That thrust is in fashion only among tribunal police. +This is from Courland, good to chase dogs with. Look to the end of your +sabre! Don’t bend your hand so, for see what will happen! Raise your +sabre!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski pronounced the last words with emphasis; at the same time +he described a half-circle, drew the hand and sabre toward him, and +before the spectators understood what “raise” meant, Kmita’s sabre, +like a needle pulled from a thread, flew above Volodyovski’s head and +fell behind his shoulders; then he said,—</p> + +<p>“That is called shelling a sabre.”</p> + +<p>Kmita stood pale, wild-eyed, staggering, astonished no less than the +nobles of Lauda; the little colonel pushed to one side, and repeated +again,—</p> + +<p>“Take your sabre!”</p> + +<p>For a time it seemed as if Kmita would rush at him with naked hands. He +was just ready for the spring, when Volodyovski put his hilt to his own +breast, presenting the point. Kmita rushed to take his own sabre, and +fell with it again on his terrible opponent.</p> + +<p>A loud murmur rose from the circle of spectators, and the ring grew +closer and closer. Kmita’s Cossacks thrust their heads between the +shoulders of the nobles, as if they had lived all their lives in the +best understanding with them. Involuntarily shouts were wrested from +the mouths of the onlookers; at times an outburst of unrestrained, +nervous laughter was heard; all acknowledged a master of masters.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski amused himself cruelly like a cat with a mouse, and seemed +to work more and more carelessly with the sabre. He took his left hand +from behind his back and thrust it into his trousers’ pocket. Kmita was +foaming at the mouth, panting heavily; at last hoarse words came from +his throat through his set lips,—</p> + +<p>“Finish—spare the shame!”</p> + +<p>“Very well!” replied Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>A short terrible whistle was heard, then a smothered cry. At the same +moment Kmita threw open his arms, his sabre dropped to the ground, and +he fell on his face at the feet of the colonel.</p> + +<p>“He lives!” said Volodyovski; “he has not fallen on his back!” And +doubling the skirt of Kmita’s coat, he began to wipe his sabre.</p> + +<p>The nobles shouted with one voice, and in those shouts thundered with +increasing clearness: “Finish the traitor! finish him! cut him to +pieces!”</p> + +<p>A number of Butryms ran up with drawn sabres. Suddenly something +wonderful happened,—and one would have said that little Volodyovski +had grown tall before their eyes: the sabre of the nearest Butrym flew +out of his hand after Kmita’s, as if a whirlwind had caught it, and +Volodyovski shouted with flashing eyes,—</p> + +<p>“Stand back, stand back! He is mine now, not yours! Be off!”</p> + +<p>All were silent, fearing the anger of that man; and he said: “I want no +shambles here! As nobles you should understand knightly customs, and +not slaughter the wounded. Enemies do not do that, and how could a man +in a duel kill his prostrate opponent?”</p> + +<p>“He is a traitor!” muttered one of the Butryms. “It is right to kill +such a man.”</p> + +<p>“If he is a traitor he should be given to the hetman to suffer +punishment and serve as an example to others. But as I have said, he is +mine now, not yours. If he recovers you will be free to get your rights +before a court, and it will be easier to obtain satisfaction from a +living than a dead man. Who here knows how to dress wounds?”</p> + +<p>“Krysh Domashevich. He has attended to all in Lauda for years.”</p> + +<p>“Let him dress the man at once, then take him to bed, and I will go to +console the ill-fated lady.”</p> + +<p>So saying, Volodyovski put his sabre into the scabbard. The nobles +began to seize and bind Kmita’s men, who henceforth were to plough land +in the villages. They surrendered without resistance; only a few who +had escaped through the rear windows of the house ran toward the ponds, +but they fell into the hands of the Stakyans who were stationed there. +At the same time the nobles fell to plundering the wagons, in which +they found quite a plentiful booty; some of them gave advice to sack +the house, but they feared Pan Volodyovski, and perhaps the presence of +Panna Billevich restrained the most daring. Their own killed, among +whom were three Butryms and two Domasheviches, the nobles put into +wagons, so as to bury them according to Christian rites. They ordered +the peasants to dig a ditch for Kmita’s dead behind the garden.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski in seeking the lady burst through the whole house, and +found her at last in the treasure-chamber situated in a corner to which +a low and narrow door led from the sleeping-room. It was a small +chamber, with narrow, strongly barred windows, built in a square and +with such mighty walls, that Volodyovski saw at once that even if Kmita +had blown up the house with powder that room would have surely remained +unharmed. This gave him a better opinion of Kmita. The lady was sitting +on a chest not far from the door, with her head drooping, and her face +almost hidden by her hair. She did not raise it when she heard the +knight coming. She thought beyond doubt that it was Kmita himself or +some one of his people. Pan Volodyovski stood in the door, coughed +once, a second time, and seeing no result from that, said,—</p> + +<p>“My lady, you are free!”</p> + +<p>“From under the drooping hair blue eyes looked at the knight, and then +a comely face appeared, though pale and as it were not conscious. +Volodyovski was hoping for thanks, an outburst of gladness; but the +lady sat motionless, distraught, and merely looked at him. Therefore +the knight spoke again,—</p> + +<p>“Come to yourself, my lady! God has regarded innocence,—you are free, +and can return to Vodokty.”</p> + +<p>This time there was more consciousness in the look of Panna Billevich. +She rose from the chest, shook back her hair, and asked, “Who are you?”</p> + +<p>“Michael Volodyovski, colonel of dragoons with the voevoda of Vilna.”</p> + +<p>“Did I hear a battle—shots? Tell me.”</p> + +<p>“Yes. We came to save you.”</p> + +<p>She regained her senses completely. “I thank you,” said she hurriedly, +with a low voice, through which a mortal disquiet was breaking. “But +what happened to him?”</p> + +<p>“To Kmita? Fear not, my lady! He is lying lifeless in the yard; and +without praising myself I did it.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski uttered this with a certain boastfulness; but if he +expected admiration he deceived himself terribly. She said not a word, +but tottered and began to seek support behind with her hands. At last +she sat heavily on the same chest from which she had risen a moment +before.</p> + +<p>The knight sprang to her quickly: “What is the matter, my lady?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing, nothing—wait, permit me. Then is Pan Kmita killed?”</p> + +<p>“What is Pan Kmita to me?” interrupted Volodyovski; “it is a question +here of you.”</p> + +<p>That moment her strength came back; for she rose again, and looking him +straight in the eyes, screamed with anger, impatience, and despair: “By +the living God, answer! Is he killed?”</p> + +<p>“Pan Kmita is wounded,” answered the astonished Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Is he alive?”</p> + +<p>“He is alive.”</p> + +<p>“It is well! I thank you.”</p> + +<p>And with step still tottering she moved toward the door. Volodyovski +stood for a while moving his mustaches violently and shaking his head; +then he muttered to himself, “Does she thank me because Kmita is +wounded, or because he is alive?”</p> + +<p>He followed Olenka, and found her in the adjoining bed room standing in +the middle of it as if turned to stone. Four nobles were bearing in at +that moment Pan Kmita; the first two advancing sidewise appeared in the +door, and between them hung toward the floor the pale head of Pan +Andrei, with closed eyes, and clots of black blood in his hair.</p> + +<p>“Slowly,” said Krysh Domashevich, walking behind, “slowly across the +threshold. Let some one hold his head. Slowly!”</p> + +<p>“With what can we hold it when our hands are full?” answered those in +front.</p> + +<p>At that moment Panna Aleksandra approached them, pale as was Kmita +himself, and placed both hands under his lifeless head.</p> + +<p>“This is the lady,” said Krysh Domashevich.</p> + +<p>“It is I. Be careful!” answered she, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski looked on, and his mustaches quivered fearfully.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile they placed Kmita on the bed. Krysh Domashevich began to wash +his head with water; then he fixed a plaster previously prepared to the +wound, and said,—</p> + +<p>“Now let him lie quietly. Oh, that’s an iron head not to burst from +such a blow! He may recover, for he is young. But he got it hard.”</p> + +<p>Then he turned to Olenka: “Let me wash your hands,—here is water. A +kind heart is in you that you were not afraid to put blood on yourself +for that man.”</p> + +<p>Speaking thus, he wiped her palms with a cloth; but she grew pale and +changed in the eyes.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski sprang to her again: “There is nothing here for you, my +lady. You have shown Christian charity to an enemy; return home.” And +he offered her his arm.</p> + +<p>She however, did not look at him, but turning to Krysh Domashevich, +said, “Pan Kryshtof, conduct me.”</p> + +<p>Both went out, and Volodyovski followed them. In the yard the nobles +began to shout at sight of her, and cry, “Vivat!” But she went forward, +pale, staggering, with compressed lips, and with fire in her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Long life to our lady! Long life to our colonel!” cried powerful +voices.</p> + +<p>An hour later Volodyovski returned at the head of the Lauda men toward +the villages. The sun had risen already; the early morning in the world +was gladsome, a real spring morning. The Lauda men clattered forward in +a formless crowd along the highway, discussing the events of the night +and praising Volodyovski to the skies; but he rode on thoughtful and +silent. Those eyes looking from behind the dishevelled hair did not +leave his mind, nor that slender form, imposing though bent by grief +and pain.</p> + +<p>“It is a marvel what a wonder she is,” said he to himself,—“a real +princess! I have saved her honor and surely her life, for though the +powder would not have blown up the treasure-room she would have died of +pure fright. She ought to be grateful. But who can understand a fair +head? She looked on me as on some serving-lad, I know not whether from +haughtiness or perplexity.”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p>These thoughts did not let Volodyovski sleep on the night following. +For a number of days he was thinking continually of Panna Aleksandra, +and saw that she had dropped deeply into his heart. Besides, the Lauda +nobles wished to bring about a marriage between them. It is true that +she had refused him without hesitation, but at that time she neither +knew him nor had seen him. Now it was something quite different. He had +wrested her in knightly fashion from the hands of a man of violence, +had exposed himself to bullets and sabres, had captured her like a +fortress. Whose is she, if not his? Can she refuse him anything, even +her hand? Well, shall he not try? Perhaps affection has begun in her +from gratitude, since it happens often in the world that the rescued +lady gives straightway her hand to her rescuer. If she has not +conceived an affection for him as yet, it behooves him all the more to +exert himself in the matter.</p> + +<p>“But if she remembers and loves the other man still?”</p> + +<p>“It cannot be,” repeated Volodyovski to himself; “if she had not +rejected him, he would not have taken her by force. She showed, it is +true, uncommon kindness to him; but it is a woman’s work to take pity +on the wounded, even if they are enemies. She is young, without +guardianship; it is time for her to marry. It is clear that she +has no vocation for the cloister, or she would have entered one +already. There has been time enough. Men will annoy such a comely lady +continually,—some for her fortune, others for her beauty, and still +others for her high blood. Oh, a defence the reality of which she can +see with her own eyes will be dear to her. It is time too for thee to +settle down, my dear Michael!” said Volodyovski to himself. “Thou art +young yet, but the years hurry swiftly. Thou wilt win not fortune in +service, but rather more wounds in thy skin, and to thy giddy life will +come an end.”</p> + +<p>Here through the memory of Pan Volodyovski passed a whole line of young +ladies after whom he had sighed in his life. Among them were some very +beautiful and of high blood, but one more charming and distinguished +there was not. Besides, the people of these parts exalted that family +and that lady, and from her eyes there looked such honesty that may God +give no worse wife to the best man.</p> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski felt that a prize was meeting him which might not come +a second time, and this the more since he had rendered the lady such +uncommon service. “Why delay?” said he to himself. “What better can I +wait for? I must try.”</p> + +<p>Pshaw! but war is at hand. His arm was well. It was a shame for a +knight to go courting when his country was stretching forth its hands +imploring deliverance. Pan Michael had the heart of an honest soldier; +and though he had served almost from boyhood, though he had taken part +in nearly all the wars of his time, he knew what he owed his country, +and he dreamed not of rest.</p> + +<p>Precisely because he had served his country not for gain, reward, or +praise, but from his soul, had he in that regard a clean conscience, he +felt his worth, and that gave him solace. “Others were frolicking, but +I was fighting,” thought he. “The Lord God will reward the little +soldier, and will help him this time.”</p> + +<p>But he saw that soon there would be no time for courting; there was +need to act promptly, and put everything on the hazard at once,—to +make a proposal on the spot, and either marry after short bans or eat a +watermelon.<a name="div2Ref_12" href="#div2_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> “I have eaten more than one; I’ll eat another this +time,” muttered Volodyovski, moving his yellow mustaches. “What harm +will it do?”</p> + +<p>But there was one side to this sudden decision which did not please +him. He put the question to himself if going with a visit so soon after +saving the lady he would not be like an importunate creditor who wishes +a debt to be paid with usury and as quickly as possible. Perhaps it +will not be in knightly fashion? Nonsense! for what can gratitude be +asked, if not for service? And if this haste does not please the heart +of the lady, if she looks askance at him, why, he can say to her, +“Gracious lady, I would have come courting one year, and gazed at you +as if I were near-sighted; but I am a soldier, and the trumpets are +sounding for battle!”</p> + +<p>“So I’ll go,” said Pan Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>But after a while another thought entered his head: if she says, “Go to +war, noble soldier, and after the war you will visit me during one year +and look at me like a nearsighted man, for I will not give in a moment +my soul and my body to one whom I know not!”</p> + +<p>Then all will be lost! That it would be lost Pan Volodyovski felt +perfectly; for leaving aside the lady whom in the interval some other +man might marry, Volodyovski was not sure of his own constancy. +Conscience declared that in him love was kindled like straw, but +quenched as quickly.</p> + +<p>Then all will be lost! And then wander on farther, thou soldier, a +vagrant from one camp to another, from battle to battle, with no roof +in the world, with no living soul of thy kindred! Search the four +corners of earth when the war will be over, not knowing a place for thy +heart save the barracks!</p> + +<p>At last Volodyovski knew not what to do. It had become in a certain +fashion narrow and stifling for him in the Patsuneli house; he took his +cap therefore to go out on the road and enjoy the May sun. On the +threshold he came upon one of Kmita’s men taken prisoner, who in the +division of spoils had come to old Pakosh. The Cossack was warming +himself in the sun and playing on a bandura.</p> + +<p>“What art thou doing here?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“I am playing,” answered the Cossack, raising his thin face,</p> + +<p>“Whence art thou?” asked Volodyovski, glad to have some interruption to +his thoughts.</p> + +<p>“From afar, from the Viahla.”</p> + +<p>“Why not run away like the rest of thy comrades? Oh, such kind of sons! +The nobles spared your lives in Lyubich so as to have laborers, and +your comrades all ran away as soon as the ropes were removed.”</p> + +<p>“I will not run away. I’ll die here like a dog.”</p> + +<p>“So it has pleased thee here?”</p> + +<p>“He runs away who feels better in the field; it is better for me here. +I had my leg shot through, and the old man’s daughter here dressed it, +and she spoke a kind word. Such a beauty I have not seen before with my +eyes. Why should I go away?”</p> + +<p>“Which one pleased thee so?”</p> + +<p>“Maryska.”</p> + +<p>“And so thou wilt remain?”</p> + +<p>“If I die, they will carry me out; if not, I will remain.”</p> + +<p>“Dost thou think to earn Pakosh’s daughter?”</p> + +<p>“I know not.”</p> + +<p>“He would give death to such a poor fellow before he would his +daughter.”</p> + +<p>“I have gold pieces buried in the woods,” said the Cossack,—“two +purses.”</p> + +<p>“From robbery?”</p> + +<p>“From robbery.”</p> + +<p>“Even if thou hadst a pot of gold, thou art a peasant and Pakosh is a +noble.”</p> + +<p>“I am an attendant boyar.”</p> + +<p>“If thou art an attendant boyar, thou art worse than a peasant, for +thou’rt a traitor. How couldst thou serve the enemy?”</p> + +<p>“I did not serve the enemy.”</p> + +<p>“And where did Pan Kmita find thee and thy comrades?”</p> + +<p>“On the road. I served with the full hetman; but the squadron went to +pieces, for we had nothing to eat. I had no reason to go home, for my +house was burned. Others went to rob on the road, and I went with +them.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski wondered greatly, for hitherto he had thought that Kmita +had attacked Olenka with forces obtained from the enemy.</p> + +<p>“So Pan Kmita did not get thee from Trubetskoi?”</p> + +<p>“Most of the other men had served before with Trubetskoi and Hovanski, +but they had run away too and taken to the road.”</p> + +<p>“Why did you go with Pan Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“Because he is a splendid ataman. We were told that when he called on +any one to go with him, thalers as it were flowed out of a bag, to that +man. That’s why we went. Well, God did not give us good luck!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski began to rack his head, and to think that they had +blackened Kmita too much; then he looked at the pale attendant boyar +and again racked his head.</p> + +<p>“And so thou art in love with her?”</p> + +<p>“Oi, so much!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski walked away, and while going he thought: “That is a +resolute man. He did not break his head; he fell in love and remained. +Such men are best. If he is really an attendant boyar, he is of the +same rank as the village nobles. When he digs up his gold pieces, +perhaps the old man will give him Maryska. And why? Because he did not +go to drumming with his fingers, but made up his mind that he would get +her. I’ll make up my mind too.”</p> + +<p>Thus meditating, Volodyovski walked along the road in the sunshine. +Sometimes he would stop, fix his eyes on the ground or raise them to +the sky, then again go farther, till all at once he saw a flock of wild +ducks flying through the air. He began to soothsay whether he should go +or not. It came out that he was to go.</p> + +<p>“I will go; it cannot be otherwise.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this he turned toward the house; but on the way he +went once more to the stable, before which his two servants were +playing dice.</p> + +<p>“Syruts, is Basior’s mane plaited?”</p> + +<p>“Plaited, Colonel!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski went into the stable. Basior neighed at him from the +manger; the knight approached the horse, patted him on the side, and +then began to count the braids on his neck. “Go—not go—go.” Again the +soothsaying came out favorably.</p> + +<p>“Saddle the horse and dress decently,” commanded Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>Then he went to the house quickly, and began to dress. He put on high +cavalry boots, yellow, with gilded spurs, and a new red uniform, +besides a rapier with steel scabbard, the hilt ornamented with gold; in +addition a half breastplate of bright steel covering only the upper +part of the breast near the neck. He had also a lynxskin cap with a +beautiful heron feather; but since that was worn only with a Polish +dress, he left it in the trunk, put on a Swedish helmet with a vizor, +and went out before the porch.</p> + +<p>“Where is your grace going?” asked old Pakosh, who was sitting on the +railing.</p> + +<p>“Where am I going? It is proper for me to go and inquire after the +health of your lady; if not, she might think me rude.”</p> + +<p>“From your grace there is a blaze like fire. Every bulfinch is a fool +in comparison! Unless the lady is without eyes, she will fall in love +in a minute.”</p> + +<p>Just then the two youngest daughters of Pakosh hurried up on their way +home from the forenoon milking, each with a pail of milk. When they saw +Volodyovski they stood as if fixed to the earth from wonder.</p> + +<p>“Is it a king or not?” asked Zonia.</p> + +<p>“Your grace is like one going to a wedding,” added Marysia.</p> + +<p>“Maybe there will be a wedding,” laughed old Pakosh, “for he is going +to see our lady.”</p> + +<p>Before the old man had stopped speaking the full pail dropped from the +hand of Marysia, and a stream of milk flowed along till it reached the +feet of Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Pay attention to what you are holding!” said Pakosh, angrily. “Giddy +thing!”</p> + +<p>Marysia said nothing; she raised the pail and walked off in silence.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski mounted his horse; his two servants followed him, riding +abreast, and the three moved on toward Vodokty. The day was beautiful. +The May sun played on the breastplate and helmet of the colonel, so +that when at a distance he was gleaming among the willows it seemed +that another sun was pushing along the road.</p> + +<p>“I am curious to know whether I shall come back with a ring or a +melon?” said the knight to himself.</p> + +<p>“What is your grace saying?” asked Syruts.</p> + +<p>“Thou art a blockhead!”</p> + +<p>Syruts reined in his horse, and Volodyovski continued: “The whole luck +of the matter is that it is not the first time!”</p> + +<p>This idea gave him uncommon comfort.</p> + +<p>When he arrived at Vodokty, Panna Aleksandra did not recognize him at +the first moment, and he had to repeat his name. She greeted him +heartily, but ceremoniously and with a certain constraint; but he +presented himself befittingly,—for though a soldier, not a courtier, +he had still lived long at great houses, had been among people. He +bowed to her therefore with great respect, and placing his hand on his +heart spoke as follows:—</p> + +<p>“I have come to inquire about the health of my lady benefactress, +whether some pain has not come from the fright. I ought to have done +this the day after, but I did not wish to give annoyance.”</p> + +<p>“It is very kind of you to keep me in mind after having saved me from +such straits. Sit down, for you are a welcome guest.”</p> + +<p>“My lady,” replied Volodyovski, “had I forgotten you I should not have +deserved the favor which God sent when he permitted me to give aid to +so worthy a person.”</p> + +<p>“No, I ought to thank first God, and then you.”</p> + +<p>“Then let us both thank; for I implore nothing else than this,—that he +grant me to defend you as often as need comes.”</p> + +<p>Pan Michael now moved his waxed mustaches, which curled up higher than +his nose, for he was satisfied with himself for having gone straight in +<i>medias res</i> and placed his sentiments, so to speak, on the table. She +sat embarrassed and silent, but beautiful as a spring day. A slight +flush came on her cheeks, and she covered her eyes with the long lashes +from which shadows fell on the pupils.</p> + +<p>“That confusion is a good sign,” thought Volodyovski; and coughing he +proceeded: “You know, I suppose, that I led the Lauda men after your +grandfather?”</p> + +<p>“I know,” answered Olenka. “My late grandfather was unable to make the +last campaign, but he was wonderfully glad when he heard whom the +voevoda of Vilna had appointed to the command, and said that he knew +you by reputation as a splendid soldier.”</p> + +<p>“Did he say that?”</p> + +<p>“I myself heard how he praised you to the skies, and how the Lauda men +did the same after the campaign.”</p> + +<p>“I am a simple soldier, not worthy of being exalted to the skies, nor +above other men. Still I rejoice that I am not quite a stranger, for +you do not think now that an unknown and uncertain guest has fallen +with the last rain from the clouds. Many people are wandering about who +call themselves persons of high family and say they are in office, and +God knows who they are; perhaps often they are not even nobles.”</p> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski gave the conversation this turn with the intent to +speak of himself and of what manner of man he was. Olenka answered at +once,—</p> + +<p>“No one would think that of you, for there are nobles of the same name +in Lithuania.”</p> + +<p>“But they have the seal Ossorya, while I am a Korchak Volodyovski and +we take our origin from Hungary from a certain noble, Atylla, who while +pursued by his enemies made a vow to the Most Holy Lady that he would +turn from Paganism to the Catholic faith if he should escape with +his life. He kept this vow after he had crossed three rivers in +safety,—the same rivers that we bear on our shield.”</p> + +<p>“Then your family is not from those parts?”</p> + +<p>“No, my lady, I am from the Ukraine of the Russian Volodyovskis, and to +this time I own villages there which the enemy have occupied; but I +serve in the army from youth, thinking less of land than of the harm +inflicted on our country by strangers. I have served from the earliest +years with the voevoda of Rus, our not sufficiently lamented Prince +Yeremi, with whom I have been in all his wars. I was at Mahnovka and at +Konstantinoff; I endured the hunger of Zbaraj, and after Berestechko +our gracious lord the king pressed my head. God is my witness that I +have not come here to praise myself, but desire that you might know, my +lady, that I am no hanger-on, whose work is in shouting and who spares +his own blood, but that my life has been passed in honorable service in +which some little fame was won, and my conscience stained in nothing, +so God be my aid! And to this worthy people can give testimony.”</p> + +<p>“Would that all were like you!” sighed Olenka.</p> + +<p>“Surely you have now in mind that man of violence who dared to raise +his godless hand against you.”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra fixed her eyes on the floor, and said not a word.</p> + +<p>“He has received pay for his deeds,” continued Volodyovski, “though it +is said that he will recover, still he will not escape punishment. All +honorable people condemn him, and even too much; for they say that he +had relations with the enemy so as to obtain reinforcements,—which is +untrue, for those men with whom he attacked you did not come from the +enemy, but were collected on the highway.”</p> + +<p>“How do you know that?” asked the lady, raising her blue eyes to +Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“From the Cossacks themselves. He is a wonderful man, that Kmita; for +when I accused him of treason before the duel he made no denial, though +I accused him unjustly. It is clear that there is a devilish pride in +him.”</p> + +<p>“And have you said everywhere that he is not a traitor?”</p> + +<p>“I have not, for I did not know that he was not a traitor; but now I +will say so. It is wrong to cast such a calumny even on our own +greatest enemy.”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra’s eyes rested a second time on the little knight with +an expression of sympathy and gratitude. “You are so honorable a man +that your equal is rare.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski fell to twitching his mustaches time after time with +contentment. “To business, Michael dear!” said he, mentally. Then aloud +to the lady: “I will say more: I blame Pan Kmita’s method, but I do not +wonder that he tried to obtain you, my lady, in whose service Venus +herself might act as a maid. Despair urged him on to an evil deed, and +will surely urge him a second time, should opportunity offer. How will +you remain alone, with such beauty and without protection? There are +more men like Kmita in the world; you will rouse more such ardors, and +will expose your honor to fresh perils. God sent me favor that I was +able to free you, but now the trumpets of Gradivus call me. Who will +watch over you? My gracious lady, they accuse soldiers of fickleness, +but unjustly. Neither is my heart of rock, and it cannot remain +indifferent to so many excellent charms.”</p> + +<p>Here Volodyovski fell on both knees before Olenka. “My gracious lady,” +said he, while kneeling, “I inherited the command after your +grandfather; let me inherit the granddaughter too. Give me guardianship +over you; let me enjoy the bliss of mutual affection. Take me as a +perpetual protection, and you will be at rest and free from care, for +though I go to the war my name itself will defend you.”</p> + +<p>The lady sprang from the chair and heard Pan Volodyovski with +astonishment; but he still spoke on:—</p> + +<p>“I am a poor soldier, but a noble, and a man of honor. I swear to you +that on my shield and on my conscience not the slightest stain can be +found. I am at fault perhaps in this haste; but understand too that I +am called by the country, which will not yield even for you. Will you +not comfort me,—will you not give me solace, will you not say a kind +word?”</p> + +<p>“You ask the impossible. As God lives, that cannot be!” answered +Olenka, with fright.</p> + +<p>“It depends on your will.”</p> + +<p>“For that reason I say no to you promptly.” Here she frowned. “Worthy +sir, I am indebted to you much, I do not deny it. Ask what you like, I +am ready to give everything except my hand.”</p> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski rose. “Then you do not wish me, my lady? Is that true?”</p> + +<p>“I cannot.”</p> + +<p>“And that is your last word?”</p> + +<p>“The last and irrevocable word.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps the haste only has displeased you. Give me some hope.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot, I cannot.”</p> + +<p>“Then there is no success for me here, as elsewhere there was none. My +worthy lady, offer not pay for services, I have not come for that; and +if I ask your hand it is not as pay, but from your own good-will. Were +you to say that you give it because you must, I would not take it. +Where there is no freedom there is no happiness. You have disdained me. +God grant that a worse do not meet you. I go from this house as I +entered, save this that I shall not come here again. I am accounted +here as nobody. Well, let it be so. Be happy even with that very Kmita, +for perhaps you are angry because I placed a sabre between you. If he +seems better to you, then in truth you are not for me.”</p> + +<p>Olenka seized her temples with her hands, and repeated a number of +times: “O God! O God! O God!”</p> + +<p>But that pain of hers made no impression on Volodyovski, who, when he +had bowed, went out angry and wrathful; then he mounted at once and +rode off.</p> + +<p>“A foot of mine shall never stand there again!” said he, aloud.</p> + +<p>His attendant Syruts riding behind pushed up at once. “What does your +grace say?”</p> + +<p>“Blockhead!” answered Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“You told me that when we were coming hither.”</p> + +<p>Silence followed; then Volodyovski began to mutter again: “Ah, I was +entertained there with ingratitude, paid for affection with contempt. +It will come to me surely to serve in the cavalry till death; that is +fated. Such a devil of a lot fell to me,—every move a refusal! There +is no justice on earth. What did she find against me?”</p> + +<p>Here Pan Michael frowned, and began to work mightily with his brain; +all at once he slapped his leg with his hand. “I know now,” shouted he; +“she loves that fellow yet,—it cannot be otherwise.”</p> + +<p>But this idea did not clear his face. “So much the worse for me,” +thought he, after a while; “for if she loves him yet, she will not stop +loving him. He has already done his worst. He may go to war, win glory, +repair his reputation. And it is not right to hinder him; he should +rather be aided, for that is a service to the country. He is a good +soldier, ’tis true. But how did he fascinate her so? Who can tell? Some +have such fortune that if one of them looks on a woman she is ready to +follow him into fire. If a man only knew how this is done or could get +some captive spirit, perhaps he might effect something. Merit has no +weight with a fair head. Pan Zagloba said wisely that a fox and a woman +are the most treacherous creatures alive. But I grieve that all is +lost. Oh, she is a terribly beautiful woman, and honorable and +virtuous, as they say; ambitious as the devil,—that’s evident. Who +knows that she will marry him though she loves him, for he has offended +and disappointed her sorely. He might have won her in peace, but he +chose to be lawless. She is willing to resign everything,—marriage and +children. It is grievous for me, but maybe it is worse for her, poor +thing!”</p> + +<p>Here Volodyovski fell into a fit of tenderness over the fate of Olenka, +and began to rack his brain and smack his lips. At last he said,—</p> + +<p>“May God aid her! I have no ill feeling against her! It is not the +first refusal for me, but for her it is the first suffering. The poor +woman can scarcely recover now from sorrows. I have put out her eyes +with this Kmita, and besides have given her gall to drink. It was not +right to do that, and I must repair the wrong. I wish bullets had +struck me, for I have acted rudely. I will write a letter asking +forgiveness, and then help her in what way I can.”</p> + +<p>Further thoughts concerning Pan Kmita were interrupted by the attendant +Syruts, who riding forward again said: “Pardon, but over there on the +hill is Pan Kharlamp riding with some one else.”</p> + +<p>“Where?”</p> + +<p>“Over there!”</p> + +<p>“It is true that two horsemen are visible, but Pan Kharlamp remained +with the prince voevoda of Vilna. How dost thou know him so far away?”</p> + +<p>“By his cream-colored horse. The whole array knows that horse +anywhere.”</p> + +<p>“As true as I live, there is a cream-colored horse in view, but it may +be some other man’s horse.”</p> + +<p>“When I recognize the gait, it is surely Pan Kharlamp.”</p> + +<p>They spurred on; the other horsemen did the same, and soon Volodyovski +saw that Pan Kharlamp was in fact approaching.</p> + +<p>Pan Kharlamp was the lieutenant of a light-horse squadron in the +Lithuanian quota. Pan Volodyovski’s acquaintance of long standing, an +old soldier and a good one. Once he and the little knight had +quarrelled fiercely, but afterward while serving together and +campaigning they acquired a love for each other. Volodyovski sprang +forward quickly, and opening his arms cried,—</p> + +<p>“How do you prosper, O Great-nose? Whence do you come?”</p> + +<p>The officer—who in truth deserved the nickname of Great-nose, for he +had a mighty nose—fell into the embraces of the colonel, and greeted +him joyously; then after he had recovered his breath, he said, “I have +come to you with a commission and money.”</p> + +<p>“But from whom?”</p> + +<p>“From the prince voevoda of Vilna, our hetman. He sends you a +commission to begin a levy at once, and another commission to Pan +Kmita, who must be in this neighborhood.”</p> + +<p>“To Pan Kmita also? How shall we both make a levy in one neighborhood?”</p> + +<p>“He is to go to Troki, and you to remain in these parts.”</p> + +<p>“How did you know where to look for me?”</p> + +<p>“The hetman himself inquired carefully till the people from this place +who have remained near him told where to find you. I came with sure +information. You are in great and continual favor there. I have heard +the prince himself say that he had not hoped to inherit anything from +Prince Yeremi, but still he did inherit the greatest of knights.”</p> + +<p>“May God grant him to inherit the military success of Yeremi! It is a +great honor for me to conduct a levy. I will set about it at once. +There is no lack of warlike people here, if there was only something +with which to give them an outfit. Have you brought much money?”</p> + +<p>“You will count it at Patsuneli.”</p> + +<p>“So you have been there already? But be careful; for there are shapely +girls in Patsuneli, like poppies in a garden.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, that is why stopping there pleased you! But wait, I have a private +letter from the hetman to you.”</p> + +<p>“Then give it.”</p> + +<p>Kharlamp drew forth a letter with the small seal of the Radzivills. +Volodyovski opened it and began to read:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p><span class="sc">Worthy Colonel Pan Volodyovski</span>,—Knowing your sincere wish to serve the +country, I send you a commission to make a levy, and not as is usually +done, but with great haste, for <i>periculum in mora</i> (there is danger in +delay). If you wish to give us joy, then let the squadron be mustered +and ready for the campaign by the end of July, or the middle of August +at the latest. We are anxious to know how you can find good horses, +especially since we send money sparingly, for more we could not hammer +from the under-treasurer, who after his old fashion is unfriendly to +us. Give one half of this money to Pan Kmita, for whom Pan Kharlamp has +also a commission. We hope that he will serve us zealously. But tidings +have come to our ears of his violence in Upita, therefore it is +better for you to take the letter directed to him from Kharlamp, and +discover yourself whether to deliver it to him or not. Should you +consider the accusations against him too great, and creating infamy, +then do not give it, for we are afraid lest our enemies—such as the +under-treasurer, and the voevoda of Vityebsk—might raise outcries +against us because we commit such functions to unworthy persons. But if +you give the letter after having found that there is nothing important, +let Pan Kmita endeavor to wipe away his faults by the greatest exertion +in service, and in no case to appear in the courts, for he belongs to +our hetman’s jurisdiction,—we and no one else will judge him. Pay +attention to our charge at once, in view of the confidence which we +have in your judgment and faithful service.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:50%"><span class="sc">Yanush Radzivill</span>,</p> +<p class="right"><i>Prince in Birji and Dubinki, Voevoda of Vilna</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p>“The hetman is terribly anxious about horses for you,” said Kharlamp, +when the little knight had finished reading.</p> + +<p>“It will surely be difficult in the matter of horses,” answered +Volodyovski. “A great number of the small nobility here will rally at +the first summons, but they have only wretched little Jmud ponies, not +very capable of service. For a good campaign it would be needful to +give them all fresh horses.”</p> + +<p>“Those are good horses; I know them of old, wonderfully enduring and +active.”</p> + +<p>“Bah!” responded Volodyovski, “but small, and the men here are large. +If they should form in line on such horses, you would think them a +squadron mounted on dogs. There is where the rub is. I will work with +zeal, for I am in haste myself. Leave Kmita’s commission with me, as +the hetman commands; I will give it to him. It has come just in +season.”</p> + +<p>“But why?”</p> + +<p>“For he has acted here in Tartar fashion and taken a lady captive. +There are as many lawsuits and questions hanging over him as he has +hairs on his head. It is not a week since I had a sabre-duel with him.”</p> + +<p>“Ai!” cried Kharlamp. “If you had a sabre-duel with him, he is in bed +at this moment.”</p> + +<p>“But he is better already. In a week or two he will be well. What is to +be heard <i>de publicis</i>?”</p> + +<p>“Evil in the old fashion. The under-treasurer, Pan Gosyevski, the full +hetman, is ever quarrelling with the prince; and as the hetmans do not +agree, affairs do not move in harmony. Still we have improved a little, +and I think that if we had concord we might manage the enemy. God will +permit us yet to ride on their necks to their own land. Gosyevski is to +blame for all.”</p> + +<p>“But others say it is specially the grand hetman, Prince Radzivill.”</p> + +<p>“They are traitors. The voevoda of Vityebsk talks that way, for he and +the under-treasurer are cronies this long time.”</p> + +<p>“The voevoda of Vityebsk is a worthy citizen.”</p> + +<p>“Are you on the side of Sapyeha against the Radzivills?”</p> + +<p>“I am on the side of the country, on whose side all should be. In this +is the evil,—that even soldiers are divided into parties, instead of +fighting. That Sapyeha is a worthy citizen, I would say in the presence +of the prince himself, even though I serve under him.”</p> + +<p>“Good people have striven to bring about harmony, but with no result,” +said Kharlamp. “There is a terrible movement of messengers from the +king to our prince. They say that something is hatching. We expected +with the visit of the king a call of the general militia; it has not +come! They say that it may be necessary in some places.”</p> + +<p>“In the Ukraine, for instance.”</p> + +<p>“I know. But once Lieutenant Brohvich told what he heard with his own +ears. Tyzenhauz came from the king to our hetman, and when they had +shut themselves in they talked a long time about something which +Brohvich could not overhear; but when they came out, with his own ears +he heard the hetman say, ‘From this a new war may come.’ We racked our +heads greatly to find what this could mean.”</p> + +<p>“Surely he was mistaken. With whom could there be a new war? The +emperor is more friendly to us now than to our enemies, since it is +proper for him to take the side of a civilized people. With the Swedes +the truce is not yet at an end, and will not be for six years; the +Tartars are helping us in the Ukraine, which they would not do without +the will of Turkey.”</p> + +<p>“Well, we could not get at anything.”</p> + +<p>“For there was nothing. But, praise God, I have fresh work; I began to +yearn for war.”</p> + +<p>“Do you wish to carry the commission yourself to Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“I do, because, as I have told you, the hetman has so ordered. It is +proper for me to visit Kmita now according to knightly custom, and +having the commission I shall have a still better chance to talk with +him. Whether I give the commission is another thing; I think that I +shall, for it is left to my discretion.”</p> + +<p>“That suits me; I am in such haste for the road. I have a third +commission to Pan Stankyevich. Next I am commanded to go to Kyedani, to +remove the cannon which are there; then to inspect Birji and see if +everything is ready for defence.”</p> + +<p>“And to Birji too?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“That is a wonder to me. The enemy have won no new victories, and it is +far for them to go to Birji on the boundary of Courland. And since, as +I see, new squadrons are being formed, there will be men to defend even +those parts which have fallen under the power of the enemy. The +Courlanders do not think of war with us. They are good soldiers, but +few; and Radzivill might put the breath out of them with one hand.”</p> + +<p>“I wonder too,” answered Kharlamp, “all the more that haste is enjoined +on me, and instructions given that if I find anything out of order I am +to inform quickly Prince Boguslav Radzivill, who is to send Peterson +the engineer.”</p> + +<p>“What can this mean? I hope ’tis no question of domestic war. May God +preserve us from that! But when Prince Boguslav touches an affair the +devil will come of the amusement.”</p> + +<p>“Say nothing against him; he is a valiant man.”</p> + +<p>“I say nothing against his valor, but there is more of the German or +Frenchman in him than the Pole. And of the Commonwealth he never +thinks; his only thought is how to raise the house of Radzivill to the +highest point and lower all others. He is the man who rouses pride in +the voevoda of Vilna, our hetman, who of himself has no lack of it; and +those quarrels with Sapyeha and Gosyevski are the tree and the fruit of +Prince Boguslav’s planting.”</p> + +<p>“I see that you are a great statesman. You should marry, Michael dear, +as soon as possible, so that such wisdom is not lost.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski looked very attentively at his comrade. “Marry,—why is +that?”</p> + +<p>“Maybe you are going courting, for I see that you are dressed as on +parade.”</p> + +<p>“Give us peace!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, own up!”</p> + +<p>“Let each man eat his own melons, not inquire about those of other men. +You too have eaten more than one. It is just the time now to think of +marriage when we have a levy on our hands!”</p> + +<p>“Will you be ready in July?”</p> + +<p>“At the end of July, even if I have to dig horses out of the ground. +Thank God that this task has come, or melancholy would have devoured +me.”</p> + +<p>So tidings from the hetman and the prospect of heavy work gave great +consolation to Pan Michael; and before he reached Patsuneli, he had +scarcely a thought of the rebuff which had met him an hour before. News +of the commission flew quickly through the whole village. The nobles +came straightway to inquire if the news was true; and when Volodyovski +confirmed it, his words made a great impression. The readiness was +universal, though some were troubled because they would have to march +at the end of July before harvest. Volodyovski sent messengers to other +neighborhoods,—to Upita, and to the most considerable noble houses. In +the evening a number of Butryms, Stakyans, and Domasheviches came.</p> + +<p>They began to incite one another, show greater readiness, threaten the +enemy, and promise victory to themselves. The Butryms alone were +silent; but that was not taken ill, for it was known that they would +rise as one man. Next day it was as noisy in all the villages as in +bee-hives. People talked no more of Pan Kmita and Panna Aleksandra, but +of the future campaign. Volodyovski also forgave Olenka sincerely the +refusal, comforting himself meanwhile in his heart that that was not +the last one, as the love was not the last. At the same time he +pondered somewhat on what he had to do with the letter to Kmita.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p>A time of serious labor began now for Volodyovski,—of letter-writing +and journeying. The week following he transferred his head-quarters to +Upita, where he began the levy. The nobles flocked to him willingly, +both great and small, for he had a wide reputation. But especially came +the Lauda men, for whom horses had to be provided. Volodyovski hurried +around as if in boiling water; but since he was active and spared no +pains, everything went on successfully enough. Meanwhile he visited in +Lyubich Pan Kmita, who had advanced considerably toward health; and +though he had not risen yet from his bed, it was known that he would +recover.</p> + +<p>Kmita recognized the knight at once, and turned a little pale at sight +of him. Even his hand moved involuntarily toward the sabre above his +head; but he checked himself when he saw a smile on the face of his +guest, put forth his thin hand, and said,—</p> + +<p>“I thank you for the visit. This is courtesy worthy of such a +cavalier.”</p> + +<p>“I have come to inquire if you cherish ill feeling against me,” said +Pan Michael.</p> + +<p>“I have no ill feeling; for no common man overcame me, but a swordsman +of the first degree. Hardly have I escaped.”</p> + +<p>“And how is your health?”</p> + +<p>“It is surely a wonder to you that I have come out alive. I confess +myself that it is no small exploit.” Here Kmita laughed. “Well, the +affair is not lost. You may finish me at your pleasure.”</p> + +<p>“I have not come with such intent—”</p> + +<p>“You must be the devil,” interrupted Kmita, “or must have a captive +spirit. God knows I am far from self-praise at this moment, for I am +returning from the other world; but before meeting you I thought, ‘If I +am not the best sabre in the Commonwealth, I am the second.’ But I +could not have warded off the first blow if you had not wished it. Tell +me where did you learn so much?”</p> + +<p>“I had some little innate capacity, and my father taught me from +boyhood. He said many a time, ‘God has given you insignificant stature; +if men do not fear you, they will laugh at you.’ Later on, while +serving with the voevoda of Rus, I finished my course. With him were a +few men who could stand boldly before me.”</p> + +<p>“But could there be such?”</p> + +<p>“There could, for there were. There was Pan Podbipienta, a Lithuanian +of high birth, who fell at Zbaraj,—the Lord light his soul!—a man of +such strength that there were no means to stop him, for he could cut +through opponent and weapons. Then there was Skshetuski, my heartfelt +friend and confidant, of whom you must have heard.”</p> + +<p>“Of course! He came out of Zbaraj, and burst through the Cossacks. So +you are of such a brace, and a man of Zbaraj! With the forehead! with +the forehead! Wait a moment; I have heard of you at the castle of +Radzivill, voevoda of Vilna. Your name is Michael?”</p> + +<p>“Exactly; I am Michael. My first name is Yerzi; but since Saint Michael +leads the whole host of heaven, and has gamed so many victories over +the banners of hell, I prefer him as a patron.”</p> + +<p>“It is sure that Yerzi is not equal to Michael. Then you are that same +Volodyovski of whom it is said that he cut up Bogun?”</p> + +<p>“I am he.”</p> + +<p>“Well, to receive a slash on the head from such a man is not a +misfortune. If God would grant us to be friends! You called me a +traitor, ’tis true, but you were mistaken.” When he said this, Kmita +frowned as if his wound caused him pain again.</p> + +<p>“I confess my mistake,” answered Volodyovski. “I do not learn that from +you; your men told me. And know that if I had not learned it I should +not have come here.”</p> + +<p>“Tongues have cut me and cut me,” said Kmita, with bitterness. “Let +come what may, I confess more than one mark is against me; but in this +neighborhood men have received me ungraciously.”</p> + +<p>“You injured yourself most by burning Volmontovichi, and by the last +seizure.”</p> + +<p>“Now they are crushing me with lawsuits. I am summoned to courts. They +will not give a sick man time to recover. I burned Volmontovichi, ’tis +true, and cut down some people; but let God judge me if I did that from +caprice. The same night, before the burning I made a vow to live with +all men in peace, to attract to myself these homespuns around here, to +satisfy the basswood barks in Upita, for there I really played the +tyrant. I returned to my house, and what did I find? I found my +comrades cut up like cattle, lying at the wall. When I learned that the +Butryms had done this, the devil entered me, and I took stern +vengeance. Would you believe why they were cut up, why they were +slaughtered? I learned myself later from one of the Butryms, whom I +found in the woods. Behold, it was for this,—that they wanted to dance +with the women of the nobles in a public house! Who would not have +taken vengeance?”</p> + +<p>“My worthy sir,” answered Volodyovski, “it is true that they acted +severely with your comrades; but was it the nobles who killed them? No; +their previous reputation killed them,—that which they brought with +them; for if orderly soldiers had wished to dance, surely they would +not have slain them.”</p> + +<p>“Poor fellows!” said Kmita, following his own thoughts, “while I was +lying here now in a fever, they came in every evening through that door +from the room outside. I saw them around this bed as if living, blue, +hacked up, and groaning continually, ‘Yendrus! give money to have a +Mass for our souls; we are in torments!’ Then I tell you the hair stood +on my head, for the smell of sulphur from them was in the room. I gave +money for a Mass. Oh, may it help them!”</p> + +<p>A moment of silence then followed.</p> + +<p>“As to the carrying off,” continued Kmita, “no one could have told you +about that; for in truth she saved my life when the nobles were hunting +me, but afterward she ordered me to depart and not show myself before +her eyes. What was there left for me after that?”</p> + +<p>“Still it was a Tartar method.”</p> + +<p>“You know not what love is, and to what despair it may bring a man when +he loses that which he prizes most dearly.”</p> + +<p>“I know not what love is?” cried Volodyovski, with excitement. “From +the time that I began to carry a sabre I was in love. It is true that +the object changed, for I was never rewarded with a return. Were it not +for that, there could have been no Troilus more faithful than I.”</p> + +<p>“What kind of love can that be when the object is changing?” said +Kmita.</p> + +<p>“I will tell you something else which I saw with my own eyes. In the +first period of the Hmelnitski affair, Bogun, the same who next to +Hmelnitski has now the highest respect of the Cossacks, carried off +Princess Kurtsevich, a maiden loved by Skshetuski above all things. +That was a love! The whole army was weeping in view of Skshetuski’s +despair; for his beard at some years beyond twenty grew gray, and can +you guess what he did?”</p> + +<p>“I have no means of knowing.”</p> + +<p>“Well, because the country was in need, in humiliation, because the +terrible Hmelnitski was triumphing, he did not go to seek the girl. He +offered his suffering to God, and fought under Prince Yeremi in all the +battles, including Zbaraj, and covered himself with such glory that +to-day all repeat his name with respect. Compare his action with your +own and see the difference.”</p> + +<p>Kmita was silent, gnawed his mustache. Volodyovski continued,—</p> + +<p>“Then God rewarded and gave him the maiden. They married immediately +after Zbaraj, and now have three children, though he has not ceased to +serve. But you by making disturbance have given aid to the enemy and +almost lost your own life, not to mention that a few days ago you might +have lost the lady forever.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked Kmita, sitting up in the bed; “what happened to +her?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing; but there was found a man who asked for her hand and wanted +to marry her.”</p> + +<p>Kmita grew very pale; his hollow eyes began to shoot flames. He wanted +to rise, even struggled for a moment; then cried, “Who was this devil’s +son? By the living God, tell me!”</p> + +<p>“I,” said Pan Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“You,—you?” asked Kmita, with astonishment, “Is it possible?”</p> + +<p>“It is.”</p> + +<p>“Traitor! that will not go with you! But she—what—tell me everything. +Did she accept?”</p> + +<p>“She refused me on the spot, without thinking.”</p> + +<p>A moment of silence followed. Kmita breathed heavily, and fixed his +eyes on Volodyovski, who said,—</p> + +<p>“Why call me traitor? Am I your brother or your best man? Have I broken +faith with you? I conquered you in battle, and could have done what I +liked.”</p> + +<p>“In old fashion one of us would seal this with his blood,—if not with +a sabre, with a gun. I would shoot you; then let the devils take me.”</p> + +<p>“Then you would have shot me, for if she had not refused I should not +have accepted a second duel. What had I to fight for? Do you know why +she refused me?”</p> + +<p>“Why?” repeated Kmita, like an echo.</p> + +<p>“Because she loves you.”</p> + +<p>That was more than the exhausted strength of the sick man could bear. +His head fell on the pillows, a copious sweat came out on his forehead, +and he lay there in silence.</p> + +<p>“I am terribly weak,” said he, after a while. “How do you know that she +loves me?”</p> + +<p>“Because I have eyes and see, because I have reason and observe; just +after I had received the refusal my head became clear. To begin with, +when after the duel I came to tell her that she was free, for I had +slain you, she was dazed, and instead of showing gratitude she ignored +me entirely; second, when the Domasheviches were bringing you in, she +carried your head like a mother; and third, because when I visited her, +she received me as if some one were giving me a slap in the face. If +these explanations are not sufficient, it is because your reason is +shaken and your mind impaired.”</p> + +<p>“If that is true,” said Kmita, with a feeble voice, “many plasters are +put on my wounds; better balsam than your words there could not be.”</p> + +<p>“But a traitor applies this balsam.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, forgive me! Such happiness cannot find place in my mind, that she +has a wish for me still.”</p> + +<p>“I said that she loves you; I did not say that she has a wish for +you,—that is altogether different.”</p> + +<p>“If she has no wish for me, I will break my head against the wall; I +cannot help it.”</p> + +<p>“You might if you had a sincere desire of effacing your faults. There +is war now; you may go, you may render important services to our dear +country, you may win glory with bravery, and mend your reputation. Who +is without fault? Who has no sin on his conscience? Every one has. But +the road to penance and correction is open to all. You sinned through +violence, then avoid it henceforth; you offended against the country by +raising disturbance in time of war, save the country now; you committed +wrongs against men, make reparation for them. This is a better and a +surer way for you than breaking your head.”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked attentively at Volodyovski; then said, “You speak like a +sincere friend of mine.”</p> + +<p>“I am not your friend, but in truth I am not your enemy; and I am sorry +for that lady, though she refused me and I said a sharp word to her in +parting. I shall not hang myself by reason of the refusal; it is not +the first for me, and I am not accustomed to treasure up offences. If I +persuade you to the right road, that will be to the country a service +on my part, for you are a good and experienced soldier.”</p> + +<p>“Is there time for me to return to this road? How many summonses are +waiting for me? I shall have to go from the bed to the court—unless I +flee hence, and I do not wish to do that. How many summonses, and every +case a sure sentence of condemnation!”</p> + +<p>“Look, here is a remedy!” said Volodyovski, taking out the commission.</p> + +<p>“A commission!” cried Kmita; “for whom?”</p> + +<p>“For you! You need not appear at any court, for you are in the hetman’s +jurisdiction. Hear what the prince voevoda writes me.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski read to Kmita the private letter of Radzivill, drew breath, +moved his mustaches, and said, “Here, as you see, it depends on me +either to give you the commission or to retain it.”</p> + +<p>Uncertainty, alarm, and hope were reflected on Kmita’s face. “What will +you do?” asked he, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>“I will give the commission,” said Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>Kmita said nothing at first; he dropped his head on the pillow, and +looked some time at the ceiling. Suddenly his eyes began to grow moist; +and tears, unknown guests in those eyes, were hanging on the lashes.</p> + +<p>“May I be torn with horses,” said he at last, “may I be pulled out of +my skin, if I have seen a more honorable man! If through me you have +received a refusal,—if Olenka, as you say, loves me,—another would +have taken vengeance all the more, would have pushed me down deeper; +but you give your hand and draw me forth as it were from the grave.”</p> + +<p>“Because I will not sacrifice to personal interests the country, to +which you may render notable service. But I say that if you had +obtained those Cossacks from Trubetskoi or Hovanski, I should have kept +the commission. It is your whole fortune that you did not do that.”</p> + +<p>“It is for others to take an example from you,” said Kmita. “Give me +your hand. God permit me to repay you with some good, for you have +bound me in life and in death.”</p> + +<p>“Well, we will speak of that later. Now listen! There is no need of +appearing before any court, but go to work. If you will render service +to the Commonwealth, these nobles will forgive you, for they are very +sensitive to the honor of the State. You may blot out your offences +yet, win reputation, walk in glory as in sunlight, and I know of one +lady who will give you a lifelong reward.”</p> + +<p>“Hei!” cried Kmita, in ecstasy, “why should I rot here in bed when the +enemy is trampling the country? Hei! is there any one there? Come, boy, +give me my boots; come hither! May the thunderbolts strike me in this +bed if I stay here longer in uselessness!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski smiled with satisfaction and said, “Your spirit is stronger +than your body, for the body is not able to serve you yet.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this he began to take farewell; but Kmita would not +let him go, thanked him, and wished to treat him with wine. In fact, it +was well toward evening when the little knight left Lyubich and +directed his course to Vodokty.</p> + +<p>“I will reward her in the best fashion for her sharp word,” said he to +himself, “when I tell her that Kmita will rise, not only from his bed, +but from evil fame. He is not ruined yet, only very passionate. I shall +comfort her wonderfully too, and I think she will meet me better this +time than when I offered myself to her.”</p> + +<p>Here our honest Pan Michael sighed and muttered: “Could it be known +that there is one in the world predestined to me?”</p> + +<p>In the midst of such meditations he came to Vodokty. The tow-headed man +of Jmud ran out to the gate, but made no hurry to open; he only said,—</p> + +<p>“The heiress is not at home.”</p> + +<p>“Has she gone away?”</p> + +<p>“She has gone away.”</p> + +<p>“Whither?”</p> + +<p>“Who knows?”</p> + +<p>“When will she come back?”</p> + +<p>“Who knows?”</p> + +<p>“Speak in human fashion. Did she not say when she would return?”</p> + +<p>“Maybe she will not return at all, for she went away with wagons and +bags. From that I think she has gone far for a long time.”</p> + +<p>“Is that true?” muttered Pan Michael. “See what I have done!”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p>Usually when the warm rays of the sun begin to break through the wintry +veil of clouds, and when the first buds appear on the trees and the +green fleece spreads over the damp fields, a better hope enters the +hearts of men. But the spring of 1655 brought not the usual comfort to +the afflicted inhabitants of the Commonwealth. The entire eastern +boundary, from the north to the wilderness on the south, was bound as +it were by a border of flame; and the spring torrents could not quench +the conflagration, but that border grew wider continually and occupied +broader regions. And besides there appeared in the sky signs of evil +omen, announcing still greater defeats and misfortunes. Time after time +from the clouds which swept over the heavens were formed as it were +lofty towers like the flanks of fortresses, which afterward rolled down +with a crash. Thunderbolts struck the earth while it was still covered +with snow, pine-woods became yellow, and the limbs of trees crossed one +another in strange sickly figures; wild beasts and birds fell down and +died from unknown diseases. Finally, strange spots were seen on the +sun, having the form of a hand holding an apple, of a heart pierced +through, and a cross. The minds of men were disturbed more and more; +monks were lost in calculating what these signs might mean. A wonderful +kind of disquiet seized all hearts.</p> + +<p>New and sudden wars were foretold, God knows from what source. An +ominous report began to circulate from mouth to mouth in villages and +towns that a tempest was coming from the side of the Swedes. Apparently +nothing seemed to confirm this report, for the truce concluded with +Sweden had six years yet to run; and still people spoke of the danger +of war, even at the Diet, which Yan Kazimir the king had called on May +19 in Warsaw.</p> + +<p>Anxious eyes were turned more and more to Great Poland, on which the +storm would come first. Leshchynski, the voevoda of Lenchytsk, and +Narushevich, chief secretary of Lithuania, went on an embassy to +Sweden; but their departure, instead of quieting the alarmed, increased +still more the disquiet.</p> + +<p>“That embassy smells of war,” wrote Yanush Radzivill.</p> + +<p>“If a storm were not threatening from that direction, why were they +sent?” asked others.</p> + +<p>Kanazyl, the first ambassador, had barely returned from Stockholm; but +it was to be seen clearly that he had done nothing, since immediately +after him important senators were sent.</p> + +<p>However people of more judgment did not believe yet in the possibility +of war. “The Commonwealth,” said they, “has given no cause, and the +truce endures in full validity. How could oaths be broken, the most +sacred agreements violated, and a harmless neighbor attacked in robber +fashion? Besides, Sweden remembers the wounds inflicted by the Polish +sabre at Kirchholm and Putsk; and Gustavus Adolphus, who in western +Europe found not his equal, yielded a number of times to Pan +Konyetspolski. The Swedes will not expose such great military glory won +in the world to uncertain hazard before an opponent against whom they +have never been able to stand in the field. It is true that the +Commonwealth is exhausted and weakened by war; but Prussia and Great +Poland, which in the last wars did not suffer at all, will of +themselves be able to drive that hungry people beyond the sea to their +barren rocks. There will be no war.”</p> + +<p>To this alarmists answered again that even before the Diet at Warsaw +counsel was taken by advice of the king at the provincial diet in +Grodno concerning the defence of the boundary of Great Poland, and +taxes and soldiers assigned, which would not have been done unless +danger was near.</p> + +<p>And so minds were wavering between fear and hope; a grievous +uncertainty weighed down the spirits of people, when suddenly an end +was put to it by the proclamation of Boguslav Leshchynski, commander in +Great Poland, summoning the general militia of the provinces of Poznan +and Kalisk for the defence of the boundaries against the impending +Swedish storm.</p> + +<p>Every doubt vanished. The shout, “War!” was heard throughout Great +Poland and all the lands of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>That was not only a war, but a new war. Hmelnitski, reinforced by +Buturlin, was raging in the south and the east; Hovanski and Trubetskoi +on the north and east; the Swede was approaching from the west! The +fiery border had become a fiery wheel.</p> + +<p>The country was like a besieged camp; and in the camp evil was +happening. One traitor, Radzeyovski, had fled from it, and was in the +tent of the invaders. He was guiding them to ready spoil, he was +pointing out the weak sides; it was his work to tempt the garrisons. +And in addition there was no lack of ill will and envy,—no lack of +magnates quarrelling among themselves or angry with the king by reason +of offices refused, and ready at any moment to sacrifice the cause of +the nation to their own private profit; there was no lack of dissidents +wishing to celebrate their own triumph even on the grave of the +fatherland; and a still greater number was there of the disorderly, the +heedless, the slothful, and of those who were in love with themselves, +their own ease and well being.</p> + +<p>Still Great Poland, a country wealthy and hitherto untouched by war, +did not spare at least money for defence. Towns and villages of nobles +furnished as many infantry as were assigned to them; and before the +nobles moved in their own persons to the camp many-colored regiments of +land infantry had moved thither under the leadership of captains +appointed by the provincial diet from among men experienced in the art +of war.</p> + +<p>Tan Stanislav Dembinski led the land troops of Poznan, Pan Vladyslav +Vlostovski those of Kostsian, and Pan Golts, a famous soldier and +engineer, those of Valets. The peasants of Kalisk were commanded by Pan +Stanislav Skshetuski, from a stock of valiant warriors, a cousin of the +famous Yan from Zbaraj. Pan Katsper Jyhlinski led the millers and +bailiffs of Konin. From Pyzdri marched Pan Stanislav Yarachevski, who +had spent his youth in foreign wars; from Ktsyna, Pan Pyotr +Skorashevski, and from Naklo, Pan Kosletski. But in military experience +no one was equal to Pan Vladyslav Skorashevski, whose voice was +listened to even by the commander in Great Poland himself and the +voevodas.</p> + +<p>In three places—at Pila, Uistsie, Vyelunie—had the captains fixed the +lines on the Notets, waiting for the arrival of the nobles summoned to +the general militia. The infantry dug trenches from morning till +evening, looking continually toward the rear to see if the wished for +cavalry were coming.</p> + +<p>The first dignitary who came was Pan Andrei Grudzinski, voevoda of +Kalisk. He lodged in the house of the mayor, with a numerous retinue of +servants arrayed in white and blue colors. He expected that the nobles +of Kalisk would gather round him straightway; but when no one appeared +he sent for Captain Stanislav Skshetuski, who was occupied in digging +trenches at the river.</p> + +<p>“Where are my men?” asked he, after the first greetings of the captain, +whom he had known from childhood.</p> + +<p>“What men?” asked Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“The general militia of Kalisk.”</p> + +<p>A smile of pain mingled with contempt appeared on the swarthy face of +the soldier.</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty voevoda,” said he, “this is the time for shearing +sheep, and in Dantzig they will not pay for badly washed wool. Every +noble is now at a pond washing or weighing, thinking correctly that the +Swedes will not run away.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked the troubled voevoda; “is there no one here yet?”</p> + +<p>“Not a living soul, except the land infantry. And, besides, the harvest +is near. A good manager will not leave home at such a season.”</p> + +<p>“What do you tell me?”</p> + +<p>“But the Swedes will not run away, they will only come nearer,” +repeated the captain.</p> + +<p>The pock-pitted face of the voevoda grew suddenly purple. “What are the +Swedes to me? But this will be a shame for me in the presence of the +other lords if I am here alone like a finger.”</p> + +<p>Pan Stanislav laughed again: “Your grace will permit me to remark,” +said he, “that the Swedes are the main thing here, and shame afterward. +Besides, there will be no shame; for not only the nobles of Kalisk, but +all other nobles, are absent.”</p> + +<p>“They have run mad!” exclaimed Grudzinski.</p> + +<p>“No; but they are sure of this,—if they will not go to the Swedes, the +Swedes will not fail to come to them.”</p> + +<p>“Wait!” said the voevoda. And clapping his hands for an attendant, he +gave command to bring ink, pen, and paper; then he sat down and began +to write. In half an hour he had covered the paper; he struck it with +his hand, and said,—</p> + +<p>“I will send another call for them to be here at the latest <i>pro die 27 +praesentis</i> (on the 27th of the present month), and I think that surely +they will wish at this last date <i>non deesse patriæ</i> (not to fail the +country). And now tell me have you any news of the enemy?”</p> + +<p>“We have. Wittemberg is mustering his troops on the fields at Dama.”</p> + +<p>“Are there many?”</p> + +<p>“Some say seventeen thousand, others more.”</p> + +<p>“H’m! then there will not be so many of ours. What is your opinion? +Shall we be able to oppose them?”</p> + +<p>“If the nobles do not appear, there is nothing to talk about.”</p> + +<p>“They will come; why should they not come? It is a known fact that the +general militia always delay. But shall we be able to succeed with the +aid of the nobles?”</p> + +<p>“No,” replied Pan Stanislav, coolly. “Serene great mighty voevoda, we +have no soldiers.”</p> + +<p>“How no soldiers?”</p> + +<p>“Your grace knows as well as I that all the regular troops are in the +Ukraine. Not even two squadrons were sent here, though at this moment +God alone knows which storm is greater.”</p> + +<p>“But the infantry, and the general militia?”</p> + +<p>“Of twenty peasants scarcely one has seen war; of ten, one knows how to +hold a gun. After the first war they will be good soldiers, but they +are not soldiers now. And as to the general militia let your grace ask +any man who knows even a little about war whether the general militia +can stand before regulars, and besides such soldiers as the Swedes, +veterans of the whole Lutheran war, and accustomed to victory.”</p> + +<p>“Do you exalt the Swedes, then, so highly above your own?”</p> + +<p>“I do not exalt them above my own; for if there were fifteen thousand +such men here as were at Zbaraj, quarter soldiers and cavalry, I should +have no fear. But with such as we have God knows whether we can do +anything worth mention.”</p> + +<p>The voevoda placed his hands on his knees, and looked quickly into the +eyes of Pan Stanislav, as if wishing to read some hidden thought in +them. “What have we come here for, then? Do you not think it better to +yield?”</p> + +<p>Pan Stanislav spat in answer, and said: “If such a thought as that has +risen in my head, let your grace give command to impale me on a stake. +To the question do I believe in victory I answer, as a soldier, that I +do not. But why we have come here,—that is another question, to which +as a citizen I will answer. To offer the enemy the first resistance, so +that by detaining them we shall enable the rest of the country to make +ready and march, to restrain the invasion with our bodies until we fall +one on the other.”</p> + +<p>“Your intention is praiseworthy,” answered the voevoda, coldly; “but it +is easier for you soldiers to talk about death than for us, on whom +will fall all the responsibility for so much noble blood shed in vain.”</p> + +<p>“What is noble blood for unless to be shed?”</p> + +<p>“That is true, of course. We are ready to die, for that is the easiest +thing of all. But duty commands us, the men whom providence has made +leaders, not to seek our own glory merely, but also to look for +results. War is as good as begun, it is true; but still Carolus +Gustavus is a relative of our king, and must remember this fact. +Therefore it is necessary to try negotiations, for sometimes more can +be effected by speech than by arms.”</p> + +<p>“That does not pertain to me,” said Pan Stanislav, dryly.</p> + +<p>Evidently the same thought occurred to the voevoda at that moment, for +he nodded and dismissed the captain.</p> + +<p>Pan Stanislav, however, was only half right in what he said concerning +the delay of the nobles summoned to the general militia. It was true +that before sheep-shearing was over few came to the camp between Pila +and Uistsie; but toward the 27th of June,—that is, the date mentioned +in the second summons—they began to assemble in numbers considerable +enough.</p> + +<p>Every day clouds of dust, rising by reason of the dry and settled +weather, announced the approach of fresh reinforcements one after +another. And the nobles travelled noisily on horses, on wheels, and +with crowds of servants, with provisions, with wagons, and abundance on +them of every kind of thing, and so loaded with weapons that many a man +carried arms of every description for three lances, muskets, pistols, +sabres, double-handed swords and hussar hammers, out of use even in +that time, for smashing armor. Old soldiers recognized at once by these +weapons men unaccustomed to war and devoid of experience.</p> + +<p>Of all the nobles inhabiting the Commonwealth just those of Great +Poland were the least warlike. Tartars, Turks, and Cossacks had never +trampled those regions which from the time of the Knights of the Cross +had almost forgotten how war looked in the country. Whenever a noble of +Great Poland felt the desire for war he joined the armies of the +kingdom, and fought there as well as the best; but those who preferred +to stay at home became real householders, in love with wealth and with +ease,—real agriculturists, filling with their wool and especially with +their wheat the markets of Prussian towns. But now when the Swedish +storm swept them away from their peaceful pursuits, they thought it +impossible to pile up too many arms, provide too great supplies, or +take too many servants to protect the persons and goods of the master.</p> + +<p>They were marvellous soldiers, whom the captains could not easily bring +to obedience. For example, one would present himself with a lance +nineteen feet long, with a breastplate on his breast, but with a straw +hat on his head “for coolness;” another in time of drill would complain +of the heat; a third would yawn, eat, or drink; a fourth would call his +attendant; and all who were in the ranks thought it nothing out of the +way to talk so loudly that no man could hear the command of an officer. +And it was difficult to introduce discipline, for it offended the +brotherhood terribly, as being opposed to the dignity of a citizen. It +is true that “articles” were proclaimed, but no one would obey them.</p> + +<p>An iron ball on the feet of this army was the innumerable legion of +wagons, of reserve and draft horses, of cattle intended for food, and +especially of the multitude of servants guarding the tents, utensils, +millet, grits, hash, and causing on the least occasion quarrels and +disturbance.</p> + +<p>Against such an army as this was advancing from the side of Stettin and +the plains on the Oder, Arwid Wittemberg, an old leader, whose youth +had been passed in the thirty years’ war; he came at the head of +seventeen thousand veterans bound together by iron discipline.</p> + +<p>On one side stood the disordered Polish camp, resembling a crowd at a +country fair, vociferous, full of disputes, discussions about the +commands of leaders, and of dissatisfaction; composed of worthy +villagers turned into prospective infantry, and nobles taken straight +from sheep-shearing. From the other side marched terrible, silent +quadrangles, which at one beck of their leaders turned, with the +precision of machines, into lines and half-circles, unfolding into +wedges and triangles as regularly as a sword moves in the hands of a +fencer, bristling with musket-barrels and darts: genuine men of war, +cool, calm; real masters who had attained perfection in their art. Who +among men of experience could doubt the outcome of the meeting and on +whose side the victory must fall?</p> + +<p>The nobles, however, were assembling in greater and greater numbers; +and still earlier the dignitaries of Great Poland and other provinces +began to meet, bringing bodies of attendant troops and servants. Soon +after the arrival of Pan Grudzinski at Pila came Pan Kryshtof +Opalinski, the powerful voevoda of Poznan. Three hundred haiduks in red +and yellow uniforms and armed with muskets went before the carriage of +the voevoda; a crowd of attendant nobles surrounded his worthy person; +following them in order of battle came a division of horsemen with +uniforms similar to those of the haiduks; the voevoda himself was in a +carriage attended by a jester, Staha Ostrojka, whose duty it was to +cheer his gloomy master on the road.</p> + +<p>The entrance of such a great dignitary gave courage and consolation to +all; for those who looked on the almost kingly majesty of the voevoda, +on that lordly face in which under the lofty vaulting of the forehead +there gleamed eyes wise and severe, and on the senatorial dignity of +his whole posture, could hardly believe that any evil fate could come +to such power.</p> + +<p>To those accustomed to give honor to office and to person it seemed +that even the Swedes themselves would not dare to raise a sacrilegious +hand against such a magnate. Even those whose hearts were beating in +their breasts with alarm felt safer at once under his wing. He was +greeted therefore joyfully and warmly; shouts thundered along the +street through which the retinue pushed slowly toward the house of the +mayor, and all heads inclined before the voevoda, who was as visible as +on the palm of the hand through the windows of the gilded carriage. To +these bows Ostrojka answered, as well as the voevoda, with the same +importance and gravity as if they had been given exclusively to him.</p> + +<p>Barely had the dust settled after the passage of Opalinski when +couriers rushed in with the announcement that his cousin was coming, +the voevoda of Podlyasye, Pyotr Opalinski, with his brother-in-law +Yakob Rozdrajevski, the voevoda of Inovratslav. These brought each a +hundred and fifty armed men, besides nobles and servants. Then not a +day passed without the arrival of dignitaries such as Sendzivoi +Charnkovski, the brother-in-law of Krishtof Opalinski, and himself +castellan of Kalisk; Maksymilian Myaskovski, the castellan of Kryvinsk; +and Pavel Gembitski, the lord of Myendzyrechka. The town was so filled +with people that houses failed for the lodging even of nobles. The +neighboring meadows were many-colored with the tents of the general +militia. One might say that all the various colored birds had flown to +Pila from the entire Commonwealth. Red, green, blue, azure, white were +gleaming on the various coats and garments; for leaving aside the +general militia, in which each noble wore a dress different from his +neighbor, leaving aside the servants of the magnates, even the infantry +of each district were dressed in their own colors.</p> + +<p>Shop-keepers came too, who, unable to find places in the market-square, +built a row of booths by the side of the town, on these they sold +military supplies, from clothing to arms and food. Field-kitchens were +steaming day and night, bearing away in the steam the odor of hash, +roast meat, millet; in some liquors were sold. Nobles swarmed in front +of the booths, armed not only with swords but with spoons, eating, +drinking, and discussing, now the enemy not yet to be seen, and now the +incoming dignitaries, on whom nicknames were not spared.</p> + +<p>Among the groups of nobles walked Ostrojka, in a dress made of +party-colored rags, carrying a sceptre ornamented with bells, and with +the mien of a simple rogue. Wherever he showed himself men came around +in a circle, and he poured oil on the fire, helped them to backbite the +dignitaries, and gave riddles over which the nobles held their sides +from laughter, the more firmly the more biting the riddles.</p> + +<p>On a certain midday the voevoda of Poznan himself came to the bazaar, +speaking courteously with this one and that, or blaming the king +somewhat because in the face of the approaching enemy he had not sent a +single squadron of soldiers.</p> + +<p>“They are not thinking of us, worthy gentlemen,” said he, “and leave us +without assistance. They say in Warsaw that even now there are too few +troops in the Ukraine, and that the hetmans are not able to make head +against Hmelnitski. Ah, it is difficult! It is pleasanter to see the +Ukraine than Great Poland. We are in disfavor, worthy gentlemen, in +disfavor! They have delivered us here as it were to be slaughtered.”</p> + +<p>“And who is to blame?” asked Pan Shlihtyng, the judge of Vskov.</p> + +<p>“Who is to blame for all the misfortunes of the Commonwealth,” asked +the voevoda,—“who, unless we brother nobles who shield it with our +breasts?”</p> + +<p>The nobles, hearing this, were greatly flattered that the “Count in +Bnino and Opalenitsa” put himself on an equality with them, and +recognized himself in brotherhood; hence Pan Koshutski answered,—</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty voevoda, if there were more such counsellors as +your grace near his Majesty, of a certainty we should not be delivered +to slaughter here; but probably those give counsel who bow lower.”</p> + +<p>“I thank you, brothers, for the good word. The fault is his who listens +to evil counsellors. Our liberties are as salt in the eye to those +people. The more nobles fall, the easier will it be to introduce +<i>absolutum dominium</i> (absolute rule).”</p> + +<p>“Must we die, then, that our children may groan in slavery?”</p> + +<p>The voevoda said nothing, and the nobles began to look at one another +and wonder.</p> + +<p>“Is that true then?” cried many. “Is that the reason why they sent us +here under the knife? And we believe! This is not the first day that +they are talking about <i>absolutum dominium</i>. But if it comes to that, +we shall be able to think of our own heads.”</p> + +<p>“And of our children.”</p> + +<p>“And of our fortunes, which the enemy will destroy <i>igne et ferro</i> +(with fire and sword).”</p> + +<p>The voevoda was silent. In a marvellous manner did this leader add to +the courage of his soldiers.</p> + +<p>“The king is to blame for all!” was shouted more and more frequently.</p> + +<p>“But do you remember, gentlemen, the history of Yan Olbracht?” asked +the voevoda.</p> + +<p>“The nobles perished for King Olbracht. Treason, brothers!”</p> + +<p>“The king is a traitor!” cried some bold voices.</p> + +<p>The voevoda was silent.</p> + +<p>Now Ostrojka, standing by the side of the voevoda, struck himself a +number of times on the legs, and crowed like a cock with such +shrillness that all eyes were turned to him. Then he shouted, “Gracious +lords! brothers, dear hearts! listen to my riddle.”</p> + +<p>With the genuine fickleness of March weather, the stormy militia +changed in one moment to curiosity and desire to hear some new stroke +of wit from the jester.</p> + +<p>“We hear! we hear!” cried a number of voices.</p> + +<p>The jester began to wink like a monkey and to recite in a squeaking +voice,—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“After his brother he solaced himself with a crown and a wife,<br/> +But let glory go down to the grave with his brother.<br/> +He drove out the vice-chancellor; hence now has the fame<br/> +Of being vice-chancellor to—the vice-chancellor’s wife.” +</p> + +<p>“The king! the king! As alive! Yan Kazimir!” they began to cry from +every side; and laughter, mighty as thunder, was heard in the crowd.</p> + +<p>“May the bullets strike him, what a masterly explanation!” cried the +nobles.</p> + +<p>The voevoda laughed with the others, and when it had grown somewhat +calm he said, with increased dignity: “And for this affair we must pay +now with our blood and our heads. See what it has come to! Here, +jester, is a ducat for thy good verse.”</p> + +<p>“Kryshtofek! Krysh dearest!” said Ostrojka, “why attack others because +they keep jesters, when thou not only keepest me, but payest separately +for riddles? Give me another ducat and I’ll tell thee another riddle.”</p> + +<p>“Just as good?”</p> + +<p>“As good, only longer. Give me the ducat first.”</p> + +<p>“Here it is!”</p> + +<p>The jester slapped his sides with his hands, as a cock +with his wings, crowed again, and cried out, “Gracious gentlemen, +listen! Who is this?”</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“He complains of self-seeking, stands forth as a Cato;<br/> +Instead of a sabre he took a goose’s tail-feather<br/> +He wanted the legacy of a traitor, and not getting that<br/> +He lashed the whole Commonwealth with a biting rhyme.<br/> +<br/> +“God grant him love for the sabre! less woe would it bring.<br/> +Of his satire the Swedes have no fear.<br/> +But he has barely tasted the hardships of war<br/> +When following a traitor he is ready to betray his king.” +</p> + +<p>All present guessed that riddle as well as the first. Two or three +laughs, smothered at the same instant, were heard in the assembly; then +a deep silence fell.</p> + +<p>The voevoda grew purple, and he was the more confused in that all eyes +were fixed on him at that moment. But the jester looked on one noble +and then on another; at last he said, “None of you gentlemen can guess +who that is?”</p> + +<p>When silence was the only answer, he turned with the most insolent mien +to the voevoda: “And thou, dost thou too not know of what rascal the +speech is? Dost thou not know? Then pay me a ducat.”</p> + +<p>“Here!” said the voevoda.</p> + +<p>“God reward thee. But tell me, Krysh, hast thou not perchance tried to +get the vice-chancellorship after Radzeyovski?”</p> + +<p>“No time for jests,” replied Opalinski; and removing his cap to all +present: “With the forehead, gentlemen! I must go to the council of +war.”</p> + +<p>“To the family council thou didst wish to say, Krysh,” added Ostrojka; +“for there all thy relatives will hold council how to be off.” Then he +turned to the nobles and imitating the voevoda in his bows, he added, +“And to you, gentlemen, that’s the play.”</p> + +<p>Both withdrew; but they had barely gone a few steps when an immense +outburst of laughter struck the ears of the voevoda, and thundered long +before it was drowned in the general noise of the camp.</p> + +<p>The council of war was held in fact, and the voevoda of Poznan +presided. That was a strange council! Those very dignitaries took part +in it who knew nothing of war; for the magnates of Great Poland did not +and could not follow the example of those “kinglets” of Lithuania or +the Ukraine who lived in continual fire like salamanders.</p> + +<p>In Lithuania or the Ukraine whoever was a voevoda or a chancellor was a +leader whose armor pressed out on his body red stripes which never left +it, whose youth was spent in the steppes or the forests on the eastern +border, in ambushes, battles, struggles, pursuits, in camp or in +tabors. In Great Poland at this time dignitaries were in office who, +though they had marched in times of necessity with the general militia, +had never held positions of command in time of war. Profound peace had +put to sleep the military courage of the descendants of those warriors, +before whom in former days the iron legions of the Knights of the Cross +were unable to stand, and turned them into civilians, scholars, and +writers. Now the stern school of Sweden was teaching them what they had +forgotten.</p> + +<p>The dignitaries assembled in council looked at one another with +uncertain eyes, and each feared to speak first, waiting for what +“Agamemnon,” voevoda of Poznan, would say.</p> + +<p>But “Agamemnon” himself knew simply nothing, and began his speech again +with complaints of the ingratitude and sloth of the king, of the +frivolity with which all Great Poland and they were delivered to the +sword. But how eloquent was he; what a majestic figure did he present, +worthy in truth of a Roman senator! He held his head erect while +speaking; his dark eyes shot lightnings, his mouth thunderbolts; his +iron-gray beard trembled with excitement when he described the future +misfortunes of the land.</p> + +<p>“For in what does the fatherland suffer,” said he, “if not in its sons? +and we here suffer, first of all. Through our private lands, through +our private fortunes won by the services and blood of our ancestors, +will advance the feet of those enemies who now like a storm are +approaching from the sea. And why do we suffer? For what will they take +our herds, trample our harvests, burn our villages built by our labor? +Have we wronged Radzeyovski, who, condemned unjustly, hunted like a +criminal, had to seek the protection of strangers? No! Do we insist +that that empty title ‘King of Sweden,’ which has cost so much blood +already, should remain with the signature of our Yan Kazimir? No! Two +wars are blazing on two boundaries; was it needful to call forth a +third? Who was to blame, may God, may the country judge him! We wash +our hands, for we are innocent of the blood which will be shed.”</p> + +<p>And thus the voevoda thundered on further; but when it came to the +question in hand he was not able to give the desired advice.</p> + +<p>They sent then for the captains leading the land infantry, and +specially for Vladyslav Skorashevski, who was not only a famous and +incomparable knight, but an old, practised soldier, knowing war as he +did the Lord’s Prayer. In fact, genuine leaders listened frequently to +his advice; all the more eagerly was it sought for now.</p> + +<p>Pan Skorashevski advised then to establish three camps,—at Pila, +Vyelunie, and Uistsie,—so near one another that in time of attack they +might give mutual aid, and besides this to cover with trenches the +whole extent of the river-bank occupied by a half-circle of camps which +were to command the passage.</p> + +<p>“When we know,” said Skorashevski, “the place where the enemy will +attempt the crossing, we shall unite from all three camps and give him +proper resistance. But I with the permission of your great mighty +lordships, will go with a small party to Chaplinko. That is a lost +position, and in time I shall withdraw from it; but there I shall first +get knowledge of the enemy, and then will inform your great mighty +lordships.”</p> + +<p>All accepted this counsel, and men began to move around somewhat more +briskly in the camp. At last the nobles assembled to the number of +fifteen thousand. The land infantry dug trenches over an extent of six +miles. Uistsie, the chief position, was occupied by the voevoda of +Poznan and his men. A part of the knights remained in Vyelunie, a part +in Pila, and Vladyslav Skorashevski went to Chaplinko to observe the +enemy.</p> + +<p>July began; all the days were clear and hot. The sun burned on the +plains so violently that the nobles hid in the woods between the trees, +under the shade of which some of them gave orders to set up their +tents. There also they had noisy and boisterous feasts; and still more +of an uproar was made by the servants, especially at the time of +washing and watering the horses which, to the number of several +thousand at once, were driven thrice each day to the Notets and Berda, +quarrelling and fighting for the best approach to the bank. But in the +beginning there was a good spirit in the camp; only the voevoda of +Poznan himself acted rather to weaken it.</p> + +<p>If Wittemberg had come in the first days of July, it is likely that he +would have met a mighty resistance, which in proportion as the men +warmed to battle might have been turned into an invincible rage, of +which there were often examples. For still there flowed knightly blood +in the veins of these people, though they had grown unaccustomed to +war.</p> + +<p>Who knows if another Yeremi Vishnyevetski might not have changed +Uistsie into another Zbaraj, and described in those trenches a new +illustrious career of knighthood? Unfortunately the voevoda of Poznan +was a man who could only write; he knew nothing of war.</p> + +<p>Wittemberg, a leader knowing not merely war but men, did not hasten, +perhaps on purpose. Experience of long years had taught him that a +newly enrolled soldier is most dangerous in the first moments of +enthusiasm, and that often not bravery is lacking to him, but soldierly +endurance, which practice alone can develop. More than once have new +soldiers struck like a storm on the oldest regiments, and passed over +their corpses. They are iron which while it is hot quivers, lives, +scatters sparks, burns, destroys, but which when it grows cold is a +mere lifeless lump.</p> + +<p>In fact, when a week had passed, a second, and the third had come, long +inactivity began to weigh upon the general militia. The heat became +greater each day. The nobles would not go to drill, and gave as excuse +that their horses tormented by flies would not stand in line, and as to +marshy places they could not live from mosquitoes. Servants raised +greater and greater quarrels about shady places, concerning which it +came to sabres among their masters. This or that one coming home in the +evening from the water rode off to one side from the camp not to +return.</p> + +<p>Evil example from above was also not wanting. Pan Skorashevski had +given notice from Chaplinko that the Swedes were not distant, when at +the military council Zygmunt Grudzinski got leave to go home; on this +leave his uncle Andrei Grudzinski, voevoda of Kalisk, had greatly +insisted. “I have to lay down my head and my life here,” said he; “let +my nephew inherit after me my memory and glory, so that my services may +not be lost.” Then he grew tender over the youth and innocence of his +nephew, praising the liberality with which he had furnished one hundred +very choice soldiers; and the military council granted the prayer of +the uncle.</p> + +<p>On the morning of July 16, Zygmunt with a few servants left the camp +openly for home, on the eve almost of a siege and a battle. Crowds of +nobles conducted him amid jeering cries to a distance beyond the camp. +Ostrojka led the party, and shouted from afar after the departing,—</p> + +<p>“Worthy Pan Zygmunt, I give thee a shield, and as third name +Deest!”<a name="div2Ref_13" href="#div2_13"><sup>[13]</sup></a></p> + +<p>“Vivat Deest-Grudzinski!”</p> + +<p>“But weep not for thy uncle,” continued Ostrojka. “He despises the +Swedes as much as thou; and let them only show themselves, he will +surely turn his back on them.”</p> + +<p>The blood of the young magnate rushed to his face, but he pretended not +to hear the insults. He put spurs to his horse, however, and pushed +aside the crowds, so as to be away from the camp and his persecutors as +soon as possible, who at last, without consideration for the birth and +dignity of the departing, began to throw clods of earth at him and to +cry,—</p> + +<p>“Here is a gruda, Grudzinski!<a name="div2Ref_14" href="#div2_14"><sup>[14]</sup></a> You hare, you coward!”</p> + +<p>They made such an uproar that the voevoda of Poznan hastened up with a +number of captains to quiet them, and explain that Grudzinski had taken +leave only for a week on very urgent affairs.</p> + +<p>Still the evil example had its effect; and that same day there were +several hundred nobles who did not wish to be worse than Grudzinski, +though they slipped away with less aid and more quietly. Stanislav +Skshetuski, a captain from Kalisk and cousin of the famous Yan of +Zbaraj, tore the hair on his head; for his land infantry, following the +example of “officers,” began to desert from the camp. A new council of +war was held in which crowds of nobles refused absolutely to take part. +A stormy night followed, full of shouts and quarrels. They suspected +one another of the intention to desert. Cries of “Either all or none!” +flew from mouth to mouth.</p> + +<p>Every moment reports were given out that the voevodas were departing, +and such an uproar prevailed that the voevodas had to show themselves +several times to the excited multitude. A number of thousands of men +were on their horses before daybreak. But the voevoda of Poznan rode +between the ranks with uncovered head like a Roman senator, and +repeated from moment to moment the great words,—</p> + +<p>“Worthy gentlemen, I am with you to live and die.”</p> + +<p>He was received in some places with vivats; in others shouts of +derision were thundering. The moment he had pacified the crowd he +returned to the council, tired, hoarse, carried away by the grandeur of +his own words, and convinced that he had rendered inestimable service +to his country that night. But at the council he had fewer words in his +mouth, twisted his beard, and pulled his foretop from despair, +repeating,—</p> + +<p>“Give counsel if you can; I wash my hands of the future, for it is +impossible to make a defence with such soldiers.”</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty voevoda,” answered Stanislav Skshetuski, “the +enemy will drive away that turbulence and uproar. Only let the cannon +play, only let it come to defence, to a siege, these very nobles in +defence of their own lives must serve on the ramparts and not be +disorderly in camp. So it has happened more than once.”</p> + +<p>“With what can we defend ourselves? We have no cannon, nothing but +saluting pieces good to fire off in time of a feast.”</p> + +<p>“At Zbaraj Hmelnitski had seventy cannon, and Prince Yeremi only a few +eight-pounders and mortars.”</p> + +<p>“But he had an army, not militia,—his own squadrons famed in the +world, not country nobles fresh from sheep-shearing.”</p> + +<p>“Send for Pan Skorashevski,” said the castellan of Poznan. “Make him +commander of the camp. He is at peace with the nobles, and will be able +to keep them in order.”</p> + +<p>“Send for Skorashevski. Why should he be in Drahim or Chaplinko?” +repeated Yendrei Grudzinski, the voevoda of Kalisk.</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is the best counsel!” cried other voices.</p> + +<p>A courier was despatched for Skorashevski. No other decisions were +taken at the council; but they talked much, and complained of the king, +the queen, the lack of troops, and negligence.</p> + +<p>The following morning brought neither relief nor calm spirits. The +disorder had become still greater. Some gave out reports that the +dissidents, namely the Calvinists, were favorable to the Swedes, and +ready on the first occasion to go over to the enemy. What was more, +this news was not contradicted by Pan Shlihtyng nor by Edmund and +Yatsck Kurnatovski, also Calvinists, but sincerely devoted to the +country. Besides they gave final proof that the dissidents formed a +separate circle and consulted with one another under the lead of a +noted disturber and cruel man. Pan Rei, who serving in Germany during +his youth as a volunteer on the Lutheran side, was a great friend of +the Swedes. Scarcely had this suspicion gone out among the nobles when +several thousand sabres were gleaming, and a real tempest rose in the +camp.</p> + +<p>“Let us punish the traitors, punish the serpents, ready to bite the +bosom of their mother!” cried the nobles.</p> + +<p>“Give them this way!”</p> + +<p>“Cut them to pieces! Treason is most infectious, worthy gentlemen. Tear +out the cockle or we shall all perish!”</p> + +<p>The voevodas and captains had to pacify them again, but this time it +was more difficult than the day before. Besides, they were themselves +convinced that Rei was ready to betray his country in the most open +manner; for he was a man completely foreignized, and except his +language had nothing Polish in him. It was decided therefore to send +him out of the camp, which at once pacified somewhat the angry +multitude. Still shouts continued to burst forth for a long time,—</p> + +<p>“Give them here! Treason, treason!”</p> + +<p>Wonderful conditions of mind reigned finally in the camp. Some fell in +courage and were sunk in grief; others walked in silence, with +uncertain steps, along the ramparts, casting timid and gloomy glances +along the plains over which the enemy had to approach, or communicated +in whispers worse and worse news. Others were possessed of a sort of +desperate, mad joy and readiness for death. In consequence of this +readiness they arranged feasts and drinking-bouts so as to pass the +last days of life in rejoicing. Some thought of saving their souls, and +spent the nights in prayer. But in that whole throng of men no one +thought of victory, as if it were altogether beyond reach. Still the +enemy had not superior forces; they had more cannon, better trained +troops, and a leader who understood war.</p> + +<p>And while in this wise on one side the Polish camp was seething, +shouting, and feasting, rising up with a roar, dropping down to quiet, +like a sea lashed by a whirlwind, while the general militia were +holding diets as in time of electing a king, on the other side, along +the broad green meadows of the Oder, pushed forward in calmness the +legions of Sweden.</p> + +<p>In front marched a brigade of the royal guard, led by Benedykt Horn, a +terrible soldier, whose name was repeated in Germany with fear. The +soldiers were chosen men, large, wearing lofty helmets with rims +covering their ears, in yellow leather doublets, armed with rapiers and +muskets; cool and constant in battle, ready at every beck of the +leader.</p> + +<p>Karl Schedding, a German, led the West Gothland brigade, formed of two +regiments of infantry and one of heavy cavalry, dressed in armor +without shoulder-pieces. Half of the infantry had muskets; the others +spears. At the beginning of a battle the musketeers stood in front, but +in case of attack by cavalry they stood behind the spearmen, who, +placing each the butt of his spear in the ground, held the point +against the onrushing horses. At a battle in the time of Sigismund III. +one squadron of hussars cut to pieces with their sabres and with hoofs +this same West Gothland brigade, in which at present Germans served +mainly.</p> + +<p>The two Smaland brigades were led by Irwin, surnamed Handless, for he +had lost his right hand on a time while defending his flag; but to make +up for this loss he had in his left such strength that with one blow he +could hew off the head of a horse. He was a gloomy warrior, loving +battles and bloodshed alone, stern to himself and to soldiers. While +other captains trained themselves in continual wars into followers of a +craft, and loved war for its own sake, he remained the same fanatic, +and while slaying men he sang psalms to the Lord.</p> + +<p>The brigade of Westrmanland marched under Drakenborg; and that of +Helsingor, formed of sharpshooters famed through the world, under +Gustav Oxenstiern, a relative of the renowned chancellor,—a young +soldier who roused great hopes. Fersen commanded the East Gothland +brigade; the Nerik and Werland brigades were directed by Wittemberg +himself, who at the same time was supreme chief of the whole army.</p> + +<p>Seventy-two cannon pounded out furrows in the moist meadows; of +soldiers there were seventeen thousand, the fierce plunderers of all +Germany, and in battle they were so accurate, especially the infantry, +that the French royal guard could hardly compare with them. After the +regiments followed the wagons and tents. The regiments marched in line, +ready each moment for battle. A forest of lances was bristling above +the mass of heads, helmets, and hats; and in the midst of that forest +flowed on toward the frontier of Poland the great blue banners with +white crosses in the centre. With each day the distance decreased +between the two armies.</p> + +<p>At last on July 27, in the forest at the village of Heinrichsdorf, the +Swedish legions beheld for the first time the boundary pillar of +Poland. At sight of this the whole army gave forth a mighty shout; +trumpets and drums thundered, and all the flags were unfurled. +Wittemberg rode to the front attended by a brilliant staff, and all the +regiments passed before him, presenting arms,—the cavalry with drawn +rapiers, the cannon with lighted matches. The time was midday; the +weather glorious. The forest breeze brought the odor of resin.</p> + +<p>The gray road, covered with the rays of the sun,—the road over which +the Swedish regiments had passed,—bending out of the Heinrichsdorf +forest, was lost on the horizon. When the troops marching by it had +finally passed the forest, their glances discovered a gladsome land, +smiling, shining with yellow fields of every kind of grain, dotted in +places with oak groves, in places green from meadows. Here and there +out of groups of trees, behind oak groves and far away rose bits of +smoke to the sky; on the grass herds were seen grazing. Where on the +meadows the water gleamed widely spread, walked storks at their +leisure.</p> + +<p>A certain calm and sweetness was spread everywhere over that land +flowing with milk and honey, and it seemed to open its arms ever wider +and wider before the army, as if it greeted not invaders but guests +coming with God.</p> + +<p>At this sight a new shout was wrested from the bosoms of all the +soldiers, especially the Swedes by blood, who were accustomed to the +bare, poor, wild nature of their native land. The hearts of a +plundering and needy people rose with desire to gather those treasures +and riches which appeared before their eyes. Enthusiasm seized the +ranks.</p> + +<p>But the soldiers, tempered in the fire of the Thirty Years’ War, +expected that this would not come to them easily; for that grainland +was inhabited by a numerous and a knightly people, who knew how to +defend it. The memory was still living in Sweden of the terrible defeat +of Kirchholm, where three thousand cavalry under Hodkyevich ground into +dust eighteen thousand of the best troops of Sweden. In the cottages of +West Gothland, Smaland, or Delakarlia they told tales of those winged +knights, as of giants from a saga. Fresher still was the memory of the +struggles in the time of Gustavus Adolphus, for the warriors were not +yet extinct who had taken part in them. But that eagle of Scandinavia, +ere he had flown twice through all Germany, broke his talons on the +legions of Konyetspolski.</p> + +<p>Therefore with the gladness there was joined in the hearts of the +Swedes a certain fear, of which the supreme chief, Wittemberg himself, +was not free. He looked on the passing regiments of infantry and +cavalry with the eye with which a shepherd looks on his flock; +then he turned to the rear man, who wore a hat with a feather, and a +light-colored wig falling to his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Your grace assures me,” said he, “that with these forces it is +possible to break the army occupying Uistsie?”</p> + +<p>The man with the light wig smiled and answered: “Your grace may rely +completely on my words, for which I am ready to pledge my head. If at +Uistsie there were regular troops and some one of the hetmans, I first +would give counsel not to hasten, but to wait till his royal Grace +should come with the whole army; but against the general militia and +those gentlemen of Great Poland our forces will be more than +sufficient.”</p> + +<p>“But have not reinforcements come to them?”</p> + +<p>“Reinforcements have not come for two reasons,—first, because all the +regular troops, of which there are not many, are occupied in Lithuania +and the Ukraine; second, because in Warsaw neither the King Yan +Kazimir, the chancellor, nor the senate will believe to this moment +that his royal Grace Karl Gustav has really begun war in spite of the +truce, and notwithstanding the last embassies and his readiness to +compromise. They are confident that peace will be made at the last +hour,—ha, ha!”</p> + +<p>Here the rear man removed his hat, wiped the sweat from his red face, +and added: “Trubetskoi and Dolgoruki in Lithuania, Hmelnitski in the +Ukraine, and we entering Great Poland,—behold what the government of +Yan Kazimir has led to.”</p> + +<p>Wittemberg gazed on him with a look of astonishment, and asked, “But, +your grace, do you rejoice at the thought?”</p> + +<p>“I rejoice at the thought, for my wrong and my innocence will be +avenged; and besides I see, as on the palm of my hand, that the sabre +of your grace and my counsels will place that new and most beautiful +crown in the world on the head of Karl Gustav.”</p> + +<p>Wittemberg turned his glance to the distance, embraced with it the +oak-groves, the meadows, the grain-fields, and after a while said: +“True, it is a beautiful country and fertile. Your grace may be sure +that after the war the king will give the chancellorship to no one else +but you.”</p> + +<p>The man in the rear removed his cap a second time. “And I, for my part, +wish to have no other lord,” added he, raising his eyes to heaven.</p> + +<p>The heavens were clear and fair; no thunderbolt fell and crashed to the +dust the traitor who delivered his country, groaning under two wars +already and exhausted, to the power of the enemy on that boundary.</p> + +<p>The man conversing with Wittemberg was Hieronim Kailzeyovski, late +under-chancellor of the Crown, now sold to Sweden in hostility to his +country.</p> + +<p>They stood a time in silence. Meanwhile the last two brigades, those of +Nerik and Wermland, passed the boundary; after them others began to +draw in the cannon; the trumpets still played unceasingly; the roar and +rattle of drums outsounded the tramp of the soldiers, and filled the +forest with ominous echoes. At last the staff moved also. Radzeyovski +rode at the side of Wittemberg.</p> + +<p>“Oxenstiern is not to be seen,” said Wittemberg. “I am afraid that +something may have happened to him. I do not know whether it was wise +to send him as a trumpeter with letters to Uistsie.”</p> + +<p>“It was wise,” answered Radzeyovski, “for he will look at the camp, +will see the leaders, and learn what they think there; and this any +kind of camp-follower could not do.”</p> + +<p>“But if they recognize him?”</p> + +<p>“Rei alone knows him, and he is ours. Besides, even if they should +recognize him, they will do him no harm, but will give him supplies for +the road and reward him. I know the Poles, and I know they are ready +for anything, merely to show themselves polite people before strangers. +Our whole effort is to win the praise of strangers. Your grace may be +at rest concerning Oxenstiern, for a hair will not fall from his head. +He has not come because it is too soon for his return.”</p> + +<p>“And does your grace think our letters will have any effect?”</p> + +<p>Radzeyovski laughed. “If your grace permits, I will foretell what will +happen. The voevoda of Poznan is a polished and learned man, therefore +he will answer us very courteously and very graciously; but because he +loves to pass for a Roman, his answer will be terribly Roman. He will +say, to begin with, that he would rather shed the last drop of his +blood than surrender, that death is better than dishonor, and the love +which he bears his country directs him to fall for her on the +boundary.”</p> + +<p>Radzeyovski laughed still louder. The stern face of Wittemberg +brightened also.</p> + +<p>“Your grace does not think that he will be ready to act as he writes?” +asked Wittemberg.</p> + +<p>“He?” answered Radzeyovski. “It is true that he nourishes a love for +his country, but with ink; and that is not over-strong food. His love +is in fact more scant than that of his jester who helps him to put +rhymes together. I am certain that after that Roman answer will come +good wishes for health, success, offers of service, and at last a +request to spare his property and that of his relatives, for which +again he with all his relatives will be thankful.”</p> + +<p>“And what at last will be the result of our letters?”</p> + +<p>“The courage of the other side will weaken to the last degree, senators +will begin to negotiate with us, and we shall occupy all Great Poland +after perhaps a few shots in the air.”</p> + +<p>“Would that your grace be a true prophet!”</p> + +<p>“I am certain that it will be as I say, for I know these people. I have +friends and adherents in the whole country, and I know how to begin. +And that I shall neglect nothing is made sure by the wrong which I +endure from Yan Kazimir, and my love for Karl Gustav. People with us +are more tender at present about their own fortunes than the integrity +of the Commonwealth. All those lands upon which we shall now march are +the estates of the Opalinskis, the Charnkovskis, the Grudzinskis; and +because they are at Uistsie in person they will be milder in +negotiating. As to the nobles, if only their freedom of disputing at +the diets is guaranteed, they will follow the voevodas.”</p> + +<p>“By knowledge of the country and the people your grace renders the king +unexampled service, which cannot remain without an equally noteworthy +reward. Therefore from what you say I conclude that I may look on this +land as ours.”</p> + +<p>“You may, your grace, you may, you may,” repeated Radzeyovski +hurriedly, a number of times.</p> + +<p>“Therefore I occupy it in the name of his Royal Grace Karl Gustav,” +answered Wittemberg, solemnly.</p> + +<p>While the Swedish troops were thus beginning beyond Heinrichsdorf to +walk on the land of Great Poland, and even earlier, for it was on July +18, a Swedish trumpeter arrived at the Polish camp with letters from +Radzeyovski and Wittemberg to the voevodas.</p> + +<p>Vladyslav Skorashevski himself conducted the trumpeter to the voevoda +of Poznan, and the nobles of the general militia gazed with curiosity +on the “first Swede,” wondering at his valiant bearing, his manly face, +his blond mustaches, the ends combed upward in a broad brush, and his +really lordlike mien. Crowds followed him to the voevoda; acquaintances +called to one another, pointing him out with their fingers, laughed +somewhat at his boots with enormous round legs, and at the long +straight rapier, which they called a spit, hanging from a belt richly +worked with silver. The Swede also cast curious glances from under his +broad hat, as if wishing to examine the camp and estimate the forces, +and then looked repeatedly at the crowd of nobles whose oriental +costumes were apparently novel to him. At last he was brought to the +voevoda, around whom were grouped all the dignitaries in the camp.</p> + +<p>The letters were read immediately, and a council held. The voevoda +committed the trumpeter to his attendants to be entertained in soldier +fashion; the nobles took him from the attendants, and wondering at the +man as a curiosity, began to drink for life and death with him.</p> + +<p>Pan Skorashevski looked at the Swede with equal scrutiny; but because +he suspected him to be some officer in disguise, he went in fact to +convey that idea in the evening to the voevoda. The latter, however, +said it was all one, and did not permit his arrest.</p> + +<p>“Though he were Wittemberg himself, he has come hither as an envoy and +should go away unmolested. In addition I command you to give him ten +ducats for the road.”</p> + +<p>The trumpeter meanwhile was talking in broken German with those nobles +who, through intercourse with Prussian towns, understood that language. +He told them of victories won by Wittemberg in various lands, of the +forces marching against Uistsie, and especially of the cannon of a +range hitherto unknown and which could not be resisted. The nobles were +troubled at this, and no small number of exaggerated accounts began to +circulate through the camp.</p> + +<p>That night scarcely any one slept in Uistsie. About midnight those men +came in who had stood hitherto in separate camps, at Pila and Vyelunie. +The dignitaries deliberated over their answer to the letters till +daylight, and the nobles passed the time in stories about the power of +the Swedes.</p> + +<p>With a certain feverish curiosity they asked the trumpeter about the +leaders of the army, the weapons, the method of fighting; and every +answer of his was given from mouth to mouth. The nearness of the +Swedish legions lent unusual interest to all the details, which were +not of a character to give consolation.</p> + +<p>About daylight Stanislav Skshetuski came with tidings that the Swedes +had arrived at Valch, one day’s march from the Polish camp. There rose +at once a terrible hubbub; most of the horses with the servants were at +pasture on the meadows. They were sent for then with all haste. +Districts mounted and formed squadrons. The moment before battle was +for the untrained soldier the most terrible; therefore before the +captains were able to introduce any kind of system there reigned for a +long time desperate disorder.</p> + +<p>Neither commands nor trumpets could be heard; nothing but voices crying +on every side: “Yan! Pyotr! Onufri! This way! I wish thou wert killed! +Bring the horses! Where are my men? Yan! Pyotr!” If at that moment one +cannon-shot had been heard, the disorder might easily have been turned +to a panic.</p> + +<p>Gradually, however, the districts were ranged in order. The inborn +capacity of the nobles for war made up for the want of experience, and +about midday the camp presented an appearance imposing enough. +The infantry stood on the ramparts looking like flowers in their +many-colored coats, smoke was borne away from the lighted matches, and +outside the ramparts under cover of the guns the meadows and plain were +swarming with the district squadrons of cavalry standing in line on +sturdy horses, whose neighing roused an echo in the neighboring forests +and filled all hearts with military ardor.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the voevoda of Poznan sent away the trumpeter with an answer +to the letter reading more or less as Radzeyovski had foretold, +therefore both courteous and Roman; then he determined to send a party +to the northern bank of the Notets to seize an informant from the +enemy.</p> + +<p>Pyotr Opalinski, voevoda of Podlyasye, a cousin of the voevoda Poznan, +was to go in person with a party together with his own dragoons, a +hundred and fifty of whom he had brought to Uistsie; and besides this +it was given to Captains Skorashevski and Skshetuski to call out +volunteers from the nobles of the general militia, so that they might +also look in the eyes of the enemy.</p> + +<p>Both rode before the ranks, delighting the eye by manner and +posture,—Pan Stanislav black as a beetle, like all the Skshetuskis, +with a manly face, stern and adorned with a long sloping scar which +remained from a sword-blow, with raven black beard blown aside by the +wind; Pan Vladyslav portly, with long blond mustaches, open under +lip, and eyes with red lids, mild and honest, reminding one less of +Mars,—but none the less a genuine soldier spirit, as glad to be in +fire as a salamander,—a knight knowing war as his ten fingers, and of +incomparable daring. Both, riding before the ranks extended in a long +line, repeated from moment to moment,—</p> + +<p>“Now, gracious gentlemen, who is the volunteer against the Swedes? Who +wants to smell powder? Well, gracious gentlemen, volunteer!”</p> + +<p>And so they continued for a good while without result, for no man +pushed forward from the ranks. One looked at another. There were those +who desired to go and had no fear of the Swedes, but indecision +restrained them. More than one nudged his neighbor and said, “Go you, +and then I’ll go.” The captains were growing impatient, till all at +once, when they had ridden up to the district of Gnyezno, a certain man +dressed in many colors sprang forth on a hoop, not from the line but +from behind the line, and cried,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen of the militia, I’ll be the volunteer and ye will +be jesters!”</p> + +<p>“Ostrojka! Ostrojka!” cried the nobles.</p> + +<p>“I am just as good a noble as any of you!” answered the jester.</p> + +<p>“Tfu! to a hundred devils!” cried Pan Rosinski; under-judge, “a truce +to jesting! I will go.”</p> + +<p>“And I! and I!” cried numerous voices.</p> + +<p>“Once my mother bore me, once for me is death!”</p> + +<p>“As good as thou will be found!”</p> + +<p>“Freedom to each. Let no man here exalt himself above others.”</p> + +<p>And as no one had come forth before, so now nobles began to rush out +from every district, spurring forward their horses, disputing with one +another and fighting to advance. In the twinkle of an eye there were +five hundred horsemen, and still they were riding forth from the ranks. +Pan Skorashevski began to laugh with his honest, open laugh.</p> + +<p>“Enough, worthy gentlemen, enough! We cannot all go.”</p> + +<p>Then the two captains put the men in order and marched.</p> + +<p>The voevoda of Podlyasye joined the horsemen as they were riding out of +camp. They were seen as on the palm of the hand crossing the Notets; +after that they glittered some time on the windings of the road, then +vanished from sight.</p> + +<p>At the expiration of half an hour the voevoda of Poznan ordered the +troops to their tents, for he saw that it was impossible to keep them +in the ranks when the enemy were still a day’s march distant. Numerous +pickets were thrown out, however; it was not permitted to drive horses +to pasture, and the order was given that at the first low sound of the +trumpet through the mouthpiece all were to mount and be ready.</p> + +<p>Expectation and uncertainty had come to an end, quarrels and disputes +were finished at once, for the nearness of the enemy had raised their +courage as Pan Skshetuski had predicted. The first successful battle +might raise it indeed very high; and in the evening an event took place +which seemed of happy omen.</p> + +<p>The sun was just setting,—lighting with enormous glitter, dazzling the +eyes, the Notets, and the pine-woods beyond,—when on the other side of +the river was seen first a cloud of dust, and then men moving in the +cloud. All that was living went out on the ramparts to see what manner +of guests these were. At that moment a dragoon of the guards rushed in +from the squadron of Pan Grudzinski with intelligence that the horsemen +were returning.</p> + +<p>“The horsemen are returning with success! The Swedes have not eaten +them!” was repeated from mouth to mouth.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile they in bright rolls of dust approached nearer and nearer, +coming slowly; then they crossed the Notets.</p> + +<p>The nobles with their hands over their eyes gazed at them; for the +glitter became each moment greater, and the whole air was filled with +gold and purple light.</p> + +<p>“Hei! the party is somewhat larger than when it went out,” said +Shlihtyng.</p> + +<p>“They must be bringing prisoners, as God is dear to me!” cried a noble, +apparently without confidence and not believing his eyes.</p> + +<p>“They are bringing prisoners! They are bringing prisoners!”</p> + +<p>They had now come so near that their faces could be recognized. In +front rode Skorashevski, nodding his head as usual and talking joyously +with Skshetuski; after them the strong detachment of horse surrounded a +few tens of infantry wearing round hats. They were really Swedish +prisoners.</p> + +<p>At this sight the nobles could not contain themselves; and ran forward +with shouts: “Vivat Skorashevski! Vivat Skshetuski!”</p> + +<p>A dense crowd surrounded the party at once. Some looked at the +prisoners; some asked, “How was the affair?” others threatened the +Swedes.</p> + +<p>“Ah-hu! Well now, good for you, ye dogs! Ye wanted to war with the +Poles? Ye have the Poles now!”</p> + +<p>“Give them here! Sabre them, make mince-meat of them!”</p> + +<p>“Ha, broad-breeches! ye have tried the Polish sabres?”</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen, don’t shout like little boys, for the prisoners +will think that this is your first war,” said Skorashevski; “it is a +common thing to take prisoners in time of war.”</p> + +<p>The volunteers who belonged to the party looked with pride on the +nobles who overwhelmed them with questions: “How was it? Did they +surrender easily? Had you to sweat over them? Do they fight well?”</p> + +<p>“They are good fellows,” said Rosinski, “they defended themselves well; +but they are not iron,—a sabre cuts them.”</p> + +<p>“So they couldn’t resist you, could they?”</p> + +<p>“They could not resist the impetus.”</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen, do you hear what is said,—they could not resist +the impetus. Well, what does that mean? Impetus is the main thing.”</p> + +<p>“Remember if only there is impetus!—that is the best method against +the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>If at that moment those nobles had been commanded to rush at the enemy, +surely impetus would not have been lacking; but it was well into the +night when the sound of a trumpet was heard before the forepost. A +trumpeter arrived with a letter from Wittemberg summoning the nobles to +surrender. The crowds hearing of this wanted to cut the messenger to +pieces; but the voevodas took the letter into consideration, though the +substance of it was insolent.</p> + +<p>The Swedish general announced that Karl Gustav sent his troops to his +relative Yan Kazimir, as reinforcements against the Cossacks, that +therefore the people of Great Poland should yield without resistance. +Pan Grudzinski on reading this letter could not restrain his +indignation, and struck the table with his fist; but the voevoda of +Poznan quieted him at once with the question,—</p> + +<p>“Do you believe in victory? How many days can we defend ourselves? Do +you wish to take the responsibility for so much noble blood which may +be shed to-morrow?”</p> + +<p>After a long deliberation it was decided not to answer, and to wait for +what would happen. They did not wait long. On Saturday, July 24, the +pickets announced that the whole Swedish army had appeared before Pila. +There was as much bustle in camp as in a beehive on the eve of +swarming.</p> + +<p>The nobles mounted their horses; the voevodas hurried along the ranks, +giving contradictory commands till Vladyslav Skorashevski took +everything in hand; and when he had established order he rode out at +the head of a few hundred volunteers to try skirmishing beyond the +river and accustom the men to look at the enemy.</p> + +<p>The cavalry went with him willingly enough, for skirmishing consisted +generally of struggles carried on by small groups or singly, and such +struggles the nobles trained to sword exercise did not fear at all. +They went out therefore beyond the river, and stood before the enemy, +who approached nearer and nearer, and blackened with a long line the +horizon, as if a grove had grown freshly from the ground. Regiments of +cavalry and infantry deployed, occupying more and more space.</p> + +<p>The nobles expected that skirmishers on horseback might rush against +them at any moment. So far they were not to be seen; but on the low +hills a few hundred yards distant small groups halted, in which were to +be seen men and horses, and they began to turn around on the place. +Seeing this, Skorashevski commanded without delay, “To the left! to the +rear!”</p> + +<p>But the voice of command had not yet ceased to sound when on the hills +long white curls of smoke bloomed forth, and as it were birds of some +kind flew past with a whistle among the nobles; then a report shook the +air, and at the same moment were heard cries and groans of a few +wounded.</p> + +<p>“Halt!” cried Skorashevski.</p> + +<p>The birds flew past a second and a third time; again groans accompanied +the whistle. The nobles did not listen to the command of the chief, but +retreated at increased speed, shouting, and calling for the aid of +heaven. Then the division scattered, in the twinkle of an eye, over the +plain, and rushed on a gallop to the camp. Skorashevski was cursing, +but that did no good.</p> + +<p>Wittemberg, having dispersed the skirmishers so easily, pushed on +farther, till at last he stood in front of Uistsie, straight before the +trenches defended by the nobles of Kalish. The Polish guns began to +play, but at first no answer was made from the Swedish side. The smoke +fell away quietly in the clear air in long streaks stretching between +the armies, and in the spaces between them the nobles saw the Swedish +regiments, infantry and cavalry, deploying with terrible coolness as if +certain of victory.</p> + +<p>On the hills the cannon were fixed, trenches raised; in a word, the +enemy came into order without paying the least attention to the balls +which, without reaching them, merely scattered sand and earth on the +men working in the trenches.</p> + +<p>Pan Skshetuski led out once more two squadrons of the men of Kalish, +wishing by a bold attack to confuse the Swedes. But they did not go +willingly; the division fell at once into a disorderly crowd, for when +the most daring urged their horses forward the most cowardly held +theirs back on purpose. Two regiments of cavalry sent by Wittemberg +drove the nobles from the field after a short struggle, and pursued +them to the camp. Now dusk came, and put an end to the bloodless +strife.</p> + +<p>There was firing from cannon till night, when firing ceased; but such a +tumult rose in the Polish camp that it was heard on the other bank of +the Notets. It rose first for the reason that a few hundred of the +general militia tried to slip away in the darkness. Others, seeing +this, began to threaten and detain them. Sabres were drawn. The words +“Either all or none” flew again from mouth to mouth. At every moment it +seemed most likely that all would go. Great dissatisfaction burst out +against the leaders: “They sent us with naked breasts against cannon,” +cried the militia.</p> + +<p>They were enraged in like degree against Wittemberg, because without +regard to the customs of war he had not sent skirmishers against +skirmishers, but had ordered to fire on them unexpectedly from cannon. +“Every one will do for himself what is best,” said they; “but it is the +custom of a swinish people not to meet face to face.” Others were in +open despair. “They will smoke us out of this place like badgers out of +a hole,” said they. “The camp is badly planned, the trenches are badly +made, the place is not fitted for defence.” From time to time voices +were heard: “Save yourselves, brothers!” Still others cried: “Treason! +treason!”</p> + +<p>That was a terrible night: confusion and relaxation increased every +moment; no one listened to commands. The voevodas lost their heads, and +did not even try to restore order; and the imbecility of the general +militia appeared as clearly as on the palm of the hand. Wittemberg +might have taken the camp by assault on that night with the greatest +ease.</p> + +<p>Dawn came. The day broke pale, cloudy, and lighted a chaotic gathering +of people fallen in courage, lamenting, and the greater number drunk, +more ready for shame than for battle. To complete the misfortune, the +Swedes had crossed the Notets at Dzyembovo and surrounded the Polish +camp.</p> + +<p>At that side there were scarcely any trenches, and there was nothing +from behind which they could defend themselves. They should have raised +breastworks without delay. Skorashevski and Skshetuski had implored to +have this done, but no one would listen to anything.</p> + +<p>The leaders and the nobles had one word on their lips, “Negotiate!” Men +were sent out to parley. In answer there came from the Swedish camp a +brilliant party, at the head of which rode Radzeyovski and General +Wirtz, both with green branches.</p> + +<p>They rode to the house in which the voevoda of Poznan was living; but +on the way Radzeyovski stopped amid the crowd of nobles, bowed with the +branch, with his hat, laughed, greeted his acquaintances, and said in a +piercing voice,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen, dearest brothers, be not alarmed! Not as enemies +do we come. On you it depends whether a drop of blood more will be +shed. If you wish instead of a tyrant who is encroaching on your +liberties, who is planning for absolute power, who has brought the +country to final destruction,—if you wish, I repeat, a good ruler, a +noble one, a warrior of such boundless glory that at bare mention of +his name all the enemies of the Commonwealth will flee,—give +yourselves under the protection of the most serene Karl Gustav. +Gracious gentlemen, dearest brothers, behold, I bring to you the +guarantee of all your liberties, of your freedom, of your religion. On +yourselves your salvation depends. Gracious gentlemen, the most serene +Swedish king undertakes to quell the Cossack rebellion, to finish the +war in Lithuania; and only he can do that. Take pity on the unfortunate +country if you have no pity on yourselves.”</p> + +<p>Here the voice of the traitor quivered as if stopped by tears. The +nobles listened with astonishment; here and there scattered voices +cried, “Vivat Radzeyovski, our vice-chancellor!” He rode farther, and +again bowed to new throngs, and again was heard his trumpet-like voice: +“Gracious gentlemen, dearest brothers!” And at last he and Wirtz with +the whole retinue vanished in the house of the voevoda of Poznan.</p> + +<p>The nobles crowded so closely before the house that it would have been +possible to ride on their heads, for they felt and understood that +there in that house men were deciding the question not only of them but +of the whole country. The servants of the voevodas, in scarlet colors, +came out and began to invite the more important personages to the +council. They entered quickly, and after them burst in a few of the +smaller; but the rest remained at the door, they pressed to the +windows, put their ears even to the walls.</p> + +<p>A deep silence reigned in the throng. Those standing nearest the +windows heard from time to time the sound of shrill voices from within +the chamber, as it were the echo of quarrels, disputes, and fights. +Hour followed hour, and no end to the council.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the doors wore thrown open with a crash, and out burst +Vladyslav Skorashevski. Those present pushed back in astonishment. That +man, usually so calm and mild, of whom it was said that wounds might be +healed under his hand, had that moment a terrible face. His eyes were +red, his look wild, his clothing torn open on his breast; both hands +were grasping his hair, and he rushed out like a thunderbolt among the +nobles, and cried with a piercing voice,—</p> + +<p>“Treason! murder! shame! We are Sweden now, and Poland no longer!”</p> + +<p>He began to roar with an awful voice, with a spasmodic cry, and to tear +his hair like a man who is losing his reason. A silence of the grave +reigned all around. A certain fearful foreboding seized all hearts.</p> + +<p>Skorashevski sprang away quickly, began to run among the nobles and cry +with a voice of the greatest despair: “To arms, to arms, whoso believes +in God! To arms, to arms!”</p> + +<p>Then certain murmurs began to fly through the throngs,—certain +momentary whispers, sudden and broken, like the first beatings of the +wind before a storm. Hearts hesitated, minds hesitated, and in that +universal distraction of feelings the tragic voice was calling +continually, “To arms, to arms!”</p> + +<p>Soon two other voices joined his,—those of Pyotr Skorashevski and +Stanislav Shshetuski. After them ran up Klodzinski, the gallant captain +of the district of Pozpan. An increasing circle of nobles began to +surround them. A threatening murmur was heard round about; flames ran +over the faces and shot out of the eyes; sabres rattled. Vladyslav +Skorashevski mastered the first transport, and began to speak, pointing +to the house in which the council was being held,—</p> + +<p>“Do you hear, gracious gentlemen? They are selling the country there +like Judases, and disgracing it. Do you know that we belong to Poland +no longer? It was not enough for them to give into the hands of the +enemy all of you,—camp, army, cannon. Would they were killed! They +have affirmed with their own signatures and in your names that we +abjure our ties with the country, that we abjure our king; that the +whole land—towns, towers, and we all—shall belong forever to Sweden. +That an army surrenders happens, but who has the right to renounce his +country and his king? Who has the right to tear away a province, to +join strangers, to go over to another people, to renounce his own +blood? Gracious gentlemen, this is disgrace, treason, murder, +parricide! Save the fatherland, brothers! In God’s name, whoever is a +noble, whoever has virtue, let him save our mother. Let us give our +lives, let us shed our blood! We do not want to be Swedes; we do not, +we do not! Would that he had never been born who will spare his blood +now! Let us rescue our mother!”</p> + +<p>“Treason!” cried several hundred voices, “treason! Let us cut them to +pieces.”</p> + +<p>“Join us, whoever has virtue!” cried Skshetuski.</p> + +<p>“Against the Swedes till death!” added Klodzinski.</p> + +<p>And they went along farther in the camp, shouting: “Join us! Assemble! +There is treason!” and after them moved now several hundred nobles with +drawn sabres.</p> + +<p>But an immense majority remained in their places; and of those who +followed some, seeing that they were not many, began to look around and +stand still.</p> + +<p>Now the door of the council-house was thrown open, and in it appeared +the voevoda of Poznan, Pan Opalinski, having on his right side General +Wirtz, and on the left Radzeyovski. After them came Andrei Grudzinski, +voevoda of Kalisk; Myaskovski, castellan of Kryvinsk; Gembitski, +castellan of Myendzyrechka, and Andrei Slupski.</p> + +<p>Pan Opalinski had in his hand a parchment with seals appended; he held +his head erect, but his face was pale and his look uncertain, though +evidently he was trying to be joyful. He took in with his glance the +crowds, and in the midst of a deathlike silence began to speak with a +piercing though somewhat hoarse voice,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen, this day we have put ourselves under the +protection of the most serene King of Sweden. Vivat Carolus Gustavus +Rex!”</p> + +<p>Silence gave answer to the voevoda; suddenly some loud voice thundered, +“Veto!”</p> + +<p>The voevoda turned his eyes in the direction of the voice and said: +“This is not a provincial diet, therefore a veto is not in place. And +whoever wishes to veto let him go against the Swedish cannon turned +upon us, which in one hour could make of this camp a pile of ruins.”</p> + +<p>Then he was silent, and after a while inquired, “Who said Veto?”</p> + +<p>No one answered.</p> + +<p>The voevoda again raised his voice, and began still more emphatically: +“All the liberties of the nobles and the clergy will be maintained; +taxes will not be increased, and will be collected in the same manner +as hitherto; no man will suffer wrongs or robbery. The armies of his +royal Majesty have not the right to quarter on the property of nobles +nor to other exactions, unless to such as the quota of the Polish +squadrons enjoy.”</p> + +<p>Here he was silent, and heard an anxious murmur of the nobles, as if +they wished to understand his meaning; then he beckoned with his hand.</p> + +<p>“Besides this, we have the word and promise of General Wirtz, given in +the name of his royal Majesty, that if the whole country will follow +our saving example, the Swedish armies will move promptly into +Lithuania and the Ukraine, and will not cease to war until all the +lands and all the fortresses of the Commonwealth are won back. Vivat +Carolus Gustavus Rex!”</p> + +<p>“Vivat Carolus Gustavus Rex!” cried hundreds of voices. “Vivat Carolus +Gustavus Rex!” thundered still more loudly in the whole camp.</p> + +<p>Here, before the eyes of all, the voevoda of Poznan turned to +Radzeyovski and embraced him heartily; then he embraced Wirtz; then all +began to embrace one another. The nobles followed the example of the +dignitaries, and joy became universal. They gave vivats so loud that +the echoes thundered throughout the whole region. But the voevoda of +Poznan begged yet the beloved brotherhood for a moment of quiet, and +said in a tone of cordiality,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen! General Wittemberg invites us today to a feast in +his camp, so that at the goblets a brotherly alliance may be concluded +with a manful people.”</p> + +<p>“Vivat Wittemberg! vivat! vivat! vivat!”</p> + +<p>“And after that, gracious gentlemen,” added the voevoda, “let us go to +our homes, and with the assistance of God let us begin the harvest with +the thought that on this day we have saved the fatherland.”</p> + +<p>“Coming ages will render us justice,” said Radzeyovski.</p> + +<p>“Amen!” finished the voevoda of Poznan.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile he saw that the eyes of many nobles were gazing at and +scanning something above his head. He turned and saw his own jester, +who, holding with one hand to the frame above the door, was writing +with a coal on the wall of the council-house over the door: “Mene +Tekel-Peres.”<a name="div2Ref_15" href="#div2_15"><sup>[15]</sup></a></p> + +<p>In the world the heavens were covered with clouds, and a tempest was +coming.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p>In the district of Lukovo, on the edge of Podlyasye, stood the village +of Bujets, owned by the Skshetuskis. In a garden between the mansion +and a pond an old man was sitting on a bench; and at his feet were two +little boys,—one five, the other four years old,—dark and sunburned +as gypsies, but rosy and healthy. The old man, still fresh, seemed as +sturdy as an aurochs. Age had not bent his broad shoulders; from +his eyes—or rather from his eye, for he had one covered with a +cataract—beamed health and good-humor; he had a white beard, but a +look of strength and a ruddy face, ornamented on the forehead with a +broad scar, through which his skull-bone was visible.</p> + +<p>The little boys, holding the straps of his boot-leg, were pulling in +opposite directions; but he was gazing at the pond, which gleamed with +the rays of the sun,—at the pond, in which fish were springing up +frequently, breaking the smooth surface of the water.</p> + +<p>“The fish are dancing,” muttered he to himself. “Never fear, ye will +dance still better when the floodgate is open, or when the cook is +scratching you with a knife.” Then he turned to the little boys: “Get +away from my boot-leg, for when I catch one of your ears, I’ll pull it +off. Just like mad horse-flies! Go and roll balls there on the grass +and let me alone! I do not wonder at Longinek, for he is young; but +Yaremka ought to have sense by this time. Ah, torments! I’ll take one +of you and throw him into the pond.”</p> + +<p>But it was clear that the old man was in terrible subjection to the +boys, for neither had the least fear of his threats; on the contrary, +Yaremka, the elder, began to pull the boot-leg still harder, bracing +his feet and repeating,—</p> + +<p>“Oh, Grandfather, be Bogun and steal away Longinek.”</p> + +<p>“Be off, thou beetle, I say, thou rogue, thou cheese-roll!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Grandfather, be Bogun!”</p> + +<p>“I’ll give thee Bogun; wait till I call thy mother!”</p> + +<p>Yaremka looked toward the door leading from the house to the garden, +but finding it closed, and seeing no sign of his mother, he repeated +the third time, pouting, “Grandfather, be Bogun!”</p> + +<p>“Ah, they will kill me, the rogues; it cannot be otherwise. Well, I’ll +be Bogun, but only once. Oh, it is a punishment of God! Mind ye do not +plague me again!”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, the old man groaned a little, raised himself +from the bench, then suddenly grabbed little Longinek, and giving out +loud shouts, began to carry him off in the direction of the pond.</p> + +<p>Longinek, however, had a valiant defender in his brother, who on such +occasions did not call himself Yaremka, but Pan Michael Volodyovski, +captain of dragoons.</p> + +<p>Pan Michael, then, armed with a basswood club, which took the place of +a sabre in this sudden emergency, ran swiftly after the bulky Bogun, +soon caught up with him, and began to beat him on the legs without +mercy.</p> + +<p>Longinek, playing the rôle of his mamma, made an uproar, Bogun made an +uproar, Yaremka-Volodyovski made an uproar; but valor at last overcame +even Bogun, who, dropping his victim, began to make his way back to the +linden-tree. At last he reached the bench, fell upon it, panting +terribly and repeating,—</p> + +<p>“Ah, ye little stumps! It will be a wonder if I do not suffocate.”</p> + +<p>But the end of his torment had not come yet, for a moment later Yaremka +stood before him with a ruddy face, floating hair, and distended +nostrils, like a brisk young falcon, and began to repeat with greater +energy,—</p> + +<p>“Grandfather, be Bogun!”</p> + +<p>After much teasing and a solemn promise given to the two boys that this +would surely be the last time, the story was repeated in all its +details; then they sat three in a row on the bench and Yaremka began,—</p> + +<p>“Oh, Grandfather, tell who was the bravest.”</p> + +<p>“Thou, thou!” said the old man.</p> + +<p>“And shall I grow up to be a knight?”</p> + +<p>“Surely thou wilt, for there is good soldier blood in thee. God grant +thee to be like thy father; for if brave thou wilt not tease so +much—understand me?”</p> + +<p>“Tell how many men has Papa killed?”</p> + +<p>“It’s little if I have told thee a hundred times! Easier for thee to +count the leaves on this linden-tree than all the enemies which thy +father and I have destroyed. If I had as many hairs on my head as I +myself have put down, the barbers in Lukovsk would make fortunes just +in shaving my temples. I am a rogue if I li—”</p> + +<p>Here Pan Zagloba—for it was he—saw that it did not become him to +adjure or swear before little boys, though in the absence of other +listeners he loved to tell even the children of his former triumphs; he +grew silent this time especially because the fish had begun to spring +up in the pond with redoubled activity.</p> + +<p>“We must tell the gardener,” said he, “to set the net for the night; a +great many fine fish are crowding right up to the bank.”</p> + +<p>Now that door of the house which led into the garden opened, and +in it appeared a woman beautiful as the midday sun, tall, firm, +black-haired, with bloom on her brunette face, and eyes like velvet. A +third boy, three years old, dark as an agate ball, hung to her skirt. +She, shading her eyes with her hand, looked in the direction of the +linden-tree. This was Pani Helena Skshetuski, of the princely house of +Bulyga-Kurtsevich.</p> + +<p>Seeing Pan Zagloba with Yaremka and Longinek under the tree, she went +forward a few steps toward the ditch, full of water, and called: “Come +here, boys! Surely you are plaguing Grandfather?”</p> + +<p>“How plague me! They have acted nicely all the time,” said the old man.</p> + +<p>The boys ran to their mother; but she asked Zagloba, “What will Father +drink to-day,—dembniak or mead?”</p> + +<p>“We had pork for dinner; mead will be best.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll send it this minute; but Father must not fall asleep in the air, +for fever is sure to come.”</p> + +<p>“It is warm to-day, and there is no wind. But where is Yan, Daughter?”</p> + +<p>“He has gone to the barns.”</p> + +<p>Pani Skshetuski called Zagloba father, and he called her daughter, +though they were in no way related. Her family dwelt beyond the +Dnieper, in the former domains of Vishnyevetski; and as to him God +alone knew his origin, for he told various tales about it himself. But +Zagloba had rendered famous services to Pani Skshetuski when she was +still a maiden, and he had rescued her from terrible dangers; therefore +she and her husband treated him as a father, and in the whole region +about he was honored beyond measure by all, as well for his inventive +mind as for the uncommon bravery of which he had given many proofs in +various wars, especially in those against the Cossacks. His name was +known in the whole Commonwealth. The king himself was enamored of his +stories and wit; and in general he was more spoken of than even Pan +Skshetuski, though the latter in his time had burst through besieged +Zbaraj and all the Cossack armies.</p> + +<p>Soon after Pani Skshetuski had gone into the house a boy brought a +decanter and glass to the linden-tree. Zagloba poured out some mead, +then closed his eyes and began to try it diligently.</p> + +<p>“The Lord God knew why he created bees,” said he, with a nasal mutter. +And he fell to drinking slowly, drawing deep breaths at the same time, +while gazing at the pond and beyond the pond, away to the dark and blue +pine-woods stretching as far as the eye could reach on the other side. +The time was past one in the afternoon, and the heavens were cloudless. +The blossoms of the linden were falling noiselessly to the earth, and +on the tree among the leaves were buzzing a whole choir of bees, which +soon began to settle on the edge of the glass and gather the sweet +fluid on their shaggy legs.</p> + +<p>Above the great pond, from the far-off reeds obscured by the haze of +distance, rose from time to time flocks of ducks, teal, or wild geese, +and moved away swiftly in the blue ether like black crosses; sometimes +a row of cranes looked dark high in the air, and gave out a shrill cry. +With these exceptions all around was quiet, calm, sunny, and gladsome, +as is usual in the first days of August, when the grain has ripened, +and the sun is scattering as it were gold upon the earth.</p> + +<p>The eyes of the old man were raised now to the sky, following the +flocks of birds, and now they were lost in the distance, growing more +and more drowsy, as the mead in the decanter decreased; his lids became +heavier and heavier,—the bees buzzed their song in various tones as if +on purpose for his after-dinner slumber.</p> + +<p>“True, true, the Lord God has given beautiful weather for the harvest,” +muttered Zagloba. “The hay is well gathered in, the harvest will be +finished in a breath. Yes, yes—”</p> + +<p>Here he closed his eyes, then opened them again for a moment, muttered +once more, “The boys have tormented me,” and fell asleep in earnest.</p> + +<p>He slept rather long, but after a certain time he was roused by a light +breath of cooler air, together with the conversation and steps of two +men drawing near the tree rapidly. One of them was Yan Skshetuski, the +hero of Zbaraj, who about a month before had returned from the hetmans +in the Ukraine to cure a stubborn fever; Pan Zagloba did not know the +other, though in stature and form and even in features he resembled Yan +greatly.</p> + +<p>“I present to you, dear father,” said Yan, “my cousin Pan Stanislav +Skshetuski, the captain of Kalish.”</p> + +<p>“You are so much like Yan,” answered Zagloba, blinking and shaking the +remnants of sleep from his eyelids, “that had I met you anywhere I +should have said at once, ‘Skshetuski!’ Hei, what a guest in the +house!”</p> + +<p>“It is dear to me to make your acquaintance, my benefactor,” answered +Stanislav, “the more since the name is well known to me, for the +knighthood of the whole Commonwealth repeat it with respect and mention +it as an example.”</p> + +<p>“Without praising myself, I did what I could, while I felt strength in +my bones. And even now one would like to taste of war, for <i>consuetudo +altera natura</i> (habit is a second nature). But why, gentlemen, are you +so anxious, so that Yan’s face is pale?”</p> + +<p>“Stanislav has brought dreadful news,” answered Yan. “The Swedes have +entered Great Poland, and occupied it entirely.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba sprang from the bench as if forty years had dropped from him, +opened wide his eyes, and began involuntarily to feel at his side, as +if he were looking for a sabre.</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked he, “how is that? Have they occupied all of it?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, for the voevoda of Poznan and others at Uistsie have given it +into the hands of the enemy,” answered Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake! What do I hear? Have they surrendered?”</p> + +<p>“Not only have they surrendered, but they have signed a compact +renouncing the King and the Commonwealth. Henceforth Sweden, not +Poland, is to be there.”</p> + +<p>“By the mercy of God, by the wounds of the Crucified! Is the world +coming to an end? What do I hear! Yesterday Yan and I were speaking of +this danger from Sweden, for news had come that they were marching; but +we were both confident that it would end in nothing, or at most in the +renunciation of the title of King of Sweden by our lord, Yan Kazimir.”</p> + +<p>“But it has begun with the loss of a province, and will end with God +knows what.”</p> + +<p>“Stop, for the blood will boil over in me! How was it? And you were at +Uistsie and saw all this with your own eyes? That was simply treason +the most villanous, unheard of in history.”</p> + +<p>“I was there and looked on, and whether it was treason you will decide +when you hear all. We were at Uistsie, the general militia and the land +infantry, fifteen thousand men in all, and we formed our lines on the +Notets <i>ab incursione hostili</i> (against hostile invasion). True the +army was small, and as an experienced soldier you know best whether the +place of regular troops can be filled by general militia, especially +that of Great Poland, where the nobles have grown notably unused to +war. Still, if a leader had been found, they might have shown +opposition to the enemy in old fashion, and at least detained them till +the Commonwealth could find reinforcements. But hardly had Wittemberg +shown himself when negotiations were begun before a drop of blood had +been shed. Then Radzeyovski came up, and with his persuasions brought +about what I have said,—that is, misfortune and disgrace, the like of +which has not been hitherto.”</p> + +<p>“How was that? Did no one resist, did no one protest? Did no one hurl +treason in the eyes of those scoundrels? Did all agree to betray the +country and the king?”</p> + +<p>“Virtue is perishing, and with it the Commonwealth, for nearly all +agreed. I, the two Skorashevskis, Pan Tsisvitski, and Pan Klodzinski +did what we could to rouse a spirit of resistance among the nobles. Pan +Vladyslav Skorashevski went almost frantic. We flew through the camp +from the men of one district to those of another, and God knows there +was no beseeching that we did not use. But what good was it when the +majority chose to go in bonds to the banquet which Wittemberg promised, +rather than with sabres to battle? Seeing that the best went in every +direction,—some to their homes, others to Warsaw,—the Skorashevskis +went to Warsaw, and will bring the first news to the king; but I, +having neither wife nor children, came here to my cousin, with the idea +that we might go together against the enemy. It was fortunate that I +found you at home.”</p> + +<p>“Then you are directly from Uistsie?”</p> + +<p>“Directly. I rested on the road only as much as my horses needed, and +as it was I drove one of them to death. The Swedes must be in Poznan at +present, and thence they will quickly spread over the whole country.”</p> + +<p>Here all grew silent. Yan sat with his palms on his knees, his eyes +fixed on the ground, and he was thinking gloomily. Pan Stanislav +sighed; and Zagloba, not having recovered, looked with a staring +glance, now on one, now on the other.</p> + +<p>“Those are evil signs,” said Yan at last, gloomily. “Formerly for ten +victories there came one defeat, and we astonished the world with our +valor. Now not only defeats come, but treason,—not merely of single +persons, but of whole provinces. May God pity the country!”</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake,” said Zagloba, “I have seen much in the world. I can +hear, I can reason, but still belief fails me.”</p> + +<p>“What do you think of doing, Yan?” asked Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“It is certain that I shall not stay at home, though fever is shaking +me yet. It will be necessary to place my wife and children somewhere in +safety. Pan Stabrovski, my relative, is huntsman of the king in the +wilderness of Byalovyej, and lives in Byalovyej. Even if the whole +Commonwealth should fall into the power of the enemy, they would not +touch that region. To-morrow I will take my wife and children straight +there.”</p> + +<p>“And that will not be a needless precaution,” said Stanislav; “for +though ’tis far from Great Poland to this place, who knows whether the +flame may not soon seize these regions also?”</p> + +<p>“The nobles must be notified,” said Yan, “to assemble and think of +defence, for here no one has heard anything yet.” Here he turned to +Zagloba: “And, Father, will you go with us, or do you wish to accompany +Helena to the wilderness?”</p> + +<p>“I?” answered Zagloba, “will I go? If my feet had taken root in the +earth, I might not go; but even then I should ask some one to dig me +out. I want to try Swedish flesh again, as a wolf does mutton. Ha! the +rascals, trunk-breeches, long-stockings! The fleas make raids on their +calves, their legs are itching, and they can’t sit at home, but crawl +into foreign lands. I know them, the sons of such a kind, for when I +was under Konyetspolski I worked against them; and, gentlemen, if you +want to know who took Gustavus Adolphus captive, ask the late +Konyetspolski. I’ll say no more! I know them, but they know me too. It +must be that the rogues have heard that Zagloba has grown old. Isn’t +that true? Wait! you’ll see him yet! O Lord! O Lord, all-Powerful! why +hast thou unfenced this unfortunate Commonwealth, so that all the +neighboring swine are running into it now, and they have rooted up +three of the best provinces? What is the condition? Ba! but who is to +blame, if not traitors? The plague did not know whom to take; it took +honest men, but left the traitors. O Lord, send thy pest once more on +the voevoda of Poznan and on him of Kalish, but especially on +Radzeyovski and his whole family. But if ’tis thy will to favor hell +with more inhabitants, send thither all those who signed the pact at +Uistsie. Has Zagloba grown old? has he grown old? You will find out! +Yan, let us consider quickly what to do, for I want to be on +horseback.”</p> + +<p>“Of course we must know whither to go. It is difficult to reach the +hetmans in the Ukraine, for the enemy has cut them off from the +Commonwealth and the road is open only to the Crimea. It is lucky that +the Tartars are on our side this time. According to my head it will be +necessary for us to go to Warsaw to the king, to defend our dear lord.”</p> + +<p>“If there is time,” remarked Stanislav. “The king must collect +squadrons there in haste, and will march on the enemy before we can +come, and perhaps the engagement is already taking place.”</p> + +<p>“And that may be.”</p> + +<p>“Let us go then to Warsaw, if we can go quickly,” said Zagloba. +“Listen, gentlemen! It is true that our names are terrible to the +enemy, but still three of us cannot do much, therefore I should give +this advice: Let us summon the nobles to volunteer; they will come in +such numbers that we may lead even a small squadron to the king. We +shall persuade them easily, for they must go anyhow when the call comes +for the general militia,—it will be all one to them—and we shall tell +them that whoever volunteers before the call will do an act dear to the +king. With greater power we can do more, and they will receive us (in +Warsaw) with open arms.”</p> + +<p>“Wonder not at my words,” said Pan Stanislav, “but from what I have +seen I feel such a dislike to the general militia that I choose to go +alone rather than with a crowd of men who know nothing of war.”</p> + +<p>“You have no acquaintance with the nobles of this place. Here a man +cannot be found who has not served in the army; all have experience and +are good soldiers.”</p> + +<p>“That may be.”</p> + +<p>“How could it be otherwise? But wait! Yan knows that when once I begin +to work with my head I have no lack of resources. For that reason I +lived in great intimacy with the voevoda of Rus, Prince Yeremi. Let Yan +tell how many times that greatest of warriors followed my advice, and +thereby was each time victorious.”</p> + +<p>“But tell us, Father, what you wish to say, for time is precious.”</p> + +<p>“What I wish to say? This is it: not he defends the country and the +king who holds to the king’s skirts, but he who beats the enemy; and he +beats the enemy best who serves under a great warrior. Why go on +uncertainties to Warsaw, when the king himself may have gone to Cracow, +to Lvoff or Lithuania? My advice is to put ourselves at once under the +banners of the grand hetman of Lithuania, Prince Yanush Radzivill. He +is an honest man and a soldier. Though they accuse him of pride, he of +a certainty will not surrender to Swedes. He at least is a chief and a +hetman of the right kind. It will be close there, ’tis true, for he is +working against two enemies; but as a recompense we shall see Pan +Michael Volodyovski, who is serving in the Lithuanian quota, and again +we shall be together as in old times. If I do not counsel well, then +let the first Swede take me captive by the sword-strap.”</p> + +<p>“Who knows, who knows?” answered Yan, with animation. “Maybe that will +be the best course.”</p> + +<p>“And besides we shall take Halshka<a name="div2Ref_16" href="#div2_16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> with the children, for we must +go right through the wilderness.”</p> + +<p>“And we shall serve among soldiers, not among militia,” added +Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“And we shall fight, not debate, nor eat chickens and cheese in the +villages.”</p> + +<p>“I see that not only in war, but in council you can hold the first +place,” said Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Well, are you satisfied?”</p> + +<p>“In truth, in truth,” said Yan, “that is the best advice. We shall be +with Michael as before; you will know, Stanislav, the greatest soldier +in the Commonwealth, my true friend, my brother. We will go now to +Halshka, and tell her so that she too may be ready for the road.”</p> + +<p>“Does she know of the war already?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“She knows, she knows, for in her presence Stanislav told about it +first. She is in tears, poor woman! But if I say to her that it is +necessary to go, she will say straightway. Go!”</p> + +<p>“I would start in the morning,” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“We will start in the morning and before daybreak,” said Yan. “You must +be terribly tired after the road, Stanislav, but you will rest before +morning as best you can. I will send horses this evening with trusty +men to Byala, to Lostsi, to Drohichyn and Byelsk, so as to have relays +everywhere. And just beyond Byelsk is the wilderness. Wagons will start +to-day also with supplies. It is too bad to go into the world from the +dear corner, but ’tis God’s will! This is my comfort: I am safe as to +my wife and children, for the wilderness is the best fortress in the +world. Come to the house, gentlemen; it is time for me to prepare for +the journey.”</p> + +<p>They went in. Pan Stanislav, greatly road-weary, had barely taken food +and drink when he went to sleep straightway; but Pan Yan and Zagloba +were busied in preparations. And as there was great order in Pan Yan’s +household the wagons and men started that evening for an all-night +journey, and next morning at daybreak the carriage followed in which +sat Helena with the children and an old maid, a companion. Pan +Stanislav and Pan Yan with five attendants rode on horseback near the +carriage. The whole party pushed forward briskly, for fresh horses were +awaiting them.</p> + +<p>Travelling in this manner and without resting even at night, they +reached Byelsk on the fifth day, and on the sixth they sank in the +wilderness from the side of Hainovshyna.</p> + +<p>They were surrounded at once by the gloom of the gigantic pine-forest, +which at that period occupied a number of tens of square leagues, +joining on one side with an unbroken line the wilderness of Zyelonka +and Rogovsk, and on the other the forests of Prussia.</p> + +<p>No invader had ever trampled with a hoof those dark depths in which a +man who knew them not might go astray and wander till he dropped from +exhaustion or fell a prey to ravenous beasts. In the night were heard +the bellowing of the aurochs, the growling of bears, with the howling +of wolves and the hoarse screams of panthers. Uncertain roads led +through thickets or clean-trunked trees, along fallen timber, swamps, +and terrible stagnant lakes to the scattered villages of guards, +pitch-burners, and hunters, who in many cases did not leave the +wilderness all their lives. To Byalovyej itself a broader way led, +continued by the Suha road, over which the kings went to hunt. By that +road also the Skshetuskis came from the direction of Byelsk and +Hainovshyna.</p> + +<p>Pan Stabrovski, chief-hunter of the king, was an old hermit and +bachelor, who like an aurochs stayed always in the wilderness. He +received the visitors with open arms, and almost smothered the children +with kisses. He lived with beaters-in, never seeing the face of a noble +unless when the king went to hunt. He had the management of all hunting +matters and all the pitch-making of the wilderness. He was greatly +disturbed by news of the war, of which he heard first from Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>Often did it happen in the Commonwealth that war broke out or the king +died and no news came to the wilderness; the chief-hunter alone brought +news when he returned from the treasurer of Lithuania, to whom he was +obliged to render account of his management of the wilderness each +year.</p> + +<p>“It will be dreary here, dreary,” said Stabrovski to Helena, “but safe +as nowhere else in the world. No enemy will break through these walls, +and even if he should try the beaters-in would shoot down all his men. +It would be easier to conquer the whole Commonwealth—which may God not +permit!—than the wilderness. I have been living here twenty years, and +even I do not know it all, for there are places where it is impossible +to go, where only wild beasts live and perhaps evil spirits have their +dwelling, from whom men are preserved by the sound of church-bells. But +we live according to God’s law, for in the village there is a chapel to +which a priest from Byelsk comes once a year. You will be here as if in +heaven, if tedium does not weary you. As a recompense there is no lack +of firewood.”</p> + +<p>Pan Yan was glad in his whole soul that he had found for his wife such +a refuge; but Pan Stabrovski tried in vain to delay him awhile and +entertain him.</p> + +<p>Halting only one night, the cavaliers resumed at daybreak their journey +across the wilderness. They were led through the forest labyrinths by +guides whom the hunter sent with them.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p>When Pan Skshetuski with his cousin Stanislav and Zagloba, after a +toilsome journey from the wilderness, came at last to Upita, Pan +Volodyovski went almost wild from delight, especially since he had long +had no news of them; he thought that Yan was with a squadron of the +king which he commanded under the hetmans in the Ukraine.</p> + +<p>Pan Michael took them in turn by the shoulders, and after he had +pressed them once he pressed them again and rubbed his hands. When they +told him of their wish to serve under Radzivill, he rejoiced still more +at the thought that they would not separate soon.</p> + +<p>“Praise God that we shall be together, old comrades of Zbaraj!” said +he. “A man has greater desire for war when he feels friends near him.”</p> + +<p>“That was my idea,” said Zagloba; “for they wanted to fly to the king. +But I said, ‘Why not remember old times with Pan Michael? If God will +give us such fortune as he did with Cossacks and the Tartars, we shall +soon have more than one Swede on our conscience.’”</p> + +<p>“God inspired you with that thought,” said Pan Michael.</p> + +<p>“But it is a wonder to me,” added Yan, “how you know already of the +war. Stanislav came to me with the last breath of his horse, and we in +that same fashion rode hither, thinking that we should be first to +announce the misfortune.”</p> + +<p>“The tidings must have come through the Jews,” said Zagloba; “for they +are first to know everything, and there is such communication between +them that if one sneezes in Great Poland in the morning, others will +call to him in the evening from Lithuania and the Ukraine, ‘To thy +health!’”</p> + +<p>“I know not how it was, but we heard of it two days ago,” said Pan +Michael, “and there is a fearful panic here. The first day we did not +credit the news greatly, but on the second no one denied it. I will say +more; before the war came, you would have said that the birds were +singing about it in the air, for suddenly and without cause all began +to speak of war. Our prince voevoda must also have looked for it and +have known something before others, for he was rushing about like a fly +in hot water, and during these last hours he has hastened to Kyedani. +Levies were made at his order two months ago. I assembled men, as did +also Stankyevich and a certain Kmita, the banneret of Orsha, who, as I +hear, has already sent a squadron to Kyedani. Kmita was ready before +the rest of us.”</p> + +<p>“Michael, do you know Prince Radzivill well?” asked Yan.</p> + +<p>“Why should I not know him, when I have passed the whole present +war<a name="div2Ref_17" href="#div2_17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> under his command?”</p> + +<p>“What do you know of his plans? Is he an honest man?”</p> + +<p>“He is a finished warrior; who knows if after the death of Prince +Yeremi he is not the greatest in the Commonwealth? He was defeated in +the last battle, it is true; but against eighteen thousand he had six +thousand men. The treasurer and the voevoda of Vityebsk blame him +terribly for this, saying that with small forces he rushed against such +a disproportionate power to avoid sharing victory with them. God knows +how it was! But he stood up manfully and did not spare his own life. +And I who saw it all, say only this, that if we had had troops and +money enough, not a foot of the enemy would have left the country. So I +think that he will begin at the Swedes more sharply, and will not wait +for them here, but march on Livonia.”</p> + +<p>“Why do you think that?”</p> + +<p>“For two reasons,—first, because he will wish to improve his +reputation, shattered a little after the battle of Tsybihova; and +second, because he loves war.”</p> + +<p>“That is true,” said Zagloba. “I know him, for we were at school +together and I worked out his tasks for him. He was always in love with +war, and therefore liked to keep company with me rather than others, +for I too preferred a horse and a lance to Latin.”</p> + +<p>“It is certain that he is not like the voevoda of Poznan; he is surely +a different kind of man altogether,” said Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski inquired about everything that had taken place at Uistsie, +and tore his hair as he listened to the story. At last, when Pan +Stanislav had finished, he said,—</p> + +<p>“You are right! Our Radzivill is incapable of such deeds. He is as +proud as the devil, and it seems to him that in the whole world there +is not a greater family than the Radzivills. He will not endure +opposition, that is true; and at the treasurer, Pan Gosyevski, an +honest man, he is angry because the latter will not dance when +Radzivill plays. He is displeased also with his Grace the king, because +he did not give him the grand baton of Lithuania soon enough. All true, +as well as this,—that he prefers to live in the dishonorable error of +Calvinism rather than turn to the true faith, that he persecutes +Catholics where he can, that he founds societies of heretics. But as +recompense for this, I will swear that he would rather shed the last +drop of his proud blood than sign a surrender like that at Uistsie. We +shall have war to wade in; for not a scribe, but a warrior, will lead +us.”</p> + +<p>“That’s my play,” said Zagloba, “I want nothing more. Pan Opalinski is +a scribe, and he showed soon what he was good for. They are the meanest +of men! Let but one of them pull a quill out of a goose’s tail and he +thinks straightway that he has swallowed all wisdom. He will say to +others, ‘Son of a such kind,’ and when it comes to the sabre you cannot +find him. When I was young myself, I put rhymes together to captivate +the hearts of fair heads, and I might have made a goat’s horn of Pan +Kohanovski with his silly verses, but later on the soldier nature got +the upper hand.”</p> + +<p>“I will add, too,” continued Volodyovski, “that the nobles will soon +move hither. A crowd of people will come, if only money is not lacking, +for that is most important.”</p> + +<p>“In God’s name I want no general militia!” shouted Pan Stanislav. “Yan +and Pan Zagloba know my sentiments already, and to you I say now that I +would rather be a camp-servant in a regular squadron than hetman over +the entire general militia.”</p> + +<p>“The people here are brave,” answered Volodyovski, “and very skilful. I +have an example from my own levy. I could not receive all who came, and +among those whom I accepted there is not a man who has not served +before. I will show you this squadron, gentlemen, and if you had not +learned from me you would not know that they are not old soldiers. +Every one is tempered and hammered in fire, like an old horseshoe, and +stands in order like a Roman legionary. It will not be so easy for the +Swedes with them, as with the men of Great Poland at Uistsie.”</p> + +<p>“I have hope that God will change everything,” said Pan Yan. “They say +that the Swedes are good soldiers, but still they have never been able +to stand before our regular troops. We have beaten them always,—that +is a matter of trial; we have beaten them even when they were led by +the greatest warrior they have ever had.”</p> + +<p>“In truth I am very curious to know what they can do,” answered +Volodyovski; “and were it not that two other wars are now weighing on +the country, I should not be angry a whit about the Swedes. We have +tried the Turks, the Tartars, the Cossacks, and God knows whom we have +not tried; it is well now to try the Swedes. The only trouble in the +kingdom is that all the troops are occupied with the hetmans in the +Ukraine. But I see already what will happen here. Prince Radzivill will +leave the existing war to the treasurer and full hetman Pan Gosyevski, +and will go himself at the Swedes in earnest. It will be heavy work, it +is true. But we have hope that God will assist us.”</p> + +<p>“Let us go, then, without delay to Kyedani,” said Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“I received an order to have the squadron ready and to appear in +Kyedani myself in three days,” answered Pan Michael. “But I must show +you, gentlemen this last order, for it is clear from it that the prince +is thinking of the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, Volodyovski unlocked a box standing on a bench +under the window, took out a paper folded once, and opening it began to +read:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Colonel Volodyovski</span>:</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Gracious Sir</span>,—We have read with great delight your report that the +squadron is ready and can move to the campaign at any moment. Keep it +ready and alert, for such difficult times are coming as have not been +yet; therefore come yourself as quickly as possible to Kyedani, where +we shall await you with impatience. If any reports come to you, believe +them not till you have heard everything from our lips. We act as God +himself and our conscience command, without reference to what malice +and the ill will of man may invent against us. But at the same time we +console ourselves with this,—that times are coming in which it will be +shown definitely who is a true and real friend of the house of +Radzivill and who even <i>in rebus adversis</i> is willing to serve it. +Kmita, Nyevyarovski, and Stankyevich have brought their squadrons here +already; let yours remain in Upita, for it may be needed there, and it +may have to march to Podlyasye under command of my cousin Prince +Boguslav, who has considerable bodies of our troops under his command +there. Of all this you will learn in detail from our lips; meanwhile we +confide to your loyalty the careful execution of orders, and await you +in Kyedani.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:50%"><span class="sc">Yanush Radzivill</span>,</p> + +<p style="margin-left:45%; text-indent:-15%"><i>Prince in Birji and Dubinki, voevoda of Vilna,<br/> +grand hetman of Lithuania</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Yes, a new war is evident from this letter,” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“And the prince’s statement that he will act as God commands him, means +that he will fight the Swedes,” added Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Still it is a wonder to me,” said Pan Yan, “that he writes about +loyalty to the house of Radzivill, and not to the country, which means +more than the Radzivills, and demands prompter rescue.”</p> + +<p>“That is their lordly manner,” answered Volodyovski; “though that did +not please me either at first, for I too serve the country and not the +Radzivills.”</p> + +<p>“When did you receive this letter?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“This morning, and I wanted to start this afternoon. You will rest +to-night after the journey; to-morrow I shall surely return, and then +we will move with the squadron wherever they command.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps to Podlyasye?” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“To Prince Boguslav,” added Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Prince Boguslav is now in Kyedani,” said Volodyovski. “He is a strange +person, and do you look at him carefully. He is a great warrior and a +still greater knight, but he is not a Pole to the value of a copper. He +wears a foreign dress, and talks German or French altogether; you might +think he was cracking nuts, might listen to him a whole hour, and not +understand a thing.”</p> + +<p>“Prince Boguslav at Berestechko bore himself well,” said Zagloba, “and +brought a good number of German infantry.”</p> + +<p>“Those who know him more intimately do not praise him very highly,” +continued Volodyovski, “for he loves only the Germans and French. It +cannot be otherwise, since he was born of a German mother, the daughter +of the elector of Brandenburg, with whom his late father not only +received no dowry, but, since those small princes (the electors) as may +be seen have poor housekeeping, he had to pay something. But with the +Radzivills it is important to have a vote in the German Empire, of +which they are princes, and therefore they make alliances with the +Germans. Pan Sakovich, an old client of Prince Boguslav, who made him +starosta of Oshmiani, told me about this. He and Pan Nyevyarovski, a +colonel, were abroad with Prince Boguslav in various foreign lands, and +acted always as seconds in his duels.”</p> + +<p>“How many has he fought?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“As many as he has hairs on his head! He cut up various princes greatly +and foreign counts, French and German, for they say that he is very +fiery, brave, and daring, and calls a man out for the least word.”</p> + +<p>Pan Stanislav was roused from his thoughtfulness and said: “I too have +heard of this Prince Boguslav, for it is not far from us to the +elector, with whom he lives continually. I have still in mind how my +father said that when Prince Boguslav’s father married the elector’s +daughter, people complained that such a great house as that of the +Radzivills made an alliance with strangers. But perhaps it happened for +the best; the elector as a relative of the Radzivills ought to be very +friendly now to the Commonwealth, and on him much depends at present. +What you say about their poor housekeeping is not true. It is certain, +however, that if any one were to sell all the possessions of the +Radzivills, he could buy with the price of them the elector and his +whole principality; but the present kurfürst, Friedrich Wilhelm, has +saved no small amount of money, and has twenty thousand very good +troops with whom he might boldly meet the Swedes,—which as a vassal of +the Commonwealth he ought to do if he has God in his heart, and +remembers all the kindness which the Commonwealth has shown his house.”</p> + +<p>“Will he do that?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“It would be black ingratitude and faith-breaking on his part if he did +otherwise,” answered Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“It is hard to count on the gratitude of strangers, and especially of +heretics,” said Zagloba. “I remember this kurfürst of yours when he was +still a stripling. He was always sullen; one would have said that he +was listening to what the devil was whispering in his ear. When I was +in Prussia with the late Konyetspolski, I told the kurfürst that to his +eyes,—for he is a Lutheran, the same as the King of Sweden. God grant +that they make no alliance against the Commonwealth!”</p> + +<p>“Do you know, Michael,” said Pan Yan, suddenly, “I will not rest here; +I will go with you to Kyedani. It is better at this season to travel in +the night, for it is hot in the daytime, and I am eager to escape from +uncertainty. There is resting-time ahead, for surely the prince will +not march to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>“Especially as he has given orders to keep the squadron in Upita,” +answered Pan Michael.</p> + +<p>“You speak well!” cried Zagloba; “I will go too.”</p> + +<p>“Then we will all go together,” said Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“We shall be in Kyedani in the morning,” said Pan Michael, “and on the +road we can sleep sweetly in our saddles.”</p> + +<p>Two hours later, after they had eaten and drunk somewhat, the knights +started on their journey, and before sundown reached Krakin.</p> + +<p>On the road Pan Michael told them about the neighborhood, and the +famous nobles of Lauda, of Kmita, and of all that had happened during a +certain time. He confessed also his love for Panna Billevich, +unrequited as usual.</p> + +<p>“It is well that war is near,” said he, “otherwise I should have +suffered greatly, when I think at times that such is my misfortune, and +that probably I shall die in the single state.”</p> + +<p>“No harm will come to you from that,” said Zagloba, “for it is an +honorable state and pleasing to God. I have resolved to remain in it to +the end of my life. Sometimes I regret that there will be no one to +leave my fame and name to; for though I love Yan’s children as if they +were my own, still the Skshetuskis are not the Zaglobas.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, evil man! You have made this choice with a feeling like that of +the wolf when he vowed not to kill sheep after all his teeth were +gone.”</p> + +<p>“But that is not true,” said Zagloba. “It is not so long, Michael, +since you and I were in Warsaw at the election. At whom were all the +women looking if not at me? Do you not remember how you used to +complain that not one of them was looking at you? But if you have such +a desire for the married state, then be not troubled; your turn will +come too. This seeking is of no use; you will find just when you are +not seeking. This is a time of war, and many good cavaliers perish +every year. Only let this Swedish war continue, the girls will be +alone, and we shall find them in market by the dozen.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps I shall perish too,” said Pan Michael. “I have had enough of +this battering through the world. Never shall I be able to tell you, +gentlemen, what a worthy and beautiful lady Panna Billevich is. And if +it were a man who had loved and petted her in the tenderest way—No! +the devils had to bring this Kmita. It must be that he gave her +something, it cannot be otherwise; for if he had not, surely she would +not have let me go. There, look! Just beyond the hills Vodokty is +visible; but there is no one in the house. She has gone God knows +whither. The bear has his den, the pig his nest, but I have only this +crowbait and this saddle on which I sit.”</p> + +<p>“I see that she has pierced you like a thorn,” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“True, so that when I think of myself or when riding by I see Vodokty, +I grieve still. I wanted to strike out the wedge with a wedge,<a name="div2Ref_18" href="#div2_18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> and +went to Pan Schilling, who has a very comely daughter. Once I saw her +on the road at a distance, and she took my fancy greatly. I went to his +house, and what shall I say, gentlemen? I did not find the father at +home, but the daughter Panna Kahna thought that I was not Pan +Volodyovski, but only Pan Volodyovski’s attendant. I took the affront +so to heart that I have never shown myself there again.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba began to laugh. “God help you, Michael! The whole matter is +this,—you must find a wife of such stature as you are yourself. But +where did that little rogue go to who was in attendance on Princess +Vishnyevetski, and whom the late Pan Podbipienta—God light his +soul!—was to marry? She was just your size, a regular peach-stone, +though her eyes did shine terribly.”</p> + +<p>“That was Anusia Borzabogati,” said Pan Yan. “We were all in love with +her in our time,—Michael too. God knows where she is now!”</p> + +<p>“I might seek her out and comfort her,” said Pan Michael. “When you +mention her it grows warm around my heart. She was a most respectable +girl. Ah, those old days of Lubni were pleasant, but never will they +return. They will not, for never will there be such a chief as our +Prince Yeremi. A man knew that every battle would be followed by +victory. Radzivill was a great warrior, but not such, and men do not +serve him with such heart, for he has not that fatherly love for +soldiers, and does not admit them to confidence, having something about +him of the monarch, though the Vishnyevetskis were not inferior to the +Radzivills.”</p> + +<p>“No matter,” said Pan Yan. “The salvation of the country is in his +hands now, and because he is ready to give his life for it, God bless +him!”</p> + +<p>Thus conversed the old friends, riding along in the night. They called +up old questions at one time; at another they spoke of the grievous +days of the present, in which three wars at once had rolled on the +Commonwealth. Later they repeated “Our Father” and the litany; and when +they had finished, sleep wearied them, and they began to doze and nod +on the saddles.</p> + +<p>The night was clear and warm; the stars twinkled by thousands in the +sky. Dragging on at a walk, they slept sweetly till, when day began to +break. Pan Michael woke.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen, open your eyes; Kyedani is in sight!” cried he.</p> + +<p>“What, where?” asked Zagloba. “Kyedani, where?”</p> + +<p>“Off there! The towers are visible.”</p> + +<p>“A respectable sort of place,” said Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Very considerable,” answered Volodyovski; “and of this you will be +able to convince yourselves better in the daytime.”</p> + +<p>“But is this the inheritance of the prince?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. Formerly it belonged to the Kishkis, from whom the father of the +present prince received it as dowry with Panna Anna Kishki, daughter of +the voevoda of Vityebsk. In all Jmud there is not such a well-ordered +place, for the Radzivills do not admit Jews, save by permission to each +one. The meads here are celebrated.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>“But do people of some politeness live here? What is that immensely +great building on the eminence?”</p> + +<p>“That is the castle just built during the rule of Yanush.”</p> + +<p>“Is it fortified?”</p> + +<p>“No, but it is a lordly residence. It is not fortified, for no enemy +has ever entered these regions since the time of the Knights of the +Cross. That pointed steeple in the middle of the town belongs to the +parish church built by the Knights of the Cross in pagan times; later +it was given to the Calvinists, but the priest Kobylinski won it back +for the Catholics through a lawsuit with Prince Krishtof.”</p> + +<p>“Praise be to God for that!”</p> + +<p>Thus conversing they arrived near the first cottages of the suburbs. +Meanwhile it grew brighter and brighter in the world, and the sun began +to rise. The knights looked with curiosity at the new place, and Pan +Volodyovski continued to speak,—</p> + +<p>“This is Jew street, in which dwell those of the Jews who have +permission to be here. Following this street, one comes to the market. +Oho! people are up already, and beginning to come out of the houses. +See, a crowd of horses before the forges, and attendants not in the +Radzivill colors! There must be some meeting in Kyedani. It is always +full of nobles and high personages here, and sometimes they come from +foreign countries, for this is the capital for heretics from all Jmud, +who under the protection of the Radzivills carry on their sorcery and +superstitious practices. That is the market-square. See what a clock is +on the town-house! There is no better one to this day in Dantzig. And +that which looks like a church with four towers is a Helvetic +(Calvinistic) meeting-house, in which every Sunday they blaspheme God; +and farther on the Lutheran church. You think that the townspeople are +Poles or Lithuanians,—not at all. Real Germans and Scots, but more +Scots. The Scots are splendid infantry, and cut terribly with +battle-axes. The prince has also one Scottish regiment of volunteers of +Kyedani. Ei, how many wagons with packs on the market-square! Surely +there is some meeting. There are no inns in the town; acquaintances +stop with acquaintances, and nobles go to the castle, in which there +are rooms tens of ells long, intended for guests only. There they +entertain, at the prince’s expense, every one honorably, even if for a +year; there are people who stay there all their lives.”</p> + +<p>“It is a wonder to me that lightning has not burned that Calvinistic +meeting-house,” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“But do you not know that that has happened? In the centre between the +four towers was a cap-shaped cupola; on a time such a lightning-flash +struck this cupola that nothing remained of it. In the vault underneath +lies the father of Prince Boguslav, Yanush,—he who joined the mutiny +against Sigismund III. His own haiduk laid open his skull, so that he +died in vain, as he had lived in sin.”</p> + +<p>“But what is that broad building which looks like a walled tent?” asked +Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“That is the paper-mill founded by the prince; and at the side of it is +a printing-office, in which heretical books are printed.”</p> + +<p>“Tfu!” said Zagloba; “a pestilence on this place, where a man draws no +air into his stomach but what is heretical! Lucifer might rule here as +well as Radzivill.”</p> + +<p>“Gracious sir,” answered Volodyovski, “abuse not Radzivill, for perhaps +the country will soon owe its salvation to him.”</p> + +<p>They rode farther in silence, gazing at the town and wondering at its +good order; for the streets were all paved with stone, which was at +that period a novelty.</p> + +<p>After they had ridden through the market-square and the street of the +castle, they saw on an eminence the lordly residence recently built by +Prince Yanush,—not fortified, it is true, but surpassing in size not +only palaces but castles. The great pile was on a height, and looked on +the town lying, as it were, at its feet. From both sides of the main +building extended at right angles two lower wings, which formed a +gigantic courtyard, closed in front with an iron railing fastened with +long links. In the middle of the railing towered a strong walled gate; +on it the arms of the Radzivills and the arms of the town of Kyedani, +representing an eagle’s foot with a black wing on a golden field, and +at the foot a horseshoe with three red crosses. In front of the gate +were sentries and Scottish soldiers keeping guard for show, not for +defence.</p> + +<p>The hour was early, but there was movement already in the yard; for +before the main building a regiment of dragoons in blue jackets and +Swedish helmets was exercising. Just then the long line of men was +motionless, with drawn rapiers; an officer riding in front said +something to the soldiers. Around the line and farther on near the +walls, a number of attendants in various colors gazed at the dragoons, +making remarks and giving opinions to one another.</p> + +<p>“As God is dear to me,” said Pan Michael, “that is Kharlamp drilling +the regiment!”</p> + +<p>“How!” cried Zagloba; “is he the same with whom you were going to fight +a duel at Lipkovo?”</p> + +<p>“The very same; but since that time we have lived in close friendship.”</p> + +<p>“’Tis he,” said Zagloba; “I know him by his nose, which sticks out from +under his helmet. It is well that visors have gone out of fashion, for +that knight could not close any visor; he would need a special +invention for his nose.”</p> + +<p>That moment Pan Kharlamp, seeing Volodyovski, came to him at a trot. +“How are you, Michael?” cried he. “It is well that you have come.”</p> + +<p>“It is better that I meet you first. See, here is Pan Zagloba, whom you +met in Lipkovo—no, before that in Syennitsy; and these are the +Skshetuskis,—Yan, captain of the king’s hussars, the hero of Zbaraj—”</p> + +<p>“I see, then, as God is true, the greatest knight in Poland!” cried +Kharlamp. “With the forehead, with the forehead!”</p> + +<p>“And this is Stanislav Skshetuski, captain of Kalisk, who comes +straight from Uistsie.”</p> + +<p>“From Uistsie? So you saw a terrible disgrace. We know already what has +happened.”</p> + +<p>“It is just because such a thing happened that I have come, hoping that +nothing like it will happen in this place.”</p> + +<p>“You may be certain of that; Radzivill is not Opalinski.”</p> + +<p>“We said the same at Upita yesterday.”</p> + +<p>“I greet you, gentlemen, most joyfully in my own name and that of the +prince. The prince will be glad to see such knights, for he needs them +much. Come with me to the barracks, where my quarters are. You will +need, of course, to change clothes and eat breakfast. I will go with +you, for I have finished the drill.”</p> + +<p>Pan Kharlamp hurried again to the line, and commanded in a quick, clear +voice: “To the left! face—to the rear!”</p> + +<p>Hoofs sounded on the pavement. The line broke into two; the halves +broke again till there were four parts, which began to recede with slow +step in the direction of the barracks.</p> + +<p>“Good soldiers,” said Skshetuski, looking with skilled eye at the +regular movements of the dragoons.</p> + +<p>“Those are petty nobles and attendant boyars who serve in that arm,” +answered Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Oh, you could tell in a moment that they are not militia,” cried Pan +Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“But does Kharlamp command them,” asked Zagloba, “or am I mistaken? I +remember that he served in the light-horse squadron and wore silver +loops.”</p> + +<p>“True,” answered Volodyovski; “but it is a couple of years since he +took the dragoon regiment. He is an old soldier, and trained.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kharlamp, having dismissed the dragoons, returned to the +knights. “I beg you, gentlemen, to follow me. Over there are the +barracks, beyond the castle.”</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the five were sitting over a bowl of heated beer, +well whitened with cream, and were talking about the impending war.</p> + +<p>“And what is to be heard here?” asked Pan Michael.</p> + +<p>“With us something new may be heard every day, for people are lost in +surmises and give out new reports all the time,” said Kharlamp. “But in +truth the prince alone knows what is coming. He has something on his +mind, for though he simulates gladness and is kind to people as never +before, he is terribly thoughtful. In the night, they say, he does not +sleep, but walks with heavy tread through all the chambers, talking +audibly to himself, and in the daytime takes counsel for whole hours +with Harasimovich.”</p> + +<p>“Who is Harasimovich?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“The manager from Zabludovo in Podlyasye,—a man of small stature, who +looks as though he kept the devil under his arm; but he is a +confidential agent of the prince, and probably knows all his secrets. +According to my thinking, from these counsellings a terrible and +vengeful war with Sweden will come, for which war we are all sighing. +Meanwhile letters are flying hither from the Prince of Courland, from +Hovanski, and from the Elector of Brandenburg. Some say that the prince +is negotiating with Moscow to join the league against Sweden; others +say the contrary; but it seems there will be a league with no one, but +a war, as I have said, with these and those. Fresh troops are coming +continually; letters are sent to nobles most faithful to the +Radzivills, asking them to assemble. Every place is full of armed men. +Ei, gentlemen, on whomsoever they put the grain, on him will it be +ground; but we shall have our hands red to the elbows, for when +Radzivill moves to the field, he will not negotiate.”</p> + +<p>“That’s it, that’s it!” said Zagloba, rubbing his palms. “No small +amount of Swedish blood has dried on my hands, and there will be more +of it in future. Not many of those old soldiers are alive yet who +remember me at Putsk and Tjtsianna; but those who are living will never +forget me.”</p> + +<p>“Is Prince Boguslav here?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Of course. Besides him we expect to-day some great guests, for the +upper chambers are made ready, and there is to be a banquet in the +evening. I have my doubts, Michael, whether you will reach the prince +to-day.”</p> + +<p>“He sent for me himself yesterday.”</p> + +<p>“That’s nothing; he is terribly occupied. Besides, I don’t know whether +I can speak of it to you—but in an hour everybody will know of it, +therefore I will tell you—something or another very strange is going +on.”</p> + +<p>“What is it, what is it?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“It must be known to you, gentlemen, that two days ago Pan Yudytski +came, a knight of Malta, of whom you must have heard.”</p> + +<p>“Of course,” said Yan; “he is a great knight.”</p> + +<p>“Immediately after him came the full hetman and treasurer. We were +greatly astonished, for it is known in what rivalry and enmity Pan +Gosyevski is with our prince. Some persons were rejoiced therefore that +harmony had come between the lords, and said that the Swedish invasion +was the real cause of this. I thought so myself; then yesterday the +three shut themselves up in counsel, fastened all the doors, no one +could hear what they were talking about; but Pan Krepshtul, who guarded +the door, told us that their talk was terribly loud, especially the +talk of Pan Gosyevski. Later the prince himself conducted them to their +sleeping-chambers, and in the night—imagine to yourselves” (here +Kharlamp lowered his voice)—“guards were placed at the door of each +chamber.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski sprang up from his seat. “In God’s name! impossible!”</p> + +<p>“But it is true. At the doors of each Scots are standing with muskets, +and they have the order to let no one in or out under pain of death.”</p> + +<p>The knights looked at one another with astonishment; and Kharlamp was +no less astonished at his own words, and looked at his companions with +staring eyes, as if awaiting the explanation of the riddle from them.</p> + +<p>“Does this mean that Pan Gosyevski is arrested? Has the grand hetman +arrested the full hetman?” asked Zagloba; “what does this mean?”</p> + +<p>“As if I know, and Yudytski such a knight!”</p> + +<p>“But the officers of the prince must speak with one another about it +and guess at causes. Have you heard nothing?”</p> + +<p>“I asked Harasimovich last night.”</p> + +<p>“What did he say?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“He would explain nothing, but he put his finger on his mouth and said, +‘They are traitors!’”</p> + +<p>“How traitors?” cried Volodyovski, seizing his head. “Neither the +treasurer nor Pan Yudytski is a traitor. The whole Commonwealth knows +them as honorable men and patriots.”</p> + +<p>“At present ’tis impossible to have faith in any man,” answered Pan +Stanislav, gloomily. “Did not Pan Opalinski pass for a Cato? Did he not +reproach others with defects, with offences, with selfishness? But when +it came to do something, he was the first to betray, and brought not +only himself, but a whole province to treason.”</p> + +<p>“I will give my head for the treasurer and Pan Yudytski!” cried +Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Do not give your head for any man, Michael dear,” said Zagloba. “They +were not arrested without reason. There must have been some conspiracy; +it cannot be otherwise,—how could it be? The prince is preparing for a +terrible war, and every aid is precious to him. Whom, then, at such a +time can he put under arrest, if not those who stand in the way of war? +If this is so, if these two men have really stood in the way, then +praise be to God that Radzivill has anticipated them. They deserve to +sit under ground. Ah, the scoundrels!—at such a time to practise +tricks, communicate with the enemy, rise against the country, hinder a +great warrior in his undertaking! By the Most Holy Mother, what has met +them is too little, the rascals!”</p> + +<p>“These are wonders,—such wonders that I cannot put them in my head,” +said Kharlamp; “for letting alone that they are such dignitaries, they +are arrested without judgment, without a diet, without the will of the +whole Commonwealth,—a thing which the king himself has not the right +to do.”</p> + +<p>“As true as I live,” cried Pan Michael.</p> + +<p>“It is evident that the prince wants to introduce Roman customs among +us,” said Pan Stanislav, “and become dictator in time of war.”</p> + +<p>“Let him be dictator if he will only beat the Swedes,” said Zagloba; “I +will be the first to vote for his dictatorship.”</p> + +<p>Pan Yan fell to thinking, and after a while said, “Unless he should +wish to become protector, like that English Cromwell who did not +hesitate to raise his sacrilegious hand on his own king.”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense! Cromwell? Cromwell was a heretic!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“But what is the prince voevoda?” asked Pan Yan, seriously.</p> + +<p>At this question all were silent, and considered the dark future for a +time with fear; but Kharlamp looked angry and said,—</p> + +<p>“I have served under the prince from early years, though I am little +younger than he; for in the beginning, when I was still a stripling, he +was my captain, later on he was full hetman, and now he is grand +hetman. I know him better than any one here; I both love and honor him; +therefore I ask you not to compare him with Cromwell, so that I may not +be forced to say something which would not become me as host in this +room.”</p> + +<p>Here Kharlamp began to twitch his mustaches terribly, and to frown a +little at Pan Yan; seeing which, Volodyovski fixed on Kharlamp a cool +and sharp look, as if he wished to say, “Only growl, only growl!”</p> + +<p>Great Mustache took note at once, for he held Volodyovski in unusual +esteem, and besides it was dangerous to get angry with him; therefore +he continued in a far milder tone,—</p> + +<p>“The prince is a Calvinist; but he did not reject the true faith for +errors, for he was born in them. He will never become either a +Cromwell, a Radzeyovski, or an Opalinski, though Kyedani had to sink +through the earth. Not such is his blood, not such his stock.”</p> + +<p>“If he is the devil and has horns on his head,” said Zagloba, “so much +the better, for he will have something to gore the Swedes with.”</p> + +<p>“But that Pan Gosyevski and Pan Yudytski are arrested, well, well!” +said Volodyovski, shaking his head. “The prince is not very amiable to +guests who have confided in him.”</p> + +<p>“What do you say, Michael?” answered Kharlamp. “He is amiable as he has +never been in his life. He is now a real father to the knights. Think +how some time ago he had always a frown on his forehead, and on his +lips one word, ‘Service.’ A man was more afraid to go near his majesty +than he was to stand before the king; and now he goes every day among +the lieutenants and the officers, converses, asks each one about his +family, his children, his property, calls each man by name, and +inquires if injustice has been done to any one in service. He who among +the highest lords will not own an equal, walked yesterday arm-in-arm +with young Kmita. We could not believe our eyes; for though the family +of Kmita is a great one, he is quite young, and likely many accusations +are weighing on him. Of this you know best.”</p> + +<p>“I know, I know,” replied Volodyovski. “Has Kmita been here long?”</p> + +<p>“He is not here now, for he went yesterday to Cheykishki for a regiment +of infantry stationed there. No one is now in such favor with the +prince as Kmita. When he was going away the prince looked after him +awhile and said, ‘That man is equal to anything, and is ready to seize +the devil himself by the tail if I tell him!’ We heard this with our +own ears. It is true that Kmita brought a squadron that has not an +equal in the whole army,—men and horses like dragons!”</p> + +<p>“There is no use in talking, he is a valiant soldier, and in truth +ready for everything,” said Pan Michael. “He performed wonders in the +last campaign, till a price was set on his head, for he led volunteers +and carried on war himself.”</p> + +<p>Further conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a new figure. +This was a noble about forty years of age, small, dry, alert, wriggling +like a mud-fish, with a small face, very thin lips, a scant mustache, +and very crooked eyes. He was dressed in a ticking-coat, with such long +sleeves that they covered his hands completely. When he had entered he +bent double, then he straightened himself as suddenly as if moved by a +spring, again he inclined with a low bow, turned his head as if he were +taking it out of his own armpits, and began to speak hurriedly in a +voice which recalled the squeaking of a rusty weather-cock,—</p> + +<p>“With the forehead, Pan Kharlamp, with the forehead. Ah! with the +forehead, Pan Colonel, most abject servant!”</p> + +<p>“With the forehead, Pan Harasimovich,” answered Kharlamp; “and what is +your wish?”</p> + +<p>“God gave guests, distinguished guests. I came to offer my services and +to inquire their rank.”</p> + +<p>“Did they come to you, Pan Harasimovich?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly not to me, for I am not worthy of that; but because I take +the place of the absent marshal. I have come to greet them profoundly.”</p> + +<p>“It is far from you to the marshal,” said Kharlamp; “for he is +a personage with inherited land, while you with permission are +under-starosta of Zabludovo.”</p> + +<p>“A servant of the servants of Radzivill. That is true, Pan Kharlamp, I +make no denial; God preserve me therefrom. But since the prince has +heard of the guests, he has sent me to inquire who they are; therefore +you will answer, Pan Kharlamp, if I were even a haiduk and not the +under-starosta of Zabludovo.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I would answer even a monkey if he were to come with an order,” +said Big Nose. “Listen now, and calk these names into yourself if your +head is not able to hold them. This is Pan Skshetuski, that hero of +Zbaraj; and this is his cousin Stanislav.”</p> + +<p>“Great God! what do I hear?” cried Harasimovich.</p> + +<p>“This is Pan Zagloba.”</p> + +<p>“Great God! what do I hear?”</p> + +<p>“If you are so confused at hearing my name,” said Zagloba, “think of +the confusion of the enemy in the field.”</p> + +<p>“And this is Colonel Volodyovski,” finished Kharlamp.</p> + +<p>“And he has a famous sabre, and besides is a Radzivill man.” said +Harasimovich, with a bow. “The prince’s head is splitting from labor; +but still he will find time for such knights, surely he will find it. +Meanwhile with what can you be served? The whole castle is at the +service of such welcome guests, and the cellars as well.”</p> + +<p>“We have heard of the famous meads of Kyedani,” said Zagloba, +hurriedly.</p> + +<p>“Indeed!” answered Harasimovich, “there are glorious meads in Kyedani, +glorious. I will send some hither for you to choose from right away. I +hope that my benefactors will stay here long.”</p> + +<p>“We have come hither,” said Pan Stanislav, “not to leave the side of +the prince.”</p> + +<p>“Praiseworthy is your intention, the more so that trying times are at +hand.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, Harasimovich wriggled and became as small as if +an ell had been taken from his stature.</p> + +<p>“What is to be heard?” asked Kharlamp. “Is there any news?”</p> + +<p>“The prince has not closed an eye all night, for two envoys have come. +Evil are the tidings, increasingly evil. Karl Gustav has already +entered the Commonwealth after Wittemberg; Poznan is now occupied, all +Great Poland is occupied, Mazovia will be occupied soon; the Swedes are +in Lovich, right at Warsaw. Our king has fled from Warsaw, which he +left undefended. To-day or to-morrow the Swedes will enter. They say +that the king has lost a considerable battle, that he thinks of +escaping to Cracow, and thence to foreign lands to ask aid. Evil, +gracious gentlemen, my benefactors! Though there are some who say that +it is well; for the Swedes commit no violence, observe agreements +sacredly, collect no imposts, respect liberties, do not hinder the +faith. Therefore all accept the protection of Karl Gustav willingly. +For our king, Yan Kazimir, is at fault, greatly at fault. All is lost, +lost for him! One would like to weep, but all is lost, lost!”</p> + +<p>“Why the devil do you wriggle like a mudfish going to the pot,” howled +Zagloba, “and speak of a misfortune as if you were glad of it?”</p> + +<p>Harasimovich pretended not to hear, and raising his eyes to heaven he +repeated yet a number of times: “All is lost, lost for the ages! The +Commonwealth cannot stand against three wars. Lost! The will of God, +the will of God! Our prince alone can save Lithuania.”</p> + +<p>The ill-omened words had not yet ceased to sound when Harasimovich +vanished behind the door as quickly as if he had sunk through the +earth, and the knights sat in gloom bent by the weight of terrible +thoughts.</p> + +<p>“We shall go mad!” cried Volodyovski at last.</p> + +<p>“You are right,” said Stanislav. “God give war, war at the +earliest,—war in which a man does not ruin himself in thinking, nor +yield his soul to despair, but fights.”</p> + +<p>“We shall regret the first period of Hmelnitski’s war,” said Zagloba; +“for though there were defeats then, there were no traitors.”</p> + +<p>“Three such terrible wars, when in fact there is a lack of forces for +one,” said Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Not a lack of forces, but of spirit. The country is perishing through +viciousness. God grant us to live to something better!” said Pan Yan, +gloomily.</p> + +<p>“We shall not rest till we are in the field,” said Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“If we can only see this prince soon!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>Their wishes were accomplished directly; for after an hour’s time +Harasimovich came again, with still lower bows, and with the +announcement that the prince was waiting anxiously to see them.</p> + +<p>They sprang up at once, for they had already changed uniforms, and +went. Harasimovich, in conducting them from the barracks, passed +through the courtyard, which was full of soldiers and nobles. In some +places they were conversing in crowds, evidently over the same news +which the under-starosta of Zabludovo had brought the knights. On all +faces were depicted lively alarm and a certain feverish expectation. +Isolated groups of officers and nobles were listening to the speakers, +who standing in the midst of them gesticulated violently. On the way +were heard the words: “Vilna is burning, Vilna is burned!—No trace of +it, nor the ashes! Warsaw is taken!—Untrue, not taken yet!—The Swedes +are in Little Poland! The people of Syeradz will resist!—They will not +resist, they will follow the example of Great Poland!—Treason! +misfortune! O God, God! It is unknown where to put sabre or hand!”</p> + +<p>Such words as these, more and more terrible, struck the ears of the +knights; but they went on pushing after Harasimovich through the +soldiers and nobles with difficulty. In places acquaintances greeted +Volodyovski: “How is your health, Michael? ’Tis evil with us; we are +perishing! With the forehead, brave Colonel! And what guests are these +whom you are taking to the prince?” Pan Michael answered not, wishing +to escape delay; and in this fashion they went to the main body of the +castle, in which the janissaries of the prince, in chain-mail and +gigantic white caps, were on guard.</p> + +<p>In the antechamber and on the main staircase, set around with +orange-trees, the throng was still greater than in the courtyard. They +were discussing there the arrest of Gosyevski and Yudytski; for the +affair had become known, and roused the minds of men to the utmost. +They were astonished and lost in surmises, they were indignant or +praised the foresight of the prince; but all hoped to hear the +explanation of the riddle from Radzivill himself, therefore a river of +heads was flowing along the broad staircase up to the hall of audience, +in which at that time the prince was to receive colonels and the most +intimate nobility. Soldiers disposed along the stone banisters to see +that the throng was not too dense, repeated, from moment to moment, +“Slowly, gracious gentlemen, slowly!” And the crowd pushed forward or +halted for a moment, when a soldier stopped the way with a halbert so +that those in front might have time to enter the hall.</p> + +<p>At last the blue vaultings of the hall gleamed before the open door, +and our acquaintances entered. Their glances fell first on an +elevation, placed in the depth of the hall, occupied by a brilliant +retinue of knights and lords in rich, many-colored dresses. In front +stood an empty arm-chair, pushed forward beyond the others. This chair +had a lofty back, ending with the gilded coronet of the prince, from +beneath which flowed downward orange-colored velvet trimmed with +ermine.</p> + +<p>The prince was not in the hall yet; but Harasimovich, conducting the +knights without interruption, pushed through the nobility till he +reached a small door concealed in the wall at the side of the +elevation. There he directed them to remain, and disappeared through +the door.</p> + +<p>After a while he returned with the announcement that the prince asked +them to enter.</p> + +<p>The two Skshetuskis, with Zagloba and Volodyovski, entered a small but +very well-lighted room, having walls covered with leather stamped in +flowers, which were gilded. The officers halted on seeing in the depth +of the room, at a table covered with papers, two men conversing +intently. One of them, still young, dressed in foreign fashion, wearing +a wig with long locks falling to his shoulders, whispered something in +the ear of his elder companion; the latter heard him with frowning +brow, and nodded from time to time. So much was he occupied with the +subject of the conversation that he did not turn attention at once to +those who had entered.</p> + +<p>He was a man somewhat beyond forty years, of gigantic stature and great +shoulders. He wore a scarlet Polish coat, fastened at the neck with +costly brooches. He had an enormous face, with features expressing +pride, importance, and power. It was at once the face of an angry lion, +of a warrior, and a ruler. Long pendent mustaches lent it a stern +expression, and altogether in its strength and size it was as if struck +out of marble with great blows of a hammer. The brows were at that +moment frowning from intense thought; but it could easily be seen that +when they were frowning from anger, woe to those men and those armies +on whom the thunders of that anger should fall.</p> + +<p>There was something so great in the form that it seemed to those +knights that not only the room, but the whole castle was too narrow for +it; in fact, their first impression had not deceived them, for sitting +in their presence was Yanush Radzivill, prince at Birji and Dubinki, +voevoda of Vilna and grand hetman of Lithuania,—a man so powerful and +proud that in all his immense estates, in all his dignities, nay, in +Jmud and in Lithuania itself, it was too narrow for him.</p> + +<p>The younger man in the long wig and foreign dress was Prince Boguslav, +the cousin of Yanush. After a while he whispered something more in the +ear of the hetman, and at last said audibly,—</p> + +<p>“I will leave, then, my signature on the document and go.”</p> + +<p>“Since it cannot be otherwise, go,” said Yanush, “though I would that +you remained, for it is unknown what may happen.”</p> + +<p>“You have planned everything properly; henceforth it is needful to look +carefully to the cause, and now I commit you to God.”</p> + +<p>“May the Lord have in care our whole house and bring it praise.”</p> + +<p>“Adieu, mon frère.”</p> + +<p>“Adieu.”</p> + +<p>The two princes shook hands; then Boguslav went out hurriedly, and the +grand hetman turned to the visitors.</p> + +<p>“Pardon me, gentlemen, that I let you wait,” said he, with a low, +deliberate voice; “but now time and attention are snatched from us on +every side. I have heard your names, and rejoice in my soul that God +sent me such knights in this crisis. Be seated, dear guests. Who of you +is Pan Yan Skshetuski?”</p> + +<p>“I am, at the service of your highness.”</p> + +<p>“Then you are a starosta—pardon me, I forgot.”</p> + +<p>“I am not a starosta,” answered Yan.</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked the prince, frowning with his two mighty brows; +“they have not made you a starosta for what you did at Zbaraj?”</p> + +<p>“I have never asked for the office.”</p> + +<p>“But they should have made you starosta without the asking. How is +this? What do you tell me? You rewarded with nothing, forgotten +entirely? This is a wonder to me. But I am talking at random. It should +astonish no man; for in these days only he is rewarded who has the back +of a willow, light-bending. You are not a starosta, upon my word! +Thanks be to God that you have come hither, for here we have not such +short memories, and no service remains unrewarded. How is it with you, +worthy Colonel Volodyovski?”</p> + +<p>“I have earned nothing yet.”</p> + +<p>“Leave that to me, and now take this document, drawn up in Rossyeni, by +which I give you Dydkyemie for life. It is not a bad piece of land, and +a hundred ploughs go out to work there every spring. Take even that, +for I cannot give more, and tell Pan Skshetuski that Radzivill does not +forget his friends, nor those who give their service to the country +under his leadership.”</p> + +<p>“Your princely highness!” stammered Pan Michael, in confusion.</p> + +<p>“Say nothing, and pardon that it is so small; but tell these gentlemen +that he who joins his fortune for good and ill with that of Radzivill +will not perish. I am not king; but if I were, God is my witness that I +would never forget such a Yan Skshetuski or such a Zagloba.”</p> + +<p>“That is I!” said Zagloba, pushing himself forward sharply, for he had +begun to be impatient that there was no mention of him.</p> + +<p>“I thought it was you, for I have been told that you were a man of +advanced years.”</p> + +<p>“I went to school in company with your highness’s worthy father; and +there was such knightly impulse in him from childhood that he took me +to his confidence, for I loved the lance before Latin.”</p> + +<p>To Pan Stanislav, who knew Zagloba less, it was strange to hear +this, since only the day before, Zagloba said in Upita that he had +gone to school, not with the late Prince Kryshtof, but with Yanush +himself,—which was unlikely, for Prince Yanush was notably younger.</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” said the prince; “so then you are from Lithuania by family?”</p> + +<p>“From Lithuania!” answered Zagloba, without hesitation.</p> + +<p>“Then I know that you need no reward, for we Lithuanians are used to be +fed with ingratitude. As God is true, if I should give you your +deserts, gentlemen, there would be nothing left for myself. But such is +fate! We give our blood, lives, fortunes, and no one nods a head to us. +Ah! ’tis hard; but as they sow will they reap. That is what God and +justice command. It is you who slew the famous Burlai and cut off three +heads at a blow in Zbaraj?”</p> + +<p>“I slew Burlai, your highness,” answered Zagloba, “for it was said that +no man could stand before him. I wished therefore to show younger +warriors that manhood was not extinct in the Commonwealth. But as to +cutting off the three heads, it may be that I did that in the thick of +battle; but in Zbaraj some one else did it.”</p> + +<p>The prince was silent awhile, then continued: “Does not that contempt +pain you, gentlemen, with which they pay you?”</p> + +<p>“What is to be done, your highness, even if it is disagreeable to a +man?” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Well, comfort yourselves, for that must change. I am already your +debtor, since you have come here; and though I am not king, still with +me it will not end with promises.”</p> + +<p>“Your princely highness,” said Pan Yan, quickly and somewhat proudly, +“we have come hither not for rewards and estates, but because the enemy +has invaded the country, and we wish to go with our strength to assist +it under the leadership of a famous warrior. My cousin Stanislav saw at +Uistsie fear, disorder, shame, treason, and finally the enemy’s +triumph. Here under a great leader and a faithful defender of our +country and king we will serve. Here not victories, not triumphs, but +defeats and death await the enemy. This is why we have come to offer +our service to your highness. We are soldiers; we want to fight, and +are impatient for battle.”</p> + +<p>“If such is your desire, you will be satisfied,” answered the prince, +with importance. “You will not wait long, though at first we shall +march on another enemy, for the ashes of Vilna demand vengeance. To-day +or to-morrow we shall march in that direction, and God grant will +redeem the wrongs with interest. I will not detain you longer, +gentlemen; you need rest, and work is burning me. But come in the +evening to the hall; maybe some proper entertainment will take place +before the march, for a great number of fair heads have assembled under +our protection at Kyedani before the war. Worthy Colonel Volodyovski, +entertain these welcome guests as if in your own house, and remember +that what is mine is yours. Pan Harasimovich, tell my brother nobles +assembled in the hall, that I will not go out, for I have not the time, +and this evening they will learn everything that they wish to know. Be +in good health, gentlemen, and be friends of Radzivill, for that is +greatly important for him now.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, that mighty and proud lord gave his hand in turn +to Zagloba, the two Skshetuskis, Volodyovski, and Kharlamp, as if to +equals. His stern face grew radiant with a cordial and friendly smile, +and that inaccessibleness usually surrounding him as with a dark cloud +vanished completely.</p> + +<p>“That is a leader, that is a warrior!” said Stanislav, when on the +return they had pushed themselves through the throng of nobles +assembled in the audience-hall.</p> + +<p>“I would go into fire after him!” cried Zagloba. “Did you notice how he +had all my exploits in his memory? It will be hot for the Swedes when +that lion roars, and I second him. There is not another such man in the +Commonwealth; and of the former men only Prince Yeremi first, and +second Konyetspolski, the father, might be compared with him. That is +not some mere castellan, the first of his family to sit in a senator’s +chair, on which he has not yet smoothed out the wrinkles of his +trousers, and still turns up his nose and calls the nobles younger +brothers, and gives orders right away to paint his portrait, so that +while dining he may have his senatorship before him, since he has +nothing to look at behind. Pan Michael, you have come to fortune. It is +evident now that if a man rubs against Radzivill he will gild at once +his threadbare coat. It is easier to get promotion here, I see, than a +quart of rotten pears with us. Stick your hands into the water in this +place, and with closed eyes you will catch a pike. For me he is the +magnate of magnates! God give you luck, Pan Michael! You are as +confused as a young woman just married; but that is nothing! What is +the name of your life estate? Dudkovo, or something? Heathen names in +this country! Throw nuts against the wall, and you will have in the +rattling the proper name of a village or noble. But names are nothing +if the income is only good.”</p> + +<p>“I am terribly confused, I confess,” said Pan Michael, “because what +you say about easy promotion is not true. More than once have I heard +old soldiers charge the prince with avarice, but now unexpected favors +are showered one after the other.”</p> + +<p>“Stick that document behind your belt,—do that for me,—and if any one +in future complains of the thanklessness of the prince, draw it out and +give it to him on the nose. You will not find a better argument.”</p> + +<p>“One thing I see clearly: the prince is attracting people to his +person, and is forming plans for which he needs help.” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“But have you not heard of those plans?” asked Zagloba. “Has he not +said that we have to go to avenge the ashes of Vilna? They complained +that he had robbed Vilna, but he wants to show that he not only does +not need other people’s property, but is ready to give of his own. That +is a beautiful ambition, Yan, God give us more of such senators.”</p> + +<p>Conversing thus, they found themselves in the courtyard, to which every +moment rode in now divisions of mounted troops, now crowds of armed +nobles, and now carriages rolled in, bringing persons from the country +around, with their wives and children.</p> + +<p>Seeing this, Pan Michael drew all with him to the gate to look at those +entering.</p> + +<p>“Who knows, Michael, this is your fortunate day? Maybe there is a wife +for you among these nobles’ daughters,” said Zagloba. “Look! see, there +an open carriage is approaching, and in it something white is sitting.”</p> + +<p>“That is not a lady, but a man who may marry me to one,” answered the +swift-eyed Volodyovski; for from a distance he recognized the bishop +Parchevski, coming with Father Byalozor, archdeacon of Vilna.</p> + +<p>“If they are priests, how are they visiting a Calvinist?”</p> + +<p>“What is to be done? When it’s necessary for public affairs, they must +be polite.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, it is crowded here! Oh, it is noisy!” cried Zagloba, with delight. +“A man grows rusty in the country, like an old key in a lock; here I +think of better times. I’m a rascal if I don’t make love to some pretty +girl to-day.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba’s words were interrupted by the soldiers keeping guard at the +gate, who rushing out from their booths stood in two ranks to salute +the bishop; and he rode past, making the sign of the cross with his +hand on each side, blessing the soldiers and the nobles assembled near +by.</p> + +<p>“The prince is a polite man,” said Zagloba, “since he honors the +bishop, though he does not recognize the supremacy of the Church. God +grant this to be the first step toward conversion!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, nothing will come of it! Not few were the efforts of his first +wife, and she accomplished nothing, only died from vexation. But why do +the Scots not leave the line? It is evident that another dignitary will +pass.”</p> + +<p>In fact, a whole retinue of armed soldiers appeared in the distance.</p> + +<p>“Those are Ganhoff’s dragoons,—I know them,” said Volodyovski; “but +some carriages are in the middle!”</p> + +<p>At that moment the drums began to rattle.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it is evident that some one greater than the bishop of Jmud is +there!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Wait, they are here already.”</p> + +<p>“There are two carriages in the middle.”</p> + +<p>“True. In the first sits Pan Korf, the voevoda of Venden.”</p> + +<p>“Of course!” cried Pan Yan; “that is an acquaintance from Zbaraj.”</p> + +<p>The voevoda recognized them, and first Volodyovski, whom he had +evidently seen oftener; in passing he leaned from the carriage and +cried,—</p> + +<p>“I greet you, gentlemen, old comrades! See, I bring guests!”</p> + +<p>In the second carriage, with the arms of Prince Yanush, drawn by four +white horses, sat two gentlemen of lordly mien, dressed in foreign +fashion, in broad-brimmed hats, from under which the blond curls of +wigs flowed to their shoulders over wide lace collars. One was very +portly, wore a pointed light-blond beard, and mustaches bushy and +turned up at the ends; the other was younger, dressed wholly in black. +He had a less knightly form, but perhaps a higher office, for a gold +chain glittered on his neck, with some order at the end. Apparently +both were foreigners, for they looked with curiosity at the castle, the +people, and the dresses.</p> + +<p>“What sort of devils?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“I do not know them, I have never seen them,” answered Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the carriages passed, and began to turn in the yard so as to +reach the main entrance of the castle, but the dragoons remained +outside the gate. Volodyovski knew the officer leading them.</p> + +<p>“Tokarzevich!” called he, “come to us, please.”</p> + +<p>“With the forehead, worthy Colonel.”</p> + +<p>“And what kind of hedgehogs are you bringing?”</p> + +<p>“Those are Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“Swedes!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, and men of distinction. The portly one is Count Löwenhaupt, and +the slender man is Benedikt Schitte, Baron von Duderhoff.”</p> + +<p>“Duderhoff?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“What do they want here?” inquired Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“God knows!” answered the officer. “We escorted them from Birji. +Undoubtedly they have come to negotiate with our prince, for we heard +in Birji that he is assembling a great army and is going to move on +Livonia.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, rascals! you are growing timid,” cried Zagloba. “Now you are +invading Great Poland, now you are deposing the king, and now you are +paying court to Radzivill, so that he should not tickle you in Livonia. +Wait! you will run away to your Dunderhoff till your stockings are +down. We’ll soon dunder with you. Long life to Radzivill!”</p> + +<p>“Long life!” repeated the nobles, standing near the gate.</p> + +<p>“Defender of the country! Our shield! Against the Swedes, worthy +gentlemen, against the Swedes!”</p> + +<p>A circle was formed. Every moment nobles collected from the yard; +seeing which, Zagloba sprang on the low guard-post of the gate, and +began to cry,—</p> + +<p>“Worthy gentlemen, listen! Whoso does not know me, to him I will say +that I am that defender of Zbaraj who with this old hand slew Burlai, +the greatest hetman after Hmelnitski; whoso has not heard of Zagloba +was shelling peas, it is clear, in the first period of the Cossack war, +or feeling hens (for eggs), or herding calves,—labors which I do not +connect with such honorable cavaliers as you.”</p> + +<p>“He is a great knight!” called numerous voices. “There is no greater in +the Commonwealth! Hear!”</p> + +<p>“Listen, honorable gentlemen. My old bones craved repose; better for me +to rest in the bakehouse, to eat cheese and cream, to walk in the +gardens and gather apples, or putting my hands behind my back to stand +over harvesters or pat a girl on the shoulder. And it is certain that +for the enemy it would have been better to leave me at rest; for the +Swedes and the Cossacks know that I have a very heavy hand, and God +grant that my name is as well known to you, gentlemen, as to the +enemy.”</p> + +<p>“What kind of rooster is that crowing so loud?” asked some voice in the +crowd, suddenly.</p> + +<p>“Don’t interrupt! Would you were dead!” cried others.</p> + +<p>But Zagloba heard him. “Forgive that cockerel, gentlemen,” said he; +“for he knows not yet on which end of him is his tail, nor on which his +head.”</p> + +<p>The nobles burst into mighty laughter, and the confused disturber +pushed quickly behind the crowd, to escape the sneers which came +raining on his head.</p> + +<p>“I return to the subject,” said Zagloba. “I repeat, rest would be +proper for me; but because the country is in a paroxysm, because the +enemy is trampling our land, I am here, worthy gentlemen, with you to +resist the enemy in the name of that mother who nourished us all. Whoso +will not stand by her to-day, whoso will not run to save her, is not a +son, but a step-son; he is unworthy of her love. I, an old man, am +going, let the will of God be done; and if it comes to me to die, with +my last breath will I cry, ‘Against the Swedes! brothers, against the +Swedes!’ Let us swear that we will not drop the sabre from our hands +till we drive them out of the country.”</p> + +<p>“We are ready to do that without oaths!” cried numbers of voices. “We +will go where our hetman the prince leads us; we will go where ’tis +needful.”</p> + +<p>“Worthy brothers, you have seen how two stocking-wearers came here in a +gilded carriage. They know that there is no trifling with Radzivill. +They will follow him from chamber to chamber, and kiss him on the +elbows to give them peace. But the prince, worthy gentlemen, with whom +I have been advising and from whom I have just returned, has assured +me, in the name of all Lithuania, that there will be no negotiations, +no parchments, nothing but war and war!”</p> + +<p>“War! war!” repeated, as an echo, the voices of the hearers.</p> + +<p>“But because the leader,” continued Zagloba, “will begin the more +boldly, the surer he is of his soldiers, let us show him, worthy +gentlemen, our sentiments. And now let us go under the windows of the +prince and shout, ‘Down with the Swedes!’ After me, worthy gentlemen!”</p> + +<p>Then he sprang from the post and moved forward, and after him the +crowd. They came under the very windows with an uproar increasing each +moment, till at last it was mingled in one gigantic shout,—“Down with +the Swedes! down with the Swedes!”</p> + +<p>Immediately Pan Korf, the voevoda of Venden, ran out of the antechamber +greatly confused; after him Ganhoff; and both began to restrain the +nobles, quieting them, begging them to disperse.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake!” said Korf, “in the upper hall the window-panes are +rattling. You gentlemen do not think what an awkward time you have +chosen for your shouting. How can you treat envoys with disrespect, and +give an example of insubordination? Who roused you to this?”</p> + +<p>“I,” said Zagloba. “Your grace, tell the prince, in the name of us all, +that we beg him to be firm, that we are ready to remain with him to the +last drop of our blood.”</p> + +<p>“I thank you, gentlemen, in the name of the hetman, I thank you; but I +beg you to disperse. Consider, worthy gentlemen. By the living God, +consider that you are sinking the country! Whoso insults an envoy +to-day, renders a bear’s service to the Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>“What do we care for envoys! We want to fight, not to negotiate!”</p> + +<p>“Your courage comforts me. The time for fighting will come before long, +God grant very soon. Rest now before the expedition. It is time for a +drink of spirits and lunch. It is bad to fight on an empty stomach.”</p> + +<p>“That is as true as I live!” cried Zagloba, first.</p> + +<p>“True, he struck the right spot. Since the prince knows our sentiments, +we have nothing to do here!”</p> + +<p>And the crowd began to disperse. The greater part flowed on to rooms in +which many tables were already spread. Zagloba sat at the head of one +of them. Pan Korf and Colonel Ganhoff returned then to the prince, who +was sitting at counsel with the Swedish envoys, Bishop Parchevski, +Father Byalozor, Pan Adam Komorovski, and Pan Alexander Myerzeyevski, a +courtier of Yan Kazimir, who was stopping for the time in Kyedani.</p> + +<p>“Who incited that tumult?” asked the prince, from whose lion-like face +anger had not yet disappeared.</p> + +<p>“It was that noble who has just come here, that famous Zagloba,” +answered Pan Korf.</p> + +<p>“That is a brave knight,” said the prince, “but he is beginning to +manage me too soon.”</p> + +<p>Having said this, he beckoned to Colonel Ganhoff and whispered +something in his ear.</p> + +<p>Zagloba meanwhile, delighted with himself, went to the lower halls with +solemn tread, having with him Volodyovski, with Yan and Stanislav +Skshetuski.</p> + +<p>“Well, friends, I have barely appeared and have roused love for the +country in those nobles. It will be easier now for the prince to send +off the envoys with nothing, for all he has to do is to call upon us. +That will not be, I think, without reward, though it is more a question +of honor with me. Why have you halted, Michael, as if turned to stone, +with eyes fixed on that carriage at the gate?”</p> + +<p>“That is she!” said Volodyovski, with twitching mustaches. “By the +living God, that is she herself!”</p> + +<p>“Who?”</p> + +<p>“Panna Billevich.”</p> + +<p>“She who refused you?”</p> + +<p>“The same. Look, gentlemen, look! Might not a man wither away from +regret?”</p> + +<p>“Wait a minute!” said Zagloba, “we must have a closer look.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the carriage, describing a half-circle, approached the +speakers. Sitting in it was a stately noble with gray mustaches, and at +his side Panna Aleksandra; beautiful as ever, calm, and full of +dignity.</p> + +<p>Pan Michael fixed on her a complaining look and bowed low, but she did +not see him in the crowd.</p> + +<p>“That is some lordly child,” said Zagloba, gazing at her fine, noble +features, “too delicate for a soldier. I confess that she is a beauty, +but I prefer one of such kind that for the moment you would ask, ‘Is +that a cannon or a woman?’”</p> + +<p>“Do you know who that is who has just passed?” asked Pan Michael of a +noble standing near.</p> + +<p>“Of course,” answered the noble; “that is Pan Tomash Billevich, +sword-bearer of Rossyeni. All here know him, for he is an old servant +and friend of the Radzivills.”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p>The prince did not show himself to the nobles that day till evening, +for he dined with the envoys and some dignitaries with whom he had held +previous counsel. But orders had come to the colonels to have the +regiments of Radzivill’s guard ready, and especially the infantry under +foreign officers. It smelt of powder in the air. The castle, though not +fortified, was surrounded with troops as if a battle was to be fought +at its walls. Men expected that the campaign would begin on the +following morning at latest; of this there were visible signs, for the +countless servants of the prince were busied with packing into wagons +arms, valuable implements, and the treasury of the prince.</p> + +<p>Harasimovich told the nobles that the wagons would go to Tykotsin in +Podlyasye, for it was dangerous to leave the treasury in the undefended +castle of Kyedani. Military stores were also prepared to be sent after +the army. Reports went out that Gosyevski was arrested because he would +not join his squadrons stationed at Troki with those of Radzivill, thus +exposing the whole expedition to evident destruction. Moreover +preparations for the march, the movement of troops, the rattle of +cannon drawn out of the castle arsenal, and all that turmoil which ever +accompanies the first movements of military expeditions, turned +attention in another direction, and caused the knights to forget the +arrest of Pan Gosyevski and cavalier Yudytski.</p> + +<p>The nobles dining in the immense lower halls attached to the castle +spoke only of the war, of the fire at Vilna, now burning ten days and +burning with ever-growing fury, of news from Warsaw, of the advance of +the Swedes, and of the Swedes themselves, against whom, as against +faith-breakers attacking a neighbor in spite of treaties still valid +for six years, hearts and minds were indignant and souls filled with +rancor. News of swift advances, of the capitulation of Uistsie, of the +occupation of Great Poland and the large towns, of the threatened +invasion of Mazovia and the inevitable capture of Warsaw, not only did +not cause alarm, but on the contrary roused daring and a desire for +battle. This took place since the causes of Swedish success were +evident to all. Hitherto the Swedes had not met a real army once, or a +real leader. Radzivill was the first warrior by profession with whom +they had to measure strength, and who at the same time roused in the +nobility absolute confidence in his military gifts, especially as his +colonels gave assurance that they would conquer the Swedes in the open +field.</p> + +<p>“Their defeat is inevitable!” said Pan Stankyevich, an old and +experienced soldier. “I remember former wars, and I know that they +always defended themselves in castles, in fortified camps, and in +trenches. They never dared to come to the open field, for they feared +cavalry greatly, and when trusting in their numbers they did come out, +they received a proper drilling. It was not victory that gave Great +Poland into their hands, but treason and the imbecility of general +militia.”</p> + +<p>“True,” said Zagloba. “The Swedish people are weak, for their land is +terribly barren, and they have no bread; they grind pine cones, and of +that sort of flour make ash-cakes which smell of resin. Others go to +the seashore and devour whatever the waves throw up, besides fighting +about it as a tidbit. Terrible destitution! so there are no people more +greedy for their neighbors’ goods. Even the Tartars have horse-flesh in +plenty, but these Swedes do not see meat once a year, and are pinched +with hunger unless when a good haul of fish comes.”</p> + +<p>Here Zagloba turned to Stankyevich: “Have you ever made the +acquaintance of the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“Under Prince Krishtof, the father of the present hetman.”</p> + +<p>“And I under Konyetspolski, the father. We gave Gustavus Adolphus many +crushing defeats in Prussia, and took no small number of prisoners; +there I became acquainted with them through and through, and learned +all their methods. Our men wondered at them not a little, for you must +know that the Swedes as a people always wading in water and having +their greatest income from the sea, are divers <i>exquisitissimi</i>. What +would you, gentlemen, say to what we made them do? We would throw one +of the rascals into a hole in the ice, and he would swim out through +another hole with a live herring in his mouth.”</p> + +<p>“In God’s name, what do you tell us?”</p> + +<p>“May I fall down a corpse on this spot if with my own eyes I have not +seen this done at least a hundred times, as well as other wonderful +customs of theirs! I remember also that as soon as they fed on Prussian +bread, they did not want to go home. Pan Stankyevich says truly that +they are not sturdy soldiers. They have infantry which is so-so; but +the cavalry—God pity us! for there are no horses in their country, and +they cannot train themselves to riding from childhood.”</p> + +<p>“Probably we shall not attack them first, but march on Vilna,” said Pan +Shchyt.</p> + +<p>“True, I gave that advice to the prince myself, when he asked what I +thought of this matter,” answered Zagloba. “But when we have finished +with the others,<a name="div2Ref_19" href="#div2_19"><sup>[19]</sup></a> we will go against the Swedes. The envoys upstairs +must be sweating!”</p> + +<p>“They are received politely,” said Pan Zalenski, “but they will not +effect the least thing; the best proof of that is that orders are +issued to the army.”</p> + +<p>“Dear God, dear God!” said Pan Tvarkovski, judge of Rossyeni, “how +alacrity comes with danger! We were well-nigh despairing when we had to +do with one enemy, but now we have two.”</p> + +<p>“Of course,” answered Stankyevich. “It happens not infrequently, that +we let ourselves be beaten till patience is lost, and then in a moment +vigor and daring appear. Is it little that we have suffered, little +endured? We relied on the king and the general militia of the kingdom, +not counting on our own force, till we are in a dilemma; now we must +either defeat both enemies or perish completely.”</p> + +<p>“God will assist us! We have had enough of this delay.”</p> + +<p>“They have put the dagger to our throats.”</p> + +<p>“We too will put it to theirs; we’ll show the kingdom fellows what sort +of soldiers we are! There will be no Uistsie with us, as God is in +heaven!”</p> + +<p>In the measure of the cups, heads became heated, and warlike ardor +increased. At the brink of a precipice the last effort often brings +safety; this was understood by those crowds of soldiers and that +nobility whom so recently Yan Kazimir had called to Grodno with +despairing universals to form the general militia. Now all hearts, all +minds were turned to Radzivill; all lips repeated that terrible name, +which till recently had ever been coupled with victory. In fact, he had +but to collect and move the scattered and drowsy strength of the +country, to stand at the head of a power sufficient to end both wars +with victory.</p> + +<p>After dinner the colonels were summoned to the prince in the following +order: Mirski, lieutenant of the armored squadron of the hetman; and +after him Stankyevich, Ganhoff, Kharlamp, Volodyovski, and Sollohub. +Old soldiers wondered a little that they were asked singly, and not +collectively to counsel; but it was a pleasant surprise, for each came +out with some reward, with some evident proof of the prince’s favor; in +return the prince asked only loyalty and confidence, which all offered +from heart and soul. The hetman asked anxiously also if Kmita had +returned, and ordered that Pan Andrei’s arrival be reported to him.</p> + +<p>Kmita came, but late in the evening, when the hall was lighted and the +guests had begun to assemble. He went first to the barracks to change +his uniform; there he found Volodyovski, and made the acquaintance of +the rest of the company.</p> + +<p>“I am uncommonly glad to see you and your famous friends,” said he, +shaking the hand of the little knight, “as glad as to see a brother! +You may be sure of this, for I am unable to pretend. It is true that +you went through my forehead in evil fashion, but you put me on my feet +afterward, which I shall not forget till death. In presence of all, I +say that had it not been for you I should be at this moment behind the +grating. Would more such men were born! Who thinks differently is a +fool, and may the devil carry me off if I will not clip his ears.”</p> + +<p>“Say no more!”</p> + +<p>“I will follow you into fire, even should I perish. Let any man come +forward who does not believe me!”</p> + +<p>Here Pan Andrei cast a challenging look on the officers. But no one +contradicted him, for all loved and respected Pan Michael; but Zagloba +said,—</p> + +<p>“This is a sulphurous sort of soldier; give him to the hangman! It +seems to me that I shall have a great liking to you for the love you +bear Pan Michael, for I am the man to ask first how worthy he is.”</p> + +<p>“Worthier than any of us!” said Kmita, with his usual abruptness. Then +he looked at the Skshetuskis, at Zagloba, and added: “Pardon me, +gentlemen, I have no wish to offend any one, for I know that you are +honorable men and great knights; be not angry, for I wish to deserve +your friendship.”</p> + +<p>“There is no harm done,” said Pan Yan; “what’s in the heart may come to +the lip.”</p> + +<p>“Let us embrace!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“No need to say such a thing twice to me!”</p> + +<p>They fell into each other’s arms. Then Kmita said, “To-day we must +drink, it cannot be avoided!”</p> + +<p>“No need to say such a thing twice to me!” said Zagloba, like an echo.</p> + +<p>“We’ll slip away early to the barracks, and I’ll make provision.”</p> + +<p>Pan Michael began to twitch his mustaches greatly. “You will have no +great wish to slip out,” thought he, looking at Kmita, “when you see +who is in the hall tonight.” And he opened his mouth to tell Kmita that +the sword-bearer of Rossyeni and Olenka had come; but he grew as it +were faint at heart, and turned the conversation. “Where is your +squadron?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“Here, ready for service. Harasimovich was with me, and brought an +order from the prince to have the men on horseback at midnight. I asked +him if we were all to march; he said not. I know not what it means. Of +other officers some have the same order, others have not. But all the +foreign infantry have received it.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps a part of the army will march to-night and a part in the +morning,” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“In every case I will have a drink here with you, gentlemen. Let the +squadron go on by itself; I can come up with it afterward in an hour.”</p> + +<p>At that moment Harasimovich rushed in. “Serene great mighty banneret of +Orsha!” cried he, bowing in the doorway.</p> + +<p>“What? Is there a fire? I am here!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“To the prince! to the prince!”</p> + +<p>“Straightway, only let me put on my uniform. Boy, my coat and belt, or +I’ll kill thee!”</p> + +<p>The boy brought the rest of the uniform in a twinkle; and a few minutes +later Pan Kmita, arrayed as for a wedding, was hurrying to the prince. +He was radiant, he seemed so splendid. He had a vest of silver brocade +with star-shaped buttons, from which there was a gleam over his whole +figure; the vest was fastened at the neck with a great sapphire. Over +that a coat of blue velvet; a white belt of inestimable value, so thin +that it might be drawn through a finger-ring. A silver-mounted sword +set with sapphires hung from the belt by silk pendants; behind the belt +was thrust the baton, which indicated his office. This dress became the +young knight wonderfully, and it would have been difficult in that +countless throng gathered at Kyedani to find a more shapely man.</p> + +<p>Pan Michael sighed while looking at him; and when Kmita had vanished +beyond the door of the barracks he said to Zagloba, “With a fair head +there is no opposing a man like that.”</p> + +<p>“But take thirty years from me,” answered Zagloba.</p> + +<p>When Kmita entered, the prince also was dressed, attended by two +negroes; he was about to leave the room. The prince and Pan Andrei +remained face to face.</p> + +<p>“God give you health for hurrying!” said the hetman.</p> + +<p>“At the service of your highness.”</p> + +<p>“But the squadron?”</p> + +<p>“According to order.”</p> + +<p>“The men are reliable?”</p> + +<p>“They will go into fire, to hell.”</p> + +<p>“That is good! I need such men,—and such as you, equal to anything. I +repeat continually that on no one more than you do I count.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness, my services cannot equal those of old soldiers; but if +we have to march against the enemy of the country, God sees that I +shall not be in the rear.”</p> + +<p>“I do not diminish the services of the old,” said the prince, “though +there may come such perils, such grievous junctures, that the most +faithful will totter.”</p> + +<p>“May he perish for nothing who deserts the person of your highness in +danger!”</p> + +<p>The prince looked quickly into the face of Kmita. “And you will not +draw back?”</p> + +<p>The young knight flushed. “What do you wish to say, your princely +highness? I have confessed to you all my sins, and the sum of +them is such that I thank only the fatherly heart of your highness +for forgiveness. But in all these sins one is not to be +found,—ingratitude.”</p> + +<p>“Nor disloyalty. You confessed to me as to a father; I not only forgave +you as a father, but I came to love you as that son—whom God has not +given me, for which reason it is often oppressive for me in the world. +Be then a friend to me.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, the prince stretched out his hand. The young +knight seized it, and without hesitation pressed it to his lips.</p> + +<p>They were both silent for a long time; suddenly the prince fixed his +eyes on the eyes of Kmita and said, “Panna Billevich is here!”</p> + +<p>Kmita grew pale, and began to mutter something unintelligible.</p> + +<p>“I sent for her on purpose so that the misunderstanding between you +might be at an end. You will see her at once, as the mourning for her +grandfather is over. To-day, too, though God sees that my head is +bursting from labor, I have spoken with the sword-bearer of Rossyeni.”</p> + +<p>Kmita seized his head. “With what can I repay your highness, with what +can I repay?”</p> + +<p>“I told him emphatically that it is my will that you and she should be +married, and he will not be hostile. I commanded him also to prepare +the maiden for it gradually. We have time. All depends upon you, and I +shall be happy if a reward from my hand goes to you; and God grant you +to await many others, for you must rise high. You have offended because +you are young; but you have won glory not the last in the field, and +all young men are ready to follow you everywhere. As God lives, you +must rise high! Small offices are not for such a family as yours. If +you know, you are a relative of the Kishkis, and my mother was a +Kishki. But you need sedateness; for that, marriage is the best thing. +Take that maiden if she has pleased your heart, and remember who gives +her to you.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness, I shall go wild, I believe! My life, my blood belongs +to your highness. What must I do to thank you,—what? Tell me, command +me!”</p> + +<p>“Return good for good. Have faith in me, have confidence that what I do +I do for the public good. Do not fall away from me when you see the +treason and desertion of others, when malice increases, when—” Here +the prince stopped suddenly.</p> + +<p>“I swear,” said Kmita, with ardor, “and give my word of honor to remain +by the person of your highness, my leader, father, and benefactor, to +my last breath.”</p> + +<p>Then Kmita looked with eyes full of fire at the prince, and was alarmed +at the change which had suddenly come over him. His face was purple, +the veins swollen, drops of sweat were hanging thickly on his lofty +forehead, and his eyes cast an unusual gleam.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter, your highness?” asked the knight, unquietly.</p> + +<p>“Nothing! nothing!”</p> + +<p>Radzivill rose, moved with hurried step to a kneeling desk, and taking +from it a crucifix, said with powerful, smothered voice, “Swear on this +cross that you will not leave me till death.”</p> + +<p>In spite of all his readiness and ardor, Kmita looked for a while at +him with astonishment.</p> + +<p>“On this passion of Christ, swear!” insisted the hetman.</p> + +<p>“On this passion of Christ, I swear!” said Kmita, placing his finger on +the crucifix.</p> + +<p>“Amen!” said the prince, with solemn voice.</p> + +<p>An echo in the lofty chamber repeated somewhere under the arch, “Amen,” +and a long silence followed. There was to be heard only the breathing +of the powerful breast of Radzivill. Kmita did not remove from the +hetman his astonished eyes.</p> + +<p>“Now you are mine,” said the prince, at last.</p> + +<p>“I have always belonged to your highness,” answered the young knight, +hastily; “but be pleased to explain to me what is passing. Why does +your highness doubt? Or does anything threaten your person? Has any +treason, have any machinations been discovered?”</p> + +<p>“The time of trial is approaching,” said the prince, gloomily, “and as +to enemies do you not know that Pan Gosyevski, Pan Yudytski, and the +voevoda of Vityebsk would be glad to bury me in the bottom of the pit? +This is the case! The enemies of my house increase, treason spreads, +and public defeats threaten. Therefore, I say, the hour of trial draws +near.”</p> + +<p>Kmita was silent; but the last words of the prince did not disperse the +darkness which had settled around his mind, and he asked himself in +vain what could threaten at that moment the powerful Radzivill. For he +stood at the head of greater forces than ever. In Kyedani itself and in +the neighborhood there were so many troops that if the prince had such +power before he marched to Shklov the fortune of the whole war would +have come out differently beyond doubt.</p> + +<p>Gosyevski and Yudytski were, it is true, ill-wishers, but he had both +in his hands and under guard, and as to the voevoda of Vityebsk he was +too virtuous a man, too good a citizen to give cause for fear of any +opposition or machinations from his side on the eve of a new expedition +against enemies.</p> + +<p>“God knows I understand nothing!” cried Kmita, being unable in general +to restrain his thoughts.</p> + +<p>“You will understand all to-day,” said Radzivill, calmly. “Now let us +go to the hall.”</p> + +<p>And taking the young colonel by the arm, he turned with him toward the +door. They passed through a number of rooms. From a distance out of the +immense hall came the sound of the orchestra, which was directed by a +Frenchman brought on purpose by Prince Boguslav. They were playing a +minuet which at that time was danced at the French court. The mild +tones were blended with the sound of many voices. Prince Radzivill +halted and listened.</p> + +<p>“God grant,” said he, after a moment, “that all these guests whom I +have received under my roof will not pass to my enemies to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” said Kmita, “I hope that there are no Swedish +adherents among them.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill quivered and halted suddenly.</p> + +<p>“What do you wish to say?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing, worthy prince, but that honorable soldiers are rejoicing +there.”</p> + +<p>“Let us go on. Time will show, and God will decide who is honorable. +Let us go!”</p> + +<p>At the door itself stood twenty pages,—splendid lads, dressed in +feathers and satin. Seeing the hetman, they formed in two lines. When +the prince came near, he asked, “Has her princely highness entered the +hall?”</p> + +<p>“She has, your highness.”</p> + +<p>“And the envoys?”</p> + +<p>“They are here also.”</p> + +<p>“Open!”</p> + +<p>Both halves of the door opened in the twinkle of an eye; a flood of +light poured in and illuminated the gigantic form of the hetman, who +having behind him Kmita and the pages, went toward the elevation on +which were placed chairs for the most distinguished guests.</p> + +<p>A movement began in the hall; at once all eyes were turned to the +prince, and one shout was wrested from hundreds of breasts: “Long live +Radzivill! long live! Long live the hetman! long live!”</p> + +<p>The prince bowed with head and hand, then began to greet the guests +assembled on the elevation, who rose the moment he entered. Among the +best known, besides the princess herself, were the two Swedish envoys, +the envoy of Moscow, the voevoda of Venden, Bishop Parchevski, the +priest Byalozor, Pan Komorovski, Pan Myerzeyevski, Pan Hlebovich, +starosta of Jmud, brother-in-law of the hetman, a young Pats, Colonel +Ganhoff, Colonel Mirski, Weisenhoff, the envoy of the Prince of +Courland, and ladies in the suite of the princess.</p> + +<p>The hetman, as was proper for a welcoming host, began by greeting the +envoys, with whom he exchanged a few friendly words; then he greeted +others, and when he had finished he sat on the chair with a canopy of +ermine, and gazed at the hall in which shouts were still sounding: +“May he live! May he be our hetman! May he live!”</p> + +<p>Kmita, hidden behind the canopy, looked also at the throng. His glance +darted from face to face, seeking among them the beloved features of +her who at that moment held all the soul and heart of the knight. His +heart beat like a hammer.</p> + +<p>“She is here! After a while I shall see her, I shall speak to her,” +said he in thought. And he sought and sought with more and more +eagerness, with increasing disquiet. “There! beyond the feathers of a +fan some dark brows are visible, a white forehead and blond hair. That +is she!” Kmita held his breath, as if fearing to frighten away the +picture; then the feathers moved and the face was disclosed. “No! that +is not Olenka, that is not that dear one, the dearest.” His glance +flies farther, embraces charming forms, slips over feathers and satin, +faces blooming like flowers, and is mistaken each moment. That is she, +not she! Till at last, see! in the depth, near the drapery of the +window, something white is moving, and it grew dark in the eyes of the +knight; that was Olenka, the dear one, the dearest.</p> + +<p>The orchestra begins to play; again throngs pass. Ladies are moving +around, shapely cavaliers are glittering; but he, like one blind and +deaf, sees nothing, only looks at her as eagerly as if beholding her +for the first time. She seems the same Olenka from Vodokty, but also +another. In that great hall and in that throng she seems, as it were, +smaller, and her face more delicate, one would say childlike. You might +take her all in your arms and caress her! And then again she is the +same, though different,—the very same features, the same sweet lips, +the same lashes casting shade on her cheeks, the same forehead, clear, +calm, beloved. Here memory, like lightning-flashes, began to bring +before the eyes of Pan Andrei that servants’ hall in Vodokty where he +saw her the first time, and those quiet rooms in which they had sat +together. What delight only just to remember! And the sleigh-ride to +Mitruny, the time that he kissed her! After that, people began to +estrange them, and to rouse her against him.</p> + +<p>“Thunderbolts crush it!” cried Kmita, in his mind. “What have I had and +what have I lost? How near she has been and how far is she now!”</p> + +<p>She sits there far off, like a stranger; she does not even know that he +is here. Wrath, but at the same time immeasurable sorrow seized Pan +Andrei,—sorrow for which he had no expression save a scream from his +soul, but a scream that passed not his lips: “O thou Olenka!”</p> + +<p>More than once Kmita was so enraged at himself for his previous deeds +that he wished to tell his own men to stretch him out and give him a +hundred blows, but never had he fallen into such a rage as that time +when after long absence he saw her again, still more wonderful than +ever, more wonderful indeed than he had imagined. At that moment he +wished to torture himself; but because he was among people, in a worthy +company, he only ground his teeth, and as if wishing to give himself +still greater pain, he repeated in mind: “It is good for thee thus, +thou fool! good for thee!”</p> + +<p>Then the sounds of the orchestra were silent again, and Pan Andrei +heard the voice of the hetman: “Come with me.”</p> + +<p>Kmita woke as from a dream.</p> + +<p>The prince descended from the elevation, and went among the guests. On +his face was a mild and kindly smile, which seemed still more to +enhance the majesty of his figure. That was the same lordly man who in +his time, while receiving Queen Marya Ludwika in Nyeporente, +astonished, amazed, and eclipsed the French courtiers, not only by his +luxury, but by the polish of his manners,—the same of whom Jean La +Boureur wrote with such homage in the account of his journey. This time +he halted every moment before the most important matrons, the most +respectable nobles and colonels, having for each of the guests some +kindly word, astonishing those present by his memory and winning in a +twinkle all hearts. The eyes of the guests followed him wherever he +moved. Gradually he approached the sword-bearer of Rossyeni, Pan +Billevich, and said,—</p> + +<p>“I thank you, old friend, for having come, though I had the right to be +angry. Billeviche is not a hundred miles from Kyedani, but you are a +<i>rara avis</i> (rare bird) under my roof.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” answered Pan Billevich, bowing low, “he wrongs the +country who occupies your time.”</p> + +<p>“But I was thinking to take vengeance on you by going myself to +Billeviche, and I think still you would have received with hospitality +an old comrade of the camp.”</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Pan Billevich flushed with delight, and the prince +continued,—</p> + +<p>“Time, time is ever lacking! But when you give in marriage your +relative, the granddaughter of the late Pan Heraclius, of course I +shall come to the wedding, for I owe it to you and to her.”</p> + +<p>“God grant that as early as possible,” answered the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“Meanwhile I present to you Pan Kmita, the banneret of Orsha, of those +Kmitas who are related to the Kishkis and through the Kishkis to the +Radzivills. You must have heard his name from Heraclius, for he loved +the Kmitas as brothers.”</p> + +<p>“With the forehead, with the forehead!” repeated the sword-bearer, who +was awed somewhat by the greatness of the young cavalier’s family, +heralded by Radzivill himself.</p> + +<p>“I greet the sword-bearer, my benefactor, and offer him my services,” +said Pan Andrei, boldly and not without a certain loftiness. “Pan +Heraclius was a father and a benefactor to me, and though his work was +spoiled later on, still I have not ceased to love all the Billeviches +as if my own blood were flowing in them.”</p> + +<p>“Especially,” said the prince, placing his hand confidentially on the +young man’s shoulder, “since he has not ceased to love a certain Panna +Billevich, of which fact he has long since informed us.”</p> + +<p>“And I will repeat it before every one’s face,” said Kmita, with +vehemence.</p> + +<p>“Quietly, quietly!” said the prince. “This you see, worthy +sword-bearer, is a cavalier of sulphur and fire, therefore he has made +some trouble; but because he is young and under my special protection, +I hope that when we petition together we shall obtain a reversal of the +sentence from that charming tribunal.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness will accomplish what you like,” answered Pan Billevich. +“The maiden must exclaim, as that pagan priestess did to Alexander the +Great, ‘Who can oppose thee?’”</p> + +<p>“And we, like that Macedonian, will stop with that prophecy,” replied +the prince, smiling. “But enough of this! Conduct us now to your +relative, for I shall be glad to see her. Let that work of Pan +Heraclius which was spoiled be mended.”</p> + +<p>“I serve your highness— There is the maiden; she is under the +protection of Pani Voynillovich, our relative. But I beg pardon if she +is confused, for I have not had time to forewarn her.”</p> + +<p>The foresight of Pan Billevich was just. Luckily that was not the first +moment in which Olenka saw Pan Andrei at the side of the hetman; she +was able therefore to collect herself somewhat, but for an instant +presence of mind almost left her, and she looked at the young knight as +if she were looking at a spirit from the other world. And for a long +time she could not believe her eyes. She had really imagined that that +unfortunate was either wandering somewhere through forests, without a +roof above his head, deserted by all, hunted by the law, as a wild +beast is hunted by man, or enclosed in a tower, gazing with despair +through the iron grating on the glad world of God. The Lord alone knew +what terrible pity sometimes gnawed her heart and her eyes for that +lost man; God alone could count the tears which in her solitude she had +poured out over his fate, so terrible, so cruel, though so deserved; +but now he is in Kyedani, free, at the side of the hetman, proud, +splendid, in silver brocade and in velvet, with the baton of a colonel +at his belt, with head erect, with commanding, haughty, heroic face, +and the grand hetman Radzivill himself places his hand confidentially +on his shoulder. Marvellous and contradictory feelings interwove +themselves at once in the heart of the maiden; therefore a certain +great relief, as if some one had taken a weight from her shoulders, and +a certain sorrow as well that so much pity and grief had gone for +naught; also the disappointment which every honest soul feels at sight +of perfect impunity for grievous offences and sins; also joy, with a +feeling of personal weakness, with admiration bordering on terror, +before that young hero who was able to swim out of such a whirlpool.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the prince, the sword-bearer, and Kmita had finished +conversation and were drawing near. The maiden covered her eyes with +her lids and raised her shoulders, as a bird does its wings when +wishing to hide its head. She was certain that they were coming to her. +Without looking she saw them, felt that they were nearer and nearer, +that they were before her. She was so sure of this that without raising +her lids, she rose suddenly and made a deep courtesy to the prince.</p> + +<p>He was really before her, and said: “By the passion of the Lord! Now I +do not wonder at this young man, for a marvellous flower has bloomed +here. I greet you, my lady, I greet you with my whole heart and soul, +beloved granddaughter of my Billevich. Do you know me?”</p> + +<p>“I know your highness,” answered the maiden.</p> + +<p>“I should not have known you; you were still a young, unblossomed thing +when I saw you last, not in this ornament in which I see you now. But +raise those lashes from your eyes. As God lives! fortunate is the diver +who gets such a pearl, ill-fated he who had it and lost it. Here he +stands before you, so despairing, in the person of this cavalier. Do +you know him?”</p> + +<p>“I know,” whispered Olenka, without raising her eyes.</p> + +<p>“He is a great sinner, and I have brought him to you for confession. +Impose on him what penance you like, but refuse not absolution, for +despair may bring him to still greater sins.”</p> + +<p>Here the prince turned to the sword-bearer and Pani Voynillovich: “Let +us leave the young people, for it is not proper to be present at a +confession, and also my faith forbids me.”</p> + +<p>After a moment Pan Andrei and Olenka were alone. The heart beat in +Olenka’s bosom as the heart of a dove over which a falcon is hovering, +and he too was moved. His usual boldness, impulsiveness, and +self-confidence had vanished. For a long time both were silent. At last +he spoke in a low, stifled voice,—</p> + +<p>“You did not expect to see me, Olenka?”</p> + +<p>“I did not,” whispered the maiden.</p> + +<p>“As God is true! you would be less alarmed if a Tartar were standing +here near you. Fear not! See how many people are present. No harm will +meet you from me. And though we were alone you would have nothing to +fear, for I have given myself an oath to respect you. Have confidence +in me.”</p> + +<p>For a moment she raised her eyes and looked at him, “How can I have +confidence?”</p> + +<p>“It is true that I sinned, but that is past and will not be repeated. +When on the bed and near death, after that duel with Volodyovski, I +said to myself: ‘Thou wilt not take her by force, by the sabre, by +fire, but by honorable deeds wilt thou deserve her and work out thy +forgiveness. The heart in her is not of stone, and her anger will pass; +she will see thy reformation and will forgive.’ Therefore I swore to +reform, and I will hold to my oath. God blessed me at once, for +Volodyovski came and brought me a commission. He had the power not to +give it; but he gave it,—he is an honorable man! Now I need not appear +before the courts, for I am under the hetman’s jurisdiction. I +confessed all my offences to the prince, as to a father; he not only +forgave me, but promised to settle everything and to defend me against +the malice of men. May God bless him! I shall not be an outlaw, I shall +come to harmony with people, win glory, serve the country, repair the +wrongs I have committed. What will you answer? Will you not say a good +word to me?” He gazed at Olenka and put his hands together as if +praying to her.</p> + +<p>“Can I believe?”</p> + +<p>“You can, as God is dear to me; it is your duty to believe. The hetman +believed, and Pan Volodyovski too. All my acts are known to them, and +they believed me. You see they did. Why should you alone have no trust +in me?”</p> + +<p>“Because I have seen the result of your deeds,—people’s tears, and +graves not yet grown over with grass.”</p> + +<p>“They will be grown over, and I will moisten them with tears.”</p> + +<p>“Do that first.”</p> + +<p>“Give me only the hope that when I do that I shall win you. It is easy +for you to say, ‘Do that first.’ Well, I do it; meanwhile you have +married another. May God not permit such a thing, for I should go wild. +In God’s name I implore you, Olenka, to give me assurance that I shall +not lose you before I come to terms with your nobles. Do you remember? +You have written me of this yourself. I keep the letter, and when my +soul is deeply downcast I read it. I ask you only to tell me again that +you will wait, that you will not marry another.”</p> + +<p>“You know that by the will I am not free to marry another. I can only +take refuge in a cloister.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, that would be a treat for me! By the living God, mention not the +cloister, for the very thought of it makes me shudder. Mention it not, +Olenka, or I will fall down here at your feet in the presence of all, +and implore you not to do so. You refused Volodyovski, I know, for he +told me himself. He urged me to win you by good deeds. But what use in +them if you are to take the veil? If you tell me that virtue should be +practised for its own sake, I will answer that I love you to +distraction, and I will hear of nothing else. When you left Vodokty, I +had barely risen from the bed but I began to search for you. When I was +enlisting my squadron every moment was occupied; I had not time to eat +food, to sleep at night, but I ceased not to seek you. I was so +affected that without you there was neither life for me nor rest. I was +so deeply in the toils that I lived only on sighs. At last I learned +that you were in Billeviche with the sword-bearer. Then I tell you I +wrestled with my thoughts as with a bear. ‘To go or not to go?’ I dared +not go, lest I should be treated to gall. I said to myself at last: ‘I +have done nothing good yet, I will not go.’ Finally the prince, my dear +father, took pity on me, and sent to invite you and your uncle to +Kyedani, so that I might fill even my eyes with my love. Since we are +going to the war, I do not ask you to marry me to-morrow; but if with +God’s favor I hear a good word from you, I shall feel easier,—you, my +only soul! I have no wish to die; but in battle death may strike any +man, and I shall not hide behind others; therefore ’tis your duty to +forgive me as a man before death.”</p> + +<p>“May God preserve you and guide you,” responded the maiden, in a mild +voice, by which Pan Andrei knew at once that his words had produced +their effect.</p> + +<p>“You, my true gold! I thank you even for that. But you will not go to +the cloister?”</p> + +<p>“I will not go yet.”</p> + +<p>“God bless you!”</p> + +<p>And as snow melts in spring-time, their mutual distrust was now +melting, and they felt nearer to each other than a moment before. Their +hearts were easier, and in their eyes it grew clear. But still she had +promised nothing, and he had the wit to ask for nothing that time. But +she felt herself that it was not right for her to close the road to the +reform of which he had spoken so sincerely. Of his sincerity she had no +doubt for a moment, for he was not a man who could pretend. But the +great reason why she did not repulse him again, why she left him hope, +was this,—that in the depth of her heart she loved yet that young +hero. Love had brought her a mountain of bitterness, disillusion, and +pain; but love survived ever ready to believe and forgive without end.</p> + +<p>“He is better than his acts,” thought the maiden, “and those are living +no longer who urged him to sin; he might from despair permit himself to +do something a second time; he must never despair.” And her honest +heart was rejoiced at the forgiveness which it had given. On Olenka’s +cheeks a flush came forth as fresh as a rose under the morning dew; her +eyes had a gleam sweet and lively, and it might be said that brightness +issued from them to the hall. People passed and admired the wonderful +pair; for in truth such a noble couple it would have been difficult to +find in that hall, in which, however, were collected the flower of the +nobility.</p> + +<p>Besides both, as if by agreement, were dressed in like colors, for she +wore silver brocade fastened with sapphire and a sacque of blue +Venetian velvet. “Like a brother and sister,” said persons who did not +know them; but others said straightway, “Impossible, for his eyes are +too ardent toward her.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile in the hall the marshal announced that it was time to be +seated at table, and at once there was unusual movement. Count +Löwenhaupt, all in lace, went in advance, with the princess on his arm; +her train was borne by two very beautiful pages. Next after them Baron +Schitte escorted Pani Hlebovich; next followed Bishop Parchevski with +Father Byalozor, both looking troubled and gloomy.</p> + +<p>Prince Yanush, who in the procession yielded to the guests, but at the +table took the highest place next to the princess, escorted Pani Korf, +wife of the voevoda of Venden, who had been visiting about a week at +Kyedani. And so the whole line of couples moved forward, like a +hundred-colored serpent, unwinding and changing. Kmita escorted Olenka, +who rested her arm very lightly on his; but he glanced sidewise at the +delicate face, was happy, gleaming like a torch,—the greatest magnate +among those magnates, since he was near the greatest treasure.</p> + +<p>Thus moving to the sound of the orchestra, they entered the +banqueting-hall, which looked like a whole edifice by itself. The table +was set in the form of a horseshoe, for three hundred persons, and was +bending under silver and gold. Prince Yanush, as having in himself a +portion of kingly majesty and being the blood relative of so many +kings, took the highest place, at the side of the princess; and all +when passing him, bowed low and took their places according to rank.</p> + +<p>But evidently, as it seemed to those present, the hetman remembered +that this was the last feast before an awful war in which the destiny +of great states would be decided, for his face was not calm. He +simulated a smile and joyousness, but he looked as if a fever were +burning him. At times a visible cloud settled on his menacing forehead, +and those sitting near him could see that that forehead was thickly +covered with drops of sweat; at times his glance ran quickly over the +assembled faces, and halted questioningly on the features of various +colonels; then again those lion brows frowned on a sudden, as if pain +had pierced them, or as if this or that face had roused in him wrath. +And, a wonderful thing! the dignitaries sitting near the prince, such +as the envoys, Bishop Parchevski, Father Byalozor, Pan Komorovski, Pan +Myerzeyevski, Pan Hlebovich, the voevoda of Venden, and others, were +equally distraught and disturbed. The two sides of the immense +horseshoe sounded with a lively conversation, and the bustle usual at +feasts; but the centre of it was gloomy and silent, whispered rare +words, or exchanged wandering and as it were alarmed glances.</p> + +<p>But there was nothing wonderful in that, for lower down sat colonels +and knights whom the approaching war threatened at most with death. It +is easier to fall in a war than to bear the responsibility for it. The +mind of the soldier is not troubled, for when he has redeemed his sins +with his blood, he flies from the battlefield to heaven; he alone bends +his head heavily who in his soul must satisfy God and his own +conscience, and who on the eve of the decisive day knows not what +chalice the country will give him to drink on the morrow.</p> + +<p>This was the explanation which men gave themselves at the lower parts +of the table.</p> + +<p>“Always before each war he talks thus with his own soul,” said the old +Colonel Stankyevich to Zagloba; “but the gloomier he is the worse for +the enemy, for on the day of battle he will be joyful to a certainty.”</p> + +<p>“The lion too growls before battle,” said Zagloba, “so as to rouse in +himself fierce hatred for the enemy. As to great warriors, each has his +custom. Hannibal used to play dice; Scipio Africanus declaimed verses; +Pan Konyetspolski the father always conversed about fair heads; and I +like to sleep an hour or so before battle, though I am not averse to a +glass with good friends.”</p> + +<p>“See, gentlemen, Bishop Parchevski is as pale as a sheet of paper!” +said Stanislav Skshetuski.</p> + +<p>“For he is sitting at a Calvinist table, and may swallow easily +something unclean in the food,” explained Zagloba, in a low voice. “To +drinks, the old people say, the devil has no approach, and those can be +taken everywhere; but food, and especially soups, one should avoid. So +it was in the Crimea, when I was there in captivity. The Tartar mullahs +or priests knew how to cook mutton with garlic in such a way that +whoever tasted it was willing that moment to desert his faith and +accept their scoundrel of a prophet.” Here Zagloba lowered his voice +still more: “Not through contempt for the prince do I say this, but I +advise you, gentlemen, to let the food pass, for God protects the +guarded.”</p> + +<p>“What do you say? Whoso commends himself to God before eating is safe; +with us in Great Poland there is no end of Lutherans and Calvinists, +but I have not heard that they bewitched food.”</p> + +<p>“With you in Great Poland there is no end of Lutherans, and so they +sniffed around at once with the Swedes,” said Zagloba, “and are in +friendship with them now. In the prince’s place, I would hunt those +envoys away with dogs, instead of filling their stomachs with dainties. +But look at that Löwenhaupt; he is eating just as if he were to be +driven to the fair with a rope around his leg before the month’s end. +Besides, he will stuff his pockets with dried fruit for his wife and +children. I have forgotten how that other fellow from over the sea is +called. Oh, may thou—”</p> + +<p>“Father, ask Michael,” said Yan.</p> + +<p>Pan Michael was sitting not far away; but he heard nothing, he saw +nothing, for he was between two ladies. On his left sat Panna +Syelavski, a worthy maiden about forty years old, and on his right +Olenka, beyond whom sat Kmita. Panna Syelavski shook her feather-decked +head above the little knight, and narrated something with great +rapidity. He looked at her from time to time with a vacant stare, and +answered continually, “As true as life, gracious lady!” but understood +not a word she said, for all his attention was turned to the other +side. He was seizing with his ear the sound of Olenka’s words, the +flutter of her silver dress, and from sorrow moving his mustaches in +such fashion as if he wished to frighten away Panna Syelavski with +them.</p> + +<p>“Ah, that is a wonderful maiden! Ah, but she is beautiful!” said he, in +his mind. “O God, look down on my misery, for there is no lonelier +orphan than I. My soul is piping within me to have my own beloved, and +on whomsoever I look another soldier stands quartered there. Where +shall I go, ill-fated wanderer?”</p> + +<p>“And after the war, what do you think of doing?” inquired Panna +Syelavski, all at once pursing up her mouth and fanning herself +violently.</p> + +<p>“I shall go to a monastery!” said the little knight, testily.</p> + +<p>“Who mentions monastery here at the banquet?” cried Kmita, joyously, +bending in front of Olenka. “Oh, that is Pan Volodyovski.”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing like that in your head,” retorted Pan Michael; “but I +think I shall go.”</p> + +<p>Then the sweet voice of Olenka sounded in his ear: “Oh, no need to +think of that! God will give you a wife beloved of your heart, and +honest as you are.”</p> + +<p>The good Pan Michael melted at once: “If any one were to play on a +flute to me, it would not be sweeter to my ear.”</p> + +<p>The increasing bustle stopped further conversation, for it had come now +to the glasses. Excitement increased. Colonels disputed about the +coming war, frowning and casting fiery glances.</p> + +<p>Pan Zagloba was describing to the whole table the siege of Zbaraj; and +the ardor and daring of the hearers rose till the blood went to their +faces and hearts. It might seem that the spirit of the immortal +“Yarema”<a name="div2Ref_20" href="#div2_20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> was flying above that hall, and had filled the souls of +the soldiers with heroic inspiration.</p> + +<p>“That was a leader!” said the famous Mirski, who led all Radzivill’s +hussars. “I saw him only once, but to the moment of my death I shall +remember it.”</p> + +<p>“Jove with thunderbolts in his grasp!” cried old Stankyevich. “It would +not have come to this were he alive now!”</p> + +<p>“Yes; think of it! Beyond Romni he had forests cut down to open a way +for himself to the enemy.”</p> + +<p>“The victory at Berestechko was due to him.”</p> + +<p>“And in the most serious moment God took him.”</p> + +<p>“God took him,” repeated Pan Yan, in a loud voice; “but he left a +testament behind him for all coming leaders and dignitaries and for the +whole Commonwealth. This is it: to negotiate with no enemy, but to +fight them all.”</p> + +<p>“Not to negotiate; to fight!” repeated a number of powerful voices, +“fight! fight!”</p> + +<p>The heat became great in the hall, and the blood was boiling in the +warriors; therefore glances began to fall like lightning-flashes, and +the heads shaven on the temples and lower forehead began to steam.</p> + +<p>“Our prince, our hetman, will be the executioner of that will!” said +Mirski.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment an enormous clock in the upper part of the hall +began to strike midnight, and at the same time, the walls trembled, the +window-panes rattled plaintively, and the thunder of cannon was heard +saluting in the courtyard.</p> + +<p>Conversation was stopped, silence followed. Suddenly at the head of the +table they began to cry: “Bishop Parchevski has fainted! Water!”</p> + +<p>There was confusion. Some sprang from their seats to see more clearly +what had happened. The bishop had not fainted, but had grown very weak, +so that the marshal supported him in his chair by the shoulders, while +the wife of the voevoda of Venden sprinkled his face with water.</p> + +<p>At that moment the second discharge of cannon shook the window-panes; +after it came a third, and a fourth.</p> + +<p>“Live the Commonwealth! May its enemies perish!” shouted Zagloba.</p> + +<p>But the following discharges drowned his speech. The nobles began to +count: “Ten, eleven, twelve!”</p> + +<p>Each time the window-panes answered with a mournful groan. The candles +quivered from the shaking.</p> + +<p>“Thirteen, fourteen! The bishop is not used to the thunder. With his +timidity he has spoiled the entertainment; the prince too is uneasy. +See, gentlemen, how swollen he is! Fifteen, sixteen!—Hei, they are +firing as if in battle! Nineteen, twenty!”</p> + +<p>“Quiet there! the prince wants to speak!” called the guests at once, +from various parts of the table. “The prince wishes to speak!”</p> + +<p>There was perfect silence; and all eyes were turned to Radzivill, who +stood, like a giant, with a cup in his hand. But what a sight struck +the eyes of those feasting! The face of the prince was simply terrible +at that moment, for it was not pale, but blue and twisted, as if in a +convulsion, by a smile which he strove to call to his lips. His +breathing, usually short, became still shorter; his broad breast welled +up under the gold brocade, his eyes were half covered with their lids, +and there was a species of terror and an iciness on that powerful face +such as are usual on features stiffening in the moments before death.</p> + +<p>“What troubles the prince? what is taking place here?” was whispered +unquietly around; and an ominous foreboding straitened all hearts, +startled expectation was on every face.</p> + +<p>He began to speak, with a short voice broken by asthma: “Gracious +gentlemen! this toast will astonish many among you,—or simply it will +terrify them,—but whoso trusts and believes in me, whoso really wishes +the good of the country, whoso is a faithful friend of my house, will +drink it with a will, and repeat after me, ‘Vivat Carolus Gustavus Rex, +from this day forth ruling over us graciously!’”</p> + +<p>“Vivat!” repeated the two envoys, Löwenhaupt and Schitte; then some +tens of officers of the foreign command.</p> + +<p>But in the hall there reigned deep silence. The colonels and the nobles +gazed at one another with astonishment, as if asking whether the prince +had not lost his senses. A number of voices were heard at last at +various parts of the table: “Do we hear aright? What is it?” Then there +was silence again.</p> + +<p>Unspeakable horror coupled with amazement was reflected on faces, and +the eyes of all were turned again to Radzivill; but he continued to +stand, and was breathing deeply, as if he had cast off some immense +weight from his breast. The color came back by degrees to his face; +then he turned to Pan Komorovski, and said,—</p> + +<p>“It is time to make public the compact which we have signed this day, +so that those present may know what course to take. Read, your grace!”</p> + +<p>Komorovski rose, unwound the parchment lying before him, and began to +read the terrible compact, beginning with these words:—</p> + +<p>“Not being able to act in a better and more proper way in this most +stormy condition of affairs, after the loss of all hope of assistance +from the Most Serene King, we the lords and estates of the Grand +Principality of Lithuania, forced by extremity, yield ourselves to the +protection of the Most Serene King of Sweden on these conditions:—</p> + +<p>“1. To make war together against mutual enemies, excepting the king and +the kingdom of Poland.</p> + +<p>“2. The Grand Principality of Lithuania will not be incorporated with +Sweden, but will be joined to it in such manner as hitherto with the +kingdom of Poland; that is, people shall be equal to people, senate to +senate, and knighthood to knighthood in all things.</p> + +<p>“3. Freedom of speech at the diets shall not be prohibited to any man.</p> + +<p>“4. Freedom of religion is to be inviolable—”</p> + +<p>And so Pan Komorovski read on further, amid silence and terror, till he +came to the paragraph: “This act we confirm with our signature for +ourselves and our descendants, we promise and stipulate—” when a +murmur rose in the hall, like the first breath of a storm shaking the +pine-woods. But before the storm burst, Pan Stankyevich, gray as a +pigeon, raised his voice and began to implore,—</p> + +<p>“Your highness, we are unwilling to believe our own ears! By the wounds +of Christ! must the labor of Vladislav and Sigismund Augustus come to +nothing? Is it possible, is it honorable, to desert brothers, to desert +the country, and unite with the enemy? Remember the name which you +bear, the services which you have rendered the country, the fame of +your house, hitherto unspotted; tear and trample on that document of +shame. I know that I ask not in my own name alone, but in the names of +all soldiers here present and nobles. It pertains to us also to +consider our own fate. Gracious prince, do not do this; there is still +time! Spare yourself, spare us, spare the Commonwealth!”</p> + +<p>“Do it not! Have pity, have pity!” called hundreds of voices.</p> + +<p>All the colonels sprang from their places and went toward him; and the +gray Stankyevich knelt down in the middle of the hall between the two +arms of the table, and then was heard more loudly: “Do that not! spare +us!”</p> + +<p>Radzivill raised his powerful head, and lightnings of wrath began to +fly over his forehead; suddenly he burst out,—</p> + +<p>“Does it become you, gentlemen, first of all to give an example of +insubordination? Does it become soldiers to desert their leader, their +hetman, and bring forward protests? Do you wish to be my conscience? Do +you wish to teach me how to act for the good of the country? This is +not a diet, and you are not called here to vote; but before God I take +the responsibility!”</p> + +<p>And he struck his broad breast with his fist, and looking with flashing +glance on the officers, after a while he shouted again: “Whoso is not +with me is against me! I knew you, I knew what would happen! But know +ye that the sword is hanging over your heads!”</p> + +<p>“Gracious prince! our hetman!” implored old Stankyevich, “spare +yourself and spare us!”</p> + +<p>But his speech was interrupted by Stanislav Skshetuski, who seizing his +own hair with both hands, began to cry with despairing voice: “Do not +implore him; that is vain. He has long cherished this dragon in his +heart! Woe to thee, O Commonwealth! woe to us all!”</p> + +<p>“Two dignitaries at the two ends of the Commonwealth have sold the +country!” cried Yan Skshetuski. “A curse on this house, shame and God’s +anger!”</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Zagloba shook himself free from amazement and burst out: +“Ask him how great was the bribe he took from the Swedes? How much have +they paid him? How much have they promised him yet? Oh, gentlemen, here +is a Judas Iscariot. May you die in despair, may your race perish, may +the devil tear out your soul, O traitor, traitor, thrice traitor!”</p> + +<p>With this Stankyevich, in an ecstasy of despair, drew the colonel’s +baton from his belt, and threw it with a rattle at the feet of the +prince. Mirski threw his next; the third was Yuzefovich; the fourth, +Hoshchyts; the fifth, pale as a corpse, Volodyovski; the sixth, +Oskyerko,—and the batons rolled on the floor. Meanwhile in that den of +the lion these terrible words were repeated before the eyes of the lion +from more and more mouths every moment: “Traitor! traitor!”</p> + +<p>All the blood rushed to the head of the haughty magnate. He grew blue; +it seemed that he would tumble next moment a corpse under the table.</p> + +<p>“Ganhoff and Kmita, to me!” bellowed he, with a terrible voice.</p> + +<p>At that moment four double doors leading to the hall opened with a +crash, and in marched divisions of Scottish infantry, terrible, silent, +musket in hand. Ganhoff led them from the main door.</p> + +<p>“Halt!” cried the prince. Then he turned to the colonels: “Whoso is +with me, let him go to the right side of the hall!”</p> + +<p>“I am a soldier, I serve the hetman; let God be my judge!” said +Kharlamp, passing to the right side.</p> + +<p>“And I!” added Myeleshko. “Not mine will be the sin!”</p> + +<p>“I protested as a citizen; as a soldier I must obey,” added a third, +Nyevyarovski, who, though he had thrown down his baton before, was +evidently afraid of Radzivill now.</p> + +<p>After them passed over a number of others, and quite a large group of +nobles; but Mirski, the highest in office, and Stankyevich, the oldest +in years, Hoshchyts, Volodyovski, and Oskyerko remained where they +were, and with them the two Skshetuskis, Zagloba, and a great majority +as well of the officers of various heavy and light squadrons as of +nobles. The Scottish infantry surrounded them like a wall.</p> + +<p>Kmita, the moment the prince proposed the toast in honor of Karl +Gustav, sprang up from his seat with all the guests, stared fixedly and +stood as if turned to stone, repeating with pallid lips, “God! God! +God! what have I done?”</p> + +<p>At the same time a low voice, but for his ear distinct, whispered near +by, “Pan Andrei!”</p> + +<p>He seized suddenly his hair with his hands. “I am cursed for the ages! +May the earth swallow me!”</p> + +<p>A flame flashed out on Olenka’s face; her eyes bright as stars were +fixed on Kmita. “Shame to those who remain with the hetman! Choose! O +God, All Powerful!—What are you doing? Choose!”</p> + +<p>“Jesus! O Jesus!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the hall was filled with cries. Others had thrown their +batons at the feet of the prince, but Kmita did not join them; he did +not move even when the prince shouted, “Ganhoff and Kmita, to me!” nor +when the Scottish infantry entered the hall; and he stood torn with +suffering and despair, with wild look, with blue lips.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he turned to Panna Billevich and stretched his hands to her. +“Olenka! Olenka!” repeated he, with a sorrowful groan, like a child +whom some wrong is confronting.</p> + +<p>But she drew back with aversion and fear in her face. “Away, traitor!” +she answered with force.</p> + +<p>At that moment Ganhoff commanded, “Forward!” and the division of Scots +surrounding the prisoners moved toward the door.</p> + +<p>Kmita began to follow them like one out of his mind, not knowing where +he was going or why he was going.</p> + +<p>The banquet was ended.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<p>That same night the prince held a long consultation with the voevoda of +Venden and with the Swedish envoys. The result of the treaty had +disappointed his expectations, and disclosed to him a threatening +future. It was the prince’s plan to make the announcement in time of +feasting, when minds are excited and inclined to agreement. He expected +opposition in every event, but he counted on adherents also; meanwhile +the energy of the protest had exceeded his reckoning. Save a few tens +of Calvinist nobles and a handful of officers of foreign origin, who as +strangers could have no voice in the question, all declared against the +treaty concluded with Karl Gustav, or rather with his field-marshal and +brother-in-law, Pontus de la Gardie.</p> + +<p>The prince had given orders, it is true, to arrest the stubborn +officers of the army, but what of that? What will the squadrons say? +Will they not think of their colonels? Will they not rise in mutiny to +rescue their officers by force? If they do, what will remain to the +proud prince beyond a few dragoon regiments and foreign infantry? Then +the whole country, all the armed nobles, and Sapyeha, voevoda of +Vityebsk,—a terrible opponent of the house of Radzivill, ready to +fight with the whole world in the name of the unity of the +Commonwealth? Other colonels whose heads he cannot cut off, and Polish +squadrons will go to Sapyeha, who will stand at the head of all the +forces of the country, and Prince Radzivill will see himself without an +army, without adherents, without significance. What will happen then?</p> + +<p>These were terrible questions, for the position was terrible. The +prince knew well that if he were deserted the treaty on which he had +toiled so much in secret would by the force of events lose all meaning +and the Swedes would despise him, or take revenge for the discovered +deceit. But he had given them his Birji as a guaranty of his loyalty; +by that he had weakened himself the more.</p> + +<p>Karl Gustav was ready to scatter rewards and honors with both hands for +a powerful Radzivill, but Radzivill weak and deserted by all he would +despise; and if the changing wheel of fortune should send victory to +Yan Kazimir, final destruction would come to that lord who this day in +the morning had no equal in the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>When the envoys and the voevoda of Venden had gone, the prince seized +with both hands his head weighed down with care, and began to walk with +swift steps through the room. From without came the voices of the +Scottish guards and the rattle of the departing carriages of the +nobles. They drove away quickly and hurriedly, as if a pest had fallen +on the lordly castle of Kyedani. A terrible disquiet rent the soul of +Radzivill. At times it seemed to him that besides himself there was +some other person who walked behind him and whispered in his ear, +“Abandonment, poverty, and infamy as well!” But he, the voevoda of +Vilna and grand hetman, was already trampled upon and humiliated! Who +would have admitted yesterday that in all Kyedani, in Lithuania, nay, +in the whole world, there could be found a man who would dare to shout +before his eyes, “Traitor!” Nevertheless he had heard it, and he lives +yet, and they who spoke that word are living too. Perhaps if he were to +re-enter that hall of the banquet he would still hear as an echo among +the cornices and under the vaults, “Traitor! traitor!”</p> + +<p>And wild, mad rage seized at moments the breast of the oligarch. His +nostrils dilated, his eyes shot lightnings, veins came out on his +forehead. Who here dares to oppose his will? His enraged mind brought +before his eyes the picture of punishments and torments for rebels who +had the daring not to follow his feet like a dog. And he saw their +blood flowing from the axes of executioners, he heard the crunching of +their bones broken by the wheel, and he took delight in and sated +himself with visions of blood.</p> + +<p>But when more sober judgment reminded him that behind those rebels is +an army, that he cannot take their heads with impunity, an unendurable +and hellish unquiet came back and filled his soul, and some one +whispered anew in his ear, “Abandonment, poverty, judgment, and +infamy!”</p> + +<p>How is that? Is it not permitted to Radzivill to decide the fate of the +country,—to retain it for Yan Kazimir or give it to Karl Gustav,—to +give, to convey, to present, to whom it may please him?</p> + +<p>The magnate looked before himself with amazement.</p> + +<p>Who then are the Radzivills? Who were they yesterday? What was said +everywhere in Lithuania? Was that all deception? Will not Prince +Boguslav join the grand hetman with his regiments, after him his uncle +the Elector of Brandenberg, and after all three Karl Gustav, the +Swedish king, with all his victorious power, before which recently all +Germany trembled through the length and the breadth of it? Did not the +Polish Commonwealth itself extend its arms to the new master, and yield +at the mere report of the approach of the lion of the North? Who will +offer resistance to that unrestrained power?</p> + +<p>On one side the King of Sweden, the Elector of Brandenberg, the +Radzivills, in case of necessity Hmelnitski too, with all his power, +and the hospodar of Wallachia, and Rakotsy of Transylvania,—almost +half Europe; on the other side the voevoda of Vityebsk with Mirski, Pan +Stankyevich, and those three nobles who had just come from Lukovo, and +also a few rebellious squadrons! What is that?—a jest, an amusement.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly the prince began to laugh loudly. “By Lucifer and all the +Diet of hell, it must be that I have gone mad! Let them all go to the +voevoda of Vityebsk!”</p> + +<p>But after a while his face had grown gloomy again: “The powerful admit +only powerful to alliance. Radzivill casting Lithuania at the feet of +the Swedes will be sought for; Radzivill asking aid against Lithuania +will be despised. What is to be done?”</p> + +<p>The foreign officers will stay with him, but their power is not enough; +and if the Polish squadrons go over to the voevoda of Vityebsk, he will +have the fate of the country in his hands. Each foreign officer will +carry out commands, it is true; but he will not devote his whole soul +to the cause of Radzivill, he will not give himself to it with ardor, +not merely as a soldier, but as an adherent. For devotion there is +absolute need, not of foreigners, but of men of his own people to +attract others by their names, by their bravery, by their reputation, +by their daring example and readiness to do everything. He must have +adherents in the country, even for show.</p> + +<p>Who of his own men responded to the prince? Kharlamp, an old, worn-out +soldier, good for service and nothing more; Nyevyarovski, not loved in +the army and without influence; besides these a few others of still +less distinction; no man of another kind, no man whom an army would +follow, no man to be the apostle of a cause.</p> + +<p>There remained Kmita, young, enterprising, bold, covered with great +knightly glory, bearing a famous name, standing at the head of a +powerful squadron, partly fitted out at his own expense,—a man as it +were created to be the leader of all the bold and restless spirits in +Lithuania, and withal full of ardor. If he should take up the cause of +Radzivill, he would take it up with the faith which youth gives, he +would follow his hetman blindly, and spread the faith in his name; and +such an apostle means more than whole regiments, whole divisions of +foreigners. He would be able to pour his faith into the heart of the +young knighthood, to attract it and fill the camp of Radzivill with +men.</p> + +<p>But he too had hesitated evidently. He did not cast his baton, it is +true, at the feet of the hetman, but he did not stand at his side in +the first moment.</p> + +<p>“It is impossible to reckon on any one, impossible to be sure of any +man,” thought the prince, gloomily. “They will all go to the voevoda of +Vityebsk, and no man will wish to share with me.”</p> + +<p>“Infamy!” whispered his conscience.</p> + +<p>“Lithuania!” answered, on the other hand, pride.</p> + +<p>It had grown dim in the room, for the wicks had burned long on the +candles, but through the windows flowed in the silver light of the +moon. Radzivill gazed at those rays and fell into deep thought. +Gradually something began to grow dark in those rays; certain figures +rose up each moment, increasing in number, till at last the prince saw +as it were an army coming toward him from the upper trails of the sky +on the broad road of the moonbeams. Regiments are marching, armored +hussars and light horse; a forest of banners are waving; in front rides +some man without a helmet, apparently a victor returning from war. +Around is quiet, and the prince hears clearly the voice of the army and +people, “Vivat defensor patriae! vivat defensor patriae! (Live the +defender of the country!)” The army approaches, each moment increasing +in number; now he can see the face of the leader. He holds the baton in +his hand; and by the number of bunchuks (horse-tails on his standard). +Radzivill can see that he is the grand hetman.</p> + +<p>“In the name of the Father and the Son!” cries the prince, “that is +Sapyeha, that is the voevoda of Vityebsk! And where am I, and what is +predestined to me?”</p> + +<p>“Infamy!” whispers his conscience.</p> + +<p>“Lithuania!” answers his pride.</p> + +<p>The prince clapped his hands; Harasimovich, watching in the adjoining +room, appeared at once in the door and bent double.</p> + +<p>“Lights!” said the prince.</p> + +<p>Harasimovich snuffed the candles, then went out and returned with a +candlestick in his hand.</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” said he, “it is time to repose; the cocks have crowed +a second time.”</p> + +<p>“I have no wish to sleep,” replied the prince. “I dozed, and the +nightmare was suffocating me. What is there new?”</p> + +<p>“Some noblemen brought a letter from Nyesvyej from the Prince Michael, +but I did not venture to enter unsummoned.”</p> + +<p>“Give me the letter at once!”</p> + +<p>Harasimovich gave the sealed letter; the prince opened it, and began to +read as follows:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>May God guard and restrain your highness from such plans as might bring +eternal infamy and destruction to our house! Set your mind on a +hair-shirt rather than on dominion. The greatness of our house lies at +my heart also, and the best proof of this is in the efforts which I +made in Vienna that we should have a vote in the diets of the Empire. +But I will not betray the country nor my king for any reward or earthly +power, so as not to gather after such a sowing a harvest of infamy +during life and damnation after death. Consider, your highness, the +services of your ancestors and their unspotted fame; think of the mercy +of God while the time is fitting. The enemy have surrounded me in +Nyesvyej, and I know not whether this letter will reach your hands; but +though destruction threatens me every moment, I do not ask God to +rescue me, but to restrain your highness from those plans and bring you +to the path of virtue. Even if something evil is done already, it is +possible yet to draw back, and it is necessary to blot out the offences +with a swift hand. But do not expect aid from me, for I say in advance +that without regard to bonds of blood, I will join my forces with those +of Pan Gosyevski and the voevoda of Vityebsk; and a hundred times +rather would I turn my arms against your highness than put my hands +voluntarily to that infamous treason. I commend your highness to God.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:50%"><span class="sc">Michael Kazimir</span>,</p> + +<p style="margin-left:45%; text-indent:-10%"><i>Prince in Nyesvyej and Olyta, Chamberlain of the<br/> +Grand Principality of Lithuania</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p>When the hetman had finished the letter he dropped it on his knee, and +began to shake his head with a painful smile on his face.</p> + +<p>“And he leaves me, my own blood rejects me, because I wished to adorn +our house with a glory hitherto unknown! Ah! it is difficult! Boguslav +remains, and he will not leave me. With us is the Elector and Karl +Gustav; and who will not sow will not reap.”</p> + +<p>“Infamy!” whispered his conscience.</p> + +<p>“Is your highness pleased to give an answer?” asked Harasimovich.</p> + +<p>“There will be no answer.”</p> + +<p>“May I go and send the attendants?”</p> + +<p>“Wait! Are the guards stationed carefully?”</p> + +<p>“They are.”</p> + +<p>“Are orders sent to the squadrons?”</p> + +<p>“They are.”</p> + +<p>“What is Kmita doing?”</p> + +<p>“He was knocking his head against the wall and crying about disgrace. +He was wriggling like a mudfish. He wanted to run after the +Billeviches, but the guards would not let him. He drew his sabre; they +had to tie him. He is lying quietly now.”</p> + +<p>“Has the sword-bearer of Rossyeni gone?”</p> + +<p>“There was no order to stop him.”</p> + +<p>“I forgot!” said the prince. “Open the windows, for it is stifling and +asthma is choking me. Tell Kharlamp to go to Upita for the squadron and +bring it here at once. Give him money, let him pay the men for the +first quarter and let them get merry. Tell him that he will receive +Dydkyemie for life instead of Volodyovski. The asthma is choking me. +Wait!”</p> + +<p>“According to order.”</p> + +<p>“What is Kmita doing?”</p> + +<p>“As I said, your highness, he is lying quietly.”</p> + +<p>“True, you told me. Give the order to send him here. I want to speak +with him. Have his fetters taken off.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness, he is a madman.”</p> + +<p>“Have no fear, go!”</p> + +<p>Harasimovich went out. The prince took from a Venetian cabinet a case +with pistols, opened it, and placed it near at hand on the table by +which he sat.</p> + +<p>In a quarter of an hour Kmita entered, attended by four Scottish +soldiers. The prince ordered the men to withdraw, and remained face to +face with Kmita.</p> + +<p>There did not seem to be one drop of blood in the visage of the young +man, so pale was it, but his eyes were gleaming feverishly; for the +rest he was calm, resigned, though apparently sunk in endless despair.</p> + +<p>Both were silent for a while. The prince spoke first.</p> + +<p>“You took oath on the crucifix not to desert me.”</p> + +<p>“I shall be damned if I keep that oath, damned if I break it. It is all +one to me!”</p> + +<p>“Even if I had brought you to evil, you would not be responsible.”</p> + +<p>“A month ago judgments and punishments threatened me for killing; +to-day it seems to me that then I was as innocent as a child.”</p> + +<p>“Before you leave this room, you will feel absolved from all your +previous sins,” said the prince.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, changing his tone, he inquired with a certain confidential +kindness, “What do you think it was my duty to do in the face of two +enemies, a hundred-fold stronger than I, enemies against whom I could +not defend this country?”</p> + +<p>“To die!” answered Kmita, rudely.</p> + +<p>“You soldiers, who can throw off so easily the pressing burden are to +be envied. To die! For him who has looked death in the eyes and is not +afraid, there is nothing in the world simpler. Your head does not ache +over this, and it will occur to the mind of none that if I had roused +an envenomed war and had died without making a treaty, not a stone +would be left on a stone in this country. May God not permit this, for +even in heaven my soul could not rest. <i>O, terque, quaterque beati</i> (O +thrice and four times blessed) are ye who can die! Do you think that +life does not oppress me, that I am not hungry for everlasting sleep +and rest? But I must drain the chalice of gall and vinegar to the +bottom. It is needful to save this unhappy land, and for its salvation +to bend under a new burden. Let the envious condemn me for pride, let +them say that I betrayed the country to exalt myself. God has seen me, +God is the judge whether I desire this elevation, and whether I would +not resign it could matters be otherwise. Find you who desert me means +of salvation; point out the road, ye who call me a traitor, and this +night I will tear that document and rouse all the squadrons from +slumber to move on the enemy.”</p> + +<p>Kmita was silent.</p> + +<p>“Well, why are you silent?” exclaimed Radzivill, in a loud voice. “I +will make you grand hetman in my place and voevoda of Vilna. You must +not die, for that is no achievement, but save the country. Defend the +occupied provinces, avenge the ashes of Vilna, defend Jmud against +Swedish invasion, nay, defend the whole Commonwealth, drive beyond the +boundaries every enemy! Rush three on a thousand; die not,—for that is +not permitted,—but save the country.”</p> + +<p>“I am not hetman and voevoda of Vilna,” answered Kmita, “and what does +not belong to me is not on my head. But if it is a question of rushing +the third against thousands I will go.”</p> + +<p>“Listen, then, soldier! Since your head has not to save the country, +leave it to mine.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot!” said Kmita, with set teeth.</p> + +<p>Radzivill shook his head. “I did not count on the others, I looked for +what happened; but in you I was deceived. Interrupt not, but listen. I +placed you on your feet, I freed you from judgment and punishment, I +gathered you to my heart as my own son. Know you why? Because I thought +that in you was a daring soul, ready for grand undertakings. I needed +such men, I hide it not. Around me was no man who would dare to look at +the sun with unflinching eye. There were men of small soul and petty +courage. To such never show a path other than that on which they and +their fathers have travelled, for they will halt saying that you have +sent them on a devious way. And still, where, if not to the precipice, +have we all come by these old roads? What is happening to the +Commonwealth which formerly could threaten the world?”</p> + +<p>Here the prince seized his head in his hands and repeated thrice: “O +God! God! God!”</p> + +<p>After a while he continued: “The time of God’s anger has come,—a time +of such misfortunes and of such a fall that with the usual methods we +cannot rise from this sickness; and if I wish to use new ones, which +alone can bring us salvation, even those desert me on whose readiness I +counted, whose duty it was to have confidence, who took oath on the +cross to trust me. By the blood and wounds of Christ! Did you think +that I submitted to the protection of Karl Gustav forever, that in +truth I think to join this country to Sweden, that the treaty, for +which I am called a traitor, will last beyond a year? Why do you look +with astonished eyes? You will be still more astonished when you hear +all. You will be more astonished, for something will happen which no +one will think of, no one admit, which the mind of a common man has not +power to grasp. But I say to you, Tremble not, for in this is the +country’s salvation; do not draw back, for if I find no one to help me, +possibly I may perish, but with me will perish the Commonwealth and ye +all for the ages. I alone can save, but I must bend and trample all +obstacles. Woe to him who opposes me; for God himself will crush him +through me, whether he be the voevoda of Vityebsk or Pan Gosyevski or +the army, or a refractory nobility. I wish to save the Commonwealth; +and to me all ways, all methods are good for that end. Rome in times of +disaster named dictators,—such power, nay, greater and more lasting, +is needful to me. Not pride draws me to it,—whoso feels equal to this +power let him take it instead of me. But if no one does I will take the +power, though these walls should fall first on my head!”</p> + +<p>Then the prince stretched both his hands upward, as if in fact he +wished to support the arches falling upon his head, and there was in +him something so gigantic that Kmita opened his eyes and gazed as if he +had never seen him before; and at last he asked with changed voice: +“Whither art thou striving, your highness? What do you wish?”</p> + +<p>“A crown!” cried Radzivill.</p> + +<p>“Jesus, Mary!”</p> + +<p>A moment of deep silence followed; but an owl on the tower of the +castle began to hoot shrilly.</p> + +<p>“Listen,” said the prince, “it is time to tell you all. The +Commonwealth is perishing, and must perish. There is no salvation on +earth for it. The question is to save first from the ruin this country +(Lithuania), this our immediate fatherland, and then—then make the +whole Commonwealth rise from its own ashes, as the phœnix rises. I +will do this; and the crown, which I desire, I will place as a burden +on my head, so as to bring out from this great tomb a new life. Do not +tremble! The ground will not open, everything stands on its own place; +but new times are coming. I give this country to the Swedes so as to +stop with Swedish arms another enemy, to drive him beyond the +boundaries, to win back what is lost, and force with the sword a treaty +from that enemy in his own capital. Do you hear me? But in rocky, +hungry Sweden there are not men enough, not forces enough, not sabres +enough to take possession of this immense Commonwealth. They may defeat +our army once and a second time; but to hold us in obedience they +cannot. If one Swede were given as a guard to every ten men in this +land, there would still be many tens of them without guards. Karl +Gustav knows this well, and neither does he wish nor is he able to take +the whole Commonwealth. He will occupy Royal Prussia, most of Great +Poland, and will be content with that. But to hold in coming time these +acquisitions securely, he must break the union of the kingdom with us; +otherwise he could not remain in those provinces. What will happen then +to this country? To whom will it be given? Well, if I refuse the crown +which God and fortune places on my head, it will be given to him who at +this moment is in possession. But Karl Gustav is not willing to consent +to this act, which would increase a neighboring power too greatly, and +create for himself a formidable enemy. But if I refuse the crown, he +will be forced to consent. Have I the right, then, to refuse? Can I +allow that to take place which would threaten us with final ruin? For +the tenth and the hundredth time I ask, Where are there other means of +salvation? Let the will of God, then, be done! I take this burden on my +shoulders. The Swedes are on my aide; the elector, our relative, +promises aid. I will free the country from war! With victories and +extension of boundaries will begin the rule of my house. Peace and +prosperity will flourish; fire will not burn towns and villages. Thus +it will be, thus it must be. So help me God and the holy cross! I feel +within me power and strength from heaven, I desire the happiness of +this land, and that is not yet the end of my plans. And by those +heavenly lights I swear, by those trembling stars, that if only +strength and health remain to me, I will build anew all this edifice, +now tumbling to ruins; I will make it stronger than ever.”</p> + +<p>Fire was flashing from the pupils and eyes of the prince; his whole +form shed an uncommon halo.</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” cried Kmita, “I cannot grasp that thought; my head is +bursting, my eyes fear to look ahead.”</p> + +<p>“Besides,” said Radzivill, as if pursuing the further course of his own +thoughts, “the Swedes will not deprive Yan Kazimir of the kingdom nor +of rule, but will leave him in Mazovia and Little Poland. God has not +given him posterity. An election will come in time. Whom will they +choose to the throne if they wish a further union with Lithuania? When +did the kingdom grow strong and crush the Knights of the Cross? After +Vladyslav Yagyello had mounted the throne. It will be the same this +time. The Poles can call to the throne only him who will be reigning +here. They cannot and will not call another, for they would perish, +because the breath would not remain in their breasts between the +Germans and the Turks, and as it is, the Cossack cancer is gnawing the +kingdom. They can call no one else! Blind is he who does not see this; +foolish who does not understand it. Both countries will unite again and +become one power in my house. Then I shall see if those kinglets of +Scandinavia will remain in their Prussia and Great Poland acquired +to-day. Then I will say to them, <i>Quos ego!</i> and with this foot will +crush their lean ribs, and create a power such as the world has not +seen, such as history has not described; perhaps I may carry the cross +with fire and sword to Constantinople, and in peace at home terrify the +enemy. Thou great God, who orderest the circuits of the stars, grant me +to save this ill-fated land, for thy glory and that of all Christendom; +give me men to understand my thought, men to put their hands to +salvation. There is where I stand!” Here the prince opened his arms, +and raised his eyes aloft: “Thou seest me, thou judgest me!”</p> + +<p>“Mighty prince, mighty prince!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Go, desert me, cast the baton at my feet, break your oath, call me +traitor! Let no thorn be lacking in that prickly crown which they have +put on my head. Destroy ye the country, thrust it over the precipice, +drag away the hand that could save it, and go to the judgment of God! +Let him decide between us.”</p> + +<p>Kmita cast himself on his knees before Radzivill. “Mighty prince, I am +with you to the death! Father of the country, savior!”</p> + +<p>Radzivill put both hands on his head, and again followed a moment of +silence. Only the owl hooted unceasingly on the tower.</p> + +<p>“You will receive all that you have yearned for and wished,” said the +prince, with solemnity. “Nothing will miss you, and more will meet you +than your father and mother desired. Rise, future grand hetman and +voevoda of Vilna!”</p> + +<p>It had begun to dawn in the sky.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<p>Pan Zagloba had his head mightily full when he hurled the word +“traitor” thrice at the eyes of the terrible hetman. At an hour nearer +morning, when the wine had evaporated from his bald head, and he found +himself with the two Skshetuskis and Pan Michael in a dungeon of +Kyedani Castle, he saw, when too late, the danger to which he had +exposed his own neck and the necks of his comrades, and was greatly +cast down.</p> + +<p>“But what will happen now?” asked he, gazing with dazed look on the +little knight, in whom he had special trust in great peril.</p> + +<p>“May the devil take life! it is all one to me!” answered Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“We shall live to such times and such infamy as the world and this +kingdom have not seen hitherto!” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“Would that we might live to them!” answered Zagloba; “we could restore +virtue in others by our good example. But shall we live? That is the +great question.”</p> + +<p>“This is a terrible event, passing belief!” said Pan Stanislav. “Where +has the like of it happened? Save me, gentlemen, for I feel that there +is confusion in my head. Two wars,—a third, the Cossack,—and in +addition treason, like a plague: Radzyovski, Opalinski, Grudzinski, +Radzivill! The end of the world is coming, and the day of judgment; it +cannot be otherwise! May the earth open under our feet! As God is dear +to me, I am losing my mind!”</p> + +<p>And clasping his hands at the back of his head, he began to pace the +length and width of the cellar, like a wild beast in a cage.</p> + +<p>“Shall we begin to pray, or what?” asked he at last. “Merciful God, +save us!”</p> + +<p>“Be calm!” said Zagloba; “this is not the time to despair.”</p> + +<p>Pan Stanislav ground his teeth on a sudden; rage carried him away. “I +wish you were killed!” cried he to Zagloba. “It was your thought to +come to this traitor. May vengeance reach you and him!”</p> + +<p>“Bethink yourself, Stanislav,” said Pan Yan, sternly. “No one could +foresee what has happened. Endure, for you are not the only man +suffering; and know that our place is here, and not elsewhere. Merciful +God! pity, not us, but the ill-fated country.”</p> + +<p>Stanislav made no answer, but wrung his hands till the joints were +cracking.</p> + +<p>They were silent. Pan Michael, however, began to whistle through his +teeth, in despair, and feigned indifference to everything happening +around him, though, in fact, he suffered doubly,—first, for the +misfortune of the country, and secondly, because he had violated his +obedience to the hetman. The latter was a terrible thing for him, a +soldier to the marrow of his bones. He would have preferred to die a +thousand times.</p> + +<p>“Do not whistle, Pan Michael,” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“All one to me!”</p> + +<p>“How is it? Is no one of you thinking whether there are not means of +escape? It is worth while to exercise one’s wits on this. Are we to rot +in this cellar, when every hand is needed for the country, when one man +of honor must settle ten traitors?”</p> + +<p>“Father is right,” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“You alone have not become stupid from pain. What do you suppose? What +does that traitor think of doing with us? Surely he will not punish us +with death?”</p> + +<p>Pan Michael burst out in a sudden laugh of despair. “But why not? I am +curious to learn! Has he not authority, has he not the sword? Do you +not know Radzivill?”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense! What right do they give him?”</p> + +<p>“Over me, the right of a hetman; over you, force!”</p> + +<p>“For which he must answer.”</p> + +<p>“To whom,—to the King of Sweden?”</p> + +<p>“You give me sweet consolation; there is no denying that!”</p> + +<p>“I have no thought of consoling you.”</p> + +<p>They were silent, and for a time there was nothing to be heard but the +measured tread of Scottish infantry at the door of the cellar.</p> + +<p>“There is no help here,” said Zagloba, “but stratagem.”</p> + +<p>No one gave answer; therefore he began to talk again after a while: “I +will not believe that we are to be put to death. If for every word +spoken in haste and in drink, a head were cut off, not one noble in +this Commonwealth would walk around with his head on his shoulders. But +<i>neminem captivabimus?</i> Is that a trifle?”</p> + +<p>“You have an example in yourself and in us,” answered Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Well, that happened in haste; but I believe firmly that the prince +will take a second thought. We are strangers; in no way do we come +under his jurisdiction. He must respect opinion, and not begin with +violence, so as not to offend the nobles. As true as life, our party is +too large to have the heads cut from all of us. Over the officers he +has authority, I cannot deny that; but, as I think, he will look to the +army, which surely will not fail to remember its own. And where is your +squadron, Michael?”</p> + +<p>“In Upita.”</p> + +<p>“But tell me, are you sure that the men will be true to you?”</p> + +<p>“Whence should I know? They like me well enough, but they know that the +hetman is above me.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba meditated awhile. “Give me an order to them to obey me in +everything, as they would you, if I appear among them.”</p> + +<p>“You think that you are free!”</p> + +<p>“There is no harm in that. I have been in hotter places, and God saved +me. Give an order for me and the two Skshetuskis. Whoso escapes first +will go straight to the squadron, and bring it to rescue the others.”</p> + +<p>“You are raving! It is a pity to lose time in empty talk! Who will +escape from this place? Besides, on what can I give an order; have you +paper, ink, pen? You are losing your head.”</p> + +<p>“Desperation!” cried Zagloba; “give me even your ring.”</p> + +<p>“Here it is, and let me have peace!”</p> + +<p>Zagloba took the ring, put it on his little finger, and began to walk +and meditate.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the smoking candle went out, and darkness embraced them +completely; only through the grating of the high window a couple of +stars were visible, twinkling in the clear sky. Zagloba’s eye did not +leave the grating. “If heaven-dwelling Podbipienta were living and with +us,” muttered the old man, “he would tear out that grating, and in an +hour we should see ourselves beyond Kyedani.”</p> + +<p>“But raise me to the window,” said Pan Yan, suddenly.</p> + +<p>Zagloba and Pan Stanislav placed themselves at the wall; in a moment +Yan was on their shoulders.</p> + +<p>“It cracks! As God is dear to me, it cracks!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“What are you talking about, father? I haven’t begun to pull it yet.”</p> + +<p>“Crawl up with your cousin; I’ll hold you somehow. More than once I +pitied Pan Michael because he was so slender; but now I regret that he +is not still thinner, so as to slip through like a snake.”</p> + +<p>But Yan sprang down from their shoulders. “The Scots are standing on +this side!” said he.</p> + +<p>“May God turn them into pillars of salt, like Lot’s wife!” said +Zagloba. “It is so dark here that you might strike a man in the face, +and he could not see you. It will soon be daybreak. I think they will +bring us food of some kind, for even Lutherans do not put prisoners to +a hunger death. Perhaps, too, God will send reflection to the hetman. +Often in the night conscience starts up in a man, and the devils pinch +sinners. Can it be there is only one entrance to this cellar? I will +look in the daytime. My head is somehow heavy, and I cannot think out a +stratagem. To-morrow God will strengthen my wit; but now we will say +the Lord’s Prayer, and commit ourselves to the Most Holy Lady, in this +heretical dungeon.”</p> + +<p>In fact they began a moment later to say the Lord’s Prayer and the +litany to the Mother of God; then Yan, Stanislav, and Volodyovski were +silent, for their breasts were full of misfortune, but Zagloba growled +in a low voice and muttered,—</p> + +<p>“It must be beyond doubt that to-morrow he will say to us, <i>aut</i>, +<i>aut!</i> (either, or). ‘Join Radzivill and I will pardon everything.’ But +we shall see who outwits the other. Do you pack nobles into prison, +have you no respect for age or services? Very good! To whom the loss, +to him the weeping! The foolish will be under, and the wise on top. I +will promise what you like, but what I observe would not make a patch +for your boot. If you do not hold to the country, he is virtuous who +holds not to you. This is certain, that final ruin is coming on the +Commonwealth if its foremost dignitaries join the enemy. This has never +been in the world hitherto, and surely a man may lose his senses from +it. Are there in hell torments sufficient for such traitors? What was +wanting to such a Radzivill? Is it little that the country has given +him, that he should sell it like a Judas, and in the very time of its +greatest misfortunes, in the time of three wars? Just is thy anger, O +Lord! only give swiftest punishment. So be it! Amen! If I could only +get out of here quickly, I would create partisans for thee, mighty +hetman! Thou wilt know how the fruits of treason taste. Thou wilt look +on me yet as a friend; but if thou findest no better, do not hunt a +bear unless thy skin is not dear to thee.”</p> + +<p>Thus did Zagloba converse with himself. Meanwhile one hour passed, and +a second; at last day began to dawn. The gray light falling through the +grating dissipated slowly the darkness in the cellar, and brought out +the gloomy figures sitting at the walls. Volodyovski and the +Skshetuskis were slumbering from weariness; but when things were more +visible, and when from the courtyard came the sounds of soldiers’ +footsteps, the clatter of arms, the tramp of hoofs, and the sound of +trumpets at the gate, the knights sprang to their feet.</p> + +<p>“The day begins not too favorably for us,” said Yan.</p> + +<p>“God grant it to end more favorably,” answered Zagloba. “Do you know +what I have thought in the night? They will surely treat us with the +gift of life if we will take service with Radzivill and help him in his +treason; we ought to agree to that, so as to make use of our freedom +and stand up for the country.”</p> + +<p>“May God preserve me from putting my name to treason,” answered Yan; +“for though I should leave the traitor afterward, my name would remain +among those of traitors as an infamy to my children. I will not do +that, I prefer to die.”</p> + +<p>“Neither will I!” said Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“But I tell you beforehand that I will. No one will think that I did it +voluntarily or sincerely. May the devils take that dragon Radzivill! We +shall see yet who gets the upper hand.”</p> + +<p>Further conversation was stopped by sounds in the yard. Among them were +the ominous accents of anger and indignation. At the same time single +voices of command, the echo of footsteps of whole crowds, and heavy +thunder as of cannon in motion.</p> + +<p>“What is going on?” asked Zagloba. “Maybe there is some help for us.”</p> + +<p>“There is surely an uncommon uproar,” said Volodyovski. “But raise me +to the window, for I shall see right away what it is.”</p> + +<p>Yan took Volodyovski and raised him as he would a boy. Pan Michael +caught the grating, and looked carefully through the yard.</p> + +<p>“There is something going on,—there is!” said he, with sudden +alertness. “I see the Hungarian castle regiment of infantry which +Oskyerko led—they loved him greatly, and he too is arrested; they are +demanding him surely. As God lives! they are in order of battle. +Lieutenant Stahovich is with them; he is a friend of Oskyerko.”</p> + +<p>At that moment the cries grew still louder.</p> + +<p>“Ganhoff has ridden up. He is saying something to Stahovich, and what a +shout! I see that Stahovich with two officers is walking away from the +troops. They are going of course as a deputation to the hetman. As God +is dear to me, mutiny is spreading in the army! The cannon are pointed +against the Hungarians, and the Scottish regiment is also in order of +battle. Men from the Polish squadrons are gathering to the Hungarians. +Without them they would not be so daring, for in the infantry there is +stern discipline.”</p> + +<p>“In God’s name!” cried Zagloba. “In that is salvation for us. Pan +Michael, are there many Polish squadrons? If they rise, it will be a +rising!”</p> + +<p>“Stankyevich’s hussars and Mirski’s mailed squadrons are two days’ +march from Kyedani,” answered Volodyovski. “If they had been here, the +hetman would not have dared to arrest their commanders. Wait! There are +Kharlamp’s dragoons, one regiment, Myeleshko’s another; they are for +the prince. Nyevyarovski declared also for the prince, but his regiment +is far away,—two Scottish regiments.”</p> + +<p>“Then there are four with the prince?”</p> + +<p>“And the artillery under Korf, two regiments.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, that’s a strong force!”</p> + +<p>“And Kmita’s squadron, well equipped,—six hundred men.”</p> + +<p>“And on whose side is Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“I do not know.”</p> + +<p>“Did you not see him? Did he throw down his baton?”</p> + +<p>“We know not.”</p> + +<p>“Who are against the prince,—what squadrons?”</p> + +<p>“First, these Hungarians evidently, two hundred men; then a number of +detached men from the commands of Mirski and Stankyevich; some nobles +and Kmita,—but he is uncertain.”</p> + +<p>“God grant him!—By God’s mercy!—Too few, too few.”</p> + +<p>“These Hungarians are as good as two regiments, old soldiers and tried. +But wait! They are lighting the matches at the cannon; it looks like a +battle!”</p> + +<p>Yan and Stanislav were silent; Zagloba was writhing as in a fever,—</p> + +<p>“Slay the traitors! Slay the dog-brothers! Ai, Kmita! Kmita! All +depends on him. Is he daring?”</p> + +<p>“As the devil,—ready for anything.”</p> + +<p>“It must be that he will take our side.”</p> + +<p>“Mutiny in the army! See to what the hetman has brought things!” cried +Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Who is the mutineer,—the army, or the hetman who rose against his own +king?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“God will judge that. Wait! Again there is a movement! Some of Kharlamp’s +dragoons take the part of the Hungarians. The very best nobles serve in +that regiment. Hear how they shout!”</p> + +<p>“The colonels! the colonels!” cried threatening voices in the yard.</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael! by the wounds of God, cry to them to send for your +squadron and for the armored regiment and the hussars.”</p> + +<p>“Be silent!”</p> + +<p>Zagloba began to shout himself: “But send for the rest of the Polish +squadrons, and cut down the traitors!”</p> + +<p>“Be silent there!”</p> + +<p>Suddenly, not in the yard, but in the rear of the castle, rang forth a +sharp salvo of muskets.</p> + +<p>“Jesus Mary!” cried Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael, what is that?”</p> + +<p>“Beyond doubt they have shot Stahovich and the two officers who went as +a deputation,” said Volodyovski, feverishly. “It cannot be otherwise!”</p> + +<p>“By the passion of our Lord! Then there is no mercy. It is impossible +to hope.”</p> + +<p>The thunder of shots drowned further discourse. Pan Michael grasped the +grating convulsively and pressed his forehead to it, but for a while he +could see nothing except the legs of the Scottish infantry stationed at +the window. Salvos of musketry grew more and more frequent; at last the +cannon were heard. The dry knocking of bullets against the wall over +the cellar was heard distinctly, like hail. The castle trembled to its +foundation.</p> + +<p>“Jump down, Michael, or you will be killed!” cried Yan.</p> + +<p>“By no means. The balls go higher; and from the cannon they are firing +in the other direction. I will not jump down for anything.”</p> + +<p>And Volodyovski, seizing the grating more firmly, drew himself entirely +to the window-sill, where he did not need the shoulder of Pan Yan to +hold him. In the cellar it became really dark, for the window was small +and Pan Michael though slender filled it completely; but as a +recompense the men below had fresh news from the field of battle every +minute.</p> + +<p>“I see now!” cried Pan Michael. “The Hungarians are resting against the +wall and are firing. I was afraid that they would be forced to a +corner, then the cannon would destroy them in a moment. Good soldiers, +as God is dear to me! Without officers, they know what is needed. There +is smoke again! I see nothing—”</p> + +<p>The firing began to slacken.</p> + +<p>“O merciful God, delay not thy punishment!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“And what, Michael?” asked Yan.</p> + +<p>“The Scots are advancing to the attack!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, brimstone thunderbolts, that we must sit here!” cried Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“They are there already, the halberd-men! The Hungarians meet them with +the sabre! Oh, my God! that you cannot look on. What soldiers!”</p> + +<p>“Fighting with their own and not with an enemy.”</p> + +<p>“The Hungarians have the upper hand. The Scots are falling back on the +left. As I love God! Myeleshko’s dragoons are going over to them! The +Scots are between two fires. Korf cannot use his cannon, for he would +strike the Scots. I see Ganhoff uniforms among the Hungarians. They are +going to attack the gate. They wish to escape. They are advancing like +a storm,—breaking everything!”</p> + +<p>“How is that? I wish they would capture this castle!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Never mind! They will come back to-morrow with the squadrons of +Mirski and Stankyevich—Oh, Kharlamp is killed! No! He rises; he is +wounded—they are already at the gate. What is that? Just as if the +Scottish guard at the gate were coming over to the Hungarians, for they +are opening the gate,—dust is rising on the outside; I see Kmita! +Kmita is rushing through the gate with cavalry!”</p> + +<p>“On whose side is he, on whose side?” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>For a moment Pan Michael gave no answer; but very soon the clatter of +weapons, shrieks, and shouts were heard with redoubled force.</p> + +<p>“It is all over with them!” cried Pan Michael, with a shrill voice.</p> + +<p>“All over with whom, with whom?”</p> + +<p>“With the Hungarians. The cavalry has broken them, is trampling them, +cutting them to pieces! Their flag is in Kmita’s hand! The end, the +end!”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, Volodyovski dropped from the window and fell +into the arms of Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“Kill me!” cried he, “kill me, for I had that man under my sabre and +let him go with his life; I gave him his commission. Through me he +assembled that squadron with which he will fight now against the +country. I saw whom he got: dog-brothers, gallows-birds, robbers, +ruffians, such as he is himself. God grant me to meet him once more +with the sabre—God! lengthen my life to the death of that traitor, for +I swear that he will not leave my hands again.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile cries, the trample of hoofs, and salvos of musketry were +thundering yet with full force; after a time, however, they began to +weaken, and an hour later silence reigned in the castle of Kyedani, +broken only by the measured tread of the Scottish patrols and words of +command.</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael, look out once more and see what has happened,” begged +Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“What for?” asked the little knight. “Whoso is a soldier will guess +what has happened. Besides, I saw them beaten,—Kmita triumphs here!”</p> + +<p>“God give him to be torn with horses, the scoundrel, the hell-dweller! +God give him to guard a harem for Tartars!”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<p>Pan Michael was right. Kmita had triumphed. The Hungarians and a part +of the dragoons of Myeleshko and Kharlamp who had joined them, lay dead +close together in the court of Kyedani. Barely a few tens of them had +slipped out and scattered around the castle and the town, where the +cavalry pursued them. Many were caught; others never stopped of a +certainty till they reached the camp of Sapyeha, voevoda of Vityebsk, +to whom they were the first to bring the terrible tidings of the grand +hetman’s treason, of his desertion to the Swedes, of the imprisonment +of the colonels and the resistance of the Polish squadrons.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kmita, covered with blood and dust, presented himself with +the banner of the Hungarians before Radzivill, who received him with +open arms. But Pan Andrei was not delighted with the victory. He was as +gloomy and sullen as if he had acted against his heart.</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” said he, “I do not like to hear praises, and would +rather a hundred times fight the enemy than soldiers who might be of +service to the country. It seems to a man as if he were spilling his +own blood.”</p> + +<p>“Who is to blame, if not those insurgents?” answered the prince. “I too +would prefer to send them to Vilna, and I intended to do so. But they +chose to rebel against authority. What has happened will not be undone. +It was and it will be needful to give an example.”</p> + +<p>“What does your highness think of doing with the prisoners?”</p> + +<p>“A ball in the forehead of every tenth man. Dispose the rest among +other regiments. You will go to-day to the squadrons of Mirski and +Stankyevich, announce my order, to them to be ready for the campaign. I +make you commander over those two squadrons, and over the third, that +of Volodyovski. The lieutenants are to be subordinate to you and obey +you in everything. I wished to send Kharlamp to that squadron at first, +but he is useless. I have changed my mind.”</p> + +<p>“What shall I do in case of resistance? For with Volodyovski are Lauda +men who hate me terribly.”</p> + +<p>“Announce that Mirski, Stankyevich, and Volodyovski will be shot +immediately.”</p> + +<p>“Then they may come in arms to Kyedani to rescue these officers. All +serving under Mirski are distinguished nobles.”</p> + +<p>“Take a regiment of Scottish infantry and a German regiment. First +surround them, then announce the order.”</p> + +<p>“Such is the will of your highness.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill rested his hands on his knees and fell to thinking.</p> + +<p>“I would gladly shoot Mirski and Stankyevich were they not respected in +the whole country as well as in their own regiments. I fear tumult and +open rebellion, an example of which we have just had before our eyes. I +am glad, thanks to you, that they have received a good lesson, and each +squadron will think twice before rising against us. But it is +imperative to act swiftly, so that resisting men may not go to the +voevoda of Vityebsk.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness has spoken only of Mirski and Stankyevich, you have not +mentioned Volodyovski and Oskyerko.”</p> + +<p>“I must spare Oskyerko, too, for he is a man of note and widely +related; but Volodyovski comes from Russia<a name="div2Ref_21" href="#div2_21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> and has no relatives +here. He is a valiant soldier, it is true. I counted on him,—so much +the worse that I was deceived. If the devil had not brought hither +those wanderers his friends, he might have acted differently; but after +what has happened, a bullet in the forehead waits him, as well as those +two Skshetuskis and that third fellow, that bull who began first to +bellow, ‘Traitor, traitor!’”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei sprang up as if burned with iron: “Your highness, the +soldiers say that Volodyovski saved your life at Tsibyhova.”</p> + +<p>“He did his duty; therefore I wanted to give him Dydkyemie for life. +Now he has betrayed me; hence I give command to shoot him.”</p> + +<p>Kmita’s eyes flashed, and his nostrils began to quiver.</p> + +<p>“Your highness, that cannot be!”</p> + +<p>“How cannot be?” asked Radzivill, frowning.</p> + +<p>“I implore your highness,” said Kmita, carried away, “that not a hair +fall from Volodyovski. Forgive me, I implore. Volodyovski had the power +not to deliver to me the commission, for it was sent to him and left at +his disposal. But he gave it. He plucked me out of the whirlpool. +Through that act of his I passed into the jurisdiction of your +highness. He did not hesitate to save me, though he and I were trying +to win the same woman. I owe him gratitude, and I have vowed to repay +him. Your highness, grant for my sake that no punishment touch him or +his friends. A hair should not fall from the head of either of them, +and as God is true, it will not fall while I live. I implore your +highness.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei entreated and clasped his hands, but his words were ringing +with anger, threats, and indignation. His unrestrained nature gained +the upper hand, and he stood above Radzivill with flashing eyes and a +visage like the head of an angry bird of prey. The hetman too had a +storm in his face. Before his iron will and despotism everything +hitherto in Lithuania and Russia had bent. No one had ever dared to +oppose him, no one to beg mercy for those once condemned; but now +Kmita’s entreating was merely for show, in reality he presented +demands; and the position was such that it was impossible to refuse +him.</p> + +<p>At the very beginning of his career of treason, the despot felt that he +would have to yield more than once to the despotism of men and +circumstances, and would be dependent on adherents of far less +importance than this one; that Kmita, whom he wished to turn into a +faithful dog, would be rather a captive wolf, ready when angry to bite +its master’s hand.</p> + +<p>All this roused the proud blood of Radzivill. He resolved to resist, +for his inborn terrible vengefulness urged him to that.</p> + +<p>“Volodyovski and the other three must lose their heads,” said he, with +a loud voice.</p> + +<p>But to speak thus was to throw powder on fire.</p> + +<p>“If I had not dispersed the Hungarians, these are not the men who had +lost their heads,” shouted Kmita.</p> + +<p>“How is this? Are you renouncing my service already?” asked the hetman, +threateningly.</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” answered Pan Andrei, with passion, “I am not +renouncing; I am begging, imploring. But the harm will not happen. +These men are famous in all Poland. It cannot be, it cannot be! I will +not be a Judas to Volodyovski. I will follow your highness into fire, +but refuse not this favor.”</p> + +<p>“But if I refuse?”</p> + +<p>“Then give command to shoot me; I will not live! May thunderbolts split +me! May devils take me living to hell!”</p> + +<p>“Remember, unfortunate, before whom you are speaking.”</p> + +<p>“Bring me not to desperation, your highness.”</p> + +<p>“To a prayer I may give ear, but a threat I will not consider.”</p> + +<p>“I beg,—I implore.” Here Pan Andrei threw himself on his knees. +“Permit me, your highness, to serve you not from constraint, but with +my heart, or I shall go mad.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill said nothing. Kmita was kneeling; pallor and flushes chased +each other like lightning gleams over his face. It was clear that a +moment more and he would burst forth in terrible fashion.</p> + +<p>“Rise!” said Radzivill.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei rose.</p> + +<p>“To defend a friend you are able. I have the test that you will also be +able to defend me and will never desert. But God made you of nitre, not +of flesh, and have a care that you run not to fluid. I cannot refuse +you anything. Listen to me: Stankyevich, Mirski, and Oskyerko I will +send to the Swedes at Birji; let the two Skshetuskis and Volodyovski go +with them. The Swedes will not tear off their heads there, and it is +better that they sit out the war in quiet.”</p> + +<p>“I thank your highness, my father,” cried Andrei.</p> + +<p>“Wait,” said the prince. “I have respected your oath already too +much; now respect mine. I have recorded death in my soul to that old +noble,—I have forgotten his name,—that bellowing devil who came here +with Skshetuski. He is the man who first called me traitor. He +mentioned a bribe; he urged on the others, and perhaps there would not +have been such opposition without his insolence.” Here the prince +struck the table with his fist. “I should have expected death sooner, +and the end of the world sooner, than that any one would dare to shout +at me, Radzivill, to my face, ‘Traitor!’ In presence of people! There +is not a death, there are not torments befitting such a crime. Do not +beg me for him; it is useless.”</p> + +<p>But Pan Andrei was not easily discouraged when once he undertook a +thing. He was not angry now, nor did he blaze forth. But seizing again +the hand of the hetman, he began to cover it with kisses and to entreat +with all the earnestness in his soul—</p> + +<p>“With no rope or chain could your highness bind my heart as with this +favor. Only do it not half-way nor in part, but completely. That noble +said yesterday what all thought. I myself thought the same till you +opened my eyes,—may fire consume me, if I did not! A man is not to +blame for being unwise. That noble was so drunk that what he had on his +heart he shouted forth. He thought that he was defending the country, +and it is hard to punish a man for love of country. He knew that he was +exposing his life, and shouted what he had on his mind. He neither +warms nor freezes me, but he is to Pan Volodyovski as a brother, or +quite as a father. Volodyovski would mourn for him beyond measure, and +I do not want that. Such is the nature within me, that if I wish good +to a man I would give my soul for him. If any one has spared me, but +killed my friend, may the devil take him for such a favor! Your +highness, my father, benefactor, do a perfect kindness,—give me this +noble, and I will give you all my blood, even tomorrow, this day, this +moment!”</p> + +<p>Radzivill gnawed his mustaches. “I determined death to him yesterday in +my soul.”</p> + +<p>“What the hetman and voevoda of Vilna determined, that can the Grand +Prince of Lithuania and, God grant in the future, the King of Poland, +as a gracious monarch, efface.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei spoke sincerely what he felt and thought; but had he been +the most adroit of courtiers he could not have found a more powerful +argument in defence of his friends. The proud face of the magnate grew +bright at the sound of those titles which he did not possess yet, and +he said,—</p> + +<p>“You have so understood me that I can refuse you nothing. They will all +go to Birji. Let them expiate their faults with the Swedes; and when +that has happened of which you have spoken, ask for them a new favor.”</p> + +<p>“As true as life, I will ask, and may God grant as quickly as +possible!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Go now, and bear the good news to them.”</p> + +<p>“The news is good for me, not for them; and surely they will not +receive it with gratitude, especially since they did not suspect what +threatened them. I will not go, your highness, for it would seem as if +I were hurrying to boast of my intercession.”</p> + +<p>“Do as you please about that, but lose no time in bringing the +squadrons of Mirski and Stankyevich; immediately after there will be +another expedition for you, from which surely you will not flee.”</p> + +<p>“What is that?”</p> + +<p>“You will go to ask on my behalf Pan Billevich, the sword-bearer of +Rossyeni, to come to me here at Kyedani, with his niece, and stay +during the war. Do you understand?”</p> + +<p>Kmita was confused. “He will not be ready to do that. He went from +Kyedani in a great rage.”</p> + +<p>“I think that the rage has left him already. In every case take men, +and if they will not come of their own will put them in a carriage, +surround it with dragoons, and bring them. He was as soft as wax when I +spoke with him; he blushed like a maiden and bowed to the floor, but he +was as frightened at the name of the Swedes as the devil is at holy +water, and went away. I want him here for myself and for you; I hope to +form out of that wax a candle that I can light when I like and for whom +I like. It will be all the better if it happens so; but if not, I will +have a hostage. The Billeviches are very powerful in Jmud, for they are +related to almost all the nobles. When I have one of them in my hands, +and that one the eldest, the others will think twice before they +undertake anything against me. Furthermore, behind them and your maiden +are all that throng of Lauda men, who, if they were to go to the camp +of the voevoda of Vityebsk, would be received by him with open arms. +That is an important affair, so important that I think to begin with +the Billeviches.”</p> + +<p>“In Volodyovski’s squadron are Lauda men only.”</p> + +<p>“The guardians of your maiden. If that is true, begin by conveying her +to Kyedani. Only listen: I will undertake to bring the sword-bearer to +our side, but do you win the maiden as you can. When I bring over the +sword-bearer, he will help you with the girl. If she is willing, I will +have the wedding for you at once. If not, take her to the altar without +ceremony. When the storm is over, all will be well. That is the best +method with women. She will weep, she will despair, when they drag her +to the altar; but next day she will think that the devil is not so +terrible as they paint him, and the third day she will be glad. How did +you part from her yesterday?”</p> + +<p>“As if she had given me a slap in the face.”</p> + +<p>“What did she say?”</p> + +<p>“She called me a traitor. I was almost struck with paralysis.”</p> + +<p>“Is she so furious? When you are her husband, tell her that a distaff +is fitter for her than public affairs, and hold her tight.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness does not know her. She must have a thing either virtue +or vice; according to that she judges, and more than one man might envy +her her mind. Before you can look around she has struck the point.”</p> + +<p>“She has struck you to the heart. Try to strike her in like manner.”</p> + +<p>“If God would grant that, your highness! Once I took her with armed +hand, but afterward I vowed to do so no more. And something tells me +that were I to take her by force to the altar it would not be to my +heart, for I have promised her and myself not to use force again. If +her uncle is convinced he will convince her, and then she will look on +me differently. Now I will go to Billeviche and bring them both here, +for I am afraid that she may take refuge in some cloister. But I tell +your highness the pure truth, that though it is a great happiness for +me to look on that maiden, I would rather attack the whole Swedish +power than stand before her at present, for she does not know my honest +intentions and holds me a traitor.”</p> + +<p>“If you wish I will send another,—Kharlamp or Myeleshko.”</p> + +<p>“No, I would rather go myself; besides, Kharlamp is wounded.”</p> + +<p>“That is better. I wanted to send Kharlamp yesterday to Volodyovski’s +squadron to take command, and if need be force it to obedience; but he +is an awkward fellow, and it turns out that he knows not how to hold +his own men. I have no service for him. Go first for the sword-bearer +and the maiden, and then to those squadrons. In an extreme case do not +spare blood, for we must show the Swedes that we have power and are not +afraid of rebellion. I will send the colonels away at once under +escort; I hope that Pontus de la Gardie will consider this a proof of +my sincerity. Myeleshko will take them. The beginning is difficult. I +see that half Lithuania will rise against me.”</p> + +<p>“That is nothing, your highness. Whoso has a clean conscience fears no +man.”</p> + +<p>“I thought that all the Radzivills at least would be on my side, but +see what Prince Michael writes from Nyesvyej.”</p> + +<p>Here the hetman gave Kmita the letter of Kazimir Michael. Pan Andrei +cast his eyes over the letter.</p> + +<p>“If I knew not the intentions of your highness I should think him +right, and the most virtuous man in the world. God give him everything +good! He speaks what he thinks.”</p> + +<p>“Set out now!” said the prince, with a certain impatience.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<p>Kmita, however, did not start that day, nor the following, for +threatening news began to arrive at Kyedani from every side. Toward +evening a courier rushed in with tidings that Mirski’s squadron and +Stankyevich’s also were marching to the hetman’s residence, prepared to +demand with armed hand their colonels; that there was terrible +agitation among them, and that the officers had sent deputations to all +the squadrons posted near Kyedani, and farther on to Podlyasye and +Zabludovo, with news of the hetman’s treason, and with a summons to +unite in defence of the country. From this it was easy to see that +multitudes of nobles would fly to the insurgent squadrons and form an +important force, which it would be difficult to resist in unfortified +Kyedani, especially since not every regiment which Radzivill had at +hand could be relied on with certainty.</p> + +<p>This changed all the calculations and plans of the hetman; but instead +of weakening, it seemed to rouse his courage still more. He determined +to move at the head of his faithful Scottish regiments, cavalry and +artillery, against the insurgents, and stamp out the fire at its birth. +He knew that the soldiers without colonels were simply an unorganized +throng, that would scatter from terror at the mere name of the hetman. +He determined also not to spare blood, and to terrify with examples the +whole army, all the nobles, nay, all Lithuania, so that it should not +dare even to tremble beneath his iron hand. Everything that he had +planned must be accomplished, and accomplished with his own forces.</p> + +<p>That very day a number of foreign officers went to Prussia to make new +enlistments, and Kyedani was swarming with armed men. The Scottish +regiments, the foreign cavalry, the dragoons of Myeleshko and Kharlamp, +with the “fire people” of Pan Korf, were preparing for the campaign. +The prince’s haiduks, his servants, and the citizens of Kyedani were +obliged to increase the military forces; and it was determined to +hasten the transfer of the prisoners to Birji, where it would be safer +to keep them than in exposed Kyedani. The prince hoped with reason that +to transport the colonels to a remote fortress, in which, according to +treaty, there must be a Swedish garrison already, would destroy in the +minds of the rebellious soldiers all hope of rescuing them, and deprive +the rebellion itself of every basis. Pan Zagloba, the Skshetuskis, and +Volodyovski were to share the lot of the others.</p> + +<p>It was already evening when an officer with lantern in hand entered the +cellar in which they were, and said,—</p> + +<p>“Prepare, gentlemen, to follow me.”</p> + +<p>“Whither?” asked Zagloba, with a voice of alarm.</p> + +<p>“That will be seen. Hurry, hurry!”</p> + +<p>“We come.”</p> + +<p>They went out. In the corridor Scottish soldiers armed with muskets +surrounded them. Zagloba grew more and more alarmed.</p> + +<p>“Still they would not lead us to death without a priest, without +confession,” whispered he in the ear of Volodyovski. Then he turned to +the officer; “What is your rank, I pray?”</p> + +<p>“What is my rank to you?”</p> + +<p>“I have many relatives in Lithuania, and it is pleasant to know with +whom one has to do.”</p> + +<p>“No time for inquiries, but he is a fool who is ashamed of his name. I +am Roh Kovalski, if you wish to know.”</p> + +<p>“That is an honorable stock! The men are good soldiers, the women are +virtuous. My grandmother was a Kovalski, but she made an orphan of me +before I came to the world. Are you from the Vyerush, or the Korab +Kovalskis?”</p> + +<p>“Do you want to examine me as a witness, in the night?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I do this because you are surely a relative of mine, for we have +the same build. You have large bones and shoulders, just like mine, and +I got my form from my grandmother.”</p> + +<p>“Well, we can talk about that on the road. We shall have time!”</p> + +<p>“On the road?” said Zagloba; and a great weight fell from his breast. +He breathed like a bellows, and gained courage at once.</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael,” whispered he, “did I not say that they would not cut our +heads off?”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile they had reached the courtyard. Night had fallen completely. +In places red torches were burning or lanterns gleaming, throwing an +uncertain light on groups of soldiers, horse and foot, of various arms. +The whole court was crowded with troops. Clearly they were ready to +march, for a great movement was manifest on all sides. Here and +there in the darkness gleamed lances and gun-barrels; horses’ hoofs +clattered on the pavement; single horsemen hurried between the +squadrons,—undoubtedly officers giving commands.</p> + +<p>Kovalski stopped the convoy and the prisoners before an enormous wagon +drawn by four horses, and having a box made as it were of ladders.</p> + +<p>“Take your places, gentlemen,” said he.</p> + +<p>“Some one is sitting there already,” said Zagloba, clambering up. “But +our packs?”</p> + +<p>“They are under the straw,” said Kovalski; “hurry, hurry!”</p> + +<p>“But who are sitting here?” asked Zagloba, looking at dark figures +stretched on the straw.</p> + +<p>“Mirski, Stankyevich, Oskyerko,” answered voices.</p> + +<p>“Volodyovski, Yan and Stanislav Skshetuski, and Zagloba,” answered our +knights.</p> + +<p>“With the forehead, with the forehead!”</p> + +<p>“With the forehead! We are travelling in honorable company. And whither +are they taking us, do you know, gentlemen?”</p> + +<p>“You are going to Birji,” said Kovalski.</p> + +<p>When he said this, he gave the command. A convoy of fifty dragoons +surrounded the wagon and moved on. The prisoners began to converse in a +low voice.</p> + +<p>“They will give us to the Swedes,” said Mirski; “I expected that.”</p> + +<p>“I would rather sit among enemies than traitors,” answered Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“And I would rather have a bullet in my forehead,” said Volodyovski, +“than sit with folded arms during such an unfortunate war.”</p> + +<p>“Do not blaspheme, Michael,” answered Zagloba, “for from the wagon, +should a convenient moment come, you may give a plunge, and from Birji +also; but it is hard to escape with a bullet in the forehead. I foresaw +that that traitor would not dare to put bullets in our heads.”</p> + +<p>“Is there a thing which Radzivill does not dare to do?” asked Mirski. +“It is clear that you have come from afar and know him not. On +whomsoever he has sworn vengeance, that man is as good as in the grave; +and I remember no instance of his forgiving any one the slightest +offence.”</p> + +<p>“But still he did not dare to raise hands on me!” answered Zagloba. +“Who knows if you have not to thank me for your lives?”</p> + +<p>“And how?”</p> + +<p>“Because the Khan loves me wonderfully, for I discovered a conspiracy +against his life when I was a captive in the Crimea. And our gracious +king, Yan Kazimir, loves me too. Radzivill, the son of a such a one, +did not wish to break with two such potentates; for they might reach +him, even in Lithuania.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! what are you saying? He hates the king as the devil does holy +water, and would be still more envenomed against you did he know you to +be a confidant of the king,” observed Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“I think this,” said Oskyerko. “To avoid odium the hetman would not +stain himself with our blood, but I could swear that this officer is +bearing an order to the Swedes in Birji to shoot us on the spot.”</p> + +<p>“Oi!” exclaimed Zagloba.</p> + +<p>They were silent for a moment; meanwhile the wagon had rolled into the +square of Kyedani. The town was sleeping, there were no lights in the +windows, only the dogs before the houses snapped angrily at the passing +party.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Zagloba, “we have gained time anyhow, and perhaps a chance +will serve us, and some stratagem may come to my head.” Here he turned +to the old colonels: “Gentlemen, you know me little, but ask my +comrades about the hot places in which I have been, and from which I +have always escaped. Tell me, what kind of officer is this who commands +the convoy? Could he be persuaded not to adhere to a traitor, but take +the side of his country and join us?”</p> + +<p>“That is Roh Kovalski of the Korab Kovalskis,” answered Oskyerko.</p> + +<p>“I know him. You might as well persuade his horse as him; for as God is +bountiful I know not which is more stupid.”</p> + +<p>“But why did they make him officer?”</p> + +<p>“He carried the banner with Myeleshko’s dragoons; for this no wit is +needed. But he was made officer because his fist pleased the prince; +for he breaks horseshoes, wrestles with tame bears, and the man has not +yet been discovered whom he cannot bring to the earth.”</p> + +<p>“Has he such strength?”</p> + +<p>“That he has such strength is true; but were his superior to order him +to batter down a wall with his head he would fall to battering it +without a moment’s delay. He is ordered to take us to Birji, and he +will take us, even if the earth had to sink.”</p> + +<p>“’Pon my word,” said Zagloba, who listened to this conversation with +great attention, “he is a resolute fellow.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but with him resolution consists in stupidity alone. When he has +time, and is not eating, he is sleeping. It is an astonishing thing, +which you will not believe; but once he slept forty-eight hours in the +barracks, and yawned when they dragged him from the plank bed.”</p> + +<p>“This officer pleases me greatly,” said Zagloba, “for I always like to +know with whom I have to do.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this he turned to Kovalski. “But come this way, +please!” cried he, in a patronizing tone.</p> + +<p>“What is it?” asked Kovalski, turning his horse.</p> + +<p>“Have you gorailka?”</p> + +<p>“I have.”</p> + +<p>“Give it!”</p> + +<p>“How give it?”</p> + +<p>“You know, gracious Kovalski, if it were not permitted you would have +had an order not to give it; but since you have not an order, give it.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Kovalski, astonished, “as I live! but that is like forcing.”</p> + +<p>“Forcing or not forcing, it is permitted you; and it is proper to +assist a blood relative and an older man, who, if he had married your +mother, might have been your father as easily as wink.”</p> + +<p>“What relative are you of mine?”</p> + +<p>“I am, for there are two stocks of Kovalskis,—they who use the seal of +Vyerush and have a goat painted on their shield, with upraised hind +leg; and they who have on their shield the ship in which their ancestor +Kovalski sailed from England across the sea to Poland; and these are my +relatives, through my grandmother, and this is why I, too, have the +ship on my shield.”</p> + +<p>“As God lives! you are my relative.”</p> + +<p>“Are you a Korab (ship)?”</p> + +<p>“A Korab.”</p> + +<p>“My own blood, as God is dear to me!” cried Zagloba. “It is lucky that +we have met, for in very truth I have come here to Lithuania to see the +Kovalskis; and though I am in bonds while you are on horseback and in +freedom I would gladly embrace you, for what is one’s own is one’s +own.”</p> + +<p>“How can I help you? They commanded me to take you to Birji; I will +take you. Blood is blood, but service is service.”</p> + +<p>“Call me Uncle,” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Here is gorailka for you, Uncle,” said Kovalski; “I can do that much.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba took the flask gladly, and drank to his liking. Soon a pleasant +warmth spread through his members. It began to grow clear in his brain, +and his mind became bright.</p> + +<p>“Come down from the horse,” said he to Kovalski, “and sit here a short +time in the wagon; let us talk, for I should like to have you say +something about our family. I respect service, but this too is +permitted.”</p> + +<p>Kovalski did not answer for a while.</p> + +<p>“This was not forbidden,” said he, at last.</p> + +<p>Soon after he was sitting at the side of Zagloba, and stretched himself +gladly on the straw with which the wagon was filled.</p> + +<p>Zagloba embraced him heartily.</p> + +<p>“How is the health of thy old father?—God help me,—I’ve forgotten his +name.”</p> + +<p>“Roh, also.”</p> + +<p>“That’s right, that’s right. Roh begat Roh,—that is according to +command. You must call your son Roh as well, so that every hoopoo may +have his topknot. But are you married?”</p> + +<p>“Of course! I am Kovalski, and here is Pani Kovalski; I don’t want any +other.”</p> + +<p>So saying, the young officer raised to the eyes of Zagloba the hilt of +a heavy dragoon sabre, and repeated, “I don’t want any other.”</p> + +<p>“Proper!” said Zagloba. “Roh, son of Roh, you are greatly pleasing to +me. A soldier is best accommodated when he has no wife save such a one, +and I will say more,—she will be a widow before you will be a widower. +The only pity is that you cannot have young Rohs by her, for I see that +you are a keen cavalier, and it would be a sin were such a stock to die +out.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no fear of that!” said Kovalski; “there are six brothers of us.”</p> + +<p>“And all Rohs?”</p> + +<p>“Does Uncle know that if not the first, then the second, has to be +Roh?—for Roh is our special patron.”</p> + +<p>“Let us drink again.”</p> + +<p>“Very well.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba raised the bottle; he did not drink all, however, but gave it +to the officer and said, “To the bottom, to the bottom! It is a pity +that I cannot see you,” continued he. “The night is so dark that you +might hit a man in the face, you would not know your own fingers by +sight. But hear me, Roh, where was that army going from Kyedani when we +drove out?”</p> + +<p>“Against the insurgents.”</p> + +<p>“The Most High God knows who is insurgent,—you or they.”</p> + +<p>“I an insurgent? How could that be? I do what my hetman commands.”</p> + +<p>“But the hetman does not do what the king commands, for surely the king +did not command him to join the Swedes. Would you not rather slay the +Swedes than give me, your relative, into their hands?”</p> + +<p>“I might; but for every command there is obedience.”</p> + +<p>“And Pani Kovalski would rather slay Swedes; I know her. Speaking +between us, the hetman has rebelled against the king and the country. +Don’t say this to any one, but it is so; and those who serve him are +rebels too.”</p> + +<p>“It is not proper for me to hear this. The hetman has his superior, and +I have mine; what is his own belongs to the hetman, and God would +punish me if I were to oppose him. That is an unheard of thing.”</p> + +<p>“You speak honestly; but think, Roh, if you were to happen into the +hands of those insurgents, I should be free, and it would be no fault +of yours, for <i>nec Hercules contra plures!</i>—I do not know where those +squadrons are, but you must know, and you see we might turn toward them +a little.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?”</p> + +<p>“As if we went by chance to them? It would not be your fault if they +rescued us. You would not have me on your conscience,—and to have a +relative on a man’s conscience, believe me, is a terrible burden.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Uncle, what are you saying! As God lives, I will leave the wagon +and sit on my horse. It is not I who will have uncle on my conscience, +but the hetman. While I live, nothing will come of this talk.”</p> + +<p>“Nothing is nothing!” said Zagloba; “I prefer that you speak sincerely, +though I was your uncle before Radzivill was your hetman. And do you +know, Roh, what an uncle is?”</p> + +<p>“An uncle is an uncle.”</p> + +<p>“You have calculated very adroitly; but when a man has no father, the +Scriptures say that he must obey his uncle. The power of an uncle is as +that of a father, which it is a sin to resist. For consider even this, +that whoever marries may easily become a father; but in your uncle +flows the same blood as in your mother. I am not in truth the brother +of your mother, but my grandmother must have been your grandmother’s +aunt. Know then that the authority of several generations rests in me; +for like everything else in the world we are mortal, therefore +authority passes from one of us to another, and neither the hetman nor +the king can ignore it, nor force any one to oppose it. It is sacred! +Has the full hetman or even the grand hetman the right to command not +merely a noble or an officer, but any kind of camp-follower, to rise up +against his father, his mother, his grandfather, or his blind old +grandmother? Answer me that, Roh. Has he the right?”</p> + +<p>“What?” asked Kovalski, with a sleepy voice.</p> + +<p>“Against his blind old grandmother!” repeated Zagloba. “Who in that +case would be willing to marry and beget children, or wait for +grandchildren? Answer me that, Roh.”</p> + +<p>“I am Kovalski, and this is Pani Kovalski,” said the still sleepier +officer.</p> + +<p>“If it is your wish, let it be so,” answered Zagloba. “Better indeed +that you have no children, there will be fewer fools to storm around in +the world. Is it not true, Roh?”</p> + +<p>Zagloba held down his ear, but heard nothing,—no answer now.</p> + +<p>“Roh! Roh!” called he, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>Kovalski was sleeping like a dead man.</p> + +<p>“Are you sleeping?” muttered Zagloba. “Wait a bit—I will take this +iron pot off your head, for it is of no use to you. This cloak is too +tight at the throat; it might cause apoplexy. What sort of relative +were I, did I not save you?”</p> + +<p>Here Zagloba’s hands began to move lightly about the head and neck of +Kovalski. In the wagon all were in a deep sleep; the soldiers too +nodded in the saddles; some in front were singing in a low voice, while +looking out the road carefully,—for the night, though not rainy, was +exceedingly dark.</p> + +<p>After a time, however, the soldier leading Kovalski’s horse behind the +wagon saw in the darkness the cloak and bright helmet of his officer. +Kovalski, without stopping the wagon, slipped out and nodded to give +him the horse. In a moment he mounted.</p> + +<p>“Pan Commandant, where shall we stop to feed?” asked the sergeant, +approaching him.</p> + +<p>Pan Roh gave no word in reply, but moving forward passed slowly those +riding in front and vanished in the darkness. Soon there came to the +ears of the dragoons the quick tramp of a horse.</p> + +<p>“The commandant has gone at a gallop!” said they to one another. +“Surely he wants to look around to see if there is some public house +near by. It is time to feed the horses,—time.”</p> + +<p>A half-hour passed, an hour, two hours, and Pan Kovalski seemed to be +ahead all the time, for somehow he was not visible. The horses grew +very tired, especially those drawing the wagon, and began to drag on +slowly. The stars were leaving the sky.</p> + +<p>“Gallop to the commandant,” said the sergeant; “tell him the horses are +barely able to drag along, and the wagon horses are tired.”</p> + +<p>One of the soldiers moved ahead, but after an hour returned alone.</p> + +<p>“There is neither trace nor ashes of the commandant,” said the soldier; +“he must have ridden five miles ahead.”</p> + +<p>The soldiers began to grumble.</p> + +<p>“It is well for him he slept through the day, and just now on the +wagon; but do thou, soldier, pound through the night with the last +breath of thy horse and thyself!”</p> + +<p>“There is an inn eighty rods distant,” said the soldier who had ridden +ahead. “I thought to find him there, but no! I listened, trying to hear +the horse—Nothing to be heard. The devil knows where he is!”</p> + +<p>“We will stop at the inn anyhow,” said the sergeant. “We must let the +horses rest.”</p> + +<p>In fact they halted before the inn. The soldiers dismounted. Some went +to knock at the door; others untied bundles of hay, hanging at the +saddles, to feed the horses even from their hands.</p> + +<p>The prisoners woke when the movement of the wagon ceased.</p> + +<p>“But where are we going?” asked old Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“I cannot tell in the night,” answered Volodyovski, “especially as we +are not going to Upita.”</p> + +<p>“But does not the load from Kyedani to Birji lie through Upita?” asked +Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“It does. But in Upita is my squadron, which clearly the prince fears +may resist, therefore he ordered Kovalski to take another road. Just +outside Kyedani we turned to Dalnovo and Kroki; from the second place +we shall go surely through Beysagoli and Shavli. It is a little out of +the way, but Upita and Ponyevyej will remain at the right. On this road +there are no squadrons, for all that were there were brought to +Kyedani, so as to have them at hand.”</p> + +<p>“But Pan Zagloba,” said Stankyevich, “instead of thinking of +stratagems, as he promised, is sleeping sweetly, and snoring.”</p> + +<p>“Let him sleep. It is clear that he was wearied from talk with that +stupid commandant, relationship with whom he confessed. It is evident +that he wanted to capture him, but with no result. Whoso would not +leave Radzivill for his country, will surely not leave him for a +distant relative.”</p> + +<p>“Are they really relatives?” asked Oskyerko.</p> + +<p>“They? They are as much relatives as you and I,” answered Volodyovski. +“When Zagloba spoke of their common escutcheon, I knew it was not true, +for I know well that his is called wczele (in the forehead).”</p> + +<p>“And where is Pan Kovalski?”</p> + +<p>“He must be with the soldiers or in the inn.”</p> + +<p>“I should like to ask him to let me sit on some soldier’s horse,” said +Mirski, “for my bones are benumbed.”</p> + +<p>“He will not grant that,” said Stankyevich; “for the night is dark, you +could easily put spurs to the horse, and be off. Who could overtake?”</p> + +<p>“I will give him my word of honor not to attempt escape; besides, dawn +will begin directly.”</p> + +<p>“Soldier, where is the commandant?” asked Volodyovski of a dragoon +standing near.</p> + +<p>“Who knows?”</p> + +<p>“How, who knows? When I ask thee to call him, call him.”</p> + +<p>“We know not ourselves, Colonel, where he is,” said the dragoon. “Since +he crawled out of the wagon and rode ahead, he has not come back.”</p> + +<p>“Tell him when he comes that we would speak with him.”</p> + +<p>“As the Colonel wishes,” answered the soldier.</p> + +<p>The prisoners were silent. From time to time only loud yawning was +heard on the wagon; the horses were chewing hay at one side. The +soldiers around the wagon, resting on the saddles, were dozing; others +talked in a low voice, or refreshed themselves each with what he had, +for it turned out that the inn was deserted and tenantless.</p> + +<p>The night had begun to grow pale. On its eastern side the dark +background of the sky was becoming slightly gray; the stars, going out +gradually, twinkled with an uncertain, failing light. Then the roof of +the inn became hoary; the trees growing near it were edged with silver. +The horses and men seemed to rise out of the shade. After a while it +was possible to distinguish faces, and the yellow color of the cloaks. +The helmets began to reflect the morning gleam.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski opened his arms and stretched himself, yawning from ear to +ear; then he looked at the sleeping Zagloba. All at once he threw back +his arms and shouted,—</p> + +<p>“May the bullets strike him! In God’s name! Gracious gentlemen, look +here!”</p> + +<p>“What has happened?” asked the colonels, opening their eyes.</p> + +<p>“Look here, look here!” said Volodyovski, pointing at the sleeping +form.</p> + +<p>The prisoners turned their glances in the direction indicated, and +amazement was reflected on every face. Under the burka, and in the cap +of Zagloba, slept, with the sleep of the just, Pan Roh Kovalski; but +Zagloba was not in the wagon.</p> + +<p>“He has escaped, as God is dear to me!” said the astonished Mirski, +looking around on every side, as if he did not yet believe his own +eyes.</p> + +<p>“Oh, he is a finished rogue! May the hangman—” cried Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“He took the helmet and yellow cloak of that fool, and escaped on his +horse.”</p> + +<p>“Vanished as if he had dropped into water.”</p> + +<p>“He said he would get away by stratagem.”</p> + +<p>“They will never see him again!”</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” said Volodyovski, with delight, “you know not that man; +and I swear to you to-day that he will rescue us yet,—I know not how, +when, with what means,—but I swear that he will.”</p> + +<p>“God grant it! One cannot believe his eyesight,” said Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>The soldiers now saw what had happened. An uproar rose among them. One +crowded ahead of the other to the wagon, stared at their commandant, +dressed in a camel’s hair burka and lynx-skin cap, and sleeping +soundly.</p> + +<p>The sergeant began to shake him without ceremony. “Commandant! +commandant!”</p> + +<p>“I am Kovalski, and this is Pani Kovalski,” muttered Roh.</p> + +<p>“Commandant, a prisoner has fled.”</p> + +<p>Kovalski sat up in the wagon and opened his eyes. “What?”</p> + +<p>“A prisoner has fled,—that bulky noble who was talking with the +commandant.”</p> + +<p>The officer came to his senses. “Impossible!” cried he, with terrified +voice. “How was it? What happened? How did he escape?”</p> + +<p>“In the helmet and cloak of the commandant; the soldiers did not know +him, the night was dark.”</p> + +<p>“Where is my horse?” cried Kovalski.</p> + +<p>“The horse is gone. The noble fled on him.”</p> + +<p>“On my horse?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>Kovalski seized himself by the head. “Jesus of Nazareth! King of the +Jews!”</p> + +<p>After a while he shouted, “Give here that dog-faith, that son of a such +a one who gave him the horse!”</p> + +<p>“Pan Commandant, the soldier is not to blame. The night was dark, you +might have struck a man in the face, and he took your helmet and cloak; +rode near me, and I did not know him. If your grace had not sat in the +wagon, he could not have done it.”</p> + +<p>“Kill me, kill me!” cried the unfortunate officer.</p> + +<p>“What is to be done?”</p> + +<p>“Kill him, catch him!”</p> + +<p>“That cannot be done in any way. He is on your horse,—the best horse; +ours are terribly road-weary. He fled at the first cock-crow; we cannot +overtake him.”</p> + +<p>“Hunt for a wind in the field!” said Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>Kovalski, in a rage, turned to the prisoners. “You helped him to +escape! I will—”</p> + +<p>Here he balled his gigantic fist, and began to approach them. Then +Mirski said threateningly, “Shout not, and remember that you are +speaking to superiors.”</p> + +<p>Kovalski quivered, and straightened himself involuntarily; for really +his dignity in presence of such a Mirski was nothing, and all his +prisoners were a head above him in rank and significance.</p> + +<p>Stankyevich added: “If you have been commanded to take us, take us; but +raise no voice, for to-morrow you may be under the command of any one +of us.”</p> + +<p>Kovalski stared and was silent.</p> + +<p>“There is no doubt you have fooled away your head, Pan Roh,” said +Oskyerko. “To say, as you do, that we helped him is nonsense; for, to +begin with, we were sleeping, just as you were, and secondly, each one +would have helped himself rather than another. But you have fooled away +your head. There is no one to blame here but you. I would be the first +to order you shot, since being an officer you fell asleep like a +badger, and allowed a prisoner to escape in your own helmet and cloak, +nay, on your own horse,—an unheard of thing, such as has not happened +since the beginning of the world.”</p> + +<p>“An old fox has fooled the young man!” said Mirski. +“Jesus, Mary! I have not even the sabre!” cried Kovalski.</p> + +<p>“Will not the sabre be of use to him?” asked Stankyevich, laughing. +“Pan Oskyerko has said well,—you have fooled away your head. You must +have had pistols in the holsters too?”</p> + +<p>“I had!” said Kovalski, as if out of his mind.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he seized his head with both hands: “And the letter of the +prince to the commandant of Birji! What shall I, unfortunate man, do +now? I am lost for the ages! God give me a bullet in the head!”</p> + +<p>“That will not miss you,” said Mirski, seriously. “How will you take us +to Birji now? What will happen if you say that you have brought us as +prisoners, and we, superior in rank, say that you are to be thrown into +the dungeon? Whom will they believe? Do you think that the Swedish +commandant will detain us for the reason simply that Pan Kovalski will +beg him to do so? He will rather believe us, and confine you under +ground.”</p> + +<p>“I am lost!” groaned Kovalski.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense!” said Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“What is to be done, Pan Commandant?” asked the sergeant.</p> + +<p>“Go to all the devils!” roared Kovalski. “Do I know what to do, where +to go? God give thunderbolts to slay thee!”</p> + +<p>“Go on, go on to Birji; you will see!” said Mirski.</p> + +<p>“Turn back to Kyedani,” cried Kovalski.</p> + +<p>“If they will not plant you at the wall there and shoot you, may +bristles cover me!” said Oskyerko. “How will you appear before +the hetman’s face? Tfu! Infamy awaits you, and a bullet in the +head,—nothing more.”</p> + +<p>“For I deserve nothing more!” cried the unfortunate man.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense, Pan Roh! We alone can save you,” said Oskyerko. “You know +that we were ready to go to the end of the world with the hetman, and +perish. We have shed our blood more than once for the country, and +always shed it willingly; but the hetman betrayed the country,—he gave +this land to the enemy; he joined with them against our gracious lord, +to whom we swore allegiance. Do you think that it came easy to soldiers +like us to refuse obedience to a superior, to act against discipline, +to resist our own hetman? But whoso to-day is with the hetman is +against the king. Whoso to-day is with the hetman is a traitor to the +king and the Commonwealth. Therefore we cast down our batons at the +feet of the hetman; for virtue, duty, faith, and honor so commanded. +And who did it? Was it I alone? No! Pan Mirski, Pan Stankyevich, the +best soldiers, the worthiest men. Who remained with the hetman? +Disturbers. But why do you not follow men better, wiser, and older than +yourself? Do you wish to bring infamy on your name, and be trumpeted +forth as a traitor? Enter into yourself; ask your conscience what you +should do,—remain a traitor with Radzivill, the traitor, or go with +us, who wish to give our last breath for the country, shed the last +drop of our blood for it. Would the ground had swallowed us before we +refused obedience to the hetman; but would that our souls never escaped +hell, if we were to betray the king and the country for the profit of +Radzivill!”</p> + +<p>This discourse seemed to make a great impression on Kovalski. He +stared, opened his mouth, and after a while said, “What do you wish of +me, gentlemen?”</p> + +<p>“To go with us to the voevoda of Vityebsk, who will fight for the +country.”</p> + +<p>“But when I have an order to take you to Birji?”</p> + +<p>“Talk with him,” said Mirski.</p> + +<p>“We want you to disobey the command,—to leave the hetman, and go with +us; do you understand?” said Oskyerko, impatiently.</p> + +<p>“Say what you like, but nothing will come of that. I am a soldier; what +would I deserve if I left the hetman? It is not my mind, but his; not +my will, but his. When he sins he will answer for himself and for me, +and it is my dog-duty to obey him. I am a simple man; what I do not +effect with my hand, I cannot with my head. But I know this,—it is my +duty to obey, and that is the end of it.”</p> + +<p>“Do what you like!” cried Mirski.</p> + +<p>“It is my fault,” continued Roh, “that I commanded to return to +Kyedani, for I was ordered to go to Birji; but I became a fool through +that noble, who, though a relative, did to me what a stranger would not +have done. I wish he were not a relative, but he is. He had not God in +his heart to take my horse, deprive me of the favor of the prince, and +bring punishment on my shoulders. That is the kind of relative he is! +But, gentlemen, you will go to Birji, let come what may afterward.”</p> + +<p>“A pity to lose time, Pan Oskyerko,” said Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Turn again toward Birji!” cried Kovalski to the dragoons.</p> + +<p>They turned toward Birji a second time. Pan Roh ordered one of the +dragoons to sit in the wagon; then he mounted that man’s horse, and +rode by the side of the prisoners, repeating for a time, “A relative, +and to do such a thing!”</p> + +<p>The prisoners, hearing this, though not certain of their fate and +seriously troubled, could not refrain from laughter; at last +Volodyovski said, “Comfort yourself, Pan Kovalski, for that man has +hung on a hook persons not such as you. He surpassed Hmelnitski himself +in cunning, and in stratagems no one can equal him.”</p> + +<p>Kovalski said nothing, but fell away a little from the wagon, fearing +ridicule. He was shamefaced in presence of the prisoners and of his own +soldiers, and was so troubled that he was pitiful to look at.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the colonels were talking of Zagloba, and of his marvellous +escape.</p> + +<p>“In truth, ’tis astonishing,” said Volodyovski, “that there are not in +the world straits, out of which that man could not save himself. When +strength and bravery are of no avail, he escapes through stratagem. +Other men lose courage when death is hanging over their heads, or they +commit themselves to God, waiting for what will happen; but he begins +straightway to work with his head, and always thinks out something. He +is as brave in need as Achilles, but he prefers to follow Ulysses.”</p> + +<p>“I would not be his guard, though he were bound with chains,” said +Stankyevich; “for it is nothing that he will escape, but besides, he +will expose a man to ridicule.”</p> + +<p>“Of course!” said Pan Michael. “Now he will laugh at Kovalski to the +end of his life; and God guard a man from coming under his tongue, for +there is not a sharper in the Commonwealth. And when he begins, as is +his custom, to color his speech, then people are bursting from +laughter.”</p> + +<p>“But you say that in need he can use his sabre?” asked Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“Of course! He slew Burlei at Zbaraj, in view of the whole army.”</p> + +<p>“Well, God save us!” cried Stankyevich, “I have never seen such a man.”</p> + +<p>“He has rendered us a great service by his escape,” said Oskyerko, “for +he took the letters of the hetman, and who knows what was written in +them against us? I do not think that the Swedish commandant at Birji +will give ear to us, and not to Kovalski. That will not be, for we come +as prisoners, and he as commanding the convoy. But certainly they will +not know what to do with us. In every case they will not cut off our +heads, and that is the main thing.”</p> + +<p>“I spoke as I did merely to confuse Kovalski completely,” said Mirski; +“but that they will not cut off our heads, as you say, is no great +consolation, God knows. Everything so combines that it would be better +not to live; now another war, a civil war, will break out, that will be +final ruin. What reason have I, old man, to look on these things?”</p> + +<p>“Or I, who remember other times?” said Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“You should not say that, gentlemen; for the mercy of God is greater +than the rage of men, and his almighty hand may snatch us from the +whirlpool precisely when we least expect.”</p> + +<p>“Holy are these words,” said Pan Yan. “And to us, men from under the +standard of the late Prince Yeremi, it is grievous to live now, for we +were accustomed to victory; and still one likes to serve the country, +if the Lord God would give at last a leader who is not a traitor, but +one whom a man might trust with his whole heart and soul.”</p> + +<p>“Oi! true, true!” said Pan Michael. “A man would fight night and day.”</p> + +<p>“But I tell you, gentlemen, that this is the greatest despair,” said +Mirski; “for every one wanders as in darkness, and asks himself what to +do, and uncertainty stifles him, like a nightmare. I know not how it is +with you, but mental disquiet is rending me. And when I think that I +cast my baton at the feet of the hetman, that I was the cause of +resistance and mutiny, the remnants of my gray hair stand on my head +from terror. So it is! But what is to be done in presence of open +treason? Happy are they who do not need to give themselves such +questions, and seek for answers in their souls.”</p> + +<p>“A leader, a leader; may the merciful Lord give a leader!” said +Stankyevich, raising his eyes toward heaven.</p> + +<p>“Do not men say that the voevoda of Vityebsk is a wonderfully honest +man?” asked Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“They do,” replied Mirski; “but he has not the baton of grand or full +hetman, and before the king clothes him with the office of hetman, he +can act only on his own account. He will not go to the Swedes, or +anywhere else; that is certain.”</p> + +<p>“Pan Gosyevski, full hetman, is a captive in Kyedani.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, for he is an honest man,” said Oskyerko. “When news of that came +to me, I was distressed, and had an immediate foreboding of evil.”</p> + +<p>Pan Michael fell to thinking, and said after a while: “I was in Warsaw +once, and went to the king’s palace. Our gracious lord, since he loves +soldiers and had praised me for the Berestechko affair, knew me at once +and commanded me to come to dinner. At this dinner I saw Pan +Charnyetski, as the dinner was specially for him. The king grew a +little merry from wine, pressed Charnyetski’s head, and said at last: +‘Even should the time come in which all will desert me, you will be +faithful.’ With my own ears I heard that said, as it were with +prophetic spirit. Pan Charnyetski, from emotion, was hardly able to +speak. He only repeated: ‘To the last breath! to the last breath!’ And +then the king shed tears—”</p> + +<p>“Who knows if those were not prophetic words, for the time of disaster +had already come,” said Mirski.</p> + +<p>“Charnyetski is a great soldier,” replied Stankyevich. “There are no +lips in the Commonwealth which do not repeat his name.”</p> + +<p>“They say,” said Pan Yan, “that the Tartars, who are aiding Revera +Pototski against Hmelnitski, are so much in love with Charnyetski that +they will not go where he is not with them.”</p> + +<p>“That is real truth,” answered Oskyerko. “I heard that told in Kyedani +before the hetman. We were all praising at that time Charnyetski +wonderfully, but it was not to the taste of Radzivill, for he +frowned and said, ‘He is quartermaster of the king, but he might be +under-starosta with me at Tykotsin.’”</p> + +<p>“Envy, it is clear, was gnawing him.”</p> + +<p>“It is a well-known fact that an apostate cannot endure the lustre of +virtue.”</p> + +<p>Thus did the captive colonels converse; then their speech was turned +again to Zagloba. Volodyovski assured them that aid might be looked for +from him, for he was not the man to leave his friends in misfortune.</p> + +<p>“I am certain,” said he, “that he has fled to Upita, where he will find +my men, if they are not yet defeated, or taken by force to Kyedani. +With them he will come to rescue us, unless they refuse to come, which +I do not expect; for in the squadron are Lauda men chiefly, and they +are fond of me.”</p> + +<p>“But they are old clients of Radzivill,” remarked Mirski.</p> + +<p>“True; but when they hear of the surrender of Lithuania to the Swedes, +the imprisonment of the full hetman and Pan Yudytski, of you and me, it +will turn their hearts away greatly from Radzivill. Those are honest +nobles; Pan Zagloba will neglect nothing to paint the hetman with soot, +and he can do that better than any of us.”</p> + +<p>“True,” said Pan Stanislav; “but meanwhile we shall be in Birji.”</p> + +<p>“That cannot be, for we are making a circle to avoid Upita, and from +Upita the road is direct as if cut with a sickle. Even were they to +start a day later, or two days, they could still be in Birji before us, +and block our way. We are only going to Shavli now, and from there we +shall go to Birji directly; but you must know that it is nearer from +Upita to Birji than to Shavli.”</p> + +<p>“As I live, it is nearer, and the road is better,” said Mirski, “for it +is a high-road.”</p> + +<p>“There it is! And we are not yet in Shavli.”</p> + +<p>Only in the evening did they see the hill called Saltuves-Kalnas, at +the foot of which Shavli stands. On the road they saw that disquiet was +reigning in all the villages and towns through which they passed. +Evidently news of the hetman’s desertion to the Swedes had run through +all Jmud. Here and there the people asked the soldiers if it were true +that the country was to be occupied by Swedes; here and there crowds of +peasants were leaving the villages with their wives, children, cattle, +and effects, and going to the depths of the forest, with which the +whole region was thickly covered. In places the aspect of the peasants +was almost threatening, for evidently the dragoons were taken for +Swedes. In villages inhabited by nobles they were asked directly who +they were and where they were going; and when Kovalski, instead of +answering, commanded them to leave the road, it came to shouts and +threats to such a degree that muskets levelled for firing were barely +sufficient to open a passage.</p> + +<p>The highway leading from Kovno through Shavli to Mitava was covered +with wagons and carriages, in which were the wives and children of +nobles wishing to take refuge from war in estates in Courland. In +Shavli itself, which was an appanage of the king, there were no private +squadrons of the hetman, or men of the quota; but here the captive +colonels saw for the first time a Swedish detachment, composed of +twenty-five knights, who had come on a reconnoissance from Birji. +Crowds of Jews and citizens were staring at the strangers. The colonels +too gazed at them with curiosity, especially Volodyovski, who had never +before seen Swedes; hence he examined them eagerly with the desiring +eyes with which a wolf looks at a flock of sheep.</p> + +<p>Pan Kovalski entered into communication with the officer, declared who +he was, where he was going, whom he was conveying, and requested him to +join his men to the dragoons, for greater safety on the road. But the +officer answered that he had an order to push as far as possible into +the depth of the country, so as to be convinced of its condition, +therefore he could not return to Birji; but he gave assurance that the +road was safe everywhere, for small detachments, sent out from Birji, +were moving in all directions,—some were sent even as far as Kyedani. +After he had rested till midnight, and fed the horses, which were very +tired, Pan Roh moved on his way, turning from Shavli to the east +through Yohavishkyele and Posvut toward Birji, so as to reach the +direct highway from Upita and Ponyevyej.</p> + +<p>“If Zagloba comes to our rescue,” said Volodyovski, about daylight, “it +will be easiest to take this road, for he could start right at Upita.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe he is lurking here somewhere,” said Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“I had hope till I saw the Swedes,” said Stankyevich, “but now it +strikes me that there is no help for us.”</p> + +<p>“Zagloba has a head to avoid them or to fool them; and he will be able +to do so.”</p> + +<p>“But he does not know the country.”</p> + +<p>“The Lauda people know it; for some of them take hemp, wainscots, and +pitch to Riga, and there is no lack of such men in my squadron.”</p> + +<p>“The Swedes must have occupied all the places about Birji.”</p> + +<p>“Fine soldiers, those whom we saw in Shavli, I must confess,” said the +little knight, “man for man splendid! Did you notice what well-fed +horses they had?”</p> + +<p>“Those are Livland horses, very powerful,” said Mirski. “Our hussar and +armored officers send to Livland for horses, since our beasts are +small.”</p> + +<p>“Tell me of the Swedish infantry!” put in Stankyevich. “Though the +cavalry makes a splendid appearance, it is inferior. Whenever one of +our squadrons, and especially of the important divisions, rushed on +their cavalry, the Swedes did not hold out while you could say ‘Our +Father’ twice.”</p> + +<p>“You have tried them in old times,” said the little knight, “but I have +no chance of testing them. I tell you, gentlemen, when I saw them now +in Shavli, with their beards yellow as flax, ants began to crawl over +my fingers. Ei, the soul would to paradise; but sit thou here in the +wagon, and sigh.”</p> + +<p>The colonels were silent; but evidently not Pan Michael alone was +burning with such friendly feeling toward the Swedes, for soon the +following conversation of the dragoons surrounding the wagon came to +the ears of the prisoners.</p> + +<p>“Did you see those pagan dog-faiths?” said one soldier; “we were to +fight with them, but now we must clean their horses.”</p> + +<p>“May the bright thunderbolts crush them!” muttered another dragoon.</p> + +<p>“He quiet, the Swede will teach thee manners with a broom over thy +head!”</p> + +<p>“Or I him.”</p> + +<p>“Thou art a fool! Not such as thou wish to rush at them; thou seest +what has happened.”</p> + +<p>“We are taking the greatest knights to them, as if into the dog’s +mouth. They, the sons of Jew mothers, will abuse these knights.”</p> + +<p>“Without a Jew you cannot talk with such trash. The commandant in +Shavli had to send for a Jew right away.”</p> + +<p>“May the plague kill them!”</p> + +<p>Here the first soldier lowered his voice somewhat and said, “They say +the best soldiers do not wish to fight against their own king.”</p> + +<p>“Of course not! Did you not see the Hungarians, or how the hetman used +troops against those resisting. It is unknown yet what will happen. +Some of our dragoons too took part with the Hungarians; these men very +likely are shot by this time.”</p> + +<p>“That is a reward for faithful service!”</p> + +<p>“To the devil with such work! A Jew’s service!”</p> + +<p>“Halt!” cried, on a sudden, Kovalski riding in front.</p> + +<p>“May a bullet halt in thy snout!” muttered a voice near the wagon.</p> + +<p>“Who is there?” asked the soldiers of one another.</p> + +<p>“Halt!” came a second command.</p> + +<p>The wagon stopped. The soldiers held in their horses. The day was +pleasant, clear. The sun had risen, and by its rays was to be seen, on +the highway ahead, clusters of dust rising as if herds or troops were +coming.</p> + +<p>Soon the dust began to shine, as if some one were scattering sparks in +the bunches of it; and lights glittered each moment more clearly, like +burning candles surrounded with smoke.</p> + +<p>“Those are spears gleaming!” cried Pan Michael.</p> + +<p>“Troops are coming.”</p> + +<p>“Surely some Swedish detachment!”</p> + +<p>“With them only infantry have spears; but there the dust is moving +quickly. That is cavalry,—our men!”</p> + +<p>“Ours, ours!” repeated the dragoons.</p> + +<p>“Form!” thundered Pan Roh.</p> + +<p>The dragoons surrounded the wagon in a circle. Pan Volodyovski had +flame in his eyes.</p> + +<p>“Those are my Lauda men with Zagloba! It cannot be otherwise!”</p> + +<p>Now only forty rods divided those approaching from the wagon, and the +distance decreased every instant, for the coming detachment was moving +at a trot. Finally, from out the dust pushed a strong body of troops +moving in good order, as if to attack. In a moment they were nearer. In +the first rank, a little from the right side, moved, under a bunchuk, +some powerful man with a baton in his hand. Scarcely had Volodyovski +put eye on him when he cried,—</p> + +<p>“Pan Zagloba! As I love God, Pan Zagloba!”</p> + +<p>A smile brightened the face of Pan Yan. “It is he, and no one else, and +under a bunchuk! He has already created himself hetman. I should have +known him by that whim anywhere. That man will die as he was born.”</p> + +<p>“May the Lord God give him health!” said Oskyerko.</p> + +<p>Then he put his hands around his mouth and began to call, “Gracious +Kovalski! your relative is coming to visit you!”</p> + +<p>But Pan Roh did not hear, for he was just forming his dragoons. And it +is only justice to declare that though he had a handful of men, and on +the other side a whole squadron was rolling against him, he was not +confused, nor did he lose courage. He placed the dragoons in two ranks +in front of the wagon; but the others stretched out and approached in a +half-circle, Tartar fashion, from both sides of the field. But +evidently they wished to parley, for they began to wave a flag and +cry,—</p> + +<p>“Stop! stop!”</p> + +<p>“Forward!” cried Kovalski.</p> + +<p>“Yield!” was cried from the road.</p> + +<p>“Fire!” commanded in answer Kovalski.</p> + +<p>Dull silence followed,—not a single dragoon fired. Pan Roh was dumb +for a moment; then he rushed as if wild on his own dragoons.</p> + +<p>“Fire, dog-faiths!” roared he, with a terrible voice; and with one blow +of his fist he knocked from his horse the nearest soldier.</p> + +<p>Others began to draw back before the rage of the man, but no one obeyed +the command. All at once they scattered, like a flock of frightened +partridges, in the twinkle of an eye.</p> + +<p>“Still I would have those soldiers shot!” muttered Mirski.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kovalski, seeing that his own men had left him, turned his +horse to the attacking ranks.</p> + +<p>“For me death is there!” cried he, with a terrible voice.</p> + +<p>And he sprang at them, like a thunderbolt. But before he had passed +half the distance a shot rattled from Zagloba’s ranks.</p> + +<p>Pan Roh’s horse thrust his nose into the dust and fell, throwing his +rider. At the same moment a soldier of Volodyovski’s squadron pushed +forward like lightning, and caught by the shoulder the officer rising +from the ground.</p> + +<p>“That is Yuzva Butrym,” cried Volodyovski, “Yuzva Footless!”</p> + +<p>Pan Roh in his turn seized Yuzva by the skirt, and the skirt remained +in his hand; then they struggled like two enraged falcons, for both had +gigantic strength. Butrym’s stirrup broke; he fell to the ground and +turned over, but he did not let Pan Roh go, and both formed as it were +one ball, which rolled along the road.</p> + +<p>Others ran up. About twenty hands seized Kovalski, who tore and dragged +like a bear in a net; he hurled men around, as a wild boar hurls dogs; +he raised himself again and did not give up the battle. He wanted to +die, but he heard tens of voices repeating the words, “Take him alive! +take him alive!” At last his strength forsook him, and he fainted.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Zagloba was at the wagon, or rather on the wagon, and had +seized in his embraces Pan Yan, the little knight, Mirski, Stankyevich, +and Oskyerko, calling with panting voice,—</p> + +<p>“Ha! Zagloba was good for something! Now we will give it to that +Radzivill. We are free gentlemen, and we have men. We’ll go straightway +to ravage his property. Well! did the stratagem succeed? I should have +got you out,—if not in one way, in another. I am so blown that I can +barely draw breath. Now for Radzivill’s property, gracious gentlemen, +now for Radzivill’s property! You do not know yet as much of Radzivill +as I do!”</p> + +<p>Further outbursts were interrupted by the Lauda men, who ran one after +another to greet their colonel. The Butryms, the Smoky Gostsyeviches, +the Domasheviches, the Stakyans, the Gashtovts, crowded around the +wagon, and powerful throats bellowed continually,—</p> + +<p>“Vivat! vivat!”</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen,” said the little knight when it grew somewhat +quieter, “most beloved comrades, I thank you for your love. It is a +terrible thing that we must refuse obedience to the hetman, and raise +hands against him; but since his treason is clear, we cannot do +otherwise. We will not desert our country and our gracious king—Vivat +Johannes Casimirus Rex!”</p> + +<p>“Vivat Johannes Casimirus Rex!” repeated three hundred voices.</p> + +<p>“Attack the property of Radzivill!” shouted Zagloba, “empty his larders +and cellars!”</p> + +<p>“Horses for us!” cried the little knight.</p> + +<p>They galloped for horses.</p> + +<p>Then Zagloba said, “Pan Michael, I was hetman over these people in +place of you, and I acknowledge willingly that they acted with +manfulness; but as you are now free, I yield the command into your +hands.”</p> + +<p>“Let your grace take command, as superior in rank,” said Pan Michael, +turning to Mirski.</p> + +<p>“I do not think of it, and why should I?” said the old colonel.</p> + +<p>“Then perhaps Pan Stankyevich?”</p> + +<p>“I have my own squadron, and I will not take his from a stranger. +Remain in command; ceremony is chopped straw, satisfaction is oats! You +know the men, they know you, and they will fight better under you.”</p> + +<p>“Do so, Michael, do so, for otherwise it would not be well,” said Pan +Yan.</p> + +<p>“I will do so.”</p> + +<p>So saying, Pan Michael took the baton from Zagloba’s hands, drew up the +squadron for marching, and moved with his comrades to the head of it.</p> + +<p>“And where shall we go?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“To tell the truth, I don’t know myself, for I have not thought of +that,” answered Pan Michael.</p> + +<p>“It is worth while to deliberate on what we should do,” said Mirski, +“and we must begin at once. But may I be permitted first to give thanks +to Pan Zagloba in the name of all, that he did not forget us in straits +and rescued us so effectually?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Zagloba, with pride, raising his head and twisting his +mustache. “Without me you would be in Birji! Justice commands to +acknowledge that what no man can think out, Zagloba thinks out. Pan +Michael, we were in straits not like these. Remember how I saved you +when we were fleeing before the Tartars with Helena?”</p> + +<p>Pan Michael might have answered that in that juncture not Zagloba saved +him, but he Zagloba; still he was silent, and his mustache began to +quiver. The old noble spoke on,—</p> + +<p>“Thanks are not necessary, since what I did for you today you certainly +would not fail to do for me to-morrow in case of need. I am as glad to +see you free as if I had gained the greatest battle. It seems that +neither my hand nor my head has grown very old yet.”</p> + +<p>“Then you went straightway to Upita?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“But where should I go,—to Kyedani?—crawl into the wolf’s throat? Of +course to Upita; and it is certain that I did not spare the horse, and +a good beast he was. Yesterday early I was in Upita, and at midday we +started for Birji, in the direction in which I expected to meet you.”</p> + +<p>“And how did my men believe you at once? For, with the exception of two +or three who saw you at my quarters, they did not know you.”</p> + +<p>“To tell the truth, I had not the least difficulty; for first of all, I +had your ring, Pan Michael, and secondly, the men had just learned of +your arrest and the treason of the hetman. I found a deputation to them +from Pan Mirski’s squadron and that of Pan Stankyevich, asking to join +them against the hetman, the traitor. When I informed them that you +were being taken to Birji, it was as if a man had thrust a stick into +an ant-hill. Their horses were at pasture; boys were sent at once to +bring them in, and at midday we started. I took the command openly, for +it belonged to me.”</p> + +<p>“But, father, where did you get the bunchuk?” asked Pan Yan. “We +thought from a distance that you were the hetman.”</p> + +<p>“Of course, I did not look worse than he? Where did I get the bunchuk? +Well, at the same time with the deputations from the resisting +squadrons, came also Pan Shchyt with a command to the Lauda men to +march to Kyedani, and he brought a bunchuk to give greater weight to +the command. I ordered his arrest on the spot, and had the bunchuk +borne above me to deceive the Swedes if I met them.”</p> + +<p>“As God lives, he thought all out wisely!” cried Oskyerko.</p> + +<p>“As Solomon!” added Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>Zagloba swelled up as if he were yeast.</p> + +<p>“Let us take counsel at once as to what should be done,” said he at +last. “If it is agreeable to the company to listen to me with patience, +I will tell what I have thought over on the road. I do not advise you +to commence war with Radzivill now, and this for two reasons: first, +because he is a pike and we are perches. It is better for perches never +to turn head to a pike, for he can swallow them easily, but tail, for +then the sharp scales protect them. May the devil fix him on a spit in +all haste, and baste him with pitch lest he burn overmuch.”</p> + +<p>“Secondly?” asked Mirski.</p> + +<p>“Secondly,” answered Zagloba, “if at any time, by any fortune, we +should fall into his hands, he would give us such a flaying that all +the magpies in Lithuania would have something to scream about. See what +was in that letter which Kovalski was taking to the Swedish commandant +at Birji, and know the voevoda of Vilna, in case he was unknown to you +hitherto.”</p> + +<p>So saying, he unbuttoned his vest, and taking from his bosom a letter, +gave it to Mirski.</p> + +<p>“Pshaw! it is in German or Swedish,” said the old colonel. “Who can +read this letter?”</p> + +<p>It appeared that Pan Stanislav alone knew a little German, for he had +gone frequently to Torun (Thorn), but he could not read writing.</p> + +<p>“I will tell you the substance of it,” said Zagloba. “When in Upita the +soldiers sent to the pasture for their horses, there was a little time. +I gave command to bring to me by the locks a Jew whom every one said +was dreadfully wise, and he, with a sabre at his throat, read quickly +all that was in the letter and shelled it out to me. Behold the hetman +enjoined on the commandant at Birji, and for the good of the King of +Sweden directed him, after the convoy had been sent back, to shoot +every one of us, without sparing a man, but so to do it that no report +might go abroad.”</p> + +<p>All the colonels began to clap their hands, except Mirski, who, shaking +his head, said,—</p> + +<p>“It was for me who knew him marvellous, and not find a place in my +head, that he would let us out of Kyedani. There must surely be reasons +to us unknown, for which he could not put us to death himself.”</p> + +<p>“Doubtless for him it was a question of public opinion.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe.”</p> + +<p>“It is wonderful how venomous he is,” said the little knight; “for +without mentioning services, I and Ganhof saved his life not so long +ago.”</p> + +<p>“And I,” said Stankyevich, “served under his father and under him +thirty-five years.”</p> + +<p>“He is a terrible man!” added Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“It is better not to crawl into the hands of such a one,” said Zagloba. +“Let the devils take him! We will avoid fighting with him, but we will +pluck bare these estates of his that lie on our way.”</p> + +<p>“Let us go to the voevoda of Vityebsk, so as to have some defence, some +leader; and on the road we will take what can be had from the larders, +stables, granaries, and cellars. My soul laughs at the thought, and it +is sure that I will let no one surpass me in this work. What money we +can take from land-bailiffs we will take. The more noisily and openly +we go to the voevoda of Vityebsk, the more gladly will he receive us.”</p> + +<p>“He will receive us gladly as we are,” said Oskyerko. “But it is good +advice to go to him, and better can no one think out at present.”</p> + +<p>“Will all agree to that?” asked Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“As true as life!” said Pan Mirski. “So then to the voevoda of +Vityebsk! Let him be that leader for whom we prayed to God.”</p> + +<p>“Amen!” said the others.</p> + +<p>They rode some time in silence, till at last Pan Michael began to be +uneasy in the saddle. “But could we not pluck the Swedes somewhere on +the road?” asked he at last, turning his eyes to his comrades.</p> + +<p>“My advice is: if a chance comes, why not?” answered Stankyevich. +“Doubtless Radzivill assured the Swedes that he had all Lithuania in +his hands, and that all were deserting Yan Kazimir willingly; let it be +shown that this is not true.”</p> + +<p>“And properly!” said Mirski. “If some detachment crawls into our way, +we will ride over it. I will say also: Attack not the prince himself, +for we could not stand before him, he is a great warrior! But, avoiding +battles, it is worth while to move about Kyedani a couple of days.”</p> + +<p>“To plunder Radzivill’s property?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“No, but to assemble more men. My squadron and that of Pan Stankyevich +will join us. If they are already defeated,—and they may be,—the men +will come to us singly. It will not pass either without a rally of +nobles to us. We will bring Pan Sapyeha fresh forces with which he can +easily undertake something.”</p> + +<p>In fact, that reckoning was good; and the dragoons of the convoy served +as the first example, though Kovalski himself resisted—all his men +went over without hesitation to Pan Michael. There might be found more +such men in Radzivill’s ranks. It might also be supposed that the first +attack on the Swedes would call forth a general uprising in the +country.</p> + +<p>Pan Michael determined therefore to move that night toward Ponyevyej, +assemble whom he could of the Lauda nobles in the vicinity of Upita, +and thence plunge into the wilderness of Rogovsk, in which, as he +expected, the remnants of the defeated resisting squadrons would be in +hiding. Meanwhile he halted for rest at the river Lavecha, to refresh +horses and men.</p> + +<p>They halted there till night, looking from the density of the forest to +the high-road, along which were passing continually new crowds of +peasants, fleeing to the woods before the expected Swedish invasion.</p> + +<p>The soldiers sent out on the road brought in from time to time single +peasants as informants concerning the Swedes; but it was impossible to +learn much from them. The peasants were frightened, and each repeated +separately that the Swedes were here and there, but no one could give +accurate information.</p> + +<p>When it had become completely dark, Pan Volodyovski commanded the men +to mount their horses; but before they started a rather distinct sound +of bells came to their ears.</p> + +<p>“What is that?” asked Zagloba, “it is too late for the Angelus.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski listened carefully, for a while. “That is an alarm!” said +he.</p> + +<p>Then he went along the line. “And does any one here know what village +or town there is in that direction?”</p> + +<p>“Klavany, Colonel,” answered one of the Gostsyeviches; “we go that way +with potash.”</p> + +<p>“Do you hear bells?”</p> + +<p>“We hear! That is something unusual.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski nodded to the trumpeter, and in a low note the trumpet +sounded in the dark forest. The squadron pushed forward.</p> + +<p>The eyes of all were fixed in the direction from which the ringing came +each moment more powerful; indeed they were not looking in vain, for +soon a red light gleamed on the horizon and increased every moment.</p> + +<p>“A fire!” muttered the men in the ranks.</p> + +<p>Pan Michael bent toward Skshetuski. “The Swedes!” said he.</p> + +<p>“We will try them!” answered Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“It is a wonder to me that they are setting fire.”</p> + +<p>“The nobles must have resisted, or the peasants risen if they attacked +the church.”</p> + +<p>“Well, we shall see!” said Pan Michael. And he was panting with +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Then Zagloba clattered up to him. “Pan Michael?”</p> + +<p>“What?”</p> + +<p>“I see that the odor of Swedish flesh has come to you. There will +surely be a battle, will there not?”</p> + +<p>“As God gives, as God gives!”</p> + +<p>“But who will guard the prisoner?”</p> + +<p>“What prisoner?”</p> + +<p>“Of course, not me, but Kovalski. Pan Michael, it is a terribly +important thing that he should not escape. Remember that the hetman +knows nothing of what has happened, and will learn from no one, if +Kovalski does not report to him. It is requisite to order some trusty +men to guard him; for in time of battle he might escape easily, +especially if he takes up some stratagem.”</p> + +<p>“He is as capable of stratagems as the wagon on which he is sitting. +But you are right; it is necessary to station some one near. Will you +have him under your eye during this time?”</p> + +<p>“H’m! I am sorry to be away from the battle! It is true that in the +night near fire I am as good as blind. If it were in the daytime you +would never have persuaded me; but since the public good requires it, +let this be so.”</p> + +<p>“Very well, I will leave you with five soldiers to assist; and if he +tries to escape, fire at his head.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll squeeze him like wax in my fingers, never fear!—But the fire is +increasing every moment. Where shall I stay with Kovalski?”</p> + +<p>“Wherever you like. I’ve no time now!” answered Pan Michael, and he +rode on.</p> + +<p>The flames were spreading rapidly. The wind was blowing from the fire +and toward the squadron, and with the sound of bells brought the report +of firearms.</p> + +<p>“On a trot!” commanded Volodyovski.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<p>When near the village, the Lauda men slackened their speed, and saw a +broad street so lighted by flames that pins might be picked from the +ground; for on both sides a number of cottages were burning, and others +were catching fire from these gradually, for the wind was strong and +carried sparks, nay, whole clusters of them, like fiery birds, to the +adjoining roofs. On the street the flames illuminated greater and +smaller crowds of people moving quickly in various directions. The +cries of men were mingled with the sounds of the church-bells hidden +among trees, with the bellowing of cattle, the barking of dogs, and +with infrequent discharges of firearms.</p> + +<p>After they had ridden nearer, Volodyovski’s soldiers saw troopers +wearing round hats, not many men. Some were skirmishing with groups of +peasants, armed with scythes and forks; firing at them from pistols, +and pushing them beyond the cottages, into the gardens; others were +driving oxen, cows, and sheep to the road with rapiers; others, whom it +was barely possible to distinguish among whole clouds of feathers, had +covered themselves with poultry, with wings fluttering in the agonies +of death; some were holding horses, each man having two or three +belonging to officers who were occupied evidently in plundering the +cottages.</p> + +<p>The road to the village descended somewhat from a hill in the midst of +a birch-grove; so that the Lauda men, without being seen themselves, +saw, as it were, a picture representing the enemy’s attack on the +village, lighted up by flames, in the glare of which could be clearly +distinguished foreign soldiers, villagers, women dragged by troopers, +and men defending themselves in disordered groups. All were moving +violently, like puppets on springs, shouting, cursing, lamenting.</p> + +<p>The conflagration shook a full mane of flame over the village, and +roared each moment more terribly.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski led his men to the open gate, and ordered them to slacken +their pace. He might strike, and with one blow wipe out the invaders, +who were expecting nothing; but the little knight had determined “to +taste the Swedes” in open battle,—he had so arranged that they might +see him coming.</p> + +<p>Some horsemen, standing near the gate, saw the approaching squadron +first. One of them sprang to an officer, who stood with drawn rapier in +the midst of a considerable group of horsemen, in the middle of the +road, and began to speak to him, pointing to where Volodyovski was +descending with his men. The officer shaded his eyes with his hand and +gazed for a time; then he gave a sign, and at once the sharp sound of a +trumpet was heard, mingled with various cries of men and beasts.</p> + +<p>And here our knight could admire the regularity of the Swedish +soldiers; for barely were the first tones of the trumpet heard, when +some of the horsemen rushed out in hot haste from the cottages, others +left the plundered articles, the oxen and sheep, and ran to their +horses. In the twinkle of an eye they stood in regular line; at sight +of which the little knight’s heart rose with wonder, so select were the +men. All were large, sturdy fellows, dressed in coats, with leather +straps over the shoulders, and black hats with rim raised on the left +side; all had matched bay horses, and stood in line with rapiers at +their shoulders, looking sharply, but calmly, at the road.</p> + +<p>An officer stepped forth from the line with a trumpeter, wishing +apparently to inquire what sort of men were approaching so slowly. +Evidently they were thought to be one of Radzivill’s squadrons, from +which no encounter was expected. The officer began to wave his rapier +and his hat; the trumpeter sounded continually, as a sign that they +wished to parley.</p> + +<p>“Let some one fire at him,” said the little knight, “so that he may +know what to expect from us.”</p> + +<p>The report sounded; but the shot did not reach, for the distance was +too great. Evidently the officer thought that there was some +misunderstanding, for he began to shout and to wave his hat.</p> + +<p>“Let him have it a second time!” cried Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>After the second discharge the officer turned and moved, though not too +hurriedly, toward his own, who also approached him on a trot.</p> + +<p>The first rank of Lauda men were now entering the gate.</p> + +<p>The Swedish officer, riding up, shouted to his men; the rapiers, +hitherto standing upright by the shoulders of the horsemen, dropped and +hung at their belts; but all at the same instant drew pistols from the +holsters, and rested them on the pommels of their saddles, holding the +muzzle upward.</p> + +<p>“Finished soldiers!” muttered Volodyovski, seeing the rapidity of their +movements, which were simultaneous and almost mechanical. Then he +looked at his own men to see if the ranks were in order, straightened +himself in the saddle, and cried,—</p> + +<p>“Forward!”</p> + +<p>The Lauda men bent down to the necks of their horses, and rushed on +like a whirlwind.</p> + +<p>The Swedes let them come near, and then gave a simultaneous discharge +from their pistols; but this did little harm to the Lauda men hidden +behind the heads of their horses; only a few dropped the reins and fell +backward, the rest rushed on and struck the horsemen, breast to breast.</p> + +<p>The Lithuanian light squadrons used lances yet, which in the army of +the kingdom the hussars alone used; but Volodyovski expecting a battle +at close quarters, had ordered his men to plant their lances at the +roadside, therefore it came to sabres at once.</p> + +<p>The first impetus was not sufficient to break the Swedes, but it pushed +them back, so that they began to retreat, cutting and thrusting with +their rapiers; but the Lauda men pushed them furiously along the road. +Bodies began to fall thickly. The throng grew denser each moment; the +clatter of sabres frightened the peasants out of the broad road, in +which the heat from the burning houses was unendurable, though the +houses were separated from the road and the fences by gardens.</p> + +<p>The Swedes, pressed with increasing vigor, retreated gradually, but +still in good order. It was difficult moreover to scatter them, since +strong fences closed the road on both sides. At times they tried to +stop, but were unable to do so.</p> + +<p>It was a wonderful battle, in which, by reason of the relatively narrow +place of meeting, only the first ranks fought, those next in order +could only push forward those standing in front of them; but just for +this reason the struggle was turned into a furious encounter.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski, having previously requested the old colonels and Pan Yan +to look after the men during the attack, enjoyed himself to the full in +the first rank. And every moment some Swedish hat fell before him in +the throng, as if it had dived into the ground; sometimes a rapier, +torn from the hand of a horseman, flew whistling above the rank, and at +the same instant was heard the piercing cry of a man, and again a hat +fell; a second took its place, then a third the place of the second; +but Volodyovski pushed ever forward. His eyes glittered like two +ill-omened sparks, but he was not carried away and did not forget +himself; at moments, when he had no one at sword’s length in front of +him, he turned his face and blade somewhat to the right or left, and +destroyed in the twinkle of an eye a horseman, with a movement +apparently trifling; and he was terrible through these slight and +lightning movements which were almost not human.</p> + +<p>As a woman pulling hemp disappears in it and is hidden completely, but +by the falling stalks her road is known easily, so he vanished from the +eye for a time in the throng of large men; but where soldiers were +falling like stalks under the sickle of the harvester who cuts near the +ground, there was Pan Michael. Pan Stanislav and the gloomy Yuzva +Butrym, called Footless, followed hard in his track.</p> + +<p>At length the Swedish rear ranks began to push out from between the +fences to the broad grass-plot before the church and the bell-tower, +and after them came the front ranks. Now was heard the command of the +officer, who wished evidently to bring all his men into action at once; +and the oblong rectangular body of horsemen stretched out, deployed in +the twinkle of an eye, into a long line to present its whole front.</p> + +<p>But Pan Yan, who directed the battle and led the squadron, did not +imitate the Swede; he rushed forward with a dense column which, +striking the now weaker line, broke it, as if with a wedge, and turned +swiftly to the right toward the church, taking with this movement the +rear of one half of the Swedes, while on the other half Mirski and +Stankyevich sprang with the reserve in which were a part of the Lauda +men and all of Kovalski’s dragoons.</p> + +<p>Two battles now began; but they did not last long. The left wing, on +which Pan Yan had struck, was unable to form, and scattered first; the +right, in which was the commanding officer, resisted longer, but being +too much extended, it began to break, to fall into disorder, and at +last followed the example of the left wing.</p> + +<p>The grass-plot was broad, but unfortunately was enclosed on all sides +by a lofty fence; and the church-servants closed and propped the +opposite gate when they saw what was taking place.</p> + +<p>The scattered Swedes then ran around, but the Lauda men rushed after +them. In some places larger groups fought, a number at a time, with +sabres and rapiers; in other places the conflict was turned into a +series of duels, and man met man, the rapier crossed the sabre, and at +times the report of a pistol burst forth. Here and there a Swedish +horseman, escaping from one sabre, ran, as if to a trap, under another. +Here and there a Swede or a Lithuanian rose from under a fallen horse +and fell that moment under the blow of a weapon awaiting him.</p> + +<p>Through the grass-plot terrified horses rushed about riderless, with +waving mane and nostrils distended from fear; some bit one another; +others, blinded from fright, turned their tails to the groups of +fighting men and kicked them.</p> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski, hurling down Swedes as he went, searched the whole +place with his eyes for the officer in command; at last he saw him +defending himself against two Butryms, and he sprang toward him.</p> + +<p>“Aside!” cried he to the Butryms, “aside!”</p> + +<p>The obedient soldiers sprang aside, the little knight rushed on and +closed with the Swede, the horses of the two stood on their haunches.</p> + +<p>The officer wished evidently to unhorse his opponent with a thrust; but +Volodyovski, interposing the hilt of his sabre, described a half-circle +like lightning, and the rapier flew away. The officer bent to his +holsters, but, cut through the cheek at that moment, he dropped the +reins from his left hand.</p> + +<p>“Take him alive!” shouted Volodyovski to the Butryms.</p> + +<p>The Lauda men seized the wounded officer and held him tottering in the +saddle; the little knight pushed on and rode farther against the +Swedes, quenching them before him like candles.</p> + +<p>But the Swedes began to yield everywhere before the nobles, who were +more adroit in fencing and single combat. Some of the Swedes, seizing +their rapier blades, extended the hilts to their opponents; others +threw their weapons at their feet; the word “Pardon!” was heard more +and more frequently on the field. But no attention was paid to the +word, for Pan Michael had commanded to spare but few. The Swedes, +seeing this, rushed anew to the struggle, and died as became soldiers +after a desperate defence, redeeming richly with blood their own death.</p> + +<p>An hour later the last of them were cut down. The peasants ran in +crowds from the village to the grass-plot to catch the horses, kill the +wounded, and plunder the dead.</p> + +<p>Such was the end of the first encounter of Lithuanians with Swedes.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Zagloba, stationed at a distance in the birch-grove with the +wagon in which lay Pan Roh, was forced to hear the bitter reproach +that, though a relative, he had treated that young man shamefully.</p> + +<p>“Uncle, you have ruined me utterly, for not only is a bullet in the +head waiting for me at Kyedani, but eternal infamy will fall on my +name. Henceforth whoso wants to say, ‘Fool,’ may say, ‘Roh Kovalski!’”</p> + +<p>“The truth is that not many will be found to contradict him,” answered +Zagloba; “and the best proof of your folly is that you wonder at being +hung on a hook by me who moved the Khan of the Crimea as a puppet. +Well, did you think to yourself, worthless fellow, that I would let you +take me and other men of importance to Birji, and throw us, the +ornaments of the Commonwealth, into the jaws of the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“I was not taking you of my own will.”</p> + +<p>“But you were the servant of an executioner, and that for a noble is +infamy from which you must purify yourself, or I will renounce you and +all the Kovalskis. To be a traitor is worse than to be a crabmonger, +but to be the servant of some one worse than a crabmonger is the lowest +thing.”</p> + +<p>“I was serving the hetman.”</p> + +<p>“And the hetman the devil. There you have it! You are a fool, Roh: get +that into your head once and forever, dispute not, but hold to my +skirts, and a man will come of you yet; for know this, that advancement +has met more than one personage through me.”</p> + +<p>The rattle of shots interrupted further conversation, for the battle +was just beginning in the village. Then the discharges stopped, but the +noise continued, and shouts reached that retreat in the birch-grove.</p> + +<p>“Ah, Pan Michael is working,” said Zagloba. “He is not big, but he +bites like a viper. They are shelling out those devils from over the +sea like peas. I would rather be there than here, and through you I +must listen here. Is this your gratitude? Is this the act of a +respectable relative?”</p> + +<p>“What have I to be grateful for?” asked Roh.</p> + +<p>“For this, that a traitor is not ploughing with you, as with an +ox,—though you are grandly fitted for ploughing, since you are stupid +and strong. Understand me? Ai! it is getting hotter and hotter there. +Do you hear? That must be the Swedes who are bawling like calves in a +pasture.”</p> + +<p>Here Zagloba became serious, for he was a little disturbed; on a sudden +he asked, looking quickly into Pan Roh’s eyes,—</p> + +<p>“To whom do you wish victory?”</p> + +<p>“To ours, of course.”</p> + +<p>“See that! And why not to the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“I would rather pound them. Who are ours, are ours!”</p> + +<p>“Conscience is waking up in you. But how could you take your own blood +to the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“For I had an order.”</p> + +<p>“But now you have no order?”</p> + +<p>“True.”</p> + +<p>“Your superior is now Pan Volodyovski, no one else.”</p> + +<p>“Well, that seems to be true.”</p> + +<p>“You must do what Pan Volodyovski commands.”</p> + +<p>“I must.”</p> + +<p>“He commands you now to renounce Radzivill for the future, and not to +serve him, but the country.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked Pan Roh, scratching his head.</p> + +<p>“A command!” cried Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“I obey!” said Kovalski.</p> + +<p>“That is right! At the first chance you will thrash the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“If it is the order, it is the order!” answered Kovalski, and breathed +deeply, as if a great burden had fallen from his breast.</p> + +<p>Zagloba was equally well satisfied, for he had his own views concerning +Kovalski. They began then to listen in harmony to the sounds of the +battle which came to them, and listened about an hour longer, until all +was silent.</p> + +<p>Zagloba was more and more alarmed. “If they have not succeeded?” asked +he.</p> + +<p>“Uncle, you an old warrior and can say such things! If they were beaten +they would come back to us in small groups.”</p> + +<p>“True! I see thy wit will be of service.”</p> + +<p>“Do you hear the tramp, Uncle? They are riding slowly. They must have +cut the Swedes to pieces.”</p> + +<p>“Oi, if they are only ours! Shall I go forward, or not?”</p> + +<p>Saying this, Zagloba dropped his sabre at his side, took his pistol in +his hand, and moved forward. Soon he saw before him a dark mass moving +slowly along the road; at the same time noise of conversation reached +him.</p> + +<p>In front rode a number of men talking with one another loudly; soon the +well-known voice of Pan Michael struck the ear of Zagloba. “They are +good men! I don’t know what kind of infantry they have, but the cavalry +is perfect.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba touched his horse with the spurs. “Ah! how is it, how is it? +Oh, impatience was tearing me, I wanted to fly into the fire! But is no +one wounded?”</p> + +<p>“All are sound, praise to God; but we have lost more than twenty good +soldiers.”</p> + +<p>“And the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“We laid them down like a pavement.”</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael, you must have enjoyed yourself as a dog in a spring. But +was it a decent thing to leave me, an old man, on guard? The soul came +near going out of me, so much did I want Swedish meat. Oh, I should +have gnawed them!”</p> + +<p>“You may have a roast now if you like, for a number of them are in the +fire.”</p> + +<p>“Let the dogs eat them. And were prisoners taken?”</p> + +<p>“A captain, and seven soldiers.”</p> + +<p>“What do you think to do with them?”</p> + +<p>“I would have them hanged, for like robbers they fell on an innocent +village and were killing the people. Yan says, however, that that will +not do.”</p> + +<p>“Listen to me, gentlemen, hear what has come to my head just now: there +is no good in hanging them; on the contrary, let them go to Birji as +soon as possible.”</p> + +<p>“What for?”</p> + +<p>“You know me as a soldier, know me now as a statesman. We will let the +Swedes go, but we will not tell them who we are. We will say that we +are Radzivill’s men, that we have cut off this detachment at command of +the hetman, and in future will cut off whom we meet, for the hetman +only pretended, through strategy, to join the Swedes. They will break +their heads over this, and thus we will undermine the hetman’s credit +terribly. Just think, this hits the Swedes and hits Radzivill too. +Kyedani is far from Birji, and Radzivill is still farther from Pontus +de la Gardie. Before they explain to each other what has happened and +how, they will be ready to fight. We will set the traitor against the +invaders; and who will gain by this, if not the Commonwealth?”</p> + +<p>“This is excellent counsel, and quite worth the victory. May the +bullets strike him!” said Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“You have the mind of a chancellor,” added Mirski, “for this will +disturb their plans.”</p> + +<p>“Surely we should act thus,” said Pan Michael. “I will set them free +to-morrow; but to-day I do not wish to know of anything, for I am +dreadfully wearied. It was as hot in the village as in an oven! Uf! my +arms are paralyzed completely. The officer could not go to-day in any +case, for his face is cut.”</p> + +<p>“But in what language shall we tell them all this? What is your +counsel, father?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“I have been thinking of that too,” answered Zagloba. “Kovalski told me +that there are two Prussians among his dragoons who know how to jabber +German, and are sharp fellows. Let them tell in German,—which the +Swedes know of course, after fighting so many years in Germany. +Kovalski is ours, soul and body. He is a man in a hundred, and we will +have no small profit from him.”</p> + +<p>“Well done!” said Volodyovski. “Will some of you, gentlemen, be so kind +as to see to this, for I have no voice in my throat from weariness? I +have told the men that we shall stay in this grove till morning. The +villagers will bring us food, and now to sleep! My lieutenant will see +to the watch. ’Pon my word, I cannot see you, for my eyes are closing.”</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” said Zagloba, “there is a stack of hay just outside the +birches; let us go to the stack, we shall sleep like susliks, and to +the road on the morrow. We shall not come back to this country, unless +with Pan Sapyeha against Radzivill.”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<p>In Lithuania a civil war had begun, which, with two invasions of the +Commonwealth and the ever more stubborn war of the Ukraine, filled the +measure of misfortune.</p> + +<p>The army of the Lithuanian quota, though so small in number that alone +it could not offer effectual resistance to any of the enemies, was +divided into two camps. Some regiments, and specially the foreign ones, +remained with Radzivill; others, forming the majority, proclaimed the +hetman a traitor, protested in arms against joining Sweden, but without +unity, without a leader, without a plan. Sapyeha might be its leader, +but he was too much occupied at that time with the defence of Byhovo +and with the desperate struggle in the interior of the country, to be +able to take his place immediately at the head of the movement against +Radzivill.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the invaders, each considering a whole region as his own, +began to send threatening messages to the other. From their +misunderstandings might rise in time the salvation of the Commonwealth; +but before it came to hostile steps between them there reigned the most +terrible chaos in all Lithuania. Radzivill, deceived in the army, +determined to bring it to obedience through force.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski had barely reached Ponyevyej with his squadron, after the +battle of Klavany, when news came to him of the destruction, by +Radzivill, of Mirski’s squadron, and that of Stankyevich. Some of the +men were placed by force among Radzivill’s troops; others were cut down +or scattered to the four winds; the remainder were wandering singly or +in small groups through villages and forests, seeking a place to hide +their heads from vengeance and pursuit.</p> + +<p>Fugitives came daily to Pan Michael’s detachment, increasing his force +and bringing news the most varied.</p> + +<p>The most important item was news of the mutiny of Lithuanian troops +stationed in Podlyasye, near Byalystok and Tykotsin. After the armies +of Moscow had occupied Vilno the squadrons from that place had to cover +the approach to the territories of the kingdom. But hearing of the +hetman’s treason, they formed a confederation, at the head of which +were two colonels, Horotkyevich and Yakub Kmita, a cousin of Andrei, +the most trusty assistant of Radzivill.</p> + +<p>The name of the latter was repeated with horror by the soldiers. He +mainly had caused the dispersion of Stankyevich’s squadron and that of +Mirski; he shot without mercy the captured officers. The hetman trusted +him blindly, and just recently had sent him against Nyevyarovski’s +squadron, which, disregarding the example of its colonel, refused +obedience.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski heard the last account with great attention; then he turned +to the officers summoned in counsel, and asked,—</p> + +<p>“What would you say to this,—that we, instead of hurrying to the +voevoda of Vityebsk, go to those squadrons which have formed a +confederacy in Podlyasye?”</p> + +<p>“You have taken that out of my mouth!” said Zagloba “It is nearer home +there, and it is always pleasanter among one’s own people.”</p> + +<p>“Fugitives mention too a report,” added Pan Yan, “that the king has +ordered some squadrons to return from the Ukraine, to oppose the Swedes +on the Vistula. If this should prove true, we might be among old +comrades instead of pounding from corner to corner.”</p> + +<p>“But who is going to command those squadrons? Does any one know?”</p> + +<p>“They say that Charnyetski will,” answered Volodyovski; “but people say +this rather than know it, for positive intelligence could not come +yet.”</p> + +<p>“However it may be,” said Zagloba, “my advice is to hurry to Podlyasye. +We can bring to our side those squadrons that have risen against +Radzivill, and take them to the king, and that certainly will not be +without a reward.”</p> + +<p>“Let it be so!” said Oskyerko and Stankyevich.</p> + +<p>“It is not easy,” said the little knight, “to get to Podlyasye, for we +shall have to slip through the fingers of the hetman. If fortune +meanwhile should grant us to snap up Kmita somewhere on the road, I +would speak a couple of words in his ear, from which his skin would +grow green.”</p> + +<p>“He deserves it,” said Mirski. “That some old soldiers who have served +their whole lives under the Radzivills hold to the hetman, is less to +be wondered at; but that swaggerer serves only for his own profit, and +the pleasure which he finds in betrayal.”</p> + +<p>“So then to Podlyasye?” asked Oskyerko.</p> + +<p>“To Podlyasye! to Podlyasye!” cried all in one voice.</p> + +<p>But still the affair was difficult, as Volodyovski had said; for to go +to Podlyasye it was necessary to pass near Kyedani, as near a den in +which a lion was lurking.</p> + +<p>The roads and lines of forest, the towns and villages were in the hands +of Radzivill; somewhat beyond Kyedani was Kmita, with cavalry, +infantry, and cannon. The hetman had heard already of the escape of the +colonels, the mutiny of Volodyovski’s squadron, and the battle of +Klavany; the last brought him to such rage that there was fear for his +life, since a terrible attack of asthma had for a time almost stopped +his breathing.</p> + +<p>In truth he had cause enough for anger, and even for despair, since +that battle brought on his head a whole Swedish tempest. People began +at once after this battle to cut up here and there small Swedish +detachments. Peasants did this, and individual nobles independently; +but the Swedes laid it to the account of Radzivill, especially as the +officers and men sent by Volodyovski to Birji declared before the +commandant that one of Radzivill’s squadrons had fallen upon them at +his command.</p> + +<p>In a week a letter came to the prince from the commandant at Birji, and +ten days later from Pontus de la Gardie himself, the commander-in-chief +of the Swedish forces.</p> + +<p>“Either your highness has no power and significance,” wrote the +latter,—“and in such case how could you conclude a treaty in the name +of the whole country!—or it is your wish to bring about through +artifice the ruin of the king’s army. If that is the case, the favor of +my master will turn from your highness, and punishment will come +quickly, unless you show obedience and efface your faults by faithful +service.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill sent couriers at once with an explanation of what had +happened and how; but the dart had fastened in his haughty soul, and +the burning wound began to rankle more and more. He whose word not long +before terrified the country more than all Sweden; he for the half of +whose property all the Swedish lords might have been bought; he who +stood against his own king, thinking himself the equal of monarchs; he +who had acquired fame in the whole world by his victories, and who +walked in his own pride as in sunshine—must now listen to the threats +of one Swedish general, must hear lectures on obedience and +faithfulness. It is true that that general was brother-in-law to the +king; but the king himself,—who was he? A usurper of the throne +belonging by right and inheritance to Yan Kazimir.</p> + +<p>Above all, the rage of the hetman was turned against those who were the +cause of that humiliation, and he swore to himself to trample +Volodyovski and those colonels who were with him and the whole squadron +of Lauda. With this object he marched against them; and as hunters to +clear out the wolf’s nest surround a forest with shares, he surrounded +them and began to pursue without rest.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile tidings came that Kmita had crushed Nyevyarovski’s squadron, +cut down or scattered the officers, and joined the men to his own. +Radzivill, to strike the more surely, commanded Pan Andrei to send him +some of these troops.</p> + +<p>“Those men,” wrote the hetman, “for whose lives you interceded with us +so persistently, and mainly Volodyovski with that other straggler, +escaped on the road to Birji. We sent the stupidest officer with them +on purpose, so that they might not win him over; but even he either +became a traitor, or they fooled him. Now Volodyovski has the whole +Lauda squadron, and fugitives are reinforcing him. They cut to pieces +one hundred and twenty Swedes at Klavany, saying that they did it at +our command, from which great distrust has arisen between us and +Pontus. The whole cause may be ruined by those traitors, whose heads, +had it not been for your interference, would have been cut off at our +command, as God is in heaven. So we have to repent of our mildness, +though we hope in God that vengeance will soon overtake them. Tidings +have come to us, too, that in Billeviche nobles assemble at the house +of the sword-bearer and conspire against us. This must be stopped! You +will send all the cavalry to us, and the infantry to Kyedani to guard +the castle and the town, for from those traitors anything may be +expected. You will go yourself with some tens of horsemen to +Billeviche, and bring the sword-bearer and his niece to Kyedani. At +present it is important, not only for you, but for us; for whoso has +them in hand has the whole Lauda region, in which the nobles, following +the example of Volodyovski, are beginning to rise against us. We have +sent Harasimovich to Zabludovo with instructions how to begin with +those confederates. Of great importance among them is Yakub, your +cousin, to whom you will write, if you think you can act on him through +a letter. Signifying to you our continual favor, we commit you to the +care of God.”</p> + +<p>When Kmita had read this letter, he was content at heart that the +colonels had succeeded in escaping the Swedes, and in secret he wished +them to escape Radzivill. Still he carried out all commands of the +prince, sent him the cavalry, garrisoned Kyedani with infantry, and +began to make trenches along the castle and the town, promising himself +to go immediately after this work was done to Billeviche for the +sword-bearer and the young woman.</p> + +<p>“I will use no force, unless in the last resort,” thought he, “and in +no case will I urge Olenka. Finally, it is not my will, ’tis the +command of the prince. She will not receive me pleasantly, I know; but +God grant that in time she will know my intentions, and that I serve +Radzivill not against the country, but for its salvation.”</p> + +<p>Thinking thus, he labored zealously at fortifying Kyedani, which was to +be the residence of his Olenka in the future.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Volodyovski was slipping away before the hetman, but the +hetman pursued him furiously. It was, however, too narrow for Pan +Michael; for from Birji considerable detachments of Swedish troops +pushed toward the south, the east of the country was occupied by the +legions of the Tsar, and on the road to Kyedani the hetman was lying in +wait.</p> + +<p>Zagloba was greatly depressed by such a condition of affairs, and he +turned with increasing frequency to Pan Michael with questions: “Pan +Michael, by the love of God, shall we break through or shall we not +break through?”</p> + +<p>“There is not even talk of breaking through here,” answered the little +knight. “You know that I am not lined with cowardice, and that I attack +whom I will, even the devil himself. But I cannot meet the hetman, for +I am not equal to him. You have said yourself that he is a pike and we +perches. I shall do what is in my power to slip out, but if it comes to +a battle, I tell you plainly that he will defeat us.”</p> + +<p>“Then he will command to chop us up and throw us to the dogs. As God +lives! into any man’s hands save Radzivill’s! But in this case why not +turn to Pan Sapyeha?”</p> + +<p>“It is too late now, for the hetman’s troops and the Swedes have closed +the roads.”</p> + +<p>“The devil tempted me when I persuaded Pan Yan and his cousin to go to +Radzivill!” said Zagloba, in despair.</p> + +<p>But Pan Michael did not lose hope yet, especially since the nobles, and +even the peasants, brought him warning of the hetman’s movements; for +all hearts were turning from Radzivill. Pan Michael twisted out +therefore as he knew how,—and he knew how famously, for almost from +childhood he had inured himself to war with Tartars and Cossacks. He +had been made renowned in the army of Yeremi by descents on Tartar +chambuls, by scouting expeditions, unexpected attacks, lightning +escapes, in which he surpassed other officers.</p> + +<p>At present hemmed in between Upita and Rogova on one side and Nyevyaja +on the other, he doubled around on the space of a few miles, avoiding +battle continually, worrying the Radzivill squadrons, and even plucking +them a little as a wolf hunted by dogs slips by often near the hunters, +and when the dogs press him too closely, turns and shows his white +gleaming teeth.</p> + +<p>But when Kmita’s cavalry came up, the hetman closed the narrowest gaps +with them, and went himself to see that the two ends of the snare came +together.</p> + +<p>That was at Nyevyaja.</p> + +<p>The regiments of Myeleshko and Ganhoff with two squadrons of cavalry, +under the lead of the prince himself, formed as it were a bow, the +string of which was the river. Volodyovski with his squadron was in the +centre of the bow. He had in front of him, it is true, one ford which +led through a swampy stream, but just on the other side of the ford +were two Scottish regiments and two hundred of Radzivill’s Cossacks, +with six fieldpieces, turned in such manner that even one man could not +have reached the other side under the fire of them.</p> + +<p>Now the bow began to contract. The middle of it was led by the hetman +himself.</p> + +<p>Happily for Volodyovski, night and a storm with pouring rain stopped +the advance; but for the enclosed men there remained not more than a +square half-mile of meadow, grown over with willows, in the middle of +the half-ring of Radzivill’s army, and the river guarded on the other +side by the Scots.</p> + +<p>Next morning when the early dawn was just whitening the tops of the +willows, the regiments moved forward to the river and were struck dumb +with amazement.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski had gone through the earth,—there was not a living soul in +the willows.</p> + +<p>The hetman himself was astounded, and then real thunders fell on the +heads of the officers commanding at the ford. And again an attack of +asthma seized the prince with such force that those present trembled +for his life. But rage overcame even the asthma. Two officers, +intrusted with guarding the bank, were to be shot; but Ganhoff +prevailed on the prince to have inquiries made first as to how the +beast had escaped from the toils.</p> + +<p>It appeared in fact that Volodyovski, taking advantage of the darkness +and rain, had led his whole squadron out of the willows into the river, +and swimming or wading with the current had slipped along Radzivill’s +right wing, which touched the bank at that point. Some horses, sunk to +their bellies in the mud, indicated the place where he had come out on +the right bank. From farther tracks it was easy to see that he had +moved with all horse-breath in the direction of Kyedani. The hetman +guessed at once from this that he wished to make his way to +Horotkyevich and Yakub Kmita in Podlyasye.</p> + +<p>“But in passing near Kyedani would he not burn the town or try to +plunder the castle?”</p> + +<p>A terrible fear straitened the heart of the prince. The greater part of +his ready money and treasures were in Kyedani. Kmita, it is true, was +bound to supply it with infantry; but if he had not done so, the +undefended castle would easily become plunder for the insolent colonel. +Radzivill felt sure that courage would not be wanting Volodyovski to +attack the residence of Kyedani itself. It might be that time would not +be wanting, for escaping in the beginning of the night he had left +pursuit at least six hours behind.</p> + +<p>In every case it was imperative to hasten with all breath to the +rescue. The prince left the infantry, and pushed on with the cavalry. +When he arrived at Kyedani he did not find Kmita, but he found +everything quiet; and the opinion which he had of the young colonel’s +ability increased doubly at sight of the finished trenches and +field-cannon standing on them. That same day he reviewed them in +company with Ganhoff, to whom he remarked in the evening,—</p> + +<p>“He acted thus of his own mind, without my order, and finished those +trenches so well that a protracted defence might be made here, even +against artillery. If that man does not break his neck too early, he +may rise high.”</p> + +<p>There was another man, at thought of whom the hetman could not restrain +a certain kind of admiration, but mingled with rage, for the man was +Pan Michael. “I could finish the mutiny soon,” said he to Ganhoff, “if +I had two such servants. Kmita may be still more alert, but he has not +the experience, and the other was brought up in the school of Yeremi, +beyond the Dnieper.”</p> + +<p>“Does your highness give command to pursue him?” asked Ganhoff.</p> + +<p>The prince looked at Ganhoff, and said with emphasis, “He would beat +you and escape from me.” But after a while he frowned, and added, +“Everything is quiet here now; but we must move to Podlyasye at once, +and finish those there.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” said Ganhoff, “as soon as we move a foot out of this +place, all will seize arms against the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“Which all?”</p> + +<p>“The nobles and peasants. And not stopping with the Swedes, they will +turn against the dissidents, for they put all the blame of this war on +our co-religionists, saying that we sent to the enemy, and in fact +brought the enemy in.”</p> + +<p>“It is a question with me of my cousin Boguslav. I know not whether he +is able to hold out against the confederates in Podlyasye.”</p> + +<p>“It is a question of Lithuania to keep it in obedience to us and the +King of Sweden.”</p> + +<p>The prince began to walk through the room, saying, “If I could in any +way get Horotkyevich and Yakub Kmita into my hands! They will devour my +property, destroy, plunder it; they will not leave a stone upon a +stone.”</p> + +<p>“Unless we stipulate with General de la Gardie to send hither as many +troops as possible, while we are in Podlyasye.”</p> + +<p>“With Pontus,—never!” answered Radzivill, to whose head a wave of +blood rushed. “If with any one, with the king himself. I do not need to +treat with servants when I can treat with their master. If the king +were to command Pontus to place two thousand cavalry at my disposal, +that would be another thing. But I will not ask Pontus for them. It is +needful to send some one to the king; it is time to negotiate with him +directly.”</p> + +<p>The lean face of Ganhoff flushed slightly, and his eyes were lighted +with desire. “If your highness commanded—”</p> + +<p>“You would go; but for you to arrive there is another thing. You are a +German, and it is dangerous for a foreigner to enter an uprisen +country. Who knows where the king is at this moment, and where he will +be in half a month or a month? It is necessary to ride through the +whole country. Besides, it cannot be! You will not go, for it is +necessary to send one of my own people, a man of high family, so as to +convince the king that not all the nobles have left me.”</p> + +<p>“An inexperienced man might do much harm,” said Ganhoff, timidly.</p> + +<p>“An envoy will have no work there except to deliver my letter, and +bring back an answer; and any man can explain that it was not I who +gave orders to beat the Swedes at Klavany.”</p> + +<p>Ganhoff was silent.</p> + +<p>The prince began again to walk with unquiet steps through the room; on +his forehead was manifest a continual struggle of thought. In truth, he +had not known a moment of peace from the time of his treaty with the +Swedes. Pride devoured him, his conscience gnawed him, the unexpected +resistance of the country and the army gnawed him; the uncertainty of +the future, and the threat of ruin terrified him. He struggled, he +fought, he passed sleepless nights, he was failing in health. His eyes +were sinking, he was growing thin; his face, formerly red, became blue, +and almost with every hour silver threads increased in his mustaches +and his forelock. In a word, he lived in torment, and bent under the +burden.</p> + +<p>Ganhoff followed him with his eyes as he walked through the room; he +had still a little hope that the prince would bethink himself, and send +him.</p> + +<p>But the prince halted suddenly, and struck his forehead with his palm. +“Two squadrons of cavalry, to horse at once! I will lead them myself.”</p> + +<p>Ganhoff looked on him with wonderment. “An expedition?” inquired he, +involuntarily.</p> + +<p>“Move on!” said the prince. “God grant that it be not too late!”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<p>When Kmita had finished the trenches and secured Kyedani from sudden +attack, he was unable to delay further his expedition for the +sword-bearer and Olenka, especially since the command of the prince to +bring them to Kyedani was imperative. But still Pan Andrei loitered, +and when at last he did move at the head of fifty dragoons, he was as +unquiet as if going on a forlorn hope. He felt that he would not be +thankfully received, and he trembled at the thought that the old man +might try to resist, even with armed hand, and in such an event it +would be necessary to use force. But he determined first to persuade +and entreat. With the intent of stripping his visit of all semblance of +armed attack, he left the dragoons at an inn a quarter of a mile from +the village, and two from the house, and ordering the carriage to +follow a little later, rode ahead himself, with only the sergeant and +one attendant.</p> + +<p>It was in the afternoon, and the sun was already well inclined toward +the west, but after a rainy and stormy night the day was beautiful and +the sky pure, only here and there was it variegated on the western side +by small rosy clouds which pushed slowly beyond the horizon, like a +flock of sheep leaving a field. Kmita rode through the village with +throbbing heart and as uneasy as the Tartar who entering a village +first, in advance of a chambul, looks around on every side to see if he +can discover armed men in ambush. But the three horsemen attracted no +attention. Barefooted little peasant boys merely jumped out of the road +before the horses; peasants seeing the handsome officer, bowed to him, +sweeping the ground with their caps. He rode on, and passing the +village saw ahead a large dwelling, the old Billevich nest; behind it +broad gardens ending far beyond in the flat fields.</p> + +<p>Kmita slackened his pace still more, and began to talk with himself, +evidently framing answers to questions; and meanwhile he gazed with +anxious eye on the buildings rising before him. It was not at all a +lordly mansion, but at the first glance it would have been guessed that +a noble lived there of more than medium fortune. The house itself, with +its back to the gardens and front to the highway, was enormous, but of +wood. The pine of the walls had grown so dark with age that the panes +in the windows seemed white in contrast. Above the walls rose a +gigantic roof with four chimneys in the middle, and two dovecotes at +the gables. A whole cloud of white doves were collected on the roof, +now flying away with clapping of wings, now dropping, like snowy +kerchiefs, on the black ridges, now flapping around the pillars +supporting the entrance.</p> + +<p>That entrance, adorned with a shield on which the Billevich arms were +painted, disturbed the proportions of the house, for it was not in the +middle, but toward one side of it. Evidently the house had once been +smaller, but new parts were added subsequently from one side, though +the added parts had grown so black with the passage of years as not to +differ in anything from the old. Two wings, of enormous length, rose on +both sides of the house proper, and formed as it were two arms of a +horseshoe. In these wings were guest-chambers used in time of great +gatherings, kitchens, store-houses, carriage-houses, stables for +carriage horses which the masters wished to keep near at hand, rooms +for officials, servants, and house Cossacks.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the broad yard grew old linden-trees, on them were +storks’ nests. Among the trees was a bear chained to a pillar. Two +well-sweeps at the sides of the yard, a cross with the Passion of the +Lord between two spears at the entrance, completed this picture of the +residence of a powerful, noble family. At the right of the house, in +the middle of frequent linden-trees, rose the straw roofs of stables, +cow-houses, sheep-houses, and granaries.</p> + +<p>Kmita entered the gate, which was open on both sides; like the arms of +a noble awaiting the arrival of a guest. Then two dogs loitering +through the yard announced the stranger, and from a wing two boys ran +to take the horses.</p> + +<p>At the same moment in the door of the main building stood a female +figure, in which Kmita recognized Olenka at once. His heart beat more +quickly, and throwing the reins to the servant, he went toward the +porch with uncovered head, holding in one hand his sabre, and in the +other his cap.</p> + +<p>She stood before him like a charming vision, shading her eyes with her +hand against the setting sun, and then vanished on a sudden, as if +frightened by the sight of the approaching guest.</p> + +<p>“Bad!” thought Pan Andrei; “she hides from me.”</p> + +<p>He was pained, and his pain was all the greater since just before the +mild sunset, the view of that house, and the calm so spread around it +filled his heart with hope, though perhaps Pan Andrei did not note +that.</p> + +<p>He cherished as it were an illusion that he was going to his betrothed, +who would receive him with eyes gleaming from joy and a blush on her +cheeks.</p> + +<p>And the illusion was broken. Scarcely had she seen him when she rushed +away, as if from an evil spirit; and straightway Pan Tomash came out to +meet him with a face at once unquiet and cloudy.</p> + +<p>Kmita bowed and said, “I have long wished to express duly my devotion +to you, my benefactor; but I was unable to do so sooner in these times +of disturbance, though surely there was no lack in me of desire.”</p> + +<p>“I am very grateful, and I beg you to enter,” answered the +sword-bearer, smoothing the forelock on his head,—an act usual with +him when confused or uncertain of himself. And he stepped aside from +the door to let the guest pass.</p> + +<p>Kmita for a while did not wish to enter first, and they bowed to each +other on the threshold; at last Pan Andrei took the step before the +sword-bearer, and in a moment they were in the room.</p> + +<p>They found there two nobles,—one, a man in the bloom of life, Pan +Dovgird of Plemborg, a near neighbor of the Billeviches; the other, Pan +Hudzynski, a tenant in Eyragoly. Kmita noticed that they had barely +heard his name when their faces changed and they seemed to act like +dogs at sight of a wolf; he looked at them first defiantly, and then +feigned not to see them.</p> + +<p>A disagreeable silence succeeded.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei grew impatient and gnawed his mustaches; the guests looked +at him with a fixed frown, and the sword-bearer stroked his forelock.</p> + +<p>“Will you drink a glass of poor nobles’ mead with us?” asked he at +last, pointing to a decanter and a glass. “I request you—”</p> + +<p>“I will drink with a gentleman!” said Kmita, rather abruptly.</p> + +<p>Dovgird and Hudzynski began to puff, taking the answer as an expression +of contempt for them; but they would not begin a quarrel at once in a +friendly house, and that with a roisterer who had a terrible reputation +throughout all Jmud. Still the insult nettled them.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the sword-bearer clapped his hands for a servant, and ordered +him to bring a fourth glass; then he filled it, raised his own to his +lips, and said, “Into your hands— I am glad to see you in my house.”</p> + +<p>“I should be sincerely glad were that true.”</p> + +<p>“A guest is a guest,” said the sword-bearer, sententiously.</p> + +<p>After awhile, conscious evidently of his duty as a host to keep up the +conversation, he asked, “What do you hear at Kyedani? How is the health +of the hetman?”</p> + +<p>“Not strong,” answered Kmita, “and in these unquiet times it cannot be +otherwise. The prince has a world of troubles and annoyances.”</p> + +<p>“I believe that!” said Pan Hudzynski.</p> + +<p>Kmita looked at him for a while, then turned to the host and +continued,—</p> + +<p>“The prince, being promised assistance by the Swedish King, expected to +move against the enemy at Vilna without delay, and take vengeance for +the ashes of that place, which have not yet grown cold. And it must be +known also to you that now it is necessary to search for Vilna in +Vilna, for it was burning seventeen days. They say that nothing is +visible among the ruins but the black holes of cellars from which smoke +is still rising continually.”</p> + +<p>“Misfortune!” said the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“Of course a misfortune, which if it could not have been prevented +should be avenged and similar ruins made of the enemy’s capital. In +fact, it was coming to this when disturbers, suspecting the best +intentions of an honorable man, proclaimed him a traitor, and resisted +him in arms instead of aiding him against the enemy. It is not to be +wondered, therefore, that the health of the prince totters, since he, +whom God predestined to great things, sees that the malice of man is +ever preparing new obstacles through which the entire undertaking may +come to naught. The best friends of the prince have deceived him; those +on whom he counted most have left him, or gone to the enemy.”</p> + +<p>“So it is,” said the sword-bearer, seriously.</p> + +<p>“That is very painful,” continued Kmita, “and I myself have heard the +prince say, ‘I know that honorable men pass evil judgments on me; but +why do they not come to Kyedani, why do they not tell me to my face +what they have against me, and listen to my reasons?’”</p> + +<p>“Whom has the prince in mind?” asked the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“In the first rank you, my benefactor, for whom he has a genuine +regard, and he suspects that you belong to the enemy.”</p> + +<p>The sword-bearer began to smooth his forelock quickly. At last, seeing +that the conversation was taking an undesirable turn, he clapped his +hands.</p> + +<p>A servant appeared in the doorway.</p> + +<p>“Seest not that it is growing dark? Bring lights!” cried Pan Tomash.</p> + +<p>“God sees,” continued Kmita, “that I had intended to lay before you +proper assurances of my own devotion separately, but I have come here +also at the order of the prince, who would have come in person to +Billeviche if the time were more favoring.”</p> + +<p>“Our thresholds are too lowly,” said the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“Do not say that, since it is customary for neighbors to visit one +another; but the prince has no time unoccupied, therefore he said to +me, ‘Explain in my name to Pan Billevich that I am not able to visit +him, but let him come to me with his niece, and that of course without +delay, for to-morrow or the day following I know not where I shall be.’ +So I have come with a request, and I trust that both of you are in good +health; for when I drove in here I saw Panna Aleksandra in the door, +but she vanished at once, like mist from the field.”</p> + +<p>“That is true,” said the sword-bearer; “I sent her myself to see who +had come.”</p> + +<p>“I am waiting for your reply, my benefactor,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>At that moment the attendant brought in a light and placed it on the +table; by the shining of the light it was seen that Billevich was +greatly confused.</p> + +<p>“This is no small honor for me,” said he, “but—I cannot go at once. Be +pleased to excuse me to the hetman—you see that I have guests.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, surely that will not hinder, for these gentlemen will yield to the +prince.”</p> + +<p>“We have our own tongues in our mouths, and can answer for ourselves,” +said Pan Hudzynski.</p> + +<p>“Without waiting for others to make decisions concerning us,” added +Dovgird.</p> + +<p>“You see,” continued Kmita, pretending to take in good part the +churlish words of the nobles, “I knew that these were polite cavaliers. +But to avoid slighting any one, I invite them also in the name of the +prince to come to Kyedani.”</p> + +<p>“Too much favor,” said both; “we have something else to do.”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked on them with a peculiar expression, and then said coldly, +as if speaking to some fourth person, “When the prince invites, it is +not permitted to refuse.”</p> + +<p>At that they rose from their chairs.</p> + +<p>“But is that constraint?” asked the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“Pan Billevich, my benefactor,” answered Kmita, quickly, “those +gentlemen will go whether they wish or not, for thus it has pleased me; +but I desire not to use force with you, and I beg most sincerely that +you will deign to gratify the prince. I am on service, and have an +order to bring you; but as long as I do not lose hope of effecting +something with entreaty, I shall not cease to entreat,—and I swear to +you that not a hair will fall from your head while there. The prince +wishes to talk with you, and wishes you to live in Kyedani during these +troubled times, when even peasants collect in crowds and plunder. This +is the whole affair! You will be treated with fitting respect in +Kyedani, as a guest and a friend; I give my word of honor for that.”</p> + +<p>“As a noble, I protest,” said the sword-bearer, “and the law protects +me.”</p> + +<p>“And sabres!” cried Hudzynski and Dovgird.</p> + +<p>Kmita laughed, frowned, and said, “Put away your sabres, gentlemen, or +I shall give the order to place you both against the barn and put a +bullet into the head of each one of you.”</p> + +<p>At this they grew timid, and began to look at each other and at Kmita; +but the sword-bearer cried,—</p> + +<p>“The most outrageous violence against the freedom of nobles, against +privileges!”</p> + +<p>“There will be no violence if you comply of your own will,” said Kmita; +“and the proof is in this that I left dragoons in the village, and came +here alone to invite you as one neighbor another. Do not refuse, for +the times are such that it is difficult to pay attention to refusals. +The prince himself will excuse you therefore, and know that you will be +received as a neighbor and a friend. Understand, too, that could you be +received otherwise, I would a hundred times rather have a bullet in my +head than come here for you. Not a hair will fall from any Billevich +head while I am alive. Call to mind who I am, remember Heraclius +Billevich, remember his will, and consider whether the prince would +have selected me did he not intend to deal with you in sincerity.”</p> + +<p>“Why then does he use force, why have I to go under constraint? How am +I to trust him, when all Lithuania talks of the oppression under which +honorable citizens are groaning in Kyedani?”</p> + +<p>Kmita drew breath; for, from his words and voice he knew that Billevich +was beginning to weaken in his resistance.</p> + +<p>“Worthy benefactor,” said he, almost joyously, “constraint among +neighbors often rises from affection. And when you order servants to +put the carriage-wheel of a welcome guest in the storehouse, or his +provision-chest in the larder, is not that constraint? And when you +force him to drink, even when wine is flowing out through his nostrils, +is not that constraint? And be assured that even had I to bind you and +take you bound to Kyedani among dragoons, that would be for your good. +Just think, insurgent soldiers are wandering about and committing +lawless deeds, peasants are mustering, Swedish troops are approaching, +and do you think to save yourself from accident in the uproar, or that +some of these will not come to-day or tomorrow, plunder and burn your +property, and attack your person? Is Billeviche a fortress? Can you +defend yourself here? What does the prince wish for you? Safety; for +Kyedani is the only place where you are not in danger. A detachment of +the prince’s troops will guard your property here, as the eyes in their +heads, from all disorder of soldiers; and if one fork is lost, then +take my whole fortune.”</p> + +<p>Billevich began to walk through the room. “Can I trust your word?”</p> + +<p>At that moment Panna Aleksandra entered the room. Kmita approached her +quickly, but suddenly remembered the events of Kyedani, and her cold +face fixed him to the floor; he bowed therefore from a distance, in +silence.</p> + +<p>Pan Billevich stood before her. “We have to go to Kyedani,” said he.</p> + +<p>“And for what reason?” asked she.</p> + +<p>“For the hetman invites.”</p> + +<p>“Very kindly,—as a neighbor,” added Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Yes, very kindly,” said Billevich, with a certain bitterness; “but if +we do not go of our own will, this cavalier has the order to surround +us with dragoons and take us by force.”</p> + +<p>“God preserve us from that!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Have not I told you, Uncle,” asked Panna Aleksandra, “that we ought to +flee as far as possible, for they would not leave us here undisturbed? +Now my words have come true.”</p> + +<p>“What’s to be done, what’s to be done? There is no remedy against +force,” cried Billevich.</p> + +<p>“True,” answered the lady: “but we ought not to go to that infamous +house of our own will. Let murderers take us, bind us, and bear us. Not +we alone shall suffer persecution, not us alone will the vengeance of +traitors reach; but let them know that we prefer death to infamy.”</p> + +<p>Here she turned with an expression of supreme contempt to Kmita: “Bind +us, sir officer, or sir executioner, and take us with horses, for in +another way we will not go.”</p> + +<p>The blood rushed to Kmita’s face; it seemed for a time that he would +burst forth in terrible anger, but he restrained himself.</p> + +<p>“Ah, gracious lady,” said he, with a voice stifled from excitement, “I +have not favor in your eyes, since you wish to make me a murderer, a +traitor, and a man of violence. May God judge who is right,—whether I +serving the hetman, or you insulting me as a dog. God gave you beauty, +but a heart venomous and implacable. You are glad to suffer yourself, +that you may inflict still greater pain on another. You exceed the +measure,—as I live, you exceed it,—and nothing will come of that.”</p> + +<p>“The maiden speaks well,” cried Billevich, to whom daring came +suddenly; “we will not go of our own will. Take us with dragoons.”</p> + +<p>But Kmita paid no attention whatever to him, so much was he excited, +and so deeply touched.</p> + +<p>“You are in love with the sufferings of people,” continued he to +Olenka, “and you proclaim me a traitor without judgment, without +considering a reason, without permitting me to say a word in my own +defence. Let it be so. But you will go to Kyedani,—of your own will or +against your will; it is all one. There my intentions will become +evident; there you will know whether you have justly accused me of +wrong, there conscience will tell you who of us was whose executioner. +I want no other vengeance. God be with you, but I want that vengeance. +And I want nothing more of you, for you have bent the bow to the +breaking. There is a serpent under your beauty as under a flower.”</p> + +<p>“We will not go!” repeated Billevich, still more resolutely.</p> + +<p>“As true as life we will not!” shouted Hudzynski and Dovgird.</p> + +<p>Kmita turned to them; but he was very pale now, for rage was throttling +him, and his teeth chattered as in a fever.</p> + +<p>“Ei! Try now to resist! My horses are to be heard,—my dragoons are +coming. Will some one say again that he will not go?”</p> + +<p>In fact the tramp of numerous horses was heard. All saw that there was +no help, and Kmita said,—</p> + +<p>“Young lady, within the time that a man could repeat the Lord’s Prayer +twice you must be in the carriage, or your uncle will have a bullet in +his head.”</p> + +<p>And it was evident that the wild frenzy of anger was taking possession +more and more of Pan Andrei, for suddenly he shouted till the panes +rattled in the windows, “To the road!”</p> + +<p>That same instant the door of the front chamber opened quietly, and +some strange voice inquired,—</p> + +<p>“To what place, Cavalier?”</p> + +<p>All became as stone from amazement, and every eye was turned to the +door, in which stood some small man in armor, and with a naked sabre in +his hand.</p> + +<p>Kmita retreated a step, as if he had seen an apparition. “Pan +Volodyovski!” cried he.</p> + +<p>“At your service!” answered the little man. And he advanced into the +middle of the chamber; after him entered in a crowd Mirski, Zagloba, +Pan Yan, Pan Stanislav, Stankyevich, Oskyerko and Roh Kovalski.</p> + +<p>“Ha!” cried Zagloba; “the Cossack caught a Tartar, and the Tartar holds +him by the head!”</p> + +<p>Billevich began to speak: “Whoever you are, gentlemen, save a citizen +whom in spite of law, birth, and office they wish to arrest and +confine. Save, brothers, the freedom of a noble, whoever you may be.”</p> + +<p>“Fear not!” answered Volodyovski, “the dragoons of this cavalier are +already in fetters, and now he needs rescue himself more than you do.”</p> + +<p>“But a priest most of all!” added Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Sir Knight,” said Volodyovski, turning to Kmita, “you have no luck +with me; a second time I stand in your way. You did not expect me?”</p> + +<p>“I did not! I thought you were in the hands of the prince.”</p> + +<p>“I have just slipped out of those hands,—this is the road to +Podlyasye. But enough! The first time that you bore away this lady I +challenged you to sabres, is it not true?”</p> + +<p>“True,” answered Kmita, reaching involuntarily to his head.</p> + +<p>“Now it is another affair. Then you were given to fighting,—a thing +usual with nobles, and not bringing the last infamy. To-day you do not +deserve that an honest man should challenge you.”</p> + +<p>“Why is that?” asked Kmita; and raising his proud head, he looked +Volodyovski straight in the eyes.</p> + +<p>“You are a traitor and a renegade,” answered Volodyovski, “for you have +cut down, like an executioner, honest soldiers who stood by their +country,—for it is through your work that this unhappy land is +groaning under a new yoke. Speaking briefly, prepare for death, for as +God is in heaven your last hour has come.”</p> + +<p>“By what right do you judge and execute me?” inquired Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Gracious sir,” answered Zagloba, seriously, “say your prayers instead +of asking us about a right. But if you have anything to say in your +defence, say it quickly, for you will not find a living soul to take +your part. Once, as I have heard, this lady here present begged you +from the hands of Pan Volodyovski; but after what you have done now, +she will surely not take your part.”</p> + +<p>Here the eyes of all turned involuntarily to Panna Aleksandra, whose +face at that moment was as if cut from stone; and she stood motionless, +with downcast lids, icy-cold, but she did not advance a step or speak a +word.</p> + +<p>The voice of Kmita broke the silence—“I do not ask that lady for +intercession.”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra was silent.</p> + +<p>“This way!” called Volodyovski, turning toward the door.</p> + +<p>Heavy steps were heard, followed by the gloomy rattle of spurs; and six +soldiers, with Yuzva Butrym in front, entered the room.</p> + +<p>“Take him!” commanded Volodyovski, “lead him outside the village and +put a bullet in his head.”</p> + +<p>The heavy hand of Butrym rested on the collar of Kmita, after that two +other hands.</p> + +<p>“Do not let them drag me like a dog!” said Kmita to Volodyovski. “I +will go myself.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski nodded to the soldiers, who released him at once, but +surrounded him; and he walked out calmly, not speaking to any man, only +whispering his prayers.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra went out also, through the opposite door, to the +adjoining rooms. She passed the first and the second, stretching out +her hand in the darkness before her; suddenly her head whirled, the +breath failed in her bosom, and she fell, as if dead, on the floor.</p> + +<p>Among those who were assembled in the first room a dull silence reigned +for some time; at last Billevich broke it. “Is there no mercy for him?” +asked he.</p> + +<p>“I am sorry for him,” answered Zagloba, “for he went manfully to +death.”</p> + +<p>To which Mirski said, “He shot a number of officers out of my squadron, +besides those whom he slew in attack.”</p> + +<p>“And from mine too,” added Stankyevich; “and he cut up almost all of +Nyevyarovski’s men.”</p> + +<p>“He must have had orders from Radzivill,” said Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” said Billevich, “you bring the vengeance of Radzivill on +my head.”</p> + +<p>“You must flee. We are going to Podlyasye, for there the squadrons have +risen against traitors; go with us. There is no other help. You can +take refuge in Byalovyej, where a relative of Pan Skshetuski is the +king’s hunter. There no one will find you.”</p> + +<p>“But my property will be lost.”</p> + +<p>“The Commonwealth will restore it to you.”</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael,” said Zagloba, suddenly, “I will gallop off and see if +there are not some orders of the hetman on that unfortunate man. You +remember what I found on Roh Kovalski.”</p> + +<p>“Mount a horse. There is time yet; later the papers will be bloody. I +ordered them to take him beyond the village, so that the lady might not +be alarmed at the rattle of muskets, for women are sensitive and given +to fright.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba went out, and after a while the tramp of the horse on which he +rode away was heard. Volodyovski turned to the host.</p> + +<p>“What is the lady doing?”</p> + +<p>“Beyond doubt she is praying for that soul which must go before God.”</p> + +<p>“May the Lord give him eternal rest!” said Pan Yan. “Were it not for +his willing service with Radzivill, I should be the first to speak in +his favor; but if he did not wish to stand by his country, he might at +least not have sold his soul to Radzivill.”</p> + +<p>“That is true!” added Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“He is guilty and deserves what has come upon him,” said Pan Stanislav; +“but I would that Radzivill were in his place, or Opalinski—oh, +Opalinski!”</p> + +<p>“Of how far he is guilty, you have best proof here,” put in Oskyerko; +“this lady, who was his betrothed, did not find a word in his favor. I +saw clearly that she was in torment, but she was silent; for how could +she take the part of a traitor.”</p> + +<p>“She loved him once sincerely, I know that,” said Billevich. “Permit +me, gentlemen, to go and see what has befallen her, as this is a +grievous trial for a woman.”</p> + +<p>“Make ready for the road!” cried the little knight, “for we shall +merely give rest to the horses. We move farther. Kyedani is too near +this place, and Radzivill must have returned already.”</p> + +<p>“Very well!” said the noble, and he left the room.</p> + +<p>After a while his piercing cry was heard. The knights sprang toward the +sound, not knowing what had happened; the servants also ran in with the +lights, and they saw Billevich raising Olenka, whom he had found lying +senseless on the floor.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski sprang to help him, and together they placed her on the +sofa. She gave no sign of life. They began to rub her. The old +housekeeper ran in with cordials, and at last the young lady opened her +eyes.</p> + +<p>“Nothing is the matter,” said the old housekeeper; “go ye to that room, +we will take care of her.”</p> + +<p>Billevich conducted his guests. “Would that this had not happened!” +said the anxious host. “Could you not take that unfortunate with you, +and put him out of the way somewhere on the road, and not on my place? +How can I travel now, how flee, when the young woman is barely alive, +on the brink of serious illness?”</p> + +<p>“The illness is all over now,” answered Volodyovski. “We will put the +lady in a carriage; you must both flee, for the vengeance of Radzivill +spares no man.”</p> + +<p>“The lady may recover quickly,” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“A comfortable carriage is ready, with horses attached, for Kmita +brought it with him,” said Volodyovski. “Go and tell the lady how +things are, and that it is impossible to delay flight. Let her collect +her strength. We must go, for before to-morrow morning Radzivill’s +troops may be here.”</p> + +<p>“True,” answered Billevich; “I go!”</p> + +<p>He went, and after a while returned with his niece, who had not only +collected her strength, but was already dressed for the road. She had a +high color on her face, and her eyes were gleaming feverishly.</p> + +<p>“Let us go, let us go!” repeated she, entering the room.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski went out on the porch for a moment to send men for the +carriage; then he returned, and all began to make ready for the road.</p> + +<p>Before a quarter of an hour had passed, the roll of wheels was heard +outside the windows, and the stamping of horses’ hoofs on the pavement +with which the space before the entrance was covered.</p> + +<p>“Let us go!” said Olenka.</p> + +<p>“To the road!” cried the officers.</p> + +<p>That moment the door was thrown open, and Zagloba burst into the room +like a bomb.</p> + +<p>“I have stopped the execution!” cried he.</p> + +<p>Olenka from being ruddy became in one moment as white as chalk; she +seemed ready to faint again; but no one paid attention to her, for all +eyes were turned on Zagloba, who was panting like a whale, trying to +catch breath.</p> + +<p>“Have you stopped the execution?” inquired Volodyovski. “Why was that?”</p> + +<p>“Why?—Let me catch breath. This is why,—without Kmita, without that +honorable cavalier, we should all of us be hanging on trees at Kyedani. +Uf! we wanted to kill our benefactor, gentlemen! Uf!”</p> + +<p>“How can that be?” cried all, at once.</p> + +<p>“How can it be? Read this letter; in it is the answer.”</p> + +<p>Here Zagloba gave a letter to Volodyovski. He began to read, stopping +every moment and looking at his comrades; for it was in fact the letter +in which Radzivill reproached Kmita bitterly because by his stubborn +persistence he had freed the colonels and Zagloba from death at +Kyedani.</p> + +<p>“Well, what do you think?” repeated Zagloba, at each interval.</p> + +<p>The letter ended, as we know, with the commission for Kmita to bring +Billevich and his niece to Kyedani. Pan Andrei had the letter with him, +apparently to show it to the sword-bearer in case of necessity, and it +had not come to that.</p> + +<p>Above all there remained no shadow of doubt that but for Kmita the two +Skshetuskis, Volodyovski, and Zagloba would have been killed without +mercy in Kyedani, immediately after the famous treaty with Pontus de la +Gardie.</p> + +<p>“Worthy gentlemen,” said Zagloba, “if you wish now to shoot him, as God +is dear to me, I will leave your company and know you no longer.”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing more to be said here!” replied Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Ah!” said Skshetuski, seizing his head with both hands, “what a +happiness that father read that letter at once, instead of bringing it +to us!”</p> + +<p>“They must have fed you with starlings from childhood!” cried Mirski.</p> + +<p>“Ha! what do you say to that?” asked Zagloba. “Every one else would +have put a bullet in his head. But the moment they brought me the paper +which they found on him, something touched me, because I have by nature +a universal curiosity. Two men were going ahead of me with lanterns, +and they were already in the field. Said I to them, ‘Give me light +here; let me know what is in this!’ I began to read. I tell you, +gentlemen, there was darkness before me as if some man had thumped my +bald head with his fist. ‘In God’s name!’ said I, ‘why did you not show +this letter?’ And he answered, ‘Because it did not suit me!’ Such a +haughty fellow, even at the point of death! But didn’t I seize him, +embrace him? ‘Benefactor,’ cried I, ‘without you the crows would have +eaten us already!’ I gave orders to bring him back and lead him here; +and I almost drove the breath out of the horse to tell you what had +happened as quickly as possible. Uf!”</p> + +<p>“That is a wonderful man, in whom it is clear as much good as evil +resides,” said Pan Stanislav. “If such would not—”</p> + +<p>But before he had finished, the door opened and the soldiers came in +with Kmita.</p> + +<p>“You are free,” said Volodyovski, at once; “and while we are alive none +of us will attack you. What a desperate man you are, not to show us +that letter immediately! We would not have disturbed you.”</p> + +<p>Here he turned to the soldiers: “Withdraw, and every man to horse!”</p> + +<p>The soldiers withdrew, and Pan Andrei remained alone in the middle of +the room. He had a calm face; but it was gloomy, and he looked at the +officers standing before him, not without pride.</p> + +<p>“You are free!” repeated Volodyovski; “go whithersoever you please, +even to Radzivill, though it is painful to see a man of honorable blood +aiding a traitor to his country.”</p> + +<p>“Reflect well,” answered Kmita, “for I say beforehand that I shall go +nowhere else but to Radzivill.”</p> + +<p>“Join us; let the thunderbolt crush that tyrant of Kyedani!” cried +Zagloba. “You will be to us a friend and dear comrade; the country, +your mother, will forgive your offences against her.”</p> + +<p>“It is no use,” said Kmita, with energy. “God will decide who serves +the country better,—you who begin civil war on your own +responsibility, or I, serving a lord who alone can save this ill-fated +Commonwealth. Go your own way, I will go mine. It is not time to +convert you, and the attempt is vain; but I tell you from the depth of +my soul that you are ruining the country,—you who stand in the way of +its salvation. I do not call you traitors, for I know that your +intentions are honorable; but this is the position,—the country is +perishing, Radzivill stretches a hand to it, and you thrust swords into +that hand, and in blindness make traitors of him and all those who +stand by him.”</p> + +<p>“As God is true!” said Zagloba, “if I had not seen how manfully you +went to meet death, I should think that terror had disturbed your mind. +To whom have you given oath,—to Radzivill or Yan Kazimir, to Sweden or +the Commonwealth? You have lost your wits!”</p> + +<p>“I knew that it would be vain to attempt to convert you. Farewell!”</p> + +<p>“But wait,” said Zagloba; “for here is a question of importance. Tell +me, did Radzivill promise that he would spare us when you interceded +for us in Kyedani?”</p> + +<p>“He did,” said Kmita. “You were to remain during the war in Birji.”</p> + +<p>“Know now your Radzivill, who betrays not only the country, not only +the king, but his own servants.” When he had said this, Zagloba gave +the hetman’s letter to Kmita. He took it, and began to run over it with +his eyes; and as he read, the blood came to his face, and a blush of +shame for his own leader covered his forehead more and more. All at +once he crushed the letter in his hand, and threw it on the floor.</p> + +<p>“Farewell!” said he. “Better I had perished at your hands!” and he went +out of the room.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” said Pan Yan, after a moment’s silence, “an affair with +that man is difficult, for he believes in his Radzivill as a Turk in +Mohammed. I thought myself, as you do, that he was serving him for +profit or ambition, but that is not the case. He is not a bad man, only +an erring one.”</p> + +<p>“If he has had faith in his Mohammed hitherto, I have undermined that +faith infernally,” said Zagloba. “Did you see how he threw down the +letter as soon as he had read it? There will be no small work between +them, for that cavalier is ready to spring at the eyes, not only of +Radzivill, but the devil. As God is dear to me, if a man had given me a +herd of Turkish horses I should not be so well pleased as I am at +having saved him from death.”</p> + +<p>“It is true he owes his life to you,” said Billevich; “no one will deny +that.”</p> + +<p>“God be with him!” said Volodyovski; “let us take counsel what to do.”</p> + +<p>“But what? Mount and take the road; the horses have rested a little,” +answered Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“True, we should go as quickly as possible! Are you going with us?” +asked Mirski of the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“I cannot remain here in peace, I must go. But if you wish to take the +road at once, gentlemen, I say sincerely that it is not convenient to +tear away now with you. Since that man has left here alive, they will +not burn me up immediately, neither will they kill any one; and before +such a journey it is necessary to provide one’s self with this thing +and that. God knows when I shall return. It is necessary to make one +arrangement and another,—to secrete the most valuable articles, send +my cattle to the neighbors, pack trunks. I have also a little ready +money which I would take with me. I shall be ready to-morrow at +daybreak; but to go now, in seize-grab fashion, I cannot.”</p> + +<p>“On our part we cannot wait, for the sword is hanging over our heads,” +said Volodyovski. “And where do you wish to take refuge?”</p> + +<p>“In the wilderness, as you advised. At least, I shall leave the maiden +there; for I am not yet old, and my poor sabre may be of use to the +country and the king.”</p> + +<p>“Farewell! God grant us to meet in better times!”</p> + +<p>“God reward you, gentlemen, for coming to rescue me. Doubtless we shall +see one another in the field.”</p> + +<p>“Good health!”</p> + +<p>“Happy journey!”</p> + +<p>They began to take farewell of one another, and then each came to bow +down before Panna Billevich.</p> + +<p>“You will see my wife and little boys in the wilderness: embrace them +for me, and bloom in good health,” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“Remember at times the soldier, who, though he had no success in your +eyes, is always glad to bend the skies for you.”</p> + +<p>After them others approached, and last Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Receive, charming flower, farewell from an old man too. Embrace Pani +Skshetuski and my little stumps. They are boys in a hundred!”</p> + +<p>Instead of an answer, Olenka seized his hand, and pressed it in silence +to her lips.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<p>That night, at the latest two hours after the departure of +Volodyovski’s detachment, Radzivill himself came to Billeviche at the +head of his cavalry. He came to the assistance of Kmita, fearing lest +he might fall into the hands of Volodyovski. When he learned what had +happened he took the sword-bearer and Olenka and returned to Kyedani, +without even giving rest to the horses.</p> + +<p>The hetman was enraged beyond measure when he heard the story from the +mouth of the sword-bearer, who told everything in detail, wishing to +turn from himself the attention of the terrible magnate. He dared not +protest, for the same reason, against the journey to Kyedani, and was +glad in his soul that the storm ended thus. Radzivill, on his part, +though suspecting Billevich of “practices” (conspiracy), had in fact +too many cares to remember the matter at that moment.</p> + +<p>The escape of Volodyovski might change affairs in Podlyasye. +Horotkyevich and Yakub Kmita, who were there at the head of squadrons +confederated against the hetman, were good soldiers, but not important; +hence the whole confederacy had no weight. But now with Volodyovski had +fled such men as Mirski, Stankyevich, and Oskyerko, without counting +the little knight himself,—all excellent officers, enjoying universal +respect.</p> + +<p>But in Podlyasye was Prince Boguslav also, who with the castle +squadrons was opposing the confederates, waiting meanwhile for aid from +his uncle the elector; but the elector delayed, evidently waiting for +events; and the confederated forces were gaining strength, and +adherents came to them every day.</p> + +<p>For some time the hetman had been wishing to march to Podlyasye +himself, and crush the insurgents with one blow, but he was restrained +by the thought that let him set foot over the boundary of Jmud the +whole country would rise, and the importance of the Radzivills be +reduced in the eyes of the Swedes to zero. The prince was meditating +whether it were not better to abandon Podlyasye altogether for the +time, and bring Prince Boguslav to Jmud.</p> + +<p>That was necessary and urgent. On the other hand threatening news came +touching the deeds of the voevoda of Vityebsk. The hetman had tried to +negotiate and bring him over to his plans, but Sapyeha sent back the +letters unanswered; and besides, as report said, the voevoda was +selling his effects at auction, disposing of what he could, melting +silver into coin, selling his cattle for ready money, pawning tapestry +and valuables to the Jews, renting his lands and collecting troops.</p> + +<p>The hetman, greedy by nature and incapable of making sacrifices of +money, refused to believe, at first, that any man would cast his whole +fortune without hesitation on the altar of the country; but time +convinced him that this was really the case, for Sapyeha’s military +power increased daily. Fugitives, settled nobles, patriots gathered +around him,—enemies of the hetman, and still worse, his blood +relatives, such as Prince Michael Radzivill, of whom news came that he +had ordered all the income of his estates still unoccupied by the enemy +to be given to the voevoda of Vityebsk.</p> + +<p>In this way then did the edifice, built by the pride of Yanush +Radzivill, crack from its foundations and totter. The whole +Commonwealth was to find a place in that edifice, but now it appeared +in advance that it could not contain even Jmud.</p> + +<p>The condition was becoming more and more like a vicious circle; for +Radzivill might summon against the voevoda of Vityebsk Swedish forces +which were occupying the country by degrees, but that would be to +acknowledge his own weakness. Besides, the relations of the hetman with +the generalissimo of the Swedes were strained since the affair at +Klavany, thanks to the plan of Zagloba; and in spite of all +explanations, irritation and distrust reigned between them.</p> + +<p>The hetman, when setting out to aid Kmita, had hope that perhaps he +might yet seize Volodyovski and destroy him; therefore, when his +reckoning was at fault, he returned to Kyedani angry and frowning. It +astonished him too that he did not meet Kmita on the road to +Billeviche; this happened because Pan Andrei, whose dragoons +Volodyovski did not fail to take with him, returned alone, and +therefore chose the shortest road through the forest, avoiding Plemborg +and Eyragoly.</p> + +<p>After a night spent entirely on horseback the hetman came back to +Kyedani on the following day at noon with his troops, and his first +question was about Kmita. He was informed that Pan Andrei had returned, +but without soldiers. Of that last circumstance the prince knew +already; but he was curious to hear from the lips of Kmita himself the +story, therefore he gave command to call him at once.</p> + +<p>“There was no success for you, as there was none for me,” said he, when +Kmita stood before him. “The sword-bearer told me that you fell into +the hands of that little devil.”</p> + +<p>“That is true,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“And my letter saved you?”</p> + +<p>“Of what letter are you speaking, your highness? For when they had read +themselves the one found on me, they read to me in return another +letter, written to the commandant of Birji.”</p> + +<p>The gloomy face of Radzivill was covered as it were with a bloody skin. +“Then do you know?”</p> + +<p>“I know!” answered Kmita, emphatically. “Your highness, how could you +act so with me? For a common noble it is a shame to break his word, but +what is it for a prince and a leader?”</p> + +<p>“Silence!” cried Radzivill.</p> + +<p>“I will not be silent, for before the eyes of those men I had to take +your place. They were urging me to join them; but I would not, and +said, ‘I serve Radzivill; for with him is justice, with him virtue.’ +Then they showed me that letter: ‘See what a man your Radzivill is!’ I +had to shut my mouth and gulp shame.”</p> + +<p>The hetman’s lips began to quiver from fury. A wild desire seized him +to wring that insolent head from its shoulders, and he was already +raising his hands to clap for the servants. Rage closed his eyes, +stopped the breath in his breast; and surely Kmita would have paid +dearly for his outburst were it not for the sudden attack of asthma +which at that moment seized the prince. His face grew black, he sprang +up from the chair and began to beat the air with his hands, his eyes +were coming out of his head, and from his throat rose a hoarse bellow, +in which Kmita barely heard the word, “Choking!”</p> + +<p>At the alarm the servants and the castle physicians ran in. They tried +to restore the prince, who had lost consciousness. They roused him in +about an hour; and when he showed signs of life Kmita left the room.</p> + +<p>In the corridor he met Kharlamp, who had recovered from the wounds and +bruises received in the battle with Oskyerko’s insurgent Hungarians.</p> + +<p>“What news?” asked Great Mustache.</p> + +<p>“He has come to himself,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“H’m! But any day he may not come! Bad for us, Colonel; for when the +prince dies they will grind out his deeds on us. My whole hope is in +Volodyovski. I trust that he will shield his old comrades; therefore I +tell you” (here Kharlamp lowered his voice) “that I am glad he +escaped.”</p> + +<p>“Was he cornered so closely, then?”</p> + +<p>“What, cornered! From that willow grove in which we surrounded him +wolves could not have sprung out, and he sprang out. May the bullets +strike him! Who knows, who knows that we shall not have to grasp hold +of his skirts, for there is something bad about us here. The nobles are +turning away terribly from our prince, and all say that they would +rather have a real enemy, a Swede, even a Tartar, than a renegade. That +is the position. And, besides, the prince gives more and more orders to +seize and imprison citizens,—which, speaking between us, is against +law and liberty. To-day they brought in the sword-bearer of Rossyeni.”</p> + +<p>“Have they indeed?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, with his niece. The lady is a beauty. You are to be +congratulated!”</p> + +<p>“Where are they lodged?”</p> + +<p>“In the right wing. Five rooms are assigned them; they cannot complain, +unless of this,—that a guard walks before their doors. And when will +the wedding be, Colonel?”</p> + +<p>“The music is not yet engaged for it. Farewell!” added Kmita.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei went from Kharlamp to his own room. A sleepless night with +its stormy events, and his last meeting with the prince had wearied him +to such a degree that he was barely able to stand. And as every touch +causes pain to a wearied, bruised body, so had he a soul full of +anguish. Kharlamp’s simple question ‘When will the wedding be?’ pierced +him sorely; for before his eyes at once appeared, as if alive, the icy +face of Olenka, and her fixed lips when their silence confirmed the +death-sentence against him. Even a word from her would have saved him. +Volodyovski would have respected it. All the sorrow and pain which +Kmita felt at that moment consisted in this, that she did not say that +word. Still she had not hesitated to save him twice before. Such now +was the precipice between them, so utterly quenched in her heart was +not merely love, but simple kind feeling, which it was possible to have +even for a stranger,—simple pity, which it is incumbent to have for +every one. The more Kmita thought over this, the more cruel did Olenka +seem to him, the greater his complaint against her, and the deeper his +wrong. “What have I done of such character,” asked he of himself, “that +I am scorned, like one cursed by the church? Even if it were evil to +serve Radzivill, still I feel innocent, since I can answer on my +conscience, that not for promotion, not for gain, nor for bread do I +serve him, but because I see profit to the country from my service. Why +am I condemned without trial? Well, well! Let it be so! I will not go +to clear myself of uncommitted offences, nor to beg love,” repeated he +for the thousandth time.</p> + +<p>Still the pain did not cease; it increased. On returning to his +quarters Pan Andrei cast himself on the bed and tried to sleep; but he +could not, despite all his weariness. After a while he rose and began +to walk through the room. From time to time he raised his hands to his +forehead and said aloud to himself,—</p> + +<p>“Oh, the heart of that woman is hard!”</p> + +<p>And again,—</p> + +<p>“I did not expect that of you, young lady,—May God reward you!”</p> + +<p>In these meditations an hour passed, and a second. At last he tired +himself out and began to doze, sitting on the bed; but before he fell +asleep an attendant of Radzivill, Pan Skillandz, roused him and +summoned him to the prince.</p> + +<p>Radzivill felt better already, and breathed more freely, but on his +leaden face could be seen a great weakening. He sat in a deep armchair, +covered with leather, having before him a physician whom he sent out +immediately after Kmita entered.</p> + +<p>“I had one foot in the other world and through you,” said he to Pan +Andrei.</p> + +<p>“Your highness, it was not my fault; I said what I thought.”</p> + +<p>“Let no further mention be made of this. But do not add to the weight +of the burden which I bear; and know this, that what I have forgiven +you I would not forgive another.”</p> + +<p>Kmita was silent.</p> + +<p>“If I gave order,” added the prince, after a while, “to execute in +Birji these men whom at your request I pardoned in Kyedani, it was not +because I wanted to deceive you, but to spare you pain. I yielded +apparently, because I have a weakness for you. But their death was +imperative. Am I an executioner, or do you think that I spill blood +merely to feast my eyes on red? But when older you will know that if a +man would achieve anything in this world, he is not free to sacrifice +great causes to smaller. It was imperative that these men should die +here in Kyedani, for see what has happened through your prayers: +resistance is increased in the country, civil war begun, friendship +with the Swedes is strained, an evil example given to others, from +which mutiny is spreading like a plague. More than this, I had to go on +a later expedition in my own person, and be filled with confusion in +the presence of the whole army; you came near death at their hands, and +now they will go to Podlyasye and become chiefs of an uprising. Behold +and learn! If they had perished in Kyedani, nothing of all this would +have happened; but when imploring for them you were thinking only of +your own feelings. I sent them to die at Birji, for I am experienced, I +see farther; for I know from practice that whoso in running stumbles, +even against a small stone, will easily fall, and whoso falls may not +rise again, and the faster he was running the less likely is he to +rise. God save us, what harm these people have done!”</p> + +<p>“They are not so important as to undo the whole work of your highness.”</p> + +<p>“Had they done no more than rouse distrust between me and Pontus, the +harm would be incalculable. It has been explained that they, not my +men, attacked the Swedes; but the letter with threats which Pontus +wrote to me remains, and I do not forgive him that letter. Pontus is +brother-in-law of the king, but it is doubtful whether he could become +mine, and whether the Radzivill thresholds are not too high for him.”</p> + +<p>“Let your highness treat with the king himself, and not with his +servant.”</p> + +<p>“So I intend to do; and if vexation does not kill me I will teach that +little Swede modesty,—if troubles do not kill me; and would that that +were all, for no one here spares me thorns or pain. It is grievous to +me, grievous! Who would believe that I am the man who was at Loyovo, +Jechytsa, Mozyr, Turoff, Kieff, Berestechko? The whole Commonwealth +gazed at me and Vishnyevetski, as at two suns. Everything trembled +before Hmelnitski, but he trembled before me. And the very men whom in +time of universal disaster I led from victory to victory, forsake me +to-day and raise their hands against me as against a parricide.”</p> + +<p>“But all are not thus, for there are some who believe in your highness +yet,” said Kmita, abruptly.</p> + +<p>“They believe till they stop,” added Radzivill, with bitterness. “Great +is the love of the nobles! God grant that I be not poisoned by it! Stab +after stab does each one of you give me, though it occurs not to any +that—”</p> + +<p>“Consider intentions, not words, your highness.”</p> + +<p>“I give thanks for the counsel. Henceforth I will consider carefully +what face each common man shows me, and endeavor with care to please +all.”</p> + +<p>“Those are bitter words, your highness.”</p> + +<p>“But is life sweet? God created me for great things, and look at me; I +must wear out my powers in district struggles, which village might wage +against village. I wanted to measure myself with mighty monarchs, and I +have fallen so low that I must hunt some Volodyovski through my own +estates. Instead of astonishing the world with my power, I astonish it +with my weakness; instead of paying for the ashes of Vilna with the +ashes of Moscow, I have to thank you for digging trenches around +Kyedani. Oh, it is narrow for me, and I am choking,—not alone because +the asthma is throttling me; helplessness is killing me, inactivity is +killing me! It is narrow for me and heavy for me! Do you understand?”</p> + +<p>“I thought myself that affairs would go differently,” answered Kmita, +gloomily.</p> + +<p>Radzivill began to breathe with effort.</p> + +<p>“Before another crown can come to me they have crowned me with thorns. +I commanded the minister, Aders, to look at the stars. He made a figure +and said that the conjunctions were evil, but that they would pass. +Meanwhile I am suffering torments. In the night there is something +which will not let me sleep; something walks in the room, faces of some +kind stare at me in the bed, and at times a sudden cold comes. This +means that death is walking around me. I am suffering. I must be +prepared for more treason and apostasy, for I know that there are men +still who waver.”</p> + +<p>“There are no longer such,” answered Kmita, “for whoso was to go has +gone.”</p> + +<p>“Do not deceive yourself; you see that the remnant of the Polish people +are beginning to take thought.”</p> + +<p>Kmita remembered what he had heard from Kharlamp and was silent.</p> + +<p>“Never mind!” continued Radzivill, “it is oppressive and terrible, but +it is necessary to endure. Tell no one of what you have heard from me. +It is well that this attack came to-day, for it will not be repeated; +and especially to-day I need strength, for I wish to have a feast, and +show a glad face to strengthen the courage of people. And do you +brighten your face and tell nothing to any man, for what I say to you +is for this purpose only, that you at least refrain from tormenting me. +Anger carried me away to-day. Be careful that this happen not again, +for it is a question of your head. But I have forgiven you. Of those +trenches with which you surrounded Kyedani, Peterson himself would not +be ashamed. Go now and send me Myeleshko. They have brought in +deserters from his squadron,—common soldiers. I shall order them +hanged to a man. We need to give an example. Farewell! It must be +joyful to-day in Kyedani.”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<p>The sword-bearer of Rossyeni had a difficult struggle with Panna +Aleksandra before she consented to go to that feast which the hetman +had prepared for his people. He had to implore almost with tears the +stubborn, bold girl, and swear that it was a question of his head; that +all, not only the military, but citizens dwelling in the region of +Kyedani, as far as Radzivill’s hand reached, were obliged to appear +under terror of the prince’s wrath: how then could they oppose who were +subject to the favor and disfavor of the terrible man? Olenka, not to +endanger her uncle, gave way.</p> + +<p>The company was really not small, for he had forced many of the +surrounding nobles to come with their wives and daughters. But the +military were in the majority, and especially officers of the foreign +regiments, who remained nearly all with the prince. Before he showed +himself to the guests he prepared an affable countenance, as if no care +had weighed on him previously; he wished with that banquet to rouse +courage, not only in his adherents and the military, but to show that +most of the citizens were on his side, and only turbulent people +opposed the union with Sweden. He did not spare therefore trouble or +outlay to make the banquet lordly, that the echo of it might spread as +widely as possible through the land. Barely had darkness covered the +country when hundreds of barrels were set on fire along the road +leading to the castle and in the courtyard; from time to time cannons +were thundering, and soldiers were ordered to give forth joyous shouts.</p> + +<p>Carriages and covered wagons followed one another on the road, bringing +personages of the neighborhood and the “cheaper” (smaller) nobility. +The courtyard was filled with equipages, horses, and servants, who had +either come with guests or belonged to the town. Crowds dressed in +velvet, brocade, and costly furs filled the so-called “Golden Hall;” +and when the prince appeared at last, all glittering from precious +stones, and with a welcoming smile on his face, usually gloomy, and +besides wrinkled at that time by sickness, the first officers shouted +in one voice,—</p> + +<p>“Long live the prince hetman! Long live the voevoda of Vilna!”</p> + +<p>Radzivill cast his eyes suddenly on the assembled citizens, wishing to +convince himself whether they repeated the cries of the soldiers. In +fact a few tens of voices from the most timid breasts repeated the cry; +the prince on his part began at once to bow, and to thank them for the +sincere and “unanimous” love.</p> + +<p>“With you, gracious gentlemen!” said he, “we will manage those who +would destroy the country. God reward you! God reward you!”</p> + +<p>And he went around through the hall, stopped before acquaintances, not +sparing titles in his speech,—“Lord brother,” “dear neighbor;” and +more than one gloomy face grew bright under the warm rays of the +magnate’s favor.</p> + +<p>“But it is not possible,” said those who till recently looked on his +deeds with dislike, “that such a lord, such a lofty senator should wish +ill to his country; either he could not act differently from what he +has acted, or there is some secret in this, which will come out for the +good of the Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>“In fact, we have more rest already from one enemy who does not wish to +light about us with the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“God grant that all turn out for the best.”</p> + +<p>Some, however, shook their heads, or said with a look to one another, +“We are here because they put the knife to our throats.”</p> + +<p>But these were silent; meanwhile others, more easily brought over, said +in loud voices, to be heard by the prince,—</p> + +<p>“It is better to change the king than ruin the Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>“Let the kingdom think of itself, but we will think of ourselves.”</p> + +<p>“Besides, who has given us an example, if not Great Poland? <i>Extrema +necessitas, extremis nititur rationibus! Tentanda omnia!</i>”</p> + +<p>“Let us put all confidence in our prince, and trust him in everything. +Let him have Lithuania and the government in his hands.”</p> + +<p>“He deserves both. If he will not save us, we perish,—in him is +salvation.”</p> + +<p>“He is nearer to us than Yan Kazimir, for he is our blood.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill caught with an eager ear those voices, dictated by fear or +flattery, and did not consider that they came from the mouths of weak +persons, who in danger would be the first to desert him,—from the +mouths of persons whom every breath of wind might bend as a wave. And +he was charmed with those expressions, and tempted himself, or his own +conscience, repeating from the maxims he had heard that which seemed to +excuse him the most: “<i>Extrema necessitas, extremis nititur +rationibus!</i>”</p> + +<p>But when passing a large group of nobles he heard from the lips of Pan +Yujits, “He is nearer to us than Yan Kazimir,” his face grew bright +altogether. To compare him with the king, and then to prefer him, +flattered his pride; he approached Pan Yujits at once and said,—</p> + +<p>“You are right, brothers, for in Yan Kazimir, in one pot of blood there +is a quart of Lithuanian, but in me there is nothing but Lithuanian. If +hitherto the quart has commanded the potful, it depends on you, +brothers, to change that condition.”</p> + +<p>“We are ready to drink a potful to your health,” answered Pan Yujits.</p> + +<p>“You have struck my mind. Rejoice, brothers; I would gladly invite +hither all Lithuania.”</p> + +<p>“It would have to be trimmed still better,” said Pan Shchanyetski of +Dalnovo,—a bold man, and cutting with the tongue as with the sword.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean by that?” asked the prince, fixing his eyes on him.</p> + +<p>“That the heart of your highness is wider than Kyedani.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill gave a forced laugh and went farther.</p> + +<p>At this moment the marshal of the castle approached him with the +announcement that the banquet was ready. Crowds began to flow, like a +river, after the prince to the same hall in which not long before the +union with Sweden was declared. The marshal seated the guests according +to dignity, calling each one by name and rank. But it was evident that +the orders of the prince had been issued in advance on this point, for +Kmita’s place was between Billevich and Panna Aleksandra.</p> + +<p>The hearts jumped in both when they heard their names called in +succession, and both hesitated at the first moment; but it occurred to +them that to refuse would be to draw on themselves the eyes of all +present, therefore they sat side by side. They were angry and ill at +ease. Pan Andrei determined to be as indifferent as if a stranger were +sitting next him; but soon he understood that he could not be so +indifferent, and that his neighbor was not such a stranger that they +could begin an ordinary conversation. But both saw that in that throng +of persons of the most varied feelings, interests, and passions, he +thinks only of her and she of him. For this very reason it was awkward +for them. They would not and could not tell sincerely, clearly, and +openly, what lay on their hearts. They had the past, but no future. +Recent feelings, confidence, even acquaintance, were all broken. There +was nothing between them save the feeling of disappointment and +offence. If this link should burst, they would be freer; but time only +could bring forgetfulness: it was too soon for that.</p> + +<p>For Kmita it was so disagreeable that he almost suffered torments; +still he would not have yielded, for anything in the world, the place +which the marshal had given him. He caught with his ear the rustle of +her dress; he watched every movement of hers,—he watched while +feigning not to watch; he felt the warmth beating from her, and all +this caused him a certain painful delight.</p> + +<p>At the same moment he discovered that she too was equally on the alert, +though she was as if not paying attention. An unconquerable desire of +looking at her drew him on; therefore he glanced sidewise, until he saw +her clear forehead, her eyes covered with dark lashes, and her fair +face, not touched by paint, as were those of other ladies. For him +there had always been something attractive in that face, so that the +heart in the poor knight was shivering from sorrow and pain. “To think +that such animosity could find a place with such beauty,” thought he. +But the offence was too deep; hence he added soon in his soul, “I have +nothing to do with you; let some other man take you.”</p> + +<p>And he felt suddenly that if that “other” were merely to try to make +use of the permission, he would cut him into pieces as small as chopped +straw. At the very thought terrible anger seized him; but he calmed +himself when he remembered that he was still alone, that no “other” was +sitting near her, and that no one, at least at that moment, was trying +to win her.</p> + +<p>“I will look at her once more and turn to the other side,” thought he.</p> + +<p>And again he cast a sidelong glance; but just at that moment she did +the same, and both dropped their eyes with all quickness, terribly +confused, as if they had been caught in a crime.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra too was struggling with herself. From all that had +happened, from the action of Kmita at Billeviche, from the words of +Zagloba and Pan Yan, she learned that Kmita erred, but that he was not +so guilty and did not deserve such contempt, such unreserved +condemnation, as she had thought previously. Besides, he had saved +those worthy men from death, and there was so much in him of a certain +grand pride that when he had fallen into their hands, having a letter +on his person sufficient to vindicate him, or at least to save him from +execution, he did not show that letter, he said not a word, but went to +death with head erect.</p> + +<p>Olenka, reared by an old soldier who placed contempt for death above +all virtues, worshipped courage with her whole heart; therefore she +could not resist an involuntary admiration for that stern knightly +daring which could be driven from the body only with the soul.</p> + +<p>She understood also that if Kmita served Radzivill he did so in perfect +good faith; what a wrong therefore to condemn him for intentional +treason! And still she had put that wrong on him, she had spared him +neither injustice nor contempt, she would not forgive him even in the +face of death.</p> + +<p>“Right the wrong,” said her heart; “all is finished between you, but it +is thy duty to confess that thou hast judged him unjustly. In this is +thy duty to thyself also.”</p> + +<p>But there was in this lady no little pride, and perhaps something of +stubbornness; therefore it came at once to her mind that that cavalier +was not worth such satisfaction, and a flush came to her face.</p> + +<p>“If he is not worth it, let him go without it,” said her mind.</p> + +<p>But conscience said further that whether the injured one is worth +satisfaction or not, it is needful to give it; but on the other side +her pride brought forth continually new arguments,—</p> + +<p>“If—which might be—he was unwilling to listen, she would have to +swallow her shame for nothing. And secondly, guilty or not guilty, +whether he acts purposely or through blindness, it is enough that he +holds with traitors and enemies of the country, and helps them to ruin +it. It is the same to the country whether he lacks reason or honesty. +God may forgive him; men must and ought to condemn, and the name of +traitor will remain with him. That is true! If he is not guilty, is she +not right in despising a man who has not the wit to distinguish wrong +from right, crime from virtue?”</p> + +<p>Here anger began to carry the lady away, and her cheeks flushed.</p> + +<p>“I will be silent!” said she to herself. “Let him suffer what he has +deserved. Until I see penitence I have the right to condemn him.”</p> + +<p>Then she turned her glance to Kmita, as if wishing to be convinced +whether penitence was yet to be seen in his face. Just then it was +that the meeting of their eyes took place, at which both were so +shame-stricken.</p> + +<p>Olenka, it may be, did not see penitence in the face of the cavalier, +but she saw pain and suffering; she saw that face pale as after +sickness; therefore deep pity seized her, tears came perforce to her +eyes, and she bent still more over the table to avoid betraying +emotion.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the banquet was becoming animated. At first all were +evidently under a disagreeable impression, but with the cups came +fancy. The bustle increased. At last the prince rose,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen, I ask leave to speak.”</p> + +<p>“The prince wishes to speak! The prince wishes to speak!” was called +from every side.</p> + +<p>“I raise the first toast to the Most Serene King of Sweden, who gives +us aid against our enemies, and ruling meanwhile this country, will not +leave it till he brings peace. Arise, gentlemen, for that health is +drunk standing.”</p> + +<p>The guests rose, except ladies, and filled their glasses, but without +shouts, without enthusiasm. Pan Shchanyetski of Dalnovo muttered +something to his neighbors, and they bit their mustaches to avoid +laughter. It was evident that he was jeering at the King of Sweden.</p> + +<p>It was only when the prince raised the other toast to his “beloved +guests” kind to Kyedani, who had come even from distant places to +testify their confidence in the intentions of the host, that they +answered him with a loud shout,—</p> + +<p>“We thank you from our hearts!”</p> + +<p>“The health of the prince!”</p> + +<p>“Our Hector of Lithuania!”</p> + +<p>“May he live! Long life to the prince hetman, our voevoda.”</p> + +<p>Now Pan Yujits, a little drunk already, cried with all the strength of +his lungs, “Long life to Yanush I., Grand Prince of Lithuania!”</p> + +<p>Radzivill blushed like a young lady at her betrothal, but remarking +that those assembled were stubbornly silent and looking at him with +astonishment, he said,—</p> + +<p>“That is in your power; but your wishes are premature, Pan Yujits, +premature.”</p> + +<p>“Long live Yanush I., Grand Prince of Lithuania!” repeated Pan Yujits, +with the stubbornness of a drunken man.</p> + +<p>Pan Shchanyetski rose in his turn and raised his glass. “True,” said +he, coolly, “Grand Prince of Lithuania, King of Poland, and Emperor of +Germany!”</p> + +<p>Again an interval of silence. Suddenly the company burst out into +laughter. All were staring, their mustaches were dancing on their +reddened faces, and laughter shook their bodies, echoed from the arches +of the hall, and lasted long; and as suddenly as it rose so suddenly +did it die on the lips of all at sight of the hetman’s face, which was +changing like a rainbow.</p> + +<p>Radzivill restrained the terrible anger which had seized his breast and +said, “Low jests, Pan Shchanyetski.”</p> + +<p>The noble pouted, and not at all disconcerted answered: “That also is +an elective throne, and we cannot wish your highness too much. If as a +noble your highness may become King of Poland, as a prince of the +Gorman Empire you might be raised to the dignity of Emperor. It is as +far or near for you to the one as to the other; and who does not wish +this to you, let him rise. I will meet him with the sabre.” Here he +turned to the company: “Rise, whoso does not wish the crown of the +German Empire to the voevoda of Vilna!”</p> + +<p>Of course no one rose. They did not laugh either, for in the voice of +Pan Shchanyetski there was so much insolent malice that an involuntary +disquiet came upon all as to what would happen.</p> + +<p>Nothing happened, save that relish for the banquet was spoiled. In vain +did the servants of the castle fill the glasses every moment. Wine +could not scatter gloomy thoughts in the minds of the banqueters, nor +the disquiet increasing every moment. Radzivill concealed his anger +with difficulty, for he felt that, thanks to the toasts of Pan +Shchanyetski, he was belittled in the eyes of the assembled nobles, and +that, intentionally or not, that man had forced the conviction on those +present that the voevoda of Vilna was no nearer the throne of grand +prince than the crown of Germany. Everything was turned into jests, +into ridicule, while the banquet was given mainly to accustom men’s +minds to the coming rule of the Radzivills. What is more, Radzivill was +concerned lest this ridicule of his hopes should make a bad impression +on the officers, admitted to the secret of his plans. In fact, deep +dissatisfaction was depicted on their faces.</p> + +<p>Ganhoff filled glass after glass, and avoided the glance of the prince. +Kmita, however, did not drink, but looked at the table before him with +frowning brow, as if he were thinking of something, or lighting an +internal battle. Radzivill trembled at the thought that a light might +flash into that mind any moment, and bring forth truth from the +shadows, and then that officer, who furnished the single link binding +the remnants of the Polish squadrons with the cause of Radzivill, would +break the link, even if he had at the same time to drag the heart out +of his own breast.</p> + +<p>Kmita had annoyed Radzivill already over much; and without the +marvellous significance given him by events, he would long since have +fallen a victim to his own impetuosity and the wrath of the hetman. But +the prince was mistaken in suspecting him of a hostile turn of thought, +for Pan Andrei was occupied wholly with Olenka and that deep dissension +which separated them.</p> + +<p>At times it seemed to him that he loved that woman sitting at his side +beyond the whole world; then again he felt such hatred that he would +give death to her if he could but give it to himself as well.</p> + +<p>Life had become so involved that for his simple nature it was too +difficult, and he felt what a wild beast feels when entangled in a net +from which it cannot escape.</p> + +<p>The unquiet and gloomy humor of the whole banquet irritated him in the +highest degree. It was simply unendurable.</p> + +<p>The banquet became more gloomy every moment. It seemed to those present +that they were feasting under a leaden roof resting on their heads.</p> + +<p>At that time a new guest entered the hall. The prince, seeing him, +exclaimed,—</p> + +<p>“That is Pan Suhanyets, from Cousin Boguslav! Surely with letters!”</p> + +<p>The newly arrived bowed profoundly. “True, Most Serene Prince, I come +straight from Podlyasye.”</p> + +<p>“But give me the letters, and sit at the table yourself. The worthy +guests will pardon me if I do not defer the reading, though we are +sitting at a banquet, for there may be news which I shall need to +impart to you. Sir Marshal, pray think of the welcome envoy there.”</p> + +<p>Speaking thus, he took from the hands of Pan Suhanyets a package of +letters, and broke the seal of the first in haste.</p> + +<p>All present fixed curious eyes on his face, and tried to divine the +substance of the letter. The first letter did not seem to announce +anything favorable, for the face of the prince was filled with blood, +and his eyes gleamed with wild anger.</p> + +<p>“Brothers!” said the hetman, “Prince Boguslav reports to me that those +men who have chosen to form a confederation rather than march against +the enemy at Vilna, are ravaging at this moment my villages in +Podlyasye. It is easier of course to wage war with peasant women in +villages. Worthy knights, there is no denying that!—Never mind! Their +reward will not miss them.”</p> + +<p>Then he took the second letter, but had barely cast his eyes on it when +his face brightened with a smile of triumph and delight,—</p> + +<p>“The province of Syeradz has yielded to the Swedes!” cried he, “and +following Great Poland, has accepted the protection of Karl Gustav.”</p> + +<p>And after a while another,—</p> + +<p>“This is the latest dispatch. Good for us, worthy gentlemen, Yan +Kazimir is beaten at Vidava and Jarnov. The army is leaving him! He is +retreating on Cracow; the Swedes are pursuing. My cousin writes that +Cracow too must fall.”</p> + +<p>“Let us rejoice, gracious gentlemen,” said Shchanyetski, with a strange +voice.</p> + +<p>“Yes, let us rejoice!” repeated the hetman, without noticing the tone +in which Shchanyetski had spoken. And delight issued from the whole +person of the prince, his face became in one moment as it were younger, +his eyes gained lustre; with hands trembling from happiness, he broke +the seal of the last letter, looked, became all radiant as the sun, and +cried,—</p> + +<p>“Warsaw is taken! Long life to Karl Gustav!”</p> + +<p>Here he first noticed that the impression which these tidings produced +on those present was entirely different from that which he felt +himself. For all sat in silence, looking forward with uncertain glance. +Some frowned; others covered their faces with their hands. Even +courtiers of the hetman, even men of weak spirit, did not dare to +imitate the joy of the prince at the tidings that Warsaw was taken, +that Cracow must fall, and that the provinces, one after the other, +would leave their legal king and yield to the enemy. Besides, there was +something monstrous in the satisfaction with which the supreme leader +of half the armies of the Commonwealth, and one of its most exalted +senators, announced its defeats. The prince saw that it was necessary +to soften the impression.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” said he, “I should be the first to weep with you, if harm +were coming to the Commonwealth; but here the Commonwealth suffers no +harm, it merely changes kings. Instead of the ill-fated Yan Kazimir we +shall have a great and fortunate warrior. I see all wars now finished, +and enemies vanquished.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness is right,” answered Shchanyetski. “Cup for cup, the same +thing that Radzeyovski and Opalinski held forth at Uistsie. Let us +rejoice, gracious gentlemen! Death to Yan Kazimir!”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, Shchanyetski pushed back his chair with a +rattle, and walked out of the hall.</p> + +<p>“The best of wines that are in the cellar!” cried the prince.</p> + +<p>The marshal hastened to carry out the order. In the hall it was as +noisy as in a hive. When the first impression had passed, the nobles +began to talk of the news and discuss. They asked Pan Suhanyets for +details from Podlyasye, and adjoining Mazovia, which the Swedes had +already occupied.</p> + +<p>After a while pitchy kegs were rolled into the hall and opened. Spirits +began to grow brighter and improve by degrees.</p> + +<p>More and more frequently voices were heard to repeat: “All is over! +perhaps it is for the best!” “We must bend to fortune!” “The prince will +not let us be wronged.” “It is better for us than for others. Long life +to Yanush Radzivill, our voevoda, hetman, and prince!”</p> + +<p>“Grand Prince of Lithuania!” cried again Pan Yujits.</p> + +<p>But at this time neither silence nor laughter answered him; but a +number of tens of hoarse throats roared at once,—</p> + +<p>“That is our wish,—from heart and soul our wish! Long life to him! May +he rule!”</p> + +<p>The magnate rose with a face as red as purple. “I thank you, brothers,” +said he, seriously.</p> + +<p>In the hall it had become as suffocating and hot, from lights and the +breath of people, as in a bath.</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra bent past Kmita to her uncle. “I am weak,” said she; +“let us leave here.”</p> + +<p>In truth her face was pale, and on her forehead glittered drops of +perspiration; but the sword-bearer of Rossyeni cast an unquiet glance +at the hetman, fearing lest it be taken ill of him to leave the table. +In the field he was a gallant soldier, but he feared Radzivill with his +whole soul.</p> + +<p>At that moment, to complete the evil, the hetman said,—</p> + +<p>“He is my enemy who will not drink all my toasts to the bottom, for I +am joyful to-day.”</p> + +<p>“You have heard?” asked Billevich.</p> + +<p>“Uncle, I cannot stay longer, I am faint,” said Olenka, with a +beseeching voice.</p> + +<p>“Then go alone,” answered Pan Tomash.</p> + +<p>The lady rose, wishing to slip away unobserved; but her strength +failed, and she caught the side of the chair in her weakness.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a strong knightly arm embraced her, and supported the almost +fainting maiden.</p> + +<p>“I will conduct you,” said Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>And without asking for permission he caught her form as if with an iron +hoop. She leaned on him more and more; before they reached the door, +she was hanging powerless on his arm.</p> + +<p>Then he raised her as lightly as he would a child, and bore her out of +the hall.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<p>That evening after the banquet, Pan Andrei wished absolutely to see the +prince, but he was told that the prince was occupied in a secret +interview with Pan Suhanyets.</p> + +<p>He went therefore early next morning, and was admitted at once.</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” said he “I have come with a prayer.”</p> + +<p>“What do you wish me to do for you?”</p> + +<p>“I am not able to live here longer. Each day increases my torment. +There is nothing for me here in Kyedani. Let your highness find some +office for me, send me whithersoever it please you. I have heard that +regiments are to move against Zolotarenko; I will go with them.”</p> + +<p>“Zolotarenko would be glad to have an uproar with us, but he cannot get +at us in any way, for Swedish protection is here already, and we cannot +go against him without the Swedes. Count Magnus advances with terrible +dilatoriness because he does not trust me. But is it so ill for you +here in Kyedani at our side?”</p> + +<p>“Your highness is gracious to me, and still my suffering is so keen +that I cannot describe it. To tell the truth, I thought everything +would take another course,—I thought that we should fight, that we +should live in fire and smoke, day and night in the saddle. God created +me for that. But to sit here, listen to quarrels and disputes, rot in +inactivity, or hunt down my own people instead of the enemy,—I cannot +endure it, simply I am unable. I prefer death a hundred times. As God +is dear to me, this is pure torture!”</p> + +<p>“I know whence that despair comes. From love,—nothing more. When +older, you will learn to laugh at these torments. I saw yesterday that +you and that maiden were more and more angry with each other.”</p> + +<p>“I am nothing to her, nor she to me. What has been is ended.”</p> + +<p>“But what, did she fall ill yesterday?”</p> + +<p>“She did.”</p> + +<p>The prince was silent for a while, then said: “I have advised you +already, and I advise once more, if you care for her take her. I will +give command to have the marriage performed. There will be a little +screaming and crying,—that’s nothing! After the marriage take her to +your quarters; and if next day she still cries, that will be the most.”</p> + +<p>“I beg, your highness, for some office in the army, not for marriage,” +said Kmita, roughly.</p> + +<p>“Then you do not want her?”</p> + +<p>“I do not. Neither I her, nor she me. Though it were to tear the soul +within me, I will not ask her for anything. I only wish to be as far +away as possible, to forget everything before my mind is lost. Here +there is nothing to do; and inactivity is the worst of all, for trouble +gnaws a man like sickness. Remember, your highness, how grievous it was +for you yesterday till good news came. So it is with me to-day, and so +it will be. What have I to do? Seize my head, lest bitter thoughts +split it, and sit down? What can I wait for? God knows what kind of +times these are, God knows what kind of war this is, which I cannot +understand nor grasp with my mind,—which causes me still more grief. +Now, as God is dear to me, if your highness will not use me in some +way, I will flee, collect a party, and fight.”</p> + +<p>“Whom?” asked the prince.</p> + +<p>“Whom? I will go to Vilna, and attack as I did Hovanski. Let your +highness permit my squadron to go with me, and war will begin.”</p> + +<p>“I need your squadron here against internal enemies.”</p> + +<p>“That is the pain, that is the torment, to watch in Kyedani with folded +arms, or chase after some Volodyovski whom I would rather have as a +comrade by my side.”</p> + +<p>“I have an office for you,” said the prince. “I will not let you go to +Vilna, nor will I give you a squadron; and if you go against my will, +collect a squadron and fight, know that by this you cease to serve me.”</p> + +<p>“But I shall serve the country.”</p> + +<p>“He serves the country who serves me,—I have convinced you of that +already. Remember also that you have taken an oath to me. Finally, if +you go as a volunteer you will go also from under my jurisdiction, and +the courts are waiting for you with sentences. In your own interest you +should not do this.”</p> + +<p>“What power have courts now?”</p> + +<p>“Beyond Kovno none; but here, where the country is still quiet, they +have not ceased to act. It is true you may not appear, but decisions +will be given and will weigh upon you until times of peace. Whom they +have once declared they will remember even in ten years, and the nobles +of Lauda will see that you are not forgotten.”</p> + +<p>“To tell the truth to your highness, when it comes to atonement I will +yield. Formerly I was ready to war with the whole Commonwealth, and to +win for myself as many sentences as the late Pan Lashch, who had a +cloak lined with them. But now a kind of galled spot has come out on my +conscience. A man fears to wade farther than he wished, and mental +disquiet touching everything gnaws him.”</p> + +<p>“Are you so squeamish? But a truce to this! I will tell you, if ’tis +your wish to go hence, I have an office for you and a very honorable +one. Ganhoff is creeping into my eyes for this office, and talks of it +every day. I have been thinking to give it to him. Still ’tis +impossible to do so, for I must have a man of note, not with a trifling +name, not a foreigner, but a Pole, who by his very person will bear +witness that not all men have left me, that there are still weighty +citizens on my side. You are just the man; you have so much good +daring, are more willing to make others bend than to bow down +yourself.”</p> + +<p>“What is the task?”</p> + +<p>“To go on a long journey.”</p> + +<p>“I am ready to-day!”</p> + +<p>“And at your own cost, since I am straitened for money. Some of my +revenues the enemy have taken; others, our own people are ravaging, and +no part comes in season; besides, all the army which I have here, has +fallen to my expense. Of a certainty the treasurer, whom I have now +behind a locked door, does not give me a copper,—first, because he has +not the wish to do so; second; because he has not the coin. Whatever +public money there is, I take without asking; but is there much? From +the Swedes you will get anything sooner than money, for their hands +tremble at sight of a farthing.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness need not explain. If I go, it will be at my own +expense.”</p> + +<p>“But it will be necessary to appear with distinction, without sparing.”</p> + +<p>“I will spare nothing.”</p> + +<p>The hetman’s face brightened; for in truth he had no ready money, +though he had plundered Vilna not long before, and, besides, he was +greedy by nature. It was also true that the revenues from his immense +estates, extending from Livonia to Kieff and from Smolensk to Mazovia, +had really ceased to flow in, and the cost of the army increased every +day.</p> + +<p>“That suits me,” said he; “Ganhoff would begin at once to knock on my +coffers, but you are another kind of man. Hear, then, your +instructions.”</p> + +<p>“I am listening with care.”</p> + +<p>“First, you will go to Podlyasye. The road is perilous; for the +confederates, who left the camp, are there and acting against me. How +you will escape them is your own affair. Yakub Kmita might spare you; +but beware of Horotkyevich, Jyromski, and especially of Volodyovski +with his Lauda men.”</p> + +<p>“I have been in their hands already, and no evil has happened to me.”</p> + +<p>“That is well. You will go to Zabludovo, where Pan Harasimovich lives; +you will order him to collect what money he can from my revenues, the +public taxes and whencesoever it is possible, and send it to me,—not +to this place, however, but to Tyltsa, where there are effects of mine +already. What goods or property he can pawn, let him pawn; what he can +get from the Jews, let him take. Secondly, let him think how to ruin +the confederates. But that is not your mission; I will send him +instructions under my own hand. You will give him the letter and move +straight to Tykotsin, to Prince Boguslav—”</p> + +<p>Here the hetman stopped and began to breathe heavily, for continuous +speaking tortured him greatly. Kmita looked eagerly at Radzivill, for +his own soul was chafing to go, and he felt that the journey, full of +expected adventures, would be balsam to his grief.</p> + +<p>After a while the hetman continued: “I am astonished that Boguslav is +loitering still in Podlyasye. As God is true, he may ruin both me and +himself. Pay diligent attention to what he says; for though you will +give him my letters, you should supplement them with living speech, and +explain that which may not be written. Now understand that yesterday’s +intelligence was good, but not so good as I told the nobles,—not so +good, in fact, as I myself thought at first. The Swedes have the upper +hand, it is true; they have occupied Great Poland, Mazovia, Warsaw; the +province of Syeradz has yielded to them, they are pursuing Yan Kazimir +to Cracow, and as God is in heaven, they will besiege the place. +Charnyetski is to defend it. He is a newly baked senator, but, I must +confess, a good soldier. Who can foresee what will happen? The Swedes, +of course, know how to take fortresses, and there was no time to +fortify Cracow. Still, that spotted little castellan<a name="div2Ref_22" href="#div2_22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> (Charnyetski) +may hold out there a month, two, three. Such wonders take place at +times, as we all remember in the case of Zbaraj. If he will stand +obstinately, the devil may turn everything around. Learn now political +secrets. Know first that in Vienna they will not look with willing eye +on the growing power of Sweden, and may give aid. The Tartars, too, I +know this well, are inclined to assist Yan Kazimir, and to move against +the Cossacks and Moscow with all force; and then the armies in the +Crimea under Pototski would assist. Yan Kazimir is in despair, but +tomorrow his fortune may be preponderant.”</p> + +<p>Here the prince was forced to give rest again to his wearied breast, +and Pan Andrei experienced a wonderful feeling which he could not +himself account for at once. Behold, he, an adherent of Radzivill and +Sweden, felt as it were a great joy at the thought that fortune might +turn from the Swedes!</p> + +<p>“Suhanyets told me,” said the prince, “how it was at Vidava and Jarnov. +There in the first onset our advance guard—I mean the Polish—ground +the Swedes into the dust. They were not general militia, and the Swedes +lost courage greatly.”</p> + +<p>“Still victory was with the Swedes, was it not?”</p> + +<p>“It was, for the squadrons mutinied against Yan Kazimir, and the nobles +declared that they would stand in line, but would not fight. Still it +was shown that the Swedes are no better in the field than the quarter +soldiers. Only let there be one or two victories and their courage may +change. Let money come to Yan Kazimir to pay wages, and the troops will +not mutiny. Pototski has not many men, but they are sternly disciplined +and as resolute as hornets. The Tartars will come with Pototski, but +the elector will not move with his reinforcement.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?”</p> + +<p>“Boguslav and I concluded that he would enter at once into a league +with the Swedes and with us, for we know how to measure his love for +the Commonwealth. He is too cautious, however, and thinks only of his +own interest. He is waiting to see what will happen; meanwhile he is +entering into a league, but with the Prussian towns, which remain +faithful to Yan Kazimir. I think that in this there will be treason of +some kind, unless the elector is not himself, or doubts Swedish success +altogether. But until all this is explained, the league stands against +Sweden; and let the Swedes stumble in Little Poland, Great Poland and +Mazovia will rise, the Prussians will go with them, and it may come to +pass—” Here the prince shuddered as if terrified at his supposition.</p> + +<p>“What may come to pass?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“That not a Swedish foot will go out of the Commonwealth,” answered the +prince, gloomily.</p> + +<p>Kmita frowned and was silent.</p> + +<p>“Then,” continued the hetman, in a low voice, “our fortune will have +fallen as low as before it was high.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei, springing from his seat, cried with sparkling eyes and +flushed face: “What is this? Why did your highness say not long ago +that the Commonwealth was lost,—that only in league with the Swedes, +through the person and future reign of your highness, could it possibly +be saved? What have I to believe,—what I heard then, or what I hear +now? If what your highness says to-day is true, why do we hold with the +Swedes, instead of beating them?—and the soul laughs at the thought of +this.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill looked sternly at Kmita. “You are over bold!” said he.</p> + +<p>But Kmita was careering on his own enthusiasm as on a horse. “Speak +later of what kind of man I am; but now answer my question, your +highness.”</p> + +<p>“I will give this answer,” said Radzivill, with emphasis: “if things +take the turn that I mention, we will fall to beating the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei ceased distending his nostrils, slapped his forehead with +his palm, and cried, “I am a fool! I am a fool!”</p> + +<p>“I do not deny that,” answered the prince. “I will say more: you exceed +the measure of insolence. Know then that I send you to note the turns +of fortune. I desire the good of the country, nothing else. I have +mentioned to you suppositions which may not, which certainly will not, +come true. But there is need to be cautious. Whoso wishes that water +should not bear him away must know how to swim, and whoso goes through +a pathless forest must stop often to note the direction in which he +should travel. Do you understand?”</p> + +<p>“As clearly as sunshine.”</p> + +<p>“We are free to draw back, and we are bound to do so if it will be +better for the country; but we shall not be able if Prince Boguslav +stays longer in Podlyasye. Has he lost his head, or what? If he stays +there, he must declare for one side or the other,—either for the +Swedes or Yan Kazimir,—and that is just what would be worst of all.”</p> + +<p>“I am dull, your highness, for again I do not understand.”</p> + +<p>“Podlyasye is near Mazovia; and either the Swedes will occupy it or +reinforcements will come from the Prussian towns against the Swedes. +Then it will be necessary to choose.”</p> + +<p>“But why does not Prince Boguslav choose?”</p> + +<p>“Until he chooses, the Swedes will seek us greatly and must win our +favor; the same is true of the elector. If it comes to retreating and +turning against the Swedes, he is to be the link between me and Yan +Kazimir. He is to ease my return, which he could not do if previously +he had taken the side of the Swedes. But since he will be forced to +make a final choice if he remains in Podlyasye, let him go to Prussia, +to Tyltsa, and wait there for events. The elector stays in Brandenburg. +Boguslav will be of greater importance in Prussia; he may take the +Prussians in hand altogether, increase his army, and stand at the head +of a considerable force. And then both the Swedes and Yan Kazimir will +give what we ask in order to win us both; and our house will not only +not fall, but will rise higher, and that is the main thing.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness said that the good of the country was the main thing.”</p> + +<p>“But do not break in at every word, since I told you at first that the +two are one; and listen farther. I know well that Prince Boguslav, +though he signed the act of union with Sweden here in Kyedani, does not +pass as an adherent of theirs. Though the report will be baseless, do +you declare along the road that I forced him to sign it against his +heart. People will believe this readily, for it happens frequently that +even full brothers belong to different parties. In this way he will be +able to gain the confidence of the confederates, invite the leaders to +his camp as if for negotiations, and then seize and take them to +Prussia. That will be a good method, and salutary for the country, +which those men will ruin completely unless they are stopped.”</p> + +<p>“Is this all that I have to do?” asked Kmita, with a certain +disillusion.</p> + +<p>“This is merely a part, and not the most important. From Prince +Boguslav you will go with my letters to Karl Gustav himself. I cannot +come to harmony with Count Magnus from the time of that battle at +Klavany. He looks at me askance, and does not cease from supposing that +if the Swedes were to stumble, if the Tartars were to rush at the other +enemy, I would turn against the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“By what your highness has said just now, his supposition is correct.”</p> + +<p>“Correct or not, I do not wish it held, or wish him to see what trumps +I have in my hand. Besides, he is ill-disposed toward me personally. +Surely he has written more than once against me to the king, and beyond +a doubt one of two things,—either that I am weak, or that I am not +reliable. This must be remedied. You will give my letter to the king. +If he asks about the Klavany affair, tell the truth, neither adding nor +taking away. You may confess that I condemned those officers to death, +and you obtained their pardon. That will cost you nothing, but the +sincerity may please him. You will not complain against Count Magnus +directly in presence of the king, for he is his brother-in-law. But if +the king should ask, so, in passing, what people here think, say that +they are sorry because Count Magnus does not repay the hetman +sufficiently, in view of his sincere friendship for the Swedes; that +the prince himself (that is I) grieves greatly over this. If he asks if +it is true that all the quota troops have left me, say that ’tis not +true; and as proof offer yourself. Tell him that you are colonel; for +you are. Say that the partisans of Pan Gosyevski brought the troops to +mutiny, but add that there is a mortal enmity between us. Say that if +Count Magnus had sent me cannon and cavalry I should have crushed the +confederates long ago,—that this is the general opinion. Finally, take +note of everything, give ear to what they are saying near the person of +the king, and report, not to me, but, if occasion offers, to Prince +Boguslav in Prussia. You may do so even through the elector’s men, +should you meet them. Perhaps you know German?”</p> + +<p>“I had an officer, a noble of Courland, a certain Zend, whom the Lauda +men slew; from him I learned German not badly. I have also been often +in Livonia.”</p> + +<p>“That is well.”</p> + +<p>“But, your highness, where shall I find the King of Sweden?”</p> + +<p>“You will find him where he will be. In time of war he may be here +to-day and there to-morrow. Should you find him at Cracow, it would be +better, for you will take letters to other persons who live in those +parts.”</p> + +<p>“Then I am to go to others?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. You must make your way to the marshal of the kingdom, Pan +Lyubomirski. It is of great moment to me that he come to our views. He +is a powerful man, and in Little Poland much depends on him. Should he +declare sincerely for the Swedes, Yan Kazimir would have no place in +the Commonwealth. Conceal not from the King of Sweden that you are +going from me to Lyubomirski to win him for the Swedes. Do not boast of +this directly, but speak as it were inadvertently. That will influence +him greatly in my favor. God grant that Lyubomirski declare for us. He +will hesitate, that I know; still I hope that my letters will turn the +scale, for there is a reason why he must care greatly for my good will. +I will tell you the whole affair, that you may know how to act. You see +Pan Lyubomirski has been coming around me for a long time, as men go +around a bear in a thicket, and trying from afar to see if I would give +my only daughter to his son Heraclius. They are children yet, but the +contract might be made,—which is very important for the marshal, more +than for me, since there is not another such heiress in the +Commonwealth, and if the two fortunes were united, there would not be +another such in the world. That is a well-buttered toast! But if the +marshal were to conceive the hope that his son might receive the crown +of the Grand Principality as the dower of my daughter! Rouse that hope +in him and he will be tempted, as God is in heaven, for he thinks more +of his house than he does of the Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>“What have I to tell him?”</p> + +<p>“That which I cannot write. But it must be placed before him with +skill. God preserve you from disclosing that you have heard from me how +I desire the crown,—it is too early for that yet,—but say, ‘All the +nobles in Lauda and Lithuania talk of crowning Radzivill, and rejoice +over it; the Swedes themselves mention it, I have heard it near the +person of the king.’ You will observe who of his courtiers is the +marshal’s confidant, and suggest to that courtier the following +thought: ‘Let Lyubomirski join the Swedes and ask in return the +marriage of Heraclius and Radzivill’s daughter, then let him support +Radzivill as Grand Prince. Heraclius will be Radzivill’s heir.’ That is +not enough; suggest also that once Heraclius has the Lithuanian crown +he will be elected in time to the throne of Poland, and so the two +crowns may be united again in these two families. If they do not grasp +at this idea with both hands, they will show themselves petty people. +Whoso does not aim high and fears great plans, should be content with a +little baton, with a small castellanship; let him serve, bend his neck, +gain favor through chamber attendants, for he deserves nothing better! +God has created me for something else, and therefore I dare to stretch +my hands to everything which it is in the power of man to reach, and to +go to those limits which God alone has placed to human effort.”</p> + +<p>Here the prince stretched his hands, as if wishing to seize some unseen +crown, and gleamed up altogether, like a torch; from emotion the breath +failed in his throat again.</p> + +<p>After a while he calmed himself and said with a broken voice,—</p> + +<p>“Behold—where my soul flies—as if to the sun—Disease utters its +warning—let it work its will—I would rather death found me on the +throne—than in the antechamber of a king.”</p> + +<p>“Shall the physician be called?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>Radzivill waved his hand.</p> + +<p>“No need of him—I feel better now—That is all I had to say—In +addition keep your eyes open, your ears open—See also what the +Pototskis will do. They hold together, are true to the Vazas (that is, +to Yan Kazimir)—and they are powerful—It is not known either how the +Konyetspolskis and Sobyeskis will turn—Observe and learn—Now the +suffocation is gone. Have you understood everything clearly?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. If I err, it will be my own fault.”</p> + +<p>“I have letters written already; only a few remain. When do you wish to +start?”</p> + +<p>“To-day! As soon as possible.”</p> + +<p>“Have you no request to make?”</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” began Kmita, and stopped suddenly. The words came from +his mouth with difficulty, and on his face constraint and confusion +were depicted.</p> + +<p>“Speak boldly,” said the hetman.</p> + +<p>“I pray,” said Kmita, “that Billevich and she—suffer no harm while +here.”</p> + +<p>“Be certain of that. But I see that you love the girl yet.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible,” answered Kmita. “Do I know! An hour I love her, +an hour I hate her. The devil alone knows! All is over, as I have +said,—suffering only is left. I do not want her, but I do not want +another to take her. Your highness, pardon me, I know not myself what I +say. I must go,—go with all haste! Pay no heed to my words, God will +give back my mind the moment I have gone through the gate.”</p> + +<p>“I understand that, because till love has grown cold with time, though +not wanting her yourself, the thought that another might take her burns +you. But be at rest on that point, for I will let no man come here, and +as to going away they will not go. Soon it will be full of foreign +soldiers all around, and unsafe. Better, I will send her to Tanrogi, +near Tyltsa, where my daughter is. Be at rest, Yendrek. Go, prepare for +the road, and come to me to dine.”</p> + +<p>Kmita bowed and withdrew, and Radzivill began to draw deep breaths. He +was glad of the departure of Kmita. He left him his squadron and his +name as an adherent; for his person the prince cared less.</p> + +<p>But Kmita in going might render him notable services; in Kyedani he had +long since grown irksome to the hetman, who was surer of him at a +distance than near at hand. The wild courage and temper of Kmita might +at any instant bring an outburst in Kyedani and a rupture very +dangerous for both. The departure put danger aside.</p> + +<p>“Go, incarnate devil, and serve!” muttered the prince, looking at the +door through which the banneret of Orsha had passed. Then he called a +page and summoned Ganhoff.</p> + +<p>“You will take Kmita’s squadron,” said the prince to him, “and command +over all the cavalry. Kmita is going on a journey.”</p> + +<p>Over the cold face of Ganhoff there passed as it were a ray of joy. The +mission had missed him, but a higher military office had come. He bowed +in silence, and said,—</p> + +<p>“I will pay for the favor of your highness with faithful service.” Then +he stood erect and waited.</p> + +<p>“And what will you say further?” asked the prince.</p> + +<p>“Your highness, a noble from Vilkomir came this morning with news that +Pan Sapyeha is marching with troops against your highness.”</p> + +<p>Radzivill quivered, but in the twinkle of an eye he mastered his +expression.</p> + +<p>“You may go,” said he to Ganhoff.</p> + +<p>Then he fell into deep thought.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<p>Kmita was very busily occupied in preparations for the road, and in +choosing the men of his escort; for he determined not to go without a +certain-sized party, first for his own safety, and second for the +dignity of his person as an envoy. He was in a hurry, since he wished +to start during the evening of that day, or if the rain did not cease, +early next morning. He found men at last,—six trusty fellows who had +long served under him in those better days when before his journey to +Lyubich he had stormed around Hovanski,—old fighters of Orsha, ready +to follow him even to the end of the earth. They were themselves nobles +and attendant boyars, the last remnant of that once powerful band cut +down by the Butryms. At the head of them was the sergeant Soroka, a +trusty servant of the Kmitas,—an old soldier and very reliable, though +numerous sentences were hanging over him for still more numerous deeds +of violence.</p> + +<p>After dinner the prince gave Pan Andrei the letters and a pass to the +Swedish commanders whom the young envoy might meet in the more +considerable places; he took farewell of him and sent him away with +much feeling, really like a father, recommending wariness and +deliberation.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the sky began to grow clear; toward evening the weak sun of +autumn shone over Kyedani and went down behind red clouds, stretched +out in long lines on the west.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to hinder the journey. Kmita was just drinking a +stirrup cup with Ganhoff, Kharlamp, and some other officers when about +dusk Soroka came in and asked,—</p> + +<p>“Are you going, Commander?”</p> + +<p>“In an hour,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“The horses and men are ready now in the yard.”</p> + +<p>The sergeant went out, and the officers began to strike glasses still +more; but Kmita rather pretended to drink than to drink in reality. The +wine had no taste for him, did not go to his head, did not cheer his +spirit, while the others were already merry.</p> + +<p>“Worthy Colonel,” said Ganhoff, “commend me to the favor of Prince +Boguslav. That is a great cavalier; such another there is not in the +Commonwealth. With him you will be as in France. A different speech, +other customs, every politeness may be learned there more easily than +even in the palace of the king.”</p> + +<p>“I remember Prince Boguslav at Berestechko,” said Kharlamp; “he had one +regiment of dragoons drilled in French fashion completely,—they +rendered both infantry and cavalry service. The officers were French, +except a few Hollanders; of the soldiers the greater part were French, +all dandies. There was an odor of various perfumes from them as from a +drug-shop. In battle they thrust fiercely with rapiers, and it was said +that when one of them thrust a man through he said, ‘Pardonnez-moi!’ +(pardon me); so they mingled politeness with uproarious life. But +Prince Boguslav rode among them with a handkerchief on his sword, +always smiling, even in the greatest din of battle, for it is the +French fashion to smile amid bloodshed. He had his face touched with +paint, and his eyebrows blackened with coal, at which the old soldiers +were angry and called him a bawd. Immediately after battle he had new +ruffs brought him, so as to be always dressed as if for a banquet, and +they curled his hair with irons, making marvellous ringlets out of it. +But he is a manful fellow, and goes first into the thickest fire. He +challenged Pan Kalinovski because he said something to him, and the +king had to make peace.”</p> + +<p>“There is no use in denying,” said Ganhoff. “You will see curious +things, and you will see the King of Sweden himself, who next to our +prince is the best warrior in the world.”</p> + +<p>“And Pan Charnyetski,” said Kharlamp; “they are speaking more and more +of him.”</p> + +<p>“Pan Charnyetski is on the side of Yan Kazimir, and therefore is our +enemy,” remarked Ganhoff, severely.</p> + +<p>“Wonderful things are passing in this world,” said Kharlamp, musingly. +“If any man had said a year or two ago that the Swedes would come +hither, we should all have thought, ‘We shall be fighting with the +Swedes;’ but see now.”</p> + +<p>“We are not alone; the whole Commonwealth has received them with open +arms,” said Ganhoff.</p> + +<p>“True as life,” put in Kmita, also musingly.</p> + +<p>“Except Sapyeha, Gosyevski, Charnyetski, and the hetmans of the crown,” +answered Kharlamp.</p> + +<p>“Better not speak of that,” said Ganhoff. “But, worthy Colonel, come +back to us in good health; promotion awaits you.”</p> + +<p>“And Panna Billevich?” added Kharlamp.</p> + +<p>“Panna Billevich is nothing to you,” answered Kmita, brusquely.</p> + +<p>“Of course nothing, I am too old. The last time— Wait, gentlemen, when +was that? Ah, the last time during the election of the present +mercifully reigning Yan Kazimir.”</p> + +<p>“Cease the use of that name from your tongue,” interrupted Ganhoff. +“To-day rules over us graciously Karl Gustav.”</p> + +<p>“True! <i>Consuetudo altera natura</i> (custom is a second nature). Well, +the last time, during the election of Yan Kazimir, our ex-king and +Grand Duke of Lithuania, I fell terribly in love with one lady, an +attendant of the Princess Vishnyevetski. Oh, she was an attractive +little beast! But when I wanted to look more nearly into her eyes, Pan +Volodyovski thrust up his sabre. I was to fight with him; then Bogun +came between us,—Bogun, whom Volodyovski cut up like a hare. If it had +not been for that, you would not see me alive. But at that time I was +ready to fight, even with the devil. Volodyovski stood up for her only +through friendship, for she was betrothed to another, a still greater +swordsman. Oh, I tell you, gentlemen, that I thought I should wither +away—I could not think of eating or drinking. When our prince sent me +from Warsaw to Smolensk, only then did I shake off my love on the road. +There is nothing like a journey for such griefs. At the first mile I +was easier, before I had reached Vilna my head was clear, and to this +day I remain single. That is the whole story. There is nothing for +unhappy love like a journey.”</p> + +<p>“Is that your opinion?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“As I live, it is! Let the black ones take all the pretty girls in +Lithuania and the kingdom, I do not need them.”</p> + +<p>“But did you go away without farewell?”</p> + +<p>“Without farewell; but I threw a red ribbon behind me, which one old +woman, very deeply versed in love matters, advised me to do.”</p> + +<p>“Good health!” interrupted Ganhoff, turning again to Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>“Good health!” answered Kmita, “I give thanks from my heart.”</p> + +<p>“To the bottom, to the bottom! It is time for you to mount, and service +calls us. May God lead you forth and bring you home.”</p> + +<p>“Farewell!”</p> + +<p>“Throw the red ribbon behind,” said Kharlamp, “or at the first +resting-place put out the fire yourself with a bucket of water; that +is, if you wish to forget.”</p> + +<p>“Be with God!”</p> + +<p>“We shall not soon see one another.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps somewhere on the battlefield,” added Ganhoff. “God grant side +by side, not opposed.”</p> + +<p>“Of course not opposed,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>And the officers went out.</p> + +<p>The clock on the tower struck seven. In the yard the horses were pawing +the stone pavement with their hoofs, and through the window were to be +seen the men waiting. A wonderful disquiet seized Pan Andrei. He was +repeating to himself, “I go, I go!” Imagination placed before his eyes +unknown regions, and a throng of strange faces which he was to see, and +at the same time wonder seized him at the thought of the journey, as if +hitherto it had never been in his mind.</p> + +<p>He must mount and move on. “What happens, will happen. What will be, +will be!” thought he to himself.</p> + +<p>When, however, the horses were snorting right there at the window, and +the hour of starting had struck, he felt that the new life would be +strange, and all with which he had lived, to which he had grown +accustomed, to which he had become attached heart and soul, would stay +in that region, in that neighborhood, in that place. The former Kmita +would stay there as well. Another man as it were would go hence,—a +stranger to all outside, as all outside were strangers to him. He would +have to begin there an entirely new life. God alone knew whether there +would be a desire for it.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei was mortally wearied in soul, and therefore at that moment +he felt powerless in view of those new scenes and new people. He +thought that it was bad for him here, that it would be bad for him +there, at least it would be burdensome.</p> + +<p>But it is time, time. He must put his cap on his head and ride off.</p> + +<p>But will he go without a last word? Is it possible to be so near and +later to be so far, to say not one word and go forth? See to what it +has come! But what can he say to her? Shall he go and say, “Everything +is ruined; my lady, go thy way, I will go mine”? Why, why say even +that, when without saying it is so? He is not her betrothed, as she is +not and will not be his wife. What has been is lost, is rent, and will +not return, will not be bound up afresh. Loss of time, loss of words, +and new torture.</p> + +<p>“I will not go!” thought Pan Kmita.</p> + +<p>But, on the other hand, the will of a dead man binds them yet. It is +needful to speak clearly and without anger of final separation, and to +say to her, “My lady, you wish me not; I return you your word. +Therefore we shall both act as though there had been no will, and let +each seek happiness where each can find it?”</p> + +<p>But she may answer: “I have said that long since; why tell it to me +now?”</p> + +<p>“I will not go, happen what may!” repeated Kmita to himself.</p> + +<p>And pressing the cap on his head, he went out of the room into the +corridor. He wished to mount straightway and be outside the gate +quickly.</p> + +<p>All at once, in the corridor, something caught him as it were by the +hair. Such a desire to see her, to speak to her, possessed him, that he +ceased to think whether to go or not to go, he ceased to reason, and +rather pushed on with closed eyes, as if wishing to spring into water.</p> + +<p>Before the very door whence the guard had just been removed, he came +upon a youth, a servant of the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“Is Pan Billevich in the room?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“The sword-bearer is among the officers in the barracks.”</p> + +<p>“And the lady?”</p> + +<p>“The lady is at home.”</p> + +<p>“Tell her that Pan Kmita is going on a long journey and wishes to see +the lady.”</p> + +<p>The youth obeyed the command; but before he returned with an answer +Kmita raised the latch and went in without question.</p> + +<p>“I have come to take farewell,” said he, “for I do not know whether we +shall meet again in life.”</p> + +<p>Suddenly he turned to the youth: “Why stand here yet?”</p> + +<p>“My gracious lady,” continued Kmita, when the door had closed after the +servant, “I intended to go without parting, but had not the power. God +knows when I shall return, or whether I shall return, for misfortunes +come lightly. Better that we part without anger and offence in our +hearts, so that the punishment of God fall not on either of us. There +is much to say, much to say, and now the tongue cannot say it all. +Well, there was no happiness, clearly by the will of God there was not; +and now, O man, even if thou batter thy head against the wall, there is +no cure! Blame me not, and I will not blame you. We need not regard +that testament now, for as I have said, the will of man is nothing +against the will of God. God grant you happiness and peace. The main +thing is that we forgive each other. I know not what will meet me +outside, whither I am going. But I cannot sit longer in torture, in +trouble, in sorrow. A man breaks himself on the four walls of a room +without result, gracious lady, without result! One has no labor +here,—only to take grief on the shoulders, only think for whole days +of unhappy events till the head aches, and in the end think out +nothing. This journey is as needful to me, as water to a fish, as air +to a bird, for without it I should go wild.”</p> + +<p>“God grant you happiness,” said Panna Aleksandra.</p> + +<p>She stood before him as if stunned by the departure, the appearance, +and the words of Pan Kmita. On her face were confusion and +astonishment, and it was clear that she was struggling to recover +herself; meanwhile she gazed on the young man with eyes widely open.</p> + +<p>“I do not cherish ill will against you,” said she after a time.</p> + +<p>“Would that all this had not been!” said Kmita. “Some evil spirit came +between us and separated us as if with a sea, and that water is neither +to be swum across nor waded through. The man did not do what he wanted, +he went not where he wished, but something as it were pushed him till +we both entered pathless regions. But since we are to vanish the one +from the eyes of the other, it is better to cry out even from +remoteness, ‘God guide!’ It is needful also for you to know that +offence and anger are one thing, and sorrow another. From anger I have +freed myself, but sorrow sits in me—maybe not for you. Do I know +myself for whom and for what? Thinking, I have thought out nothing; but +still it seems to me that it will be easier both to you and to me if we +talk. You hold me a traitor, and that pricks me most bitterly of all, +for as I wish my soul’s salvation, I have not been and shall not be a +traitor.”</p> + +<p>“I hold you that no longer,” said Olenka.</p> + +<p>“Oi, how could you have held me that even one hour? You know of me, +that once I was ready for violence, ready to slay, burn, shoot; that is +one thing, but to betray for gain, for advancement, never! God guard +me, God judge me! You are a woman, and cannot see in what lies the +country’s salvation; hence it beseems you not to condemn, to give +sentence. And why did you utter the sentence? God be with you! Know +this, that salvation is in Prince Radzivill and the Swedes; and who +thinks otherwise, and especially acts, is just ruining the country. But +it is no time to discuss, it is time to go. Know that I am not a +traitor, not one who sells. May I perish if I ever be that! Know that +unjustly you scorned me, unjustly consigned me to death—I tell you +this under oath and at parting, and I say it that I may say with it, I +forgive you from my heart; but do you forgive me as well.”</p> + +<p>Panna Aleksandra had recovered completely. “You say that I have judged +you unjustly; that is true. It is my fault; I confess it and beg your +forgiveness.”</p> + +<p>Here her voice trembled, her blue eyes filled with tears, and he cried +with transport,—</p> + +<p>“I forgive! I forgive! I would forgive you even my death!”</p> + +<p>“May God guide you and bring you to the right road. May you leave that +on which you are erring.”</p> + +<p>“But give peace, give peace!” cried Kmita, excitedly; “let no +misunderstanding rise between us again. Whether I err or err not, be +silent on that point. Let each man follow the way of his conscience; +God will judge every intention. Better that I have come hither, than to +go without farewell. Give me your hand for the road. Only that much is +mine; for to-morrow I shall not see you, nor after tomorrow, nor in a +month, perhaps never—Oi, Olenka! and in my head it is dim—Olenka! And +shall we never meet again?”</p> + +<p>Abundant tears like pearls were falling from Panna Aleksandra’s lashes +to her cheeks.</p> + +<p>“Pan Andrei, leave traitors, and all may be.”</p> + +<p>“Quiet, oh, quiet!” said Kmita, with a broken voice. “It may not be—I +cannot—better say nothing— Would I were slain! less should I +suffer— For God’s sake, why does this meet us? Farewell for the last +time. And then let death close my eyes somewhere outside— Why are you +weeping? Weep not, or I shall go wild!”</p> + +<p>And in supreme excitement he seized her half by constraint, and though +she resisted, he kissed her eyes and her mouth, then fell at her feet. +At last he sprang up, and grasping his hair like a madman, rushed forth +from the chamber.</p> + +<p>“The devil could do nothing here, much less a red ribbon.”</p> + +<p>Olenka saw him through the window as he was mounting in haste; the +seven horsemen then moved forward. The Scots on guard at the gate made +a clatter with their weapons, presenting arms; then the gate closed +after the horsemen, and they were not to be seen on the dark road among +the trees.</p> + +<p>Night too had fallen completely.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<p>Kovno, and the whole region on the left bank of the Vilia, with all the +roads, were occupied by the enemy (the Russians); therefore Kmita, not +being able to go to Podlyasye by the high-road leading from Kovno to +Grodno and thence to Byalystok, went by side-roads from Kyedani +straight down the course of the Nyevyaja to the Nyemen, which he +crossed near Vilkovo, and found himself in the province of Trotsk.</p> + +<p>All that part of the road, which was not over great, he passed in +quiet, for that region lay as it were under the hand of Radzivill.</p> + +<p>Towns, and here and there even villages, were occupied by castle +squadrons of the hetman, or by small detachments of Swedish cavalry +which the hetman pushed forward thus far of purpose against the legions +of Zolotarenko, which stood there beyond the Vilia, so that occasions +for collisions and war might be more easily found.</p> + +<p>Zolotarenko would have been glad too to have an “uproar” with the +Swedes, according to the words of the hetman; but those whose ally he +was did not wish war with them, or in every case wished to put it off +as long as possible. Zolotarenko therefore received the strictest +orders not to cross the river, and in case that Radzivill himself, +together with the Swedes, moved on him, to retreat with all haste.</p> + +<p>For these reasons the country on the right side of the Vilia was quiet; +but since from one side Cossack pickets, from the other those of the +Swedes and Radzivill were looking at one another, one musket-shot might +at any moment let loose a terrible war.</p> + +<p>In prevision of this, people took timely refuge in safe places. +Therefore the whole country was quiet, but empty. Pan Andrei saw +deserted towns, everywhere the windows of houses held up by sticks, and +whole villages depopulated. The fields were also empty, for there was +no crop that year. Common people secreted themselves in fathomless +forests, to which they drove all their cattle; but the nobles fled to +neighboring Electoral Prussia, at that time altogether safe from war. +For this reason there was an uncommon movement over the roads and +trails of the wilderness, and the number of fugitives was still more +increased by those who from the left bank of the Vilia were able to +escape the oppression of Zolotarenko.</p> + +<p>The number of these was enormous, and especially of peasants; for the +nobles who had not been able hitherto to flee from the left bank went +into captivity or yielded their lives on their thresholds.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei, therefore, met every moment whole crowds of peasants with +their wives and children, and driving before them flocks of sheep with +horses and cattle. That part of the province of Trotsk touching upon +Electoral Prussia was wealthy and productive; therefore the well-to-do +people had something to save and guard. The approaching winter did not +alarm fugitives, who preferred to await better days amid mosses of the +forest, in snow covered huts, than to await death in their native +villages at the hands of the enemy.</p> + +<p>Kmita often approached the fleeing crowds, or fires gleaming at night +in dense forest places. Wherever he met people from the left bank of +the Vilia, from near Kovno, or from still remoter neighborhoods, he +heard terrible tales of the cruelties of Zolotarenko and his allies, +who exterminated people without regard to age or sex; they burned +villages, cut down even trees in the gardens, leaving only land and +water. Never had Tartar raids left such desolation behind.</p> + +<p>Not death alone was inflicted on the inhabitants, but before death they +were put to the most ingenious tortures. Many of those people fled with +bewildered minds. These filled the forest depths at night with awful +shrieks; others were ever in a species of continual fear and +expectation of attack, though they had crossed the Nyemen and Vilia, +though forests and morasses separated them from Zolotarenko’s bands. +Many of these stretched their hands to Kmita and his horsemen of Orsha, +imploring rescue and pity, as if the enemy were standing there over +them.</p> + +<p>Carriages belonging to nobles were moving toward Prussia; in them old +men, women, and children; behind them, dragged on wagons with servants, +effects, supplies of provisions, and other things. All these fleeing +people were panic-stricken, terrified and grieved because they were +going into exile.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei comforted these unfortunates at times by telling them that +the Swedes would soon pass over and drive that enemy far away. Then the +fugitives stretched their hands to heaven and said,—</p> + +<p>“God give health, God give fortune to the prince voevoda! When the +Swedes come we will return to our homes, to our burned dwellings.”</p> + +<p>And they blessed the prince everywhere. From mouth to mouth news was +given that at any moment he might cross the Vilia at the head of his +own and Swedish troops. Besides, they praised the “modesty” of the +Swedes, their discipline, and good treatment of the inhabitants. +Radzivill was called the Gideon of Lithuania, a Samson, a savior. These +people from districts steaming with fresh blood and fire were looking +for him as for deliverance.</p> + +<p>And Kmita, hearing those blessings, those wishes, those almost prayers, +was strengthened in his faith concerning Radzivill, and repeated in his +soul,—</p> + +<p>“I serve such a lord! I will shut my eyes and follow blindly his +fortune. At times he is terrible and beyond knowing; but he has a +greater mind than others, he knows better what is needed, and in him +alone is salvation.”</p> + +<p>It became lighter and calmer in his breast at this thought; he advanced +therefore with greater solace in his heart, dividing his soul between +sorrow for Kyedani and thoughts on the unhappy condition of the +country.</p> + +<p>His sorrow increased continually. He did not throw the red ribbon +behind him, he did not put out the fire with water; for he felt, first, +that it was useless, and then he did not wish to do so.</p> + +<p>“Oh that she were present, that she could hear the wailing and groans +of people, she would not beg God to turn me away, she would not tell me +that I err, like those heretics who have left the true faith. But never +mind! Earlier or later she will be convinced, she will see that her own +judgment was at fault. And then what God will give will be. Maybe we +shall meet again in life.”</p> + +<p>And yearning increased in the young cavalier; but the conviction that +he was marching by the right, not by the wrong road, gave him a peace +long since unknown. The conflict of thought, the gnawing, the doubts +left him by degrees, and he rode forward; he sank in the shoreless +forest almost with gladness. From the time that he had come to Lyubich, +after his famous raids on Hovanski, he had not felt so vivacious.</p> + +<p>Kharlamp was right in this, that there is no cure like the road for +cares and troubles. Pan Andrei had iron health; his daring and love of +adventures were coming back every hour. He saw these adventures before +him, smiled at them, and urged on his convoy unceasingly, barely +stopping for short night-rests.</p> + +<p>Olenka stood ever before the eyes of his spirit, tearful, trembling in +his arms like a bird, and he said to himself, “I shall return.”</p> + +<p>At times the form of the hetman passed before him, gloomy, immense, +terrible. But it may be just because he was moving away more and more, +that that form became almost dear to him. Hitherto he had bent before +Radzivill; now he began to love him. Hitherto Radzivill had borne him +along as a mighty whirlpool of water seizes and attracts everything +that comes within its circle; now Kmita felt that he wished with his +whole soul to go with him.</p> + +<p>And in the distance that gigantic voevoda increased continually in the +eyes of the young knight, and assumed almost superhuman proportions. +More than once, at his night halt, when Pan Andrei had closed his eyes +in sleep, he saw the hetman sitting on a throne loftier than the tops +of the pine-trees. There was a crown on his head; his face was the +same, gloomy, enormous; in his hand a sword and a sceptre, at his feet +the whole Commonwealth. And in his soul Kmita did homage to greatness.</p> + +<p>On the third day of the journey they left the Nyemen far behind, and +entered a country of still greater forests. They met whole crowds of +fugitives on the roads; but nobles unable to bear arms were going +almost without exception to Prussia before the bands of the enemy, who, +not held in curb there, as on the banks of the Vilia, by the regiments +of Sweden and Radzivill, pushed at times far into the heart of the +country, even to the boundary of Electoral Prussia. Their main object +was plunder.</p> + +<p>Frequently these were detachments as if from the army of Zolotarenko, +but really recognizing no authority,—simply robber companies, so +called “parties” commanded at times even by local bandits. Avoiding +engagements in the field with troops and even with townspeople, they +attacked small villages, single houses, and travellers.</p> + +<p>The nobles on their own account attacked these parties with their +household servants, and ornamented with them the pine-trees along the +roads; still it was easy in the forest to stumble upon their frequent +bands, and therefore Pan Andrei was forced to exercise uncommon care.</p> + +<p>But somewhat beyond Pilvishki on the Sheshupa, Kmita found the +population living quietly in their homes. The townspeople told him, +however, that not longer than a couple of days before, a strong band of +Zolotarenko’s men, numbering as many as five hundred, had made an +attack, and would, according to their custom, have cut down all the +people, and let the place rise in smoke, were it not for unexpected aid +which fell as it were from heaven.</p> + +<p>“We had already committed ourselves to God,” said the master of the inn +in which Pan Andrei had taken lodgings, “when the saints of the Lord +sent some squadrons. We thought at first that a new enemy had come, but +they were ours. They sprang at once on Zolotarenko’s ruffians, and in +an hour they laid them out like a pavement, all the more easily as we +helped them.”</p> + +<p>“What kind of a squadron was it?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“God give them health! They did not say who they were, and we did not +dare to ask. They fed their horses, took what hay and bread there was, +and rode away.”</p> + +<p>“But whence did they come, and whither did they go?”</p> + +<p>“They came from Kozlova Ruda, and they went to the south. We, who +before that wished to flee to the woods, thought the matter over and +stayed here, for the under-starosta said that after such a lesson the +enemy would not look in on us again soon.”</p> + +<p>The news of the battle interested Kmita greatly, therefore he asked +further: “And do you not know who commanded that squadron?”</p> + +<p>“We do not know; but we saw the colonel, for he talked with us on the +square, he is young, and sharp as a needle. He does not look like the +warrior that he is.”</p> + +<p>“Volodyovski!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Whether he is Volodyovski, or not, may his hands be holy, may God make +him hetman!”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei fell into deep thought. Evidently he was going by the same +road over which a few days before Volodyovski had marched with the +Lauda men. In fact, that was natural, for both were going to Podlyasye. +But it occurred to Pan Andrei that if he hastened he might easily meet +the little knight and be captured; in that case, all the letters of +Radzivill would fall with him into possession of the confederates. Such +an event might destroy his mission, and bring God knows what harm to +the cause of Radzivill. For this reason Pan Andrei determined to stay a +couple of days in Pilvishki, so that the squadron of Lauda might have +time to advance as far as possible.</p> + +<p>The men, as well as the horses, travelling almost with one sweep from +Kyedani (for only short halts had been given on the road hitherto), +needed rest; therefore Kmita ordered the soldiers to remove the packs +from the horses and settle themselves comfortably in the inn.</p> + +<p>Next day he was convinced that he had acted not only cleverly but +wisely, for scarcely had he dressed in the morning, when his host stood +before him.</p> + +<p>“I bring news to your grace,” said he.</p> + +<p>“It is good?”</p> + +<p>“Neither good nor bad, but that we have guests. An enormous court +arrived here to-day, and stopped at the starosta’s house. There is a +regiment of infantry, and what crowds of cavalry and carriages with +servants!—The people thought that the king himself had come.”</p> + +<p>“What king?”</p> + +<p>The innkeeper began to turn his cap in his hand. “It is true that we +have two kings now, but neither one came,—only the prince marshal.”</p> + +<p>Kmita sprang to his feet. “What prince marshal? Prince Boguslav?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, your grace; the cousin of the prince voevoda of Vilna.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei clapped his hands from astonishment. “And so we have met.”</p> + +<p>The innkeeper, understanding that his guest was an acquaintance of +Prince Boguslav, made a lower bow than the day before, and went out of +the room; but Kmita began to dress in haste, and an hour later was +before the house of the starosta.</p> + +<p>The whole place was swarming with soldiers. The infantry were stacking +their muskets on the square; the cavalry had dismounted and occupied +the houses at the side. The soldiers and attendants in the most varied +costumes had halted before the houses, or were walking along the +streets. From the mouths of the officers were to be heard French and +German. Nowhere a Polish soldier, nowhere a Polish uniform; the +musketeers and dragoons were dressed in strange fashion, different, +indeed, from the foreign squadrons which Pan Andrei had seen in +Kyedani, for they were not in German but in French style. The soldiers, +handsome men and so showy that each one in the ranks might be taken for +an officer, delighted the eyes of Pan Andrei. The officers looked on +him also with curiosity, for he had arrayed himself richly in velvet +and brocade, and six men, dressed in new uniforms, followed him as a +suite.</p> + +<p>Attendants, all dressed in French fashion, were hurrying about in +front of the starosta’s house; there were pages in caps and feathers, +armor-bearers in velvet kaftans, and equerries in Swedish, high, +wide-legged boots.</p> + +<p>Evidently the prince did not intend to tarry long in Pilvishki, and had +stopped only for refreshment, for the carriages were not taken to the +shed; and the equerries, in waiting, were feeding horses out of tin +sieves which they held in their hands.</p> + +<p>Kmita announced to an officer on guard before the house who he was and +what was his mission; the officer went to inform the prince. After a +while he returned hastily, to say that the prince was anxious to see a +man sent from the hetman; and showing Kmita the way, he entered the +house with him.</p> + +<p>After they had passed the antechamber, they found in the dining-hall a +number of attendants, with legs stretched out, slumbering sweetly in +arm-chairs; it was evident that they must have started early in the +morning from the last halting-place: The officer stopped before the +door of the next room, and bowing to Pan Andrei, said,—</p> + +<p>“The prince is there.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei entered and stopped at the threshold. The prince was sitting +before a mirror fixed in the corner of the room, and was looking so +intently at his own face, apparently just touched with rouge and white, +that he did not turn attention to the incomer. Two chamber servants, +kneeling before him, were fastening buckles at the ankles on his high +travelling-boots, while he was arranging slowly with his fingers the +luxuriant, evenly cut forelock of his bright gold-colored wig, or it +might be of his own abundant hair.</p> + +<p>He was still a young man, of thirty-five years, but seemed not more +than five and twenty. Kmita knew the prince, but looked on him always +with curiosity: first, because of the great knightly fame which +surrounded him, and which was won mainly through duels fought +with various foreign magnates; second, by reason of his peculiar +figure,—whoso saw his form once was forced to remember it ever after. +The prince was tall and powerfully built, but on his broad shoulders +stood a head as diminutive as if taken from another body. His face, +also, was uncommonly small, almost childlike; but in it, too, there was +no proportion, for he had a great Roman nose and enormous eyes of +unspeakable beauty and brightness, with a real eagle boldness of +glance. In presence of those eyes and the nose, the rest of his face, +surrounded, moreover, with plentiful tresses of hair, disappeared +almost completely; his mouth was almost that of a child; above it was a +slight mustache barely covering his upper lip. The delicacy of his +complexion, heightened by rouge and white paint, made him almost +like a young lady; and at the same time the insolence, pride, and +self-confidence depicted in that face permitted no one to forget that +he was that <i>chercheur de noises</i> (seeker of quarrels), as he was +nicknamed at the French court,—a man out of whose mouth a sharp word +came with ease, but whose sword came from its scabbard with still +greater ease.</p> + +<p>In Germany, in Holland, in France, they related marvels of his military +deeds, of his disputes, quarrels, adventures, and duels. He was the man +who in Holland rushed into the thickest whirl of battle, among the +incomparable regiments of Spanish infantry, and with his own princely +hand captured a flag and a cannon; he, at the head of the regiments of +the Prince of Orange, captured batteries declared by old leaders to be +beyond capture; he, on the Rhine, at the head of French musketeers, +shattered the heavy squadrons of Germany, trained in the Thirty Years’ +War; he wounded, in a duel in France, the most celebrated fencer among +French knights, Prince de Fremouille; another famous fighter, Baron Von +Goetz, begged of him life, on his knees; he wounded Baron Grot, for +which he had to hear bitter reproaches from his cousin Yanush, because +he was lowering his dignity as prince by fighting with men beneath him +in rank; finally, in presence of the whole French court, at a ball in +the Louvre, he slapped Marquis de Rieux on the face, because he had +spoken to him “unbecomingly.” The duels that he had fought incognito in +smaller towns, in taverns and inns, did not enter into reckoning.</p> + +<p>He was a mixture of effeminacy and unbounded daring. During rare and +short visits to his native land he amused himself by quarrels with the +Sapyehas, and with hunting; but on those occasions the hunters had to +find for him she-bears with their young, as being dangerous and +enraged; against these he went armed only with a spear.</p> + +<p>But it was tedious for him in his own country, to which he came, as was +said, unwillingly, most frequently in time of war; he distinguished +himself by great victories at Berestechko, Mogilyoff, and Smolensk. War +was his element, though he had a mind quick and subtle, equally fitted +for intrigues and diplomatic exploits. In these he knew how to be +patient and enduring, far more enduring than in the “loves,” of which a +whole series completed the history of his life. The prince, at the +courts where he had resided, was the terror of husbands who had +beautiful wives. For that reason, doubtless, he was not yet married, +though his high birth and almost inexhaustible fortune made him one of +the most desirable matches in Europe. The King and Queen of France, +Marya Ludvika of Poland, the Prince of Orange, and his uncle, the +Elector of Brandenburg, tried to make matches for him; but so far he +preferred his freedom.</p> + +<p>“I do not want a dower,” said he, cynically; “and of the other +pleasures I have no lack as I am.”</p> + +<p>In this fashion he reached the thirty-fifth year of his age.</p> + +<p>Kmita, standing on the threshold, examined with curiosity Boguslav’s +face, which the mirror reflected, while he was arranging with +seriousness the hair of his forelock; at last, when Pan Andrei coughed +once and a second time, he said, without turning his head,—</p> + +<p>“But who is present? Is it a messenger from the prince voevoda?”</p> + +<p>“Not a messenger, but from the prince voevoda,” replied Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>Then the prince turned his head, and seeing a brilliant young man, +recognized that he had not to do with an ordinary servant.</p> + +<p>“Pardon, Cavalier,” said he, affably, “for I see that I was mistaken in +the office of the person. But your face is known to me, though I am not +able to recall your name. You are an attendant of the prince hetman?”</p> + +<p>“My name is Kmita,” answered Pan Andrei, “and I am not an attendant; I +am a colonel from the time that I brought my own squadron to the prince +hetman.”</p> + +<p>“Kmita!” cried the prince, “that same Kmita, famous in the last war, +who harried Hovanski, and later on managed not worse on his own +account? I have heard much about you.”</p> + +<p>Having said this, the prince began to look more carefully and with a +certain pleasure at Pan Andrei, for from what he had heard he thought +him a man of his own cut.</p> + +<p>“Sit down,” said he, “I am glad to know you more intimately. And what +is to be heard in Kyedani?”</p> + +<p>“Here is a letter from the prince hetman,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>The servants, having finished buckling the prince’s boots, went out. +The prince broke the seal and began to read. After a while there was an +expression of weariness and dissatisfaction on his face. He threw the +letter under the mirror and said,—</p> + +<p>“Nothing new! The prince voevoda advises me to go to Prussia, to Tyltsa +or to Taurogi, which, as you see, I am just doing. <i>Ma foi</i>, I do not +understand my cousin. He reports to me that the elector is in +Brandenburg, and that he cannot make his way to Prussia through the +Swedes, and he writes at the same time that the hairs are standing on +his head because I do not communicate with him, either for health or +prescription; and how can I? If the elector cannot make his way through +the Swedes, how can my messenger do so? I am in Podlyasye, for I have +nothing else to do. I tell you, my cavalier, that I am as much bored as +the devil doing penance. I have speared all the bears near Tykotsin; +the fair heads of that region have the odor of sheepskin, which my +nostrils cannot endure. But— Do you understand French or German?”</p> + +<p>“I understand German,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Praise be to God for that! I will speak German, for my lips fly off +from your language.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this the prince put out his lower lip and touched it +with his fingers, as if wishing to be sure that it had not gone off: +then he looked at the mirror and continued,—</p> + +<p>“Report has come to me that in the neighborhood of Lukovo one +Skshetuski, a noble, has a wife of wonderful beauty. It is far from +here; but I sent men to carry her off and bring her. Now, if you will +believe it, Pan Kmita, they did not find her at home.”</p> + +<p>“That was good luck,” said Pan Andrei, “for she is the wife of an +honorable cavalier, a celebrated man, who made his way out of Zbaraj +through the whole power of Hmelnitski.”</p> + +<p>“The husband was besieged in Zbaraj, and I would have besieged the wife +in Tykotsin. Do you think she would have held out as stubbornly as her +husband?”</p> + +<p>“Your highness, for such a siege a counsel of war is not needed, let it +pass without my opinion,” answered Pan Andrei, brusquely.</p> + +<p>“True, loss of time!” said the prince. “Let us return to business. Have +you any letters yet?”</p> + +<p>“What I had to your highness I have delivered; besides those I have one +to the King of Sweden. Is it known to your highness where I must seek +him?”</p> + +<p>“I know nothing. What can I know? He is not in Tykotsin; I can assure +you of that, for if he had once seen that place he would have resigned +his dominion over the whole Commonwealth. Warsaw is now in Swedish +hands, but you will not find the king there. He must be before Cracow, +or in Cracow itself, if he has not gone to Royal Prussia by this time. +To my thinking Karl Gustav must keep the Prussian towns in mind, for he +cannot leave them in his rear. Who would have expected, when the whole +Commonwealth abandons its king, when all the nobles join the Swedes, +when the provinces yield one after the other, that just then towns, +German and Protestant, would not hear of the Swedes but prepare for +resistance? They wish to save the Commonwealth and adhere to Yan +Kazimir. In beginning our work we thought that it would be otherwise: +that before all they would help us and the Swedes to cut that loaf +which you call your Commonwealth; but now they won’t move! The luck is +that the elector has his eye on them. He has offered them forces +already against the Swedes; but the Dantzig people do not trust him, +and say that they have forces enough of their own.”</p> + +<p>“We knew that already in Kyedani,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“If they have not forces enough, in every case they have a good sniff,” +continued the prince, laughing; “for the elector cares as much, I +think, about the Commonwealth as I do, or as the prince voevoda of +Vilna does.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness, permit me to deny that,” said Kmita, abruptly. “The +prince cares that much about the Commonwealth that he is ready at every +moment to give his last breath and spill his last blood for it.”</p> + +<p>Prince Boguslav began to laugh.</p> + +<p>“You are young, Cavalier, young! But enough! My uncle the elector wants +to grab Royal Prussia, and for that reason only, he offers his aid. If +he has the towns once in hand, if he has his garrisons in them, he will +be ready to agree with the Swedes next day, nay, even with the Turks or +with devils. Let the Swedes add a bit of Great Poland, he will be ready +to help them with all his power to take the rest. The only trouble is +in this, that the Swedes are sharpening their teeth against Prussia, +and hence the distrust between them and the elector.”</p> + +<p>“I hear with astonishment the words of your highness,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“The devils were taking me in Podlyasye,” answered the prince,—“I had +to stay there so long in idleness. But what was I to do? An agreement +was made between me and the prince voevoda, that until affairs were +cleared up in Prussia, I was not to take the Swedish side publicly. And +that was right, for thus a gate remains open. I sent even secret +couriers to Yan Kazimir, announcing that I was ready to summon the +general militia in Podlyasye if a manifesto were sent me. The king, as +king, might have let himself be tricked; but the queen it is clear does +not trust me, and must have advised against it. If it were not for that +woman, I should be to-day at the head of all the nobles of Podlyasye; +and what is more, those confederates who are now ravaging the property +of Prince Yanush would have no choice but to come under my orders. I +should have declared myself a partisan of Yan Kazimir, but, in fact, +having power in my hand, would treat with the Swedes. But that woman +knows how grass grows, and guesses the most secret thought. She is the +real king, not queen! She has more wit in one finger than Yan Kazimir +in his whole body.”</p> + +<p>“The prince voevoda—” began Kmita.</p> + +<p>“The prince voevoda,” interrupted Boguslav, with impatience, “is +eternally late with his counsel; he writes to me in every letter, ‘Do +this and do that,’ while I have in fact done it long before. Besides, +the prince voevoda loses his head. For listen what he asks of me.”</p> + +<p>Here the prince took up the letter and began to read aloud,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“Be cautious yourself on the road; and those rascals, the confederates, +who have mutinied against me and are ravaging Podlyasye, for God’s sake +think how to disperse them, lest they go to the king. They are +preparing to visit Zabludovo, and beer in that place is strong; when +they get drunk, let them be cut off,—each host may finish his guest. +Nothing better is needed; for when the heads are removed, the rest will +scatter—”</p> +</div> + +<p>Boguslav threw the letter with vexation on the table.</p> + +<p>“Listen, Pan Kmita,” said he, “you see I have to go to Prussia and at +the same time arrange a slaughter in Zabludovo. I must feign myself a +partisan of Yan Kazimir and a patriot, and at the same time cut off +those people who are unwilling to betray the king and the country. Is +that sense? Does one hang to the other? <i>Ma foi</i>, the prince is losing +his head. I have met now, while coming to Pilvishki, a whole insurgent +squadron travelling along through Podlyasye. I should have galloped +over their stomachs with gladness, even to gain some amusement; but +before I am an open partisan of the Swedes, while my uncle the elector +holds formally with the Prussian towns, and with Yan Kazimir too, I +cannot permit myself such pleasure, God knows I cannot. What could I do +more than to be polite to those insurgents, as they are polite to me, +suspecting me of an understanding with the hetman, but not having black +on white?”</p> + +<p>Here the prince lay back comfortably in the armchair, stretched out his +legs, and putting his hands behind his head carelessly, began to +repeat,—</p> + +<p>“Ah, there is nonsense in this Commonwealth, nonsense! In the world +there is nothing like it!”</p> + +<p>Then he was silent for a moment; evidently some idea came to his head, +for he struck his wig and inquired,—</p> + +<p>“But will you not be in Podlyasye?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Kmita, “I must be there, for I have a letter with +instructions to Harasimovich, the under-starosta in Zabludovo.”</p> + +<p>“In God’s name!” exclaimed the prince, “Harasimovich is here with me. +He is going with the hetman’s effects to Prussia, for we were afraid +that they might fall into the hands of the confederates. Wait, I will +have him summoned.”</p> + +<p>Here the prince summoned a servant and ordered him to call the +under-starosta.</p> + +<p>“This has happened well,” said the prince, “You will save yourself a +journey,—though it may be too bad that you will not visit Podlyasye, +for among the heads of the confederacy there is a namesake of yours +whom you might secure.”</p> + +<p>“I have no time for that,” said Kmita, “since I am in a hurry to go to +the king and Pan Lyubomirski.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, you have a letter to the marshal of the kingdom? Well, I can +divine the reason of it. Once the marshal thought of marrying his son +to Yanush’s daughter. Did not the hetman wish this time to renew +negotiations delicately?”</p> + +<p>“That is just the mission.”</p> + +<p>“Both are quite children. H’m! that’s a delicate mission, for it does +not become the hetman to speak first. Besides—”</p> + +<p>Here the prince frowned.</p> + +<p>“Nothing will come of it. The daughter of the hetman is not for +Heraclius, I tell you that! The prince hetman must understand that his +fortune is to remain in possession of the Radzivills.”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked with astonishment on the prince, who was walking with +quicker and quicker pace through the room.</p> + +<p>All at once he stopped before Pan Andrei, and said, “Give me the word +of a cavalier that you will answer truly my question.”</p> + +<p>“Gracious prince,” said Kmita, “only those lie who are afraid, and I +fear no man.”</p> + +<p>“Did the prince voevoda give orders to keep secret from me the +negotiations with Lyubomirski?”</p> + +<p>“Had I such a command, I should not have mentioned Lyubomirski.”</p> + +<p>“It might have slipped you. Give me your word.”</p> + +<p>“I give it,” said Kmita, frowning.</p> + +<p>“You have taken a weight from my heart, for I thought that the voevoda +was playing a double game with me.”</p> + +<p>“I do not understand, your highness.”</p> + +<p>“I would not marry, in France, Rohan, not counting half threescore +other princesses whom they were giving me. Do you know why?”</p> + +<p>“I do not.”</p> + +<p>“There is an agreement between me and the prince voevoda that his +daughter and his fortune are growing up for me. As a faithful servant +of the Radzivills, you may know everything.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you for the confidence. But your highness is mistaken. I am not +a servant of the Radzivills.”</p> + +<p>Boguslav opened his eyes widely. “What are you?”</p> + +<p>“I am a colonel of the hetman, not of the castle; and besides I am the +hetman’s relative.”</p> + +<p>“A relative?”</p> + +<p>“I am related to the Kishkis, and the hetman is born of a Kishki.”</p> + +<p>Prince Boguslav looked for a while at Kmita, on whose face a light +flush appeared. All at once he stretched forth his hands and said,—</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon, cousin, and I am glad of the relationship.”</p> + +<p>The last words were uttered with a certain inattentive though showy +politeness, in which there was something directly painful to Pan +Andrei. His face flushed still more, and he was opening his mouth to +say something hasty, when the door opened and Harasimovich appeared on +the threshold.</p> + +<p>“There is a letter for you,” said Boguslav.</p> + +<p>Harasimovich bowed to the prince, and then to Pan Andrei, who gave him +the letter.</p> + +<p>“Read it!” said Prince Boguslav.</p> + +<p>Harasimovich began to read,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“Pan Harasimovich! Now is the time to show the good will of a faithful +servant to his lord. As whatever money you are able to collect, you in +Zabludovo and Pan Pjinski in Orel—”</p> +</div> + +<p>“The confederates have slain Pan Pjinski in Orel, for which reason Pan +Harasimovich has taken to his heels,” interrupted the prince.</p> + +<p>The under-starosta bowed and read further,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“—and Pan Pjinski in Orel, even the public revenue, even the excise, +rent—”</p> +</div> + +<p>“The confederates have already taken them,” interrupted Boguslav again.</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“—send me at once,” continued Harasimovich. “If you can mortgage some +villages to neighbors or townspeople, obtaining as much money on them +as possible, do so, and whatever means there may be of obtaining money, +do your best in the matter, and send the money to me. Send horses and +whatever effects there are in Orel. There is a great candlestick too, +and other things,—pictures, ornaments, and especially the cannons on +the porch at my cousins; for robbers may be feared—”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Again counsel too late, for these cannons are going with me,” said the +prince.</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“If they are heavy with the stocks, then take them without the stocks +and cover them, so it may not be known that you are bringing them. And +take these things to Prussia with all speed, avoiding with utmost care +those traitors who have caused mutiny in my army and are ravaging my +estates—”</p> +</div> + +<p>“As to ravaging, they are ravaging! They are pounding them into dough,” +interrupted the prince anew.</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“—ravaging my estates, and are preparing to move against Zabludovo on +their way perhaps to the king. With them it is difficult to fight, for +they are many; but if they are admitted, and given plenty to drink, and +killed in the night while asleep (every host can do that), or poisoned +in strong beer, or (which is not difficult in that place) a wild crowd +let in to plunder them—”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Well, that is nothing new!” said Prince Boguslav. “You may journey +with me, Pan Harasimovich.”</p> + +<p>“There is still a supplement,” said the under-starosta. And he read on,</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“The wines, if you cannot bring them away (for with us such can be had +nowhere), sell them quickly—”</p> +</div> + +<p>Here Harasimovich stopped and seized himself by the head,—</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake! those wines are coming half a day’s road behind us, +and surely have fallen into the hands of that insurgent squadron which +was hovering around us. There will be a loss of some thousands of gold +pieces. Let your highness give witness with me that you commanded me to +wait till the barrels were packed in the wagons.”</p> + +<p>Harasimovich’s terror would have been still greater had he known Pan +Zagloba, and had he known that he was in that very squadron. Meanwhile +Prince Boguslav smiled and said,—</p> + +<p>“Oh, let the wines be to their health! Read on!”</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“—if a merchant cannot be found—”</p> +</div> + +<p>Prince Boguslav now held his sides from laughter. “He has been found,” +said he, “but you must sell to him on credit.”</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“—but if a merchant cannot be found,” read Harasimovich, in a +complaining voice, “bury it in the ground secretly, so that more than +two should not know where it is; but leave a keg in Orel and one in +Zabludovo, and those of the best and sweetest, so that the officers may +take a liking to it; and put in plenty of poison, so that the officers +at least may be killed, then the squadron will break up. For God’s +sake, serve me faithfully in this, and secretly, for the mercy of God. +Burn what I write, and whoso finds out anything send him to me. Either +the confederates will find and drink the wine, or it may be given as a +present to make them friendly.”</p> +</div> + +<p>The under-starosta finished reading, and looked at Prince Boguslav, as +if waiting for instructions; and the prince said,—</p> + +<p>“I see that my cousin pays much attention to the confederates; it is +only a pity that, as usual, he is too late. If he had come upon this +plan two weeks ago, or even one week, it might have been tried. But now +go with God, Pan Harasimovich; I do not need you.”</p> + +<p>Harasimovich bowed and went out.</p> + +<p>Prince Boguslav stood before the mirror, and began to examine his own +figure carefully; he moved his head slightly from right to left, then +stepped back from the mirror, then approached it, then shook his curls, +then looked askance, not paying any attention to Kmita, who sat in the +shade with his back turned to the window.</p> + +<p>But if he had cast even one look at Pan Andrei’s face he would have +seen that in the young envoy something wonderful was taking place; for +Kmita’s face was pale, on his forehead stood thick drops of sweat, and +his hands shook convulsively. After a while he rose from the chair, but +sat down again immediately, like a man struggling with himself and +suppressing an outburst of anger or despair. Finally his features +settled and became fixed; evidently he had with his whole strong +force of will and energy enjoined calm on himself and gained complete +self-control.</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” said he, “from the confidence which the prince hetman +bestows on me you see that he does not wish to make a secret of +anything. I belong soul and substance to his work; with him and your +highness my fortune may increase; therefore, whither you both go, +thither go I also. I am ready for everything. But though I serve in +those affairs and am occupied in them, still I do not of course +understand everything perfectly, nor can I penetrate all the secrets of +them with my weak wit.”</p> + +<p>“What do you wish then, Sir Cavalier, or rather, fair cousin?”</p> + +<p>“I ask instruction, your highness; it would be a shame indeed were I +unable to learn at the side of such statesmen. I know not whether your +highness will be pleased to answer me without reserve—”</p> + +<p>“That will depend on your question and on my humor,” answered Boguslav, +not ceasing to look at the mirror.</p> + +<p>Kmita’s eyes glittered for a moment, but he continued calmly,—</p> + +<p>“This is my question: The prince voevoda of Vilna shields all his acts +with the good and salvation of the Commonwealth, so that in fact the +Commonwealth is never absent from his lips; be pleased to tell me +sincerely, are these mere pretexts, or has the hetman in truth nothing +but the good of the Commonwealth in view?”</p> + +<p>Boguslav cast a quick glance on Pan Andrei. “If I should say that they +are pretexts, would you give further service?”</p> + +<p>Kmita shrugged his shoulders carelessly. “Of course! As I have said, my +fortune will increase with the fortune of your highness and that of the +hetman. If that increase comes, the rest is all one to me.”</p> + +<p>“You will be a man! Remember that I foretell this. But why has my +cousin not spoken openly with you?”</p> + +<p>“Maybe because he is squeamish, or just because it did not happen to be +the topic.”</p> + +<p>“You have quick wit, Cousin Cavalier, for it is the real truth that he +is squeamish and shows his true skin unwillingly. As God is dear to me, +true! Such is his nature. So, even in talking with me, the moment he +forgets himself he begins to adorn his speech with love for the +country. When I laugh at him to his eyes, he comes to his senses. True! +true!”</p> + +<p>“Then it is merely a pretext?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>The prince turned the chair around and sat astride of it, as on a +horse, and resting his arms on the back of it was silent awhile, as if +in thought; then he said,—</p> + +<p>“Hear me, Pan Kmita. If we Radzivills lived in Spain, France, or +Sweden, where the son inherits after the father, and where the right of +the king comes from God himself, then, leaving aside civil war, +extinction of the royal stock, or some uncommon event, we should serve +the king and the country firmly, being content with the highest offices +which belong to us by family and fortune. But here, in the land where +the king has not divine right at his back, but the nobles create +him, where everything is in free suffrage, we ask ourselves with +reason,—Why should a Vaza rule, and not a Radzivill? There is no +objection so far as the Vazas are concerned, for they take their origin +from hereditary kings; but who will assure us, who will guarantee that +after the Vazas the nobles will not have the whim of seating on the +throne of the kingdom and on the throne of the Grand Principality even +Pan Harasimovich, or some Pan Myeleshko, or some Pan Pyeglasyevich from +Psivolki? Tfu! can I guess whom they may fancy? And must we, +Radzivills, and princes of the German Empire, come to kiss the hand of +King Pyeglasyevich? Tfu! to all the horned devils, Cavalier, it is time +to finish with this! Look meanwhile at Germany,—how many provincial +princes there, who in importance and fortune are fitted to be +under-starostas for us. Still they have their principalities, they +rule, wear crowns on their heads, and take precedence of us, though it +would be fitter for them to bear the trains of our mantles. It is time +to put an end to this, and accomplish that which was already planned by +my father.”</p> + +<p>Here the prince grew vivacious, rose from the chair, and began to walk +through the room.</p> + +<p>“This will not take place without difficulty and obstacles,” continued +he, “for the Radzivills of Olyta and Nyesvyej are not willing to aid +us. I know that Prince Michael wrote to my cousin that he would better +think of a hair-shirt than of a royal mantle. Let him think of a +hair-shirt himself, let him do penance, let him sit on ashes, let the +Jesuits lash his skin with disciplines; if he is content with being a +royal carver, let him carve capons virtuously all his virtuous life, +till his virtuous death! We shall get on without him and not drop our +hands, for just now is the time. The devils are taking the +Commonwealth; for now it is so weak, has gone to such dogs, that it +cannot drive them away. Every one is crawling in over its boundaries, +as into an unfenced garden. What has happened here with the Swedes has +happened nowhere on earth to this day. We, Sir Cavalier, may sing in +truth ‘Te Deum laudamus.’ In its way the event is unheard of, +unparalleled. Just think: an invader attacks a country, an invader +famous for rapacity; and not only does he not find resistance, +but every living man deserts his old king and hurries to a new +one,—magnates, nobles, the army, castles, towns, all,—without honor, +without fame, without feeling, without shame! History gives not another +such example. Tfu! tfu! trash inhabit this country,—men without +conscience or ambition. And is such a country not to perish? They are +looking for our favor! Ye will have favor! In Great Poland already the +Swedes are thumb-screwing nobles; and so will it be everywhere,—it +cannot be otherwise.”</p> + +<p>Kmita grew paler and paler, but with the remnant of his strength he +held in curb an outburst of fury; the prince, absorbed in his own +speech, delighted with his own words, with his own wisdom, paid no +attention to his listener, and continued,—</p> + +<p>“There is a custom in this land that when a man is dying his relatives +at the last moment pull the pillow from under his head, so that he may +not suffer longer. I and the prince voevoda of Vilna have determined to +render this special service to the Commonwealth. But because many +plunderers are watching for the inheritance and we cannot get it all, +we wish that a part, and that no small one, should come to us. As +relatives, we have that right. If with this comparison I have not +spoken on a level with your understanding, and have not been able to +hit the point, I will tell you in other words: Suppose the Commonwealth +a red cloth at which are pulling the Swedes, Hmelnitski, the +Hyperboreans,<a name="div2Ref_23" href="#div2_23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> the Tartars, the elector, and whosoever lives around. +But I and the prince voevoda of Vilna have agreed that enough of that +cloth must remain in our hands to make a robe for us; therefore we do +not prevent the dragging, but we drag ourselves. Let Hmelnitski +stay in the Ukraine; let the Swedes and the elector settle about +Prussia and Great Poland; let Rakotsy, or whoever is nearer, take +Little Poland,—Lithuania must be for Prince Yanush, and, together with +his daughter, for me.”</p> + +<p>Kmita rose quickly. “I give thanks, your highness; that is all I wanted +to know.”</p> + +<p>“You are going out, Sir Cavalier?”</p> + +<p>“I am.”</p> + +<p>The prince looked carefully at Kmita, and at that moment first noted +his pallor and excitement.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter, Pan Kmita?” asked he. “You look like a ghost.”</p> + +<p>“Weariness has knocked me off my feet, and my head is dizzy. Farewell, +your highness; I will come before starting, to bow to you again.”</p> + +<p>“Make haste, then, for I start after midday myself.”</p> + +<p>“I shall return in an hour at furthest.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, Kmita bent his head and went out. In the other +room the servants rose at sight of him, but he passed like a drunken +man, seeing no one. At the threshold of the room he caught his head +with both hands, and began to repeat, almost with a groan,—</p> + +<p>“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews! Jesus, Mary, Joseph!”</p> + +<p>With tottering steps he passed through the guard, composed of six men +with halberds. Outside the gate were his own men, the sergeant Soroka +at the head of them.</p> + +<p>“After me!” called Kmita. And he moved through the town toward the inn.</p> + +<p>Soroka, an old soldier of Kmita’s, knowing him perfectly, noticed at +once that something uncommon had happened to the colonel.</p> + +<p>“Let your soul be on guard,” said he quietly to the men; “woe to him on +whom his anger falls now!”</p> + +<p>The soldiers hastened their steps in silence, but Kmita did not go at a +walk; he almost ran, waving his hand and repeating words well-nigh +incoherent.</p> + +<p>To the ears of Soroka came only broken phrases,—</p> + +<p>“Poisoners, faith-breakers, traitors! Crime and treason,—the two are +the same—”</p> + +<p>Then he began to mention his old comrades. The names Kokosinski, +Kulvyets, Ranitski, Rekuts, and others fell from his lips one after +another; a number of times he mentioned Volodyovski. Soroka heard this +with wonder, and grew more and more alarmed; but in his mind he +thought,—</p> + +<p>“Some one’s blood will flow; it cannot be otherwise.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile they had come to the inn. Kmita shut himself in his room at +once, and for about an hour he gave no sign of life. The soldiers +meanwhile had tied on the packs and saddled the horses without order.</p> + +<p>“That is no harm,” said Soroka; “it is necessary to be ready for +everything.”</p> + +<p>“We too are ready!” answered the old fighters, moving their mustaches.</p> + +<p>In fact, it came out soon that Soroka knew his colonel well; for Kmita +appeared suddenly in the front room, without a cap, in his trousers and +shirt only.</p> + +<p>“Saddle the horses!” cried he.</p> + +<p>“They are saddled.”</p> + +<p>“Fasten on the packs!”</p> + +<p>“They are fastened.”</p> + +<p>“A ducat a man!” cried the young colonel, who in spite of all his fever +and excitement saw that those soldiers had guessed his thought quickly.</p> + +<p>“We give thanks, Commander!” cried all in chorus.</p> + +<p>“Two men will take the pack-horses and go out of the place immediately +toward Dembova. Go slowly through the town; outside the town put the +horses on a gallop, and stop not till the forest is reached.”</p> + +<p>“According to command!”</p> + +<p>“Four others load their pistols. For me saddle two horses, and let +another be ready.”</p> + +<p>“I knew there would be something!” muttered Soroka.</p> + +<p>“Now, Sergeant, after me!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>And undressed as he was, in trousers only, and open shirt, he went out +of the front room. Soroka followed him, opening his eyes widely with +wonder; they went in this fashion to the well in the yard of the inn. +Here Kmita stopped, and pointing to the bucket hanging from the sweep, +said,—</p> + +<p>“Pour water on my head!”</p> + +<p>Soroka knew from experience how dangerous it was to ask twice about an +order; he seized the rope, let the bucket down into the water, drew up +quickly, and taking the bucket in his hands, threw the water on Pan +Andrei, who, puffing and blowing like a whale, rubbed his wet hair with +his hands, and cried,—</p> + +<p>“More!”</p> + +<p>Soroka repeated the act, and threw water with all his force, just as if +he were putting out a fire.</p> + +<p>“Enough!” said Kmita, at length. “Follow me, help me to dress.”</p> + +<p>Both went to the inn. At the gate they met the two men going out with +two pack-horses.</p> + +<p>“Slowly through the town; outside the town on a gallop!” commanded +Kmita; and he went in.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later he appeared dressed completely, as if for the road, +with high boots and an elkskin coat, girded with a leather belt into +which was thrust a pistol.</p> + +<p>The soldiers noticed, too, that from under his kaftan gleamed the edge +of chain mail, as if he were going to battle. He had his sabre also +girt high, so as to seize the hilt more easily. His face was calm +enough, but stern and threatening. Casting a glance at the soldiers to +see if they were ready and armed properly, he mounted his horse, and +throwing a ducat at the innkeeper, rode out of the place.</p> + +<p>Soroka rode at his side; three others behind, leading a horse. Soon +they found themselves on the square filled by Boguslav’s troops. There +was movement among them already; evidently the command had come to +prepare for the road. The horsemen were tightening the girths of the +saddle and bridling the horses; the infantry were taking their muskets, +stacked before the houses; others were attaching horses to wagons.</p> + +<p>Kmita started as it were from meditation.</p> + +<p>“Hear me, old man,” said he to Soroka; “from the starosta’s house does +the road go on,—it will not be necessary to come back through the +square?”</p> + +<p>“But where are we going, Colonel?”</p> + +<p>“To Dembova.”</p> + +<p>“Then we must go from the square past the house. The square will be +behind us.”</p> + +<p>“It is well,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Oh, if only those men were alive now! Few are fitted for work like +this,—few!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile they passed the square, and began to turn toward the +starosta’s house, which lay about one furlong and a half farther on, +near the roadside.</p> + +<p>“Stop!” cried Kmita, suddenly.</p> + +<p>The soldiers halted, and he turned to them. “Are you ready for death?” +asked he, abruptly.</p> + +<p>“Ready!” answered in chorus these dare-devils of Orsha.</p> + +<p>“We crawled up to Hovanski’s throat, and he did not devour us,—do you +remember?”</p> + +<p>“We remember!”</p> + +<p>“There is need to dare great things to-day. If success comes, our +gracious king will make lords of you,—I guarantee that! If failure, +you will go to the stake!”</p> + +<p>“Why not success?” asked Soroka, whose eyes began to gleam like those +of an old wolf.</p> + +<p>“There will be success!” said three others,—Biloüs, Zavratynski, and +Lubyenyets.</p> + +<p>“We must carry off the prince marshal!” said Kmita. Then he was silent, +wishing to see the impression which the mad thought would make on the +soldiers. But they were silent too, and looked on him as on a rainbow; +only, their mustaches quivered, and their faces became terrible and +murderous.</p> + +<p>“The stake is near, the reward far away,” added Kmita.</p> + +<p>“There are few of us,” muttered Zavratynski.</p> + +<p>“It is worse than against Hovanski,” said Lubyenyets.</p> + +<p>“The troops are all in the market-square, and at the house are only the +sentries and about twenty attendants,” said Kmita, “who are off their +guard, and have not even swords at their sides.”</p> + +<p>“You risk your head; why should we not risk ours?” said Soroka.</p> + +<p>“Hear me,” continued Kmita. “If we do not take him by cunning, we shall +not take him at all. Listen! I will go into the room, and after a time +come out with the prince. If the prince will sit on my horse, I will +sit on the other, and we will ride on. When we have ridden about a +hundred or a hundred and fifty yards, then seize him from both sides by +the shoulders, and gallop the horses with all breath.”</p> + +<p>“According to order!” answered Soroka.</p> + +<p>“If I do not come out,” continued Kmita, “and you hear a shot in the +room, then open on the guards with pistols, and give me the horse as I +rush from the door.”</p> + +<p>“That will be done,” answered Soroka.</p> + +<p>“Forward!” commanded Kmita.</p> + +<p>They moved on, and a quarter of an hour later halted at the gate of the +starosta’s house. At the gate were six guards with halberds; at the +door of the anteroom four men were standing. Around a carriage in the +front yard were occupied equerries and outriders, whom an attendant of +consequence was overseeing,—a foreigner, as might be known from his +dress and wig.</p> + +<p>Farther on, near the carriage-house, horses were being attached to two +other carriages, to which gigantic Turkish grooms were carrying packs. +Over these watched a man dressed in black, with a face like that of a +doctor or an astrologer.</p> + +<p>Kmita announced himself as he had previously, through the officer of +the day, who returned soon and asked him to the prince.</p> + +<p>“How are you, Cavalier?” asked the prince, joyfully. “You left me so +suddenly that I thought scruples had risen in you from my words, and I +did not expect to see you again.”</p> + +<p>“Of course I could not go without making my obeisance.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I thought: the prince voevoda has known whom to send on a +confidential mission. I make use of you also, for I give you letters to +a number of important persons, and to the King of Sweden himself. But +why armed as if for battle?”</p> + +<p>“I am going among confederates; I have heard right here in this place, +and your highness has confirmed the report, that a confederate squadron +passed. Even here in Pilvishki they brought a terrible panic on +Zolotarenko’s men, for a famed soldier is leading that squadron.”</p> + +<p>“Who is he?”</p> + +<p>“Pan Volodyovski; and with him are Mirski, Oskyerko, and the two +Skshetuskis,—one that man of Zbaraj, whose wife your highness wanted +to besiege in Tykotsin. All rebelled against the prince voevoda; and it +is a pity, for they were good soldiers. What is to be done? There are +still fools in the Commonwealth who are unwilling to pull the red cloth +with Cossacks and Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“There is never a lack of fools in the world, and especially in this +country,” said the prince. “Here are the letters; and besides, when you +see his Swedish grace, say as if in confidence that in heart I am as +much his adherent as my cousin, but for the time I must dissemble.”</p> + +<p>“Who is not forced to that?” answered Kmita. “Every man dissembles, +especially if he thinks to do something great.”</p> + +<p>“That is surely the case. Acquit yourself well, Sir Cavalier, I will be +thankful to you, and will not let the hetman surpass me in rewarding.”</p> + +<p>“If the favor of your highness is such, I ask reward in advance.”</p> + +<p>“You have it! Surely my cousin has not furnished you over abundantly +for the road. There is a serpent in his money-box.”</p> + +<p>“May God guard me from asking money! I did not ask it of the hetman, +and I will not take it from your highness. I am at my own expense, and +I will remain so.”</p> + +<p>Prince Boguslav looked at the young knight with wonder. “I see that in +truth the Kmitas are not of those who look at men’s hands. What is your +wish then, Sir Cavalier?”</p> + +<p>“The matter is as follows: without thinking carefully in Kyedani, I +took a horse of high blood, so as to show myself before the Swedes. I +do not exaggerate when I say there is not a better in the stables of +Kyedani. Now I am sorry for him, and I am afraid to injure him on the +road, in the stables of inns, or for want of rest. And as accidents are +not hard to meet, he may fall into enemies’ hands, even those of that +Volodyovski, who personally is terribly hostile to me. I have thought, +therefore, to beg your highness to take him to keep and use until I ask +for him at a more convenient time.”</p> + +<p>“Better sell him to me.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible,—it would be like selling a friend. At a small estimate +that horse has taken me a hundred times out of the greatest danger; for +he has this virtue too, that in battle he bites the enemy savagely.”</p> + +<p>“Is he such a good horse?” asked Prince Boguslav, with lively interest.</p> + +<p>“Is he good? If I were sure your highness would not be offended, I +would bet a hundred gold florins without looking, that your highness +has not such a one in your stables.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe I would bet, if it were not that to-day is not the time for a +trial. I will keep him willingly, though; if possible, I would buy. But +where is this wonder kept?”</p> + +<p>“My men are holding him just here in front of the gate. As to his being +a wonder, he is a wonder; for it is no exaggeration to say that the +Sultan might covet such a horse. He is not of this country, but from +Anatolia; and in Anatolia, as I think, only one such was found.”</p> + +<p>“Then let us look at him.”</p> + +<p>“I serve your highness.”</p> + +<p>Before the gate Kmita’s men were holding two horses completely +equipped: one was indeed of high breed, black as a raven, with a star +on his forehead, and a white fetlock to a leg like a lance; he neighed +slightly at sight of his master.</p> + +<p>“I guess that to be the one,” said Boguslav. “I do not know whether he +is such a wonder as you say, but in truth he is a fine horse.”</p> + +<p>“Try him!” cried Kmita; “or no, I will mount him myself!”</p> + +<p>The soldiers gave Kmita the horse; he mounted, and began to ride around +near the gate. Under the skilled rider the horse seemed doubly +beautiful. His prominent eyes gained brightness as he moved at a trot; +he seemed to blow forth inner fire through his nostrils, while the wind +unfolded his mane. Pan Kmita described a circle, changed his gait; at +last he rode straight on the prince, so that the nostrils of the horse +were not a yard from his face, and cried,—</p> + +<p>“Halt!”</p> + +<p>The horse stopped with his four feet resisting, and stood as if fixed +to the ground.</p> + +<p>“What do you say?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“The eyes and legs of a deer, the gait of a wolf, the nostrils of an +elk, and the breast of a woman!” said Boguslav. “Here is all that is +needed. Does he understand German command?”</p> + +<p>“Yes; for my horse-trainer Zend, who was a Courlander, taught him.”</p> + +<p>“And the beast is swift?”</p> + +<p>“The wind cannot come up with him; a Tartar cannot escape him.”</p> + +<p>“Your trainer must have been a good one, for I see that the horse is +highly taught.”</p> + +<p>“Is he taught? Your highness will not believe. He goes so in the rank +that when the line is moving at a trot, you may let the reins drop and +he will not push one half of his nose beyond the line. If your highness +will be pleased to try, and if in two furlongs he will push beyond the +others half a head, then I will give him as a gift.”</p> + +<p>“That would be the greatest wonder, not to advance with dropped reins.”</p> + +<p>“It is wonderful and convenient, for both hands of the rider are free. +More than once have I had a sabre in one hand and a pistol in the +other, and the horse went alone.”</p> + +<p>“But if the rank turns?”</p> + +<p>“Then he will turn too without breaking the line.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible!” exclaimed the prince; “no horse will do that. I have seen +in France horses of the king’s musketeers, greatly trained, of purpose +not to spoil the court ceremonies, but still it was necessary to guide +them with reins.”</p> + +<p>“The wit of man is in this horse. Let your highness try him yourself.”</p> + +<p>“Give him here!” said the prince, after a moment’s thought.</p> + +<p>Kmita held the horse till Boguslav mounted. He sprang lightly into the +saddle, and began to pat the steed on his shining neck.</p> + +<p>“A wonderful thing,” said he; “the best horses shed their hair in the +autumn, but this one is as if he had come out of water. In what +direction shall we go?”</p> + +<p>“Let us move in a line, and if your highness permits, toward the +forest. The road is even and broad, but in the direction of the town +some wagon might come in the way.”</p> + +<p>“Let us ride toward the forest.”</p> + +<p>“Just two furlongs. Let your highness drop the reins and start on a +gallop. Two men on each side, and I will ride a little behind.”</p> + +<p>“Take your places!” said the prince.</p> + +<p>The line was formed; they turned the horses’ heads from the town. The +prince was in the middle.</p> + +<p>“Forward!” said he. “On a gallop from the start,—march!”</p> + +<p>The line shot on, and after a certain time was moving like a whirlwind. +A cloud of dust hid them from the eyes of the attendants and equerries, +who, collecting in a crowd at the gate, looked with curiosity at the +racing. The trained horses going at the highest speed, snorting from +effort, had run already a furlong or more; and the prince’s steed, +though not held by the reins, did not push forward an inch. They ran +another furlong. Kmita turned, and seeing behind only a cloud of dust, +through which the starosta’s house could barely be seen, and the people +standing before it not at all, cried with a terrible voice,—</p> + +<p>“Take him!”</p> + +<p>At this moment Biloüs and the gigantic Zavratynski seized both arms of +the prince, and squeezed them till the bones cracked in their joints, +and holding him in their iron fists, put spurs to their own horses.</p> + +<p>The prince’s horse in the middle held the line, neither pushing ahead +nor holding back an inch. Astonishment, fright, the whirlwind beating +in his face, deprived Prince Boguslav of speech for the first moment. +He struggled once and a second time,—without result, however, for pain +from his twisted arms pierced him through.</p> + +<p>“What is this, ruffians? Know ye not who I am?” cried he at last.</p> + +<p>Thereupon Kmita pushed him with the barrel of the pistol between the +shoulders. “Resistance is useless; it will only bring a bullet in your +body!” cried he.</p> + +<p>“Traitor!” said the prince.</p> + +<p>“But who are you?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>And they galloped on farther.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<p>They ran long through the pine-forest with such speed that the trees by +the roadside seemed to flee backward in panic; inns, huts of forest +guards, pitch-clearings, flashed by, and at times wagons singly or a +few together, going to Pilvishki. From time to time Boguslav bent +forward in the saddle as if to struggle; but his arms were only +wrenched the more painfully in the iron hands of the soldiers, while +Pan Andrei held the pistol-barrel between the princess shoulders again, +and they rushed on till the white foam was falling in flakes from the +horses.</p> + +<p>At last they were forced to slacken the speed, for breath failed both +men and beasts, and Pilvishki was so far behind that all possibility of +pursuit had ceased. They rode on then a certain time at a walk and in +silence, surrounded by a cloud of steam, which was issuing from the +horses.</p> + +<p>For a long time the prince said nothing; he was evidently trying to +calm himself and cool his blood. When he had done this he asked,—</p> + +<p>“Whither are you taking me?”</p> + +<p>“Your highness will know that at the end of the road,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>Boguslav was silent, but after a while said, “Cavalier, command these +trash to let me go, for they are pulling out my arms. If you command +them to do so, they will only hang; if not, they will go to the stake.”</p> + +<p>“They are nobles, not trash,” answered Kmita; “and as to the punishment +which your highness threatens, it is not known whom death will strike +first.”</p> + +<p>“Know ye on whom ye have raised hands?” asked the prince, turning to +the soldiers.</p> + +<p>“We know,” answered they.</p> + +<p>“By a million horned devils!” cried Boguslav, with an outburst. “Will +you command these people to let me go, or not?”</p> + +<p>“Your highness, I will order them to bind your arms behind your back; +then you will be quieter.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible! You will put my arms quite out of joint.”</p> + +<p>“I would give orders to let another off on his word that he would not +try to escape, but you know how to break your word,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“I will give another word,” answered the prince,—“that not only will I +escape at the first opportunity, but I will have you torn apart with +horses, when you fall into my hands.”</p> + +<p>“What God wants to give, he gives!” said Kmita. “But I prefer a sincere +threat to a lying promise. Let go his hands, only hold his horse by the +bridle; but, your highness, look here! I have but to touch the trigger +to put a bullet into your body, and I shall not miss, for I never miss. +Sit quietly; do not try to escape.”</p> + +<p>“I do not care, Cavalier, for you or your pistol.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, the prince stretched his aching arms, to +straighten them and shake off the numbness. The soldiers caught the +horse’s bridle on both sides, and led him on.</p> + +<p>After a while Boguslav said, “You dare not look me in the eyes, Pan +Kmita; you hide in the rear.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed!” answered Kmita; and urging forward his horse, he pushed +Zavratynski away, and seizing the reins of the prince’s horse, he +looked Boguslav straight in the face. “And how is my horse? Have I +added even one virtue?”</p> + +<p>“A good horse!” answered the prince. “If you wish, I will buy him.”</p> + +<p>“This horse deserves a better fate than to carry a traitor till his +death.”</p> + +<p>“You are a fool, Pan Kmita.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, for I believed the Radzivills.”</p> + +<p>Again came a moment of silence, which was broken by the prince.</p> + +<p>“Tell me, Pan Kmita, are you sure that you are in your right mind, that +your reason has not left you? Have you asked yourself what you have +done, madman? Has it not come to your head that as things are now it +would have been better for you if your mother had not given you birth, +and that no one, not only in Poland, but in all Europe, would have +ventured on such a dare-devil deed?”</p> + +<p>“Then it is clear that there is no great courage in that Europe, for I +have carried off your highness, hold you, and will not let you go.”</p> + +<p>“It can only be an affair with a madman,” said the prince, as if to +himself.</p> + +<p>“My gracious prince,” answered Pan Andrei, “you are in my hands; be +reconciled to that, and waste not words in vain. Pursuit will not come +up, for your men think to this moment that you have come off with me +voluntarily. When my men took you by the arms no one saw it, for the +dust covered us; and even if there were no dust, neither the equerries +nor the guards could have seen, it was so far. They will wait for you +two hours; the third hour they will be impatient, the fourth and fifth +uneasy, and the sixth will send out men in search; but we meanwhile +shall be beyond Maryapole.”</p> + +<p>“What of that?”</p> + +<p>“This, that they will not pursue; and even if they should start +immediately in pursuit, your horses are just from the road, while ours +are fresh. Even if by some miracle they should come up, that would +not save you, for, as truly as you see me here, I should open your +head,—which I shall do if nothing else is possible. This is the +position! Radzivill has a court, an army, cannon, dragoons; Kmita has +six men, and Kmita holds Radzivill by the neck.”</p> + +<p>“What further?” asked the prince.</p> + +<p>“Nothing further! We will go where it pleases me. Thank God, your +highness, that you are alive; for were it not that I gave orders to +throw many gallons of water on my head to-day, you would be in the +other world already, that is, in hell, for two reasons,—as a traitor +and as a Calvinist.”</p> + +<p>“And would you have dared to do that?”</p> + +<p>“Without praising myself I say that your highness would not easily find +an undertaking on which I would not venture; you have the best proof of +that in yourself.”</p> + +<p>The prince looked carefully at the young man and said, “Cavalier, the +devil has written on your face that you are ready for anything, and +that is the reason why I have a proof in myself. I tell you, indeed, +that you have been able to astonish me with your boldness, and that is +no easy thing.”</p> + +<p>“That’s all one to me. Give thanks to God, your highness, that you are +alive yet, and quits.”</p> + +<p>“No, Cavalier. First of all, do you thank God; for if one hair had +fallen from my head, then know that the Radzivills would find you even +under the earth. If you think that because there is disunion between us +and those of Nyesvyej and Olyta, and that they will not pursue you, you +are mistaken. Radzivill blood must be avenged, an awful example must be +given, otherwise there would be no life for us in this Commonwealth. +You cannot hide abroad, either: the Emperor of Germany will give you +up, for I am a prince of the German Empire; the Elector of Brandenburg +is my uncle; the Prince of Orange is his brother-in-law; the King and +Queen of France and their ministers are my friends. Where will you +hide? The Turks and Tartars will sell you, though we had to give them +half our fortune. You will not find on earth a corner, nor such +deserts, nor such people—”</p> + +<p>“It is a wonder to me,” replied Kmita, “that your highness takes such +thought in advance for my safety. A great person a Radzivill! Still I +have only to touch a trigger.”</p> + +<p>“I do not deny that. More than once it has happened in the world that a +great man died at the hands of a common one. A camp-follower killed +Pompey; French kings perished at the hands of low people. Without going +farther, the same thing happened to my great father. But I ask you what +will come next?”</p> + +<p>“What is that to me? I have never taken much thought of what will be +to-morrow. If it comes to close quarters with all the Radzivills, God +knows who will be warmed up best. The sword has been long hanging over +my head, but the moment I close my eyes I sleep as sweetly as a suslik. +And if one Radzivill is not enough for me, I will carry off a second, +and a third.”</p> + +<p>“As God is dear to me, Cavalier, you please me much; for I repeat that +you alone in Europe could dare a deed like this. The beast does not +care, nor mind what will come to-morrow. I love daring people, and +there are fewer and fewer of them in the world. Just think! he has +carried off a Radzivill and holds him as his own. Where were you reared +in this fashion, Cavalier? Whence do you come?”</p> + +<p>“I am banneret of Orsha.”</p> + +<p>“Pan Banneret of Orsha, I grieve that the Radzivills are losing a man +like you, for with such men much might be done. If it were not a +question of myself—h’m! I would spare nothing to win you.”</p> + +<p>“Too late!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“That is to be understood,” answered the prince. “Much too late! But I +tell you beforehand that I will order you only to be shot, for you are +worthy to die a soldier’s death. What an incarnate devil to carry me +off from the midst of my men!”</p> + +<p>Kmita made no answer; the prince meditated awhile, then cried,—</p> + +<p>“If you free me at once, I will not take vengeance. Only give me your +word that you will tell no one of this, and command your men to be +silent.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible!” replied Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Do you want a ransom?”</p> + +<p>“I do not.”</p> + +<p>“What the devil, then, did you carry me off for? I cannot understand +it.”</p> + +<p>“It would take a long time to tell. I will tell your highness later.”</p> + +<p>“But what have we to do on the road unless to talk? Acknowledge, +Cavalier, one thing: you carried me off in a moment of anger and +desperation, and now you don’t know well what to do with me.”</p> + +<p>“That is my affair!” answered Kmita; “and if I do not know what to do, +it will soon be seen.”</p> + +<p>Impatience was depicted on Prince Boguslav’s face.</p> + +<p>“You are not over-communicative, Pan Banneret of Orsha; but answer me +one question at least sincerely: Did you come to me, to Podlyasye, with +a plan already formed of attacking my person, or did it enter your head +in the last moment?”</p> + +<p>“To that I can answer your highness sincerely, for my lips are burning +to tell you why I left your cause; and while I am alive, while there is +breath in my body, I shall not return to it. The prince voevoda of +Vilna deceived me, and in advance brought me to swear on the crucifix +that I would not leave him till death.”</p> + +<p>“And you are keeping the oath well. There is nothing to be said on that +point.”</p> + +<p>“True!” cried Kmita, violently. “If I have lost my soul, if I must be +damned, it is through the Radzivills. But I give myself to the mercy of +God, and I would rather lose my soul, I would rather burn eternally, +than to sin longer with knowledge and willingly,—than to serve longer, +knowing that I serve sin and treason. May God have mercy on me! I +prefer to burn, I prefer a hundred times to burn; I should burn surely, +if I remained with you. I have nothing to lose; but at least I shall +say at the judgment of God: ‘I knew not what I was swearing, and had I +discovered that I had sworn treason to the country, destruction to the +Polish name, I should have broken the oath right there.’ Now let the +Lord God be my judge.”</p> + +<p>“To the question, to the question!” said Boguslav, calmly.</p> + +<p>But Pan Andrei breathed heavily, and rode on some time in silence, with +frowning brow and eyes fixed on the earth, like a man bowed down by +misfortune.</p> + +<p>“To the question!” repeated the prince.</p> + +<p>Kmita roused himself as if from a dream, shook his head, and said,—</p> + +<p>“I believed the prince hetman as I would not have believed my own +father. I remember that banquet at which he announced his union with +the Swedes. What I suffered then, what I passed through, God will +account to me. Others, honorable men, threw their batons at his feet +and remained with their country; but I stood like a stump with the +baton, with shame, with submission, with infamy, in torture, for I was +called traitor to my eyes. And who called me traitor? Oi, better not +say, lest I forget myself, go mad, and put a bullet right here in the +head of your highness. You are the men, you the traitors, the Judases, +who brought me to that.”</p> + +<p>Here Kmita gazed with a terrible expression on the prince, and hatred +came out on his face from the bottom of his soul, like a dragon which +had crawled out of a cave to the light of day; but Boguslav looked at +the young man with a calm, fearless eye. At last he said,—</p> + +<p>“But that interests me, Pan Kmita; speak on.”</p> + +<p>Kmita dropped the bridle of the prince’s horse, and removed his cap as +if wishing to cool his burning head.</p> + +<p>“That same night,” continued he, “I went to the hetman, for he gave +command to call me. I thought to myself, ‘I will renounce his service, +break my oath, suffocate him, choke him with these hands, blow up +Kyedani with powder, and then let happen what may.’ He knew too that +was ready for anything, knew what I was; I saw well that he was +fingering a box in which there were pistols. ‘That is nothing,’ thought +I to myself; ‘either he will miss me or he will kill me.’ But he began +to reason, to speak, to show such a prospect to me, simpleton, and put +himself forward as such a savior, that your highness knows what +happened.”</p> + +<p>“He convinced the young man,” said Boguslav.</p> + +<p>“So that I fell at his feet,” cried Kmita, “and saw in him the father, +the one savior, of the country; so that I gave myself to him soul and +body as to a devil. For him, for his honesty I was ready to hurl myself +headlong from the tower of Kyedani.”</p> + +<p>“I thought such would be the end,” said Boguslav.</p> + +<p>“What I lost in his cause I will not say, but I rendered him important +services. I held in obedience my squadron, which is in Kyedani +now,—God grant to his ruin! Others, who mutinied, I cut up badly. I +stained my hands in brothers’ blood, believing that a stern necessity +for the country. Often my soul was pained at giving command to shoot +honest soldiers; often the nature of a noble rebelled against him, when +one time and another he promised something and did not keep his word. +But I thought: ‘I am simple, he is wise!—it must be done so.’ But +to-day, when I learned for the first time from those letters of the +poisons, the marrow stiffened in my bones. How? Is this the kind of +war? You wish to poison soldiers? And that is to be in hetman fashion? +That is to be the Radzivill method, and am I to carry such letters?”</p> + +<p>“You know nothing of politics, Cavalier,” interrupted Boguslav.</p> + +<p>“May the thunders crush it! Let the criminal Italians practise it, not +a noble whom God has adorned with more honorable blood than others, but +at the same time obliged him to war with a sabre and not with a +drug-shop.”</p> + +<p>“These letters, then, so astonished you that you determined to leave +the Radzivills?”</p> + +<p>“It was not the letters,—I might have thrown them to the hangman, or +tossed them into the fire, for they refer not to my duties; it was not +the letters. I might have refused the mission without leaving the +cause. Do I know what I might have done? I might have joined the +dragoons, or collected a party again, and harried Hovanski as before. +But straightway a suspicion came to me: ‘But do they not wish to poison +the country as well as those soldiers?’ God granted me not to break +out, though my head was burning like a grenade, to remember myself, to +have the power to think: ‘Draw him by the tongue, and discover the +whole truth; betray not what you have at heart, give yourself out as +worse than the Radzivills themselves, and draw him by the tongue.’”</p> + +<p>“Whom,—me?”</p> + +<p>“Yes! God aided me, so that I, simple man, deceived a politician,—so +that your highness, holding me the last of ruffians, hid nothing of +your own ruffianism, confessed everything, told everything, as if it +had been written on the hand. The hair stood on my head, but I listened +and listened to the end. O traitors! arch hell-dwellers! O parricides! +How is it, that a thunderbolt has not stricken you down before now? How +is it that the earth has not swallowed you? So you are treating with +Hmelnitski, with the Swedes, with the elector, with Rakotsy, and with +the devil himself to the destruction of this Commonwealth? Now you want +to cut a mantle out of it for yourself, to sell it to divide it, to +tear your own mother like wolves? Such is your gratitude for all the +benefits heaped on you,—for the offices, the honors, the dignities, +the wealth, the authority, the estates which foreign kings envy you? +And you were ready without regard to those tears, torments, oppression. +Where is your conscience, where your faith, where your honesty? What +monster brought you into the world?”</p> + +<p>“Cavalier,” interrupted Boguslav, coldly, “you have me in your hand, +you can kill me; but I beg one thing, do not bore me.”</p> + +<p>Both were silent.</p> + +<p>However, it appeared plainly, from the words of Kmita, that the soldier +had been able to draw out the naked truth from the diplomat, and that +the prince was guilty of great incautiousness, of a great error in +betraying his most secret plans and those of the hetman. This pricked +his vanity; therefore, not caring to hide his ill-humor, he said,—</p> + +<p>“Do not ascribe it to your own wit merely, Pan Kmita, that you got the +truth from me. I spoke openly, for I thought the prince voevoda knew +people better, and had sent a man worthy of confidence.”</p> + +<p>“The prince voevoda sent a man worthy of confidence,” answered Kmita, +“but you have lost him. Henceforth only scoundrels will serve you.”</p> + +<p>“If the way in which you seized me was not scoundrelly, then may the +sword grow to my hand in the first battle.”</p> + +<p>“It was a stratagem! I learned it in a hard school. You wish, your +highness, to know Kmita. Here he is! I shall not go with empty hands to +our gracious lord.”</p> + +<p>“And you think that a hair of my head will fall from the hand of Yan +Kazimir?”</p> + +<p>“That is a question for the judges, not for me.”</p> + +<p>Suddenly Kmita reined in his horse: “But the letter of the prince +voevoda,—have you that letter on your person?”</p> + +<p>“If I had, I would not give it. The letter remained in Pilvishki.”</p> + +<p>“Search him!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>The soldiers seized the prince again by the arms. Soroka began to +search his pockets. After a while he found the letter.</p> + +<p>“Here is one document against you and your works,” said Pan Andrei, +taking the letter. “The King of Poland will know from it what you have +in view; the Swedish King will know too, that although now you are +serving him, the prince voevoda reserves to himself freedom to withdraw +if the Swedish foot stumbles. All your treasons will come out, all your +machinations. But I have, besides, other letters,—to the King of +Sweden, to Wittemberg, to Radzeyovski. You are great and powerful; +still I am not sure that it will not be too narrow for you in this +Commonwealth, when both kings will prepare a recompense worthy of your +treasons.”</p> + +<p>Prince Boguslav’s eyes gleamed with ill-omened light, but after a while +he mastered his anger and said,—</p> + +<p>“Well, Cavalier! For life or death between us! We have met! You may +cause us trouble and much evil, but I say this: No man has dared +hitherto to do in this country what you have done. Woe be to you and to +yours!”</p> + +<p>“I have a sabre to defend myself, and I have something to redeem my own +with,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“You have me as a hostage,” said the prince.</p> + +<p>And in spite of all his anger he breathed calmly; he understood one +thing at this moment, that in no case was his life threatened,—that +his person was too much needed by Kmita.</p> + +<p>Then they went again at a trot, and after an hour’s ride they saw two +horsemen, each of whom led a pair of packhorses. They were Kmita’s men +sent in advance from Pilvishki.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“The horses are terribly tired, for we have not rested yet.”</p> + +<p>“We shall rest right away!”</p> + +<p>“There is a cabin at the turn, maybe ’tis a public house.”</p> + +<p>“Let the sergeant push on to prepare oats. Public house or not, we must +halt.”</p> + +<p>“According to order, Commander.”</p> + +<p>Soroka gave reins to the horses, and they followed him slowly. Kmita +rode at one side of the prince, Lubyenyets at the other. Boguslav had +become completely calm and quiet; he did not draw Pan Andrei into +further conversation. He seemed to be exhausted by the journey, or by +the position in which he found himself, and dropping his head somewhat +on his breast, closed his eyes. Still from time to time he cast a side +look now at Kmita, now at Lubyenyets, who held the reins of the horse, +as if studying to discover who would be the easier to overturn so as to +wrest himself free.</p> + +<p>They approached the building situated on the roadside at a bulge of the +forest. It was not a public house, but a forge and a wheelwright-shop, +in which those going by the road stopped to shoe their horses and mend +their wagons. Between the forge and the road there was a small open +area, sparsely covered with trampled grass; fragments of wagons and +broken wheels lay thrown here and there on that place, but there were +no travellers. Soroka’s horses stood tied to a post. Soroka himself was +talking before the forge to the blacksmith, a Tartar, and two of his +assistants.</p> + +<p>“We shall not have an over-abundant repast,” said the prince; “there is +nothing to be had here.”</p> + +<p>“We have food and spirits with us,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“That is well! We shall need strength.”</p> + +<p>They halted. Kmita thrust his pistol behind his belt, sprang from the +saddle, and giving his horse to Soroka, seized again the reins of the +prince’s horse, which however Lubyenyets had not let go from his hand +on the other side.</p> + +<p>“Your highness will dismount!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Why is that? I will eat and drink in the saddle,” said the prince, +bending down.</p> + +<p>“I beg you to come to the ground!” said Kmita, threateningly.</p> + +<p>“But into the ground with you!” cried the prince, with a terrible +voice; and drawing with the quickness of lightning the pistol from +Kmita’s belt, he thundered into his very face.</p> + +<p>“Jesus, Mary!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>At this moment the horse under the prince struck with spurs reared so +that he stood almost erect; the prince turned like a snake in the +saddle toward Lubyenyets, and with all the strength of his powerful arm +struck him with the pistol between the eyes.</p> + +<p>Lubyenyets roared terribly and fell from the horse.</p> + +<p>Before the others could understand what had happened, before they had +drawn breath, before the cry of fright had died on their lips, Boguslav +scattered them as a storm would have done, rushed from the square to +the road, and shot on like a whirlwind toward Pilvishki.</p> + +<p>“Seize him! Hold him! Kill him!” cried wild voices.</p> + +<p>Three soldiers who were sitting yet on the horses rushed after him; but +Soroka seized a musket standing at the wall, and aimed at the fleeing +man, or rather at his horse.</p> + +<p>The horse stretched out like a deer, and moved forward like an arrow +urged from the string. The shot thundered. Soroka rushed through the +smoke for a better view of what he had done; he shaded his eyes with +his hand, gazed awhile, and cried at last,—</p> + +<p>“Missed!”</p> + +<p>At this moment Boguslav disappeared beyond the bend, and after him +vanished the pursuers.</p> + +<p>Then Soroka turned to the blacksmith and his assistants, who were +looking up to that moment with dumb astonishment at what had happened, +and cried,—</p> + +<p>“Water!”</p> + +<p>The blacksmith ran to draw water, and Soroka knelt near Pan Andrei, who +was lying motionless. Kmita’s face was covered with powder from the +discharge, and with drops of blood; his eyes were closed, his left brow +and left temple were blackened. The sergeant began first to feel +lightly with his fingers the head of his colonel.</p> + +<p>“His head is sound.”</p> + +<p>But Kmita gave no signs of life, and blood came abundantly from his +face. The blacksmith’s assistants brought a bucket of water and a +cloth. Soroka, with equal deliberation and care, began to wipe Kmita’s +face.</p> + +<p>Finally the wound appeared from under the blood and blackness. The ball +had opened Kmita’s left cheek deeply, and had carried away the end of +his ear. Soroka examined to see if his cheek-bone were broken.</p> + +<p>After a while he convinced himself that it was not, and drew a long +breath. Kmita, under the influence of cold water and pain, began to +give signs of life. His face quivered, his breast heaved with breath.</p> + +<p>“He is alive!—nothing! he will be unharmed,” cried Soroka, joyfully; +and a tear rolled down the murderous face of the sergeant.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile at the turn of the road appeared Biloüs, one of the three +soldiers who had followed the prince.</p> + +<p>“Well, what?” called Soroka.</p> + +<p>The soldier shook his head. “Nothing!”</p> + +<p>“Will the others return soon?”</p> + +<p>“The others will not return.”</p> + +<p>With trembling hands the sergeant laid Kmita’s head on the threshold of +the forge, and sprang to his feet. “How is that?”</p> + +<p>“Sergeant, that prince is a wizard! Zavratynski caught up first, for he +had the best horse, and because the prince let him catch up. Before our +eyes Boguslav snatched the sabre from his hand and thrust him through. +We had barely to cry out. Vitkovski was next, and sprang to help; and +him this Radzivill cut down before my eyes, as if a thunderbolt had +struck him. He did not give a sound. I did not wait my turn. Sergeant, +the prince is ready to come back here.”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing in this place for us,” said Soroka. “To horse!”</p> + +<p>That moment they began to make a stretcher between the horses for +Kmita. Two of the soldiers, at the command of Soroka, stood with +muskets on the road, fearing the return of the terrible man.</p> + +<p>But Prince Boguslav, convinced that Kmita was not alive, rode quietly +to Pilvishki. About dark he was met by a whole detachment of horsemen +sent out by Patterson, whom the absence of the prince had disturbed for +some time. The officer, on seeing the prince, galloped to him,—</p> + +<p>“Your highness, we did not know—”</p> + +<p>“That is nothing!” interrupted Prince Boguslav. “I was riding this +horse in the company of that cavalier, of whom I bought him.”</p> + +<p>And after a while he added: “I paid him well.”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<p>The trusty Soroka carried his colonel through the deep forest, not +knowing himself what to begin, whither to go or to turn.</p> + +<p>Kmita was not only wounded, but stunned by the shot. Soroka from time +to time moistened the piece of cloth in a bucket hanging by the horse, +and washed his face; at times he halted to take fresh water from the +streams and forest ponds; but neither halts nor the movement of the +horse could restore at once consciousness to Pan Andrei, and he lay as +if dead, till the soldiers going with him, and less experienced in the +matter of wounds than Soroka, began to be alarmed for the life of their +colonel.</p> + +<p>“He is alive,” answered Soroka; “in three days he will be on horseback +like any of us.”</p> + +<p>In fact, an hour later, Kmita opened his eyes; but from his mouth came +forth one word only,—</p> + +<p>“Drink!”</p> + +<p>Soroka held a cup of pure water to his lips; but it seemed that to open +his mouth caused Pan Andrei unendurable pain, and he was unable to +drink. But he did not lose consciousness: he asked for nothing, +apparently remembered nothing; his eyes were wide open, and he gazed, +without attention, toward the depth of the forest, on the streaks of +blue sky visible through the dense branches above their heads, and at +his comrades, like a man roused from sleep, or like one recovered from +drunkenness, and permitted Soroka to take care of him without saying a +word,—nay, the cold water with which the sergeant washed the wound +seemed to give him pleasure, for at times his eyes smiled. But Soroka +comforted him,—</p> + +<p>“To-morrow the dizziness will pass, Colonel; God grant recovery.”</p> + +<p>In fact, dizziness began to disappear toward evening; for just before +the setting of the sun Kmita seemed more self-possessed and asked on a +sudden, “What noise is that?”</p> + +<p>“What noise? There is none,” answered Soroka.</p> + +<p>Apparently the noise was only in the head of Pan Andrei, for the +evening was calm. The setting sun, piercing the gloom with its slanting +rays, filled with golden glitter the forest darkness, and lighted the +red trunks of the pine-trees. There was no wind, and only here and +there, from hazel, birch, and hornbeam trees leaves dropped to the +ground, or timid beasts made slight rustle in fleeing to the depths of +the forest in front of the horsemen.</p> + +<p>The evening was cool; but evidently fever had begun to attack Pan +Andrei, for he repeated,—</p> + +<p>“Your highness, it is life or death between us!”</p> + +<p>At last it became dark altogether, and Soroka was thinking of a night +camp; but because they had entered a damp forest and the ground began +to yield under the hoofs of their horses, they continued to ride in +order to reach high and dry places.</p> + +<p>They rode one hour and a second without being able to pass the swamp. +Meanwhile it was growing lighter, for the moon had risen. Suddenly +Soroka, who was in advance, sprang from the saddle and began to look +carefully at the ground.</p> + +<p>“Horses have passed this way,” said he, at sight of tracks in the soft +earth.</p> + +<p>“Who could have passed, when there is no road?” asked one of the +soldiers supporting Pan Kmita.</p> + +<p>“But there are tracks, and a whole crowd of them! Look here between the +pines,—as evident as on the palm of the hand!”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps cattle have passed.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible. It is not the time of forest pastures; horse-hoofs are +clearly to be seen, somebody must have passed. It would be well to find +even a forester’s cabin.”</p> + +<p>“Let us follow the trail.”</p> + +<p>“Let us ride forward!”</p> + +<p>Soroka mounted again and rode on. Horses’ tracks in the turfy ground +were more distinct; and some of them, as far as could be seen in the +light of the moon, seemed quite fresh. Still the horses sank to their +knees, and beyond. The soldiers were afraid that they could not wade +through, or would come to some deeper quagmire; when, at the end of +half an hour, the odor of smoke and rosin came to their nostrils.</p> + +<p>“There must be a pitch-clearing here,” said Soroka.</p> + +<p>“Yes, sparks are to be seen,” said a soldier.</p> + +<p>And really in the distance appeared a line of reddish smoke, filled +with flame, around which were dancing the sparks of a fire burning +under the ground.</p> + +<p>When they had approached, the soldiers saw a cabin, a well, and a +strong shed built of pine logs. The horses, wearied from the road, +began to neigh; frequent neighing answered them from under the shed, +and at the same time there stood before the riders some kind of a +figure, dressed in sheepskin, wool outward.</p> + +<p>“Are there many horses?” asked the man in the sheepskin.</p> + +<p>“Is this a pitch-factory?” inquired Soroka.</p> + +<p>“What kind of people are ye? Where do ye come from?” asked the +pitch-maker, in a voice in which astonishment and alarm were evident.</p> + +<p>“Never fear!” answered Soroka; “we are not robbers.”</p> + +<p>“Go your own way; there is nothing for you here.”</p> + +<p>“Shut thy mouth, and guide us to the house since we ask. Seest not, +scoundrel, that we are taking a wounded man?”</p> + +<p>“What kind of people are ye?”</p> + +<p>“Be quick, or we answer from guns. It will be better for thee to hurry. +Take us to the house; if not, we will cook thee in thy own pitch.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot defend myself alone, but there will be more of us. Ye will +lay down your lives here.”</p> + +<p>“There will be more of us too; lead on!”</p> + +<p>“Go on yourselves; it is not my affair.”</p> + +<p>“What thou hast to eat, give us, and gorailka. We are carrying a man +who will pay.”</p> + +<p>“If he leaves here alive.”</p> + +<p>Thus conversing, they entered the cabin; a fire was burning in the +chimney, and from pots, hanging by the handles, came the odor of +boiling meat. The cabin was quite large. Soroka saw at the walls six +wooden beds, covered thickly with sheepskins.</p> + +<p>“This is the resort of some company,” muttered he to his comrades. +“Prime your guns and watch well. Take care of this scoundrel, let him +not slip away. The owners sleep outside to-night, for we shall not +leave the house.”</p> + +<p>“The men will not come to-day,” said the pitch-maker.</p> + +<p>“That is better, for we shall not quarrel about room, and to-morrow we +will go on,” replied Soroka; “but now dish the meat, for we are hungry, +and spare no oats on the horses.”</p> + +<p>“Where can oats be found here, great mighty soldiers?”</p> + +<p>“We heard horses under the shed, so there must be oats; thou dost not +feed them with pitch.”</p> + +<p>“They are not my horses.”</p> + +<p>“Whether they are yours or not, they must eat as well as ours. Hurry, +man, hurry! if thy skin is dear to thee!”</p> + +<p>The pitch-maker said nothing. The soldiers entered the house, placed +the sleeping Kmita on a bed, and sat down to supper. They ate eagerly +the boiled meat and cabbage, a large kettle of which was in the +chimney. There was millet also, and in a room at the side of the cabin +Soroka found a large decanter of spirits.</p> + +<p>He merely strengthened himself with it slightly, and gave none to the +soldiers, for he had determined to hold it in reserve for the night. +This empty house with six beds for men, and a shed in which a band of +horses were neighing, seemed to him strange and suspicious. He judged +simply that this was a robbers’ retreat, especially since in the room +from which he brought the decanter he found many weapons hanging on the +wall, and a keg of powder, with various furniture, evidently plundered +from noble houses. In case the absent occupants of the cabin returned, +it was impossible to expect from them not merely hospitality, but even +mercy. Soroka therefore resolved to hold the house with armed hand, and +maintain himself in it by superior force or negotiations.</p> + +<p>This was imperative also in view of the health of Pan Kmita, for whom a +journey might be fatal, and in view of the safety of all.</p> + +<p>Soroka was a trained and seasoned soldier, to whom one feeling was +foreign,—the feeling of fear. Still in that moment, at thought of +Prince Boguslav, fear seized him. Having been for long years in the +service of Kmita, he had blind faith, not only in the valor, but the +fortune of the man; he had seen more than once deeds of his which in +daring surpassed every measure, and touched almost on madness, but +which still succeeded and passed without harm. With Kmita he had gone +through the “raids” on Hovanski; had taken part in all the surprises, +attacks, fights, and onsets, and had come to the conviction that Pan +Andrei could do all things, succeed in all things, come out of every +chaos, and destroy whomsoever he wished. Kmita therefore was for him +the highest impersonation of power and fortune,—but this time he had +met his match seemingly, nay, he had met his superior. How was this? +One man carried away, without weapons, and in Kmita’s hands, had freed +himself from those hands; not only that, he had overthrown Kmita, +conquered his soldiers, and terrified them so that they ran away in +fear of his return. That was a wonder of wonders, and Soroka lost his +head pondering over it. To his thinking, anything might come to pass in +the world rather than this, that a man might be found who could ride +over Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Has our fortune then ended?” muttered he to himself, gazing around in +wonder.</p> + +<p>It was not long since with eyes shut he followed Pan Kmita to +Hovanski’s quarters surrounded by eighty thousand men; now at the +thought of that long-haired prince with lady’s eyes and a painted face, +superstitious terror seized him, and he knew not what to do. The +thought alarmed him, that to-morrow or the next day he would have to +travel on highways where the terrible prince himself or his pursuers +might meet him. This was the reason why he had gone from the road to +the dense forest, and at present wished to stay in that cabin until +pursuers were deluded and wearied.</p> + +<p>But since even that hiding-place did not seem to him safe for other +reasons, he wished to discover what course to take; therefore he +ordered the soldiers to stand guard at the door and the windows, and +said to the pitch-maker,—</p> + +<p>“Here, man, take a lantern and come with me.”</p> + +<p>“I can light the great mighty lord only with a pitch-torch, for we have +no lantern.”</p> + +<p>“Then light the torch; if thou burn the shed and the horses, it is all +one to me.”</p> + +<p>After such words a lantern was found right away. Soroka commanded the +fellow to go ahead, and followed himself with a pistol in his hand.</p> + +<p>“Who live in this cabin?” asked he on the road.</p> + +<p>“Men live here.”</p> + +<p>“What are their names?”</p> + +<p>“That is not free for me to say.”</p> + +<p>“It seems to me, fellow, that thou’lt get a bullet in thy head.”</p> + +<p>“My master,” answered the pitch-maker, “if I had told in a lie any kind +of name, you would have to be satisfied.”</p> + +<p>“True! But are there many of those men?”</p> + +<p>“There is an old one, two sons, and two servants.”</p> + +<p>“Are they nobles?”</p> + +<p>“Surely nobles.”</p> + +<p>“Do they live here?”</p> + +<p>“Sometimes here, and sometimes God knows where.”</p> + +<p>“But the horses, whence are they?”</p> + +<p>“God knows whence they bring them.”</p> + +<p>“Tell the truth; do thy masters not rob on the highway?”</p> + +<p>“Do I know? It seems to me they take horses, but whose,—that’s not on +my head.”</p> + +<p>“What do they do with the horses?”</p> + +<p>“Sometimes they take ten or twelve of them, as many as there are, and +drive them away, but whither I know not.”</p> + +<p>Thus conversing, they reached the shed, from which was heard the +snorting of horses.</p> + +<p>“Hold the light,” said Soroka.</p> + +<p>The fellow raised the lantern, and threw light on the horses standing +in a row at the wall. Soroka examined them one after another with the +eye of a specialist, shook his head, smacked his lips, and said,—</p> + +<p>“The late Pan Zend would have rejoiced. There are Polish and Muscovite +horses here,—there is a Wallachian, a German,—a mare. Fine horses! +What dost thou give them to eat?”</p> + +<p>“Not to lie, my master, I sowed two fields with oats in springtime.”</p> + +<p>“Then thy masters have been handling horses since spring?”</p> + +<p>“No, but they sent a servant to me with a command.”</p> + +<p>“Then art thou theirs?”</p> + +<p>“I was till they went to the war.”</p> + +<p>“What war?”</p> + +<p>“Do I know? They went far away last year, and came back in the summer.”</p> + +<p>“Whose art thou now?”</p> + +<p>“These are the king’s forests.”</p> + +<p>“Who put thee here to make pitch?”</p> + +<p>“The royal forester, a relative of these men, who also brought horses +with them; but since he went away once with them, he has not come +back.”</p> + +<p>“And do guests come to these men?”</p> + +<p>“Nobody comes here, for there are swamps around, and only one road. It +is a wonder to me that ye could come, my master; for whoso does not +strike the road, will be drawn in by the swamp.”</p> + +<p>Soroka wanted to answer that he knew these woods and the road very +well; but after a moment’s thought he determined that silence was +better, and inquired,—</p> + +<p>“Are these woods very great?”</p> + +<p>The fellow did not understand the question. “How is that?”</p> + +<p>“Do they go far?”</p> + +<p>“Oh! who has gone through them? Where one ends another begins, and God +knows where they are not; I have never been in that place.”</p> + +<p>“Very well!” said Soroka.</p> + +<p>Then he ordered the man to go back to the cabin, and followed himself.</p> + +<p>On the way he was pondering over what he should do, and hesitated. +On one hand the wish came to him to take the horses while the +cabin-dwellers were gone, and flee with this plunder. The booty was +precious, and the horses pleased the old soldier’s heart greatly; but +after a while he overcame the temptation. To take them was easy, but +what to do further. Swamps all around, one egress,—how hit upon that? +Chance had served him once, but perhaps it would not a second time. To +follow the trail of hoofs was useless, for the cabin-dwellers had +surely wit enough to make by design false and treacherous trails +leading straight into quagmires. Soroka knew clearly the methods of men +who steal horses, and of those who take booty.</p> + +<p>He thought awhile, therefore, and meditated; all at once he struck his +head with his fist,—</p> + +<p>“I am a fool!” muttered he. “I’ll take the fellow on a rope, and make +him lead me to the highway.”</p> + +<p>Barely had he uttered the last word when he shuddered, “To the highway? +But that prince will be there, and pursuit. To lose fifteen horses!” +said the old fox to himself, with as much sorrow as if he had cared for +the beasts from their colthood. “It must be that our fortune is ended. +We must stay in the cabin till Pan Kmita recovers,—stay with consent +of the owners or without their consent; and what will come later, that +is work for the colonel’s head.”</p> + +<p>Thus meditating, he returned to the cabin. The watchful soldiers were +standing at the door, and though they saw a lantern shining in +the dark from a distance,—the same lantern with which Soroka and the +pitch-maker had gone out,—still they forced them to tell who they were +before they let them enter the cabin. Soroka ordered his soldiers to +change the watch about midnight, and threw himself down on the plank +bed beside Kmita.</p> + +<p>It had become quiet in the cabin; only the crickets raised their usual +music in the adjoining closet, and the mice gnawed from moment to +moment among the rubbish piled up there. The sick man woke at intervals +and seemed to have dreams in his fever, for to Soroka’s ears came the +disconnected words,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious king, pardon—Those men are traitors—I will tell all their +secrets—The Commonwealth is a red cloth—Well, I have you, worthy +prince—Hold him!—Gracious king, this way, for there is treason!”</p> + +<p>Soroka rose on the bed and listened; but the sick man, when he had +screamed once and a second time, fell asleep, and then woke and +cried,—</p> + +<p>“Olenka, Olenka, be not angry!”</p> + +<p>About midnight he grew perfectly calm and slept soundly. Soroka also +began to slumber; but soon a gentle knocking at the door of the cabin +roused him.</p> + +<p>The watchful soldier opened his eyes at once, and springing to his feet +went out.</p> + +<p>“But what is the matter?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“Sergeant, the pitch-maker has escaped.”</p> + +<p>“A hundred devils! he’ll bring robbers to us right away.”</p> + +<p>“Who was watching him?”</p> + +<p>“Biloüs.”</p> + +<p>“I went with him to water our horses,” said Biloüs, explaining. “I +ordered him to draw the water, and held the horses myself.”</p> + +<p>“And what? Did he jump into the well?”</p> + +<p>“No, Sergeant, but between the logs, of which there are many near the +well, and into the stump-holes. I let the horses go; for though they +scattered there are others here, and sprang after him, but I fell into +the first hole. It was night,—dark; the scoundrel knows the place, and +ran away. May the pest strike him!”</p> + +<p>“He will bring those devils here to us,—he’ll bring them. May the +thunderbolts split him!”</p> + +<p>The sergeant stopped, but after a while said,—</p> + +<p>“We will not lie down; we must watch till morning. Any moment a crowd +may come.”</p> + +<p>And giving an example to the others, he took his place on the threshold +of the cabin with a musket in his hand. The soldiers sat near him +talking in an undertone, listening sometimes to learn if in the night +sounds of the pine-woods the tramp and snort of coming horses could +reach them.</p> + +<p>It was a moonlight night, and calm, but noisy. In the forest depths +life was seething. It was the season of mating; therefore the +wilderness thundered with terrible bellowing of stags. These sounds, +short, hoarse, full of anger and rage, were heard round about in all +parts of the forest, distant and near,—sometimes right there, as if a +hundred yards from the cabin.</p> + +<p>“If men come, they will bellow too, to mislead us,” said Biloüs.</p> + +<p>“Eh! they will not come to-night. Before the pitch-maker finds them +’twill be day,” said the other soldiers.</p> + +<p>“In the daytime, Sergeant, it would be well to examine the cabin and +dig under the walls; for if robbers dwell here there must be +treasures.”</p> + +<p>“The best treasures are in that stable,” said Soroka, pointing with his +finger to the shed.</p> + +<p>“But we’ll take them?”</p> + +<p>“Ye are fools! there is no way out,—nothing but swamps all around.”</p> + +<p>“But we came in.”</p> + +<p>“God guided us. A living soul cannot come here or leave here without +knowing the road.”</p> + +<p>“We will find it in the daytime.”</p> + +<p>“We shall not find it, for tracks are made everywhere purposely, and +the trails are misleading. It was not right to let the man go.”</p> + +<p>“It is known that the highroad is a day’s journey distant, and in that +direction,” said Biloüs.</p> + +<p>Here he pointed with his finger to the eastern part of the forest.</p> + +<p>“We will ride on till we pass through,—that’s what we’ll do! You think +that you will be a lord when you touch the highway? Better the bullet +of a robber here than a rope there.”</p> + +<p>“How is that, father?” asked Biloüs.</p> + +<p>“They are surely looking for us there.”</p> + +<p>“Who, father?”</p> + +<p>“The prince.”</p> + +<p>Soroka was suddenly silent; and after him were silent the others, as if +seized with fear.</p> + +<p>“Oi!” said Biloüs, at last. “It is bad here and bad there; though you +twist, you can’t turn.”</p> + +<p>“They have driven us poor devils into a net; here robbers, and there +the prince,” said another soldier.</p> + +<p>“May the thunderbolts burn them there! I would rather have to do with a +robber than with a wizard,” added Biloüs; “for that prince is +possessed, yes, possessed. Zavratynski could wrestle with a bear, and +the prince took the sword from his hands as from a child. It can only +be that he enchanted him, for I saw, too, that when he rushed at +Vitkovski Boguslav grew up before the eyes to the size of a pine-tree. +If he had not, I shouldn’t have let him go alive.”</p> + +<p>“But you were a fool not to jump at him.”</p> + +<p>“What had I to do, Sergeant? I thought this way: he is sitting on the +best horse; if he wishes, he will run away, but if he attacks me I +shall not be able to defend myself, for with a wizard is a power not +human! He becomes invisible to the eye or surrounds himself with +dust—”</p> + +<p>“That is truth,” answered Soroka; “for when I fired at him he was +surrounded as it were by a fog, and I missed. Any man mounted may miss +when the horse is moving, but on the ground that has not happened to me +for ten years.”</p> + +<p>“What’s the use in talking?” said Biloüs, “better count: Lyubyenyets, +Vitkovski, Zavratynski, our colonel; and one man brought them all down, +and he without arms,—such men that each of them has many a time stood +against four. Without the help of the devil he could not have done +this.”</p> + +<p>“Let us commend our souls to God; for if he is possessed, the devil +will show him the road to this place.”</p> + +<p>“But without that he has long arms for such a lord.”</p> + +<p>“Quiet!” exclaimed Soroka, quickly; “something is making the leaves +rustle.”</p> + +<p>The soldiers were quiet and bent their ears. Near by, indeed, were +heard some kind of heavy steps, under which the fallen leaves rustled +very clearly.</p> + +<p>“I hear horses,” whispered Soroka.</p> + +<p>But the steps began to retreat from the cabin, and soon after was heard +the threatening and hoarse bellowing of a stag.</p> + +<p>“That is a stag! He is making himself known to a doe, or fighting off +another horned fellow.”</p> + +<p>“Throughout the whole forest are entertainments as if at the wedding of +Satan.”</p> + +<p>They were silent again and began to doze. The sergeant raised his head +at times and listened for a while, then dropped it toward his breast. +Thus passed an hour, and a second; at last the nearest pine-trees from +being black became gray, and the tops grew whiter each moment, as if some +one had burnished them with molten silver. The bellowing of stags +ceased, and complete stillness reigned in the forest depths. Dawn passed +gradually into day; the white and pale light began to absorb rosy and +golden gleams; at last perfect morning had come, and lighted the tired +faces of the soldiers sleeping a firm sleep at the cabin.</p> + +<p>Then the door opened, Kmita appeared on the threshold, and called,—</p> + +<p>“Soroka! come here!”</p> + +<p>The soldiers sprang up.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake, is your grace on foot?” asked Soroka.</p> + +<p>“But you have slept like oxen; it would have been possible to cut off +your heads and throw them out before any one would have been roused.”</p> + +<p>“We watched till morning, Colonel; we fell asleep only in the broad day.”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked around. “Where are we?”</p> + +<p>“In the forest, Colonel.”</p> + +<p>“I see that myself. But what sort of a cabin is this?”</p> + +<p>“We know not ourselves.”</p> + +<p>“Follow me,” said Kmita. And he turned to the inside of the cabin. +Soroka followed.</p> + +<p>“Listen,” said Kmita, sitting on the bed. “Did the prince fire at me?”</p> + +<p>“He did.”</p> + +<p>“And what happened to him?”</p> + +<p>“He escaped.”</p> + +<p>A moment of silence followed.</p> + +<p>“That is bad,” said Kmita, “very bad! Better to lay him down than to +let him go alive.”</p> + +<p>“We wanted to do that, but—”</p> + +<p>“But what?”</p> + +<p>Soroka told briefly all that had happened. Kmita listened with +wonderful calmness; but his eyes began to glitter, and at last he +said,—</p> + +<p>“Then he is victor; but we’ll meet again. Why did you leave the +highroad?”</p> + +<p>“I was afraid of pursuit.”</p> + +<p>“That was right, for surely there was pursuit. There are too few of us +now to fight against Boguslav’s power,—too few. Besides, he has gone +to Prussia; we cannot reach him there, we must wait—”</p> + +<p>Soroka was relieved. Pan Kmita evidently did not fear Boguslav greatly, +since he talked of overtaking him. This confidence was communicated at +once to the old soldier accustomed to think with the head of his +colonel and to feel with his heart.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Pan Andrei, who had fallen into deep thought, came to himself +on a sudden, and began to seek something about his person with both his +hands.</p> + +<p>“Where are my letters?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“What letters?”</p> + +<p>“Letters that I had on my body. They were fastened to my belt; where is +the belt?” asked Pan Andrei, in haste.</p> + +<p>“I unbuckled the belt myself, that your grace might breathe more +easily; there it is.”</p> + +<p>“Bring it.”</p> + +<p>Soroka gave him a belt lined with white leather, to which a bag was +attached by cords. Kmita untied it and took out papers hastily.</p> + +<p>“These are passes to the Swedish commandants; but where are the +letters?” asked he, in a voice full of disquiet.</p> + +<p>“What letters?” asked Soroka.</p> + +<p>“Hundreds of thunders! the letters of the hetman to the Swedish King, +to Pan Lyubomirski, and all those that I had.”</p> + +<p>“If they are not on the belt, they are nowhere. They must have been +lost in the time of the riding.”</p> + +<p>“To horse and look for them!” cried Kmita, in a terrible voice.</p> + +<p>But before the astonished Soroka could leave the room Pan Andrei sank +to the bed as if strength had failed him, and seizing his head with his +hands, began to repeat in a groaning voice,—</p> + +<p>“Ai! my letters, my letters!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the soldiers rode off, except one, whom Soroka commanded to +guard the cabin. Kmita remained alone in the room, and began to +meditate over his position, which was not deserving of envy. Boguslav +had escaped. Over Pan Andrei was hanging the terrible and inevitable +vengeance of the powerful Radzivills. And not only over him, but over +all whom he loved, and speaking briefly, over Olenka. Kmita knew that +Prince Yanush would not hesitate to strike where he could wound him +most painfully,—that is, to pour out his vengeance on the person of +Panna Billevich. And Olenka was still in Kyedani at the mercy of the +terrible magnate, whose heart knew no pity. The more Kmita meditated +over his position, the more clearly was he convinced that it was simply +dreadful. After the seizure of Boguslav, the Radzivills will hold him a +traitor; the adherents of Yan Kazimir, the partisans of Sapyeha, and +the confederates who had risen up in Podlyasye look on him as a traitor +now, and a damned soul of the Radzivills. Among the many camps, +parties, and foreign troops occupying at that moment the fields of the +Commonwealth, there is not a camp, a party, a body of troops which +would not count him as the greatest and most malignant enemy. Indeed, +the reward offered for his head by Hovanski is still in force, and now +Radzivill and the Swedes will offer rewards,—and who knows if the +adherents of the unfortunate Yan Kazimir have not already proclaimed +one?</p> + +<p>“I have brewed beer and must drink it,” thought Kmita. When he bore +away Prince Boguslav, he did so to throw him at the feet of the +confederate’s, to convince them beyond question that he had broken with +the Radzivills, to purchase a place with them, to win the right of +fighting for the king and the country. Besides, Boguslav in his hands +was a hostage for the safety of Olenka. But since Boguslav has crushed +Kmita and escaped, not only is Olenka’s safety gone, but also the proof +that Kmita has really left the service of the Radzivills. But the road +to the confederates is open to him; and if he meets Volodyovski’s +division and his friends the colonels, they may grant him his life, but +will they take him as a comrade, will they believe him, will they not +think that he has appeared as a spy, or has come to tamper with their +courage and bring over people to Radzivill? Here he remembered that the +blood of confederates was weighing on him; that to begin with, he had +struck down the Hungarians and dragoons in Kyedani, that he had +scattered the mutinous squadrons or forced them to yield, that he had +shot stubborn officers and exterminated soldiers, that he had +surrounded Kyedani with trenches and fortified it, and thus assured the +triumph of Radzivill in Jmud. “How could I go?” thought he; “the plague +would in fact be a more welcome guest there than I! With Boguslav on a +lariat at the saddle it would be possible; but with only my mouth and +empty hands!”</p> + +<p>If he had those letters he might join the confederates, he would have +had Prince Yanush in hand, for those letters might undermine the credit +of the hetman, even with the Swedes,—even with the price of them he +might save Olenka; but some evil spirit had so arranged that the +letters were lost.</p> + +<p>When Kmita comprehended all this, he seized his own head a second time.</p> + +<p>“For the Radzivills a traitor, for Olenka a traitor, for the +confederate’s a traitor, for the king a traitor! I have ruined my fame, +my honor, myself, and Olenka!”</p> + +<p>The wound in his face was burning, but in his soul hot pain, a +hundred-fold greater, was burning him. In addition to all, his +self-love as a knight was suffering. For he was shamefully beaten by +Boguslav. Those slashes which Volodyovski had given him in Lyubich were +nothing. There he was finished by an armed man whom he had called out +in a duel, here by a defenceless prisoner whom he had in his hand.</p> + +<p>With every moment increased in Kmita the consciousness of how terrible +and shameful was the plight into which he had fallen. The longer he +examined it the more clearly he saw its horror; and every moment he saw +new black corners from which were peering forth infamy and shame, +destruction to himself, to Olenka, wrong against the country,—till at +last terror and amazement seized him.</p> + +<p>“Have I done all this?” asked he of himself; and the hair stood on his +head.</p> + +<p>“Impossible! It must be that fever is shaking me yet,” cried he. +“Mother of God, this is not possible!”</p> + +<p>“Blind, foolish quarreller,” said his conscience, “this would not have +come to thee in fighting for the king and the country, nor if thou +hadst listened to Olenka.”</p> + +<p>And sorrow tore him like a whirlwind. Hei! if only he could say to +himself: “The Swedes against the country, I against them! Radzivill +against the king, I against him!” Then it would be clear and +transparent in his soul. Then he might collect a body of cut-throats +from under a dark star and, frolic with them as a gypsy at a fair, fall +upon the Swedes, and ride over their breasts with pure heart and +conscience; then he might stand in glory as in sunlight before Olenka, +and say,—</p> + +<p>“I am no longer infamous, but <i>defensor patriæ</i> (a defender of the +country); love me, as I love thee.”</p> + +<p>But what was he now? That insolent spirit, accustomed to +self-indulgence, would not confess to a fault altogether at first. It +was the Radzivills who (according to him) had pushed him down in this +fashion; it was the Radzivills who had brought him to ruin, covered him +with evil repute, bound his hands, despoiled him of honor and love.</p> + +<p>Here Pan Kmita gnashed his teeth, stretched out his hands toward Jmud, +on which Yanush, the hetman, was sitting like a wolf on a corpse, and +began to call out in a voice choking with rage,—</p> + +<p>“Vengeance! Vengeance!”</p> + +<p>Suddenly he threw himself in despair on his knees in the middle of the +room, and began to cry,—</p> + +<p>“I vow to thee, O Lord Christ, to bend those traitors and gallop over +them with justice, with fire, and with sword, to cut them, while there +is breath in my throat, steam in my mouth, and life for me in this +world! So help me, O Nazarene King! Amen!”</p> + +<p>Some kind of internal voice told him in that moment, “Serve the +country, vengeance afterward.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei’s eyes were flaming, his lips were baked, and he trembled as +in a fever; he waved his hands, and talking with himself aloud, walked, +or rather ran, through the room, kicked the bed with his feet; at last +he threw himself once more on his knees.</p> + +<p>“Inspire me, O Christ, what to do, lest I fall into frenzy.”</p> + +<p>At that moment came the report of a gun, which the forest echo threw +from pine-tree to pine-tree till it brought it like thunder to the +cabin.</p> + +<p>Kmita sprang up, and seizing his sabre ran out.</p> + +<p>“What is that?” asked he of the soldier standing at the threshold.</p> + +<p>“A shot, Colonel.”</p> + +<p>“Where is Soroka?”</p> + +<p>“He went to look for the letters.”</p> + +<p>“In what direction was the shot?”</p> + +<p>The soldier pointed to the eastern part of the forest, which was +overgrown with dense underwood.</p> + +<p>“There!”</p> + +<p>At that moment was heard the tramp of horses not yet visible.</p> + +<p>“Be on your guard!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>But from out the thicket appeared Soroka, hurrying as fast as his horse +could gallop, and after him the other soldier. They rushed up to the +cabin, sprang from the horses, and from behind them, as from behind +breastworks, took aim at the thicket.</p> + +<p>“What is there?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“A party is coming,” answered Soroka.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<p>Silence succeeded; but soon something began to rustle in the near +thicket, as if wild beasts were passing. The movement, however, grew +slower the nearer it came. Then there was silence a second time.</p> + +<p>“How many of them are there?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“About six, and perhaps eight; for to tell the truth I could not count +them surely,” said Soroka.</p> + +<p>“That is our luck! They cannot stand against us.”</p> + +<p>“They cannot. Colonel; but we must take one of them alive, and scorch +him so that he will show the road.”</p> + +<p>“There will be time for that. Be watchful!”</p> + +<p>Kmita had barely said, “Be watchful,” when a streak of white smoke +bloomed forth from the thicket, and you would have said that birds had +fluttered in the near grass, about thirty yards from the cabin.</p> + +<p>“They shot from old guns, with hob-nails!” said Kmita; “if they have +not muskets, they will do nothing to us, for old guns will not carry +from the thicket.”</p> + +<p>Soroka, holding with one hand the musket resting on the saddle of the +horse standing in front of him, placed the other hand in the form of a +trumpet before his mouth, and shouted,—</p> + +<p>“Let any man come out of the bushes, he will cover himself with his +legs right away.”</p> + +<p>A moment of silence followed; then a threatening voice was heard in the +thicket,—</p> + +<p>“What kind of men are you?”</p> + +<p>“Better than those who rob on the highroad.”</p> + +<p>“By what right have you found out our dwelling?”</p> + +<p>“A robber asks about right! The hangman will show you right! Come to +the cabin.”</p> + +<p>“We will smoke you out just as if you were badgers.”</p> + +<p>“But come on; only see that the smoke does not stifle you too.”</p> + +<p>The voice in the thicket was silent; the invaders, it seemed, had begun +to take counsel. Meanwhile Soroka whispered to Kmita,—</p> + +<p>“We must decoy some one hither, and bind him; we shall then have a +guide and a hostage.”</p> + +<p>“Pshaw!” answered Kmita, “if any one comes it will be on parole.”</p> + +<p>“With robbers parole may be broken.”</p> + +<p>“It is better not to give it!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>With that questions sounded again from the thicket.</p> + +<p>“What do you want?”</p> + +<p>Now Kmita began to speak. “We should have gone as we came if you had +known politeness and not fired from a gun.”</p> + +<p>“You will not stay there,—there will be a hundred horse of us in the +evening.”</p> + +<p>“Before evening two hundred dragoons will come, and your swamps will +not save you, for they will pass as we passed.”</p> + +<p>“Are you soldiers?”</p> + +<p>“We are not robbers, you may be sure.”</p> + +<p>“From what squadron?”</p> + +<p>“But are you hetman? We will not report to you.”</p> + +<p>“The wolves will devour you, in old fashion.”</p> + +<p>“And the crows will pick you!”</p> + +<p>“Tell what you want, a hundred devils! Why did you come to our cabin?”</p> + +<p>“Come yourselves, and you will not split your throat crying from the +thicket. Nearer, nearer!”</p> + +<p>“On your word.”</p> + +<p>“A word is for knights, not for robbers. If it please you, believe; if +not, believe not.”</p> + +<p>“May two come?”</p> + +<p>“They may.”</p> + +<p>After a while from out the thicket a hundred yards distant appeared two +men, tall and broad-shouldered. One somewhat bent seemed to be a man of +years; the other went upright, but stretched his neck with curiosity +toward the cabin. Both wore short sheepskin coats covered with gray +cloth of the kind used by petty nobles, high cowhide boots, and fur +caps drawn down to their ears.</p> + +<p>“What the devil!” said Kmita, examining the two men with care.</p> + +<p>“Colonel!” cried Soroka, “a miracle indeed, but those are our people.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile they approached within a few steps, but could not see the men +standing near the cabin, for the horses concealed them.</p> + +<p>All at once Kmita stepped forward. Those approaching did not recognize +him, however, for his face was bound up; they halted, and began to +measure him with curious and unquiet eyes.</p> + +<p>“And where is the other son, Pan Kyemlich?” asked Kmita; “he has not +fallen, I hope.”</p> + +<p>“Who is that—how is that—what—who is talking?” asked the old man, in +a voice of amazement and as it were terrified.</p> + +<p>And he stood motionless, with mouth and eyes widely open; then the son, +who since he was younger had quicker vision, took the cap from his +head.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake, father! that’s the colonel!” cried he.</p> + +<p>“O Jesus! sweet Jesus!” cried the old man, “that is Pan Kmita!”</p> + +<p>And both took the fixed posture of subordinates saluting their +commanders, and on their faces were depicted both shame and wonder.</p> + +<p>“Ah! such sons,” said Pan Andrei, laughing, “and greeted me from a +gun?”</p> + +<p>Here the old man began to shout,—</p> + +<p>“Come this way, all of you! Come!”</p> + +<p>From the thicket appeared a number of men, among whom were the second +son of the old man and the pitch-maker; all ran up at breakneck speed +with weapons ready, for they knew not what had happened. But the old +man shouted again,—</p> + +<p>“To your knees, rogues, to your knees! This is Pan Kmita! What fool was +it who fired? Give him this way!”</p> + +<p>“It was you, father,” said young Kyemlich.</p> + +<p>“You lie,—you lie like a dog! Pan Colonel, who could know that it was +your grace who had come to our cabin? As God is true, I do not believe +my own eyes yet.”</p> + +<p>“I am here in person,” answered Kmita, stretching his hand toward him.</p> + +<p>“O Jesus!” said the old man, “such a guest in the pine-woods. I cannot +believe my own eyes. With what can we receive your grace here? If we +expected, if we knew!”</p> + +<p>Here he turned to his sons: “Run, some blockhead, to the cellar, bring +mead!”</p> + +<p>“Give the key to the padlock, father.”</p> + +<p>The old man began to feel in his belt, and at the same time looked +suspiciously at his son.</p> + +<p>“The key of the padlock? But I know thee, gypsy; thou wilt drink more +thyself than thou’lt bring. What’s to be done? I’ll go myself; he wants +the key of the padlock! But go roll off the logs, and I’ll open and +bring it myself.”</p> + +<p>“I see that you have spoons hidden under the logs, Pan Kyemlich,” said +Kmita.</p> + +<p>“But can anything be kept from such robbers!” asked the old man, +pointing to the sons. “They would eat up their father. Ye are still +here? Go roll away the logs. Is this the way ye obey him who begat +you?”</p> + +<p>The young men went quickly behind the cabin to the pile of logs.</p> + +<p>“You are in disagreement with your sons in old fashion, it seems?” said +Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Who could be in agreement with them? They know how to fight, they know +how to take booty; but when it comes to divide with their father, I +must tear my part from them at risk of my life. Such is the pleasure I +have; but they are like wild bulls. I beg your grace to the cabin, for +the cold bites out here. For God’s sake! such a guest, such a guest! +And under the command of your grace we took more booty than during this +whole year. We are in poverty now, wretchedness! Evil times, and always +worse; and old age, too, is no joy. I beg you to the cabin, over our +lowly threshold. For God’s sake! who could have looked for your grace +here!”</p> + +<p>Old Kyemlich spoke with a marvellously rapid and complaining utterance, +and while speaking cast quick, restless glances on every side. He was a +bony old man, enormous in stature, with a face ever twisted and sullen! +He, as well as his two sons, had crooked eyes. His brows were bushy, +and also his mustaches, from beneath which protruded beyond measure an +underlip, which when he spoke came to his nose, as happens with men who +are toothless. The agedness of his face was in wonderful contrast to +the quickness of his movements, which displayed unusual strength and +alertness. His movements were as rapid as if a spring stirred him; he +turned his head continually, trying to take in with his eyes everything +around,—men as well as things. Toward Kmita he became every minute +more humble, in proportion as subservience to his former leader, fear, +and perhaps admiration or attachment were roused in him.</p> + +<p>Kmita knew the Kyemliches well, for the father and two sons had served +under him when single-handed he had carried on war in White Russia with +Hovanski. They were valiant soldiers, and as cruel as valiant. One son, +Kosma, was standard-bearer for a time in Kmita’s legion; but he soon +resigned that honorable office, since it prevented him from taking +booty. Among the gamblers and unbridled souls who formed Kmita’s +legion, and who drank away and lost in the day what they won with blood +in the night from the enemy, the Kyemliches were distinguished for +mighty greed. They accumulated booty carefully, and hid it in the +woods. They took with special eagerness horses, which they sold +afterward at country houses and in towns. The father fought no worse +than the twin sons, but after each battle he dragged away from them the +most considerable part of the booty, scattering at the same time +complaints and regrets that they were wronging him, threatening a +father’s curse, groaning and lamenting. The sons grumbled at him, but +being sufficiently stupid by nature they let themselves be tyrannized +over. In spite of their endless squabbles and scoldings, they stood up, +one for the other, in battle venomously without sparing blood. They +were not liked by their comrades, but were feared universally, for in +quarrels they were terrible; even officers avoided provoking them. +Kmita was the one man who had roused indescribable fear in them, and +after Kmita, Pan Ranitski, before whom they trembled when from anger +his face was covered with spots. They revered also in both lofty birth; +for the Kmitas, from old times, had high rank in Orsha, and in Ranitski +flowed senatorial blood.</p> + +<p>It was said in the legion that they had collected great treasures, but +no one knew surely that there was truth in this statement. On a certain +day Kmita sent them away with attendants and a herd of captured horses; +from that time they vanished. Kmita thought that they had fallen; his +soldiers said that they had escaped with the horses, the temptation in +this case being too great for their hearts. Now, as Pan Andrei saw them +in health, and as in a shed near the cabin horses were neighing, and +the rejoicing and subservience of the old man were mingled with +disquiet, he thought that his soldiers were right in their judgment. +Therefore, when they had entered the cabin he sat on a plank bed, and +putting his hands on his sides, looked straight into the old man’s eyes +and asked,—</p> + +<p>“Kyemlich, where are my horses?”</p> + +<p>“Jesus! sweet Jesus!” groaned the old man. “Zolotarenko’s men took the +horses; they beat us and wounded us, drove us ninety miles; we hardly +escaped with our lives. Oh, Most Holy Mother! we could not find either +your grace or your men. They drove us thus far into these pine-woods, +into misery and hunger, to this cabin and these swamps. God is kind +that your grace is living and in health, though, I see, wounded. Maybe +we can nurse you, and put on herbs; and those sons of mine went to roll +off the logs, and they have disappeared. What are the rogues doing? +They are ready to take out the door and get at the mead. Hunger here +and misery; nothing more! We live on mushrooms; but for your grace +there will be something to drink and a bite to eat. Those men took the +horses from us, robbed us,—there is no denying that! And they deprived +us of service with your grace. We shall not have a bit of bread for old +age, unless your grace takes us back into service.”</p> + +<p>“That may happen too,” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>Now the two sons of the old man came in,—Kosma and Damian, twins, big +fellows, awkward, with enormous heads completely overgrown with an +immensely thick bush of hair, stiff as a brush, sticking out unevenly +around the ears, forming hair-screws and fantastic tufts on their +skulls. When they came in they stood near the door, for in presence of +Kmita they dared not sit down; and Damian said,—</p> + +<p>“The cellar is cleared.”</p> + +<p>“’Tis well,” answered old Kyemlich, “I will go to bring mead.”</p> + +<p>Here he looked significantly at his sons.</p> + +<p>“And Zolotarenko’s men took the horses,” said he, with emphasis; and +went out of the cabin.</p> + +<p>Kmita glanced at the two who stood by the door, and who looked as if +they had been hewn out of logs roughly with an axe.</p> + +<p>“What are you doing now?”</p> + +<p>“We take horses!” answered the twins at the same time.</p> + +<p>“From whom?”</p> + +<p>“From whomsoever comes along.”</p> + +<p>“But mostly?”</p> + +<p>“From Zolotarenko’s men.”</p> + +<p>“That is well, you are free to take from the enemy; but if you take +from your own you are robbers, not nobles. What do you do with those +horses?”</p> + +<p>“Father sells them in Prussia.”</p> + +<p>“Has it happened to you to take from the Swedes? Swedish companies are +not far from here. Have you attacked the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“We have.”</p> + +<p>“Then you fall on single men or small companies; but when they defend +themselves, what then?”</p> + +<p>“We pound them.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, ha, you pound them! Then you have a reckoning with Zolotarenko’s +men and with the Swedes, and surely you could not have got away dry had +you fallen into their hands.”</p> + +<p>Kosma and Damian were silent.</p> + +<p>“You are carrying on a dangerous business, more becoming to robbers +than nobles. It must be, also, that some sentences are hanging over you +from old times?”</p> + +<p>“Of course there are!” answered Kosma and Damian.</p> + +<p>“So I thought. From what parts are you?”</p> + +<p>“We are from these parts.”</p> + +<p>“Where did your father live before?”</p> + +<p>“In Borovichko.”</p> + +<p>“Was that his village?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, together with Pan Kopystynski.”</p> + +<p>“And what became of him?”</p> + +<p>“We killed him.”</p> + +<p>“And you had to flee before the law. It will be short work with you +Kyemliches, and you’ll finish on trees. The hangman will light you, it +cannot be otherwise!”</p> + +<p>Just then the door of the room creaked, and the old man came in +bringing a decanter of mead and two glasses. He looked unquietly at his +sons and at Kmita, and then said,—</p> + +<p>“Go and cover the cellar.”</p> + +<p>The twins went out at once. The old man poured mead into one glass; the +other he left empty, waiting to see if Kmita would let him drink with +him.</p> + +<p>But Kmita was not able to drink himself, for he even spoke with +difficulty, such pain did the wound cause him. Seeing this, the old man +said,—</p> + +<p>“Mead is not good for the wound, unless poured in, to clear it out more +quickly. Your grace, let me look at the wound and dress it, for I +understand this matter as well as a barber.”</p> + +<p>Kmita consented. Kyemlich removed the bandage, and began to examine the +wound carefully.</p> + +<p>“The skin is taken off, that’s nothing! The ball passed along the +outside; but still it is swollen.”</p> + +<p>“That is why it pains me.”</p> + +<p>“But it is not two days old. Most Holy Mother! some one who must have +been very near shot at your grace.”</p> + +<p>“How do you know that?”</p> + +<p>“Because all the powder was not burned, and grains like cockle are +under the skin. They will stay with your grace. Now we need only bread +and spider-web. Terribly near was the man who fired. It is well that he +did not kill your grace.”</p> + +<p>“It was not fated me. Mix the bread and the spider-web and put them on +as quickly as possible, for I must talk with you, and my jaws pain me.”</p> + +<p>The old man looked suspiciously at the colonel, for in his heart there +was fear that the talk might touch again on the horses said to have +been taken by the Cossacks; but he busied himself at once, kneaded the +moistened bread first, and since it was not hard to find spider-webs in +the cabin he attended promptly to Kmita.</p> + +<p>“I am easy now,” said Pan Andrei; “sit down, worthy Kyemlich.”</p> + +<p>“According to command of the colonel,” answered the old man, sitting on +the edge of a bench and stretching out his iron-gray bristly head +uneasily toward Kmita.</p> + +<p>But Kmita, instead of conversing, took his own head in his hands and +fell into deep thought. Then he rose and began to walk in the room; at +moments he halted before Kyemlich and gazed at him with distraught +look; apparently he was weighing something, wrestling with thoughts. +Meanwhile about half an hour passed; the old man squirmed more and more +uneasily. All at once Kmita stopped before him.</p> + +<p>“Worthy Kyemlich,” said he, “where are the nearest of those squadrons +which rose up against the prince voevoda of Vilna?”</p> + +<p>The old man began to wink his eyes suspiciously. “Does your grace wish +to go to them?”</p> + +<p>“I do not request you to ask, but to answer.”</p> + +<p>“They say that one squadron is quartered in Shchuchyn,—that one which +came here last from Jmud.”</p> + +<p>“Who said so?”</p> + +<p>“The men of the squadron themselves.”</p> + +<p>“Who led it?”</p> + +<p>“Pan Volodyovski.”</p> + +<p>“That’s well. Call Soroka!”</p> + +<p>The old man went out, and returned soon with the sergeant.</p> + +<p>“Have the letters been found?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“They have not, Colonel,” answered Soroka.</p> + +<p>Kmita shook his hands. “Oh, misery, misery! You may go, Soroka. For +those letters which you have lost you deserve to hang. You may go. +Worthy Kyemlich, have you anything on which to write?”</p> + +<p>“I hope to find something,” answered the old man.</p> + +<p>“Even two leaves of paper and a pen.”</p> + +<p>The old man vanished through the door of a closet which was evidently a +storeroom for all kinds of things, but he searched long. Kmita was +walking the while through the room, and talking to himself,—</p> + +<p>“Whether I have the letters or not,” said he, “the hetman does not know +that they are lost, and he will fear lest I publish them. I have him in +hand. Cunning against cunning! I will threaten to send them to the +voevoda of Vityebsk. That is what I will do. In God is my hope, that +the hetman will fear this.”</p> + +<p>Further thought was interrupted by old Kyemlich, who, coming out of the +closet, said,—</p> + +<p>“Here are three leaves of paper, but no pens or ink.”</p> + +<p>“No pens? But are there no birds in the woods here? They may be shot +with a gun.”</p> + +<p>“There is a falcon nailed over the shed.”</p> + +<p>“Bring his wing hither quickly!”</p> + +<p>Kyemlich shot off with all speed, for in the voice of Kmita was +impatience, and as it were a fever. He returned in a moment with the +falcon’s wing. Kmita seized it, plucked out a quill, and began to make +a pen of it with his dagger.</p> + +<p>“It will do!” said he, looking at it before the light; “but it is +easier to cut men’s heads than quills. Now we need ink.”</p> + +<p>So saying, he rolled up his sleeve, cut himself deeply in the arm, and +moistened the quill in blood.</p> + +<p>“Worthy Kyemlich,” said he, “leave me.”</p> + +<p>The old man left the room, and Pan Andrei began to write at once:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>I renounce the service of your highness, for I will not serve traitors +and deceivers. And if I swore on the crucifix not to leave your +highness, God will forgive me; and even if he were to damn me, I would +rather burn for my error than for open and purposed treason to my +country and king. Your highness deceived me, so that I was like a blind +sword in your hand, ready to spill the blood of my brethren. Therefore +I summon your highness to the judgment of God, so that it may be known +on whose side was treason, and on whose honest intention. Should we +ever meet, though you are powerful and able to strike unto death, not +only a private man, but the whole Commonwealth, and I have only a sabre +in my hand, still I will vindicate my own, and will strike your +highness, for which my regret and compunction will give me power. And +your highness knows that I am of those who without attendant squadrons, +without castles and cannon, can injure. While in me there is breath, +over you there is vengeance, so that you can be sure neither of the day +nor the hour. And this is as certain to be as that this is my own blood +with which I write. I have your letters, letters to ruin you, not only +with the King of Poland, but the King of Sweden, for in them treason to +the Commonwealth is made manifest, as well as this too, that you are +ready to desert the Swedes if only a leg totters under them. Even had +you twice your present power, your ruin is in my hands, for all men +must believe signatures and seals. Therefore I say this to your +highness: If a hair falls from the heads which I love and which are +left in Kyedani, I will send those letters and documents to Pan +Sapyeha, and I will have copies printed and scattered through the land. +Your highness can go by land or water (you have your choice); but after +the war, when peace comes to the Commonwealth, you will give me the +Billeviches, and I will give you the letters, or if I hear evil tidings +Pan Sapyeha will show them straightway to Pontus de la Gardie. Your +highness wants a crown, but where will you put it when your head falls +either from the Polish or the Swedish axe? It is better, I think, to +have this understanding now; though I shall not forget revenge +hereafter, I shall take it only in private, excepting this case. I +would commend you to God were it not that you put the help of the devil +above that of God.<span style="letter-spacing:20px"> </span> <span class="sc">Kmita</span>.</p> + +<p>P. S. Your highness will not poison the confederates, for there will be +those who, going from the service of the devil to that of God, will +forewarn them to drink beer neither in Orel nor Zabludovo.</p> +</div> + +<p>Here Kmita sprang up and began to walk across the room. His face was +burning, for his own letter had heated him like fire. This letter was a +declaration of war against the Radzivills; but still Kmita felt in +himself some extraordinary power, and was ready, even at that moment, +to stand eye to eye before that powerful family who shook the whole +country. He, a simple noble, a simple knight, an outlaw pursued by +justice, who expected assistance from no place, who had offended all so +that everywhere he was accounted an enemy,—he, recently overthrown, +felt in himself now such power that he saw, as if with the eyes of a +prophet, the humiliation of Prince Yanush and Boguslav, and his own +victory. How he would wage war, where he would find allies, in what way +he would conquer, he knew not,—what is more, he had not thought of +this. But he had profound faith that he would do what he ought to +do,—that is, what is right and just, in return for which God would be +with him. He was filled with confidence beyond measure and bounds. It +had become sensibly easier in his soul. Certain new regions were opened +as it were entirely before him. Let him but sit on his horse and ride +thither to honor, to glory, to Olenka.</p> + +<p>“But a hair will not fall from her head,” repeated he to himself, with +a certain feverish joy; “the letters will defend her. The hetman will +guard her as the eye in his head,—as I myself would. Oh, I have +settled this! I am a poor worm, but they will be afraid of my sting.”</p> + +<p>Then this thought came to him: “And shall I write to her too? The +messenger who will take the letter to the hetman can give a slip of +paper to her secretly. Why not inform her that I have broken with the +Radzivills, and that I am going to seek other service?”</p> + +<p>This thought struck his heart greatly. Cutting his arm again, he +moistened the pen and began to write,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p><span class="sc">Olenka</span>,—I am no longer on the Radzivill side, for I have seen through +them at last—</p> +</div> + +<p>But suddenly he stopped, thought awhile, and said to himself, “Let +deeds, not words, bear witness for me henceforth; I will not write.” +And he tore the paper. But he wrote on a third sheet a short letter to +Volodyovski in the following words,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p><span class="sc">Gracious Colonel</span>,—The undersigned friend warns you and the other +colonels to be on your guard. There were letters from the hetman to +Prince Boguslav and Pan Harasimovich to poison you, or to have men +under you in your own quarters. Harasimovich is absent, for he has gone +with Prince Boguslav to Tyltsa in Prussia; but there may be similar +commands to other managers. Be careful of those managers, receive +nothing from them, and at night do not sleep without guards. I know +also to a certainty that the hetman will march against you soon with an +army; he is waiting only for cavalry which General de la Gardie is to +send, fifteen hundred in number. See to it, therefore, that he does not +fall upon you and destroy you singly. But better send reliable men to +the voevoda of Vityebsk to come, with all haste and take chief command. +A well-wisher counsels this,—believe him. Meanwhile keep together, +choosing quarters for the squadrons one not far from the other, so that +you may be able to give mutual assistance. The hetman has few cavalry, +only a small number of dragoons, and Kmita’s men, but they are not +reliable. Kmita himself is absent. The hetman found some other office +for him; it being likely that he does not trust him. Kmita too is not +such a traitor as men say; he is merely led astray. I commit you to +God.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Babinich</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>Pan Andrei did not wish to put his own name to the letter, for he +judged that it would rouse in each one aversion and especially +distrust. “In case they understand,” thought he, “that it would be +better for them to retreat before the hetman than to meet him in a +body, they will suspect at once, if they see my name, that I wish to +collect them, so that the hetman may finish them at a blow; they will +think this a new trick, but from some Babinich they will receive +warning more readily.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei called himself Babinich from the village Babiniche, near +Orsha, which from remote times belonged to the Kmitas.</p> + +<p>When he had written the letter, at the end of which he placed a few +timid words in his own defence, he felt new solace in his heart at the +thought that with that letter he had rendered the first service, not +only to Volodyovski and his friends, but to all the colonels who would +not desert their country for Radzivill. He felt also that that thread +would go farther. The plight into which he had fallen was difficult, +indeed, almost desperate; but still there was some help, some issue, +some narrow path which would lead to the highroad.</p> + +<p>But now when Olenka in all probability was safe from the vengeance of +Radzivill, and the confederates from an unexpected attack. Pan Andrei +put the question, What was he to do himself?</p> + +<p>He had broken with traitors, he had burned the bridges in the rear, he +wished now to serve his country, to devote to it his strength, his +health, his life; but how was he to do this, how begin, to what could +he put his hand?</p> + +<p>Again it came to his head to join the confederates; but if they will +not receive him, if they will proclaim him a traitor and cut him down, +or what is worse, expel him in disgrace?</p> + +<p>“I would rather they killed me!” cried Pan Andrei; and he flushed from +shame and the feeling of his own disgrace. Perhaps it is easier to save +Olenka or the confederates than his own fame.</p> + +<p>Now the position was really desperate, and again the young hero’s soul +began to seethe.</p> + +<p>“But can I not act as I did against Hovanski?” asked he of himself. “I +will gather a party, will attack the Swedes, burn, pursue. That is +nothing new for me! No one has resisted them; I will resist until the +time comes when the whole Commonwealth will ask, as did Lithuania, who +is that hero who all alone dares to creep into the mouth of the lion? +Then I will remove my cap and say, ‘See, it is I, it is Kmita!’”</p> + +<p>And such a burning desire drew him on to that bloody work that he +wished to rush out of the room and order the Kyemliches, their +attendants, and his own men to mount and move on. But before he reached +the door he felt as if some one had suddenly punched him in the breast +and pushed him back from the threshold. He stood in the middle of the +room, and looked forward in amazement.</p> + +<p>“How is this? Shall I not efface my offences in this way?”</p> + +<p>And at once he began to reckon with his own conscience.</p> + +<p>“Where is atonement for guilt?” asked his conscience. “Here something +else is required!”</p> + +<p>“What?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>“With what can thy guilt be effaced, if not with service of some kind, +difficult and immense, honorable and pure as a tear? Is it service to +collect a band of ruffians and rage like a whirlwind with them through +the fields and the wilderness? Dost thou not desire this because +fighting has for thee a sweet odor, as has roast meat for a dog? That +is amusement, not service; a carnival, not war; robbery, not defence of +the country! And didst thou not do the same against Hovanski, but what +didst thou gain? Ruffians infesting the forests are ready also to +attack the Swedish commands, and whence canst thou get other men? Thou +wilt attack the Swedes, but also the inhabitants; thou wilt bring +vengeance on these inhabitants, and what wilt thou effect? Thou art +trying to escape, thou fool, from toil and atonement.”</p> + +<p>So conscience spoke in Kmita; and Kmita saw that it was right, and +vexation seized him, and a species of grief over his own conscience +because it spoke such bitter truth.</p> + +<p>“What shall I begin?” asked he, at last; “who will help me, who will +save me?”</p> + +<p>Here somehow his knees began to bend till at last he knelt down at the +plank bed and began to pray aloud, and implore from his whole soul and +heart,—</p> + +<p>“O Jesus Christ, dear Lord,” said he, “as on the cross thou hadst pity +for the thief, so now have pity for me. Behold I desire to cleanse +myself from sins, to begin a new life, and to serve my country +honestly; but I know not how, for I am foolish. I served those +traitors, O Lord, also not so much from malice, but especially as it +were through folly; enlighten me, inspire me, comfort me in my despair, +and rescue me in thy mercy, or I perish.”</p> + +<p>Here Pan Andrei’s voice quivered; he beat his broad breast till it +thundered in the room, and repeated, “Be merciful to me, a sinner! be +merciful to me, a sinner! Be merciful to me, a sinner!” Then placing +his hands together and stretching them upward, he said, “And thou, Most +Holy Lady, insulted by heretics in this land, take my part with thy +Son, intercede for my rescue, desert me not in my suffering and misery, +so that I may be able to serve thee, to avenge the insults against +thee, and at the hour of my death have thee as a patroness for my +unhappy soul.”</p> + +<p>When Pan Andrei was imploring thus, tears began to fall from his eyes; +at last he dropped his head on the plank bed and sank into silence, as +if waiting for the effect of his ardent prayer. Silence followed in the +room, and only the deep sound of the neighboring pine-trees entered +from outside. Then chips crackled under heavy steps beyond the window, +and two men began to speak,—</p> + +<p>“What do you think, Sergeant? Where shall we go from here?”</p> + +<p>“Do I know?” answered Soroka. “We shall go somewhere, maybe far off, to +the king who is groaning under the Swedish hand.”</p> + +<p>“Is it true that all have left him?”</p> + +<p>“But the Lord God has not left him.”</p> + +<p>Kmita rose suddenly from the bed, but his face was clear and calm; he +went straight to the door, and opening it said to the soldier,—</p> + +<p>“Have the horses ready! it is time for the road!”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<p>A movement rose quickly among the soldiers, who were glad to go out of +the forest to the distant world, all the more since they feared pursuit +on the part of Boguslav Radzivill; and old Kyemlich went to the cabin, +understanding that Kmita would need him.</p> + +<p>“Does your grace wish to go?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“I do. Will you guide me out of the forest? Do you know all the roads?”</p> + +<p>“I know all the roads in these parts. But whither does your grace wish +to go?”</p> + +<p>“To our gracious king.”</p> + +<p>The old man started back in astonishment. “O Wise Lady!” cried he. “To +what king.”</p> + +<p>“Not to the Swedish, you may be sure.”</p> + +<p>Kyemlich not only failed to recover, but began to make the sign of the +cross.</p> + +<p>“Then surely your grace does not know that people say our lord the king +has taken refuge in Silesia, for all have deserted him. Cracow is +besieged.”</p> + +<p>“We will go to Silesia.”</p> + +<p>“Well, but how are we to pass through the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“Whether we pass through as nobles or peasants, on horseback or on +foot, is all one to me, if only we pass.”</p> + +<p>“Then too a tremendous lot of time is needed.”</p> + +<p>“We have time enough, but I should be glad to go as quickly as +possible.”</p> + +<p>Kyemlich ceased to wonder. The old man was too cunning not to surmise +that there was some particular and secret cause for this undertaking of +Pan Kmita’s, and that moment a thousand suppositions began to crowd +into his head. But as the soldiers, on whom Pan Andrei had enjoined +silence, said nothing to the old man or his sons about the seizure of +Prince Boguslav, the supposition seemed to him most likely that the +prince voevoda of Vilna had sent the young colonel on some mission to +the king. He was confirmed in this opinion specially because he counted +Kmita a zealous adherent of Prince Yanush, and knew of his services to +the hetman; for the confederate squadrons had spread tidings of him +throughout the whole province of Podlyasye, creating the opinion that +Kmita was a tyrant and a traitor.</p> + +<p>“The hetman is sending a confidant to the king,” thought the old man; +“that means that surely he wishes to agree with him and leave the +Swedes. Their rule must be bitter to him already, else why send?”</p> + +<p>Old Kyemlich did not struggle long over this question, for his interest +in the matter was altogether different; and namely, what profit could +he draw from such circumstances? If he served Kmita he would serve at +the same time the hetman and the king, which would not be without a +notable reward. The favor of such lords would be of service, too, +should he be summoned to account for old sins. Besides, there will +surely be war, the country will flame up, and then plunder will crawl +of itself into his hands. All this smiled at the old man, who besides +was accustomed to obey Kmita, and had not ceased to fear him like fire, +cherishing toward him also a certain kind of love, which Kmita knew how +to rouse in all his subordinates.</p> + +<p>“Your grace,” said he, “must go through the whole Commonwealth to reach +the king. Swedish troops are nothing, for we may avoid the towns and go +through the woods; but the worst is that the woods, as is usual in +unquiet times, are full of parties of freebooters, who fall upon +travellers; and your grace has few men.”</p> + +<p>“You will go with me, Pan Kyemlich, and your sons and the men whom you +have; there will be more of us.”</p> + +<p>“If your grace commands I will go, but I am a poor man. Only misery +with us; nothing more. How can I leave even this poverty and the roof +over my head?”</p> + +<p>“Whatever you do will be paid for; and for you it is better to take +your head out of this place while it is yet on your shoulders.”</p> + +<p>“All the Saints of the Lord! What does your grace say? How is that? +What threatens me, innocent man, in this place? Whom do we hinder?”</p> + +<p>“I know you robbers!” answered Pan Andrei. “You had partnership with +Kopystynski, and killed him; then you ran away from the courts, you +served with me, you took away my captured horses.</p> + +<p>“As true as life! O Mighty Lady!” cried the old man.</p> + +<p>“Wait and be silent! Then you returned to your old lair, and began to +ravage in the neighborhood like robbers, taking horses and booty +everywhere. Do not deny it, for I am not your judge, and you know best +whether I tell the truth. If you take the horses of Zolotarenko, that +is well; if the horses of the Swedes, that is well. If they catch you +they will flay you; but that is their affair.”</p> + +<p>“True, true; but we take only from the enemy,” said the old man.</p> + +<p>“Untrue; for you attack your own people, as your sons have confessed to +me, and that is simple robbery, and a stain on the name of a noble. +Shame on you, robbers! you should be peasants, not nobles.”</p> + +<p>“Your grace wrongs us,” said old fox, growing red, “for we, remembering +our station, do no peasant deed. We do not take horses at night from +any man’s stable. It is something different to drive a herd from the +fields, or to capture horses. This is permitted, and there is no +prejudice to a noble therefrom in time of war. But a horse in a stable +is sacred; and only a gypsy, a Jew, or a peasant would steal from a +stable,—not a noble. We, your grace, do not do that. But war is war!”</p> + +<p>“Though there were ten wars, only in battle can plunder be taken; if +you seek it on the road, you are robbers.”</p> + +<p>“God is witness to our innocence.”</p> + +<p>“But you have brewed beer here. In few words, it is better for you to +leave this place, for sooner or later the halter will take you. Come +with me; you will wash away your sins with faithful service and win +honor. I will receive you to my service, in which there will be more +profit than in those horses.”</p> + +<p>“We will go with your grace everywhere; we will guide you through the +Swedes and through the robbers,—for true is the speech of your grace, +that evil people persecute us here terribly, and for what? For our +poverty,—for nothing but our poverty. Perhaps God will take pity on +us, and save us from suffering.”</p> + +<p>Here old Kyemlich rubbed his hands mechanically, and his eyes +glittered. “From these works,” thought he, “it will boil in the country +as in a kettle, and foolish the man who takes no advantage.”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked at him quickly. “Only don’t try to betray me!” said he, +threateningly, “for you will not be able, and the hand of God only +could save you.”</p> + +<p>“We have never betrayed,” answered Kyemlich, gloomily, “and may God +condemn me if such a thought entered my head.”</p> + +<p>“I believe you,” said Kmita, after a short silence, “for treason is +something different from robbery; no robber will betray.”</p> + +<p>“What does your grace command now?” asked Kyemlich.</p> + +<p>“First, here are two letters, requiring quick delivery. Have you sharp +men?”</p> + +<p>“Where must they go?”</p> + +<p>“Let one go to the prince voevoda, but without seeing Radzivill +himself. Let him deliver the letter in the first squadron of the +prince, and come back without awaiting an answer.”</p> + +<p>“The pitch-maker will go; he is a sharp man and experienced.”</p> + +<p>“He will do. The second letter must be taken to Podlyasye; inquire for +Pan Volodyovski’s Lauda squadron, and give it into the hands of the +colonel himself.”</p> + +<p>The old man began to mutter cunningly, and thought, “I see work on +every side; since he is sniffing with the confederates there will be +boiling water,—there will be, there will be!”</p> + +<p>“Your grace,” said he, aloud, “if there is not such a hurry with this +letter, when we leave the forest it perhaps might be given to some man +on the road. There are many nobles here friendly to the confederates; +any one would take it willingly, and one man more would remain to us.”</p> + +<p>“You have calculated shrewdly,” answered Kmita, “for it is better that +he who delivers the letter should not know from whom he takes it. Shall +we go out of the forest soon?”</p> + +<p>“As your grace wishes. We can go out in two weeks, or to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>“Of that later; but now listen to me carefully, Kyemlich.”</p> + +<p>“I am attending with all my mind, your grace.”</p> + +<p>“They have denounced me in the whole Commonwealth as a tyrant, as +devoted to the hetman, or altogether to Sweden. If the king knew who I +am, he might not trust me, and might despise my intention, which, if it +is not sincere, God sees! Are you attending, Kyemlich?”</p> + +<p>“I am, your grace.”</p> + +<p>“Therefore I do not call myself Kmita, but Babinich, do you +understand? No one must know my real name. Open not your lips; let not +a breath out. If men ask whence I come, say that you joined me on the +road and do not know, but say, ‘Whoso is curious, let him ask the man +himself.’”</p> + +<p>“I understand, your grace.”</p> + +<p>“Warn your sons, and also your men. Even if straps were cut out of +them, they must say my name is Babinich. You will answer for this with +your life.”</p> + +<p>“It will be so, your grace. I will go and tell my sons, for it is +necessary to put everything into the heads of those rogues with a +shovel. Such is the joy I have with them. God has punished me for the +sins of my youth; that is the trouble. Let me say another word, your +grace.”</p> + +<p>“Speak boldly.”</p> + +<p>“It seems to me better not to tell soldiers or men where we are going.”</p> + +<p>“That is true.”</p> + +<p>“It is enough for them to know that Babinich, not Pan Kmita, is +travelling. And on such a journey it is better to conceal your grace’s +rank.”</p> + +<p>“Why?”</p> + +<p>“Because the Swedes give passes to the more considerable people; and +whoso has not a pass, him they take to the commandant.”</p> + +<p>“I have passes to the Swedish troops.”</p> + +<p>Astonishment gleamed in the cunning eyes of Kyemlich; but after a while +he asked, “Will your grace let me say once more what I think?”</p> + +<p>“If you give good counsel and delay not, speak; for I see that you are +a clever man.”</p> + +<p>“If you have passes, it is better, for in need they may be shown; but +if your grace is travelling on an errand that should remain secret, it +is safer not to show the passes. I know not whether they are given in +the name of Babinich or Kmita; but if you show them, the trace will +remain and pursuit will be easier.”</p> + +<p>“You have struck the point!” cried Kmita. “I prefer to reserve the +passes for another time, if it is possible to go through without them.”</p> + +<p>“It is possible, your grace; and that disguised either as a peasant or +a petty noble,—which will be easier, for I have some clean clothes, a +cap and gray coat, for example, just such as petty nobles wear. We may +travel with a band of horses, as if we were going to the fairs, and +drive farther till we come to Lovich and Warsaw, as I have done more +than once during peace, and I know the roads. About this time there is +a fair in Sobota, to which people come from afar. In Sobota we shall +learn of other places where there are fairs, and so on. The Swedes too +take less note of small nobles, for crowds of them stroll about at all +the fairs. If some commandant inquires we will explain ourselves, but +if a small party asks we will gallop over their bellies, God and the +Most Holy Lady permitting.”</p> + +<p>“But if they take our horses? Requisitions in time of war are of daily +occurrence.”</p> + +<p>“Either they will buy or they will take them. If they buy we will go to +Sobota, not to sell, but to buy horses; and if they take them, we will +raise a lament and go with our complaint to Warsaw and to Cracow.”</p> + +<p>“You have a cunning mind,” said Kmita, “and I see that you will serve +me. Even if the Swedes take these horses, some man will be found to pay +for them.”</p> + +<p>“I was going to Elko in Prussia with them; this turns out well, for +just in that direction does our road lie. From Elko we will go along +the boundary, then turn to Ostrolenko, thence through the wilderness to +Pultusk and to Warsaw.”</p> + +<p>“Where is that Sobota?”<a name="div2Ref_24" href="#div2_24"><sup>[24]</sup></a></p> + +<p>“Not far from Pyantek.”<a name="div2Ref_25" href="#div2_25"><sup>[25]</sup></a></p> + +<p>“Are you jesting, Kyemlich?”</p> + +<p>“How should I dare,” answered the old man, crossing his arms on his +breast and bending his head; “but they have such wonderful names for +towns in this region. It is a good bit of road beyond Lovich, your +grace.”</p> + +<p>“Are there large fairs in that Sobota?”</p> + +<p>“Not such as in Lovich; but there is one at this time of year, to which +horses are driven from Prussia, and crowds of people assemble. Surely +it will not be worse this year, for it is quiet about there. The Swedes +are in power everywhere, and have garrisons in the towns. Even if a man +wanted to rise against them, he could not.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will take your plan. We will go with horses, and that you +suffer no loss I will pay for them in advance.”</p> + +<p>“I thank your grace for the rescue.”</p> + +<p>“Only get sheepskin coats ready and common saddles and sabres, for we +will start at once. Tell your sons and men who I am, what my name is, +that I am travelling with horses, that you and they are hired +assistants. Hurry!”</p> + +<p>When the old man turned to the door, Pan Andrei said further, “No one +will call me grace nor commandant nor colonel, only <i>you</i> and +<i>Babinich</i>.”</p> + +<p>Kyemlich went out, and an hour later all were sitting on their horses +ready to start on the long journey. Kmita dressed in the gray coat of a +poor noble, a cap of worn sheepskin, and with a bandaged face, as if +after a duel in some inn, was difficult of recognition, and looked +really like some poor devil of a noble, strolling from one fair to +another. He was surrounded by people dressed in like fashion, armed +with common poor sabres, with long whips to drive the horses, and +lariats to catch those that might try to escape.</p> + +<p>The soldiers looked with astonishment at their colonel, making various +remarks, in low tones, concerning him. It was a wonder to them that he +was Babinich instead of Pan Kmita, that they were to say <i>you</i> to him; +and most of all shrugged his shoulders old Soroka, who, looking at the +terrible colonel as at a rainbow, muttered to Biloüs,—</p> + +<p>“That <i>you</i> will not pass my throat. Let him kill me, but I will give +him, as of old, what belongs to him.”</p> + +<p>The soldiers knew not that the soul in Pan Andrei had changed as well +as his external form.</p> + +<p>“Move on!” cried Babinich, on a sudden.</p> + +<p>The whips cracked; the riders surrounded the horses, which were huddled +together, and they moved on.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<p>Passing along the very boundary between the province of Trotsk and +Prussia, they travelled through broad and pathless forests known only +to Kyemlich, until they entered Prussia and reached Leng, or, as old +Kyemlich, called it, Elko, where they got news of public affairs from +nobles stopping there, who, taking their wives, children, and effects, +had fled from the Swedes and sought refuge under the power of the +elector.</p> + +<p>Leng had the look of a camp, or rather it might be thought that some +petty diet was in session there. The nobles drank Prussian beer in the +public houses, and talked, while every now and then some one brought +news. Without making inquiries and merely by listening with care, +Babinich learned that Royal Prussia and the chief towns in it had taken +decisively the side of Yan Kazimir, and had made a treaty of mutual +defence with the elector against every enemy. It was said, however, +that in spite of the treaty the most considerable towns were unwilling +to admit the elector’s garrisons, fearing lest that adroit prince, when +he had once entered with armed hand, might hold them for good, or might +in the decisive moment join himself treacherously to the Swedes,—a +deed which his inborn cunning made him capable of doing.</p> + +<p>The nobles murmured against this distrust entertained by townspeople; +but Pan Andrei, knowing the Radzivill intrigues with the elector, had +to gnaw his tongue to refrain from telling what was known to him. He +was held back by the thought that it was dangerous in Electoral Prussia +to speak openly against the elector; and secondly, because it did not +beseem a small gray-coated noble who was going to a fair with horses, +to enter into the intricate subject of politics, over which the ablest +statesmen were racking their brains to no purpose.</p> + +<p>He sold a pair of horses, bought new ones, and journeyed farther, along +the Prussian boundary, but by the road leading from Leng to Shchuchyn, +situated in the very corner of the province of Mazovia, between Prussia +on the one side and the province of Podlyasye on the other. To +Shchuchyn Pan Andrei had no wish to go, for he learned that in that +town were the quarters of the confederate squadron commanded by +Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski must have passed over almost the same road on which Kmita +was travelling, and stopped before the very boundary of Podlyasye, +either for a short rest or for temporary quarters, in Shchuchyn, where +it must have been easier to find food for men and horses than in +greatly plundered Podlyasye.</p> + +<p>Kmita did not wish to meet the famous colonel, for he judged that +having no proofs, except words, he would not be able to persuade +Volodyovski of his conversion and sincerity. He gave command, +therefore, to turn to the west toward Vansosh, ten miles from +Shchuchyn. As to the letter he determined to send it to Pan Michael at +the first opportunity.</p> + +<p>But before arriving at Vansosh, they stopped at a wayside inn called +“The Mandrake,” and disposed themselves for a night’s rest, which +promised to be comfortable, for there was no one at the inn save the +host, a Prussian.</p> + +<p>But barely had Kmita with the three Kyemliches and Soroka sat down to +supper when the rattling of wheels and the tramp of horses were heard. +As the sun had not gone down yet, Kmita went out in front of the inn to +see who was coming, for he was curious to know if it was some Swedish +party; but instead of Swedes he saw a carriage, and following it two +pack-wagons, surrounded by armed men.</p> + +<p>At the first glance it was easy to see that some personage was coming. +The carriage was drawn by four good Prussian horses, with large bones +and rather short backs; a jockey sat on one of the front horses, +holding two beautiful dogs in a leash; on the seat was a driver, and at +his side a haiduk dressed in Hungarian fashion; in the carriage was the +lord himself, in a cloak lined with wolfskin and fastened with numerous +gilded buttons.</p> + +<p>In the rear followed two wagons, well filled, and at each of them four +servants armed with sabres and guns.</p> + +<p>The lord, though a personage, was still quite young, a little beyond +twenty. He had a plump, red face, and in his whole person there was +evidence that he did not stint himself in eating.</p> + +<p>When the carriage stopped, the haiduk sprang to give his hand to help +down the lord; but the lord, seeing Kmita standing on the threshold, +beckoned with his glove, and called,—</p> + +<p>“Come this way, my good friend!”</p> + +<p>Kmita instead of going to him withdrew to the interior, for anger +seized him at once. He had not become accustomed yet to the gray coat, +or to being beckoned at with a glove. He went back therefore, sat at +the table, and began to eat. The unknown lord came in after him. When +he had entered he half closed his eyes, for it was dark in the room, +since there was merely a small fire burning in the chimney.</p> + +<p>“But why did no one come out as I was driving up?” asked the unknown +lord.</p> + +<p>“The host has gone to another room,” answered Kmita, “and we are +travellers, like your grace.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you for the confidence. And what manner of travellers?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, a noble travelling with horses.”</p> + +<p>“And your company are nobles too?”</p> + +<p>“Poor men, but nobles.”</p> + +<p>“With the forehead, then, with the forehead. Whither is God guiding +you?”</p> + +<p>“From fair to fair, to sell horses.”</p> + +<p>“If you stay here all night, I’ll see, perhaps I’ll pick out something. +Meanwhile will you permit me to join you at the table?”</p> + +<p>The unknown lord asked, it is true, if they would let him sit with +them, but in such a tone as if he were perfectly sure that they would; +and he was not mistaken. The young horse-dealer said,—</p> + +<p>“We beg your grace very kindly, though we have nothing to offer but +sausage and peas.”</p> + +<p>“There are better dainties in my bags,” answered the lordling, not +without a certain pride; “but I have a soldier’s palate, and sausage +with peas, if well cooked, I prefer to everything.” When he had +said this,—and he spoke very slowly, though he looked quickly and +sharply,—he took his seat on the bench on which Kmita pushed aside to +give convenient room.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I beg, I beg, do not incommode yourself. On the road rank is not +regarded; and though you were to punch me with your elbow, the crown +would not fall from my head.”</p> + +<p>Kmita, who was pushing a plate of peas to the unknown, and who, as has +been said, was not used to such treatment, would certainly have broken +the plate on the head of the puffed up young man if there had not been +something in that pride of his which amused Pan Andrei; therefore not +only did he restrain his internal impulse at once, but laughed and +said,—</p> + +<p>“Such times are the present, your grace, that crowns fall from the +loftiest heads; for example, our king Yan Kazimir, who by right should +wear two crowns, has none, unless it be one of thorns.”</p> + +<p>The unknown looked quickly at Kmita, then sighed and said, “Times are +such now that it is better not to speak of this unless with +confidants.” Then after a moment he added: “But you have brought that +out well. You must have served with polished people, for your speech +shows more training than your rank.”</p> + +<p>“Rubbing against people, I have heard this and that, but I have never +been a servant.”</p> + +<p>“Whence are you by birth, I beg to ask?”</p> + +<p>“From a village in the province of Trotsk.”</p> + +<p>“Birth in a village is no drawback, if you are only noble; that’s the +main thing. What is to be heard in Lithuania?”</p> + +<p>“The old story,—no lack of traitors.”</p> + +<p>“Traitors, do you say? What kind of traitors?”</p> + +<p>“Those who have deserted the king and the Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>“How is the prince voevoda of Vilna?”</p> + +<p>“Sick, it is said; his breath fails him.”</p> + +<p>“God give him health, he is a worthy lord!”</p> + +<p>“For the Swedes he is, since he opened the gates to them.”</p> + +<p>“I see that you are not a partisan of his.”</p> + +<p>Kmita noticed that the stranger, while asking him questions as it were +good-naturedly, was observing him.</p> + +<p>“What do I care!” said he; “let others think of him. My fear is that +the Swedes may take my horses in requisition.”</p> + +<p>“You should have sold them on the spot, then. In Podlyasye are +stationed, very likely, the squadrons which rebelled against the +hetman, and surely they have not too many horses.”</p> + +<p>“I do not know that, for I have not been among them, though some man in +passing gave me a letter to one of their colonels, to be delivered when +possible.”</p> + +<p>“How could that passing man give you a letter when you are not going to +Podlyasye?”</p> + +<p>“Because in Shchuchyn one confederate squadron is stationed, therefore +the man said to me, ‘Either give it yourself or find an opportunity in +passing Shchuchyn.’”</p> + +<p>“That comes out well, for I am going to Shchuchyn.”</p> + +<p>“Your grace is fleeing also before the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>The unknown, instead of an answer, looked at Kmita and asked +phlegmatically, “Why do you say <i>also</i>, since you not only are not +fleeing from the Swedes, but are going among them and will sell them +horses, if they do not take your beasts by force?”</p> + +<p>At this Kmita shrugged his shoulders. “I said <i>also</i>, because in Leng I +saw many nobles who escaped before the Swedes; and as to me, if all +were to serve them as much as I wish to serve them, I think they would +not warm the places here long.”</p> + +<p>“Are you not afraid to say this?”</p> + +<p>“I am not afraid, for I am not a coward, and in the second place your +grace is going to Shchuchyn, and there every one says aloud what he +thinks. God grant a quick passage from talking to action.”</p> + +<p>“I see that you are a man of wit beyond your station,” repeated the +unknown. “But if you love not the Swedes, why leave these squadrons, +which have mutinied against the hetman? Have they mutinied because +their wages were kept back, or from caprice? No! but because they would +not serve the hetman and the Swedes. It would have been better for +those soldiers, poor fellows, to remain under the hetman, but they +preferred to give themselves the name of rebels, to expose themselves +to hunger, hardships, and many destructive things, rather than act +against the king. That it will come to war between them and the Swedes +is certain, and it would have come already were it not that the Swedes +have not advanced to that corner as yet. Wait, they will come, they +will meet here, and then you will see!”</p> + +<p>“I think, too, that war will begin here very soon,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Well, if you have such an opinion, and a sincere hatred for the +Swedes,—which looks out of your eyes, for you speak truth, I am a +judge of that,—then why not join these worthy soldiers? Is it not +time, do they not need hands and sabres? Not a few honorable men are +serving among them, who prefer their own king to a foreign one, and +soon there will be more of these. You come from places in which men +know not the Swedes as yet, but those who have made their acquaintance +are shedding hot tears. In Great Poland, though it surrendered to them +of its own will, they thumbscrew nobles, plunder, make requisitions, +seize everything they can. At present in this province their manner is +no better. General Stenbok gave forth a manifesto that each man remain +quietly at home, and his property would be respected. But what good was +in that! The General has his will, and the smallest commandants have +theirs, so that no man is sure of to-morrow, nor of what property he +holds. Every man wishes to get good of what he has, to use it in peace, +wants it to bring him pleasure. But now the first best adventurer will +come and say, ‘Give.’ If you do not give, he will find reason to strip +you of your property, or without reason will have your head cut off. +Many shed bitter tears, when they think of their former king. All are +oppressed and look to those confederates unceasingly, to see if some +rescue for the country and the people will not come from them.”</p> + +<p>“Your grace, as I see, has no better wish for the Swedes than I have,” +said Kmita.</p> + +<p>The unknown looked around as it were with a certain alarm, but soon +calmed himself and spoke on,—</p> + +<p>“I would that pestilence crushed them, and I hide that not from you, +for it seems to me that you are honest; and though you were not honest, +you would not bind me and take me to the Swedes, for I should not +yield, having armed men, and a sabre at my side.”</p> + +<p>“Your grace may be sure that I will not harm you; your courage is to my +heart. And it pleases me that your grace did not hesitate to leave +property behind, in which the enemy will not fail to punish you. Such +good-will to the country is highly deserving of praise.”</p> + +<p>Kmita began unwittingly to speak in a patronizing tone, as a superior +to a subordinate, without thinking that such words might seem strange +in the mouth of a small horse-dealing noble; but apparently the young +lord did not pay attention to that, for he merely winked cunningly and +said,—</p> + +<p>“But am I a fool? With me the first rule is that my own shall not leave +me, for what the Lord God has given must be respected. I stayed at home +quietly with my produce and grain, and when I had sold in Prussia all +my crops, cattle, and utensils, I thought to myself: ‘It is time for +the road. Let them take vengeance on me now, let them take whatever +pleases their taste.’”</p> + +<p>“Your grace has left the hind and the buildings for good?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, for I hired the starostaship of Vansosh from the voevoda of +Mazovia, and just now the term has expired. I have not paid the last +rent, and I will not, for I hear the voevoda of Mazovia is an adherent +of the Swedes. Let the rent be lost to him for that, and it will add to +my ready money.”</p> + +<p>“’Pon my word,” said Kmita, smiling, “I see that your grace is not only +a brave cavalier, but an adroit one.”</p> + +<p>“Of course,” replied the unknown. “Adroitness is the main thing! But I +was not speaking of that. Why is it that, feeling the wrongs of our +country and of our gracious king, you do not go to those honorable +soldiers in Podlyasye and join their banner? You would serve both God +and yourself; luck might come, for to more than one has it happened to +come out of war a great man, from being a small noble. It is evident +that you are bold and resolute, and since your birth is no hindrance, +you might advance quickly to some fortune, if God favors you with +booty. If you do not squander that which here and there will fall into +your hands, the purse will grow heavy. I do not know whether you have +land or not, but you may have it; with a purse it is not hard to rent +an estate, and from renting an estate to owning one, with the help of +the Lord, is not far. And so, beginning as an attendant, you may die an +officer, or in some dignity in the country, in case you are not lazy in +labor; for whoso rises early, to him God gives treasure.”</p> + +<p>Kmita gnawed his mustache, for laughter seized him; then his face +quivered, and he squirmed, for from time to time pain came from the +healing wound. The unknown continued,—</p> + +<p>“As to receiving you there, they will receive you, for they need men; +besides, you have pleased me, and I take you under my protection, with +which you may be certain of promotion.”</p> + +<p>Here the young man raised his plump face with pride, and began to +smooth his mustaches; at last he said,—</p> + +<p>“Will you be my attendant, carry my sabre, and manage my men?”</p> + +<p>Kmita did not restrain himself, but burst out in sincere, joyous +laughter, so that all his teeth gleamed.</p> + +<p>“Why laugh?” asked the unknown, frowning.</p> + +<p>“From delight at the service.”</p> + +<p>But the youthful personage was offended in earnest, and said,—</p> + +<p>“He was a fool who taught you such manners, and be careful with whom +you are speaking, lest you exceed measure in familiarity.”</p> + +<p>“Forgive me, your grace,” answered Kmita, joyously, “for really I do +not know before whom I am standing.”</p> + +<p>The young lord put his hands on his hips: “I am Pan Jendzian of +Vansosh,” said he, with importance.</p> + +<p>Kmita had opened his mouth to tell his assumed name, when Biloüs came +hurriedly into the room.</p> + +<p>“Pan Com—”</p> + +<p>Here the soldier, stopped by the threatening look of Kmita, was +confused, stammered, and finally coughed out with effort,—</p> + +<p>“I beg to tell you some people are coming.”</p> + +<p>“Where from?”</p> + +<p>“From Shchuchyn.”</p> + +<p>Kmita was embarrassed, but hiding his confusion quickly, he answered, +“Be on your guard. Are there many?”</p> + +<p>“About ten men on horseback.”</p> + +<p>“Have the pistols ready. Go!”</p> + +<p>When the soldier had gone out, Kmita turned to Pan Jendzian of Vansosh +and asked,—</p> + +<p>“Are they not Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“Since you are going to them,” answered Pan Jendzian, who for some time +had looked with astonishment on the young noble, “you must meet them +sooner or later.”</p> + +<p>“I should prefer the Swedes to robbers, of whom there are many +everywhere. Whoso goes with horses must go armed and keep on the watch, +for horses are very tempting.”</p> + +<p>“If it is true that Pan Volodyovski is in Shchuchyn,” said Pan +Jendzian, “this is surely a party of his. Before they take up their +quarters there they wish to know if the country is safe, for with +Swedes at the border it would be difficult to remain in quiet.”</p> + +<p>When he heard this, Pan Andrei walked around in the room and sat down +in its darkest corner, where the sides of the chimney cast a deep +shadow on the corner of the table; but meanwhile the sound of the tramp +and snorting of horses came in from outside, and after a time a number +of men entered the room.</p> + +<p>Walking in advance, a gigantic fellow struck with wooden foot the loose +planks in the floor of the room. Kmita looked at him, and the heart +died within his bosom. It was Yuzva Butrym, called Footless.</p> + +<p>“But where is the host?” inquired he, halting in the middle of the +room.</p> + +<p>“I am here!” answered the innkeeper, “at your service.”</p> + +<p>“Oats for the horses!”</p> + +<p>“I have no oats, except what these men are using.” Saying this, he +pointed at Jendzian and the horse-dealer’s men.</p> + +<p>“Whose men are you?” asked Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“And who are you yourself?”</p> + +<p>“The starosta of Vansosh.”</p> + +<p>His own people usually called Jendzian starosta, as he was the tenant +of a starostaship, and he thus named himself on the most important +occasions.</p> + +<p>Yuzva Butrym was confused, seeing with what a high personage he had to +do; therefore he removed his cap, and said,—</p> + +<p>“With the forehead, great mighty lord. It was not possible to recognize +dignity in the dark.”</p> + +<p>“Whose men are these?” repeated Jendzian, placing his hands on his +hips.</p> + +<p>“The Lauda men from the former Billevich squadron, and now of Pan +Volodyovski’s.”</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake! Then Pan Volodyovski is in the town of Shchuchyn?”</p> + +<p>“In his own person, and with other colonels who have come from Jmud.”</p> + +<p>“Praise be to God, praise be to God!” repeated the delighted starosta. +“And what colonels are with Pan Volodyovski?”</p> + +<p>“Pan Mirski was,” answered Butrym, “till apoplexy struck him on the +road; but Pan Oskyerko is there, and Pan Kovalski, and the two +Skshetuskis.”</p> + +<p>“What Skshetuskis?” cried Jendzian. “Is not one of them Skshetuski from +Bujets?”</p> + +<p>“I do not know where he lives,” said Butrym, “but I know that he was at +Zbaraj.”</p> + +<p>“Save us! that is my lord!”</p> + +<p>Here Jendzian saw how strangely such a word would sound in the mouth of +a starosta, and added,—</p> + +<p>“My lord godson’s father, I wanted to say.”</p> + +<p>The starosta said this without forethought, for in fact he had been the +second godfather to Skshetuski’s first son, Yaremka.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile thoughts one after another were crowding to the head of Pan +Kmita, sitting in the dark corner of the room. First the soul within +him was roused at sight of the terrible graycoat, and his hand grasped +the sabre involuntarily. For he knew that Yuzva, mainly, had caused the +death of his comrades, and was his most inveterate enemy. The old-time +Pan Kmita would have commanded to take him and tear him with horses, +but the Pan Babinich of that day controlled himself. Alarm, however, +seized him at the thought that if the man were to recognize him various +dangers might come to his farther journey and the whole undertaking. He +determined, therefore, not to let himself be known, and he pushed ever +deeper into the shade; at last he put his elbow on the table, and +placing his head in his palms began to feign sleep; but at the same +time he whispered to Soroka, who was sitting at the table,—</p> + +<p>“Go to the stable, let the horses be ready. We will go in the night.”</p> + +<p>Soroka rose and went out; Kmita still feigned sleep. Various memories +came to his head. These people reminded him of Lauda, Vodokty, and that +brief past which had vanished as a dream. When a short time before +Yuzva Butrym said that he belonged to the former Billevich squadron, +the heart trembled in Pan Andrei at the mere name. And it came to his +mind that it was also evening, that the fire was burning in the chimney +in the same way, when he dropped unexpectedly into Vodokty, as if with +the snow, and for the first time saw in the servants’ hall Olenka among +the spinners.</p> + +<p>He saw now with closed lids, as if with eyesight, that bright, calm +lady; he remembered everything that had taken place,—how she wished to +be his guardian angel, to strengthen him in good, to guard him from +evil, to show him the straight road of worthiness. If he had listened +to her, if he had listened to her! She knew also what ought to be done, +on what side to stand; knew where was virtue, honesty, duty, and simply +would have taken him by the hand and led him, if he had listened to +her.</p> + +<p>Here love, roused by remembrance, rose so much in Pan Andrei’s heart +that he was ready to pour out all his blood, if he could fall at the +feet of that lady; and at that moment he was ready to fall on the neck +of that bear of Lauda, that slayer of his comrades, simply because he +was from that region, had named the Billeviches, had seen Olenka.</p> + +<p>His own name repeated a number of times by Yuzva Butrym roused him +first from his musing. The tenant of Vansosh inquired about +acquaintances, and Yuzva told him what had happened in Kyedani from the +time of the memorable treaty of the hetman with the Swedes; he spoke of +the oppression of the army, the imprisonment of the colonels, of +sending them to Birji, and their fortunate escape. The name of Kmita, +covered with all the horror of treason and cruelty, was repeated +prominently in those narratives. Yuzva did not know that Pan +Volodyovski, the Skshetuskis, and Zagloba owed their lives to Kmita; +but he told of what had happened in Billeviche,—</p> + +<p>“Our colonel seized that traitor in Billeviche, as a fox in his den, +and straightway commanded to lead him to death; I took him with great +delight, for the hand of God had reached him, and from moment to moment +I held the lantern to his eyes, to see if he showed any sorrow. But no! +He went boldly, not considering that he would stand before the judgment +of God,—such is his reprobate nature. And when I advised him to make +even the sign of the cross, he answered, ‘Shut thy mouth, fellow; ’tis +no affair of thine!’ We posted him under a pear-tree outside the +village, and I was already giving the word, when Pan Zagloba, who went +with us, gave the order to search him, to see if he had papers on his +person. A letter was found. Pan Zagloba said, ‘Hold the light!’ and he +read. He had barely begun reading when he caught his head: ‘Jesus, +Mary! bring him back to the house!’ Pan Zagloba mounted his horse and +rode off, and we brought Kmita back, thinking they would burn him +before death, to get information from him. But nothing of the kind! +They let the traitor go free. It was not for my head to judge what they +found in the letter, but I would not have let him go.”</p> + +<p>“What was in that letter?” asked the tenant of Vansosh.</p> + +<p>“I know not; I only think that there must have been still other +officers in the hands of the prince voevoda, who would have had them +shot right away if we had shot Kmita. Besides, our colonel may have +taken pity on the tears of Panna Billevich, for she fell in a faint so +that hardly were they able to bring her to her senses. I do not make +bold to complain; still evil has happened, for the harm which that man +has done, Lucifer himself would not be ashamed of. All Lithuania weeps +through him; and how many widows and orphans and how many poor people +complain against him is known to God only. Whoso destroys him will have +merit in heaven and before men.”</p> + +<p>Here conversation turned again to Pan Volodyovski, the Skshetuskis, and +the squadrons in Podlyasye.</p> + +<p>“It is hard to find provisions,” said Butrym, “for the lands of the +hetman are plundered completely,—nothing can be found in them for the +tooth of a man or a horse; and the nobles are poor in the villages, as +with us in Jmud. The colonels have determined therefore to divide the +horses into hundreds, and post them five or ten miles apart. But when +winter comes, I cannot tell what will happen.”</p> + +<p>Kmita, who had listened patiently while the conversation touched him, +moved now, and had opened his mouth to say from his dark corner, “The +hetman will take you, when thus divided, one by one, like lobsters from +a net.” But at that moment the door opened, and in it stood Soroka, +whom Kmita had sent to get the horses ready for the road. The light +from the chimney fell straight on the stern face of the sergeant. Yuzva +Butrym glanced at him, looked a long time, then turned to Jendzian and +asked,—</p> + +<p>“Is that a servant of your great mightiness? I know him from some place +or another.”</p> + +<p>“No,” replied Jendzian; “those are nobles going with horses to fairs.”</p> + +<p>“But whither?” asked Yuzva.</p> + +<p>“To Sobota,” said old Kyemlich.</p> + +<p>“Where is that?”</p> + +<p>“Not far from Pyantek.”</p> + +<p>Yuzva accounted this answer an untimely jest, as Kmita had previously, +and said with a frown, “Answer when people ask!”</p> + +<p>“By what right do you ask?”</p> + +<p>“I can make that clear to you, for I am sent out to see if there are +not suspicious men in the neighborhood. Indeed it seems to me there are +some, who do not wish to tell where they are going.”</p> + +<p>Kmita, fearing that a fight might rise out of this conversation, said, +without moving from the dark corner,—</p> + +<p>“Be not angry, worthy soldier, for Pyantek and Sobota are towns, like +others, in which horse-fairs are held in the fall. If you do not +believe, ask the lord starosta, who must know of them.”</p> + +<p>“They are regular places,” said Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“In that case it is all right. But why go to those places? You can sell +horses in Shchuchyn, where there is a great lack of them, and those +which we took in Pilvishki are good for nothing; they are galled.”</p> + +<p>“Every man goes where it is better for him, and we know our own road,” +answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“I know not whether it is better for you; but it is not better for us +that horses are driven to the Swedes and informants go to them.”</p> + +<p>“It is a wonder to me,” said the tenant of Vansosh. “These people talk +against the Swedes, and somehow they are in a hurry to go to them.” +Here he turned to Kmita: “And you do not seem to me greatly like a +horse-dealer, for I saw a fine ring on your finger, of which no lord +would be ashamed.”</p> + +<p>“If it has pleased your grace, buy it of me; I gave two quarters for it +in Leng.”</p> + +<p>“Two quarters? Then it is not genuine, but a splendid counterfeit. Show +it.”</p> + +<p>“Take it, your grace.”</p> + +<p>“Can you not move yourself? Must I go?”</p> + +<p>“I am terribly tired.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, brother, a man would say that you are trying to hide your face.”</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Yuzva said not a word, but approached the chimney, took +out a burning brand, and holding it high above his head, went straight +toward Kmita and held the light before his eyes.</p> + +<p>Kmita rose in an instant to his whole height, and during one wink of an +eyelid they looked at each other eye to eye. Suddenly the brand fell +from the hand of Yuzva, scattering a thousand sparks on the way.</p> + +<p>“Jesus, Mary!” screamed Butrym, “this is Kmita!”</p> + +<p>“I am he!” said Pan Andrei, seeing that there were no further means of +concealment.</p> + +<p>“This way, this way! Seize him!” shouted Yuzva to the soldiers who had +remained outside. Then turning to Pan Andrei, he said,—</p> + +<p>“Thou art he, O hell-dweller, traitor! Thou art that Satan in person! +Once thou didst slip from my hands, and now thou art hurrying in +disguise to the Swedes. Thou art that Judas, that torturer of women and +men! I have thee!”</p> + +<p>So saying, he seized Pan Andrei by the shoulder; but Pan Andrei seized +him. First, however, the two young Kyemliches, Kosma and Damian, had +risen from the bench, almost touching the ceiling with their bushy +heads, and Kosma asked,—</p> + +<p>“Shall we pound, father?”</p> + +<p>“Pound!” answered old Kyemlich, unsheathing his sabre.</p> + +<p>The doors burst open, and Yuzva’s soldiers rushed in; but behind them, +almost on their necks, came Kyemlich’s men.</p> + +<p>Yuzva caught Pan Andrei by the shoulder, and in his right hand held a +naked rapier, making a whirlwind and lightning with it around himself. +But Pan Andrei, though he had not the gigantic strength of his enemy, +seized Butrym’s throat as if in a vice. Yuzva’s eyes were coming out; +he tried to stun Kmita with the hilt of his rapier, but did not +succeed, for Kmita thundered first on his forehead with the hilt of his +sabre. Yuzva’s fingers, holding the shoulder of his opponent, opened at +once; he tottered and bent backward under the blow. To make room for a +second blow, Kmita pushed him again, and slashed him with full sweep on +the face with his sabre. Yuzva fell on his back like an oak-tree, +striking the floor with his skull.</p> + +<p>“Strike!” cried Kmita, in whom was roused, in one moment, the old +fighting spirit.</p> + +<p>But he had no need to urge, for it was boiling in the room, as in a +pot. The two young Kyemliches slashed with their sabres, and at times +butted with their heads, like a pair of bullocks, putting down a man +with each blow; after them advanced their old father, bending every +moment to the floor, half closing his eyes, and thrusting quickly the +point of his weapon under the arms of his sons.</p> + +<p>But Soroka, accustomed to fighting in inns and close quarters, spread +the greatest destruction. He pressed his opponents so sorely that they +could not reach him with a blade; and when he had discharged his +pistols in the crowd, he smashed heads with the butts of the pistols, +crushing noses, knocking out teeth and eyes. Kyemlich’s servants and +Kmita’s two soldiers aided their masters.</p> + +<p>The fight moved from the table to the upper end of the room. The Lauda +men defended themselves with rage; but from the moment that Kmita, +having finished Yuzva, sprang into the fight and stretched out another +Butrym, the victory began to incline to his side.</p> + +<p>Jendzian’s servants also sprang into the room with sabres and guns; but +though their master cried, “Strike!” they were at a loss what to do, +for they could not distinguish one side from the other, since the Lauda +men wore no uniforms, and in the disturbance the starosta’s young men +were punished by both sides.</p> + +<p>Jendzian held himself carefully outside the battle, wishing to +recognize Kmita, and point him out for a shot; but by the faint light +of the fire Kmita vanished time after time from his eye,—at one +instant springing to view as red as a devil, then again lost in +darkness.</p> + +<p>Resistance on the part of the Lauda men grew weaker and weaker, for the +fall of Yuzva and the terrible name of Kmita had lessened their +courage; still they fought on with rage. Meanwhile the innkeeper went +past the strugglers quietly with a bucket of water in his hand and +dashed it on the fire. In the room followed black darkness; the +strugglers gathered into such a dense crowd that they could strike with +fists only; after a while cries ceased; only panting breaths could be +heard, and the orderless stamp of boots. Through the door, then flung +open, sprang first Jendzian’s people, after them the Lauda men, then +Kmita’s attendants.</p> + +<p>Pursuit began in the first room, in the bins before the house, and in +the shed. Some shots were heard; then uproar and the noise of horses. A +battle began at Jendzian’s wagons, under which his people hid +themselves; the Lauda men too sought refuge there, and Jendzian’s +people, taking them for the other party, fired at them a number of +times.</p> + +<p>“Surrender!” cried old Kyemlich, thrusting the point of his sabre +between the spokes of the wagon and stabbing at random the men crouched +beneath.</p> + +<p>“Stop! we surrender!” answered a number of voices.</p> + +<p>Then the people from Vansosh threw from under the wagon their sabres +and guns; after that the young Kyemliches began to drag them out by the +hair, till the old man cried,—</p> + +<p>“To the wagons! take what comes under your hands! Quick! quick! to the +wagons!”</p> + +<p>The young men did not let the command be given thrice, but rushed to +untie the coverings, from beneath which the swollen sides of Jendzian’s +sacks appeared. They had begun to throw out the sacks, when suddenly +Kmita’s voice thundered,—</p> + +<p>“Stop!”</p> + +<p>And Kmita, supporting his command by his hand, fell to slashing them +with the flat of his bloody sabre.</p> + +<p>Kosma and Damian sprang quickly aside.</p> + +<p>“Cannot we take them, your grace?” asked the old man, submissively.</p> + +<p>“Stand back!” cried Kmita. “Find the starosta for me.”</p> + +<p>Kosma and Damian rushed to the search in a moment, and behind them +their father; in a quarter of an hour they came bringing Jendzian, who, +when he saw Kmita, bowed low and said,—</p> + +<p>“With the permission of your grace, I will say that wrong is done me +here, for I did not attack any man, and to visit acquaintances, as I am +going to do, is free to all.”</p> + +<p>Kmita, resting on his sabre, breathed heavily and was silent; Jendzian +continued,—</p> + +<p>“I did no harm here either to the Swedes or the prince hetman. I was +only going to Pan Volodyovski, my old acquaintance; we campaigned +together in Russia. Why should I seek a quarrel? I have not been in +Kyedani, and what took place there is nothing to me. I am trying to +carry off a sound skin; and what God has given me should not be lost, +for I did not steal it, but earned it in the sweat of my brow. I have +nothing to do with this whole question! Let me go free, your great +mightiness—”</p> + +<p>Kmita breathed heavily, looking absently at Jendzian all the time.</p> + +<p>“I beg humbly, your great mightiness,” began the starosta again. “Your +great mightiness saw that I did not know those people, and was not a +friend of theirs. They fell upon your grace, and now they have their +pay; but why should I be made to suffer? Why should my property be +lost? How am I to blame? If it cannot be otherwise, I will pay a ransom +to the soldiers of your great mightiness, though there is not much +remaining to me, poor man. I will give them a thaler apiece, so that +their labor be not lost,—I will give them two; and your great +mightiness will receive from me also—”</p> + +<p>“Cover the wagons!” cried Kmita, suddenly. “But do you take the wounded +men and go to the devil!”</p> + +<p>“I thank your grace humbly,” said the lord tenant of Vansosh.</p> + +<p>Then old Kyemlich approached, pushing out his underlip with the +remnants of his teeth, and groaning,—</p> + +<p>“Your grace, that is ours. Mirror of justice, that is ours.”</p> + +<p>But Kmita gave him such a look that the old man cowered, and dared not +utter another word.</p> + +<p>Jendzian’s people rushed, with what breath they had, to put the horses +to the wagons. Kmita turned again to the lord starosta,—</p> + +<p>“Take all the wounded and killed, carry them to Pan Volodyovski, and +tell him from me that I am not his enemy, but may be a better friend +than he thinks. I wish to avoid him, for it is not yet time for us to +meet. Perhaps that time will come later; but to-day he would neither +believe me, nor have I that wherewith to convince him,—perhaps +later—Do you understand? Tell him that those people fell upon me and I +had to defend myself.”</p> + +<p>“In truth it was so,” responded Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“Wait; tell Pan Volodyovski, besides, to keep the troops together, for +Radzivill, the moment he receives cavalry from Pontus de la Gardie, +will move on them. Perhaps now he is on the road. Yanush and Boguslav +Radzivill are intriguing with the Elector of Brandenburg, and it is +dangerous to be near the boundary. But above all, let them keep +together, or they will perish for nothing. The voevoda of Vityebsk +wishes to come to Podlyasye; let them go to meet him, so as to give aid +in case of obstruction.”</p> + +<p>“I will tell everything, as if I were paid for it.”</p> + +<p>“Though Kmita says this, though Kmita gives warning, let them believe +him, take counsel with other colonels, and consider that they will be +stronger together. I repeat that the hetman is already on the road, and +I am not an enemy of Pan Volodyovski.”</p> + +<p>“If I had some sign from your grace, that would be still better,” said +Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“What good is a sign?”</p> + +<p>“Pan Volodyovski would straightway have greater belief in your grace’s +sincerity; would think, ‘There must be something in what he says if he +has sent a sign.’”</p> + +<p>“Then here is the ring; though there is no lack of signs of me on the +heads of those men whom you are taking to Pan Volodyovski.”</p> + +<p>Kmita drew the ring from his finger. Jendzian on his part took it +hastily, and said,—</p> + +<p>“I thank your grace humbly.”</p> + +<p>An hour later, Jendzian with his wagons and his people, a little shaken +up however, rode forward quietly toward Shchuchyn, taking three killed +and the rest wounded, among whom were Yuzva Butrym, with a cut face and +a broken head. As he rode along Jendzian looked at the ring, in which +the stone glittered wonderfully in the moonlight, and he thought of +that strange and terrible man, who having caused so much harm to the +confederates and so much good to the Swedes and Radzivill, still wished +apparently to save the confederates from final ruin.</p> + +<p>“For he gives sincere advice,” said Jendzian to himself. “It is always +better to hold together. But why does he forewarn? Is it from love of +Volodyovski, because the latter gave him his life in Billeviche? It +must be from love! Yes, but that love may come out with evil result for +the hetman. Kmita is a strange man; he serves Radzivill, wishes well to +our people, and is going to the Swedes; I do not understand this.” +After a while he added: “He is a bountiful lord; but it is evil to come +in his way.”</p> + +<p>As earnestly and vainly as Jendzian, did old Kyemlich rack his brain in +effort to find an answer to the query, “Whom does Pan Kmita serve?”</p> + +<p>“He is going to the king, and kills the confederates, who are fighting +specially on the king’s side. What is this? And he does not trust the +Swedes, for he hides from them. What will happen to us?”</p> + +<p>Not being able to arrive at any conclusion, he turned in rage to his +sons: “Rascals! You will perish without blessing! And you could not +even pull away a little from the slain?”</p> + +<p>“We were afraid!” answered Kosma and Damian.</p> + +<p>Soroka alone was satisfied, and he clattered joyously after his +colonel.</p> + +<p>“Evil fate has missed us,” thought he, “for we killed those fellows. +I’m curious to know whom we shall kill next time.”</p> + +<p>And it was all one to him, as was also this,—whither he was faring.</p> + +<p>No one dared approach Kmita or ask him anything, for the young colonel +was as gloomy as night. He grieved terribly that he had to kill those +men, at the side of whom he would have been glad to stand as quickly as +possible in the ranks. But if he had yielded and let himself be taken +to Volodyovski, what would Volodyovski have thought on learning that he +was seized making his way in disguise to the Swedes, and with passes to +the Swedish commandants?</p> + +<p>“My old sins are pursuing and following me,” said Kmita to himself. “I +will flee to the farthest place; and guide me, O God!”</p> + +<p>He began to pray earnestly and to appease his conscience, which +repeated, “Again corpses against thee, and not corpses of Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“O God, be merciful!” answered Kmita. “I am going to my king; there my +service will begin.”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<p>Jendzian had no intention of passing a night at “The Mandrake,” for +from Vansosh to Shchuchyn was not far,—he wanted merely to give rest +to his horses, especially to those drawing the loaded wagons. +Therefore, when Kmita let him travel farther, Jendzian lost no time, +and entered Shchuchyn late in the evening. Having announced himself to +the sentries, he took his place on the square; for the houses were +occupied by soldiers, who even then were not all able to find lodgings. +Shchuchyn passed for a town, but was not one in reality; for it had not +yet even walls, a town hall, courts of justice, or the college of +monks, founded in the time of King Yan III. It had a few houses, but a +greater number of cabins than houses, and was called a town, because it +was built in a quadrangular form with a market-place in the centre, +slightly less swampy than the pond at which the paltry little place was +situated.</p> + +<p>Jendzian slept under his warm wolfskin till morning, and then went +straight to Pan Volodyovski, who, as he had not seen him for an age, +received him with gladness and took him at once to Pan Yan and Zagloba. +Jendzian shed tears at sight of his former master, whom he had served +faithfully so many years; and with whom he had passed through so many +adventures and worked himself finally to fortune. Without shame of his +former service, Jendzian began to kiss the hands of Pan Yan and repeat +with emotion,—</p> + +<p>“My master, my master, in what times do we meet again!”</p> + +<p>Then all began in a chorus to complain of the times; at last Zagloba +said,—</p> + +<p>“But you, Jendzian, are always in the bosom of fortune, and as I see +have come out a lord. Did I not prophesy that if you were not hanged +you would have fortune? What is going on with you now?”</p> + +<p>“My master, why hang me, when I have done nothing against God, nothing +against the law? I have served faithfully; and if I have betrayed any +man, he was an enemy,—which I consider a special service. And if I +destroyed a scoundrel here and there by stratagem, as some one of the +rebels, or that witch,—do you remember, my master?—that is not a sin; +but even if it were a sin, it is my master’s, not mine, for it was from +you that I learned stratagems.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, that cannot be! See what he wants!” said Zagloba. “If you wish me +to howl for your sins after death, give me their fruit during life. You +are using alone all that wealth which you gained with the Cossacks, and +alone you will be turned to roast bacon in hell.”</p> + +<p>“God is merciful, my master, though it is untrue that I use wealth for +myself alone; for first I beggared our wicked neighbors with lawsuits, +and took care of my parents, who are living now quietly in Jendziane, +without any disputes,—for the Yavorskis have gone off with packs to +beg, and I, at a distance, am earning my living as I can.”</p> + +<p>“Then you are not living in Jendziane?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“In Jendziane my parents live as of old, but I am living in Vansosh, +and I cannot complain, for God has blessed me. But when I heard that +all you gentlemen were in Shchuchyn, I could not sit still, for I +thought to myself, ‘Surely it is time to move again!’ There is going to +be war, let it come!”</p> + +<p>“Own up,” said Zagloba, “the Swedes frightened you out of Vansosh?”</p> + +<p>“There are no Swedes yet in Vidzka, though small parties appear, and +cautiously, for the peasants are terribly hostile.”</p> + +<p>“That is good news for me,” said Volodyovski, “for yesterday I sent a +party purposely to get an informant concerning the Swedes, for I did +not know whether it was possible to stay in Shchuchyn with safety; +surely that party conducted you hither?”</p> + +<p>“That party? Me? I have conducted it, or rather I have brought it, for +there is not even one man of that party who can sit on a horse alone.”</p> + +<p>“What do you say? What has happened?” inquired Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“They are terribly beaten!” explained Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“Who beat them?”</p> + +<p>“Pan Kmita.”</p> + +<p>The Skshetuskis and Zagloba sprang up from the benches, one +interrupting the other in questioning,—</p> + +<p>“Pan Kmita? But what was he doing here? Has the prince himself come +already? Well! Tell right away what has happened.”</p> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski rushed out of the room to see with his eyes, to verify +the extent of the misfortune, and to look at the men; therefore +Jendzian said,—</p> + +<p>“Why should I tell? Better wait till Pan Volodyovski comes back; for it +is more his affair, and it is a pity to move the mouth twice to repeat +the same story.”</p> + +<p>“Did you see Kmita with your own eyes?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“As I see you, my master!”</p> + +<p>“And spoke with him?”</p> + +<p>“Why should I not speak with him, when we met at ‘The Mandrake’ not far +from here? I was resting my horses, and he had stopped for the night. +An hour would have been short for our talk. I complained of the Swedes, +and he complained also of the Swedes—”</p> + +<p>“Of the Swedes? He complained also?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“As of devils, though he was going among them.”</p> + +<p>“Had he many troops?”</p> + +<p>“He had no troops, only a few attendants; true, they were armed, and +had such snouts that even those men who slaughtered the Holy Innocents +at Herod’s command had not rougher or viler. He gave himself out as a +small noble in pigskin boots, and said that he went with horses to the +fairs. But though he had a number of horses, his story did not seem +clear to me, for neither his person nor his bearing belonged to a +horse-dealer, and I saw a fine ring on his finger,—this one.” Here +Jendzian held a glittering stone before the listeners.</p> + +<p>Zagloba struck himself on the side and cried: “Ah, you gypsied that out +of him! By that alone might I know you, Jendzian, at the end of the +world!”</p> + +<p>“With permission of my master, I did not gypsy it; for I am a noble, +not a gypsy, and feel myself the equal of any man, though I live on +rented lands till I settle on my own. This ring Pan Kmita gave as a +token that what he said was true; and very soon I will repeat his words +faithfully to your graces, for it seems to me that in this case our +skins are in question.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>At this moment Volodyovski came in, roused to the utmost, and pale from +anger; he threw his cap on the table and cried,—</p> + +<p>“It passes imagination! Three men killed; Yuzva Butrym cut up, barely +breathing!”</p> + +<p>“Yuzva Butrym? He is a man with the strength of a bear!” said the +astonished Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“Before my eyes Pan Kmita stretched him out,” put in Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“I’ve had enough of that Kmita!” cried Volodyovski, beside himself; +“wherever that man shows himself he leaves corpses behind, like the +plague. Enough of this! Balance for balance, life for life; but now a +new reckoning! He has killed my men, fallen upon good soldiers; that +will be set to his account before our next meeting.”</p> + +<p>“He did not attack them, but they him; for he hid himself in the +darkest corner, so they should not recognize him,” explained Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“And you, instead of giving aid to my men, testify in his favor!” said +Volodyovski, in anger.</p> + +<p>“I speak according to justice. As to aid, my men tried to give aid; but +it was hard for them, for in the tumult they did not know whom to beat +and whom to spare, and therefore they suffered. That I came away with +my life and my sacks is due to the sense of Pan Kmita alone, for hear +how it happened.”</p> + +<p>Jendzian began a detailed account of the battle in “The Mandrake,” +omitting nothing; and when at length he told what Kmita had commanded +him to tell, they were all wonder fully astonished.</p> + +<p>“Did he say that himself?” asked Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“He himself,” replied Jendzian. “‘I,’ said he, ‘am not an enemy to Pan +Volodyovski or the confederates, though they think differently. Later +this will appear; but meanwhile let them come together, in God’s name, +or the voevoda of Vilna will take them one by one like lobsters from a +net.’”</p> + +<p>“And did he say that the voevoda was already on the march?” asked Tan +Yan.</p> + +<p>“He said that the voevoda was only waiting for Swedish reinforcements, +and that he would move at once on Podlyasye.”</p> + +<p>“What do you think of all this, gentlemen?” asked Volodyovski, looking +at his comrades.</p> + +<p>“Either that man is betraying Radzivill, or he is preparing some ambush +for us. But of what kind? He advises us to keep in a body. What harm to +us may rise out of that?”</p> + +<p>“To perish of hunger,” answered Volodyovski. “I have just received news +that Jyromski, Kotovski, and Lipnitski must dispose their cavalry in +parties of some tens each over the whole province, for they cannot get +forage together.”</p> + +<p>“But if Radzivill really does come,” asked Pan Stanislav, “who can +oppose him?”</p> + +<p>No one could answer that question, for really it was as clear as the +sun that if the grand hetman of Lithuania should come and find the +confederates scattered, he could destroy them with the greatest ease.</p> + +<p>“An astonishing thing!” repeated Zagloba; and after a moment’s silence +he continued: “Still I should think that he had abandoned Radzivill. +But in such a case he would not be slipping past in disguise, and to +whom,—to the Swedes.” Here he turned to Jendzian: “Did he tell you +that he was going to Warsaw?”</p> + +<p>“He did.”</p> + +<p>“But the Swedish forces are there already.”</p> + +<p>“About this hour he must have met the Swedes, if he travelled all +night,” answered Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“Have you ever seen such a man?” asked Zagloba, looking at his +comrades.</p> + +<p>“That there is in him evil with good, as tares with wheat, is certain,” +said Pan Yan; “but that there is any treason in this counsel that he +gives us at present, I simply deny. I do not know whither he is going, +why he is slipping past in disguise; and it would be idle to break my +head over this, for it is some mystery. But he gives good advice, warns +us sincerely: I will swear to that, as well as to this,—that the only +salvation for us is to listen to his advice. Who knows if we are not +indebted to him again, for safety and life?”</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake,” cried Volodyovski, “how is Radzivill to come here +when Zolotarenko’s men and Hovanski’s infantry are in his way? It is +different in our case! One squadron may slip through, and even with one +we had to open a way through Pilvishki with sabres. It is another thing +with Kmita, who is slipping by with a few men; but when the prince +hetman passes with a whole army? Either he will destroy those first—”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski had not finished speaking when the door opened and an +attendant came in.</p> + +<p>“A messenger with a letter to the Colonel,” said he.</p> + +<p>“Bring it.”</p> + +<p>The attendant went out and returned in a moment with the letter. Pan +Michael broke the seal quickly and read,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>That which I did not finish telling the tenant of Vansosh yesterday, I +add to-day in writing. The hetman of himself has troops enough against +you, but he is waiting for Swedish reinforcements, so as to go with the +authority of the King of Sweden; for then if the Northerners<a name="div2Ref_26" href="#div2_26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> attack +him they will have to strike the Swedes too, and that would mean war +with the King of Sweden. They will not venture to make war without +orders, for they fear the Swedes, and will not take on themselves the +responsibility of beginning a war. They have discovered that it is +Radzivill’s purpose to put the Swedes forward against them everywhere; +let them shoot or cut down even one man, there would be war at once. +The Northerners themselves know not what to do now, for Lithuania is +given up to the Swedes; they stay therefore in one place, only waiting +for what will be, and warring no further. For these reasons they do not +restrain Radzivill, nor oppose him. He will go directly against you, +and will destroy you one after the other, unless you collect in one +body. For God’s sake, do this, and beg the voevoda of Vityebsk to come +quickly, since it is easier for him to reach you now through the +Northerners while they stand as if stupefied. I wanted to warn you +under another name, so that you might more easily believe, but because +tidings are given you already from another, I write my own name. It is +destruction if you do not believe. I am not now what I was, and God +grant that you will hear something altogether different about me.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Kmita</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>“You wished to know how Radzivill would come to us; here is your +answer!” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“That is true, he gives good reasons,” answered Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“What good reasons! holy reasons!” cried Zagloba. “There can be no +doubt here. I was the first to know that man; and though there are no +curses that have not been showered on his head, I tell you we shall +bless him yet. With me it is enough to look at a man to know his value. +You remember how he dropped into my heart at Kyedani? He loves us, too, +as knightly people. When he heard my name the first time, he came near +suffocating me with admiration, and for my sake saved you all.”</p> + +<p>“You have not changed,” remarked Jendzian; “why should Pan Kmita admire +you more than my master or Pan Volodyovski?”</p> + +<p>“You are a fool!” answered Zagloba. “He knew you at once; and if he +called you the tenant, and not the fool of Vansosh, it was through +politeness.”</p> + +<p>“Then maybe he admired you through politeness!” retorted Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“See how the bread swells; get married, lord tenant, and surely you +will swell better—I guarantee that.”</p> + +<p>“That is all well,” said Volodyovski; “but if he is so friendly, why +did he not come to us himself instead of slipping around us like a wolf +and biting our men?”</p> + +<p>“Not your head, Pan Michael. What we counsel do you carry out, and no +evil will come of it. If your wit were as good as your sabre, you would +be grand hetman already, in place of Revera Pototski. And why should +Kmita come here? Is it not because you would not believe him, just as +you do not now believe his letter, from which it might come to great +trouble, for he is a stubborn cavalier. But suppose that you did +believe him, what would the other colonels do, such as Kotovski, +Jyromski, or Lipnitski? What would your Lauda men say? Would not they +cut him down the moment you turned your head away?”</p> + +<p>“Father is right!” said Pan Yan; “he could not come here.”</p> + +<p>“Then why was he going to the Swedes?” insisted the stubborn Pan +Michael.</p> + +<p>“The devil knows, whether he is going to the Swedes; the devil knows +what may flash into Kmita’s wild noddle. That is nothing to us, but let +us take advantage of the warning, if we wish to carry away our heads.”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing to meditate on here,” said Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“It is needful to inform with all speed Kotovski, Jyromski, Lipnitski, +and that other Kmita,” said Pan Yan. “Send to them, Michael, news at +once; but do not write who gave the warning, for surely they would not +believe.”</p> + +<p>“We alone shall know whose the service, and in due time we shall not +fail to publish it!” cried Zagloba, “Onward, lively, Michael!”</p> + +<p>“And we will move to Byalystok ourselves, appointing a muster there for +all. God give us the voevoda of Vityebsk at the earliest,” said Yan.</p> + +<p>“From Byalystok we must send a deputation from the army to him. God +grant that we shall stand before the eyes of the hetman of Lithuania,” +said Zagloba, “with equal force or greater than his own. It is not for +us to rush at him, but it is different with the voevoda. He is a worthy +man, and honest; there is not another such in the Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know Pan Sapyeha?” asked Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Do I know him! I knew him as a little boy, not higher than my sabre. +But he was then like an angel.”</p> + +<p>“And now he has turned into money, not only his property, not only his +silver and jewels, but most likely he has melted into coin the metal of +his horse-trappings, so as to collect as many troops as possible +against the enemy,” said Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Thank God that there is even one such man,” answered Pan Stanislav, +“for remember how we trusted in Radzivill.”</p> + +<p>“Oh that is blasphemous!” cried Zagloba. “Voevoda of Vityebsk, ba! ba! +Long life to the voevoda of Vityebsk! And you, Michael, to the road +with all speed, to the road! Let the mudfish remain in these swamps of +Shchuchyn, but we will go to Byalystok, where perhaps we shall find +other fish. The Jews there, on Sabbath, bake very excellent bread. +Well, at least war will begin; I am yearning for it. And if we break +through Radzivill we will begin at the Swedes. We have shown them +already what we can do. To the road, Michael, for <i>periculum in mora</i> +(there is danger in delay)!”</p> + +<p>“I will go to put the squadrons in line!” said Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>An hour later, messengers, between ten and twenty in number, were +flying as a horse gallops toward Podlyasye, and soon after them moved +the whole squadron of Lauda. The officers went in advance, arranging +and discussing; and Roh Kovalski, the lieutenant, led the soldiers. +They went through Osovyets and Gonyandz, shortening for themselves the +road to Byalystok, where they hoped to find other confederate +squadrons.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<p>Pan Volodyovski’s letters, announcing the expedition of Radzivill, +found hearing with all the colonels, scattered throughout the whole +province of Podlyasye. Some had divided their squadrons already into +smaller detachments, so as to winter them more easily; others permitted +officers to lodge in private houses, so that there remained at each +flag merely a few officers and some tens of soldiers. The colonels +permitted this partly in view of hunger, and partly through the +difficulty of retaining in just discipline squadrons which after they +had refused obedience to their own proper authority were inclined to +oppose officers on the slightest pretext. If a chief of sufficient +weight had been found, and had led them at once to battle against +either of the two enemies, or even against Radzivill, discipline would +have remained surely intact; but it had become weakened by idleness in +Podlyasye, where the time passed in shooting at Radzivill’s castles, in +plundering the goods of the voevoda, and in parleying with Prince +Boguslav. In these circumstances the soldier grew accustomed only to +violence and oppression of peaceful people in the province. Some of the +soldiers, especially attendants and camp-followers, deserted, and +forming unruly bands, worked at robbery on the highway. And so that +army, which had not joined any enemy and was the one hope of the king +and the patriots, was dwindling day by day. The division of squadrons +into small detachments had dissolved them completely. It is true that +it was difficult to subsist in a body, but still it may be that the +fear of want was exaggerated purposely. It was autumn, and the harvest +had been good; no enemy had up to that time ravaged the province with +fire and sword. Just then the robberies of the confederate soldiers +were destroying this province precisely as inactivity was destroying +the soldiers themselves; for things had combined so wonderfully that +the enemy left those squadrons in peace.</p> + +<p>The Swedes, flooding the country from the west and extending to the +south, had not yet come to that corner which between the province of +Mazovia and Lithuania formed Podlyasye; from the other side the legions +of Hovanski, Trubetskoi, and Serebryani, stood in inactivity in the +district occupied by them, hesitating, or rather not knowing what to +lay hold on. In the Russian provinces Buturlin and Hmelnitski sent +parties out in old fashion, and just then they had defeated at Grodek a +handful of troops led by Pototski, grand hetman of the kingdom. But +Lithuania was under Swedish protection. To ravage and to occupy it +further meant, as was stated justly by Kmita in his letter, to declare +war against the Swedes, who were terrible and roused universal alarm in +the world. “There was therefore a moment of relief from the +Northerners;” and some experienced men declared that they would soon be +allies of Yan Kazimir and the Commonwealth against the King of Sweden, +whose power, were he to become lord of the whole Commonwealth, would +not have an equal in Europe.</p> + +<p>Hovanski therefore attacked neither Podlyasye nor the confederate +squadrons, while these squadrons, scattered and without a leader, +attacked no one, and were unable to attack or to undertake anything +more important than plundering the property of Radzivill; and withal +they were dwindling away. But Volodyovski’s letters, touching the +impending attack by the hetman, roused the colonels from their +inactivity and slumber. They assembled the squadrons, called in +scattered soldiers, threatening with penalties those who would not +come. Jyromski, the most important of the colonels, and whose squadron +was in the best condition, moved first, and without delay, to +Byalystok; after him came in one week Yakub Kmita,—true, with only one +hundred and twenty men; then the soldiers of Kotovski and Lipnitski +began to assemble, now singly, now in crowds; petty nobles from the +surrounding villages also came in as volunteers, such as the +Zyentsinkis, the Sviderskis, the Yavorskis, the Jendzians, the +Mazovyetskis; volunteers came even from the province of Lyubelsk, such +as the Karvovskis and the Turs; and from time to time appeared a more +wealthy noble with a few servants, well armed. Deputies were sent from +the squadrons to levy contributions, to collect money and provisions +for receipts; in a word, activity reigned everywhere, and military +preparations sprang up. When Volodyovski with his Lauda squadron +arrived, there were already some thousands of people under arms, to +whom only a leader was wanting.</p> + +<p>These men were unorganized and unruly, though not so unorganized nor so +unruly as those nobles of Great Poland, who a few months before had the +task of defending the passage of Uistsie against the Swedes; for these +men from Podlyasye, Lublin, and Lithuania were accustomed to war, and +there were none among them, unless youths, who had not smelled powder, +and who “had not used the snuff-box of Gradivus.” Each in his time had +fought,—now against the Cossacks, now against the Turks, now against +Tartars; there were some who still held in remembrance the Swedish +wars. But above all towered in military experience and eloquence Pan +Zagloba; and he was glad to be in that assemblage of soldiers, in which +there were no deliberations with a dry throat.</p> + +<p>Zagloba extinguished the importance of colonels the most important. The +Lauda men declared that had it not been for him, Volodyovski, the +Skshetuskis, Mirski, and Oskyerko would have died at the hands of +Radzivill, for they were being taken to Birji to execution. Zagloba did +not hide his own services, but rendered complete justice to himself, so +that all might know whom they had before them.</p> + +<p>“I do not like to praise myself,” said he, “nor to speak of what has +not been; for with me truth is the basis, as my sister’s son also can +testify.”</p> + +<p>Here he turned to Roh Kovalski, who straightway stepped forth from +behind Pan Zagloba, and said, with a ringing, stentorian voice,—</p> + +<p>“Uncle never lies!”</p> + +<p>And, puffing, Pan Roh rolled his eyes over the audience, as if seeking +the insolent man who would dare to gainsay him.</p> + +<p>But no one ever gainsaid him. Then Zagloba began to tell of his +old-time victories,—how during the life of Konyetspolski he had caused +victory twice over Gustavus Adolphus, how in later times he staggered +Hmelnitski, how he acted at Zbaraj, how Prince Yeremi relied on his +counsels in everything, how he confided to him the leadership in +sorties.</p> + +<p>“And after each sortie,” said ho, “when we had spoiled five or ten +thousand of the ruffians, Hmelnitski in despair used to butt his head +against the wall, and repeat, ‘No one has done this but that devil of a +Zagloba!’ and when it came to the treaty of Zborovo, the Khan himself +looked at me as a wonder, and begged for my portrait, since he wished +to send it as a gift to the Sultan.”</p> + +<p>“Such men do we need now more than ever,” said the hearers.</p> + +<p>And since many had heard besides of the marvellous deeds of Zagloba, +accounts of which were travelling over the whole Commonwealth, and +since recent events in Kyedani, such as the liberation of the colonels, +and the battle with the Swedes at Klavany, confirmed the old opinion +concerning the man,—his glory increased still more; and Zagloba walked +in it, as in the sunlight, before the eyes of all men, bright and +radiant beyond others.</p> + +<p>“If there were a thousand such men in the Commonwealth, it would not +have come to what it has!” said the soldiers.</p> + +<p>“Let us thank God that we have even one among us.”</p> + +<p>“He was the first to proclaim Radzivill a traitor.”</p> + +<p>“And he snatched honorable men from his grasp, and on the road he so +pommelled the Swedes at Klavany that a witness of their defeat could +not escape.”</p> + +<p>“He won the first victory!”</p> + +<p>“God grant, not the last!”</p> + +<p>Colonels like Jyromski, Kotovski, Yakub Kmita, and Lipnitski looked +also on Zagloba with great respect. They urged him to their quarters, +seizing him from one another by force; and his counsel was sought in +everything, while they wondered at his prudence, which was quite equal +to his bravery.</p> + +<p>And just then they were considering an important affair. They had sent, +it is true, deputies to the voevoda of Vityebsk, asking him to come and +take command; but since no one knew clearly where the voevoda was at +that moment, the deputies went away, and as it were fell into water. +There were reports that they had been taken by Zolotarenko’s parties, +which came as far as Volkovysk, plundering on their own account.</p> + +<p>The colonels at Byalystok therefore decided to choose a temporary +leader who should have management of all till the arrival of Sapyeha. +It is not needful to say that, with the exception of Volodyovski, each +colonel was thinking of himself.</p> + +<p>Then began persuading and soliciting. The army gave notice that it +wished to take part in the election, not through deputies, but in the +general circle which was formed for that purpose.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski, after advising with his comrades, gave strong support to +Jyromski, who was a virtuous man and important; besides, he impressed +the troops by his looks, and a senatorial beard to his girdle. He was +also a ready and experienced soldier. He, through gratitude, +recommended Volodyovski; but Kotovski, Lipnitski, and Yakub Kmita +opposed this, insisting that it was not possible to select the +youngest, for the chief must represent before the country the greatest +dignity.</p> + +<p>“But who is the oldest here?” asked many voices.</p> + +<p>“Uncle is the oldest,” cried suddenly Roh Kovalski, with such a +thundering voice that all turned toward him.</p> + +<p>“It is a pity that he has no squadron!” said Yahovich, Jyromski’s +lieutenant.</p> + +<p>But others began to cry: “Well, what of that? Are we bound to choose +only a colonel? Is not the election in our power? Is this not free +suffrage? Any noble may be elected king, not merely commander.”</p> + +<p>Then Pan Lipnitski, as he did not favor Jyromski, and wished by all +means to prevent his election, raised his voice,—</p> + +<p>“As true as life! You are free, gracious gentlemen, to vote as may +please you. If you do not choose a colonel, it will be better; for +there will be no offence to any man, nor will there be jealousy.”</p> + +<p>Then came a terrible uproar. Many voices cried, “To the vote! to the +vote!” but others, “Who here is more famous than Pan Zagloba? Who is a +greater knight? Who is a more experienced soldier? We want Pan Zagloba! +Long life to him! Long life to our commander!”</p> + +<p>“Long life to Pan Zagloba! long life to him!” roared more and more +throats.</p> + +<p>“To the sabres with the stubborn!” cried the more quarrelsome.</p> + +<p>“There is no opposition! By acclamation!” answered crowds.</p> + +<p>“Long life to him! He conquered Gustavus Adolphus! He staggered +Hmelnitski!”</p> + +<p>“He saved the colonels themselves!”</p> + +<p>“He conquered the Swedes at Klavany!”</p> + +<p>“Vivat! vivat! Zagloba dux! Vivat! vivat!”</p> + +<p>And throngs began to hurl their caps in the air, while running through +the camp in search of Zagloba.</p> + +<p>He was astonished, and at the first moment confused, for he had not +sought the office. He wanted it for Pan Yan, and did not expect such a +turn of affairs. So when a throng of some thousands began to shout his +name, his breath failed him, and he became as red as a beet. Then his +comrades rushed around him; but in their enthusiasm they interpreted +everything in a good sense, for seeing his confusion they fell to +shouting,—</p> + +<p>“Look at him! he blushes like a maiden! His modesty is equal to his +manhood! Long life to him, and may he lead us to victory!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the colonels also came up,—glad, not glad; they +congratulated him on his office, and perhaps some were even glad that +it had missed their rivals. Pan Volodyovski merely moved his mustaches +somewhat, he was not less astonished than Zagloba; and Jendzian, with +open eyes and mouth, stared with unbelief, but already with respect, at +Zagloba, who came to himself by degrees, and after a while put his +hands on his hips, and rearing his head, received with fitting dignity +the congratulations.</p> + +<p>Jyromski congratulated first on behalf of the colonels, and then of the +army. Pan Jymirski, an officer of Kotovski’s squadron, spoke very +eloquently, quoting the maxims of various sages.</p> + +<p>Zagloba listened, nodded; finally, when the speaker had finished, the +commander gave utterance to the following words,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen! Even if a man should endeavor to drown honest +merit in the unfordable ocean, or cover it with the heaven-touching +Carpathians, still, having like oil the property of floating to the +surface, it would work itself out, so as to say to the eyes of men, ‘I +am that which trembles not before light, which has no fear of judgment, +which waits for reward.’ But as a precious stone is set in gold, so +should that virtue be set in modesty; therefore, gracious gentlemen, +standing here in your presence, I ask: Have I not hidden myself and my +services? Have I praised myself in your presence? Have I asked for +this office, with which you have adorned me? You yourselves have +discovered my merits, for I am this moment ready to deny them, and to +say to you: There are better than I, such as Pan Jyromski, Pan +Kotovski, Pan Lipnitski, Pan Kmita, Pan Oskyerko, Pan Skshetuski, Pan +Volodyovski,—such great cavaliers that antiquity itself might be proud +of them. Why choose me leader, and not some one of them? It is still +time. Take from my shoulders this office, and clothe in this mantle a +worthier man!”</p> + +<p>“Impossible! impossible!” bellowed hundreds and thousands of voices.</p> + +<p>“Impossible!” repeated the colonels, delighted with the public praise, +and wishing at the same time to show their modesty before the army.</p> + +<p>“I see myself that it is impossible now,” said Zagloba; “then, gracious +gentlemen, let your will be done. I thank you from my heart, lords +brothers, and I have faith that God will grant that you be not deceived +in the trust which you have placed in me. As you are to stand with me +to death, so I promise to stand with you; and if an inscrutable fate +brings us either victory or destruction, death itself will not part us, +for even after death we shall share a common renown.”</p> + +<p>Tremendous enthusiasm reigned in the assembly. Some grasped their +sabres, others shed tears; sweat stood in drops on the bald head of +Zagloba, but the ardor within him grew greater.</p> + +<p>“We will stand by our lawful king, by our elected, and by our country,” +shouted he; “live for them, die for them! Gracious gentlemen, since +this fatherland is a fatherland never have such misfortunes fallen on +it. Traitors have opened the gates, and there is not a foot of land, +save this province, where an enemy is not raging. In you is the hope of +the country, and in me your hope; on you and on me the whole +Commonwealth has its eyes fixed! Let us show that it holds not its +hands forth in vain. As you ask from me manhood and faith, so I ask of +you discipline and obedience; and if we be worthy, if we open, by our +example, the eyes of those whom the enemy has deceived, then half the +Commonwealth will fly to us! Whoso has God and faith in his heart will +join us, the forces of heaven will support us, and who in that hour can +oppose us?”</p> + +<p>“It will be so! As God lives, it will be so! Solomon is speaking! +Strike! strike!” shouted thundering voices.</p> + +<p>But Zagloba stretched forth his hands to the north, and shouted,—</p> + +<p>“Come now, Radzivill! Come now, lord hetman, lord heretic, voevoda of +Lucifer! We are waiting for you,—not scattered, but standing together; +not in discord, but in harmony; not with papers and compacts, but with +swords in our hands! An army of virtue is waiting for you, and I am its +leader. Take the field! Meet Zagloba! Call the devils to your side; let +us make the trial! Take the field!”</p> + +<p>Here he turned again to the army, and roared till his voice was heard +throughout the whole camp,—</p> + +<p>“As God is true, gracious gentlemen, prophecies support me! Only +harmony, and we shall conquer those scoundrels, those wide-breeches and +stocking fellows, fish-eaters and lousy rogues, sheepskin tanners who +sleigh-ride in summer! We’ll give them pepper, till they wear off their +heels racing home. Let every living man slay them, the dog brothers! +Slay, whoso believes in God, to whom virtue and the country are dear!”</p> + +<p>Several thousand sabres were gleaming at once. Throngs surrounded +Zagloba, crowding, trampling, pushing, and roaring,—</p> + +<p>“Lead us on! lead us on!”</p> + +<p>“I will lead you to-morrow! Make ready!” shouted Zagloba, with ardor.</p> + +<p>This election took place in the morning, and in the afternoon there was +a review of the army. The squadrons were disposed on the plain of +Horoshchan, one by the other in great order, with the colonels and +banners in front; and before the regiments rode the commander, under a +horse-tail standard, with a gilded baton in his hand, and a heron +feather in his cap,—you would have said, a born hetman! And so he +reviewed in turn the squadrons, as a shepherd examines his flock, and +courage was added to the soldiers at sight of that lordly figure. Each +colonel came out to him in turn, and he spoke with each,—praised +something, blamed something; and in truth those of the new-comers who +in the beginning were not pleased with the choice were forced to admit +in their souls that the new commander was a soldier very well +conversant with military affairs, and for whom leadership was nothing +new.</p> + +<p>Volodyovski alone moved his mustaches somewhat strangely when the new +commander clapped him on the shoulder at the review, in presence of the +other colonels, and said,—</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael, I am satisfied with you, for your squadron is in such +order as no other. Hold on in this fashion, and you may be sure that +I’ll not forget you.”</p> + +<p>“’Pon my word!” whispered Volodyovski to Pan Yan on the way home from +the review, “what else could a real hetman have told me?”</p> + +<p>That same day Zagloba sent detachments in directions in which it was +needful to go, and in direction in which there was no need of going. +When they returned in the morning, he listened with care to every +report; then he betook himself to the quarters of Volodyovski, who +lived with Pan Yan and Pan Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Before the army I must uphold dignity,” said he, kindly; “when we are +alone we can have our old intimacy,—here I am a friend, not a chief. +Besides, I do not despise your counsel, though I have my own reason; +for I know you as men of experience such as few in the Commonwealth +have.”</p> + +<p>They greeted him therefore in old fashion, and “intimacy” +soon reigned completely. Jendzian alone dared not be with him as +formerly, and sat on the very edge of his bench.</p> + +<p>“What does father think to do?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“First of all to uphold order and discipline, and keep the soldiers at +work, that they may not grow mangy from laziness. I said well, Pan +Michael, that you mumbled like a suckling when I sent those parties +toward the four points of the world; but I had to do so to inure men to +service, for they have been idle a long time. That first, second, what +do we need? Not men, for enough of them come, and more will come yet. +Those nobles who fled from Mazovia to Prussia before the Swedes, will +come too. Men and sabres will not be wanting; but there are not +provisions enough, and without supplies no army on earth can remain in +the field. I had the idea to order parties to bring in whatever falls +into their hands,—cattle, sheep, pigs, grain, hay; and in this +province and the district of Vidzko in Mazovia, which also has not seen +an enemy yet, there is abundance of everything.”</p> + +<p>“But those nobles will raise heaven-climbing shouts,” said Pan Yan, “if +their crops and cattle are taken.”</p> + +<p>“The army means more for me than the nobles. Let them cry! Supplies +will not be taken for nothing. I shall command to give receipts, of +which I have prepared so many during the night, that half the +Commonwealth might be taken under requisition with them. I have no +money; but when the war is over and the Swedes driven out, the +Commonwealth will pay. What is the use in talking! It would be worse +for the nobles if the army were to grow hungry, go around and rob. I +have a plan too of scouring the forests, for I hear that very many +peasants have taken refuge there with their cattle. Let the army people +return thanks to the Holy Ghost, who inspired them to choose me, for no +other man would have managed in such fashion.”</p> + +<p>“On your great mightiness is a senator’s head, that is certain!” +exclaimed Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“Hei!” retorted Zagloba, rejoiced at the flattery, “and you are not to +be imposed on, you rogue! Soon it will be seen how I’ll make you +lieutenant, only let there be a vacancy.”</p> + +<p>“I thank your great mightiness humbly,” replied Jendzian.</p> + +<p>“This is my plan,” continued Zagloba: “first to collect such supplies +that we could stand a siege, then to make a fortified camp, and let +Radzivill come with Swedes or with devils. I’m a rascal if I do not +make a second Zbaraj here!”</p> + +<p>“As God is dear to me, a noble idea!” cried Volodyovski; “but where can +we get cannon?”</p> + +<p>“Pan Kotovski has two howitzers, and Yakub Kmita has one gun for firing +salutes; in Byalystok are four eight-pounders which were to be sent to +the castle of Tykotsin; for you do not know, gentlemen, that Byalystok +was left by Pan Vyesyolovski for the support of Tykotsin Castle, and +those cannon were bought the past year with the rent, as Pan +Stempalski, the manager here, told me. He said also that there were a +hundred charges of powder for each cannon. We’ll help ourselves, +gracious gentlemen; only support me from your souls, and do not forget +the body either, which would be glad to drink something, for it is time +now for that.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski gave orders to bring drink, and they talked on at the cups.</p> + +<p>“You thought that you would have the picture of a commander,” continued +Zagloba, sipping lightly the old mead. “Never, never! I did not ask for +the favor; but since they adorn me with it, there must be obedience and +order. I know what each office means, and see if I am not equal to +every one. I’ll make a second Zbaraj in this place, nothing but a +second Zbaraj! Radzivill will choke himself well; and the Swedes will +choke themselves before they swallow me. I hope that Hovanski will try +us too; I would bury him in such style that he would not be found at +the last judgment. They are not far away, let them try!—Mead, Pan +Michael!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski poured out mead. Zagloba drank it at a draught, wrinkled +his forehead, and as if thinking of something said,—</p> + +<p>“Of what was I talking? What did I want?—Ah! mead, Pan Michael!”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski poured out mead again.</p> + +<p>“They say,” continued Zagloba, “that Pan Sapyeha likes a drink in good +company. No wonder! every honorable man does. Only traitors, who have +false thoughts for their country, abstain, lest they tell their +intrigues. Radzivill drinks birch sap, and after death will drink +pitch. I think that Sapyeha and I shall be fond of each other; but I +shall have everything here so arranged that when he comes all will be +ready. There is many a thing on my head; but what is to be done? If +there is no one in the country to think, then think thou, old Zagloba, +while breath is in thy nostrils. The worst is that I have no +chancellery.”</p> + +<p>“And what does father want of a chancellery?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“Why has the king a chancellery? And why must there be a military +secretary with an army? It will be necessary to send to some town to +have a seal made for me.”</p> + +<p>“A seal?” repeated Jendzian, with delight, looking with growing respect +at Zagloba.</p> + +<p>“And on what will your lordship put the seal?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“In such a confidential company you may address me as in old times. The +seal will not be used by me, but by my chancellor,—keep that in mind, +to begin with!”</p> + +<p>Here Zagloba looked with pride and importance at those present, till +Jendzian sprang up from the bench, and Pan Stanislav muttered,—</p> + +<p>“<i>Honores mutant mores</i> (honors change manners)!”</p> + +<p>“What do I want of a chancellery? But listen to me!” said Zagloba. +“Know this, to begin with, that those misfortunes which have fallen +upon our country, according to my understanding, have come from no +other causes than from license, unruliness, and excesses—Mead, Pan +Michael!—and excesses, I say, which like a plague are destroying us; +but first of all, from heretics blaspheming with ever-growing boldness +the true faith, to the damage of our Most Holy Patroness, who may fall +into just anger because of these insults.”</p> + +<p>“He speaks truly,” said the knights, in chorus; “the dissidents were +the first to join the enemy, and who knows if they did not bring the +enemy hither?”</p> + +<p>“For example, the grand hetman of Lithuania!”</p> + +<p>“But in this province, where I am commander, there is also no lack of +heretics, as in Tykotsin and other towns; therefore to obtain the +blessing of God on our undertaking at its inception, a manifesto will +be issued, that whoso is living in error must turn from it in three +days, and those who will not do that will have their property +confiscated to the army.”</p> + +<p>The knights looked at one another with astonishment. They knew that +there was no lack of adroit reason and stratagem in Zagloba, but they +did not suppose him to be such a statesman and judge of public +questions.</p> + +<p>“And you ask,” continued Zagloba, with triumph, “where we shall get +money for the army? But the confiscations, and all the wealth of the +Radzivills, which by confiscation will become army property?”</p> + +<p>“Will there be right on our side?” asked Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“There are such times at present that whoever has a sword is right. And +what right have the Swedes and all those enemies who are raging within +the boundaries of the Commonwealth?”</p> + +<p>“It is true!” answered Pan Michael, with conviction.</p> + +<p>“That is not enough!” cried Zagloba, growing warmer, “another manifesto +will be issued to the nobles of Podlyasye, and those lands in the +neighboring provinces which are not yet in the hands of the enemy, to +assemble a general militia. These nobles must arm their servants, so +that we may not lack infantry. I know that many would be glad to +appear, if only they could see some government. They will have a +government and manifestoes.”</p> + +<p>“You have, in truth, as much sense as the grand chancellor of the +kingdom,” cried Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>“Mead, Pan Michael!—A third letter will be sent to Hovanski, telling +him to go to destruction; if not, we will smoke him out of every town +and castle. They (the Northerners) are quiet now in Lithuania, it is +true, and do not capture castles; but Zolotarenko’s men rob, going +along in parties of one or two thousand. Let him restrain them, or we +will destroy them.”</p> + +<p>“We might do that, indeed,” said Pan Yan, “and the troops would not be +lying idle.”</p> + +<p>“I am thinking of this, and I will send new parties today, precisely to +Volkovysk; but some things are to be done, and others are not to be +omitted. I wish to send a fourth letter to our elected, our good king, +to console him in his sorrow; saying that there are still men who have +not deserted him, that there are sabres and hearts ready at his nod. +Let our father have at least this comfort in a strange land; our +beloved lord, our Yagellon blood, which must wander in exile,—think of +it, think of it!”</p> + +<p>Here Zagloba fell to sobbing, for he had much mead in his head, and at +last he roared from pity over the fate of the king, and Pan Michael at +once seconded him in a thinner voice. Jendzian sobbed too, or pretended +to sob; but Pan Yan and Pan Stanislav rested their heads on their +hands, and sat in silence.</p> + +<p>The silence continued for a while; suddenly Zagloba fell into a rage.</p> + +<p>“What is the elector doing?” cried he. “If he has made a pact with the +Prussian towns, let him take the field against the Swedes, let him not +intrigue on both sides, let him do what a loyal vassal is bound to do, +and take the field in defence of his lord and benefactor.”</p> + +<p>“Who can tell that he will not declare for the Swedes?” asked Pan +Stanislav.</p> + +<p>“Declare for the Swedes? Then I will declare to him! The Prussian +boundary is not far, and I have some thousands of sabres within call! +You will not deceive Zagloba! As true as you see me here, the commander +of this noble army, I will visit him with fire and sword. We have not +provisions; well, we shall find all we need in Prussian storehouses.”</p> + +<p>“Mother of God!” cried Jendzian, in ecstasy. “Your great mightiness +will conquer crowned heads!”</p> + +<p>“I will write to him at once: ‘Worthy Pan Elector, there is enough of +turning the cat away by the tail, enough of evasion and delay! Come out +against the Swedes, or I will come on a visit to Prussia. It cannot be +otherwise.’—Ink, pen, and paper!—Jendzian, will you go with the +letter?”</p> + +<p>“I will go!” answered the tenant of Vansosh, delighted with his new +dignity.</p> + +<p>But before pen, ink, and paper were brought to Zagloba, shouts were +raised in front of the house, and throngs of soldiers darkened the +windows. Some shouted “Vivat!” others cried, “Allah,” in Tartar. +Zagloba and his comrades went out to see what was taking place.</p> + +<p>It appeared that they were bringing those eight pounders which Zagloba +had remembered, and the sight of which was now delighting the hearts of +the soldiers.</p> + +<p>Pan Stempalski, the manager of Byalystok, approached Zagloba, and +said,—</p> + +<p>“Serene, great mighty Commander! From the time that he of immortal +memory, the lord marshal of the Grand Principality of Lithuania, left +by will his property at Byalystok to support the castle of Tykotsin, I, +being manager of that property, have applied faithfully and honestly +all its income to the benefit of that castle, as I can show to the +whole Commonwealth by registers. So that working more than twenty years +I have provided that castle with powder and guns and brass; holding it +as a sacred duty that every copper should go to that object to which +the serene great mighty marshal of the Grand Principality of Lithuania +commanded that it should go. But when by the changing wheel of fate the +castle of Tykotsin became the greatest support in this province of the +enemies of the country, I asked God and my own conscience whether I +ought to strengthen it more, or whether I was not bound to give into +the hands of your great mightiness this wealth and these military +supplies obtained from the income of the present year.”</p> + +<p>“You should give them to me!” interrupted Zagloba, with importance.</p> + +<p>“I ask but one thing,—that your great mightiness be pleased, in +presence of the whole army and in writing, to give me a receipt, that I +applied nothing from that property to my own use, and that I delivered +everything into the hands of the Commonwealth, worthily represented +here by you, the great mighty commander.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba motioned with his head as a sign of assent, and began at once +to look over the register.</p> + +<p>It appeared that besides the eight-pounders there were put away in the +storehouses three hundred German muskets, very good ones; besides two +hundred Moscow halberts, for infantry in the defence of walls and +breastworks; and six thousand ducats in ready money.</p> + +<p>“The money will be divided among the army,” said Zagloba; “and as to +the muskets and halberts,”—here he looked around,—“Pan Oskyerko, +you will take them and form a body of infantry; there are a few +foot-soldiers here from the Radzivill fugitives, and as many as are +lacking may be taken from the millers.”</p> + +<p>Then he turned to all present: “Gracious gentlemen, there is money, +there are cannons, there will be infantry and provisions,—these are my +orders, to begin with.”</p> + +<p>“Vivat!” shouted the army.</p> + +<p>“And now, gracious gentlemen, let all the young men go on a jump to the +villages for spades, shovels, and pickaxes. We will make a fortified +camp, a second Zbaraj! But whether a man belongs to cavalry or +infantry, let none be ashamed of the shovel, and to work!”</p> + +<p>Then the commander withdrew to his quarters, attended by the shouts of +the army.</p> + +<p>“As God is true, that man has a head on his shoulders,” said +Volodyovski to Pan Yan, “and things begin to go in better order.”</p> + +<p>“If only Radzivill does not come soon,” put in Pan Stanislav, “for he +is such a leader that there is not another like him in the +Commonwealth. Our Pan Zagloba is good for provisioning the camp; but it +is not for him to measure strength with such a warrior as Radzivill.”</p> + +<p>“That is true!” answered Pan Yan. “When it comes to action we will help +him with counsel, for he does not understand war. Besides, his rule +will come to an end the moment Sapyeha arrives.”</p> + +<p>“He can do much good before that time,” said Volodyovski.</p> + +<p>In truth, the army needed some leader, even Zagloba; for from the day +of his election better order reigned in the camp. On the following day +they began to make breastworks near the Byalystok ponds. Pan Oskyerko, +who had served in foreign armies and understood fortification, directed +the whole labor. In three days there had arisen a very strong +entrenchment, really something like Zbaraj, for the sides and the rear +of it were defended by swampy ponds. The sight of this work raised the +hearts of the soldiers; the whole army felt that it had some ground +under its feet. But courage was strengthened still more at sight of the +supplies of food brought by strong parties. Every day they drove in +oxen, sheep, pigs; every day came wagons bringing all kinds of grain +and hay. Some things came from Lukovo, others from Vidzko. There came +also, in continually greater numbers, nobles, small and great, for when +the tidings went around that there was a government, an army, and a +commander, there was more confidence among people. It was burdensome +for the inhabitants to support a “whole division:” but to begin with, +Zagloba did not inquire about that; in the second place, it was better +to give half to the army and enjoy the rest in peace, than to be +exposed every moment to losing all through the unruly bands, which had +increased considerably and raged like Tartars, and which, at command of +Zagloba, were pursued and destroyed.</p> + +<p>“If the commander turns out to be such a leader as he is a manager,” +said the soldiers in camp, “the Commonwealth does not know yet how +great a man it has.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba himself was thinking, with definite alarm, of the coming of +Yanush Radzivill. He called to mind all the victories of Radzivill; +then the form of the hetman took on monstrous shapes in the imagination +of the new commander, and in his soul he said,—</p> + +<p>“Oh, who can oppose that dragon? I said that he would choke himself +with me, but he will swallow me as a sheat-fish a duck.”</p> + +<p>And he promised himself, under oath, not to give a general battle to +Radzivill.</p> + +<p>“There will be a siege,” thought he, “and that always lasts long. +Negotiations can be tried too, and by that time Sapyeha will come up.”</p> + +<p>In case he should not come up, Zagloba determined to listen to Pan Yan +in everything, for he remembered how highly Prince Yeremi prized this +officer and his military endowments.</p> + +<p>“You, Pan Michael,” said Zagloba to Volodyovski, “are just created for +attack, and you may be sent scouting, even with a large party, for you +know how to manage, and fall on the enemy, like a wolf on sheep; but if +you were commanded to be hetman of a whole army,—I pass, I pass! You +will not fill a vault with your mind, since you have no wit for sale; +but Yan, he has the head of a commander, and if I were to die he is the +only man who could fill my place.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile contradictory tidings came. First it was reported that +Radzivill was marching through Electoral Prussia; second, that having +defeated Hovanski’s troops, he had taken Grodno and was marching thence +with great force; further, there were men who insisted that not Prince +Yanush, but Sapyeha, with the aid of Prince Michael Radzivill, had +defeated Hovanski. Scouting-parties brought no reliable news, saving +this, that a body of Zolotarenko’s men, about two thousand in number, +were at Volkovysk, and threatened the town. The neighborhood was in +flames.</p> + +<p>One day later fugitives began to come in who confirmed the news, +reporting besides that the townspeople had sent envoys to Hovanski and +Zolotarenko with a prayer to spare the place, to which they received +answer from Hovanski that that band was a separate one, having nothing +to do with his army. Zolotarenko advised the people to ransom +themselves; but they, as poor men after the recent fire and a number of +plunderings, had no ransom to give. They implored the commander in +God’s name to hasten to their rescue, while they were conducting +negotiations to ransom the town, for afterward there would not be time. +Zagloba selected fifteen hundred good troops, among them the Lauda men, +and calling Volodyovski, said,—</p> + +<p>“Now, Pan Michael, it is time to show what you can do. Go to Volkovysk +and destroy those ruffians who are threatening an undefended town. Such +an expedition is not a novelty for you; I think you will take it as a +favor that I give such functions.” Here he turned to the other +colonels: “I must remain in camp myself, for all the responsibility is +on me, that is, first; and second, it does not beseem my office to go +on an expedition against ruffians. But let Radzivill come, then in a +great battle it will be shown who is superior,—the hetman or the +commander.”</p> + +<p>Volodyovski set out with alacrity, for he was weary of camp life and +yearned for battle. The squadrons selected marched out willingly and +with singing; the commander appeared on the rampart on horseback, and +blessed the departing, making over them the sign of the cross for the +road. There were some who wondered that Zagloba sent off that party +with such solemnity, but he remembered that Jolkyevski and other +hetmans had the habit of making the sign of the cross over squadrons +when going to battle; besides, he loved to do everything with ceremony, +for that raised his dignity in the eyes of the soldiers.</p> + +<p>Barely had the squadrons vanished in the haze of the distance, when he +began to be alarmed about them.</p> + +<p>“Yan!” said he, “another handful of men might be sent to Volodyovski.”</p> + +<p>“Be at rest, father,” answered Pan Yan. “For Volodyovski to go on such +an expedition is the same as to eat a plate of fried eggs. Dear God, he +has done nothing else all his life!”</p> + +<p>“That is true; but if an overwhelming force should attack him? <i>Nec +Hercules contra plures</i> (Neither Hercules against [too] many).”</p> + +<p>“What is the use in talking about such a soldier? He will test +everything carefully before he strikes; and if the forces against him +are too great, he will pluck off what he can and return, or will send +for reinforcements. You may sleep quietly, father.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, I also knew whom I was sending, but I tell you that Pan Michael +must have given me some herb; I have such a weakness for him. I have +never loved any one so, except Podbipienta and you. It cannot be but +that little fellow has given me something.”</p> + +<p>Three days passed. Provisions were brought continually, volunteers also +marched in, but of Pan Michael not a sound. Zagloba’s fears increased, +and in spite of Pan Yan’s remonstrance that in no way could Volodyovski +return yet from Volkovysk, Zagloba sent one hundred of Yakub Kmita’s +light horse for intelligence.</p> + +<p>The scouts marched out, and two days more passed without news.</p> + +<p>On the seventh day, during a gray misty nightfall, the camp-attendants +sent for food to Bobrovniki returned in great haste, with the report +that they had seen some army coming out of the forest beyond +Bobrovniki.</p> + +<p>“Pan Michael!” exclaimed Zagloba, joyfully.</p> + +<p>But the men contradicted that. They had not gone to meet it for the +special reason that they saw strange flags, not belonging to +Volodyovski’s troops. And besides, this force was greater. The +attendants, being attendants, could not fix the number exactly; some +said there were three thousand; others five thousand, or still more.</p> + +<p>“I will take twenty horsemen and go to meet them,” said Captain +Lipnitski.</p> + +<p>He went.</p> + +<p>An hour passed, and a second; at last it was stated that not a party +was approaching, but a whole army.</p> + +<p>It is unknown why, but on a sudden it was thundered through the camp,—</p> + +<p>“Radzivill is coming!”</p> + +<p>This report, like an electric shock, moved and shook the whole camp; +the soldiers rushed to the bulwarks. On some faces terror was evident; +the men did not stand in proper order; Oskyerko’s infantry only +occupied the places indicated. Among the volunteers there was a panic +at the first moment. From mouth to mouth flew various reports: +“Radzivill has cut to pieces Volodyovski and the second party formed of +Yakub Kmita’s men,” repeated some. “Not a witness of the defeat has +escaped!” said others. “And now Lipnitski has gone, as it were, under +the earth.” “Where is the commander? Where is the commander?”</p> + +<p>The colonels rushed to establish order; and since all in the camp, save +a few volunteers, were old soldiers, they soon stood in order, waiting +for what would appear.</p> + +<p>When the cry came, “Radzivill is coming!” Zagloba was greatly confused; +but in the first moment he would not believe it.</p> + +<p>“What has happened to Volodyovski? Has he let himself be surrounded, so +that not a man has come back with a warning? And the second party? And +Pan Lipnitski? Impossible!” repeated Zagloba to himself, wiping his +forehead, which was sweating profusely. “Has this dragon, this man-killer, +this Lucifer, been able to come from Kyedani already? Is the last hour +approaching?”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile from every side voices more and more numerous cried, +“Radzivill! Radzivill!”</p> + +<p>Zagloba ceased to doubt. He sprang up and rushed to Pan Yan’s quarters. +“Oh, Yan, save! It is time now!”</p> + +<p>“What has happened?” asked Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>“Radzivill is coming! To your head I give everything, for Prince Yeremi +said that you are a born leader. I will superintend myself, but do you +give counsel and lead.”</p> + +<p>“That cannot be Radzivill!” said Pan Yan. “From what direction are the +troops marching?”</p> + +<p>“From Volkovysk. It is said that they have taken Volodyovski and the +second party which I sent not long ago.”</p> + +<p>“Volodyovski let himself be taken! Oh, father, you do not know him. He +is coming back himself,—no one else!”</p> + +<p>“But it is said that there is an enormous army!”</p> + +<p>“Praise be to God! it is clear then that Sapyeha is coming.”</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake! what do you tell me? Why then was it said that +Lipnitski went against them?”</p> + +<p>“That is just the proof that it is not Radzivill who is coming. +Lipnitski discovered who it was, joined, and all are coming together. +Let us go out, let us go out!”</p> + +<p>“I said that the first moment!” cried Zagloba. “All were frightened, +but I thought, ‘That cannot be!’ I saw the position at once. Come! +hurry, Yan, hurry! Those men out there are confused. Aha!”</p> + +<p>Zagloba and Pan Yan hastened to the ramparts, occupied already by the +troops, and began to pass along. Zagloba’s face was radiant; he stopped +every little while, and cried so that all heard him,—</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen, we have guests! I have no reason to lose heart! If +that is Radzivill, I’ll show him the road back to Kyedani!”</p> + +<p>“We’ll show him!” cried the army.</p> + +<p>“Kindle fires on the ramparts! We will not hide ourselves; let them see +us, we are ready! Kindle fires!”</p> + +<p>Straightway they brought wood, and a quarter of an hour later the whole +camp was flaming, till the heavens grew red as if from daybreak. The +soldiers, turning away from the light, looked into the darkness in the +direction of Bobrovniki. Some of them cried that they heard a clatter +and the stamp of horses.</p> + +<p>Just then in the darkness musket-shots were heard from afar. Zagloba +pulled Pan Yan by the skirts.</p> + +<p>“They are beginning to fire!” said he, disquieted.</p> + +<p>“Salutes!” answered Pan Yan.</p> + +<p>After the shots shouts of joy were heard. There was no reason for +further doubt; a moment later a number of riders rushed in on foaming +horses, crying,—</p> + +<p>“Pan Sapyeha! the voevoda of Vityebsk!”</p> + +<p>Barely had the soldiers heard this, when they rushed forth from the +walls, like an overflowed river, and ran forward, roaring so that any +one hearing their voices from afar might think them cries from a town +in which victors were putting all to the sword.</p> + +<p>Zagloba, wearing all the insignia of his office, with a baton in his +hand and a heron’s feather in his cap, rode out under his horse-tail +standard, at the head of the colonels, to the front of the +fortifications.</p> + +<p>After a while the voevoda of Vityebsk at the head of his officers, and +with Volodyovski at his side, rode into the lighted circle. He was a +man already in respectable years, of medium weight, with a face not +beautiful, but wise and kindly. His mustaches, cut evenly over his +upper lip, were iron-gray, as was also a small beard, which made him +resemble a foreigner, though he dressed in Polish fashion. Though +famous for many military exploits he looked more like a civilian than a +soldier; those who knew him more intimately said that in the +countenance of the voevoda Minerva was greater than Mars. But, besides +Minerva and Mars, there was in that face a gem rarer in those times; +that is honesty, which flowing forth from his soul was reflected in his +eyes as the light of the sun is in water. At the first glance people +recognized that he was a just and honorable man.</p> + +<p>“We waited as for a father!” cried the soldiers.</p> + +<p>“And so our leader has come!” repeated others, with emotion.</p> + +<p>“Vivat, vivat!”</p> + +<p>Pan Zagloba, at the head of his colonels, hurried toward Sapyeha, who +reined in his horse and began to bow with his lynx-skin cap.</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty voevoda!” began Zagloba, “though I possessed the +eloquence of the ancient Romans, nay, of Cicero himself, or, going to +remoter times, of that famous Athenian, Demosthenes, I should not be +able to express the delight which has seized our hearts at sight of the +worthy person of the serene great mighty lord. The whole Commonwealth +is rejoicing in our hearts, greeting the wisest senator and the best +son, with a delight all the greater because unexpected. Behold, we were +drawn out here on these bulwarks under arms, not ready for greeting, +but for battle,—not to hear shouts of delight, but the thunder of +cannon,—not to shed tears, but our blood! When however hundred-tongued +Fame bore around the news that the defender of the fatherland was +coming, not the heretic,—the voevoda of Vityebsk, not the grand hetman +of Lithuania,—Sapyeha, not Radzivill—”</p> + +<p>But Pan Sapyeha was in an evident hurry to enter; for he waved his hand +quickly, with a kindly though lordly inattention, and said,—</p> + +<p>“Radzivill also is coming. In two days he will be here!”</p> + +<p>Zagloba was confused; first, because the thread of his speech was +broken, and second, because the news of Radzivill made a great +impression on him. He stood therefore a moment before Sapyeha, not +knowing what further to say; but he came quickly to his mind, and +drawing hurriedly the baton from his belt, said with solemnity, calling +to mind what had taken place at Zbaraj,—</p> + +<p>“The army has chosen me for its leader, but I yield this into worthier +hands, so as to give an example to the younger how we must resign the +highest honors for the public good.”</p> + +<p>The soldiers began to shout; but Pan Sapyeha only smiled and said,—</p> + +<p>“Lord brother, I would gladly receive it, but Radzivill might think +that you gave it through fear of him.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he knows me already,” answered Zagloba, “and will not ascribe fear +to me. I was the first to stagger him in Kyedani; and I drew others +after me by my example.”</p> + +<p>“If that is the case, then lead on to the camp,” said Sapyeha. +“Volodyovski told me on the road that you are an excellent manager and +have something on which to subsist; and we are wearied and hungry.”</p> + +<p>So saying, he spurred on his horse, and after him moved the others; +and all entered the camp amid measureless rejoicing. Zagloba, +remembering what was said of Sapyeha,—that he liked feasts and the +goblet,—determined to give fitting honor to the day of his coming; +hence he appeared with a feast of such splendor as had not been yet in +the camp. All ate and drank. At the cups Volodyovski told what had +happened at Volkovysk,—how forces, considerably greater than his own, +had been sent out by Zolotarenko, how the traitor had surrounded him, +how straitened he was when the sudden arrival of Sapyeha turned a +desperate defence into a brilliant victory.</p> + +<p>“We gave them something to think of,” said he, “so that they will not +stick an ear out of their camp.”</p> + +<p>Then the conversation turned to Radzivill. The voevoda of Vityebsk had +very recent tidings, and knew through reliable people of everything +that took place in Kyedani. He said therefore that the hetman had sent +a certain Kmita with a letter to the King of Sweden, and with a request +to strike Podlyasye from two sides at once.</p> + +<p>“This is a wonder of wonders to me!” exclaimed Zagloba; “for had it not +been for that Kmita, we should not have concentrated our forces to this +moment, and if Radzivill had come he might have eaten us up, one after +the other, like puddings of Syedlets.”</p> + +<p>“Volodyovski told me all that,” said Sapyeha, “from which I infer that +Kmita has a personal affection for you. It is too bad that he hasn’t it +for the country. But people who see nothing above themselves, serve no +cause well and are ready to betray any one, as in this case Kmita +Radzivill.”</p> + +<p>“But among us there are no traitors, and we are ready to stand up with +the serene great mighty voevoda to the death!” said Jyromski.</p> + +<p>“I believe that here are most honorable soldiers,” answered Sapyeha, +“and I had no expectation of finding such order and abundance, for +which I must give thanks to his grace Pan Zagloba.”</p> + +<p>Zagloba blushed with pleasure, for somehow it had seemed to him +hitherto that though the voevoda of Vityebsk had treated him +graciously, still he had not given him the recognition and respect +which he, the ex-commander, desired. He began therefore to relate how +he had made regulations, what he had done, what supplies he had +collected, how he had brought cannon, and formed infantry, finally what +an extensive correspondence he had carried on; and not without boasting +did he make mention of the letters sent to the banished king, to +Hovanski, and to the elector.</p> + +<p>“After my letter, his grace the elector must declare for us openly or +against us,” said he, with pride.</p> + +<p>The voevoda of Vityebsk was a humorous man, and perhaps also he was a +little joyous from drink; therefore he smoothed his mustache, laughed +maliciously, and said,—</p> + +<p>“Lord brother, but have you not written to the Emperor of Germany?”</p> + +<p>“No!” answered Zagloba, astonished.</p> + +<p>“That is a pity,” said the voevoda; “for there an equal would have +talked with an equal.”</p> + +<p>The colonels burst into a thundering laugh; but Zagloba showed at once +that if the voevoda wished to be a scythe, he had struck a stone.</p> + +<p>“Serene great mighty lord,” said he, “I can write to the elector, for +as a noble I am an elector myself, and I exercised my rights not so +long ago when I gave my voice for Yan Kazimir.”</p> + +<p>“You have brought that out well,” answered Sapyeha.</p> + +<p>“But with such a potentate as the Emperor I do not correspond,” +continued Zagloba, “lest he might apply to me a certain proverb which I +heard in Lithuania.”</p> + +<p>“What was the proverb?”</p> + +<p>“Such a fool’s head as that must have come out of Vityebsk!” answered +Zagloba, without confusion.</p> + +<p>Hearing this, the colonels were frightened; but the voevoda leaned back +and held his sides from laughter.</p> + +<p>“Ah, but you have settled me this time! Let me embrace you! Whenever I +want to shave my beard I’ll borrow your tongue!”</p> + +<p>The feast continued till late in the night; it was broken up by the +arrival of nobles from Tykotsin, who brought news that Radzivill’s +scouts had already reached that place.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<p>Radzivill would have fallen on Podlyasye long before, had not various +reasons held him back in Kyedani. First, he was waiting for the Swedish +reinforcements, which Pontus de la Gardie delayed by design. Although +bonds of relationship connected the Swedish general with the king +himself, he could not compare in greatness of family, in importance, in +extensive connections by blood, with that Lithuanian magnate; and as to +fortune, though at that time there was no ready money in Radzivill’s +treasury, all the Swedish generals might have been portioned with one +half of the prince’s estates and consider themselves wealthy. Now, when +by the turn of fortune Radzivill was dependent on Pontus, the general +could not deny himself the pleasure of making that lord feel his +dependence and the superiority of De la Gardie.</p> + +<p>Radzivill did not need reinforcements to defeat the confederates, since +for that he had forces enough of his own; but the Swedes were necessary +to him for the reasons mentioned by Kmita in his letter to Volodyovski. +He was shut off from Podlyasye by the legions of Hovanski, who might +block the road to him; but if Radzivill marched together with Swedish +troops, and under the ægis of the King of Sweden, every hostile step on +the part of Hovanski would be considered a challenge to Karl Gustav. +Radzivill wished this in his soul, and therefore he waited impatiently +for the arrival of even one Swedish squadron, and while urging Pontus +he said more than once to his attendants,—</p> + +<p>“A couple of years ago he would have thought it a favor to receive a +letter from me, and would have left the letter by will to his +descendants; but to-day he takes on the airs of a superior.”</p> + +<p>To which a certain noble, loud-mouthed and truth-telling, known in the +whole neighborhood, allowed himself to answer at once,—</p> + +<p>“According to the proverb, mighty prince, ‘As a man makes his bed, so +must he sleep on it.’”</p> + +<p>Radzivill burst out in anger, and gave orders to cast the noble into +the tower; but on the following day he let him out and presented him +with a gold button; for of this noble it was said that he had ready +money, and the prince wanted to borrow money of him on his note. The +noble accepted the button, but gave not the money.</p> + +<p>Swedish reinforcements came at last, to the number of eight hundred +horse, of the heavy cavalry. Pontus sent directly to the castle of +Tykotsin three hundred infantry and one hundred light cavalry, wishing +to have his own garrison there in every event.</p> + +<p>Hovanski’s troops withdrew before them, making no opposition; they +arrived therefore safely at Tykotsin, for this took place when the +confederate squadrons were still scattered over all Podlyasye, and were +occupied only in plundering the estates of Radzivill.</p> + +<p>It was hoped that the prince, after he had received the desired +reinforcements, would take the field at once; but he loitered yet. The +cause of this was news from Podlyasye of disagreement in that province; +of lack of union among the confederates, and misunderstandings between +Kotovski, Lipnitski, and Yakub Kmita.</p> + +<p>“It is necessary to give them time,” said the prince, “to seize one +another by the heads. They will gnaw one another to pieces; their power +will disappear without war; and then we will strike on Hovanski.”</p> + +<p>But on a sudden contradictory news began to come; the colonels not only +did not fight with one another, but had assembled in one body at +Byalystok. The prince searched his brain for the cause of this change. +At last the name of Zagloba, as commander, came to his ears. He was +informed also of the making of a fortified camp, the provisioning of +the army, and the cannon dug out at Byalystok by Zagloba, of the +increase of confederate strength, of volunteers coming from the +interior. Prince Yanush fell into such wrath that Ganhoff, a fearless +soldier, dared not approach him for some time.</p> + +<p>At last the command was issued to the squadrons to prepare for the +road. In one day a whole division was ready,—one regiment of German +infantry, two of Scottish, one of Lithuanian. Pan Korf led the +artillery; Ganhoff took command of the cavalry. Besides, Kharlamp’s +dragoons, the Swedish cavalry, and the light regiment of Nyevyarovski, +there was the princess own heavy squadron, in which Slizyen was +lieutenant. It was a considerable force, and composed of veterans. With +a force no greater the prince, during the first wars with Hmelnitski, +had won those victories which had adorned his name with immortal glory; +with a power no greater he had beaten Nebaba at Loyovo, crushed a +number of tens of thousands led by the famous Krechovski, destroyed +Mozyr and Turoff, had taken Kieff by storm, and so pushed Hmelnitski in +the steppes that he was forced to seek safety in negotiations.</p> + +<p>But the star of that powerful warrior was evidently setting, and he had +no good forebodings himself. He cast his eyes into the future, and saw +nothing clearly. He would go to Podlyasye, tear apart with horses the +insurgents, give orders to pull out of his skin the hated Zagloba,—and +what would come of that? What further? What change of fate would come? +Would he then strike Hovanski, would he avenge the defeat at Tsibyhova, +and adorn his own head with new laurels? The prince said that he would, +but he doubted, for just then reports began to circulate widely that +the Northerners, fearing the growth of Swedish power, would cease to +wage war, and might even form an alliance with Yan Kazimir. Sapyeha +continued to pluck them still, and defeated them where he could; but at +the same time he negotiated with them. Pan Gosyevski had the same +plans.</p> + +<p>Then in case of Hovanski’s retreat that field of action would be +closed, and the last chance of showing his power would vanish from +Radzivill; or if Yan Kazimir could make a treaty with those who till +then had been his enemies, and urge them against the Swedes, fortune +might incline to his side against Sweden, and thereby against +Radzivill.</p> + +<p>From Poland there came, it is true, the most favorable news. The +success of the Swedes surpassed all expectation. Provinces yielded one +after another; in Great Poland Swedes ruled as in Sweden; in Warsaw, +Radzeyovski governed; Little Poland offered no resistance; Cracow might +fall at any moment; the king, deserted by the army and the nobles, with +confidence in his people broken to the core, went to Silesia; and Karl +Gustav himself was astonished at the ease with which he had crushed +that power, always victorious hitherto in war with the Swedes.</p> + +<p>But just in that ease had Radzivill a foreboding of danger to himself; +for the Swedes, blinded by triumph, would not count with him, would not +consider him, especially because he had not shown himself so powerful +and so commanding as all, not excepting himself, had thought him.</p> + +<p>Will the Swedish King give him then Lithuania, or even White Russia? +Will he not prefer to pacify an eternally hungry neighbor with some +eastern slice of the Commonwealth, so as to have his own hands free in +the remnants of Poland?</p> + +<p>These were the questions which tormented continually the soul of Prince +Yanush. Days and nights did he pass in disquiet. He conceived that +Pontus de la Gardie would not have dared to treat him so haughtily, +almost insultingly, had he not thought that the king would confirm such +a manner of action, or what is worse, had not his instructions been +previously prepared.</p> + +<p>“As long as I am at the head of some thousands of men,” thought +Radzivill, “they will consider me; but when money fails, when my hired +regiments scatter, what then?”</p> + +<p>And the revenues from his enormous estates did not come in. An immense +part of them, scattered throughout Lithuania and far away to Polesie or +Kieff, lay in ruins; those in Podlyasye the confederates had plundered +completely. At times it seemed to the prince that he would topple over +the precipice; that from all his labor and plotting only the name +traitor would remain to him,—nothing more.</p> + +<p>Another phantom terrified him—the phantom of death, which appeared +almost every night before the curtain of his bed, and beckoned with its +hand, as if wishing to say to him, “Come into darkness, cross the +unknown river.”</p> + +<p>Had he been able to stand on the summit of glory, had he been able to +place on his head, even for one day, for one hour, that crown desired +with such passion, he might meet that awful and silent phantom with +unterrified eye. But to die and leave behind evil fame and the scorn of +men, seemed to that lord, who was as proud as Satan himself, a hell +during life.</p> + +<p>More than once then, when he was alone or with his astrologer, in whom +he placed the greatest trust, did he seize his temples and repeat with +stifled voice,—</p> + +<p>“I am burning, burning, burning!”</p> + +<p>Under these conditions he was preparing for the campaign against +Podlyasye, when the day before the march it was announced that Prince +Boguslav had left Taurogi.</p> + +<p>At the mere news of this, Prince Yanush, even before he saw his cousin, +revived as it were; for that Boguslav brought with him his youth and a +blind faith in the future. In him the line of Birji was to be renewed, +for him alone was Prince Yanush toiling.</p> + +<p>When he heard that Boguslav was coming, the hetman wished to go out to +meet him, but etiquette did not permit him to go forth to meet a +younger cousin; he sent therefore a gilded carriage, and a whole +squadron as escort, and from the breastworks raised by Kmita and from +the castle itself mortars were fired at his command, just as at the +coming of a king.</p> + +<p>When the cousins, after a ceremonial greeting, were left alone at last, +Yanush seized Boguslav in his embrace and began to repeat, with a voice +of emotion,—</p> + +<p>“My youth has returned! My health has returned in a moment!”</p> + +<p>But Boguslav looked at him carefully and asked,—</p> + +<p>“What troubles your highness?”</p> + +<p>“Let us not give ourselves titles if no one obeys us. What troubles me? +Sickness irritates me so that I am falling like a rotten tree. But a +truce to this! How is my wife and Maryska?”</p> + +<p>“They have gone from Taurogi to Tyltsa. They are both well, and Marie +is like a rosebud; that will be a wonderful rose when it blooms. <i>Ma +foi!</i> more beautiful feet there are not in the world, and her tresses +flow to the very ground.”</p> + +<p>“Did she seem so beautiful to you? That is well. God inspired you to +come; I feel better in spirit when I see you. But what do you bring +touching public affairs? What is the elector doing?”</p> + +<p>“You know that he has made a league with the Prussian towns?”</p> + +<p>“I know.”</p> + +<p>“But they do not trust him greatly. Dantzig will not receive his +garrisons. The Germans have a good sniff.”</p> + +<p>“I know that too. But have you not written to him? What are his plans +touching us?”</p> + +<p>“Touching us?” repeated Boguslav, inattentively.</p> + +<p>He cast his eyes around the room, then rose. Prince Yanush thought that +he was looking for something; but he hurried to a mirror in the corner, +and withdrawing a proper distance, rubbed his whole face with a finger +of his right hand; at last he said,—</p> + +<p>“My skin is chapped a little from the journey, but before morning it +will be healed. What are the elector’s plans touching us? Nothing; he +wrote to me that he will not forget us.”</p> + +<p>“What does that mean?”</p> + +<p>“I have the letter with me; I will show it to you. He writes that +whatever may happen he will not forget us; and I believe him, for his +interests enjoin that. The elector cares as much for the Commonwealth +as I do for an old wig, and would be glad to give it to Sweden if he +could seize Prussia; but the power of Sweden begins to alarm him, +therefore he would be glad to have an ally ready for the future; and he +will have one if you mount the throne of Lithuania.”</p> + +<p>“Would that had happened! Not for myself do I wish that throne!”</p> + +<p>“All Lithuania cannot be had, perhaps, at first, but even if we get a +good piece with White Russia and Jmud—”</p> + +<p>“But what of the Swedes?”</p> + +<p>“The Swedes will be glad also to use us as a guard against the East.”</p> + +<p>“You pour balsam on me.”</p> + +<p>“Balsam! Aha! A certain necromancer in Taurogi wanted to sell me +balsam, saying that whoever would anoint himself with it would be safe +from spears, swords, and sabres. I ordered a soldier to rub him with it +at once and thrust a spear into him. Can you imagine, the spear went +right through his body.”</p> + +<p>Here Prince Boguslav laughed, showing teeth as white as ivory. But this +conversation was not to the taste of Yanush; he began again therefore +on public affairs.</p> + +<p>“I sent letters to the King of Sweden, and to many others of our +dignitaries. You must have received a letter through Kmita.”</p> + +<p>“But wait! I was coming to that matter. What is your idea of Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“He is hot-headed, wild, dangerous, and cannot endure restraint; but he +is one of those rare men who serve us in good faith.”</p> + +<p>“Surely,” answered Boguslav; “and he came near earning the kingdom of +heaven for me.”</p> + +<p>“How is that?” asked Yanush, with alarm.</p> + +<p>“They say, lord brother, that if your bile is stirred suffocation +results. Promise me to listen with patience and quietly, and I will +tell something of your Kmita, from which you will know him better than +you have up to this moment.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I will be patient, only begin.”</p> + +<p>“A miracle of God saved me from the hands of that incarnate devil,” +said Boguslav; and he began to relate all that had happened in +Pilvishki.</p> + +<p>It was no smaller miracle that Prince Yanush did not have an attack of +asthma, but it might be thought that apoplexy would strike him. He +trembled all over, he gnashed his teeth, he covered his eyes with his +hand; at last he cried with a hoarse voice,—</p> + +<p>“Is that true? Very well! He has forgotten that his little wench is in +my hands—”</p> + +<p>“Restrain yourself, for God’s sake! Hear on. I acquitted myself with +him as beseems a cavalier, and if I have not noted this adventure in my +diary, and do not boast of it, I refrain because ’tis a shame that I +let myself be tricked by that clown, as if I were a child,—I, of whom +Mazarin said that in intrigue and adroitness there was not my equal in +the whole court of France. But no more of this! I thought at first that +I had killed your Kmita; now I have proof in my hands that he has +slipped away.”</p> + +<p>“That is nothing! We will find him! We will dig him out! We will get +him, even from under the earth! Meanwhile I will give him a sorer blow +than if I were to flay him alive.”</p> + +<p>“You will give him no blow, but only injure your own health. Listen! in +coming hither I noticed some low fellow on a pied horse, who held +himself at no great distance from my carriage. I noticed him specially +because his horse was pied, and I gave the order at last to summon him. +‘Where art thou going?’ ‘To Kyedani.’ ‘What art thou taking?’ ‘A letter +to the prince voevoda.’ I ordered him to give the letter, and as there +are no secrets between us I read it. Here it is!”</p> + +<p>Then he gave Prince Yanush Kmita’s letter, written from the forest at +the time when he was setting out with the Kyemliches.</p> + +<p>The prince glanced over the letter, and crushing it with rage, cried,—</p> + +<p>“True! in God’s name, true! He has my letters, and in them are things +which may make the King of Sweden himself suspicious, nay more, give +him mortal offence.”</p> + +<p>Here choking seized him, and the expected attack came on. His mouth +opened widely, and he gasped quickly after air; his hands tore the +clothing near his throat. Prince Boguslav, seeing this, clapped his +hands, and when the servants ran in, he said,—</p> + +<p>“Save the prince your lord, and when he recovers breath beg him to come +to my chamber; meanwhile I will rest a little.” And he went out.</p> + +<p>Two hours later, Yanush, with bloodshot eyes, hanging lids, and a blue +face, knocked at Prince Boguslav’s chamber. Boguslav received him lying +in bed, his face rubbed with milk of almonds, which was to enhance the +softness and freshness of his skin. Without a wig on his head, without +the colors on his face, and with unblackened brows, he seemed much +older than in full dress; but Prince Yanush paid no heed to that.</p> + +<p>“I have come to the conclusion,” said he, “that Kmita will not publish +those letters, for if he should he would by that act write the sentence +of death for the maiden. He understands well that only by keeping them +does he hold me; but I cannot pour out my vengeance, and that gnaws me, +as if I were carrying about a mad dog in my breast.”</p> + +<p>“Still, it will be necessary to get those letters,” said Boguslav.</p> + +<p>“But <i>quo modo</i> (in what way)?”</p> + +<p>“Some adroit man must be sent after him, to enter into friendship and +at a given opportunity seize the letters and punch Kmita with a knife. +It is necessary to offer a great reward.”</p> + +<p>“Who here would undertake that deed?”</p> + +<p>“If it were only in Paris, or even in Germany, I could find a hundred +volunteers in one day, but in this country such wares are not found.”</p> + +<p>“And one of our own people is needed, for he would be on his guard +against a stranger.”</p> + +<p>“It seems to me that I can find some one in Prussia.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, if he could be taken alive and brought to my hands, I would pay +him once for all. I say that the insolence of that man passes every +measure. I sent him away because he enraged me, for he would spring at +my throat for any reason, just like a cat; he hurled at me his own +wishes in everything. A hundred times lacking little had I the order +just—just in my mouth to shoot him; but I could not, I could not.”</p> + +<p>“Tell me, is he really a relative of ours?”</p> + +<p>“He is a relative of the Kishkis, and through the Kishkis of us.”</p> + +<p>“In his fashion he is a devil, and an opponent dangerous in the highest +degree.”</p> + +<p>“He? You might command him to go to Tsargrad<a name="div2Ref_27" href="#div2_27"><sup>[27]</sup></a> and pull the Sultan +from his throne, or tear out the beard of the King of Sweden and bring +it to Kyedani. But what did he not do here in time of war?”</p> + +<p>“He has that look, but he has promised us vengeance to the last breath. +Luckily he has a lesson from me that ’tis not easy to encounter us. +Acknowledge that I treated him in Radzivill fashion; if a French +cavalier had done a deed like mine, he would boast of it whole days, +excepting the hours of sleeping, eating, and kissing; for they, when +they meet, emulate one another in lying, so that the sun is ashamed to +shine.”</p> + +<p>“It is true that you squeezed him, but I would that it had not +happened.”</p> + +<p>“And I would that you had chosen better confidants, with more respect +for the Radzivill bones.”</p> + +<p>“Those letters! those letters!”</p> + +<p>The cousins were silent for a while. Boguslav spoke first.</p> + +<p>“But what sort of a maiden is she?”</p> + +<p>“Panna Billevich?”</p> + +<p>“Billevich or Myeleshko, one is the equal of the other. I do not ask +for her name, but if she is beautiful.”</p> + +<p>“I do not look on those things; but this is certain,—the Queen of +Poland need not be ashamed of such beauty.”</p> + +<p>“The Queen of Poland? Marya Ludvika? In the time of Cinq-Mars maybe the +Queen of Poland was beautiful, but now the dogs howl when they see her. +If your Panna Billevich is such as she, then I’ll hide myself; but if +she is really a wonder, let me take her to Tanrogi, and there she and I +will think out a vengeance for Kmita.”</p> + +<p>Yanush meditated a moment.</p> + +<p>“I will not give her to you,” said he at last, “for you will constrain +her with violence, and then Kmita will publish the letters.”</p> + +<p>“I use force against one of your tufted larks! Without boasting I may +say that I have had affairs with not such as she, and I have +constrained no one. Once only, but that was in Flanders,—she was a +fool,—the daughter of a jeweller. After me came the infantry of Spain, +and the affair was accounted to them.”</p> + +<p>“You do not know this girl; she is from an honorable house, walking +virtue, you would say a nun.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, we know the nuns too!”</p> + +<p>“And besides she hates us, for she is a patriot. She has tried to +influence Kmita. There are not many such among our women. Her mind is +purely that of a man; and she is the most ardent adherent of Yan +Kazimir.”</p> + +<p>“Then we will increase his adherents.”</p> + +<p>“Impossible, for Kmita will publish the letters. I must guard her like +the eyes in my head—for a time. Afterward I will give her to you or to +your dragoons, all one to me!”</p> + +<p>“I give my word of a cavalier that I will not constrain her; and a word +given in private I always keep. In politics it is another thing. It +would be a shame for me indeed if I could gain nothing by her.”</p> + +<p>“You will not.”</p> + +<p>“In the worst case I’ll get a slap in the face, and from a woman that +is no shame. You are going to Podlyasye, what will you do with her? You +will not take her with you, you cannot leave her here; for the Swedes +will come to this place, and the girl should remain always in our hands +as a hostage. Is it not better that I take her to Tanrogi and send +Kmita, not an assassin, but a messenger with a letter in which I shall +write, ‘Give the letters and I’ll give you the maiden.’”</p> + +<p>“True,” answered Prince Yanush; “that’s a good method.”</p> + +<p>“But if,” continued Boguslav, “not altogether as I took her, that will +be the first step in vengeance.”</p> + +<p>“But you have given your word not to use violence.”</p> + +<p>“I have, and I say again that it would be a shame for me—”</p> + +<p>“Then you must take also her uncle, the sword-bearer of Rossyeni, who +is staying here with her.”</p> + +<p>“I do not wish to take him. The noble in the fashion of this region +wears, of course, straw in his boots, and I cannot bear that.”</p> + +<p>“She will not go alone.”</p> + +<p>“That’s to be seen. Ask them to supper this evening, so that I may see +and know whether she is worth putting between the teeth, and +immediately I’ll think out methods against her. Only, for God’s sake, +mention not Kmita’s act, for that would confirm her in devotion to him. +But during supper, no matter what I say, contradict not. You will see +my methods, and they will remind you of your own years of youth.”</p> + +<p>Prince Yanush waved his hands and went out; and Boguslav put his hands +under his head, and began to meditate over means.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<p>To the supper, besides the sword-bearer of Rossyeni and Olenka, were +invited the most distinguished officers of Kyedani and some attendants +of Prince Boguslav. He came himself in such array and so lordly that he +attracted all eyes. His wig was dressed in beautiful waving curls; his +face in delicacy of color called to mind milk and roses; his small +mustache seemed to be of silken hair, and his eyes stars. He was +dressed in black, in a kaftan made of stripes of silk and velvet, the +sleeves of which were slashed and fastened together the length of the +arm. Around his neck he had a broad collar, of the most marvellous +Brabant lace, of inestimable value, and at the wrists ruffles of the +same material. A gold chain fell on his breast, and over the right +shoulder along the whole kaftan went to his left hip a sword-strap of +Dutch leather, so set with diamonds that it looked like a strip of +changing light. The hilt of his sword glittered in like manner, and +in his shoe-buckles gleamed the two largest diamonds, as large as +hazel-nuts. The whole figure seemed imposing, and as noble as it was +beautiful.</p> + +<p>In one hand he held a lace handkerchief; in the other he carried, +according to the fashion of the time, on his sword-hilt, a hat adorned +with curling black ostrich feathers of uncommon length.</p> + +<p>All, not excepting Prince Yanush, looked at him with wonder and +admiration. His youthful years came to the memory of the prince +voevoda, when he in the same way surpassed all at the French court with +his beauty and his wealth. Those years were now far away, but it seemed +at that moment to the hetman that he was living again in that brilliant +cavalier who bore the same name.</p> + +<p>Prince Yanush grew vivacious, and in passing he touched with his index +finger the breast of his cousin.</p> + +<p>“Light strikes from you as from the moon,” said he. “Is it not for +Panna Billevich that you are so arrayed?”</p> + +<p>“The moon enters easily everywhere,” answered Boguslav, boastingly.</p> + +<p>And then he began to talk with Ganhoff, near whom he halted, perhaps of +purpose to exhibit himself the better, for Ganhoff was a man +marvellously ugly; he had a face dark and pitted with small-pox, a nose +like the beak of a hawk, and mustaches curled upward. He looked like +the spirit of darkness, but Boguslav near him like the spirit of light.</p> + +<p>The ladies entered,—Pani Korf and Olenka. Boguslav cast a swift glance +at Olenka, and bowed promptly to Pani Korf; he was just putting his +fingers to his mouth, to send in cavalier fashion a kiss to Panna +Billevich, when he saw her exquisite beauty, both proud and dignified. +He changed his tactics in an instant, caught his hat in his right hand, +and advancing toward the lady bowed so low that he almost bent in two; +the curls of his wig fell on both sides of his shoulders, his sword +took a position parallel with the floor, and he remained thus, moving +purposely his cap and sweeping the floor in front of Olenka with the +ostrich feather, in sign of respect. A more courtly homage he could not +have given to the Queen of France. Panna Billevich, who had learned of +his coming, divined at once who stood before her; therefore seizing her +robe with the tips of her fingers, she gave him in return a courtesy +equally profound.</p> + +<p>All wondered at the beauty and grace of manners of the two, which was +evident from the greeting itself,—grace not over usual in Kyedani, +for, as a Wallachian, Yanush’s princess was more in love with eastern +splendor than with courtliness, and Yanush’s daughter was still a +little girl.</p> + +<p>Boguslav now raised his head, shook the curls of his wig over his +shoulders, and striking his heels together with force, moved quickly +toward Olenka; at the same time he threw his hat to a page and gave her +his hand.</p> + +<p>“I do not believe my eyes, and see as it were in a dream what I see,” +said he, conducting her to the table; “but tell me, beautiful goddess, +by what miracle you have descended from Olympus to Kyedani?”</p> + +<p>“Though simply a noble woman, not a goddess,” answered Olenka, “I am +not so simple-minded as to take the words of your highness as anything +beyond courtesy.”</p> + +<p>“Though I tried to be politest of all, your glass would tell more than +I.”</p> + +<p>“It would not tell more, but more truly,” answered Olenka, pursing her +mouth according to the fashion of the time.</p> + +<p>“Were there a mirror in the room, I would conduct you to it +straightway; meanwhile look into my eyes, and you will see if their +admiration is not sincere.”</p> + +<p>Here Boguslav bent his head before Olenka; his eyes gleamed large, +black as velvet, sweet, piercing, and at the same time burning. Under +the influence of their fire the maiden’s face was covered with a purple +blush. She dropped her glance and pushed away somewhat, for she felt +that with his arm Boguslav pressed lightly her arm to his side.</p> + +<p>So he came to the table. He sat near her, and it was evident that in +truth her beauty had made an uncommon impression on him. He expected to +find a woman of the nobles, shapely as a deer, laughing and playful as +a nutcracker, ruddy as a poppy-flower; but he found a proud lady, in +whose black brows unbending will was revealed, in whose eyes were +reason and dignity, in whose whole face was the transparent repose of a +child; and at the same time she was so noble in bearing, so charming +and wonderful, that at any king’s castle she might be the object of +homage and courtship from the first cavaliers of the realm.</p> + +<p>Her beauty aroused admiration and desire; but at the same time there +was in it a majesty which curbed these, so that despite himself +Boguslav thought, “I pressed her arm too early; with such a one +subtlety is needed, not haste!”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he determined to possess her heart, and he felt a wild +delight at the thought that the moment would come when the majesty of +the maiden and that purest beauty would yield to his love or his +hatred. The threatening face of Kmita stood athwart these imaginings; +but to that insolent man this was but an incentive the more. Under the +influence of these feelings he grew radiant; blood began to play in +him, as in an Oriental steed; all his faculties flashed up uncommonly, +and light gleamed from his whole form as from his diamonds.</p> + +<p>Conversation at the table became general, or rather it was turned into +a universal chorus of praise and flattery of Boguslav, which the +brilliant cavalier heard with a smile, but without overweening delight, +since it was common and of daily occurrence. They spoke first of his +military deeds and duels. The names of the conquered princes, +margraves, barons, streamed as if out of a sleeve. He threw in +carelessly from time to time one more. The listeners were astonished; +Prince Yanush stroked his long mustaches with delight, and at last +Ganhoff said,—</p> + +<p>“Even if fortune and birth did not stand in my way, I should not like +to stand in the way of your highness, and the only wonder to me is that +men of such daring have been found.”</p> + +<p>“What is to be done, Ganhoff? There are men of iron visage and wild-cat +glance, whose appearance alone causes terror; but God has denied me +that power,—even a young lady would not be frightened at my face.”</p> + +<p>“Just as darkness is not afraid of a torch,” said Pani Korf, simpering +and posing, “until the torch burns in it.”</p> + +<p>Boguslav laughed, and Pani Korf talked on without ceasing to pose,—</p> + +<p>“Duels concern soldiers more, but we ladies would be glad to hear of +your love affairs, tidings of which have come to us.”</p> + +<p>“Untrue ones, my lady benefactress, untrue,—they have all merely grown +on the road. Proposals were made for me, of course. Her Grace, the +Queen of France was so kind—”</p> + +<p>“With the Princess de Rohan,” added Yanush.</p> + +<p>“With another too,—De la Forse,” added Boguslav; “but even a king +cannot command his own heart to love, and we do not need, praise be to +God, to seek wealth in France, hence there could be no bread out of +that flour. Graceful ladies they were, ’tis true, and beautiful beyond +imagination; but we have still more beautiful, and I need not go out of +this hall to find such.”</p> + +<p>Here he looked long at Olenka, who, feigning not to hear, began to say +something to the sword-bearer; and Pani Korf raised her voice again,—</p> + +<p>“There is no lack here of beauties; still there are none who in fortune +and birth could be the equal of your highness.”</p> + +<p>“Permit me, my benefactress, to differ,” responded Boguslav, with +animation; “for first I do not think that a Polish noble lady is +inferior in any way to a Rohan or De la Forse; second, it is not a +novelty for the Radzivills to marry a noble woman, since history gives +many examples of that. I assure you, my benefactress, that that noble +lady who should become Radzivill would have the step and precedence of +princesses in France.”</p> + +<p>“An affable lord!” whispered the sword-bearer to Olenka.</p> + +<p>“That is how I have always understood,” continued Boguslav, “though +more than once have I been ashamed of Polish nobles, when I compare +them with those abroad; for never would that have happened there which +has happened in this Commonwealth,—that all should desert their king, +nay, even men are ready to lay in wait for his life. A French noble may +permit the worst action, but he will not betray his king—”</p> + +<p>Those present began to look at one another and at the prince with +astonishment. Prince Yanush frowned and grew stern; but Olenka fixed +her blue eyes on Boguslav’s face with an expression of admiration and +thankfulness.</p> + +<p>“Pardon, your highness,” said Boguslav, turning to Yanush, who was not +able yet to recover himself, “I know that you could not act otherwise, +for all Lithuania would have perished if you had followed my advice; +but respecting you as older, and loving you as a brother, I shall not +cease to dispute with you touching Yan Kazimir. We are among ourselves, +I speak therefore what I think. Our insufficiently lamented king, good, +kind, pious, and doubly dear to me,—I was the first of Poles to attend +him when he was freed from durance in France. I was almost a child at +the time, but all the more I shall never forget him; and gladly would I +give my blood to protect him, at least from those who plot against his +sacred person.”</p> + +<p>Though Yanush understood Boguslav’s game now, still it seemed to him +too bold and too hazardous for such a trifling object; therefore +without hiding his displeasure he said,—</p> + +<p>“In God’s name, of what designs against the safety of our ex-king are +you speaking? Who cherishes them, where could such a monster be found +among the Polish people? True as life, such a thing has not happened in +the Commonwealth since the beginning of the world.”</p> + +<p>Boguslav hung his head.</p> + +<p>“Not longer than a month ago,” said he, with sadness in his voice, “on +the road between Podlyasye and Electoral Prussia, when I was going to +Tanrogi, there came to me a noble of respectable family. That noble, +not being aware of my real love for our gracious king, and thinking +that I, like others, was an enemy of his, promised for a considerable +reward to go to Silesia, carry off Yan Kazimir and deliver him to the +Swedes, either living or dead.”</p> + +<p>All were dumb with amazement.</p> + +<p>“And when with anger and disgust I rejected such an offer,” said +Boguslav, in conclusion, “that man with brazen forehead said, ‘I will +go to Radzeyovski; he will buy and pay me gold by the pound.’”</p> + +<p>“I am not a friend of the ex-king,” said Yanush; “but if the noble had +made me a proposal like that, I should have placed him by a wall, and +in front of him six musketeers.”</p> + +<p>“At the first moment I wanted to do so, but did not,” answered +Boguslav, “as the conversation was with four eyes, and people might cry +out against the violence and tyranny of the Radzivills. I frightened +him, however, by saying that Radzeyovski and the King of Sweden, even +Hmelnitski, would put him to death for such a proposal; in one word, I +brought that criminal so far that he abandoned his plan.”</p> + +<p>“That was not right; it was not proper to let him go living, he +deserved at least the impaling-stake,” cried Korf.</p> + +<p>Boguslav turned suddenly to Yanush.</p> + +<p>“I cherish also the hope that punishment will not miss him, and first I +propose that he perish not by an ordinary death; but your highness +alone is able to punish him, for he is your attendant and your +colonel.”</p> + +<p>“In God’s name! my colonel? Who is he,—who? Speak!</p> + +<p>“His name is Kmita,” said Boguslav.</p> + +<p>“Kmita!” repeated all, with astonishment.</p> + +<p>“That is not true!” cried Panna Billevich at once, rising from her +chair, with flashing eyes and heaving breast.</p> + +<p>Deep silence followed. Some had not recovered yet from the fearful news +given by Boguslav; others were astonished at the boldness of that lady +who had dared to throw a lie in the eyes of Prince Boguslav; the +sword-bearer began to stutter, “Olenka! Olenka!” But Boguslav veiled +his face in sorrow, and said without anger,—</p> + +<p>“If he is your relative or betrothed, I am grieved that I mentioned +this fact; but cast him out of your heart, for he is not worthy of you, +O lady.”</p> + +<p>She remained yet a moment in pain, flushed, and astonished; but by +degrees her face became cool, until it was cold and pale. She sank down +in the chair, and said,—</p> + +<p>“Forgive me, your highness, I made an unseemly contradiction. All is +possible for that man.”</p> + +<p>“May God punish me if I feel aught save pity!” answered Boguslav, +mildly.</p> + +<p>“He was the betrothed of this lady,” said Prince Yanush, “and I myself +made the match. He was a young man, hot-headed; he caused a world of +turmoil. I saved him from justice, for he was a good soldier. I saw +that he was lawless, and would be; but that he, a noble, could think of +such infamy, I did not expect.”</p> + +<p>“He is an evil man; that I knew long since,” said Ganhoff.</p> + +<p>“And why did you not forewarn me?” inquired Yanush, in a tone of +reproach.</p> + +<p>“I was afraid that your highness might suspect me of envy, for he had +everywhere the first step before me.”</p> + +<p>“<i>Horribile dictu et auditu</i> (horrible in the speaking and the +hearing),” said Korf.</p> + +<p>“Gracious gentlemen,” exclaimed Boguslav, “let us give peace to him. If +it is grievous for you to hear of this, what must it be for Panna +Billevich?”</p> + +<p>“Your highness, be pleased not to consider me,” said Olenka; “I can +listen to everything now.”</p> + +<p>The evening was drawing toward its close. Water was given for the +washing of fingers; then Prince Yanush rose first and gave his arm to +Pani Korf, and Prince Boguslav to Olenka.</p> + +<p>“God has punished the traitor already,” said he to her; “for whoso has +lost you has lost heaven. It is less than two hours since I first saw +you, charming lady, and I should be glad to see you forever, not in +pain and in tears, but in joy and in happiness.”</p> + +<p>“I thank your highness,” answered Olenka.</p> + +<p>After the departure of the ladies the men returned to the table to seek +consolation in cups, which went around frequently. Prince Boguslav +drank deeply, for he was satisfied with himself. Prince Yanush +conversed with the sword-bearer of Rossyeni.</p> + +<p>“I march to-morrow with the army for Podlyasye,” said he. “A Swedish +garrison will come to Kyedani. God knows when I shall return. You +cannot stay here with the maiden; it would not be a fit place for her +among soldiers. You will both go with Prince Boguslav to Taurogi, where +she may stay with my wife among her ladies in waiting.”</p> + +<p>“Your highness,” answered the sword-bearer, “God has given us a corner +of our own; why should we go to strange places? It is a great kindness +of your highness to think of us: but not wishing to abuse favor, we +prefer to return to our own roof.”</p> + +<p>The prince was unable to explain to the sword-bearer all the reasons +for which he would not let Olenka out of his hands at any price; but +some of them he told with all the rough outspokenness of a magnate.</p> + +<p>“If you wish to accept it as a favor, all the better, but I will tell +you that it is precaution as well. You will be a hostage there; you +will be responsible to me for all the Billeviches, who I know well do +not rank themselves among my friends, and are ready to raise Jmud in +rebellion when I am gone. Advise them to sit in peace, and do nothing +against the Swedes, for your head and that of your niece will answer +for their acts.”</p> + +<p>At this juncture patience was evidently lacking to the sword-bearer, +for he answered quickly,—</p> + +<p>“It would be idle for me to appeal to my rights as a noble. Power is on +the side of your highness, and it is all one to me where I must sit in +prison; I prefer even that place to this.”</p> + +<p>“Enough!” said the prince, threateningly.</p> + +<p>“What is enough, is enough!” answered the sword-bearer. “God grant to +this violence an end, and to justice new power. Speaking briefly, do +not threaten, your highness, for I fear not.”</p> + +<p>Evidently Boguslav saw lightnings of anger gleaming on the face of +Yanush, for he approached quickly.</p> + +<p>“What is the question?” asked he, standing between them.</p> + +<p>“I was telling the hetman,” said the sword-bearer, with irritation, +“that I choose imprisonment in Taurogi rather than in Kyedani.”</p> + +<p>“In Taurogi there is for you not a prison, but my house, in which you +will be as if at home. I know that the hetman chooses to see in you a +hostage; I see only a dear guest.”</p> + +<p>“I thank your highness,” answered the sword-bearer.</p> + +<p>“And I thank you. Let us strike glasses and drink together, for they +say that a libation must be made to friendship, or it will wither at +its birth.”</p> + +<p>So saying, Boguslav conducted the sword-bearer to the table, and they +fell to touching glasses and drinking to each other often and +frequently. An hour later the sword-bearer turned with somewhat +uncertain step toward his room, repeating in an undertone,—</p> + +<p>“An amiable lord! A worthy lord! A more honest one could not be found +with a lantern,—gold, pure gold! I would gladly shed my blood for +him!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the cousins found themselves alone. They had something yet to +talk over, and besides, certain letters came; a page was sent to bring +these from Ganhoff.</p> + +<p>“Evidently,” said Yanush, “there is not a word of truth in what you +reported of Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“Evidently. You know best yourself. But, well? Acknowledge, was not +Mazarin right? With one move to take terrible vengeance on an enemy, +and to make a breach in that beautiful fortress,—well, who could do +that? This is called intrigue worthy of the first court in the world! +But that Panna Billevich is a pearl, and charming too, lordly and +distinguished as if of princely blood. I thought I should spring from +my skin.”</p> + +<p>“Remember that you have given your word,—remember that he will ruin us +if he publishes those letters.”</p> + +<p>“What brows! What a queenly look, so that respect seizes one! Whence is +there such a girl, such well-nigh royal majesty? I saw once in Antwerp, +splendidly embroidered on Gobelin tapestry Diana hunting the curious +Actæon with dogs. She was like this one as cup is like cup.”</p> + +<p>“Look out that Kmita does not publish the letters, for then the dogs +would gnaw us to death.”</p> + +<p>“Not true! I will turn Kmita into an Actæon, and hunt him to death. I +have struck him down on two fields, and it will come to battle between +us yet.”</p> + +<p>Further conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a page with a +letter. The voevoda of Vilna took the letter in his hand and made the +sign of the cross. He did that always to guard against evil tidings; +then, instead of opening, he began to examine it carefully. All at once +his countenance changed.</p> + +<p>“Sapyeha’s arms are on the seal!” exclaimed he; “it is from the voevoda +of Vityebsk.”</p> + +<p>“Open quickly!” said Boguslav.</p> + +<p>The hetman opened and began to read, interrupting himself from time to +time with exclamations.</p> + +<p>“He is marching on Podlyasye! He asks if I have no messages for +Tykotsin! An insult to me! Still worse; for listen to what he writes +further,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“‘Do you wish civil war, your highness? do you wish to sink one more +sword in the bosom of the mother? If you do, come to Podlyasye. I am +waiting for you, and I trust that God will punish your pride with my +hands. But if you have pity on the country, if conscience stirs within +you, if you value your deeds of past times and you wish to make +reparation, the field is open before you. Instead of beginning a civil +war, summon the general militia, raise the peasants, and strike the +Swedes while Pontus, feeling secure, suspects nothing and is exercising +no vigilance. From Hovanski you will have no hindrance, for reports +come to me from Moscow that they are thinking there of an expedition +against Livonia, though they keep that a secret. Besides, if Hovanski +wished to undertake anything I hold him in check, and if I could have +sincere trust I would certainly help you with all my forces to save the +country. All depends on you, for there is time yet to turn from the +road and efface your faults. Then it will appear clearly that you did +not accept Swedish protection for personal purposes, but to avert final +defeat from Lithuania. May God thus inspire you; for this I implore him +daily, though your highness is pleased to accuse me of envy.</p> + +<p>“‘P. S. I have heard that the siege of Nyesvyej is raised, and that +Prince Michael will join us as soon as he repairs his losses. See, your +highness, how nobly your family act, and consider their example; in +every case remember that you have now a boat and a carriage.’<a name="div2Ref_28" href="#div2_28"><sup>[28]</sup></a></p> +</div> + +<p>“Have you heard?” asked Prince Yanush, when he had finished reading.</p> + +<p>“I have heard—and what?” answered Boguslav, looking quickly at his +cousin.</p> + +<p>“It would be necessary to abjure all, leave all, tear down our work +with our own hands.”</p> + +<p>“Break with the powerful Karl Gustav, and seize the exiled Yan Kazimir +by the feet, that he might deign to forgive and receive us back to his +service, and also implore Sapyeha’s intercession.”</p> + +<p>Yanush’s face was filled with blood.</p> + +<p>“Have you considered how he writes to me: ‘Correct yourself, and I will +forgive you,’ as a lord to an underling.”</p> + +<p>“He would write differently if six thousand sabres were hanging over +his neck.”</p> + +<p>“Still—” Here Prince Yanush fell to thinking gloomily.</p> + +<p>“Still, what?”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps for the country it would be salvation to do as Sapyeha +advises.”</p> + +<p>“But for you,—for me, for the Radzivills?”</p> + +<p>Yanush made no answer; he dropped his head on his fists and thought.</p> + +<p>“Let it be so!” said he, at last; “let it be accomplished!”</p> + +<p>“What have you decided?”</p> + +<p>“To-morrow I march on Podlyasye, and in a week I shall strike on +Sapyeha.”</p> + +<p>“You are a Radzivill!” cried Boguslav. And they grasped each other’s +hands.</p> + +<p>After a while Boguslav went to rest. Yanush remained alone. Once, and a +second time he passed through the room with heavy steps. At last he +clapped his hands. A page entered the room.</p> + +<p>“Let the astrologer come in an hour to me with a ready figure,” said +he.</p> + +<p>The page went out, and the prince began again to walk and repeat his +Calvinistic prayers. After that he sang a psalm in an undertone, +stopping frequently, for his breath failed him, and looking from time +to time through the window at the stars twinkling in the sky.</p> + +<p>By degrees the lights were quenched in the castle; but besides the +astrologer and the prince one other person was watching in a room, and +that was Olenka Billevich.</p> + +<p>Kneeling before her bed, she clasped both hands over her head, and +whispered with closed eyes,—</p> + +<p>“Have mercy on us! Have mercy on us!”</p> + +<p>The first time since Kmita’s departure she would not, she could not +pray for him.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<p>Kmita had, it is true, Radzivill’s passes to all the Swedish captains, +commandants, and governors, to give him a free road everywhere, and +make no opposition, but he did not dare to use those passes; for he +expected that Prince Boguslav, immediately after Pilvishki, had hurried +off messengers in every direction with information to the Swedes of +what had happened, and with an order to seize him. For this reason Pan +Andrei had assumed a strange name, and also changed his rank. Avoiding +therefore Lomja and Ostrolenko, to which the first warning might have +come, he directed his horses and his company to Pjasnysh, whence he +wished to go through Pultusk to Warsaw.</p> + +<p>But before he reached Pjasnysh he made a bend on the Prussian boundary +through Vansosh, Kolno, and Myshynyets, because the Kyemliches, knowing +those wildernesses well, were acquainted with the forest trails, and +besides had their “cronies” among the Bark-shoes,<a name="div2Ref_29" href="#div2_29"><sup>[29]</sup></a> from whom they +might expect aid in case of emergency.</p> + +<p>The country at the boundary was occupied for the most part by the +Swedes, who limited themselves, however, to occupying the most +considerable towns, going not too boldly into the slumbering and +fathomless forests inhabited by armed men,—hunters who never left the +wilderness, and were still so wild that just a year before, the Queen, +Marya Ludvika, had given a command to build a chapel in Myshynyets and +settle there Jesuits, who were to teach religion and soften the manners +of those men of the wilderness.</p> + +<p>“The longer we do not meet the Swedes,” said old Kyemlich, “the better +for us.”</p> + +<p>“We must meet them at last,” answered Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>“If a man meets them in a large town they are often afraid to do him +injustice; for in a town there is always some government and some +higher commandant to whom it is possible to make complaint. I have +always asked people about this, and I know that there are commands from +the King of Sweden forbidding violence and extortion. But the smaller +parties sent far away from the eyes of commandants have no regard for +orders, and plunder peaceful people.”</p> + +<p>They passed on then through the forests, meeting Swedes nowhere, +spending the nights with pitch-makers in forest settlements. The +greatest variety of tales concerning the invasion were current among +the Bark-shoes, though almost none of them had known the Swedes +hitherto. It was said that a people had come from over the sea who did +not understand human speech, who did not believe in Christ the Lord, +the Most Holy Lady, or the Saints, and that they were wonderfully +greedy. Some told of the uncommon desire of those enemies for cattle, +skins, nuts, mead, and dried mushrooms, which if refused, they burned +the woods straightway. Others insisted that, on the contrary, they were +a people of were-wolves, living on human flesh, and feeding specially +on the flesh of young girls.</p> + +<p>Under the influence of those terrible tidings, which flew into the +remotest depths of the wilderness, the Bark-shoes began to watch and to +search through the forests. Those who were making potash and pitch; +those who worked at gathering hops; wood-cutters and fishermen, who had +their wicker nets fixed in the reedy banks, of the Rosoga; trappers and +snarers, bee-keepers and beaver-hunters, assembled at the most +considerable settlements, listening to tales, communicating news, and +counselling how to drive out the enemy in case they appeared in the +wilderness.</p> + +<p>Kmita, going with his party, met more than once greater or smaller +bands of these men, dressed in hemp shirts, and skins of wolves, foxes, +or bears. More than once he was stopped at narrow places, and by +inquiries,—</p> + +<p>“Who art thou? A Swede?”</p> + +<p>“No!” answered Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>“God guard thee!”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked with curiosity at those men who lived always in the gloom +of forests, and whose faces the open sun had never burned; he wondered +at their stature, their boldness of look, the sincerity of their +speech, and their daring, not at all peasant-like.</p> + +<p>The Kyemliches, who knew them, assured Pan Andrei that there were no +better shots than these men in the whole Commonwealth. When he +discovered that they all had good German muskets bought in Prussia for +skins, he asked them to show their skill in shooting, was astonished at +sight of it, and thought, “Should I need to collect a party, I will +come here.”</p> + +<p>At Myshynyets itself he found a great assembly. More than a hundred +marksmen held constant watch at the mission, for it was feared that the +Swedes would show themselves there first, especially because the +starosta of Ostrolenko had commanded them to cut out a road in the +forest so that the priests settled at the mission might have “access to +the world.”</p> + +<p>The hop-raisers, who took their produce to Pjasnysh to the celebrated +breweries there, and hence passed for men of experience, related that +Lomja, Ostrolenko, and Pjasnysh were swarming with Swedes, who were +managing and collecting taxes there as if at home.</p> + +<p>Kmita tried to persuade the Bark-shoes not to wait for the Swedes in +the wilderness, but to strike on them at Ostrolenko, and begin war; he +offered to command them himself. He found a great willingness among +them; but two priests led them away from this mad enterprise, telling +them to wait till the whole country moved, and not draw on themselves +the terrible vengeance of the enemy by premature attack.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei departed, but regretted his lost opportunity. The only +consolation remaining was this,—he had convinced himself that if +powder were to explode anywhere, neither the Commonwealth nor the king +would lack defenders in those parts.</p> + +<p>“This being the case,” thought he, “it is possible to begin in another +place.”</p> + +<p>His fiery nature was restive for quick action, but judgment said: “The +Bark-shoes alone cannot conquer the Swedes. You will go through a part +of the country; you will look around, examine, and then obey the king’s +order.”</p> + +<p>He travelled on therefore. He went out of the deep wilderness to the +forest borders, to a neighborhood more thickly settled; he saw an +uncommon movement in all the villages. The roads were crowded with +nobles going in wagons, carriages, and carts, of various kinds, or on +horseback. All were hastening to the nearest towns and villages to give +Swedish commanders an oath of loyalty to the new king. In return they +received certificates which were to preserve their persons and +property. In the capitals of provinces and districts “capitulations” +were published securing freedom of confession and privileges pertaining +to the order of nobles.</p> + +<p>The nobles went with the requisite oath, not only willingly, but in +haste; for various punishments threatened the stubborn, and especially +confiscation and robbery. It was said that here and there the Swedes +had already begun, as in Great Poland, to thumb-screw suspected men. It +was repeated also, with alarm, that they were casting suspicion on the +wealthiest on purpose to rob them.</p> + +<p>In view of all this, it was unsafe to remain in the country; the +wealthier therefore hurried to the towns to live under the immediate +eye of Swedish commandants, so as to avoid suspicion of intrigue +against the King of Sweden.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei bent his ear carefully to what nobles were saying, and +though they did not wish greatly to speak with him, since he was a poor +fellow, he discovered this much, that near neighbors, acquaintances, +even friends, did not speak among themselves with sincerity touching +the Swedes or the new government. It is true they complained loudly of +the “requisitions;” and in fact there was reason, for to each village, +each hamlet, came letters from commandants with orders to furnish great +quantities of grain, bread, salt, cattle, money; and frequently these +orders exceeded the possible, especially because when supplies of one +kind were exhausted, others were demanded; whoso did not pay, to him +was sent an execution in thrice the amount.</p> + +<p>But the old days had gone! Each man extricated himself as best he was +able, took out of his own mouth, gave, paid; complaining, groaning, and +thinking in his soul that long ago it was different. But they comforted +themselves for the time, saying that when the war was over the +requisitions would cease. The Swedes promised the same, saying, “Only +let the king gain the whole country, he will begin to govern at once +like a father.”</p> + +<p>For the nobles who had given up their own king and country; who before, +and not long before, had called the kindly Yan Kazimir a tyrant, +suspecting him of striving for absolute power; who opposed him in +everything, protesting in provincial and national diets, and in their +hunger for novelty and change went so far that they recognized, almost +without opposition, an invader as lord, so as to have some change,—it +would be a shame then even to complain. Karl Gustav had freed them from +the tyrant, they had abandoned of their own will their lawful king; but +they had the change so greatly desired.</p> + +<p>Therefore the most intimate did not speak sincerely among themselves +touching what they thought of that change, inclining their ears +willingly to those who asserted that the attacks, requisitions, +robberies, and confiscations were, of course burdens, but only +temporary ones, which would cease as soon as Karl Gustav was firm on +the throne.</p> + +<p>“This is grievous, brother, grievous,” said one noble to another at +times, “but still we must be thankful for the new ruler. He is a great +potentate and warrior; he will conquer the Tartars, restrain the Turks, +drive the Northerners away from the boundaries; and we together with +Sweden will flourish.”</p> + +<p>“Even if we were not glad,” answered another, “what is to be done +against such power? We cannot fly to the sun on a spade.”</p> + +<p>At times, too, they referred to the fresh oath. Kmita was enraged +listening to such talks and discussions; and once when a certain noble +said in his presence in an inn that a man must be faithful to him to +whom he had taken oath. Pan Andrei shouted out to him,—</p> + +<p>“You must have two mouths,—one for true and the other for false oaths, +for you have sworn to Yan Kazimir!”</p> + +<p>There were many other nobles present, for this happened not far from +Pjasnysh. Hearing these words, all started. On some faces wonder was +visible at the boldness of Kmita; others flushed. At last the most +important man said,—</p> + +<p>“No one here has broken his oath to the former king. He broke it +himself; for he left the country, not watching over its defence.”</p> + +<p>“Would you were killed!” cried Kmita. “But King Lokyetek,—how many +times was he forced to leave the country, and still he returned, for +the fear of God was yet in men’s hearts. It was not Yan Kazimir who +deserted, but those who sold him and who now calumniate him, so as to +palliate their own sins before God and the world!”</p> + +<p>“You speak too boldly, young man! Whence come you who wish to teach us +people of this place the fear of God? See to it that the Swedes do not +overhear you.”</p> + +<p>“If you are curious, I will tell you whence I am. I am from Electoral +Prussia, and belong to the elector. But being of Sarmatian blood, I +feel a good will toward the country, and am ashamed of the indifference +of this people.”</p> + +<p>Here the nobles, forgetting their anger, surrounded him and began to +inquire hurriedly and with curiosity,—</p> + +<p>“You are from Electoral Prussia? But tell what you know! What is the +elector doing there? Does he think of rescuing us from oppression?”</p> + +<p>“From what oppression? You are glad of the new ruler, so do not talk of +oppression. As you have made your bed, so you must sleep on it.”</p> + +<p>“We are glad, for we cannot help it. They stand with swords over our +necks. But speak out, as if we were not glad.”</p> + +<p>“Give him something to drink, let his tongue be loosened! Speak boldly, +there are no traitors here among us.”</p> + +<p>“You are all traitors!” roared Pan Andrei, “and I don’t wish to drink +with you; you are servants of the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>Then he went out of the room, slamming the door, and they remained in +shame and amazement; no man seized his sabre, no man moved after Kmita +to avenge the insult.</p> + +<p>But he went directly to Pryasnysh. A few furlongs before the place +Swedish patrols took him and led him before the commandant. There were +only six men in the patrol, and an under-officer was the seventh; +therefore Soroka and the two Kyemliches began to look at them hungrily, +like wolves at sheep, and asked Kmita with their eyes, if he would not +give order to surround them.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei also felt no small temptation, especially since the +Vengyerka flowed near, between banks overgrown with reeds; but he +restrained himself, and let the party be taken quietly to the +commandant.</p> + +<p>There he told the commandant who he was,—that he had come from the +elector’s country, and that he went every year with horses to Sobota. +The Kyemliches too had certificates with which they provided themselves +in Leng, for the place was well known to them; therefore the +commandant, who was himself a Prussian German, made no difficulty, only +inquired carefully what kind of horses they were driving and wished to +see them.</p> + +<p>When Kmita’s attendants drove the beasts up, in accordance with the +commandant’s wish, he looked at them carefully and said,—</p> + +<p>“I will buy these. From another I would have taken them without pay; +but since you are from Prussia, I will not harm you.”</p> + +<p>Kmita seemed somewhat confused when it came to selling, for by this the +reason for going farther was lost, and he would have to go back to +Prussia. He asked therefore a price so high that it was almost twice +the real value of the horses. Beyond expectation the officer was +neither angry, nor did he haggle about the price.</p> + +<p>“Agreed!” said he. “Drive the horses into the shed, and I will bring +you the pay at once.”</p> + +<p>The Kyemliches were glad in their hearts, but Pan Andrei fell into +anger and began to curse. Still there was no way but to drive in the +horses. If they refused, they would be suspected at once of trading +only in appearance.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the officer came back, and gave Kmita a piece of paper with +writing.</p> + +<p>“What is this?” asked Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>“Money or the same as money,—an order.”</p> + +<p>“And where will they pay me?”</p> + +<p>“At headquarters!”</p> + +<p>“Where are headquarters?”</p> + +<p>“In Warsaw,” said the officer, laughing maliciously.</p> + +<p>“We sell only for ready money.”</p> + +<p>“How’s that, what’s that, oh, gates of heaven?” began old Kyemlich, +groaning.</p> + +<p>Kmita turned, and looking at him threateningly, said,—</p> + +<p>“For me the word of the commandant is the same as ready money. I will +go willingly to Warsaw, for there I can buy honest goods from the +Armenians, for which I shall be well paid in Prussia.”</p> + +<p>Then, when the officer walked away, Pan Andrei said, to comfort +Kyemlich,—</p> + +<p>“Quiet, you rogue! These orders are the best passes; we can go to +Cracow with our complaints, for they will not pay us. It is easier to +press cheese out of a stone than money out of the Swedes. But this is +just playing into my hand. This breeches fellow thinks that he has +tricked me, but he knows not what service he has rendered. I’ll pay you +out of my own pocket for the horses; you will be at no loss.”</p> + +<p>The old man recovered himself, and it was only from habit that he did +not cease yet for a while to complain,—</p> + +<p>“They have plundered us, brought us to poverty!”</p> + +<p>But Pan Andrei was glad to find the road open before him, for he +foresaw that the Swedes would not pay for the horses in Warsaw, and in +all likelihood they would pay nowhere,—hence he would be able to go on +continually as it were seeking for justice, even to the Swedish king, +who was at Cracow occupied with the siege of the ancient capital.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kmita resolved to pass the night in Pjasnysh to give his +horses rest, and without changing his assumed name to throw aside his +exterior of a poor noble. He saw that all despised a poor horse-dealer, +that any one might attack him more readily and have less fear to answer +for injustice to an insignificant man. It was more difficult in that +dress to have approach to important nobles, and therefore more +difficult to discover what each one was thinking.</p> + +<p>He procured therefore clothing answering to his station and his birth, +and went to an inn so as to talk with his brother nobles. But he was +not rejoiced at what he heard. In the taverns and public houses the +nobles drank to the health of the King of Sweden, and to the success of +the protector, struck glasses with the Swedish officers, laughed at the +jokes which these officers permitted themselves to make at the expense +of Yan Kazimir and Charnyetski.</p> + +<p>Fear for their own lives and property had debased people to such a +degree that they were affable to the invaders, and hurried to keep up +their good humor. Still even that debasement had its limits. The nobles +allowed themselves, their king, the hetmans, and Pan Charnyetski to be +ridiculed, but not their religion; and when a certain Swedish captain +declared that the Lutheran faith was as good as the Catholic, Pan +Grabkovski, sitting near him, not being able to endure that blasphemy, +struck him on the temple with a hatchet, and taking advantage of the +uproar, slipped out of the public house and vanished in the crowd.</p> + +<p>They fell to pursuing him, but news came which turned attention in +another direction. Couriers arrived with news that Cracow had +surrendered, that Pan Charnyetski was in captivity, and that the last +barrier to Swedish dominion was swept away.</p> + +<p>The nobles were dumb at the first moment, but the Swedes began to +rejoice and cry “Vivat.” In the church of the Holy Ghost, in the church +of the Bernardines, and in the cloister of Bernardine nuns, recently +erected by Pani Muskovski, it was ordered to ring the bells. The +infantry and cavalry came out on the square, from the breweries and +cloth-shearing mills, in battle-array, and began to fire from cannons +and muskets. Then they rolled out barrels of gorailka, mead, and beer +for the army and the citizens; they burned pitch-barrels and feasted +till late at night. The Swedes dragged out the inhabitants from the +houses to dance with them, to rejoice and frolic; and together with +throngs of soldiers straggled along nobles who drank with the cavalry, +and were forced to feign joy at the fall of Cracow and the defeat of +Charnyetski.</p> + +<p>Disgust carried away Kmita, and he took refuge early in his quarters +outside the town, but he could not sleep. A fever tormented him, and +doubts besieged his soul. Had he not turned from the road too late, +when the whole country was in the hands of the Swedes? It came into his +head that all was lost now, and the Commonwealth would never rise from +its fall.</p> + +<p>“This is not a mere unlucky war,” thought he, “which may end with the +loss of some province; this is accomplished ruin! This means that the +whole Commonwealth becomes a Swedish province. We have caused this +ourselves, and I more than others.”</p> + +<p>This thought burned him, and conscience gnawed. Sleep fled from him. He +knew not what to do,—to travel farther, remain in the place, or +return. Even if he collected a party and harried the Swedes, they would +hunt him as a bandit, and not treat him as a soldier. Besides, he is in +a strange region, where no one knows who he is. Who will join him? +Fearless men rallied to him in Lithuania, where he, the most famous, +called them together; but here, even if some had heard of Kmita, they +held him a traitor and a friend of the Swedes, but surely no one had +ever heard of Babinich.</p> + +<p>All is useless! It is useless to go to the king, for it is too late; it +is useless to go to Podlyasye, for the Confederates think him a +traitor; it is useless to go to Lithuania, for there the Radzivills own +all; it is useless to stay where he is, for there he has nothing to do. +The best would be to drive out the soul, and not look on this world, +but flee from remorse.</p> + +<p>But will it be better in that world for those who having sinned their +fill in this life, have not effaced their sins in any way, and will +stand before judgment beneath the whole weight of these sins? Kmita +struggled in his bed, as if lying on a bed of torture. Such unendurable +torments he had not passed through, even in the forest cabin of the +Kyemliches.</p> + +<p>He felt strong, healthy, enterprising,—the soul in him was rushing out +to begin something, to do something,—and here every road was blocked; +even knock the head against a wall,—there is no issue, no salvation, +no hope.</p> + +<p>After he had tossed during the night on his bed, he sprang up before +daybreak, roused his men, and rode on. They went toward Warsaw, but he +knew not himself wherefore or why. He would have escaped to the Saitch +in despair, if times had not changed, and if Hmelnitski, together with +Buturlin, had not just overborne the grand hetman of the kingdom, at +Grodek, carrying at the same time fire and sword through the +southwestern regions of the Commonwealth, and sending predatory bands +as far as Lublin.</p> + +<p>Along the roads to Pultusk, Pan Andrei met at all points Swedish +parties, escorting wagons with provisions, grain, bread, beer, and +herds of every kind of cattle. With the herds and wagons went crowds of +peasants, small nobles, weeping and groaning, for they were dragged +away numbers of miles with the wagons. Happy the man who was allowed to +return home with his wagon; and this did not happen in every case, for +after they had brought the supplies peasants and petty nobles were +forced to labor at repairing castles, building sheds and magazines.</p> + +<p>Kmita saw also that in the neighborhood of Pultusk the Swedes acted +more harshly with the people than in Pjasnysh; and not being able to +understand the cause, he inquired about it of the nobles whom he met on +the road.</p> + +<p>“The nearer you go to Warsaw,” answered one of the travellers, “the +harsher you will find the oppressors. Where they have just come and are +not secure, they are more kindly, publish the commands of the king +against oppression, and promulgate the capitulations; but where they +feel safe, and have occupied castles in the neighborhood, they break +all promises, have no consideration, commit injustice, plunder, rob, +raise their hands against churches, the clergy, and sacred nuns. It is +nothing here yet, but to describe what is going on in Great Poland +words fail in the mouths of men.”</p> + +<p>Here the noble began to describe what was taking place in Great +Poland,—what extortions, violence, and murders the savage enemy +committed; how men were thumbscrewed and tortured to discover money; +how the Provincial, Father Branetski, was killed in Poznan itself; and +peasants were tortured so fearfully that the hair stood on one’s head +at the mere thought of it.</p> + +<p>“It will come to this everywhere,” said the noble; “it is the +punishment of God. The last judgment is near. Worse and worse every +day,—and salvation from no point.”</p> + +<p>“It is a marvel to me,” said Kmita, “for I am not of these parts and +know not how people feel here, that you, gracious gentlemen, being +nobles and knightly persons, endure these oppressions in patience.”</p> + +<p>“With what can we rise up?” answered the noble. “In their hands are the +castles, fortresses, cannon, powder, muskets; they have taken from us +even fowling-pieces. There was still some hope in Charnyetski; but +since he is in prison, and the king in Silesia, who will think of +resistance? There are hands, but nothing in them, and there is no +head.”</p> + +<p>“And there is no hope,” added Kmita, in a hollow voice.</p> + +<p>Here they dropped the conversation, for a Swedish division came up +convoying wagons, small nobles, and a “requisition.” It was a wonderful +spectacle. Sitting on horses as fat as bullocks, mustached and bearded +troopers rode on in a cloud of dust, with their right hands on their +hips, with their hats on the sides of their heads, with tens of geese +and hens hanging at their saddles. Looking at their warlike and +insolent faces, it was easy to see that they felt like lords, gladsome +and safe. But the brotherhood of petty nobles walked at the side of the +wagons, not only barefooted, but with heads drooping on their bosoms, +abused, troubled, frequently urged forward with whips.</p> + +<p>On seeing this, Kmita’s lips quivered as in a fever, and he fell to +repeating to the noble near whom he was riding,—</p> + +<p>“Oh, my hands are itching, my hands are itching, my hands are itching!”</p> + +<p>“Quiet, in the name of the Merciful God! you will ruin yourself, me, +and my little children.”</p> + +<p>More than once, however, Pan Andrei had before him sights still more +marvellous. Behold at times, among parties of horsemen, he saw marching +groups, larger or smaller, of Polish nobles, with armed attendants; +these nobles were joyous, singing songs, drunk, and with Swedes and +Germans on the footing of “lord brother.”</p> + +<p>“How is this?” asked Kmita. “They are persecuting some nobles and +crushing them, while with others they enter into friendship. It must be +that those citizens whom I see among the soldiers are fanatical +traitors?”</p> + +<p>“Not merely fanatical traitors, but worse, for they are heretics,” +answered the noble. “They are more grievous to us Catholics than the +Swedes; they are the men who plunder most, burn houses, carry off +maidens, commit private offences. The whole country is in alarm from +them, for everything drops from these men altogether without +punishment, and it is easier to get justice from Swedish commanders +against a Swede, than against one of our own heretics. Every +commandant, if you utter a word, will answer at once, ‘I have no right +to touch him, for he is not my man; go to your own tribunals.’ And what +tribunals are there here now, and what execution of law when everything +is in Swedish hands? Where the Swede cannot go the heretics will take +him, and they are the men chiefly who incite the Swedes against +churches and clergy. This is the way in which they punish the country, +our mother, for having given them refuge here and freedom for their +blasphemous faith when they were persecuted in other Christian lands +justly, for their intrigues and abominations.”</p> + +<p>The noble stopped and looked with alarm at Kmita,—</p> + +<p>“But you say that you are from Electoral Prussia, so you may be a +Lutheran?”</p> + +<p>“God save me from that,” answered Pan Andrei. “I am from Prussia, but +of a family Catholic for ages, for we went from Lithuania to Prussia.”</p> + +<p>“Then praise to the Most High, for I was frightened. My dear sir, as to +Lithuania there is no lack of dissidents there; and they have a +powerful chief in Radzivill, who has turned out so great a traitor that +he can come into comparison with Radzeyovski alone.”</p> + +<p>“May God grant the devils to pull the soul out through his throat +before the New Year!” exclaimed Kmita, with venom.</p> + +<p>“Amen!” answered the noble, “and also the souls of his servants, his +assistants, his executioners, of whom tidings have come even to us, and +without whom he would not have dared to bring destruction on this +country.”</p> + +<p>Kmita grew pale and said not a word. He did not ask even—he did not +dare to ask—of what assistants, servants, and executioners that noble +was speaking.</p> + +<p>Travelling slowly, they came to Pultusk late in the evening; there they +called Kmita to the bishop’s palace or castle to give answer to the +commandant.</p> + +<p>“I am furnishing horses to the army of his Swedish Grace,” said Pan +Andrei, “and I have orders with which I am going to Warsaw for money.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Israel (such was the name of the commandant) smiled under his +mustaches and said,—</p> + +<p>“Oh, make haste, make haste, and take a wagon for the return, so as to +have something to carry that money in!”</p> + +<p>“I thank you for the counsel,” answered Pan Andrei. “I understand that +you are jeering at me; but I will go for my own, even if I have to go +to his grace the king!”</p> + +<p>“Go! don’t give away your own; a very nice sum belongs to you.”</p> + +<p>“The hour will come when you’ll pay me,” retorted Kmita, going out.</p> + +<p>In the town itself he came on celebrations again, for rejoicing over +the capture of Cracow was to last three days. He learned, however, that +in Pjasnysh the Swedish triumph was exaggerated, perhaps by design. +Charnyetski, the castellan of Kieff, had not fallen into captivity, but +had obtained the right of marching from the city with his troops, with +arms and lighted matches at the cannon. It was said that he was to +retire to Silesia. This was not a great consolation, but still a +consolation.</p> + +<p>In Pultusk there were considerable forces which were to go thence to +the Prussian boundary, under command of Colonel Israel, to alarm the +elector; therefore neither the town nor the castle, though very +spacious, could furnish lodging for the soldiers. Here too, for the +first time, Kmita saw soldiers encamped in a church,—in a splendid +Gothic structure, founded almost two hundred years before by Bishop +Gijytski, were quartered hireling German infantry. Inside the sanctuary +it was flaming with light as on Easter, for on the stone floor were +burning fires kindled in various places. Kettles were steaming over the +fires. Around kegs of beer were groups of common soldiers,—hardened +robbers, who had plundered all Catholic Germany, and of a certainty +were not spending their first night in a church. In the church were +heard talking and shouting. Hoarse voices were singing camp songs; +there sounded also the outcry and merriment of women, who in those days +straggled usually in the wake of an army.</p> + +<p>Kmita stood in the open door; through the smoke in the midst of ruddy +flames he saw the red, mustached faces of soldiers who, inflamed with +drink, were sitting on kegs and quaffing beer; some throwing dice or +playing cards, some selling church vestments, others embracing low +women dressed in bright garments. Uproar, laughter, the clatter of +tankards, the sound of muskets, the echoes thundering in the vaults +deafened him. His head whirled; he could not believe what his eyes saw; +the breath died in his breast; hell would not have more greatly amazed +him. At last he clutched his hair and ran out repeating as if in +bewilderment,—</p> + +<p>“O God, aid us! O God, correct us! O God, deliver us!”</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<p>In Warsaw the Swedes had been managing for a long time. Wittemberg, the +real governor of the city and the commander of the garrison, was at +that moment in Cracow; Radzeyovski carried on the government in his +place. Not less than two thousand soldiers were in the city proper +surrounded by walls, and in the jurisdictions beyond the walls built up +with splendid edifices belonging to the church and the world. The +castle and the city were not destroyed; for Pan Vessel, starosta of +Makovo, had yielded them up without battle, and he with the garrison +disappeared hurriedly, fearing the personal vengeance of Radzeyovski, +his enemy.</p> + +<p>But when Pan Kmita examined more closely and carefully, he saw on many +houses the traces of plundering hands. These were the houses of those +citizens who had fled from the city, not wishing to endure foreign +rule, or who had offered resistance when the Swedes were breaking over +the walls.</p> + +<p>Of the lordly structures in the jurisdictions those only retained their +former splendor the owners of which stood soul and body with the +Swedes. Therefore the Kazanovski Palace remained in all its +magnificence, for Radzeyovski had saved that, his own, and the palace +of Konyetspolski, the standard-bearer, as well as the edifice reared by +Vladislav IV., and which was afterward known as the Kazimirovski +Palace. But edifices of the clergy were injured considerably; the +Denhof Palace was half wrecked; the chancellor’s or the so-called +Ossolinski Palace, on Reformatski Street, was plundered to its +foundations. German hirelings looked out through its windows; and that +costly furniture which the late chancellor had brought from Italy at +such outlay,—those Florentine leathers, Dutch tapestry, beautiful +cabinets inlaid with mother-of-pearl, pictures, bronze and marble +statues, clocks from Venice and Dantzig, and magnificent glasses were +either lying in disordered heaps in the yard, or, already packed, were +waiting to be taken, when the time came, by the Vistula to Sweden. +Guards watched over these precious things, but meanwhile they were +being ruined under the wind and rain.</p> + +<p>In other cities the same thing might be seen; and though the capital +had yielded without battle, still thirty gigantic flat-boats were ready +on the Vistula to bear away the plunder.</p> + +<p>The city looked like a foreign place. On the streets foreign languages +were heard more than Polish; everywhere were met Swedish soldiers, +German, French, English, and Scottish mercenaries, in the greatest +variety of uniforms,—in hats, in lofty helmets, in kaftans, in +breastplates, half breastplates, in stockings, or Swedish boots, with +legs as wide as water-buckets. Everywhere a foreign medley, foreign +garments, foreign faces, foreign songs. Even the horses had forms +different from those to which the eye was accustomed. There had also +rushed in a multitude of Armenians with dark faces, and black hair +covered with bright skull-caps; they had come to buy plundered +articles.</p> + +<p>But most astonishing of all was the incalculable number of gypsies, +who, it is unknown for what purpose, had gathered after the Swedes from +all parts of the country. Their tents stood at the side of the +Uyazdovski Palace, and along the monastery jurisdiction, forming as it +were a special town of linen houses within a town of walled structures.</p> + +<p>In the midst of these various-tongued throngs the inhabitants of the +city almost vanished; for their own safety they sat gladly enclosed in +their houses, showing themselves rarely, and then passing swiftly along +the streets. Only occasionally the carriage of some magnate, hurrying +from the Cracow suburbs to the castle, and surrounded by haiduks, +Turkish grooms, or troops in Polish dress, gave reminder that the city +was Polish.</p> + +<p>Only on Sundays and holidays, when the bells announced services, did +crowds come forth from the houses, and the capital put on its former +appearance,—though even then lines of foreign soldiers stood hedgelike +in front of the churches, to look at the women or pull at their dresses +when, with downcast eyes, they walked past them. These soldiers +laughed, and sometimes sang vile songs just when the priests were +singing Mass in the churches.</p> + +<p>All this flashed past the astonished eyes of Pan Kmita like jugglery; +but he did not warm his place long in Warsaw, for not knowing any man +he had no one before whom to open his soul. Even with those Polish +nobles who were stopping in the city and living in public houses built +during the reign of King Sigismund III. on Dluga Street, Pan Andrei did +not associate closely. He conversed, it is true, with this one and +that, to learn the news; but all were fanatical adherents of the +Swedes, and waiting for the return of Karl Gustav, clung to Radzeyovski +and the Swedish officers with the hope of receiving starostaships, +confiscated private estates, and profits from church and other +recoupments. Each man of them would have been served rightly had some +one spat in his eyes, and from this Kmita did not make great effort to +restrain himself.</p> + +<p>From the townspeople Kmita only heard that they regretted past times, +and the good king of the fallen country. The Swedes persecuted them +savagely, seized their houses, exacted contributions, imprisoned them. +They said also that the guilds had arms secreted, especially the +linen-weavers, the butchers, the furriers, and the powerful guild of +tailors; that they were looking continually for the return of Yan +Kazimir, did not lose hope, and with assistance from outside were ready +to attack the Swedes.</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Kmita did not believe his own ears. It could not find +place in his head that men of mean station and rank should exhibit more +love for the country and loyalty to their lawful king than nobles, who +ought to bring those sentiments into the world with their birth.</p> + +<p>But it was just the nobles and magnates who stood by the Swedes, and +the common people who for the greater part wished to resist; and more +than once it happened that when the Swedes were driving common people +to work at fortifying Warsaw, these common people chose to endure +flogging, imprisonment, even death itself, rather than aid in +confirming Swedish power.</p> + +<p>Beyond Warsaw the country was as noisy as in a beehive. All the roads, +the towns, and the hamlets were occupied by soldiers, by attendants of +great lords and nobles, and by lords and nobles serving the Swedes. All +was captured, gathered in, subdued; everything was as Swedish as if the +country had been always in their hands.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei met no people save Swedes, adherents of the Swedes, or +people in despair, indifferent, who were convinced to the depth of +their souls that all was lost. No one thought of resistance; commands +were carried out quietly and promptly one half or a tenth part of which +would have been met in times not long past with opposition and protest. +Fear had reached that degree that even those who were injured praised +loudly the kind protector of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>Formerly it happened often enough that a noble received his own civil +and military deputies of exaction with gun in hand, and at the head of +armed servants; now such tributes were imposed as it pleased the Swedes +to impose, and the nobles gave them as obediently as sheep give their +wool to the shearer. It happened more than once that the same tribute +was taken twice. It was vain to use a receipt as defence; it was well +if the executing officer did not moisten it in wine and make the man +who showed it swallow the paper. That was nothing! “Vivat protector!” +cried the noble; and when the officer had departed he ordered his +servant to crawl out on the roof and see if another were not coming. +And well if only all were ended with Swedish contributions; but worse +than the enemy were, in that as in every other land, the traitors. Old +private grievances, old offences were brought up; ditches were filled, +meadows and forests were seized, and for the friend of the Swedes +everything went unpunished. Worst, however, were the dissidents; and +they were not all. Armed bands were formed of unfortunates, +desperadoes, ruffians, and gamblers. Assisted by Swedish marauders, +Germans, and disturbers of all kinds, these bands fell upon peasants +and nobles. The country was filled with fires; the armed hand of the +soldier was heavy on the towns; in the forest the robber attacked. No +one thought of curing the Commonwealth; no one dreamed of rescue, of +casting off the yoke; no one had hope.</p> + +<p>It happened that Swedish and German plunderers near Sohachev besieged +Pan Lushchevski, the starosta of that place, falling upon him at +Strugi, his private estate. He, being of a military turn, defended +himself vigorously, though an old man. Kmita came just then; and since +his patience had on it a sore ready to break at any cause, it broke at +Strugi. He permitted the Kyemliches, therefore, “to pound,” and fell +upon the invaders himself with such vigor that he scattered them, +struck them down; no one escaped, even prisoners were drowned at his +command. The starosta, to whom the aid was as if it had fallen from +heaven, received his deliverer with thanks and honored him at once. Pan +Andrei, seeing before him a personage, a statesman, and besides a man +of old date, confessed his hatred of the Swedes, and inquired of the +starosta what he thought of the future of the Commonwealth, in the hope +that he would pour balsam on his soul.</p> + +<p>But the starosta viewed the past differently, and said: “My gracious +sir, I know not what I should have answered had this question been put +when I had ruddy mustaches and a mind clouded by physical humor; but +to-day I have gray mustaches, and the experience of seventy years on my +shoulders, and I see future things, for I am near the grave; therefore +I say that not only we, even if we should correct our errors, but all +Europe, cannot break the Swedish power.”</p> + +<p>“How can that be? Where did it come from?” cried Kmita. “When was +Sweden such a power? Are there not more of the Polish people on earth, +can we not have a larger army? Has that army yielded at any time to +Sweden in bravery?”</p> + +<p>“There are ten times as many of our people. God has increased our +produce so that in my starostaship of Sohachev more wheat is grown than +in all Sweden; and as to bravery, I was at Kirchholm when three +thousand hussars of us scattered in the dust eighteen thousand of the +best troops of Sweden.”</p> + +<p>“If that is true,” said Kmita, whose eyes flashed at remembrance of +Kirchholm, “what earthly causes are there why we should not put an end +to them now?”</p> + +<p>“First, this,” answered the old man, with a deliberate voice, “that we +have become small and they have grown great; that they have conquered +us with our own hands, as before now they conquered the Germans with +Germans. Such is the will of God; and there is no power, I repeat, that +can oppose them to-day.”</p> + +<p>“But if the nobles should come to their senses and rally around their +ruler,—if all should seize arms, what would you advise to do then, and +what would you do yourself?”</p> + +<p>“I should go with others and fall, and I should advise every man to +fall; but after that would come times on which it is better not to +look.”</p> + +<p>“Worse times cannot come! As true as life, they cannot! It is +impossible!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>“You see,” continued the starosta, “before the end of the world and +before the last judgment Antichrist will come, and it is said that evil +men will get the upper hand of the good. Satans will go through the +world, will preach a faith opposed to the true one, and will turn men +to it. With the permission of God, evil will conquer everywhere until +the moment in which trumpeting angels shall sound for the end of the +world.”</p> + +<p>Here the starosta leaned against the back of the chair on which he was +sitting, closed his eyes, and spoke on in a low, mysterious voice,—</p> + +<p>“It was said, ‘There will be signs.’ There have been signs on the sun +in the form of a hand and a sword. God be merciful to us, sinners! The +evil gain victory over the just, for the Swedes and their adherents are +conquering. The true faith is failing, for behold the Lutheran is +rising. Men! do ye not see that <i>dies iræ, dies illa</i> (the day of +wrath, that day) is approaching? I am seventy years old; I stand on the +brink of the Styx,—I am waiting for the ferryman and the boat,—I +see—”</p> + +<p>Here the starosta became silent, and Kmita looked at him with terror; +for the reasons seemed to him just, the conclusions fitting, therefore +he was frightened at his decisions and reflected deeply. But the +starosta did not look at him; he only looked in front of himself, and +said at last,—</p> + +<p>“And of course the Swedes conquer here when that is the permission of +God, the express will mentioned and spoken of in the Prophecies—Oi, +people, to Chenstohova, to Chenstohova!” And again the starosta was +silent.</p> + +<p>The sun was just setting, and looking only aslant into the room, its +light broke into colors on the glass fitted in lead, and made seven +colored stripes on the floor; the rest of the room was in darkness. It +became more and more awe-inspiring for Kmita; at moments it seemed to +him that if the light were to vanish, that instant the trumpeting angel +would summon to judgment.</p> + +<p>“Of what prophecies is your grace speaking?” asked Kmita, at last; for +the silence seemed to him still more solemn.</p> + +<p>The starosta instead of an answer turned to the door of an adjoining +room, and called,—</p> + +<p>“Olenka! Olenka!”</p> + +<p>“In God’s name!” cried Kmita, “whom are you calling?”</p> + +<p>At that moment he believed everything,—believed that his Olenka by a +miracle was brought from Kyedani and would appear before his eyes. He +forgot everything, fastened his gaze on the door, and waited without +breath in his breast.</p> + +<p>“Olenka! Olenka!”</p> + +<p>The door opened, and there entered not Panna Billevich, but a young +woman, shapely, slender, tall, a little like Olenka, with dignity and +calm spread over her face. She was pale, perhaps ill, and maybe +frightened at the recent attack; she walked with downcast eyes as +lightly and quietly as if some breath were moving her forward.</p> + +<p>“This is my daughter,” said the starosta. “I have no sons at home; they +are with Pan Pototski, and with him near our unfortunate king.”</p> + +<p>Then he turned to his daughter: “Thank first this manful cavalier for +rescuing us, and then read to him the prophecy of Saint Bridget.”</p> + +<p>The maiden bowed down before Pan Andrei, then went out, and after a +while returned with a printed roll in her hand, and standing in that +many-colored light, began to read in a resonant and sweet voice,—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“The prophecy of Saint Bridget, I will declare to you first of the five +kings and their rule: Gustav the son of Erick, the lazy ass, because +neglecting the right worship he went over to the false. Rejecting the +faith of the Apostles, he brought to the kingdom the Augsburg +Confession, putting a stain on his reputation. Look at Ecclesiastes, +where it is stated of Solomon that lie defiled his glory with +idolatry—”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Are you listening?” asked the starosta, pointing toward Kmita with the +index finger of his left hand and holding the others, ready for +counting.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” answered Kmita.</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“Erick, the son of Gustavus, a wolf of unsatiable greed,” read the +lady, “with which he drew on himself the hatred of all men and of his +brother Yan. First, suspecting Yan of intrigues with Denmark and +Poland, he tormented him with war, and taking him with his wife he held +them four years in a dungeon. Yan, at last brought out of imprisonment +and aided by change of fortune, conquered Erick, expelled him from the +kingdom, and put him into prison forevermore. There is an unforeseen +event!”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Consider,” said the old man. “Here is another.”</p> + +<p>The lady read further:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“Yan, the brother of Erick, a lofty eagle, thrice conqueror over Erick, +the Danes, and the Northerners. His son Sigismund, in whom dwells +nobility of blood, chosen to the Polish throne. Praise to his +offshoots!”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Do you understand?” asked the starosta.</p> + +<p>“May God prosper the years of Yan Kazimir!” answered Kmita.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p>“Karl, the prince of Sudermanii, the ram, who as rams lead the flock, +so he led the Swedes to injustice; and he attacked justice.”</p> +</div> + +<p>“That is the fourth!” interrupted the starosta.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p>“The fifth, Gustavus Adolphus,” read the lady, “is the lamb slain, but +not spotless, whose blood was the cause of suffering and misfortune—”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Yes; that is Gustavus Adolphus!” said the starosta. “Of Christiana +there is no mention, for only men are counted. Read now the end, which +refers accurately to the present time.”</p> + +<p>She read as follows:—</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p>“I will show to thee the sixth, who distracts land and sea and brings +trouble on the simple; whose hour of punishment I will place in my own +hand. Though he attained his end quickly, my judgment draws near him; +he will leave the kingdom in suffering and it will be written: They +sowed rebellion and reap suffering and pain. Not only will I visit that +kingdom, but rich cities and powerful; for the hungry are called, who +will devour their sufficiency. Internal evils will not be lacking, and +misfortune will abound. The foolish will rule, and the wise and the old +men will not raise their heads. Honor and truth will fall, till that +man shall come who will implore away my anger and who will not spare +his own soul in love of truth.”</p> +</div> + +<p>“There you have it!” said the starosta.</p> + +<p>“All is verified, so that only a blind man could doubt!” answered +Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Therefore the Swedes cannot be conquered,” said the starosta.</p> + +<p>“Till that man shall come who will not spare his soul for the love of +truth!” exclaimed Kmita. “The prophecy leaves hope! Not judgment, but +salvation awaits us.”</p> + +<p>“Sodom was to be spared if ten just men could be found in it,” said the +starosta; “but that many were not found. In the same manner will not be +found the man who will not spare his soul for love of truth; and the +hour of judgment will strike.”</p> + +<p>“It cannot be but that he will be found,” called out Kmita.</p> + +<p>Before the starosta answered the door opened, and into the room walked +a man no longer young, in armor and with a musket in his hand.</p> + +<p>“Pan Shchebjytski?” said the starosta.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” answered the newly arrived. “I heard that ruffians had besieged +you, and I hastened with my servants to the rescue.”</p> + +<p>“Without the will of God a hair will not fall from the head of a man,” +answered the starosta. “This cavalier has already freed me from +oppression. But whence do you come?”</p> + +<p>“From Sohachev.”</p> + +<p>“Have you heard anything new?”</p> + +<p>“Every news is worse. New misfortune—”</p> + +<p>“What has happened?”</p> + +<p>“The provinces of Cracow, Sandomir, Rus, Lubelsk, Belzk, Volynia, and +Kieff have surrendered to Karl Gustav. The act is already signed by +envoys and by Karl.”</p> + +<p>The starosta shook his head, and turned to Kmita,—</p> + +<p>“See,” said he, “do you still think that the man will be found who will +not spare his soul for the love of truth?”</p> + +<p>Kmita began to tear the hair from his forelock; “Despair! despair!” +repeated he, in distraction.</p> + +<p>And Pan Shchebjytski continued: “They say also that the remnants of the +army, which are with Pototski, the hetman, have already refused +obedience and wish to go to the Swedes. The hetman probably is not sure +of safety or life among them, and must do what they want.”</p> + +<p>“They sow rebellion and reap suffering and pain,” said the starosta. +“Whoso wishes to do penance for his sins, now is his time!”</p> + +<p>Kmita could not hear further either prophecies or news; he wanted to +sit with all speed on his horse and cool his head in the wind. He +sprang up therefore, and began to take farewell of the starosta.</p> + +<p>“But whither so hastily?” asked the latter.</p> + +<p>“To Chenstohova, for I too am a sinner!”</p> + +<p>“Though glad to entertain, I will not delay you, since your work is +more urgent, for the day of judgment is at hand.”</p> + +<p>Kmita went out; and after him went the young lady, wishing instead of +her father to do honor to the guest, for the old man was weak on his +feet.</p> + +<p>“Be in good health, young lady,” said Kmita; “you do not know how +thankful I am to you.”</p> + +<p>“If you are thankful to me,” answered the young lady, “do me one +service. You are going to Chenstohova; here is a ruddy ducat,—take it, +I beg, and give it for a Mass in the chapel.”</p> + +<p>“For whose intention?” asked Kmita.</p> + +<p>The prophetess dropped her eyes, trouble spread over her face; at the +same time a slight flush came to her cheeks, and she said with a low +voice, like the rustle of leaves,—</p> + +<p>“For the intention of Andrei, that God may turn him from sinful ways.”</p> + +<p>Kmita pushed back two steps, stared, and from astonishment could not +speak for a time.</p> + +<p>“By the wounds of Christ!” cried he, at last, “what manner of house is +this? Where am I? The prophecy itself, the soothsaying, and the +indications—Your name is Olenka, and you give me for a Mass for the +intentions of a sinful Andrei. This cannot be chance; it is the finger +of God,—it is, it is. I shall go wild!—As God lives, I shall!”</p> + +<p>“What is the matter?”</p> + +<p>He caught her hands violently and began to shake them. “Prophesy +further, speak to the end! If that Andrei will return and efface his +faults, will Olenka keep faith with him? Speak, answer, for I shall not +go away without that!”</p> + +<p>“What is your trouble?”</p> + +<p>“Will Olenka keep faith with him?” repeated Kmita.</p> + +<p>Tears came suddenly into the eyes of the maiden: “To the last breath, +to the hour of death!” said she, with sobbing.</p> + +<p>She had not finished speaking when Kmita fell his whole length at her +feet. She wanted to flee; he would not let her, and kissing her feet, +he said,—</p> + +<p>“I too am a sinful Andrei, who wants to return. I too have my loved +one, Olenka. May yours return, and may mine keep faith. May your words +be prophetic. You have poured balsam and hope into my suffering +soul,—God reward you, God reward you!”</p> + +<p>Then he sprang up, sat on his horse, and rode away.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<p>The words of the young daughter of the starosta of Sohachev filled +Kmita with great consolation, and for three days they did not leave his +head. In the daytime on horseback, in the night on the bed, he was +thinking of what had happened to him, and he came always to the +conclusion that this could not be simple chance, but an indication from +God, and a presage that if he would hold out, if he would not leave the +good road, that same road which Olenka had shown him, she would keep +faith and give him her former affection.</p> + +<p>“If the starosta’s daughter,” thought Kmita, “keeps faith with her +Andrei, who has not begun to grow better, there is still hope for me, +with my honest intention of serving virtue, the country, and the king.”</p> + +<p>But, on the other hand, suffering was not absent from Pan Andrei. He +had an honest intention, but had it not come too late? Was there yet +any road, were there yet any means? The Commonwealth seemed to sink +deeper each day, and it was difficult to close one’s eyes to the +terrible truth that for it there was no salvation. Kmita wished nothing +more intently than to begin some kind of work, but he saw no willing +people. Every moment new figures, every moment new faces, passed before +him in the time of his journey; but the sight of them, their talk and +discussions, merely took from him the remnant of his hopes.</p> + +<p>Some had gone body and soul to the Swedish camp, seeking in it their +own profit; these people drank and caroused as at a wake, drowning, in +cups and in riot, shame and the honor of nobles; others told, with +blindness beyond understanding, of that power which the Commonwealth +would form in union with Sweden, under the sceptre of the first warrior +on earth; and these were the most dangerous, for they were sincerely +convinced that the whole earth must bow before such an alliance. A +third party, like the starosta of Sohachev, honorable people and +wishing well to the country, sought signs on the earth and in the +heavens, repeated prophecies, and seeing the will of God and unbending +predestination in all things that happened, came to the conclusion that +there was no hope, no salvation; that the end of the world was drawing +nigh; therefore it would be madness to think of earthly instead of +heavenly salvation. Others hid in the forest, or escaped with their +lives beyond the boundaries of the Commonwealth. Kmita met only +unrestrained, corrupted, mad, timid, or desperate people. He met no man +who had hope.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the fortune of the Swedes was increasing. News that the rest +of the army had revolted, were conspiring, threatening the hetmans, and +wishing to go over to the Swedes, gained certainty every day. The +report that Konyetspolski with his division had joined Karl Gustav +reverberated like thunder through every corner of the Commonwealth, and +drove out the remnant of faith from men’s hearts, for Konyetspolski was +a knight of Zbaraj. He was followed by the starosta of Yavor and Prince +Dymitr Vishnyevetski, who was not restrained by a name covered with +immortal glory.</p> + +<p>Men had begun now to doubt Lyubomirski, the marshal. Those who knew him +well asserted that ambition surpassed in him both reason and love of +country; that for the time being he was on the king’s side because he +was flattered, because all eyes were turned to him, because one side +and the other tried to win him, to persuade him, because he was told +that he had the fate of the country in his hands. But in view of +Swedish success he began to hesitate, to delay; and each moment he gave +the unfortunate Yan Kazimir to understand more clearly that he could +save him, or sink him completely.</p> + +<p>The refugee king was living in Glogov with a handful of trusted +persons, who shared his fate. Each day some one deserted him, and went +over to the Swedes. Thus do the weak bend in days of misfortune, even +men to whom the first impulse of the heart points out the thorny path +of honor. Karl Gustav received the deserters with open arms, rewarded +them, covered them with promises, tempted and attracted the remnant of +the faithful, extended more widely his rule; fortune itself pushed from +before his feet every obstacle; he conquered Poland with Polish forces; +he was a victor without a battle.</p> + +<p>Crowds of voevodas, castellans, officials of Poland and Lithuania, +throngs of armed nobles, complete squadrons of incomparable Polish +cavalry, stood in his camp, watching the eyes of their newly made lord +and ready at his beck.</p> + +<p>The last of the armies of the kingdom was calling more and more +emphatically to its hetman: “Go, incline thy gray head before the +majesty of Karl,—go, for we wish to belong to the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“To the Swedes! to the Swedes!”</p> + +<p>And in support of these words thousands of sabres flashed forth.</p> + +<p>At the same time war was flaming continually on the east. The terrible +Hmelnitski was besieging Lvoff again; and legions of his allies, +rolling on past the unconquered walls of Zamost, spread over the whole +province of Lubelsk, reaching even to Lublin.</p> + +<p>Lithuania was in the hands of the Swedes and Hovanski. Radzivill had +begun war in Podlyasye, the elector was loitering, and any moment he +might give the last blow to the expiring Commonwealth; meanwhile he was +growing strong in Royal Prussia.</p> + +<p>Embassies from every side were hastening to the King of Sweden, wishing +him a happy conquest.</p> + +<p>Winter was coming; leaves were falling from the trees; flocks of +ravens, crows, and jackdaws had deserted the forests, and were flying +over the villages and towns of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>Beyond Pyotrkoff Kmita came again upon Swedish parties, who occupied +all the roads and highways. Some of them, after the capture of Cracow, +were marching to Warsaw, for it was said that Karl Gustav, having +received homage from the northern and eastern provinces and signed the +“capitulations,” was only waiting for the submission of those remnants +of the army under Pototski and Lantskoronski; that given, he would go +straightway to Prussia, and therefore he was sending the army ahead. +The road was closed in no place to Pan Andrei, for in general nobles +roused no suspicion. A multitude of armed attendants were going with +the Swedes; others were going to Cracow,—one to bow down before the +new king, another to obtain something from him. No one was asked for a +pass or a letter, especially since in the neighborhood of Karl, who was +counterfeiting kindness, no man dared trouble another.</p> + +<p>The last night before Chenstohova met Pan Andrei in Krushyn; but barely +had he settled down when guests arrived. First a Swedish detachment of +about one hundred horse, under the lead of a number of officers and +some important captain. This captain was a man of middle age, of a form +rather imposing, large, powerful, broad-shouldered, quick-eyed; and +though he wore a foreign dress and looked altogether like a foreigner, +still when he entered the room he spoke to Pan Andrei in purest Polish, +asking who he was and whither he was going.</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei answered at once that he was a noble from Sohachev, for it +might have seemed strange to the officer that a subject of the elector +had come to that remote place. Learning that Pan Andrei was going to +the King of Sweden with complaint that payment of money due him by the +Swedes was refused, the officer said,—</p> + +<p>“Prayer at the high altar is best, and wisely you go to the king; for +though he has a thousand affairs on his head, he refuses hearing to no +one, and he is so kind to Polish nobles that you are envied by the +Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“If only there is money in the treasury?”</p> + +<p>“Karl Gustav is not the same as your recent Yan Kazimir, who was forced +to borrow even of Jews, for whatever he had he gave straightway to him +who first asked for it. But if a certain enterprise succeeds, there +will be no lack of coin in the treasury.”</p> + +<p>“Of what enterprise is your grace speaking?”</p> + +<p>“I know you too little to speak confidentially, but be assured that in +a week or two the treasury of the King of Sweden will be as weighty as +that of the Sultan.”</p> + +<p>“Then some alchemist must make money for him, since there is no place +from which to get it in this country.”</p> + +<p>“In this country? It is enough to stretch forth daring hands. And of +daring there is no lack among us, as is shown by the fact that we are +now rulers here.”</p> + +<p>“True, true,” answered Kmita; “we are very glad of that rule, +especially if you teach us how to get money like chips.”</p> + +<p>“The means are in your power, but you would rather die of hunger than +take one copper.”</p> + +<p>Kmita looked quickly at the officer, and said,—</p> + +<p>“For there are places against which it is terrible, even for Tartars, +to raise hands.”</p> + +<p>“You are too mysterious. Sir Cavalier,” answered the officer, “and +remember that you are going, not to Tartars, but to Swedes for money.”</p> + +<p>Further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a new party of +men, whom the officer was evidently expecting, for he hurried out of +the inn. Kmita followed and stood in the door to see who were coming.</p> + +<p>In front was a closed carriage drawn by four horses, and surrounded by +a party of Swedish horsemen; it stopped before the inn. The officer who +had just been talking to Kmita went up to the carriage quickly, and +opening the door made a low bow to the person sitting inside.</p> + +<p>“He must be some distinguished man,” thought Kmita.</p> + +<p>That moment they brought from the inn a flaming torch. Out of the +carriage stepped an important personage dressed in black, in foreign +fashion, with a cloak to his knees, lined with fox-skin, and a hat with +feathers. The officer seized the torch from the hands of a horseman, +and bowing once more, said,—</p> + +<p>“This way, your excellency!”</p> + +<p>Kmita pushed back as quickly as possible, and they entered after him. +In the room the officer bowed a third time and said,—</p> + +<p>“Your excellency, I am Count Veyhard Vjeshchovich, ordinarius +proviantmagister, of his Royal Grace Karl Gustav, and am sent with an +escort to meet your excellency.”</p> + +<p>“It is pleasant for me to meet such an honorable cavalier,” said the +personage in black, giving bow for bow.</p> + +<p>“Does your excellency wish to stop here some time or to go on at once? +His Royal Grace wishes to see your excellency soon.”</p> + +<p>“I had intended to halt at Chenstohova for prayers,” answered the newly +arrived, “but in Vyelunie I received news that his Royal Grace commands +me to hurry; therefore, after I have rested, we will go on. Meanwhile +dismiss the escort, and thank the captain who led it.”</p> + +<p>The officer went to give the requisite order. Pan Andrei stopped him on +the way.</p> + +<p>“Who is that?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“Baron Lisola, the Imperial Envoy, now on his way from the court of +Brandenburg to our lord,” answered the officer. Then he went out, and +after a while returned.</p> + +<p>“Your excellency’s orders are carried out,” said he to the baron.</p> + +<p>“I thank you,” said Lisola; and with great though very lofty affability +he indicated to Count Veyhard a place opposite himself. “Some kind of +storm is beginning to whistle outside,” said he, “and rain is falling. +It may continue long; meanwhile let us talk before supper. What is to +be heard here? I have been told that the voevodas of Little Poland have +submitted to his Grace of Sweden.”</p> + +<p>“True, your excellency; his Grace is only waiting for the submission of +the rest of the troops, then he will go at once to Warsaw and to +Prussia.”</p> + +<p>“Is it certain that they will surrender?”</p> + +<p>“Deputies from the army are already in Cracow. They have no choice, for +if they do not come to us Hmelnitski will destroy them utterly.”</p> + +<p>Lisola inclined his reasoning head upon his breast. “Terrible, unheard +of things!” said he.</p> + +<p>The conversation was carried on in the German language. Kmita did not +lose a single word of it.</p> + +<p>“Your excellency.” said Count Veyhard, “that has happened which had to +happen.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps so; but it is difficult not to feel compassion for a power +which has fallen before our eyes, and for which a man who is not a +Swede must feel sorrow.”</p> + +<p>“I am not a Swede; but if Poles themselves do not feel sorrow, neither +do I,” answered the count.</p> + +<p>Lisola looked at him seriously. “It is true that your name is not +Swedish. From what people are you, I pray?”</p> + +<p>“I am a Cheh” (Bohemian).</p> + +<p>“Indeed? Then you are a subject of the German emperor? We are under the +same rule.”</p> + +<p>“I am in the service of the Most Serene King of Sweden,” said Veyhard, +with a bow.</p> + +<p>“I wish not to derogate from that service in the least,” answered +Lisola, “but such employments are temporary; being then a subject of +our gracious sovereign, whoever you may be, whomsoever you may serve, +you cannot consider any one else as your natural sovereign.”</p> + +<p>“I do not deny that.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will tell you sincerely, that our lord mourns over this +illustrious Commonwealth, over the fate of its noble monarch, and he +cannot look with a kindly or willing eye on those of his subjects who +are aiding in the final ruin of a friendly power. What have the Poles +done to you, that you show them such ill will?”</p> + +<p>“Your excellency, I might answer many things, but I fear to abuse your +patience.”</p> + +<p>“You seem to me not only a famous soldier, but a wise man. My office +obliges me to observe, to listen, to seek causes; speak then, even in +the most minute way, and fear not to annoy my patience. If you incline +at any time to the service of the emperor, which I wish most strongly, +you will find in me a friend who will explain and repeat your reasons, +should any man wish to consider your present service as wrong.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will tell you all that I have on my mind. Like many nobles, +younger sons, I had to seek my fortune outside my native land. I came +to this country where the people are related to my own, and take +foreigners into service readily.”</p> + +<p>“Were you badly received?”</p> + +<p>“Salt mines were given to my management. I found means of livelihood, of +approach to the people and the king himself; I serve the Swedes at +present, but should any one wish to consider me unthankful, I could +contradict him directly.”</p> + +<p>“How?”</p> + +<p>“Can more be asked of me than of the Poles themselves? Where are the +Poles to-day? Where are the senators of this kingdom, the princes, the +magnates, the nobles, if not in the Swedish camp? And still they should +be the first to know what they ought to do, where the salvation of +their country is, and where its destruction. I follow their example; +who of them then has the right to call me unthankful? Why should I, a +foreigner, be more faithful to the King of Poland and the Commonwealth +than they themselves are? Why should I despise that service for which +they themselves are begging?”</p> + +<p>Lisola made no answer. He rested his head on his hand and fell into +thought. It would seem that he was listening to the whistle of the wind +and the sound of the autumn rain, which had begun to strike the windows +of the inn.</p> + +<p>“Speak on,” said he, at last; “in truth you tell me strange things.”</p> + +<p>“I seek fortune where I can find it,” continued Count Veyhard; “and +because this people are perishing, I do not need to care for them more +than they do for themselves, besides, even if I were to care, it would +avail nothing, for they must perish.”</p> + +<p>“But why is that?”</p> + +<p>“First, because they wish it themselves; second, because they deserve +it. Your excellency, is there another country in the world where so +many disorders and such violence may be seen? What manner of government +is there here? The king does not rule, because they will not let him; +the diets do not rule, because the members break them; there is no +army, because the Poles will not pay taxes; there is no obedience, for +obedience is opposed to freedom; there is no justice, for there is no +one to execute decisions, and each strong man tramples on decisions; +there is no loyalty in this people, for all have deserted their king; +there is no love for the country, for they have given it to the Swede, +for the promise that he will not prevent them from living in old +fashion according to their ancient violence. Where could anything +similar be found? What people in the world would aid an enemy in +conquering their own country? Who would desert a king, not for his +tyranny, not for his evil deeds, but because a stronger one came? Where +is there a people who love private profits more, or trample more on +public affairs? What have they, your excellency? Let any one mention to +me even one virtue,—prudence, reason, cleverness, endurance, +abstinence. What have they? Good cavalry? that and nothing more. But +the Numidians were famous for cavalry, and the Gauls, as may be read in +Roman history, had celebrated soldiers; but where are they? They have +perished as they were bound to perish. Whoso wishes to save the Poles +is merely losing time, for they will not save themselves. Only the mad, +the violent, the malicious, and the venal inhabit this land.”</p> + +<p>Count Veyhard pronounced the last words with a genuine outburst of +hatred marvellous in a foreigner who had found bread among that people; +but Lisola was not astonished. A veteran diplomat, he knew the world +and men. He knew that whoso does not know how to pay his benefactor +with his heart, seeks in him faults, so as to shield with them his own +unthankfulness. Besides, it may be that he recognized that Count +Veyhard was right. He did not protest, but asked quickly, “Are you a +Catholic?”</p> + +<p>The count was confused. “Yes, your excellency,” answered he.</p> + +<p>“I have heard in Vyelunie that there are persons who persuade the king, +Karl Gustav, to occupy the monastery of Yasna Gora.<a name="div2Ref_30" href="#div2_30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> Is it true?”</p> + +<p>“Your excellency, the monastery lies near the Silesian boundary, and +Yan Kazimir can easily receive messages therefrom. We must occupy it to +prevent that. I was the first to direct attention to this matter, and +therefore his Royal Grace has confided these functions to me.”</p> + +<p>Here Count Veyhard stopped suddenly, remembered Kmita, sitting in the +other corner of the room, and coming up to him, asked,—</p> + +<p>“Do you understand German?”</p> + +<p>“Not a word, even if a man were to pull my teeth,” answered Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>“That is too bad, for we wished to ask you to join our conversation.” +Then he turned to Lisola.</p> + +<p>“There is a strange noble here, but he does not understand German; we +can speak freely.”</p> + +<p>“I have no secret to tell,” said Lisola; “but as I am a Catholic too, I +should not like to see such injustice done to a sacred place. And +because I am certain that the most serene emperor has the same feeling, +I shall beg his Grace the King of Sweden to spare the monks. And do not +hurry with the occupation until there is a new decision.”</p> + +<p>“I have express, though secret, instructions; but I shall not withhold +them from your excellency, for I wish to serve faithfully my lord the +emperor. I can assure your excellency that no profanation will come to +the sacred place. I am a Catholic.”</p> + +<p>Lisola laughed, and wishing to extort the truth from a man less +experienced than himself, asked jokingly,—</p> + +<p>“But you will shake up their treasury for the monks? It will not pass +without that, will it?”</p> + +<p>“That may happen,” answered Count Veyhard. “The Most Holy Lady will not +ask for thalers from the priors’ caskets. When all others pay, let the +monks pay too.”</p> + +<p>“But if the monks defend themselves?”</p> + +<p>The count laughed. “In this country no man will defend himself, and +to-day no man is able. There was a time for defence,—now it is too +late.”</p> + +<p>“Too late,” repeated Lisola.</p> + +<p>The conversation ended there. After supper they went away. Kmita +remained alone. This was for him the bitterest night that he had spent +since leaving Kyedani. While listening to the words of Count Veyhard, +Kmita had to restrain himself with all his power to keep from shouting +at him, “Thou liest, thou cur!” and from falling on him with his sabre. +But if he did not do so, it was unhappily because he felt and +recognized truth in the words of the foreigner,—awful truth burning +like fire, but genuine.</p> + +<p>“What could I say to him?” thought he; “with what could I offer denial +except with my fist? What reasons could I bring? He snarled out the +truth. Would to God he were slain! And that statesman of the emperor +acknowledged to him that in all things and for all defence it was too +late.”</p> + +<p>Kmita suffered in great part perhaps because that “too late” was the +sentence not only of the country, but of his own personal happiness. +And he had had his fill of suffering; there was no strength left in +him, for during all those weeks he had heard nothing save, “All is +lost, there is no time left, it is too late.” No ray of hope anywhere +fell into his soul.</p> + +<p>Ever riding farther, he had hastened greatly, night and day, to escape +from those prophecies, to find at last some place of rest, some man who +would pour into his spirit even one drop of consolation. But he found +every moment greater fall, every moment greater despair. At last the +words of Count Veyhard filled that cup of bitterness and gall; they +showed to him clearly this, which hitherto was an undefined feeling, +that not so much the Swedes, the Northerners, and the Cossacks had +killed the country, as the whole people.</p> + +<p>“The mad, the violent, the malicious, the venal, inhabit this land,” +repeated Kmita after Count Veyhard, “and there are no others! They obey +not the king, they break the diets, they pay not the taxes, they help +the enemy to the conquest of this land. They must perish.</p> + +<p>“In God’s name, if I could only give him the lie! Is there nothing good +in us save cavalry; no virtue, nothing but evil itself?”</p> + +<p>Kmita sought an answer in his soul. He was so wearied from the road, +from sorrows, and from everything that had passed before him, that it +grew cloudy in his head. He felt that he was ill and a deathly sickness +seized possession of him. In his brain an ever-growing chaos was +working. Faces known and unknown pushed past him,—those whom he had +known long before and those whom he had met on this journey. Those +figures spoke, as if at a diet, they quoted sentences, prophecies; and +all was concerning Olenka. She was awaiting deliverance from Kmita; but +Count Veyhard held him by the arms, and looking into his eyes repeated: +“Too late! what is Swedish is Swedish!” and Boguslav Radzivill sneered +and supported Count Veyhard. Then all of them began to scream: “Too +late, too late, too late!” and seizing Olenka they vanished with her +somewhere in darkness.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Pan Andrei that Olenka and the country were the same, that +he had ruined both and had given them to the Swedes of his own will. +Then such measureless sorrow grasped hold of him that he woke, looked +around in amazement and listening to the wind which in the chimney, in +the walls, in the roof, whistled in various voices and played through +each cranny, as if on an organ.</p> + +<p>But the visions returned, Olenka and the country were blended again in +his thoughts in one person whom Count Veyhard was conducting away +saying: “Too late, too late!”</p> + +<p>So Pan Andrei spent the night in a fever. In moments of consciousness +he thought that it would come to him to be seriously ill, and at last +he wanted to call Soroka to bleed him. But just then dawn began; Kmita +sprang up and went out in front of the inn.</p> + +<p>The first dawn had barely begun to dissipate the darkness; the day +promised to be mild; the clouds were breaking into long stripes and +streaks on the west, but the east was pure; on the heavens, which were +growing pale gradually, stars, unobscured by mist, were twinkling. +Kmita roused his men, arrayed himself in holiday dress, for Sunday had +come and they moved to the road.</p> + +<p>After a bad sleepless night, Kmita was wearied in body and spirit. +Neither could that autumn morning, pale but refreshing, frosty and +clear, scatter the sorrow crushing the heart of the knight. Hope in him +had burned to the last spark, and was dying like a lamp in which the +oil is exhausted. What would that day bring? Nothing!—the same grief, +the same suffering, rather it will add to the weight on his soul; of a +surety it will not decrease it.</p> + +<p>He rode forward in silence, fixing his eyes on some point which was +then greatly gleaming upon the horizon. The horses were snorting; the +men fell to singing with drowsy voices their matins.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile it became clearer each moment, the heavens from pale became +green and golden and that point on the horizon began so to shine that +Kmita’s eyes were dazzled by its glitter. The men ceased their singing +and all gazed in that direction, at last Soroka said,—</p> + +<p>“A miracle or what?—That is the west, and it is as if the sun were +rising.”</p> + +<p>In fact, that light, increased in the eyes: from a point it became a +ball, from a ball a globe; from afar you would have said that some one +had hung above the earth a giant star, which was scattering rays +immeasurable.</p> + +<p>Kmita and his men looked with amazement on that bright, trembling, +radiant vision, not knowing what was before their sight. Then a peasant +came along from Krushyn in a wagon with a rack. Kmita turning to him +saw that the peasant, holding his cap in his hand and looking at the +light, was praying.</p> + +<p>“Man,” asked Pan Andrei, “what is that which shines so?”</p> + +<p>“The church on Yasna Gora.”</p> + +<p>“Glory to the Most Holy Lady!” cried Kmita. He took his cap from his +head, and his men removed theirs.</p> + +<p>After so many days of suffering, of doubts, and of struggles, Pan +Andrei felt suddenly that something wonderful was happening in him, +Barely had the words, “the church on Yasna Gora,” sounded in his ears +when the confusion fell from him as if some hand had removed it.</p> + +<p>A certain inexplicable awe seized hold of Pan Andrei, full of +reverence, but at the same time a joy unknown to experience, great and +blissful. From that church shining on the height in the first rays of +the sun, hope, such as for a long time Pan Andrei had not known, was +beating,—a strength invincible on which he wished to lean. A new life, +as it were, entered him and began to course through his veins with the +blood. He breathed as deeply as a sick man coming to himself out of +fever and unconsciousness.</p> + +<p>But the church glittered more and more brightly, as if it were taking +to itself all the light of the sun. The whole region lay at its feet, +and the church gazed at it from the height; you would have said, “’Tis +the sentry and guardian of the land.”</p> + +<p>For a long time Kmita could not take his eyes from that light; he +satisfied and comforted himself with the sight of it. The faces of his +men had grown serious, and were penetrated with awe. Then the sound of +a bell was heard in the silent morning air.</p> + +<p>“From your horses!” cried Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>All sprang from their saddles, and kneeling on the road began the +litany. Kmita repeated it, and the soldiers responded together.</p> + +<p>Other wagons came up. Peasants seeing the praying men on the road +joined them, and the crowd grew greater continually. When at length the +prayers were finished Pan Andrei rose, and after him his men; but they +advanced on foot, leading their horses and singing: “Hail, ye bright +gates!”</p> + +<p>Kmita went on with alertness as if he had wings on his shoulders. At +the turns of the road the church vanished, then came out again. When a +height or a mist concealed it, it seemed to Kmita that light had been +captured by darkness; but when it gleamed forth again all faces were +radiant.</p> + +<p>So they went on for a long time. The cloister and the walls surrounding +it came out more distinctly, became more imposing, more immense. At +last they saw the town in the distance, and under the mountain whole +lines of houses and cottages, which, compared with the size of the +church, seemed as small as birds’ nests.</p> + +<p>It was Sunday; therefore when the sun had risen well the road was +swarming with wagons, and people on foot going to church. From the +lofty towers the bells great and small began to peal, filling the air +with noble sounds. There was in that sight and in those metal voices a +strength, a majesty immeasurable, and at the same time a calm. That bit +of land at the foot of Yasna Gora resembled in no wise the rest of the +country.</p> + +<p>Throngs of people stood black around the walls of the church. Under the +hill were hundreds of wagons, carriages, and equipages; the talk of men +was blended with the neighing of horses tied to posts. Farther on, at +the right, along the chief road leading to the mountain, were to be +seen whole rows of stands, at which were sold metal offerings, wax +candles, pictures, and scapulars. A river of people flowed everywhere +freely.</p> + +<p>The gates were wide open; whoso wished entered, whoso wished went +forth; on the walls, at the guns, were no soldiers. Evidently the very +sacredness of the place guarded the church and the cloister, and +perhaps men trusted in the letters of Karl Gustav in which he +guaranteed safety.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<p>From the gates of the fortress peasants and nobles, villagers from +various neighborhoods, people of every age, of both sexes, of all +ranks, pressed forward to the church on their knees, singing prayerful +hymns. That river flowed slowly, and its course was stopped whenever +the bodies of people crowded against one another too densely. At times +the songs ceased and the crowds began to repeat a litany, and then the +thunder of words was heard from one end of the place to the other. +Between hymn and litany, between litany and hymn, the people were +silent, struck the ground with their foreheads, or cast themselves down +in the form of a cross. At these moments were heard only the imploring +and shrill voices of beggars, who sitting at both banks of the human +river exposed their deformed limbs to public gaze. Their howling was +mingled with the clinking of coppers thrown into tin and wooden dishes. +Then again the river of heads flowed onward, and again the hymns +thundered.</p> + +<p>As the river flowed nearer to the church door, excitement grew greater, +and was turned into ecstasy. You could see hands stretched toward +heaven, eyes turned upward, faces pale from emotion or glowing with +prayer. Differences of rank disappeared: the coat of the peasant +touched the robe of the noble, the jacket of the soldier the yellow +coat of the artisan.</p> + +<p>In the church door the crush was still greater. The bodies of men had +become not a river, but a bridge, so firm that you might travel on +their heads and their shoulders without touching the ground with a +foot. Breath failed their breasts, space failed their bodies; but the +spirit which inspired gave them iron endurance. Each man was praying; +no one thought of aught else. Each one bore on himself the pressure and +weight of the whole of that mass, but no man fell; and pressed by those +thousands he felt in himself power against thousands, and with that +power he pushed forward, lost in prayer, in ecstasy, in exaltation.</p> + +<p>Kmita, creeping forward in the first ranks with his men, reached the +church with the earliest; then the current carried him too to the +chapel of miracles, where the multitude fell on their faces, weeping, +embracing the floor with their hands, and kissing it with emotion. So +also did Pan Andrei; and when at last he had the boldness to raise his +head, delight, happiness, and at the same time mortal awe, almost took +from him consciousness.</p> + +<p>In the chapel there was a ruddy gloom not entirely dispersed by the +rays of candles burning on the altar. Colored rays fell also through +the window-panes; and all those gleams, red, violet, golden, fiery, +quivered on the walls, slipped along the carvings and windings, made +their way into dark depths bringing forth to sight indistinct forms +buried as it were in a dream. Mysterious glimmers ran along and united +with darkness, so undistinguishable that all difference between light +and darkness was lost. The candles on the altar had golden halos; the +smoke from the censers formed purple mist; the white robes of the monks +serving Mass played with the darkened colors of the rainbow. All things +there were half visible, half veiled, unearthly; the gleams were +unearthly, the darkness unearthly, mysterious, majestic, blessed, +filled with prayer, adoration, and holiness.</p> + +<p>From the main nave of the church came the deep sound of human voices, +like the mighty sound of the sea; but in the chapel deep silence +reigned, broken only by the voice of the priest chanting Mass.</p> + +<p>The image was still covered; expectation therefore held the breath in +all breasts. There were only to be seen, looking in one direction, +faces as motionless as if they had parted with earthly life, hands palm +to palm and placed before mouths, like the hands of angels in pictures.</p> + +<p>The organ accompanied the singing of the priest, and gave out tones +mild and sweet, flowing as it were from flutes beyond the earth. At +moments they seemed to distil like water from its source; then again +they fell softly but quickly like dense rain showers in May.</p> + +<p>All at once the thunder of trumpets and drums roared, and a quiver +passed through all hearts. The covering before the picture was pushed +apart from the centre to the sides, and a flood of diamond light +flashed from above on the faithful.</p> + +<p>Groans, weeping, and cries were heard throughout the chapel.</p> + +<p>“<i>Salve, Regina!</i>” (Hail, O Queen!) cried the nobles, “<i>Monstra te esse +matrem!</i>” (Show thyself a mother); but the peasants cried, “O Most Holy +Lady! Golden Lady! Queen of the Angels! save us, assist us, console us, +pity us!”</p> + +<p>Long did those cries sound, together with sobs of women and complaints +of the hapless, with prayers for a miracle on the sick or the maimed.</p> + +<p>The soul lacked little of leaving Kmita; he felt only that he had +before him infinity, which he could not grasp, could not comprehend, +and before which all things were effaced. What were doubts in presence +of that faith which all existence could not exhaust? what was +misfortune in presence of that solace? what was the power of the Swedes +in presence of that defence? what was the malice of men before the eyes +of such protection?</p> + +<p>Here his thoughts became settled, and turned into faculties; he forgot +himself, ceased to distinguish who he was, where he was. It seemed to +him that he had died, that his soul was now flying with the voices of +organs, mingled in the smoke of the censers; his hands, used to the +sword and to bloodshed, were stretched upward, and he was kneeling in +ecstasy, in rapture.</p> + +<p>The Mass ended. Pan Andrei knew not himself how he reached again the +main nave of the church. The priest gave instruction from the pulpit; +but Kmita for a long time heard not, understood not, like a man roused +from sleep, who does not at once note where his sleeping ended and his +waking moments began.</p> + +<p>The first words which he heard were: “In this place hearts change and +souls are corrected, for neither can the Swedes overcome this power, +nor those wandering in darkness overcome the true light!”</p> + +<p>“Amen!” said Kmita in his soul, and he began to strike his breast; for +it seemed to him then that he had sinned deeply through thinking that +all was lost, and that from no source was there hope.</p> + +<p>After the sermon Kmita stopped the first monk he met, and told him that +he wished to see the prior on business of the church and the cloister.</p> + +<p>He got hearing at once from the prior, who was a man in ripe age, +inclining then toward its evening. He had a face of unequalled calm. A +thick black beard added to the dignity of his face; he had mild azure +eyes with a penetrating look. In his white habit he seemed simply a +saint Kmita kissed his sleeve; he pressed Kmita’s head, and inquired +who he was and whence he had come.</p> + +<p>“I have come from Jmud,” answered Kmita, “to serve the Most Holy Lady, +the suffering country, and my deserted king, against all of whom I have +hitherto sinned, and in sacred confession I beg to make a minute +explanation. I ask that to-day or to-morrow my confession be heard, +since sorrow for my sins draws me to this. I will tell you also, +revered father, my real name,—under the seal of confession, not +otherwise, for men ill inclined to me prevent and bar me from reform. +Before men I wish to be called Babinich, from one of my estates, taken +now by the enemy. Meanwhile I bring important information to which do +you, revered father, give ear with patience, for it is a question of +this sacred retreat and this cloister.”</p> + +<p>“I praise your intentions and the change of life which you have +undertaken,” said the prior, Father Kordetski; “as to confession, I +will yield to your urgent wish and hear it now.”</p> + +<p>“I have travelled long,” added Kmita, “I have seen much and I have +suffered not a little. Everywhere the enemy has grown strong, every +where heretics are raising their heads, nay, even Catholics themselves +are going over to the camp of the enemy; who, emboldened by this, as +well as by the capture of two capitals, intend to raise now +sacrilegious hands against Yasna Gora.”</p> + +<p>“From whom have you this news?” asked the prior.</p> + +<p>“I spent last night at Krushyn, where I saw Count Veyhard Vjeshchovich +and Baron Lisola, envoy of the Emperor of Germany, who was returning +from the Brandenburg court, and is going to the King of Sweden.”</p> + +<p>“The King of Sweden is no longer in Cracow,” said the prior, looking +searchingly into the eyes of Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>But Pan Andrei did not drop his lids and talked on,—</p> + +<p>“I do not know whether he is there or not. I know that Lisola is going +to him, and Count Veyhard was sent to relieve the escort and conduct +him farther. Both talked before me in German, taking no thought of my +presence; for they did not suppose that I understood their speech. I +knowing German, was able to learn that Count Veyhard has proposed the +occupation of this cloister and the taking of its treasure, for which +he has received permission from the king.”</p> + +<p>“And you have heard this with your own ears?”</p> + +<p>“Just as I am standing here.”</p> + +<p>“The will of God be done!” said the priest, calmly.</p> + +<p>Kmita was alarmed. He thought that the priest called the command of the +King of Sweden the will of God and was not thinking of resistance; +therefore he said,—</p> + +<p>“I saw in Pultusk a church in Swedish hands, the soldiers were playing +cards in the sanctuary of God, kegs of beer were on the altars, and +shameless women were there with the soldiers.”</p> + +<p>The prior looked steadily, directly in the eyes of the soldier. “A +wonderful thing!” said he; “sincerity and truth are looking out of your +eyes.”</p> + +<p>Kmita flushed. “May I fall a corpse here if what I say is not true.”</p> + +<p>“In every case these tidings over which we must deliberate are +important.”</p> + +<p>“You will permit me to ask the older fathers and some of the more +important nobles who are now dwelling with us. You will permit,—”</p> + +<p>“I will repeat gladly the same thing before them.”</p> + +<p>Father Kordetski went out, and in quarter of an hour returned with four +older fathers. Soon after Pan Rujyts-Zamoyski, the sword-bearer of +Syeradz, entered,—a dignified man; Pan Okyelnitski, banneret of +Vyelunie; Pan Pyotr Charnyetski, a young cavalier with a fierce +war-like face, like an oak in stature and strength; and other nobles of +various ages. The prior presented to them Pan Babinich from Jmud, and +repeated in the presence of all the tidings which he had brought. They +wondered greatly and began to measure Pan Andrei with their eyes +inquiringly and incredulously, and when no one raised his voice the +prior said,—</p> + +<p>“May God preserve me from attributing to this cavalier evil intention +or calumny; but the tidings which he brings seem to me so unlikely that +I thought it proper for us to ask about them in company. With the +sincerest intention this cavalier may be mistaken; he may have heard +incorrectly, understood incorrectly, or have been led into error +through heretics. To fill our hearts with fear, to cause panic in a +holy place, to harm piety, is for them an immense delight, which surely +no one of them in his wickedness would like to deny himself.”</p> + +<p>“That seems to me very much like truth,” said Father Nyeshkovski, the +oldest in the assembly.</p> + +<p>“It would be needful to know in advance if this cavalier is not a +heretic himself?” said Pyotr Charnyetski.</p> + +<p>“I am a Catholic, as you are!” answered Kmita.</p> + +<p>“It behooves us to consider first the circumstances,” put in Zamoyski.</p> + +<p>“The circumstances are such,” said the prior, Kordetski, “that surely +God and His Most Holy Mother have sent blindness of purpose on these +enemies, so that they might exceed the measure in their iniquities; +otherwise they never would have dared to raise the sword against this +sacred retreat. Not with their own power have they conquered this +Commonwealth, whose own sons have helped them. But though our people +have fallen low, though they are wading in sin, still in sin itself +there is a certain limit which they would not dare to pass. They have +deserted their king, they have fallen away from the Commonwealth; but +they have not ceased to revere their Mother, their Patroness and Queen. +The enemy jeer at us and ask with contempt what has remained to us of +our ancient virtues. I answer they have all perished; still something +remains, for faith in the Most Holy Lady and reverence for Her have +remained to them, and on this foundation the rest may be built. I see +clearly that, let one Swedish ball make a dint in these sacred walls, +the most callous men will turn from the conqueror,—from being friends +will become enemies of the Swedes and draw swords against them. But the +Swedes have their eyes open to their own danger, and understand this +well. Therefore, if God, as I have said, has not sent upon them +blindness intentionally, they will never dare to strike Yasna Gora; for +that day would be the day of their change of fortune and of our +revival.”</p> + +<p>Kmita heard the words of the prior with astonishment, words which were +at the same time an answer to what had come from the mouth of Count +Veyhard against the Polish people. But recovering from astonishment, he +said,—</p> + +<p>“Why should we not believe, revered father, that God has in fact +visited the enemy with blindness? Let us look at their pride, their +greed of earthly goods, let us consider their unendurable oppression +and the tribute which they levy even on the clergy, and we may +understand with ease that they will not hesitate at sacrilege of any +kind.”</p> + +<p>The prior did not answer Kmita directly, but turning to the whole +assembly, continued,—</p> + +<p>“This cavalier says that he saw Lisola, the envoy, going to the King of +Sweden. How can that be since I have undoubted news from the Paulists +in Cracow that the king is not in Cracow, nor in Little Poland, since +he went to Warsaw immediately after the surrender of Cracow.”</p> + +<p>“He cannot have gone to Warsaw,” answered Kmita, “and the best proof is +that he is waiting for the surrender and homage of the quarter +soldiers, who are with Pototski.”</p> + +<p>“General Douglas is to receive homage in the name of the king, so they +write me from Cracow.”</p> + +<p>Kmita was silent; he knew not what to answer.</p> + +<p>“But I will suppose,” continued the prior, “that the King of Sweden +does not wish to see the envoy of the emperor and has chosen purposely +to avoid him. Carolus likes to act thus,—to come on a sudden, to go on +a sudden; besides the mediation of the emperor displeases him. I +believe then readily that he went away pretending not to know of the +coming of the envoy. I am less astonished that Count Veyhard, a person +of such note, was sent out to meet Lisola with an escort, for it may be +they wished to show politeness and sugar over the disappointment for +the envoy; but how are we to believe that Count Veyhard would inform +Baron Lisola at once of his plans.”</p> + +<p>“Unlikely!” said Father Nyeshkovski, “since the baron is a Catholic and +friendly both to us and the Commonwealth.”</p> + +<p>“In my head too that does not find place,” added Zamoyski.</p> + +<p>“Count Veyhard is a Catholic himself and a well-wisher of ours,” said +another father.</p> + +<p>“Does this cavalier say that he has heard this with his own ears?” +asked Charnyetski, abruptly.</p> + +<p>“Think, gentlemen, over this too,” added the prior, “I have a safeguard +from Carolus Gustavus that the cloister and the church are to be free +forever from occupation and quartering.”</p> + +<p>“It must be confessed,” said Zamoyski, with seriousness, “that in these +tidings no one thing holds to another. It would be a loss for the +Swedes, not a gain, to strike Yasna Gora; the king is not present, +therefore Lisola could not go to him; Count Veyhard would not make a +confidant of him; farther, Count Veyhard is not a heretic, but a +Catholic,—not an enemy of the cloister, but its benefactor; finally, +though Satan tempted him to make the attack, he would not dare to make +it against the order and safeguard of the king.” Here he turned to +Kmita,—</p> + +<p>“What then will you say, Cavalier, and why, with what purpose, do you +wish to alarm the reverend fathers and us in this place?”</p> + +<p>Kmita was as a criminal before a court. On one hand, despair seized +him, because if they would not believe, the cloister would become the +prey of the enemy; on the other, shame burned him, for he saw that all +appearances argued against his information, and that he might easily be +accounted a calumniator. At thought of this, anger tore him, his +innate impulsiveness was roused, his offended ambition was active; the +old-time half-wild Kmita was awakened. But he struggled until he +conquered himself, summoned all his endurance, and repeated in his +soul: “For my sins, for my sins!” and said, with a changing face,—</p> + +<p>“What I have heard, I repeat once more: Count Veyhard is going to +attack this cloister. The time I know not, but I think it will be +soon,—I give warning and on you will fall the responsibility if you do +not listen.”</p> + +<p>“Calmly, Cavalier, calmly,” answered Pyotr Charnyetski, with emphasis. +“Do not raise your voice.” Then he spoke to the assembly,—“Permit me, +worthy fathers, to put a few questions to the newly arrived.”</p> + +<p>“You have no right to offend me,” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>“I have not even the wish to do so,” answered Pan Pyotr, coldly; “but +it is a question here of the cloister and the Holy Lady and Her +capital. Therefore you must set aside offence; or if you do not set it +aside, do so at least for the time, for be assured that I will meet you +anywhere. You bring news which we want to verify—that is proper and +should not cause wonder; but if you do not wish to answer, we shall +think that you are afraid of self-contradiction.”</p> + +<p>“Well, put your questions!” said Babinich, through his teeth.</p> + +<p>“You say that you are from Jmud?”</p> + +<p>“True.”</p> + +<p>“And you have come here so as not to serve the Swedes and Radzivill the +traitor?”</p> + +<p>“True.”</p> + +<p>“But there are persons there who do not serve him, and oppose him on +the side of the country; there are squadrons which have refused him +obedience; Sapyeha is there. Why did you not join them?”</p> + +<p>“That is my affair.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, ha! your affair,” said Charnyetski. “You may give me that answer +to other questions.”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei’s hands quivered, he fixed his eyes on the heavy brass bell +standing before him on the table, and from that bell they were turned +to the head of the questioner. A wild desire seized him to grasp that +bell and bring it down on the skull of Charnyetski. The old Kmita was +gaining the upper hand over the pious and penitent Babinich; but he +broke himself once more and said,—</p> + +<p>“Inquire.”</p> + +<p>“If you are from Jmud, then you must know what is happening at the +court of the traitor. Name to me those who have aided in the ruin of +the country, name to me those colonels who remain with him.”</p> + +<p>Kmita grew pale as a handkerchief, but still mentioned some names. +Charnyetski listened and said, “I have a friend, an attendant of the +king, Pan Tyzenhauz, who told me of one, the most noted. Do you know +nothing of this arch criminal?”</p> + +<p>“I do not know.”</p> + +<p>“How is this? Have you not heard of him who spilled his brother’s +blood, like Cain? Have you not heard, being from Jmud, of Kmita?”</p> + +<p>“Revered fathers!” screamed Pan Andrei, on a sudden, shaking as in a +fever, “let a clerical person question me, I will tell all. But by the +living God do not let this noble torment me longer!”</p> + +<p>“Give him peace,” said the prior, turning to Pan Pyotr. “It is not a +question here of this cavalier.”</p> + +<p>“Only one more question,” said Zamoyski; and turning to Babinich, he +asked,—“You did not expect that we would doubt your truth?”</p> + +<p>“As God is in heaven I did not!”</p> + +<p>“What reward did you expect?”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei, instead of giving an answer, plunged both hands into a +small leather sack which hung at his waist from a belt, and taking out +two handfuls of pearls, emeralds, turquoises, and other precious +stones, scattered them on the table. “There!” said he, with a broken +voice, “I have not come here for money! Not for your rewards! These are +pearls and other small stones; all taken from the caps of boyars. You +see what I am. Do I want a reward? I wish to offer these to the Most +Holy Lady; but only after confession, with a clean heart. Here they +are—That’s the reward which I ask. I have more, God grant you—”</p> + +<p>All were silent in astonishment, and the sight of jewels thrown out as +easily as grits from a sack made no small impression; for involuntarily +every one asked himself what reason could that man have, if he had no +thought of rewards?</p> + +<p>Pan Pyotr was confused; for such is the nature of man that the sight of +another’s power and wealth dazzles him. Finally his suspicions fell +away, for how could it be supposed that that great lord, scattering +jewels, wanted to frighten monks for profit.</p> + +<p>Those present looked at one another and Kmita stood over his jewels +with head upraised like the head of a roused eagle, with fire in his +eyes and a flush on his face. The fresh wound passing through his cheek +and his temple was blue; and terrible was Pan Babinich threatening with +his predatory glance Charnyetski, on whom his anger was specially +turned.</p> + +<p>“Through your anger truth itself bursts forth,” said Kordetski; “but +put away those jewels, for the Most Holy Lady cannot receive that which +is offered in anger, even though the anger be just; besides, as I have +said, it is not a question here of you, but of the news which has +filled us with terror and fear. God knows whether there is not some +misunderstanding or mistake in it, for, as you see yourself, what you +say does not fit with reality. How are we to drive out the faithful, +diminish the honor of the Most Holy Lady, and keep the gates shut night +and day?”</p> + +<p>“Keep the gates shut, for God’s mercy, keep the gates shut!” cried Pan +Andrei, wringing his hands till his fingers cracked in their joints.</p> + +<p>There was so much truth and unfeigned despair in his voice that those +present trembled in spite of themselves, as if danger was really there +at hand, and Zamoyski said,—</p> + +<p>“As it is, we give careful attention to the environs, and repairs are +going on in the walls. In the day-time we can admit people for worship; +but it is well to observe caution even for this reason, that the king +has gone, and Wittemberg rules in Cracow with iron hand, and oppresses +the clergy no less than the laity.”</p> + +<p>“Though I do not believe in an attack, I have nothing to say against +caution,” answered Charnyetski.</p> + +<p>“And I,” said the prior, “will send monks to Count Veyhard to enquire +if the safeguard of the king has validity.”</p> + +<p>Kmita breathed freely and cried,—</p> + +<p>“Praise be to God, praise be to God!”</p> + +<p>“Cavalier,” said the prior, “God reward you for the good intention. If +you have warned us with reason, you will have a memorable merit before +the Holy Lady and the country; but wonder not if we have received your +information with incredulity; more than once have we been alarmed. Some +frightened us out of hatred to our faith, to destroy the honor shown +the Most Holy Lady; others, out of greed, so as to gain something; +still others, so as to bring news and gain consideration in the eyes of +people; and maybe there were even those who were deceived. Satan hates +this place most stubbornly, and uses every endeavor to hinder piety +here and to permit the faithful to take as little part in it as +possible, for nothing brings the court of hell to such despair as +reverence for Her who crushed the head of the serpent. But now it is +time for vespers. Let us implore Her love, let us confide ourselves to +her guardianship, and let each man go to sleep quietly; for where +should there be peace and safety, if not under Her wings?”</p> + +<p>All separated. When vespers were finished Father Kordetski himself +heard the confession of Pan Andrei, and listened to him long in the +empty church; after that, Pan Andrei lay in the form of a cross before +the closed doors of the chapel till midnight. At midnight he returned +to his room, roused Soroka, and commanded the old man to flog him +before he went to sleep, so that his shoulders and back were covered +with blood.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<p>Next morning, a wonderful and unusual movement reigned in the cloister. +The gate was open, and entrance was not refused to the pious. Services +were celebrated in the usual course; but after services all strangers +were directed to leave the circuit of the cloister. Kordetski himself, +in company with Zamoyski and Pan Pyotr, examined carefully the +embrasures, and the escarpments supporting the walls from the inside +and outside. Directions were given for repairing places here and there; +blacksmiths in the town received orders to make hooks and spears, +scythes fixed on long handles, clubs and heavy sticks of wood filled +with strong spikes. And since it was known that they had already a +considerable supply of such implements in the cloister, people in the +town began at once to say that the cloister expected a sudden attack. +New orders in quick succession seemed to confirm these reports. Toward +night two hundred men were working at the side of the walls. Twelve +heavy guns sent at the time of the siege of Cracow by Pan Varshytski, +castellan of Cracow, were placed on new carriages and properly planted.</p> + +<p>From the cloister storehouses monks and attendants brought out balls, +which were placed in piles near the guns; carts with powder were rolled +out; bundles of muskets were untied, and distributed to the garrison. +On the towers and bastions watchmen were posted to look carefully, +night and day, on the region about; men were sent also to make +investigation through the neighborhood,—to Pjystaini, Klobuchek, +Kjepitsi, Krushyn, and Mstov.</p> + +<p>To the cloister storehouses, which were already well filled, came +supplies from the town, from Chenstohovka and other villages belonging +to the cloister.</p> + +<p>The report went like thunder through the whole neighborhood. +Townspeople and peasants began to assemble and take counsel. Many were +unwilling to believe that any enemy would dare to attack Yasna Gora.</p> + +<p>It was said that only Chenstohova itself was to be occupied; but even +that excited the minds of men, especially when some of them remembered +that the Swedes were heretics, whom nothing restrained, and who were +ready to offer a purposed affront to the Most Holy Lady.</p> + +<p>Therefore men hesitated, doubted, and believed in turn. Some +wrung their hands, waiting for terrible signs on earth and in +heaven,—visible signs of God’s anger; others were sunk in helpless and +dumb despair; an anger more than human seized a third party, whose +heads were filled as it were with flame. And when once the fancy of men +had spread its wings for flight, straightway there was a whirl of news, +ever changing, ever more feverish, ever more monstrous.</p> + +<p>And as when a man thrusts a stick or throws fire into an ant-hill, +unquiet swarms rush forth at once, assemble, separate, reassemble; so +was the town, so were the neighboring hamlets, in an uproar.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon crowds of townspeople and peasants, with women and +children, surrounded the walls of the cloister, and held them as it +were in siege, weeping and groaning. At sunset Kordetski went out to +them, and pushing himself into the throng, asked,—</p> + +<p>“People, what do you want?”</p> + +<p>“We want to go as a garrison to the cloister to defend the Mother of +God,” cried men, shaking their flails, forks, and other rustic weapons.</p> + +<p>“We wish to look for the last time on the Most Holy Lady,” groaned +women.</p> + +<p>The prior went on a high rock and said,—</p> + +<p>“The gates of hell will not prevail against the might of heaven. Calm +yourselves, and receive consolation into your hearts. The foot of a +heretic will not enter these holy walls. Neither Lutherans nor +Calvinists will celebrate their superstitious incantations in this +retreat of worship and faith. I know not in truth whether the insolent +enemy will come hither; but I know this, that if he does come, he will +be forced to retreat in shame and disgrace, for a superior power will +crush him, his malice will be broken, his power rubbed out, and his +fortune will fail. Take consolation to your hearts. You are not looking +for the last time on our Patroness: you will see her in still greater +glory, and you will see new miracles. Take consolation, dry your tears, +and strengthen yourselves in faith; for I tell you—and it is not I who +speak, but the Spirit of God speaks through me—that the Swede will not +enter these walls; grace will flow hence, and darkness will not put out +the light, just as the night which is now coming will not hinder God’s +sun from rising to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>It was just sunset. Dark shade had covered already the region about; +but the church was gleaming red in the last rays of the sun. Seeing +this, the people knelt around the walls, and consolation flowed into +their hearts at once. Meanwhile the Angelus was sounded on the towers, +and Kordetski began to sing, “The Angel of the Lord;” and after him +whole crowds sang. The nobles and the soldiers standing on the walls +joined their voices, the bells greater and smaller pealed in +accompaniment, and it seemed that the whole mountain was singing and +sounding like a gigantic organ to the four points of the earth.</p> + +<p>They sang till late; the prior blessed the departing on their way, and +said,—</p> + +<p>“Those men who have served in war, who know how to wield weapons and +who feel courage in their hearts, may come in the morning to the +cloister.”</p> + +<p>“I have served, I was in the infantry, I will come!” cried numerous +voices.</p> + +<p>And the throngs separated slowly. The night fell calmly. All woke next +morning with a joyous cry: “The Swede is not here!” Still, all day +workmen were bringing supplies which had been called for. An order went +out also to those who had shops at the eastern walls of the cloister to +bring their goods to the cloister; and in the cloister itself work did +not cease on the walls. Secured especially were the so-called +“passages;” that is, small openings in the walls, which were not gates, +but which might serve in making sallies. Pan Zamoyski gave orders to +bring beams, bricks, and dung, so at a given moment they could be +easily closed from within.</p> + +<p>All day, too, wagons were coming in with supplies and provisions; there +came also some noble families who were alarmed by the news of the +impending attack of the enemy. About midday the men who had been sent +out the preceding day to gather tidings came back; but no one had seen +the Swedes nor even heard of them, except those who were stationed near +Kjepitsi.</p> + +<p>Still, preparations were not abandoned in the cloister. By order of the +prior, those of the townspeople and peasantry came who had formerly +served in the infantry and who were accustomed to service. They were +assigned to the command of Pan Mosinski, who was defending the +northeastern bastion. Pan Zamoyski was occupied during the day either +in disposing the men in their places, instructing each one what to do, +or holding counsel with the fathers in the refectory.</p> + +<p>Kmita with joy in his heart looked at the military preparations, at the +soldiers as they were mustered, at the cannon, at the stacks of +muskets, spears, and hooks. That was his special element. In the midst +of those terrible implements, in the midst of the urgent preparations +and military feverishness, it was light, pleasant, and joyous for him. +It was the easier and more joyous because he had made a general +confession of his whole life, and beyond his own expectations had +received absolution, for the prior took into account his intention, his +sincere desire to reform, and this too, that he had already entered on +the road.</p> + +<p>So Pan Andrei had freed himself from the burdens under which he was +almost falling. Heavy penances had been imposed on him, and every day +his back was bleeding under Soroka’s braided lash; he was enjoined to +practice obedience, and that was a penance still more difficult, for he +had not obedience in his heart; on the contrary, he had pride and +boastfulness. Finally, he was commanded to strengthen his reformation +by virtuous deeds; but that was the easiest, he desired and asked for +nothing more; his whole soul was tearing forth toward exploits, for by +exploits he understood war and killing the Swedes from morning till +evening without rest and without mercy. And just then, what a noble +road was opening to him! To kill Swedes, not only in defence of the +country, not only in defence of the king to whom he had sworn loyalty, +but in defence of the Queen of the Angels,—that was a happiness beyond +his merit.</p> + +<p>Whither had those times gone when he was standing as it were on the +parting of the roads, asking himself whither he should go? where are +those times in which he knew not what to begin, in which he was always +meeting doubt, and in which he had begun to lose hope? And those men, +those white monks, and that handful of peasants and nobles were +preparing for serious defence, for a life-and-death struggle. That was +the one spot of such character in the Commonwealth, and Pan Andrei had +come just to that spot, as if led by some fortunate star. And he +believed sacredly in victory, though the whole power of Sweden were to +encircle those walls; hence in his heart he had prayer, joy, and +gratitude.</p> + +<p>In this frame of mind he walked along the walls, and with a bright face +examined, inspected, and saw that good was taking place. With the eye +of experience, he saw at once from the preparations that they were made +by men of experience, who would be able to show themselves when it came +to the test. He wondered at the calmness of the prior, for whom he had +conceived a deep reverence; he was astonished at the prudence of +Zamoyski, and even of Pan Charnyetski; though he was displeased at him, +he did not show a wry face. But that knight looked on Pan Andrei +harshly, and meeting him on the wall the day after the return of the +messengers, he said,—</p> + +<p>“No Swedes are to be seen; and if they do not come, the dogs will eat +your reputation.”</p> + +<p>“If any harm should result from their coming to this holy place, then +let the dogs eat my reputation.”</p> + +<p>“You would rather not smell their powder. We know knights who have +boots lined with hare’s skin.”</p> + +<p>Kmita dropped his eyes like a young girl. “You might rather let +disputes rest,” said he. “In what have I offended you? I have forgotten +your offences against me, do you forget mine against you.”</p> + +<p>“You called me a whipper-snapper,” said Charnyetski, sharply. “I should +like to know who you are. In what are the Babiniches better than the +Charnyetskis? Are they a senatorial family too?”</p> + +<p>“My worthy sir,” said Kmita, with a pleasant face, “if it were not for +the obedience which was imposed on me in confession, if it were not for +those blows which are given me every day on my back for my follies of +past time, I would speak to you differently; but I am afraid of +relapsing into previous offences. As to whether the Babiniches or the +Charnyetskis are better, that will appear when the Swedes come.”</p> + +<p>“And what kind of office do you think of getting? Do you suppose that +they will make you one of the commanders?”</p> + +<p>Kmita grew serious. “You accused me of seeking profit; now you speak of +office. Know that I have not come here for honor. I might have received +higher honor elsewhere. I will remain a simple soldier, even under your +command.”</p> + +<p>“Why, for what reason?”</p> + +<p>“Because you do me injustice, and are ready to torment me.”</p> + +<p>“H’m! There is no reason for that. It is very beautiful of you to be +willing to remain a simple soldier when it is clear that you have +wonderful daring, and obedience does not come easy. Would you like to +fight?”</p> + +<p>“That will appear with the Swedes, as I have said.”</p> + +<p>“But if the Swedes do not come?”</p> + +<p>“Then do you know what? we will go to look for them,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“That pleases me!” cried Charnyetski. “We could assemble a nice party. +Silesia is not far from this place, and at once soldiers could be +collected. Officers, like my uncle, have promised, but nothing has been +said about soldiers; a great number of them might be had at the first +call.”</p> + +<p>“And this would give a saving example to others!” cried Kmita, with +warmth. “I have a handful of men too,—you ought to see them at work.”</p> + +<p>“Good, good!” said Charnyetski, “as God is dear to me! let me have your +face!”</p> + +<p>“And give yours,” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>And without long thinking they rushed into each other’s arms. Just then +the prior was passing, and seeing what had happened he began to bless +both. They told at once of what they had been talking. The prior merely +smiled quietly, and went on saying to himself,—</p> + +<p>“Health is returning to the sick.”</p> + +<p>Toward evening preparations were finished, and the fortress was +entirely ready for defence. Nothing was wanting,—neither supplies, nor +powder, nor guns; only walls sufficiently strong and a more numerous +garrison.</p> + +<p>Chenstohova, or rather Yasna Gora, though strengthened by nature and +art, was counted among the smallest and weakest fortresses of the +Commonwealth. But as to the garrison, as many people might have been +had for the summoning as any one wished; but the prior purposely did +not overburden the walls with men, so that supplies might hold out for +a long time. Still there were those, especially among the German +gunners, who were convinced that Chenstohova could not defend itself.</p> + +<p>Fools! they thought that it had no defence but its walls and its +weapons; they knew not what hearts filled with faith are. The prior +then fearing lest they might spread doubt among the people, dismissed +them, save one who was esteemed a master in his art.</p> + +<p>That same day old Kyemlich and his sons came to Kmita with a request to +be freed from service. Anger carried away Pan Andrei. “Dogs!” cried he, +“you are ready to resign such a service and will not defend the Most +Holy Lady.—Well, let it be so! You have had pay for your horses, you +will receive the rest for your services soon.”</p> + +<p>Here he took a purse from a casket, and threw it on the floor to them. +“Here are your wages! You choose to seek plunder on that side of the +walls,—to be robbers instead of defenders of Mary! Out of my sight! +you are not worthy to be here! you are not worthy of Christian society! +you are not worthy to die such a death as awaits you in this place! +Out, out!”</p> + +<p>“We are not worthy,” answered the old man, spreading his hands and +bending his head, “we are not worthy to have our dull eyes look on the +splendors of Yasna Gora, Fortress of heaven! Morning Star! Refuge of +sinners! We are not worthy, not worthy.” Here he bent so low that he +bent double, and at the same time with his thin greedy hands, grown +lean, seized the purse lying on the floor. “But outside the walls,” +said he, “we shall not cease to serve your grace. In sudden need, we +will let you know everything; we will go where ’tis needful; we will do +what is needful. Your grace will have ready servants outside the +walls.”</p> + +<p>“Be off!” repeated Pan Andrei.</p> + +<p>They went out bowing; for fear was choking them, and they were happy +that the affair had ended thus. Toward evening they were no longer in +the fortress.</p> + +<p>A dark and rainy night followed. It was November 8; an early winter was +approaching, and together with waves of rain the first flakes of wet +snow were flying to the ground. Silence was broken only by the +prolonged voices of guards calling from bastion to bastion, “Hold +watch!” and in the darkness slipped past here and there the white habit +of the prior, Kordetski. Kmita slept not; he was on the walls with +Charnyetski, with whom he spoke of his past campaigns. Kmita narrated +the course of the war with Hovanski, evidently not mentioning the part +which he had taken in it himself; and Charnyetski talked of the +skirmishes with the Swedes at Pjedbor, at Jarnovtsi, and in the +environs of Cracow, of which he boasted somewhat and said,—</p> + +<p>“What was possible was done. You see, for every Swede whom I stretched +out I made a knot on my sword-sash. I have six knots, and God grant me +more! For this reason I wear the sword higher toward my shoulder. Soon +the sash will be useless; but I’ll not take out the knots, in every +knot I will have a turquoise set; after the war I will hang up the sash +as a votive offering. And have you one Swede on your conscience?”</p> + +<p>“No!” answered Kmita, with shame. “Not far from Sohachev I scattered a +band, but they were robbers.”</p> + +<p>“But you might make a great score of Northerners?”</p> + +<p>“I might do that.”</p> + +<p>“With the Swedes it is harder, for rarely is there one of them who is +not a wizard. They learned from the Finns how to use the black ones, +and each Swede has two or three devils in his service, and there are +some who have seven. These guard them terribly in time of battle; but +if they come hither, the devils will help them in no way, for the power +of devils can do nothing in a circle where the tower on Yasna Gora is +visible. Have you heard of this?”</p> + +<p>Kmita made no answer; he turned his head to listen attentively.</p> + +<p>“They are coming!” said he, suddenly.</p> + +<p>“Who, in God’s name? What do you say?”</p> + +<p>“I hear cavalry.”</p> + +<p>“That is only wind and the beating of rain.”</p> + +<p>“By the wounds of Christ! that is not the wind, but horses! I have a +wonderfully sharp ear. A multitude of cavalry are marching, and are +near already; but the wind drowns the noise. The time has come! The +time has come!”</p> + +<p>The voice of Kmita roused the stiffened guards, dozing near at hand; +but it had not yet ceased when below in the darkness was heard the +piercing blare of trumpets, and they began to sound, prolonged, +complaining, terrible. All sprang up from slumber in amazement, in +fright, and asked one another,—</p> + +<p>“Are not those the trumpets sounding to judgment in this gloomy night?”</p> + +<p>Then the monks, the soldiers, the nobles, began to come out on the +square.</p> + +<p>The bell-ringers rushed to the bells; and soon they were all heard, the +great, the smaller, and the small bells, as if for a fire, mingling +their groans with the sounds of the trumpets, which had not ceased to +play.</p> + +<p>Lighted matches were thrown into pitch-barrels, prepared of purpose and +tied with chains; then they were drawn upward with cranks. Red light +streamed over the base of the cliff, and then the people on Yasna Gora +saw before them a party of mounted trumpeters,—those standing nearest +with trumpets at their mouths, behind them long and deep ranks of +mounted men with unfurled flags.</p> + +<p>The trumpeters played some time yet, as if they wished with those +brazen sounds to express the whole power of the Swedes, and to terrify +the monks altogether. At last they were silent; one of them separated +from the rank, and waving a white kerchief, approached the gate.</p> + +<p>“In the name of his Royal Grace,” cried the trumpeter, “the Most Serene +King of the Swedes, Goths, and Vandals, Grand Prince of Finland, +Esthonia, Karelia, Stettin, Pomerania, and the Kashubes, Prince of +Rugen, Lord of Ingria, Wismark, and Bavaria, Count of the Rhenish +Palatinate, open the gates.”</p> + +<p>“Admit him,” said Kordetski.</p> + +<p>They opened, but only a door in the gate.</p> + +<p>The horseman hesitated for a time; at last he came down from his horse, +entered within the circle of the walls, and seeing a crowd of white +habits, he asked,—</p> + +<p>“Who among you is the superior?”</p> + +<p>“I am,” answered Kordetski.</p> + +<p>The horseman gave him a letter with seals, and said: “Count Veyhard +will wait for an answer at Saint Barbara’s.”</p> + +<p>The prior summoned at once the monks and nobles to the council-chamber +to deliberate.</p> + +<p>On the way, Pan Charnyetski said to Kmita: “Come you also.”</p> + +<p>“I will go, but only through curiosity,” answered Pan Andrei; “for I +have no work there. Henceforward I will not serve the Most Holy Lady +with my mouth.”</p> + +<p>When they had entered the council-chamber, the prior broke the seal and +read as follows:—</p> +<div class="letter"> + +<p>“It is not a secret to you, worthy fathers, with what favorable mind +and with what heart I have always looked on this holy place and your +Congregation; also, how constantly I have surrounded you with my care +and heaped benefits on you. Therefore I desire that you remain in the +conviction that neither my inclination nor good wishes toward you have +ceased in the present juncture. Not as an enemy, but as a friend, do I +come this day. Put your cloister under my protection without fear, as +the time and present circumstances demand. In this way you will find +the calm which you desire, as well as safety. I promise you solemnly +that the sacredness of the place will be inviolate; your property will +not be destroyed. I will bear all expenses myself, and in fact add to +your means. Consider also carefully how much you will profit if, +satisfying me, you confide to me your cloister. Remember my advice, +lest a greater misfortune reach you from the terrible General Miller, +whose orders will be the more severe because he is a heretic and an +enemy of the true faith. When he comes, you must yield to necessity and +carry out his commands; and you will raise useless complaints with pain +in your souls and your bodies, because you disregarded my mild +counsel.”</p> +</div> + +<p>The memory of recent benefactions of Count Veybard touched the monks +greatly. There were some who had confidence in his good-will, and +wished to see in his counsel the avoidance of future defeats and +misfortunes. But no one raised a voice, waiting for what Kordetski +would say. He was silent for a while, but his lips were moving in +prayer; then he said,—</p> + +<p>“Would a true friend draw near in the night-time and terrify with such +a dreadful voice of trumpets and crooked horns the sleeping servants of +God? Would he come at the head of those armed thousands who are now +standing under these walls? Why did he not come with four or nine +others, if he hoped for the reception given a welcome benefactor? What +do those stern legions mean, if not a threat in case we refuse to yield +up this cloister? Listen; remember, too, dearest brothers, that this +enemy has never kept word nor oath nor safeguard. We too have that of +the King of Sweden sent us spontaneously, in which is an express +promise that the cloister shall remain free of occupation. And why are +they standing now under its walls, trumpeting their own lie with +fearful brazen sound? My dear brothers, let each man raise his heart to +heaven, so that the Holy Ghost may enlighten it, and then let us +consider what conscience dictates to each one touching the good of this +holy retreat.”</p> + +<p>Silence followed. Then Kmita’s voice rose: “I heard in Krushyn Lisola +ask him, ‘Will you shake up their treasury for the monks?’ to which the +count, who now stands under these walls, answered, ‘The Mother of God +will not ask for the thalers in the priors’ chests.’ To-day this same +Count Veyhard writes to you, reverend fathers, that he will bear all +expenses himself, and besides add to your means. Consider his +sincerity!”</p> + +<p>To this Father Myelko, one of the oldest in the assembly, and besides a +former soldier, answered: “We live in poverty, and burn these torches +before the altar of the Most Holy Lady in Her praise. But though we +were to take them from the altar so as to purchase immunity for this +holy place, where is our guarantee that the Swedes will respect the +immunity, that they with sacrilegious hands will not remove offerings, +sacred vestments, church furniture? Is it possible to trust liars?”</p> + +<p>“Without the Provincial to whom we owe obedience, we can do nothing,” +said Father Dobrosh.</p> + +<p>“War is not our affair,” added Father Tomitski; “let us listen to what +these knights will say who have taken refuge under the wings of the +Mother of God in this cloister.”</p> + +<p>All eyes were now turned to Pan Zamoyski, the oldest in years, the +highest in dignity and office. He rose and spoke in the following +words:—</p> + +<p>“It is a question here of your fate, reverend fathers. Compare then the +strength of the enemy with the resistance which you can place against +him according to your force and will. What counsel can we, guests here, +impart to you? But, reverend fathers, since you ask us what is to be +done, I will answer: Until the inevitable forces us, let the thought of +surrender be far away; for it is a shameful and an unworthy act to +purchase with vile submission an uncertain peace from a faithless +enemy. We have taken refuge here of our own will, with our wives and +children; surrendering ourselves to the guardianship of the Most Holy +Lady, we have determined with unswerving faith to live with you, and, +if God shall so desire, to die with you. It is indeed better for us +thus than to accept a shameful captivity or behold an affront to a holy +place; of a certainty, that Mother of the Most High God who has +inspired our breasts with a desire of defending Her against godless and +sacrilegious heretics will second the pious endeavors of Her servants +and support the cause of Her own defence.”</p> + +<p>At this point Pan Zamoyski ceased speaking; all paid attention to his +words, strengthening themselves with the meaning of them; and Kmita, +without forethought, as was his wont, sprang forward and pressed the +hand of the old man to his lips. The spectators were edified by this +sight, and each one saw a good presage in that youthful ardor, and a +desire to defend the cloister increased and seized all hearts.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a new presage was given: outside the window of the refectory +was heard unexpectedly the trembling and aged voice of Constantsia, the +old beggar woman of the church, singing a pious hymn:—</p> + +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-8px"> +“In vain dost thou threaten me, O savage Hussite,<br/> +In vain dost thou summon devils’ horns to thy aid,<br/> +In vain dost thou burn, sparing no blood,</p> +<p class="t2">For thou’lt not subdue me;</p> +<p class="t0">Though thousands of pagans were now rushing hither,<br/> +Though armies were flying against me on dragons,<br/> +Neither sword, flame, nor men will avail thee,</p> +<p class="t2">For I shall be victor!”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Here,” said Kordetski, “is the presage which God sends through the +lips of that old beggar woman. Let us defend ourselves, brothers; for +in truth besieged people have never yet had such aids as will come to +us.”</p> + +<p>“We will give our lives willingly,” said Charnyetski.</p> + +<p>“We will not trust faith-breakers! We will not trust heretics, nor +those among Catholics who have accepted the service of the evil +spirit!” shouted others, who did not wish to let those speak who +opposed.</p> + +<p>It was decided to send two priests to Count Veyhard with information +that the gates would remain closed and the besieged would defend +themselves, to which action the safeguard of the king gave them a +right.</p> + +<p>But in their own way the envoys were to beg the Count humbly to desist +from his design, or at least to defer it for a time until the monks +could ask permission of Father Teofil Bronyevski, Provincial of the +order, who was then in Silesia.</p> + +<p>The envoys, Fathers Benedykt Yarachevski and Martseli Tomitski, passed +out through the gate; the others awaited, in the refectory, their +return with throbbing hearts, for terror had seized those monks, unused +to war, when the hour had struck and the moment had come in which they +were forced to choose between duty and the anger and vengeance of the +enemy.</p> + +<p>But half an hour had barely elapsed when the two fathers appeared +before the council. Their heads were hanging over their breasts, on +their faces were pallor and grief. In silence they gave Kordetski a +letter from Count Veyhard, which he took from their hands and read +aloud. There were eight points of capitulation under which the count +summoned the monks to surrender the cloister.</p> + +<p>When he had finished reading, the prior looked long in the faces of +those assembled; at last he said with a solemn voice,—</p> + +<p>“In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! in the name of the +Most Pure and Most Holy Mother of God! to the walls, beloved brethren!”</p> + +<p>“To the walls, to the walls!” was the answer of all.</p> + +<p>A little later a bright flame lighted the base of the cloister. Count +Veyhard had given orders to burn the buildings connected with the +church of Saint Barbara. The fire seizing the old houses grew with each +moment. Soon pillars of red smoke reared themselves toward the sky; in +the midst of these, fiery sparkling tongues were gleaming. Finally one +conflagration was spreading in clouds.</p> + +<p>By the gleam of the fire, divisions of mounted soldiers could be seen +passing quickly from place to place. The usual license of soldiers had +begun. The horsemen drove out from the stables cattle, which running +with fright, filled the air with plaintive bellowing; sheep, gathered +in groups, pushed at random toward the fire. Many of the defenders saw +for the first time the bloody face of war, and their hearts grew +benumbed with terror at sight of people driven by soldiers and slashed +with sabres, at sight of women dragged by the hair through the +market-place. And by the bloody gleams of the fire all this was as +visible as on the palm of the hand. Shouts, and even words, reached the +ears of the besieged perfectly.</p> + +<p>Since the cannon of the cloister had not answered yet, horsemen sprang +from their horses and approached the foot of the mountain itself, +shaking their swords and muskets. Every moment some sturdy fellow, +dressed in a yellow cavalry jacket, putting his hands around his mouth, +jeered and threatened the besieged, who listened patiently, standing at +their guns with lighted matches.</p> + +<p>Kmita was at the side of Charnyetski, just in front of the church, and +saw everything clearly. On his cheeks a deep flush came out, his eyes +were like two torches, and in his hand he held an excellent bow, which +he had received as an inheritance from his father, who had captured it +from a celebrated Agá at Hotsin. He heard the threats and invectives, +and finally when a gigantic horseman had come under the cliff and was +making an uproar he turned to Charnyetski,—</p> + +<p>“As God is true, he is blaspheming against the Most Holy Lady. I +understand German; he blasphemes dreadfully! I cannot endure it!” And +he lowered the bow; but Charnyetski touched him with his hand,—</p> + +<p>“God will punish him for his blasphemy,” said he; “but Kordetski has +not permitted us to shoot first, let them begin.”</p> + +<p>He had barely spoken when the horseman raised his musket to his face; a +shot thundered, and the ball, without reaching the walls, was lost +somewhere among the crannies of the place.</p> + +<p>“We are free now!” cried Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” answered Charnyetski.</p> + +<p>Kmita, as a true man of war, became calm in a moment. The horseman, +shading his eyes with his hands, looked after the ball; Kmita drew the +bow, ran his finger along the string till it twittered like a swallow, +then he bent carefully and cried,—</p> + +<p>“A corpse, a corpse!”</p> + +<p>At the same moment was hoard the whirring whistle of the terrible +arrow; the horseman dropped his musket, raised both hands on high, +threw up his head, and fell on his back. He struggled for a while like +a fish snatched from water, and dug the earth with his feet; but soon +he stretched himself and remained without motion.</p> + +<p>“That is one!” said Kmita.</p> + +<p>“Tie it in your sword-sash,” answered Charnyetski.</p> + +<p>“A bell-rope would not be long enough, if God will permit!” cried Pan +Andrei.</p> + +<p>A second horseman rushed to the dead man, wishing to see what had +happened to him, or perhaps to take his purse, but the arrow whistled +again, and the second fell on the breast of the first. Meanwhile the +field-pieces which Count Veyhard had brought with him opened fire. He +could not storm the fortress with them, neither could he think of +capturing it, having only cavalry, but he gave command to open fire to +terrify the priests. Still a beginning was made.</p> + +<p>Kordetski appeared at the side of Charnyetski, and with him came Father +Dobrosh, who managed the cloister artillery in time of peace, and on +holidays fired salutes; therefore he passed as an excellent gunner +among the monks.</p> + +<p>The prior blessed the cannon and pointed them out to the priest, who +rolled up his sleeves and began to aim at a point in a half circle +between two buildings where a number of horsemen were raging, and among +them an officer with a rapier in his hand. The priest aimed long, for +his reputation was at stake. At last he took the match and touched the +priming.</p> + +<p>Thunder shook the air and smoke covered the view; but after a while the +wind bore it aside. In the space between the buildings there was not a +single horseman left. A number were lying with their horses on the +ground; the others had fled.</p> + +<p>The monks on the walls began to sing. The crash of buildings falling +around Saint Barbara’s church accompanied the songs. It grew darker, +but vast swarms of sparks sent upward by the fall of timbers pierced +the air.</p> + +<p>Trumpets were sounded again in the ranks of Count Veyhard’s horsemen; +but the sound from them receded. The fire was burning to the end. +Darkness enveloped the foot of Yasna Gora. Here and there was heard the +neighing of horses; but ever farther, ever weaker, the Count was +withdrawing to Kjepitsi.</p> + +<p>Kordetski knelt on the walls.</p> + +<p>“Mary! Mother of the one God,” said he, with a powerful voice, “bring +it to pass that he whose attack comes after this man will retreat in +like manner,—with shame and vain anger in his soul.”</p> + +<p>While he prayed thus the clouds broke suddenly above his head, and the +bright light of the moon whitened the towers, the walls, the kneeling +prior and the burned ruins of buildings at Saint Barbara.</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<p>The following day peace reigned at the foot of Yasna Gora; taking +advantage of which, the monks were occupied the more earnestly in +preparations for defence. The last repairs were made in the walls and +the curtains, and still more appliances were prepared to serve in +resisting assault.</p> + +<p>From Zdebov, Krovodja, Lgota, and Grabuvka a number of tens of peasants +volunteered, who had served before in the land-infantry. These were +accepted and placed among the defenders. Kordetski doubled and trebled +himself. He performed divine service, sat in council, neglected the +sick neither day nor night, and in the interval visited the walls, +talked with nobles and villagers. Meanwhile he had in his face and +whole person a calm of such character that one might almost say it +belonged to stone statues only. Looking at his face, grown pale from +watching, it might be thought that that man slept an easy and sweet +sleep; but the calm resignation and almost joy burning in his eyes, his +lips moving in prayer, announced that he watched, thought, prayed, and +made offerings for all. From his spirit, with all its powers intent +upon God, faith flowed in a calm and deep stream; all drank of this +faith with full lips, and whoso had a sick soul was made well. Wherever +his white habit was seen, there calm appeared on the faces of men, +their eyes smiled, and their lips repeated: “Our kind father, our +comforter, our defender, our good hope.” They kissed his hands and his +habit; he smiled like the dawn, and went farther, while around him, +above and before him, went confidence and serenity.</p> + +<p>Still he did not neglect earthly means of salvation; the fathers who +entered his cell found him, if not on his knees, over letters which he +sent in every direction. He wrote to Wittemberg, the commander-in-chief +at Cracow, imploring him to spare a sacred place; and to Yan Kazimir, +who in Opola had made the last effort to save a thankless people; to +Stefan Charnyetski, held by his own word as on a chain at Syevyej; to +Count Veyhard; and to Colonel Sadovski, a Lutheran Cheh, who served +under Miller, but who, having a noble soul, had endeavored to dissuade +the fierce general from this attack on the cloister.</p> + +<p>Two conflicting councils were held before Miller. Count Veyhard, +irritated by the stubbornness which he had met on November 8, used all +efforts to incline the general to a campaign; he promised him untold +treasures and profit, he asserted that in the whole world there were +scarcely churches which could be compared with Chenstohova or Yasna +Gora. Sadovski opposed in the following manner:—</p> + +<p>“General,” said he to Miller, “you who have taken so many famed +fortresses that you have been justly named Poliorcetes by cities in +Germany, know how much blood and time it may cost to take even the +weakest fortress, if the assaulted are willing to resist unto death.</p> + +<p>“But the monks will not resist?” asked Miller.</p> + +<p>“I think just the contrary. The richer they are, the more stubborn a +defence will they make; they are confident not only in the might of +arms, but in the sacredness of the place, which the Catholic +superstition of this whole country considers inviolable. It is enough +to recall the German war; how often have monks given an example of +daring and stubbornness, even in cases where soldiers themselves +despaired of defence! It will take place this time too, all the more +since the fortress is not so insignificant as Count Veyhard would like +to consider it. It is situated on a rocky eminence difficult for the +miner, the walls which, if they were not indeed in good condition, have +been repaired before this time; and as to supplies of arms, powder, and +provisions, a cloister so rich has inexhaustible supplies; fanaticism +will animate their hearts and,—”</p> + +<p>“And do you think, gracious colonel, that they will force me to +retreat?”</p> + +<p>“I do not think that, but I believe that we shall be forced to remain +long under the walls, we shall have to send for larger guns than those +we have here, and you must go to Prussia. It is necessary to calculate +how much time we can devote to Chenstohova; for if his Grace the King +of Sweden summons you from the siege for the more important affairs of +Prussia, the monks will report without fail that you were forced to +retreat. And then think, your grace, what a loss your fame as +Poliorcetes will sustain, not to speak of the encouragement which the +resisting will find in the whole country. Only [here Sadovski lowered +his voice] let the mere intention of attacking this cloister be noised +about, and it will make the worst impression. You do not know—for no +foreigner, not a papist, can know—what Chenstohova is to this people. +Very important for us are those nobles, who yielded so readily; those +magnates; the quarter troops, who together with the hetmans, have come +over to our side. Without them we could not have done what we have +done. With their hands we have occupied half the country,—nay, more +than half; but let one shot fall at Chenstohova,—who knows? perhaps +not a Pole will remain with us. So great is the strength of +superstition! A new most terrible war may flame up!”</p> + +<p>Miller recognized in his soul the justice of Sadovski’s reasoning, all +the more since he considered monks in general, and the Chenstohova +monks in particular, wizards,—that Swedish general feared enchantments +more than guns; still wishing to irritate, and maybe prolong the +dispute, he said,—</p> + +<p>“You speak as though you were prior of Chenstohova, or as if they had +begun to pay you a ransom.”</p> + +<p>Sadovski was a daring soldier and impulsive, and because he knew his +value he was easily offended.</p> + +<p>“I will not say another word,” answered he, haughtily.</p> + +<p>Miller in his turn was angry at the tone in which the above words were +spoken.</p> + +<p>“I will make no further request of you,” said he; “Count Veyhard is +enough for me, he knows this country better.”</p> + +<p>“We shall see!” responded Sadovski, and went out of the room.</p> + +<p>Count Veyhard in fact took his place. He brought a letter, which he had +received from Varshytski with a request to leave the cloister in peace; +but from this letter the obstinate man drew counsel directly opposed.</p> + +<p>“They beg,” said he to Miller; “therefore they know that there will be +no defence.”</p> + +<p>A day later the expedition against Chenstohova was decided upon at +Vyelunie.</p> + +<p>It was not kept a secret; therefore Father Yatsek Rudnitski, provost of +the monastery at Vyelunie, was able to go in time to Chenstohova with +the news. The poor monk did not admit for one moment that the people of +Yasna Gora would defend themselves. He only wanted to forewarn them so +that they might know what course to take and seek favorable conditions. +In fact, the news bowed down the minds of the monks. In some souls +courage weakened at once. But Kordetski strengthened it; he warmed the +cold with the heat of his own heart, he promised days of miracle, he +made the very presence of death agreeable, and changed them so much +through the inspiration of his own soul that unwittingly they began to +prepare for the attack as they were accustomed to prepare for great +church festivals,—hence with joy and solemnity.</p> + +<p>The chiefs of the lay garrison, Zamoyski and Charnyetski, also made +their final preparations. They burned all the shops which were nestled +around the walls of the fortress and which might lighten an assault for +the enemy; the buildings near the mountain were not spared either, so +that for a whole day a ring of flame surrounded the fortress; but when +there remained of the shops merely the ashes of timbers and planks, the +guns of the cloister had before them empty space, unhedged by any +obstacles. Their black jaws gaped freely into the distance, as if +searching for the enemy impatiently and wishing to greet them at the +earliest moment with ominous thunder.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile winter was drawing near with swift step. A sharp north wind +was blowing, swamps were turned into lumps of earth; and in the +mornings, water in shallow places was congealed into frail icy shells. +The prior, Kordetski, making the rounds of the walls, rubbed his hands +blue from cold, and said,—</p> + +<p>“God will send frost to assist us. It will be hard to intrench +batteries and dig mines; meanwhile you will take rest in warm rooms, +and the north wind will soon disgust them with the siege.”</p> + +<p>But for this very reason Miller was anxious to finish quickly. He had +nine thousand troops, mostly infantry, and nineteen guns. He had also +two squadrons of Polish cavalry, but he could not count on them; first, +because he could not employ the cavalry in taking the lofty fortress; +and second, because the men went unwillingly, and gave notice +beforehand that they would take no part in the struggles. They went +rather to protect the fortress, in case of capture, against the greed +of the conquerors,—so at least the colonels declared to the soldiers; +they went finally because the Swedes commanded, for the whole army of +the country was in their camp and had to obey.</p> + +<p>From Vyelunie to Chenstohova the road is short. On November 18 the +siege was to begin. But the Swedish general calculated that it would +not last above a couple of days, and that he would take the precious +fortress by negotiation.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kordetski, the prior, prepared the souls of men. They went to +divine services as on a great and joyous festival; and had it not been +for the unquiet and pallor of some faces, it might have been supposed +that that was a joyous and solemn thanksgiving. The prior himself +celebrated Mass; all the bells were ringing. The services did not end +with Mass, for a grand procession went out on the walls.</p> + +<p>The prior, bearing the Most Holy Sacrament, was supported under the +arms by Zamoyski and Pan Pyotr Charnyetski. In front walked young boys +in robes, they carried censers with myrrh and incense; before and after +the baldachin marched ranks of white-habited monks, with eyes and heads +raised toward heaven,—men of various years, from decrepit old men to +tender youths who had just begun their novitiate. The yellow flames of +the candles quivered in the air; but the monks moved onward and sang, +buried altogether in God, as if mindful of naught else in the world. +Behind them appeared the shaven temples of nobles, the tearful faces of +women, but calm beneath their tears, inspired with faith and trust; +peasants marched also, long-haired, wearing coarse coats, resembling +the primitive Christians; little children, maidens, and boys mingled +with the throng, joining their thin voices with the general chorus. And +God heard that pouring forth of hearts, that fleeing from earthly +oppression to the single defence of His wings. The wind went down, +the air grew calm, the heavens became azure, and the autumnal sun +poured a mild pale golden, but still warm, light on the earth. The +procession passed once around the walls, but did not return, did not +disperse,—went farther. Rays from the monstrance fell on the face of +the prior, and that face seemed golden and radiant from their light. +Kordetski kept his eyes closed, and on his lips was a smile not of +earth,—a smile of happiness, of sweetness, of exaltation; his soul was +in heaven, in brightness, in endless delight, in unbroken calm. But as +if taking orders from above, and forgetting not this earthly church, +the men, the fortress, and that hour then impending, he halted at +moments, opened his eyes, elevated the monstrance, and gave blessing.</p> + +<p>He blessed the people, the army, the squadrons, blooming like flowers +and gleaming like a rainbow; he blessed the walls, and that eminence +which looked down and around upon the land; he blessed the cannon, the +guns, smaller and greater, the balls, iron and lead, the vessels with +powder, the planking at the cannon, the piles of harsh implements used +to repel the assaults of the enemy; he blessed the armies lying at a +distance; he blessed the north, the south, the east, and the west, as +if to cover that whole region, that whole land, with the power of God.</p> + +<p>It had struck two in the afternoon, the procession was still on the +walls; but meanwhile on those edges, where the sky and the earth seemed +to touch, a bluish haze was spread out, and just in that haze something +began to shimmer, to move,—forms of some kind were creeping. At first +dim, unfolding gradually, these forms became every moment more +distinct. A cry was heard suddenly at the end of the procession,—</p> + +<p>“The Swedes are coming; the Swedes are coming!”</p> + +<p>Then silence fell, as if hearts and tongues had grown numb; bells only +continued to sound. But in the stillness the voice of the prior +thundered, far reaching though calm,—</p> + +<p>“Brothers, let us rejoice! the hour of victories and miracles is +drawing near!”</p> + +<p>And a moment later he exclaimed: “Under Thy protection we take refuge, +Our Mother, Our Lady, Our Queen!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Swedish cloud had changed into an immeasurable serpent, +which was crawling forward ever nearer. Its terrible curves were +visible. It twisted, uncoiled; at one time it glittered under the light +with its gleaming steel scales, fit another it grew dark, crawled, +crawled on, emerged from the distance.</p> + +<p>Soon eyes looking from the walls could distinguish everything in +detail. In advance came the cavalry, after it infantry in quadrangles; +each regiment formed a long rectangular body, over which rose a smaller +one formed of erect spears; farther on, behind, after the infantry, +came cannon with jaws turned rearward and inclined to the earth.</p> + +<p>Their slowly moving barrels, black or yellowish, shone with evil omen +in the sun; behind them clattered over the uneven road the powder-boxes +and the endless row of wagons with tents and every manner of military +appliance.</p> + +<p>Dreadful but beautiful was that advance of a regular army, which moved +before the eyes of the people on Yasna Gora, as if to terrify them. A +little later the cavalry separated from the rest of the army and +approached at a trot, trembling like waves moved by wind. They broke +soon into a number of greater and smaller parties. Some pushed toward +the fortress; some in the twinkle of an eye scattered through the +neighboring villages in pursuit of plunder; others began to ride around +the fortress, to examine the walls, study the locality, occupy the +buildings which were nearest. Single horsemen flew back continually as +fast as a horse could gallop from the larger parties to the deep +divisions of infantry to inform the officers where they might dispose +themselves.</p> + +<p>The tramp and neighing of horses, the shouts, the exclamations, the +murmur of thousands of voices, and the dull thump of cannon, came +distinctly to the ears of the besieged, who till that moment were +standing quietly on the wall, as if for a spectacle, looking with +astonished eyes at that great movement and deploying of the enemy’s +troops.</p> + +<p>At last the infantry regiments arrived and began to wander around the +fortress, seeking places best fitted for fortification. Now they +struck, on Chenstohovka, an estate near the cloister, in which there +were no troops, only peasants living in huts.</p> + +<p>A regiment of Finns, who had come first, fell savagely on the +defenceless peasants. They pulled them out of the huts by the hair, and +simply cut down those who resisted; the rest of the people driven from +the manor-house were pursued by cavalry and scattered to the four +winds.</p> + +<p>A messenger was sent with Miller’s summons to surrender; he had already +sounded his trumpet before the gates of the church; but the defenders, +at sight of the slaughter and cruelty of the soldiers in Chenstohova, +answered with cannon fire.</p> + +<p>Now, when the people of the town had been driven out of all the nearer +buildings, and the Swedes had disposed themselves therein, it behooved +to destroy them with all haste, so that the enemy might not injure the +cloister under cover of those buildings. Therefore the walls of the +cloister began to smoke all around like the sides of a ship surrounded +by a storm and by robbers. The roar of cannon shook the air till the +walls of the cloister were trembling, and glass in the windows of the +church and other buildings was rattling. Fiery balls in the form of +whitish cloudlets describing ill-omened arcs fell on the Swedish places +of refuge, they broke rafters, roofs, walls; and columns of smoke were +soon rising from the places into which balls had descended.</p> + +<p>Conflagration had enwrapped the buildings. Barely had the Swedish +regiments taken possession when they fled from the new quarters with +all breath, and, uncertain of their positions, hurried about in various +directions. Disorder began to creep among them; they removed the cannon +not yet mounted, so as to save them from being struck. Miller was +amazed; he had not expected such a reception, nor such gunners on Yasna +Gora.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile night came, and since he needed to bring the army into order, +he sent a trumpeter with a request for a cessation. The fathers agreed +to that readily.</p> + +<p>In the morning, however, they burned another enormous storehouse with +great supplies of provisions, in which building the Westland regiment +had taken its quarters. The fire caught the building so quickly, the +shots fell, one after another, with such precision that the Westlanders +were unable to carry off their muskets or ammunition, which exploded, +hurling far around burning brands.</p> + +<p>The Swedes did not sleep that night; they made preparations, +entrenchments for the guns, filled baskets with earth, formed a camp. +The soldiers, though trained during so many years in so many battles, +and by nature valiant and enduring, did not wait for the following day +with joy. The first day had brought defeat.</p> + +<p>The cannon of the cloister caused such loss among the Swedes that the +oldest warriors were confounded, attributing this to careless approach +to the fortress, and to going too near the walls.</p> + +<p>But the next day, even should it bring victory, did not promise glory; +for what was the capture of an inconsiderable fortress and a cloister +to the conquerors of so many famed cities, a hundred times better +fortified? The greed of rich plunder alone upheld their willingness, +but that oppressive alarm with which the allied Polish squadrons had +approached this greatly renowned Yasna Gora was imparted in a +mysterious way to the Swedes. Some of them trembled at the thought of +sacrilege, while others feared something indefinite, which they could +not explain, and which was known under the general name of enchantment. +Miller himself believed in it; why should not the soldiers believe?</p> + +<p>It was noticed that when Miller was approaching the church of Saint +Barbara, the horse under him slipped suddenly, started back, distended +his nostrils, pricked up his ears, snorted with fright, and refused to +advance. The old general showed no personal alarm; still the next day +he assigned that place to the Prince of Hesse, and marched himself with +the heavier guns to the northern side of the cloister, toward the +village of Chenstohova; there he made intrenchments during the night, +so as to attack in the morning.</p> + +<p>Barely had light begun to gleam in the sky when heavy artillery firing +began; but this time the Swedish guns opened first. The enemy did not +think of making a breach in the walls at once, so as to rush through it +to storm; he wanted only to terrify, to cover the church and the +cloister with balls, to set fire, to dismount cannon, to kill people, +to spread alarm.</p> + +<p>A procession went out again on the walls of the fortress, for nothing +strengthened the combatants like a view of the Holy Sacrament, and the +monks marching forward with it calmly. The guns of the cloister +answered,—thunder for thunder, lightning for lightning, so far as the +defenders were able, so far as breath held out in the breast. The very +earth seemed to tremble in its foundations. A sea of smoke stretched +over the cloister and the church.</p> + +<p>What moments, what sights for men who had never in their lives beheld +the bloody face of war! and there were many such in the fortress. That +unbroken roar, lightnings, smoke, the howling of balls tearing the air, +the terrible hiss of bombs, the clatter of shot on the pavement, the +dull blows against the wall, the sound of breaking windows, the +explosions of bursting bombs, the whistling of fragments of them, the +breaking and cracking of timbers; chaos, annihilation, hell!</p> + +<p>In those hours there was not a moment of rest nor cessation; breasts +half-suffocated with smoke, every moment new flocks of cannon-balls; +and amid the confusion shrill voices in various parts of the fortress, +the church, and the cloister, were crying,—</p> + +<p>“It is on fire! water, water!”</p> + +<p>“To the roof with barefooted men! more cloth!”</p> + +<p>“Aim the cannon higher!—higher!—aim at the centre of the +buildings—fire!”</p> + +<p>About noon the work of death increased still more. It might seem that, +if the smoke were to roll away, the Swedes would see only a pile of +balls and bombs in place of the cloister. A cloud of lime, struck from +the walls by the cannon, rose up, and mingling with the smoke, hid the +light. Priests went out with relics to exorcise these clouds, lest they +might hinder defence. The thunders of cannon were interrupted, but were +as frequent as the breath gulps of a panting dragon.</p> + +<p>Suddenly on a tower, newly built after a fire of the previous year, +trumpets began to sound forth the glorious music of a church hymn. That +music flowed down through the air and was heard round about, was heard +everywhere, as far as the batteries of the Swedes. The sound of the +trumpets was accompanied by the voices of people, and amidst the +bellowing and whistling, amidst the shouts, the rattle and thunder of +muskets, were heard the words,—</p> +<div style="margin-left:30%; text-indent:-8px"> +<p class="t0"> +“Mother of God, Virgin,<br/> +Glorified by God Mary!”</p> +</div> + +<p>Here a number of bombs burst; the cracking of rafters and beams, and +then the shout: “Water!” struck the ear, and again the song flowed on +in calmness.</p> +<div style="margin-left:30%; text-indent:-8px"> +<p class="t0">“From Thy Son the Lord<br/> +Send down to us, win for us,<br/> +A time of bread, a time of plenty.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Kmita, who was standing on the wall at the cannon, opposite the village +of Chenstohova, in which Miller’s quarters were, and whence the +greatest fire came, pushed away a less accurate cannoneer to begin work +himself; and worked so well that soon, though it was in November and +the day cold, he threw off his fox-skin coat, threw off his vest, and +toiled in his trousers and shirt.</p> + +<p>The hearts grew in people unacquainted with war, at sight of this +soldier blood and bone, to whom all that was passing—that bellowing of +cannon, those flocks of balls, that destruction and death—seemed as +ordinary an element as fire to a salamander.</p> + +<p>His brow was wrinkled, there was fire in his eyes, a flush on his +cheeks, and a species of wild joy in his face. Every moment he bent to +the cannon, altogether occupied with the aiming, altogether given to +the battle, thinking of naught else; he aimed, lowered, raised, at last +cried, “Fire!” and when Soroka touched the match, he ran to the opening +and called out from time to time,—</p> + +<p>“One by the side of the other!”</p> + +<p>His eagle eyes penetrated through smoke and dust, and when among the +buildings he saw somewhere a dense mass of caps or helmets, straightway +he crushed it with an accurate shot, as if with a thunderbolt. At times +he burst out into laughter when he had caused greater or less +destruction. The balls flew over him and at his side,—he did not look +at anything; suddenly, after a shot he sprang to the opening, fixed his +eyes in the distance, and cried,—</p> + +<p>“The gun is dismounted! Only three pieces are playing there now!”</p> + +<p>He did not rest until midday. Sweat was pouring from him, his shirt was +steaming; his face was blackened with soot, and his eyes glittering. +Pyotr Charnyetski himself wondered at his aim, and said to him +repeatedly,—</p> + +<p>“War is nothing new to you; that is clear at a glance. Where have you +learned it so well?”</p> + +<p>At three o’clock in the afternoon a second Swedish gun was silent, +dismounted by Kmita’s accurate aim. They drew out the remaining guns +from the intrenchments about an hour later. Evidently the Swedes saw +that the position was untenable.</p> + +<p>Kmita drew a deep breath.</p> + +<p>“Rest!” said Charnyetski to him.</p> + +<p>“Well! I wish to eat something. Soroka, give me what you have at hand.”</p> + +<p>The old sergeant bestirred himself quickly. He brought some gorailka in +a tin cup and some dried fish. Kmita began to eat eagerly, raising his +eyes from time to time and looking at the bombs flying over at no great +distance, just as if he were looking at crows. But still they flew in +considerable number, not from Chenstohova, but from the opposite side; +namely, all those which passed over the cloister and the church.</p> + +<p>“They have poor gunners, they point too high,” said Pan Andrei, without +ceasing to eat; “see, they all go over us, and they are aimed at us.”</p> + +<p>A young monk heard these words,—a boy of seventeen years, who had just +entered his novitiate. He was the first always to bring balls for +loading, and he did not leave his place though every vein in him was +trembling from fear, for he saw war for the first time. Kmita made an +indescribable impression on him by his calmness, and hearing his words +he took refuge near him with an involuntary movement as if wishing to +seek protection and safety under the wings of that strength.</p> + +<p>“Can they reach us from that side?” asked he.</p> + +<p>“Why not?” answered Kmita. “And why, my dear brother, are you afraid?”</p> + +<p>“I thought,” answered the trembling youth, “that war was terrible; but +I did not think it was so terrible.”</p> + +<p>“Not every bullet kills, or there would not be men in the world, there +would not be mothers enough to give birth to them.”</p> + +<p>“I have the greatest fear of those fiery balls, those bombs. Why do +they burst with such noise? Mother of God, save us! and they wound +people so terribly.”</p> + +<p>“I will explain to you, and you will discover by experience, young +father. That ball is iron, and inside it is loaded with powder. In one +place there is an opening rather small, in which is a fuse of paper or +sometimes of wood.”</p> + +<p>“Jesus of Nazareth! is there a fuse in it?”</p> + +<p>“There is; and in the fuse some tow steeped in sulphur, which catches +fire when the gun is discharged. Then the ball should fall with the +fuse toward the ground, so as to drive it into the middle; then the +fire reaches the powder and the ball bursts. But many balls do not fall +on the fuse; that does not matter, however, for when the fire burns to +the end, the explosion comes.”</p> + +<p>On a sudden Kmita stretched out his hand and cried, “See, see! you have +an experiment.”</p> + +<p>“Jesus! Mary! Joseph!” cried the young brother, at sight of the coming +bomb.</p> + +<p>The bomb fell on the square that moment, and snarling and rushing along +began to bound on the pavement, dragging behind a small blue smoke, +turned once more, and rolling to the foot of the wall on which they +were sitting, fell into a pile of wet sand, which it scattered high to +the battlement, and losing its power altogether, remained without +motion.</p> + +<p>Luckily it had fallen with the fuse up; but the sulphur was not +quenched, for the smoke rose at once.</p> + +<p>“To the ground! on your faces!” frightened voices began to shout. “To +the ground, to the ground!”</p> + +<p>But Kmita at the same moment sprang to the pile of sand, with a +lightning movement of his hand caught the fuse, plucked it, pulled it +out, and raising his hand with the burning sulphur cried,—</p> + +<p>“Rise up! It is just as if you had pulled the teeth out of a dog! It +could not kill a fly now.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this, he kicked the bomb, those present grew numb at +sight of this deed, which surpassed human daring, and for a certain +time no one made bold to speak; at last Charnyetski exclaimed,—</p> + +<p>“You are a madman! If that had burst, it would have turned you into +powder!”</p> + +<p>Pan Andrei laughed so heartily that his teeth glittered.</p> + +<p>“But do we not need powder? You could have loaded a gun with me, and +after my death I could have done harm to the Swedes.”</p> + +<p>“May the bullets strike you! Where is your fear?”</p> + +<p>The young monk placed his hands together and looked with mute homage on +Kmita. But the deed was also seen by Kordotski, who was approaching on +that side. He came up, took Pan Andrei with his hands by the head, and +then made the sign of the cross on him.</p> + +<p>“Such men as you will not surrender Yasna Gora; but I forbid exposing a +needful life to danger. When the firing is over and the enemy leave the +field, take that bomb, pour the powder out of it, and bear it to the +Most Holy Lady. That gift will be dearer to Her than those pearls and +bright stones which you offered Her.”</p> + +<p>“Father,” answered Kmita, deeply moved, “what is there great in that? +For the Most Holy Lady I would—Oh! words do not rise in my mouth—I +would go to torments, to death. I know not what I would not do to serve +Her.”</p> + +<p>Tears glistened in the eyes of Pan Andrei, and the prior said,—</p> + +<p>“Go to Her with those tears before they dry. Her favor will flow to +thee, calm thee, comfort thee, adorn thee with glory and honor.”</p> + +<p>When he had said this he took him by the arm and led him to the church. +Pan Charnyetski looked after them for a time. At last he said,—</p> + +<p>“I have seen many daring men in my life, who counted no danger to +themselves; but this Lithuanian is either the D——”</p> + +<p>Here Charnyetski closed his mouth with his hand, so not to speak a foul +name in the holy place.</p> + +<h2>FOOTNOTES:</h2> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_01" href="#div2Ref_01">Footnote 1</a>: Means “On +the sea.”</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_02" href="#div2Ref_02">Footnote 2</a>: Pereyaslav +will be remembered by the readers of FIRE AND +SWORD as the place where the Polish commissioners with Adam Kisel +brought the baton and banner from the king to Hmelnitski.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_03" href="#div2Ref_03">Footnote 3</a>: “Two-bridges.” +the Bipont of page 523, Vol. II.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_04" href="#div2Ref_04">Footnote 4</a>: This word +means technically “villages inhabited by petty +nobles:” etymologically it means “behind walls,”—hence, “beyond or +outside the walls,” as above.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_05" href="#div2Ref_05">Footnote 5</a>: This war was +carried on by the Tsar Alexis, father of +Peter the Great and son of Michael Romanoff. See Introduction.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_06" href="#div2Ref_06">Footnote 6</a>: The speech of +the main body of the people in Jmud is +Lithuanian to this day.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_07" href="#div2Ref_07">Footnote 7</a>: Lithuanian +forms, with nominative ending in <i>s</i> and <i>as</i>.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_08" href="#div2Ref_08">Footnote 8</a>: The diminutive +or more familiar form for Aleksandra. It is +used frequently in this book.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_09" href="#div2Ref_09">Footnote 9</a>: The diminutive +of Andrei.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_10" href="#div2Ref_10">Footnote 10</a>: A barber in +those parts at that time did duty for a +surgeon.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_11" href="#div2Ref_11">Footnote 11</a>: Marysia and +Maryska are both diminutives of Marya = Maria +or Mary, and are used without distinction by the author. There are in +Polish eight or ten other variants of the same name.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_12" href="#div2Ref_12">Footnote 12</a>: It is the +custom to put a watermelon in the carriage of +an undesirable suitor,—a refusal without words.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_13" href="#div2Ref_13">Footnote 13</a>: Deest = +lacking.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_14" href="#div2Ref_14">Footnote 14</a>: The name +Grudzinski is derived from gruda = clod.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_15" href="#div2Ref_15">Footnote 15</a>: See Daniel v. +25-28.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_16" href="#div2Ref_16">Footnote 16</a>: Helena.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_17" href="#div2Ref_17">Footnote 17</a>: The war +against Russia.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_18" href="#div2Ref_18">Footnote 18</a>: This Polish +saying of striking out a wedge with a wedge +means here, of course, to cure one love with another.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_19" href="#div2Ref_19">Footnote 19</a>: “Others” here += “Russians.”</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_20" href="#div2Ref_20">Footnote 20</a>: Prince Yeremi +Vishnyevetski.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_21" href="#div2Ref_21">Footnote 21</a>: Volodyovski +was from the Ukraine.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_22" href="#div2Ref_22">Footnote 22</a>: Charnyetski +was pock-marked.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_23" href="#div2Ref_23">Footnote 23</a>: The Russians.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_24" href="#div2Ref_24">Footnote 24</a>: Saturday.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_25" href="#div2Ref_25">Footnote 25</a>: Friday.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_26" href="#div2Ref_26">Footnote 26</a>: Russians.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_27" href="#div2Ref_27">Footnote 27</a>: Tsargrad = +Tsar’s city, Constantinople.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_28" href="#div2Ref_28">Footnote 28</a>: “A boat and a +carriage” means you can go by either,—that +is, by land or water: you have your choice.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_29" href="#div2Ref_29">Footnote 29</a>: So called +because they wore shoes made from the inner +bark of basswood or linden trees.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_30" href="#div2Ref_30">Footnote 30</a>: Bright +Mountain.</p> + +<h3>END OF VOL. I.</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DELUGE, VOL. I. (OF 2) ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. +</div> + +<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> +<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person +or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the +Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when +you share it without charge with others. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work +on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: +</div> + +<blockquote> + <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most + other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions + whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms + of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online + at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you + are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws + of the country where you are located before using this eBook. + </div> +</blockquote> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg™ License. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format +other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain +Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +provided that: +</div> + +<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation.” + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ + works. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. + </div> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread +public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state +visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. +</div> + +</div> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/37198-h/images/cover.jpg b/37198-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e751839 --- /dev/null +++ b/37198-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/37198-h/images/map.jpg b/37198-h/images/map.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fa55ec --- /dev/null +++ b/37198-h/images/map.jpg |
