Pan Michael: An Historical Novel of Poland, the Ukraine, and Turkey
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CHAPTER XLVIII.
Even before the Turks marched from Adrianople, a great movement hadbegun in all the stanitsas on the Dniester. To Hreptyoff, the stanitsanearest to Kamenyets, couriers of the hetman were hasteningcontinually, bringing various orders; these the little knight executedhimself, or if they did not relate to him, he forwarded them throughtrusty people. In consequence of these orders the garrison of Hreptyoffwas reduced notably. Pan Motovidlo went with his Cossacks to Uman toaid Hanenko, who, with a handful of Cossacks faithful to theCommonwealth, struggled as best he could with Doroshenko and theCrimean horde which had joined him. Pan Mushalski, the incomparablebowman, Pan Snitko of the escutcheon Hidden Moon, Pan Nyenashinyets,and Pan Hromyka, led a squadron and Linkhauz's dragoons to Batog ofunhappy memory, where was stationed Pan Lujetski, who, aided byHanenko, was to watch Doroshenko's movements; Pan Bogush received anorder to remain in Mohiloff till he could see chambuls with the nakedeye. The instructions of the hetman were seeking eagerly the famous PanRushchyts, whom Volodyovski alone surpassed as a partisan; but PanRushchyts had gone to the steppes at the head of a few tens of men, andvanished as if in water. They heard of him only later, when wonderfultidings were spread, that around Doroshenko's tabor and the companiesof the horde an evil spirit, as it were, was hovering, which carriedaway daily single warriors and smaller companies. It was suspected thatthis must be Pan Rushchyts, for no other except the little knight couldattack in that manner. In fact, it was Pan Rushchyts.
As decided before. Pan Michael had to go to Kamenyets; the hetmanneeded him there, for he knew him to be a soldier whose coming wouldcomfort the hearts, while it roused the courage, of the inhabitants andthe garrison. The hetman was convinced that Kamenyets would not holdout; with him the question was simply that it should hold out as longas possible,--that is, till the Commonwealth could assemble some forcesfor defence. In this conviction he sent to evident death, as it were,his favorite soldier, the most renowned cavalier of the Commonwealth.
He sent the most renowned warrior to death, and he did not grieve forhim. The hetman thought always, what he said later on at Vienna, thatPani Wojnina[29] might give birth to people, but that Wojna (war) onlykilled them. He was ready himself to die; he thought that to die wasthe most direct duty of a soldier, and that when a soldier could renderfamous service by dying, death was to him a great reward and favor. Thehetman knew also that the little knight was of one conviction withhimself.
Besides, he had no time to think of sparing single soldiers whendestruction was advancing on churches, towns, the country, the wholeCommonwealth; when, with forces unheard of, the Orient was risingagainst Europe to conquer all Christendom, which, shielded by thebreast of the Commonwealth, had no thought of helping thatCommonwealth. The only question possible for the hetman was thatKamenyets should cover the Commonwealth, and then the Commonwealth theremainder of Christendom.
This might have happened had the Commonwealth been strong, had disordernot exhausted it. But the hetman had not troops enough even forreconnoissances, not to mention war. If he hurried some tens ofsoldiers to one place, there was an opening made in another, throughwhich an invading wave might pour in without obstacle. The detachmentsof sentries posted by the Sultan at night in his camp outnumbered thesquadrons of the hetman. The invasion moved from two directions,--fromthe Dnieper and the Danube. Because Doroshenko, with the whole horde ofthe Crimea, was nearer, and had inundated the country already, burningand slaying, the chief squadrons had gone against him; on the otherhand, people were lacking for simple reconnoissances. While in suchdire straits the hetman wrote the following few words to Pan Michael,--
"I did think to send you to Rashkoff near the enemy, but grew afraid,because the horde, crossing by seven fords from the Moldavian bank,will occupy the country, and you could not reach Kamenyets, where thereis absolute need of you. Only yesterday I remembered Novoveski, who isa trained soldier and daring, and because a man in despair is ready foreverything, I think that he will serve me effectively. Send himwhatever light cavalry you can spare; let him go as far as possible,show himself everywhere, and give out reports of our great forces, whenbefore the eyes of the enemy; let him appear here and there suddenly,and not let himself be captured. It is known how they will come; but ifhe sees anything new, he is to inform you at once, and you will hurryoff without delay an informant to me, and to Kamenyets. Let Novoveskimove quickly, and be you ready to go to Kamenyets, but wait where youare till news comes from Novoveski in Moldavia."
Since Pan Adam was living at Mohiloff for the time, and, as report ran,was to come to Hreptyoff in any case, the little knight merely sentword to him to hasten, because a commission from the hetman was waitingfor him.
Pan Adam came three days later. His acquaintances hardly knew him, andthought that Pan Byaloglovski had good reason to call him a skeleton.He was no longer that splendid fellow, high-spirited, joyous, who on atime used to rush at the enemy with outbursts of laughter, like theneighing of a horse, and gave blows with just such a sweep as is givenby the arm of a windmill. He had grown lean, sallow, dark, but in thatleanness he seemed a still greater giant. While looking at people, heblinked as if not recognizing his nearest acquaintances; it was needfulalso to repeat the same thing two or three times to him, for he seemednot to understand at first. Apparently grief was flowing in his veinsinstead of blood; evidently he strove not to think of certain things,preferring to forget them, so as not to run mad.
It is true that in those regions there was not a man, not a family, notan officer of the army, who had not suffered evil from Pagan hands, whowas not bewailing some acquaintance, friend, near and dear one; but onPan Adam there had burst simply a whole cloud of misfortunes. In oneday he had lost father and sister, and besides, his betrothed, whom heloved with all the power of his exuberant spirit. He would rather thathis sister and that dearly beloved girl had both died; he would ratherthey had perished from the knife or in flames. But their fate was suchthat in comparison with the thought of them the greatest torment wasnothing for Pan Adam. He strove not to think of their fate, for he feltthat thinking of it bordered on insanity; he strove, but he failed.
In truth, his calmness was only apparent. There was no resignationwhatever in his soul, and at the first glance it was evident to any manthat under the torpor there was something ominous and terrible, and,should it break forth, that giant would do something awful, just as awild element would. That was as if written on his forehead explicitly,so that even his friends approached him with a certain timidity; intalking with him, they avoided reference to the past.
The sight of Basia in Hreptyoff opened closed wounds in him, for whilekissing her hands in greeting, he began to groan like an aurochs thatis mortally wounded, his eyes became bloodshot, and the veins in hisneck swelled to the size of cords. When Basia, in tears andaffectionate as a mother, pressed his head with her hands, he fell ather feet, and could not rise for a long time. But when he heard whatkind of office the hetman had given him, he became greatly enlivened; agleam of ominous joy flashed up in his face, and he said,--
"I will do that, I will do more!"
"And if you meet that mad dog, give him a skinning!" put in Zagloba.
Pan Adam did not answer at once; he only looked at Zagloba; suddenbewilderment shone in his eyes; he rose and began to go toward the oldnoble, as if he wished to rush at him.
"Do you believe," said he, "that I have never done evil to that man,and that I have always been kind to him?"
"I believe, I believe!" said Zagloba, pushing behind the little knighthurriedly. "I would go myself with you, but the gout bites my feet."
"Novoveski," asked the little knight, "when do you wish to start?"
"To-night."
"I will give you a hundred dragoons. I will remain here myself withanother hundred and the infantry. Go to the square!"
They went out to give orders. Zydor Lusnia was waiting at thethreshold, straightened out like a string. News of the expedition hadspr
ead already through the square; the sergeant therefore, in his ownname and the name of his company, began to beg the little colonel tolet him go with Pan Adam.
"How is this? Do you want to leave me?" asked the astonishedVolodyovski.
"Pan Commandant, we made a vow against that son of a such a one; andperhaps he may come into our hands."
"True! Pan Zagloba has told me of that," answered the little knight.
Lusnia turned to Novoveski,--
"Pan Commandant!"
"What is your wish?"
"If we get him, may I take care of him?"
Such a tierce, beastly venom was depicted on the face of theMazovian that Novoveski inclined at once to Volodyovski, and saidentreatingly,--
"Your grace, let me have this man!"
Pan Michael did not think of refusing; and that same evening, aboutdusk, a hundred horsemen, with Novoveski at their head, set out on thejourney.
They marched by the usual road through Mohiloff and Yampol. In Yampolthey met the former garrison of Rashkoff, from which two hundred menjoined Novoveski by order of the hetman; the rest, under command of PanByaloglovski, were to go to Mohiloff, where Pan Bogush was stationed.Pan Adam marched to Rashkoff.
The environs of Rashkoff were a thorough waste; the town itself hadbeen turned into a pile of ashes, which the winds had blown to the foursides of the world; its scant number of inhabitants had fled before theexpected storm. It was already the beginning of May, and the Dobrudjahorde might show itself at any time; therefore it was unsafe to remainin those regions. In fact, the hordes were with the Turks, on the plainof Kuchunkaury; but men around Rashkoff had no knowledge of that,therefore every one of the former inhabitants, who had escaped the lastslaughter, carried off his head in good season whithersoever seemedbest to him.
Along the road Lusnia was framing plans and stratagems, which in hisopinion Pan Adam should adopt if he wished to outwit the enemy in factand successfully. He detailed these ideas to the soldiers withgraciousness.
"You know nothing of this matter, horse-skulls," said he; "but I amold, I know. We will go to Rashkoff; we will hide there and wait. Thehorde will come to the crossing; small parties will cross first, as istheir custom, because the chambul stops and waits till they tell if'tis safe; then we will slip out and drive them before us toKamenyets."
"But in this way we may not get that dog brother," remarked one of themen in the ranks.
"Shut your mouth!" said Lusnia. "Who will go in the vanguard if not theLithuanian Tartars?"
In fact, the previsions of the sergeant seemed to be coming true. "Whenhe reached Rashkoff Pan Adam gave the soldiers rest. All felt certainthat they would go next to the caves, of which there were many in theneighborhood, and hide there till the first parties of the enemyappeared. But the second day of their stay the commandant brought thesquadron to its feet, and led it beyond Rashkoff.
"Are we going to Yagorlik, or what?" asked the sergeant in his mind.
Meanwhile they approached the river just beyond Rashkoff, and a few"Our Fathers" later they halted at the so-called "Bloody Ford." PanAdam, without saying a word, urged his horse into the water and beganto cross to the opposite bank. The soldiers looked at one another withastonishment.
"How is this,--are we going to the Turks?" asked one of another. Butthese were not "gracious gentlemen" of the general militia, ready tosummon a meeting and protest, they were simple soldiers inured to theiron discipline of stanitsas; hence the men of the first rank urgedtheir horses into the water after the commandant, and then those in thesecond and third did the same. There was not the least hesitation. Theywere astonished that, with three hundred horse, they were marchingagainst the Turkish power, which the whole world could not conquer; butthey went. Soon the water was plashing around the horses' sides; themen ceased to wonder then, and were thinking simply of this, that thesacks of food for themselves and the horses should not get wet. Only onthe other bank did they begin to look at one another again.
"For God's sake, we are in Moldavia already!" said they, in quietwhispers.
And one or another looked behind, beyond the Dniester, which glitteredin the setting sun like a red and golden ribbon. The river cliffs, fullof caves, were bathed also in the bright gleams. They rose like a wall,which at that moment divided that handful of men from their country.For many of them it was indeed the last parting.
The thought went through Lusnia's head that maybe the commandant hadgone mad; but it was the commandant's affair to command, his to obey.
Meanwhile the horses, issuing from the water, began to snort terriblyin the ranks. "Good health! good health!" was heard from the soldiers.They considered the snorting of good omen, and a certain consolationentered their hearts.
"Move on!" commanded Pan Adam.
The ranks moved, and they went toward the setting sun and toward thosethousands, to that swarm of people, to those nations gathered atKuchunkaury.