Ogniem i mieczem. English

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  CHAPTER XIV.

  The thunder of the guns of Kudak was heard also by the forcesdescending in boats under the command of old Barabash and Krechovski.These forces were composed of six thousand registered Cossacks, and oneof picked German infantry led by Colonel Hans Flick.

  Pan Nikolai Pototski, the hetman, hesitated long before he sent theCossacks against Hmelnitski; but since Krechovski had an immenseinfluence over them, and Pototski trusted Krechovski absolutely, hemerely commanded the Cossacks to take the oath of allegiance, and sentthem off in the name of God.

  Krechovski was a soldier full of experience and of great reputation inprevious wars. He was a client of the Pototskis, to whom he wasindebted for everything,--his rank of colonel, his nobility, which theyobtained for him in the Diet, and finally for broad lands situated nearthe confluence of the Dniester and Lada, which he held for life. He wasconnected, therefore, by so many bonds with the Commonwealth and thePototskis, that a shadow of a suspicion could not rise in the mind ofthe hetman. Krechovski was, besides, a man in his best days, for he wasscarcely fifty years old, and a great future was opening before him inthe service of the country. Some were ready to see in him the successorof Stephen Hmeletski, who, beginning his career as a simple knight ofthe steppe, ended it as voevoda of Kieff and senator of theCommonwealth. It was for Krechovski to advance by the same road, alongwhich he was impelled by bravery, a wild energy, and unbridledambition, equally eager for wealth and distinction. Through thisambition he had struggled a short time before for the starostaship ofLita; and when at last Pan Korbut received it, Krechovski buried thedisappointment deep in his heart, but almost fell ill of envy andmortification. This time fortune seemed to smile on him again; forhaving received from the hetman such an important military office, hecould consider that his name would reach the ears of the king; and thatwas important, for afterward he had only to bow to receive the reward,with the words dear to the heart of a noble: "He has bowed to us andasked that we grant him; and we remembering his services, do grant,etc." In this way were wealth and distinction acquired in Russia; inthis way enormous expanses of the empty steppe, which hitherto hadbelonged to God and the Commonwealth, passed into private hands; inthis way a needy stripling grew to be a lord, and might strengthenhimself with the hope that his descendants would hold their seats amongsenators.

  Krechovski was annoyed that in the office committed to him he mustdivide authority with Barabash; still it was only a nominal division.In reality, the old colonel of Cherkasi, especially in the latter time,had grown so old and worn that his body alone belonged to this earth;his mind and soul were continually sunk in torpidity and lifelessness,which generally precede real death. At the beginning of the expeditionhe roused up and began to move about with considerable energy, as if atthe sound of the trumpet the old soldier's blood had begun to coursemore vigorously within him, for he had been in his time a famousCossack and a leader in the steppe; but as soon as they started theplash of the oars lulled him, the songs of the Cossacks and the softmovement of the boats put him to sleep, and he forgot the world of God.Krechovski ordered and managed everything. Barabash woke up only toeat; having eaten his fill, he inquired, as was his custom, about thisand that. He was put off with some kind of answer; then he sighed andsaid,--

  "I should be glad to die in some other war, but God's will be done!"

  Connection with the army of the crown marching under Stephen Pototskiwas severed at once. Krechovski complained that the hussars and thedragoons marched too slowly, that they loitered too long at thecrossings, that the young son of the hetman had no military experience;but with all that he gave orders to move on.

  The boats moved along the shores of the Dnieper to Kudak, going fartherand farther from the armies of the crown.

  At last one night the thunder of cannon was heard. Barabash sleptwithout waking. Flick, who was sailing ahead, entered the scout-boatand repaired to Krechovski.

  "Colonel," said he, "those are the cannon of Kudak! What are we to do?"

  "Stop your boats. We will spend the night in the reeds."

  "Apparently Hmelnitski is besieging the fortress. In my opinion weought to hurry to the relief."

  "I do not ask you for opinions, but give orders. I am the commander."

  "But, Colonel--"

  "Halt and wait!" said Krechovski. But seeing that the energetic Germanwas twitching his beard and not thinking of going away without areason, he added more mildly: "The castellan may come up to-morrowmorning with the cavalry, and the fortress will not be taken in onenight."

  "But if he does not come up?"

  "Well, we will wait even two days. You don't know Kudak. They willbreak their teeth on the walls, and I will not go to relieve the placewithout the castellan, for I have not the right to do so. That is hisaffair."

  Every reason seemed to be on Krechovski's side. Flick thereforeinsisted no longer, and withdrew to his Germans. After a while theboats began to approach the right bank and push into the reeds, thatfor a width of more than forty rods covered the river, which had spreadwidely in that part. Finally the plash of oars stopped; the boats werehidden entirely in the reeds, and the river appeared to be whollydeserted. Krechovski forbade the lighting of fires, singing of songs,and conversation. Hence there fell upon the place a quiet unbroken saveby the distant cannon of Kudak.

  Still no one in the boats except Barabash slept. Flick, a knightly manand eager for battle, wished to hurry straight to Kudak. The Cossacksasked one another in a whisper what might happen to the fortress. Wouldit hold out or would it not hold out? Meanwhile the noise increasedevery moment. All were convinced that the castle was meeting a violentassault.

  "Hmelnitski isn't joking; but Grodzitski isn't joking, either,"whispered the Cossacks. "What will come tomorrow?"

  Krechovski was probably asking himself the very same question, as,sitting in the prow of his boat, he fell into deep thought. He knewHmelnitski intimately and of old. Up to that time he had alwaysconsidered him a man of uncommon gifts, to whom only a field waswanting to soar like an eagle; but now Krechovski doubted him. Thecannon thundered unceasingly; therefore it must be that Hmelnitski wasreally investing Kudak.

  "If that is true," thought Krechovski, "he is lost. How is it possible,having roused the Zaporojians and secured the assistance of the Khan,having assembled forces such as none of the Cossack leaders hashitherto commanded, instead of marching with all haste to the Ukraine,rousing the people and attaching to himself the town Cossacks, breakingthe hetmans as quickly as possible, and gaining the whole countrybefore new troops could come to its defence, that he, Hmelnitski, anold soldier, is storming an impregnable fortress, capable of detaininghim for a whole year? And is he willing that his best forces shouldbreak themselves on the walls of Kudak, as a wave of the Dnieper isdashed on the rocks of the Cataracts? And will he wait under Kudak tillthe hetmans are reinforced and surround him, like Nalivaika atSolonitsa?"

  "If he does, he is a lost man," repeated Krechovski once more. "His ownCossacks will give him up. The unsuccessful assault will causediscontent and disorder. The spark of rebellion will go out at its verybirth, and Hmelnitski will be no more terrible than a sword broken atthe hilt. He is a fool! Therefore," thought Krechovski, "to-morrow Iwill land my Cossacks and Germans on the bank, and the following nightwill fall on him unexpectedly, when he is weakened by assaults. I willcut the Zaporojians to pieces, and throw down Hmelnitski bound at thefeet of the hetman. It is his own fault, for it might have beenotherwise."

  The unbridled ambition of Krechovski soared on the wings of a falcon.He knew well that young Pototski could not arrive on the followingnight by any possibility. Who, then, was to sever the head of thehydra? Krechovski! Who was to put down the rebellion which might wrapthe whole Ukraine in a terrible conflagration? Krechovski! The oldhetman might be angry for a while that this had taken place without theparticipation of his son; but he would soon get over that, andmeanwhile all the rays of glory and the favors of the kin
g woulddescend on the conqueror's head. No! It would be necessary, however, todivide the glory with old Barabash and with Grodzitski.

  Krechovski scowled darkly; but suddenly his face grew bright. "Theywill bury that old block Barabash in the ground to-morrow or next day.Grodzitski, if he can only remain at Kudak to frighten the Tartars fromtime to time with his cannon, will ask for no more. Krechovski alonewill remain. If he can only become hetman of the Ukraine!"

  The stars twinkled in the sky, and it appeared to the colonel thatthose were the jewels in his baton; the wind sounded in the reeds, andit seemed to him the rustling of the hetman's standard. The guns ofKudak thundered unceasingly.

  "Hmelnitski has given his throat to the sword," continued the colonelin thought, "but that is his own fault. It might have been otherwise.If he had gone straight to the Ukraine, it might have been otherwise.There all is seething and roaring; there lies powder, only waiting fora spark. The Commonwealth is powerless, but it has forces in theUkraine; the king is not young, and is sickly. One battle won by theZaporojians will bring incalculable results."

  Krechovski covered his face with his hands, and sat motionless. Thestars came down nearer and nearer, and settled gradually on the steppe.The quail hidden in the grass began to call. Soon the day would break.

  At last the meditations of the colonel became strengthened into a fixedpurpose. Next day he would strike Hmelnitski and grind him in the dust.Over his body he would go to wealth and dignities. He would be theinstrument of punishment in the hands of the Commonwealth, itsdefender, in the future its dignitary and senator. After victory overthe Zaporojians and the Tartars they would refuse him nothing.

  Still, they had not given him the starostaship of Lita. When heremembered this, Krechovski clenched his fists. They had not given himthis, in spite of the powerful influence of his protectors thePototskis, in spite of his military services, simply because he was anew man and his rival drew his origin from princes. In thatCommonwealth it was not enough to be a noble, it was necessary to waittill that nobility was covered with must like old wine, till it wasrusty like iron.

  Hmelnitski alone could introduce a new order of things, to which theking himself would become favorable; but the unfortunate man hadpreferred to beat out his brains against the walls of Kudak.

  The colonel gradually grew calm. They had refused him thestarostaship,--what of that? They would strive all the more torecompense him, especially after his victory,--after quenching therebellion, after freeing the Ukraine from civil war, yes, the wholeCommonwealth! They would refuse him nothing; then he would not needeven the Pototskis.

  His drowsy head inclined upon his breast, and he fell asleep, dreamingof starostaships, of dignities, of grants from the king and the Diet.

  When he woke it was daybreak. In the boats all were still sleeping. Inthe distance the waters of the Dnieper were gleaming in a pale,fugitive light. Around them reigned absolute stillness. It was thestillness that roused him. The cannon of Kudak had ceased to roar.

  "What is that?" thought Krechovski. "The first attack is repulsed, ormaybe Kudak is taken?"

  But that was unlikely. No; the beaten Cossacks were lying somewhere ata distance from the fortress, licking their wounds, and the one-eyedGrodzitski was looking at them through the port-hole, aiming his gunsanew. To-morrow they would repeat the storm, and again break theirteeth. The day had now come. Krechovski roused the men in his own boat,and sent a boat for Flick. Flick came at once.

  "Colonel," said Krechovski, "if the castellan does not come beforeevening, and if the storm is repeated during the night, we will move tothe relief of the fortress."

  "My men are ready," answered Flick.

  "Issue powder and balls to them."

  "I have done so."

  "We land during the night and go by the steppe in the greatest quiet.We will come upon them with a surprise."

  "Gut! sehr gut! But mightn't we go on a little in the boats? It istwenty miles to the fortress,--rather far for infantry."

  "The infantry will mount Cossack horses."

  "Gut! sehr gut!"

  "Let the men lie quietly in the reeds, not go on shore; make no noise,kindle no fires, for smoke would betray us. We must not be revealed."

  "There is such a fog that the smoke will not be seen."

  Indeed the river, the inlet overgrown with reeds, in which the boatswere hidden, and the steppe were covered as far as the eye could seewith a white, impenetrable fog. But it was only the beginning of day;so the fog might rise and uncover the expanse of the steppe.

  Flick departed. The men in the boats woke gradually. Krechovski'scommands to keep quiet and take the morning meal without tumult weremade known. No person going along the shore or sailing in the middle ofthe river would have even imagined that in the adjoining thicketseveral thousand men were hidden. The horses were fed from the hand, sothat they should not neigh. The boats, covered with fog, lay tied up inthe reeds. Here and there only passed a small two-oared boat carryingbiscuits and commands; with this exception, the silence of the gravereigned everywhere.

  Suddenly in the reeds, rushes, and shore-grass all around the inletwere heard strange and very numerous voices, calling,--

  "Pugu! pugu!"

  Then quiet."Pugu! pugu!"

  And again silence, as if those voices, calling on the banks, waited foran answer.

  But there was no answer. The calling sounded a third time, but morequickly and impatiently.

  "Pugu! pugu!"

  This time from the side of the boats was heard in the middle of the fogthe voice of Krechovski,--

  "But who is there?"

  "A Cossack from the meadows."

  The hearts of the Cossacks hidden in the boats beat unquietly. Thatmysterious call was well known to them. In that manner the Zaporojianamade themselves known to one another in their winter quarters; in thatway in time of war they asked to conference their brothers, theregistered and town Cossacks, among whom were many belonging in secretto the Brotherhood.

  The voice of Krechovski was heard again; "What do you want?"

  "Bogdan Hmelnitski, the Zaporojian hetman, announces that his cannonare turned on the Poles."

  "Inform the Zaporojian hetman that ours are tamed to the shore."

  "Pugu! Pugu!"

  "What more do you want?"

  "Bogdan Hmelnitski, the Zaporojian hetman, invites his friend ColonelKrechovski to a conference."

  "Let him give hostages."

  "Ten kuren atamans."

  "Agreed."

  That moment the shores of the inlet bloomed with Zaporojians as if withflowers; they stood up from the grass in which they had been hidden.From the steppe approached their cavalry and artillery, tens andhundreds of their banners, flags, and bunchuks. They marched withsinging and beating of kettledrums. All this was rather like a joyfulgreeting than a collision of hostile forces.

  The Cossacks on the river answered with shouts. Meanwhile boats came upbringing the kuren atamans. Krechovski entered one of the boats andwent to the shore. There a horse was given him, and he was conductedimmediately to Hmelnitski.

  Seeing him, Hmelnitski removed his cap, and then greeted him cordially.

  "Colonel," said he, "my old friend and comrade! When the hetman of thecrown commanded you to seize me and bring me to the camp, you did notdo it, but you warned me so that I might save myself by flight; forthat act I am bound to you in thankfulness and brotherly love."

  While saying this he stretched out his hand kindly; but the swarthyface of Krechovski remained cold as ice. "Now, therefore, after youhave saved yourself, worthy hetman, you excite rebellion!"

  "I go to ask reparation for the wrongs inflicted on myself, on you, onthe whole Ukraine, with the charter of Cossack rights granted by theking in my hand, and with the hope that our merciful sovereign will notcount it evil in me."

  Krechovski looked quickly into the eyes of Hmelnitski, and asked withemphasis: "Have you invested Kudak?"

  "I? Do you think I have lost my mi
nd? I passed Kudak without a shot,though the old blind man celebrated it with guns. I was hurrying not toKudak, but to the Ukraine, and to you, my old friend and benefactor."

  "What do you wish, then, of me?"

  "Come a little way in the steppe, and we will talk."

  They spurred their horses, and rode on. They remained about an hour. Onreturning, the face of Krechovski was pale and terrible. He took quickfarewell of Hmelnitski, who said,--

  "There will be two of us in the Ukraine, and above us the king, and noman else."

  Krechovski turned to the boats. Old Barabash, Flick, and the elderswaited for him with impatience. "What's going on? What's going on?" hewas asked on every side.

  "Come out on the shore!" answered Krechovski, with a commanding voice.

  Barabash raised his sleepy lids; a certain wonderful fire was gleamingin his eyes. "How is that?" asked he.

  "Come to the shore; we yield!"

  A wave of blood rushed to the pale and faded face of Barabash. He rosefrom the kettle on which he had been sitting, straightened himself up,and suddenly that bent and decrepit old man was changed into a giantfull of life and power.

  "Treason!" roared he.

  "Treason!" repeated Flick, grasping after the hilt of his rapier.

  But before he could draw it Krechovski's sabre whistled, and with oneblow Flick was stretched on the ground. Then Krechovski sprang into thescout-boat standing there, in which four Zaporojians were sitting withoars in their hands, and cried: "To the boats!"

  The scout-boat shot on like an arrow. Krechovski, standing in thecentre of it, with his cap on his bloody sabre, his eyes like flames,cried with a mighty voice,--

  "Children, we will not murder our own. Long life to Hmelnitski, theZaporojian hetman!"

  "Long life!" repeated hundreds and thousands of voices.

  "Destruction to the Poles!"

  "Destruction!"

  The roar from the boats answered the shouts of the Zaporojians on land.But many men in the boats did not know what was going on till the newsspread everywhere that Krechovski had gone over to the Zaporojians. Aregular furor of joy seized the Cossacks. Six thousand caps flew intothe air; six thousand muskets roared. The boats trembled under the feetof the brave fellows. A tumult and uproar set in. But that joy had tobe sprinkled with blood; for old Barabash preferred to die rather thanbetray the flag under which he had served a lifetime. A few tens of themen of Cherkasi declared for him, and a struggle began, short butterrible,--like all struggles in which a handful of men, asking notquarter but death, defend themselves in a mass. Neither Krechovski norany one of the Cossacks expected such resistance. The lion of otherdays was roused in the old colonel. The summons to lay down his arms heanswered with shots; and he was seen, with baton in hand and streamingwhite hair, giving orders with a voice of thunder and the energy ofyouth. His boat was surrounded on every side. The men of those boatswhich could not press up jumped into the water, and by swimming orwading among the reeds, and then seizing the edge of the boat, climbedit with fury. The resistance was short. The faithful Cossacks ofBarabash, stabbed, cut to pieces, torn asunder with hands, lay dead inthe boat. The old man with sabre in hand defended himself yet.

  Krechovski pushed forward toward him. "Yield!" shouted he.

  "Traitor! destruction!" answered Barabash, raising his sabre to strike.

  Krechovski drew back quickly into the crowd. "Strike!" cried he to theCossacks.

  It seemed that no one wished to raise his hand first on the old man.But unfortunately the colonel slipped in blood and fell. When lying hedid not rouse that respect or that fear, and immediately a number oflances were buried in his body. The old man was able only to cry:"Jesus, Mary!"

  They began to cut the prostrate body to pieces. The severed head washurled from boat to boat, like a ball, until by an awkward throw itfell into the water.

  There still remained the Germans, with whom the settlement was moredifficult, for the regiment was composed of one thousand old soldierstrained in many wars. The valiant Flick had fallen, it is true, by thehand of Krechovski, but there remained at the head of the regimentJohann Werner, lieutenant-colonel, a veteran of the Thirty Years' War.

  Krechovski was certain of victory, for the German boats were hemmed inon every side by the Cossacks; still he wished to preserve forHmelnitski such a respectable reinforcement of incomparable infantry,splendidly armed, therefore he preferred to begin a parley with them.

  It seemed for a time that Werner would agree, for he conversed calmlywith Krechovski and listened attentively to promises of which thefaithless colonel was not sparing. The pay in which the Commonwealthwas in arrears was to be paid on the spot, and an additional year inadvance. At the expiration of the year the soldiers might go where theypleased, even to the camp of the king.

  Werner, appeared to meditate over these conditions, but meanwhile hehad quietly issued a command for the boats to press up to him, so thatthey formed a close circle. On the edge of that circle stood a wall ofinfantry,--well-grown and powerful men, dressed in yellow coats andcaps of the same color, in perfect battle-array, with the left footforward and muskets at the right side ready to fire. Werner stood inthe first rank with drawn sword, and meditated long; at last he raisedhis head.

  "Colonel, we agree!"

  "You will lose nothing in your new service," cried Krechovski, withjoy.

  "But on condition--"

  "I agree to that, besides."

  "If that is true, then all is settled. Our service with theCommonwealth ends in three months. At the end of three months we willgo over to you."

  A curse was leaving Krechovski's mouth, but he restrained the outburst."Are you joking, worthy lieutenant?"

  "No!" answered Werner, phlegmatically; "our soldierly honor commands usto keep our agreement. Our service ends in three months. We serve formoney, but we are not traitors. If we were, nobody would hire us, andyou yourselves would not trust us; for who could guarantee that weshould not go over again to the hetmans in the first battle?"

  "What do you want, then?"

  "We want you to let us go."

  "Why, you crazy man, that is impossible! I shall order you to be cut topieces."

  "And how many of your own will you lose?"

  "A foot of you will not leave here!"

  "And half of your men will not remain."

  Both spoke the truth; therefore Krechovski, although the coolness ofthe German roused all his blood, and rage began to overpower him, didnot wish to begin the battle for a while.

  "Till the sun leaves the inlet," said he, "think the matter over; afterthat I will give the order to touch the triggers!"

  And he went off hurriedly in his boat to counsel with Hmelnitski.

  The silence of expectation began. The Cossack boats surrounded in adense circle the Germans, who maintained the cool bearing possible onlyto old and experienced soldiers in the presence of danger. To thethreats and insults which burst out on them every moment from theCossack boats, they answered with contemptuous silence. It was in truthan imposing spectacle,--that calm in the midst of increasing outburstsof rage on the part of the Cossacks, who, shaking their lances andmuskets threateningly, gnashed their teeth and, cursing, waitedimpatiently the signal for battle.

  Meanwhile the sun, turning from the south to the west, removedgradually its golden rays from the inlet, which was slowly covered withshade. At length it was completely covered. Then the trumpet began tosound, and immediately after the voice of Krechovski was heard in thedistance,--

  "The sun has gone down! Have you decided yet?"

  "We have!" answered Werner. And turning to the soldiers, he waved hisnaked sword. "Fire!" commanded he, with a quiet phlegmatic voice.

  There was a roar! The plash of bodies falling into the water, the criesof rage, and rapid firing answered the voice of German muskets. Cannondrawn up on shore answered with a deep roar, and began to hurl balls onthe German boats. Smoke covered the inlet completely, and only theregular salvos of the muske
ts amidst the shouts, roaring, whistle ofTartar arrows, and the rattle of guns and muskets, announced that theGermans were still defending themselves.

  At sunset the battle was still raging, but appeared to be weaker.Hmelnitski, with his companions Krechovski, Tugai Bey, and someatamans, came to the shore to observe the struggle. The dilatednostrils of the hetman inhaled the smoke of powder, and his ears tookin with pleasure the sound of the drowning and dying Germans. All threeof the leaders looked on the slaughter as on a spectacle, which at thesame time was a favorable omen for them.

  The struggle was coming to an end. As the musketry ceased, the shoutsof Cossack triumph rose louder and louder to the sky.

  "Tugai Bey," said Hmelnitski, "this is our first victory."

  "There are no captives!" blurted out the murza. "I want no suchvictories as this!"

  "You will get captives in the Ukraine. You will fill all Stamboul andGalata with your prisoners!"

  "I will take even you, if there is no one else!" Having said this, thewild Tugai Bey laughed ominously; then he added: "Still I should beglad to have those 'Franks.'"

  The battle had ended. Tugai Bey turned his horse to the camp.

  "Now for Joltiya Vodi!" cried Hmelnitski.