CHAPTER XXVIII.
A day later, when the army halted in Ryltsoff, the prince summoned PanYan and said,--
"Our forces are weak and worn out, but Krivonos has sixty thousand, andhis army is increasing every day, for the mob is coming to him.Besides, I cannot, depend on the voevoda of Kieff, for he belongs atheart to the peace party. He marches with me, it is true, butunwillingly. We must have reinforcements from some source. I learned alittle while ago that not far from Konstantinoff there are twocolonels,--Osinski with the royal guard, and Koritski. Take one hundredCossacks of my guard, for safety, and go to these colonels with aletter from me, asking them to come here without delay, for in a coupleof days I shall fall upon Krivonos. No one has acquitted himself ofimportant missions better than you, therefore I send you; and this isan important mission."
Skshetuski bowed, and set out that evening for Konstantinoff, going atnight so as to pass unnoticed; for here and there the scouts ofKrivonos or squads of peasants were circling about. These formed robberbands in the forests and on the roads; but the prince gave orders toavoid battles, so that there should be no delay. Marching quietlytherefore, he reached Visovati at daylight, where he found bothcolonels, and was greatly rejoiced at the sight of them. Osinski had apicked regiment of dragoons of the guard, trained in foreign fashion,and Germans. Koritski had a regiment of German infantry, composedalmost entirely of veterans of the Thirty Years' War. These weresoldiers so terrible and skilful that in the hands of the colonel theyacted like one swordsman. Both regiments were well armed and equipped.When they heard of joining the prince, they raised shouts of joy atonce, as they were yearning for battles, and knew too that under noother leader could they have so many. Unfortunately both colonels gavea negative answer; for both belonged to the command of Prince DominikZaslavski, and had strict orders not to join Vishnyevetski. In vain didSkshetuski tell them of the glory they might win under such a leader,and what great service they could render the country. They would notlisten, declaring that obedience was the first law and obligation formilitary men. They said they could join the prince only in case thesafety of their regiments demanded it.
Pan Yan went away deeply grieved, for he knew how painful this freshdisappointment would be to the prince, and how greatly his forces werewearied and worn by campaigning, by continual struggling with theenemy, scattering isolated detachments, and finally by continualwakefulness, hunger, and bad weather. To measure himself in theseconditions with an enemy tenfold superior in number would beimpossible. Skshetuski saw clearly, therefore, that there must be delayin acting against Krivonos; for it was necessary to give a longer restto the army and to wait for a new accession of nobles to the camp.
Occupied with these thoughts, Skshetuski went back to the prince at thehead of his Cossacks. He was obliged to go cautiously and at night, soas to escape the scouts of Krivonos and the numerous independent bands,made up of Cossacks and peasants,--sometimes very strong,--which ragedin that neighborhood, burning dwellings, cutting down nobles, andhunting fugitives along the highroads. He passed Baklai and entered theforests of Mshyna,--dense, full of treacherous ravines and valleys.Happily he was favored on the road by good weather after the recentrains. It was a glorious night in July, moonless, but crowded withstars. The Cossacks went along in a narrow trail, guided by theforesters of Mshyna,--very trusty men, knowing the forests perfectly.Deep silence reigned among the trees, broken only by the cracking ofdry twigs under the horses' hoofs,--when suddenly there came to theears of Pan Yan and the Cossacks a kind of distant murmur, like singinginterrupted by cries.
"Listen!" said the lieutenant, in a low voice; and he stopped the lineof Cossacks. "What is that?"
The old forester bent forward to him. "Those are crazy people who gothrough the woods now and scream. Their heads are turned from cruelty.Yesterday we met a noblewoman who was going around looking at the pinesand crying, 'Children! children!' It is evident that the peasants hadkilled her children. She stared at us and whined so that our legstrembled under us. They say that in all the forests there are manysuch."
Though Pan Yan was a fearless man, a shudder passed over him from headto foot. "Maybe it is the howling of wolves. It is difficult todistinguish."
"What wolves? There are no wolves in the woods now; they have all goneto the villages, where there are plenty of dead men."
"Awful times!" answered the knight, "when wolves live in the villages,and people go howling through the woods! Oh, God, God!"
After a while silence came again. There was nothing to be heard but thesounds usual among the tops of the pine-trees. Soon, however, thosedistant sounds rose and became more distinct.
"Oh!" said one of the foresters, suddenly, "it seems as though somelarge body of men were over there. You stay here; move on slowly. Iwill go with my companions to see who they are."
"Go!" said Skshetuski. "We will wait here."
The foresters disappeared. They did not return for about an hour.Skshetuski was beginning to be impatient, and indeed to think oftreason, when suddenly some one sprang out of the darkness.
"They are there!" said he, approaching the lieutenant.
"Who?"
"A peasant band."
"Many of them?"
"About two hundred. It is not clear what is best to do, for they are ina pass through which our road lies. They have a fire, though the lightis not to be seen, for it is below. They have no guards, and can beapproached within arrow-shot."
"All right!" said Skshetuski; and turning to the Cossacks, he began togive orders to the two principal ones.
The party moved on briskly, but so quietly that only the cracking oftwigs could betray their march. Stirrup did not touch stirrup; therewas no clattering of sabres. The horses, accustomed to surprises andattacks, went with a wolfs gait, without snorting or neighing. Arrivingat the place where the road made a sudden turn, the Cossacks saw atonce, from a distance, fires and the indefinite outlines of people.Here Skshetuski divided his men into three parties,--one remained onthe spot; the second went by the edge along the ravine, so as to closethe opposite exit; the third dismounted, and crawling along on handsand feet, placed themselves on the very edge of the precipice above theheads of the peasants.
Skshetuski, who was in the second party, looking down, saw as if on thepalm of his hand a whole camp, two or three hundred yards distant.There were ten fires, but burning not very brightly; over these hungkettles with food. The odor of smoke and of boiling meat camedistinctly to the nostrils of Skshetuski and the Cossacks. Around thekettles peasants were standing or lying, drinking and talking. Some hadbottles of vudka in their hands; others were leaning on pikes, on theends of which were empaled as trophies the heads of men, women, andchildren. The gleam of the fire was reflected in their lifeless eyesand grinning teeth; the same gleam lighted up the faces of thepeasants, wild and cruel. There, under the wall of the ravine, a numberof them slept, snoring audibly; some talked; some stirred the fire,which then shot up clusters of golden sparks. At the largest fire sat,with his back to the ravine and to Skshetuski, a broad-shoulderedold minstrel, who was thrumming on his lyre; in front of him was ahalf-circle of peasants. To the ears of Skshetuski came the followingwords:
"Ai! grandfather,--sing about the Cossack Holota!"
"No," cried the others; "sing of Marusia Boguslavka!"
"To the devil with Marusia! About the lord of Potok! About the lord ofPotok!" shouted the greatest number of voices.
The "grandfather" struck his lyre with more force, coughed, and beganto sing,--
"Halt! look around! stand in amaze, thou who art master of many! Since thou wilt be equal to him who is owner of nothing on earth; For he who moves all things is manager now, the mighty, the merciful God! And he puts on his scales all our woes, and he weighs them to know. Halt! look around! stand in amaze, thou who dost soar, With thy mind seeing wisdom down deep and afar!"
The minstrel was silent, and sighed; and after him the peasants sig
hed.Every moment more of them collected around him. But Skshetuski, thoughhe knew that all his men must be ready now, did not give the signal forattack. The calm night, the blazing fires, the wild figures, and thesong about Nikolai Pototski, still unfinished, roused in the knightcertain wonderful thoughts, certain feelings and yearnings of which hecould not himself give account. The uncured wounds of his heart opened;deep sorrow for the near past, for lost happiness, for those hours ofquiet and peace, pressed his heart. He fell to thinking, and was sad.Then the "grandfather" sang on,--
"Halt! look around! stand in amaze, thou who mak'st war With arrows, bows, powder, and ball, with the sharp-cutting sword! For knights, too, and horsemen, before thee were many, Who fought with such weapons and fell by the sword. Halt! look around! stand in amaze, forget thou thy pride! Thou who from Potok to Slavuta farest, turn then this way. Innocent men thou tak'st by the ears and stripp'st them of will; Thou heedest no king, thou knowest no Diet, art thy own single law; Hei! be amazed, grow not enraged! thou in thy power, With thy baton alone, as thou lustest, thou turnest the whole Polish land."
The "grandfather" stopped again, and at that time a pebble slipped fromunder the arm of one of the Cossacks, which had been resting on it, andbegan to roll down, rattling as it fell. A number of peasants shadedtheir eyes with their hands, and looked up quickly into the tree; thenSkshetuski saw that the time had come, and fired his pistol into themiddle of the crowd.
"Kill! slash!" cried he. Thirty Cossacks fired as it were straight intothe faces of the crowd, and after the firing slipped like lightningdown the steep walls of the ravine, among the terrified and confusedpeasants.
"Kill! slay!" was thundered at one end of the ravine.
"Kill! slay!" was repeated by furious voices at the other end.
"Yeremi! Yeremi!"
The attack was so unexpected, the terror so great, that the peasants,though armed, offered no resistance. It had been related in the camp ofthe rebellious mob that Yeremi, by the aid of the evil spirit, was ableto be present and to fight at the same time in a number of places.This time, his name falling upon men who expected nothing and feltsafe--really like the name of an evil spirit--snatched the weapons fromtheir hands. Besides, the pikes and scythes could not be used in thenarrow place; so that, driven like a flock of sheep to the oppositewall of the ravine, hewn down with sabres through the foreheads andfaces, beaten, cut up, trampled under foot, in the madness of fear theystretched out their hands, and seizing the merciless steel, perished.The still forest was filled with the ominous uproar of the fight. Sometried to escape over the steep wall of the ravine, and wounding theirhands with climbing, fell back on the sabre's edge. Some died calmly,others cried for mercy; some covered their faces with their hands, notwishing to see the moment of death; others threw themselves on theground, face downward; but above the whistling of sabres, the groans ofthe dying, rose the shout of the assailants, "Yeremi! Yeremi!"--a shoutwhich made the hair stand erect on the heads of the peasants, and deathseem more terrible.
The minstrel gave a blow on the forehead to one of the Cossacks, andknocked him down; seized another by the hand, to stop the blow of thesabre, and bellowed from fear like a buffalo. Others, seeing him, ranup to cut him to pieces; but Skshetuski interfered.
"Take him alive!" shouted he.
"Stop!" roared the minstrel. "I am a noble. Loquor latine! I am nominstrel. Stop, I tell you! Robbers, bullock-drivers, sons of--"
But the minstrel had not yet finished his litany when Pan Yan lookedinto his face, and cried, till the walls of the ravine gave back theecho, "Zagloba!" And suddenly rushing upon him like a wild beast, hedrove his fingers into the shoulders and thrust his face up to the faceof the man, and shaking him as he would a pear-tree, roared: "Where isthe princess? where is the princess?"
"Alive, well, safe!" roared back the minstrel; "unhand me! The deviltake you, you are shaking the soul out of me!"
Then that knight, whom neither captivity nor wounds nor grief nor theterrible Burdabut could bring down, was brought down by happiness. Hishands dropped at his side, great drops of sweat came out on hisforehead; he fell on his knees, covered his face with his hands, andleaning his head against the wall of the ravine, remained in silence,evidently thanking God.
Meanwhile the unfortunate peasants had been slaughtered, and were lyingdead on the ground, except a few who were bound for the executioner inthe camp so as to torture a confession from them. The struggle wasover, the uproar at an end. The Cossacks gathered around their leader,and seeing him kneeling under the rock, looked at him with concern, notknowing but he was wounded. He rose, however, with a face as bright asthough the light of morning were shining in his soul.
"Where is she?" asked he of Zagloba.
"In Bar."
"Safe?"
"The castle is a strong one; no attack is feared. She is under the careof Pani Slavoshevska and with the nuns."
"Praise be to God in the highest!" said the knight; and in his voicethere trembled deep emotion. "Give me your hand; I thank you from myvery soul."
Suddenly he turned to the Cossacks. "Are there many prisoners?"
"Seventeen."
"A great joy has met me, and mercy is in me," said Pan Yan. "Let thembe free!"
The Cossacks could not believe their ears. There was no such custom asthat in the armies of Vishnyevetski.
The lieutenant frowned slightly. "Let them go free!" he repeated.
The Cossacks went away; but after a while the first essaul returned andsaid: "They do not believe as; they do not dare to go."
"Are their bonds loose?"
"Yes."
"Then leave them here, and to horse yourselves!"
Half an hour later the party was moving on again along the quiet,narrow road. The moon had risen, and sent long white streaks to thecentre of the forest and lighted its dark depths. Zagloba andSkshetuski, riding ahead, conversed together.
"But tell me everything about her that you know," said the knight."Then you rescued her from the hands of Bogun?"
"Of course; and besides, when going away, I bound up his face so thathe could not scream."
"Well, you acted splendidly, as God is dear to me! But how did you getto Bar?"
"That IS a long story, better at another time; for I am terribly tired,and my throat is dried up from singing to those rapscallions. Haven'tyou anything to drink?"
"I have a little flask of gorailka; here it is."
Zagloba seized the flask and raised it to his mouth. A protractedgurgling was heard; and Pan Yan, impatient, without waiting the end,inquired further: "Did you say well?"
"What a question!" answered Zagloba; "everything is well in a drythroat."
"But I was inquiring about the princess."
"Oh, the princess! She is as well as a deer."
"Praise be to God on high! And she is comfortable in Bar?"
"As comfortable as in heaven,--couldn't be more so. Every one cleavesto her for her beauty. Pani Slavoshevska loves her as her own daughter.And how many men are in love with her! You couldn't count them on arosary. But she, in constant love for you, thinks as much of them as Ido now of this empty flask of yours."
"May God give health to her, the dearest!" said Skshetuski, joyfully."Then she remembers me with pleasure?"
"Remembers you? I tell you that I myself couldn't understand where shegot breath for so many sighs; these sighs made every one pity her, andmost of all the little nuns, for she brought them to her side throughher sweetness. Then she sent me too into these dangers, in which I havealmost lost my life, to find you without fail and see if you were aliveand well. She tried several times to send messengers, but no one wouldgo. At last I took pity on her, and set out for your camp. If it hadn'tbeen for the disguise, I should have laid down my head surely. But thepeasants took me for a minstrel everywhere, as I sing verybeautifully."
Skshetuski became silent from joy. A thousand thoughts andreminiscences thronged into his head. Helena
stood as if living beforehim, as he had seen her the last time in Rozlogi, just before leavingfor the Saitch,--charming, beautiful, graceful, and with those eyesblack as velvet, full of unspeakable allurement. It seemed to him thathe saw her, felt the warmth beating from her cheeks, heard her sweetvoice. He recalled that walk in the cherry-garden and the cuckoo, andthose questions which he gave the bird, and the bashfulness of Helena.Indeed the soul went out of him; his heart grew weak from love and joy,in presence of which all his past sufferings were like a drop in thesea. He did not know himself what was happening to him. He wanted toshout, fall on his knees and thank God again, then inquire without end.At last he began to repeat:--
"She is alive, well?"
"Alive, well," answered Zagloba, like an echo.
"And she sent you out?"
"Yes."
"And you have got a letter?"
"I have."
"Give it to me."
"It is sewed into my clothes; besides, it is night now. Restrainyourself."
"I cannot. You see yourself."
"I see."
Zagloba's answers became more and more laconic; at last he nodded acouple of times and fell asleep.
Skshetuski saw there was no help; therefore he gave himself up again tomeditation, which was interrupted after a while by the tramp of aconsiderable body of cavalry approaching quickly. It was Ponyatovskiwith Cossacks of the guard, whom the prince had sent out to meetSkshetuski, fearing lest some harm might have met him.
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