Ogniem i mieczem. English

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  CHAPTER LI.

  On the following day the commissioners had long consultations amongthemselves, whether to deliver the gifts of the king to Hmelnitskiimmediately or to wait till he should show greater obedience and acertain compunction. They decided to win him by kindness and the favorof the king. The delivery of the gifts was decided upon therefore, andon the following day that solemn act was accomplished. From earlymorning bells were tolled and cannon fired. Hmelnitski waited for thembefore his residence, in the midst of his colonels, all the officers,and countless throngs of Cossacks and people; for he wished that allshould see with what honor the king surrounded him. He took his seatupon a raised place under the standard and bunchuk, wearing a mantle ofpurple brocade lined with sable, having at his side ambassadors fromneighboring peoples. With his hand on his side, and feet resting on avelvet cushion trimmed with gold, he waited for the commissioners.

  In the throng of the assembled mob from moment to moment there escapedmurmurs of gladness and flattery at the sight of that leader in whomthis throng, valuing power above all things, saw the embodiment of thatpower. For only thus the imagination of the people could represent toitself its unconquerable champion,--the crusher of hetmans, dukes,nobles, and Poles in general, who up to his time had been clothed withthe charm of invincibility. During that year of battle Hmelnitski hadgrown old somewhat, but had not bent; his gigantic shoulders alwaysindicated power sufficient to overcome kingdoms or to found new ones;his enormous face, red from the abuse of drink, expressed unbendingwill, unrestrained pride, and an insolent confidence which gave himvictories. Storm and anger were slumbering in the wrinkles of thatface, and you could easily know that when they were roused men bentbefore their terrible breath like woods before a tempest. From hiseyes, surrounded by a red border, impatience was shooting that thecommissioners did not come quickly enough with the presents, and fromhis nostrils issued two rows of steam, like two pillars of smoke fromthe nostrils of Lucifer; and in that mist from his own lungs he sat,purple, gloomy, and proud, flanked by envoys, in the midst of hiscolonels, having around them a sea of the unclean mob.

  At last the commissioners' party appeared. In front marched drummersbeating their drums, and trumpeters with trumpets at their mouths andswollen cheeks, beating and blowing from the brass long sad sounds, asif at the funeral of the dignity and glory of the Commonwealth. Afterthis orchestra Kjetovski bore the baton on a satin cushion; Kulchinski,treasurer of Kieff, a crimson banner with an eagle and an inscription;and next walked Kisel alone, tall, slender, with a white beard flowingover his breast, with pain on his aristocratic face and unfathomablesuffering in his soul. A few steps behind the voevoda the rest of thecommissioners dropped in, and the rear was brought up by Bryshovski'sdragoons, under command of Pan Yan.

  Kisel walked slowly; for at that moment he saw clearly that behind thetorn tatters of negotiations, from under the pretext of offering thefavor and forgiveness of the king, another naked, disgusting truthpeered forth, which even the blind could see and the deaf could hear,for it shouted: "Thou, Kisel, art going not to offer favor; thou artgoing to beg for it, thou art going to buy it with that baton andbanner; and thou goest on foot to the feet of that peasant leader, inthe name of the whole Commonwealth,--thou a senator, a voevoda!" Forthis reason the soul was rent in the lord of Brusiloff, and he felt asmean as a worm, as lowly as dust; and in his ears the words of Yeremiwere roaring: "Better for us not to live, than to live in captivityunder peasants and trash." And what was he, Kisel, in comparison withthat prince of Lubni, who never showed himself to rebellion, exceptlike Jupiter with frowning brow, in the smell of sulphur, the flame ofwar, and the smoke of powder,--what was he? Under the weight of thesethoughts the heart of the voevoda was breaking, the smile had left hisface, and joy his heart forever, and he felt that he would rather ahundred times die than take another step; but he went on, for his wholepast pushed him forward,--all his labors, all his efforts, all theinexorable logic of his previous acts.

  Hmelnitski waited for him with hand on his side, with pouting lips andfrowning brow.

  The party approached at last. Kisel, moving to the front, made a fewsteps in advance toward the elevation. The drummers stopped drumming,the trumpeters blowing, and deep silence followed in the multitude.Only the frosty wind waved the crimson banner borne by Pan Kulchinski.

  Suddenly the silence was broken by a certain curt, emphatic, andcommanding voice, which sounded with the unspeakable power ofdesperation resembling nothing and no man: "Dragoons to the rear!follow me!" That was the voice of Pan Yan.

  All heads were turned toward him. Hmelnitski himself rose somewhat inhis seat to see what was taking place. The blood of the commissionersrushed to their faces. Skshetuski stood in his stirrups; erect, pale,with flashing eyes, naked sabre in his hand, half turned to thedragoons, he repeated again the thundering command: "Follow me!"

  Amidst the silence the hoofs of the horses clattered along the smoothsurface of the street. The disciplined dragoons turned their horses onthe spot; the colonel placed himself at their head, gave the sign withhis sword; the whole party moved slowly back to the residence of thecommissioners.

  Astonishment and uncertainty were depicted on all faces, not exceptingthat of Hmelnitski; for in the voice and motions of the colonel therewas something unusual. Still no one knew clearly whether that suddendisappearance of the escort did not belong to the ceremonial of theoccasion.

  Kisel alone understood that the treaty and the lives of thecommissioners together with the escort hung on a thread at that moment;therefore he stood on the elevation, and before Hmelnitski had time totake in what had happened, began to speak. First he offered the favorof the king to Hmelnitski and the whole Zaporojie. But suddenly hisspeech was interrupted by a new occurrence, which had only this goodside, that it turned attention entirely from the previous one.Daidyalo, an old colonel, standing near Hmelnitski, began to shake hisbaton before the voevoda, to gesticulate and cry,--

  "What do you say there, Kisel? The king is king, but you kinglets,princes, nobles, have involved everything. And you, Kisel, bone of ourbone, you have gone away from us, and stand with the Poles. We haveenough of your talk, for we will get what we want with the sabre."

  The voevoda looked with offended feeling into the eyes of Hmelnitski."Is this the discipline in which you keep your colonels?"

  "Be silent, Daidyalo!" cried the hetman.

  "Be silent, be silent! You are drunk, though it is early," repeated theother colonels. "Go away, or we will pull you out by the head!"

  Daidyalo wanted to clamor more, but they took him by the shoulders andput him outside the circle.

  The voevoda continued with smooth and chosen words, showing Hmelnitskihow great were the gifts which he was receiving; for he had the sign oflawful power, which hitherto he had exercised only as a usurper. Theking, being able to chastise, had preferred to forgive him, which hedid on account of the obedience which he had shown at Zamost, andbecause his previous acts were committed not during his reign. It wasproper therefore that he, Hmelnitski, having offended so much before,should prove thankful now for favor and clemency,--should stop theshedding of blood, pacify the peasants, and proceed to a treaty withthe commissioners.

  Hmelnitski received the baton in silence, and the banner, which heordered to be unfurled above his head. The mob, at sight of this, beganto howl with joyous voices, so that for a time nothing could be heard.Certain satisfaction was reflected on the face of the hetman, who,after he had waited awhile, said,--

  "For such great favor shown me by his Majesty the King through you insending me command over the forces, and overlooking my previous acts, Igive humble thanks. I have always said that the king was with meagainst you faithless dukes and kinglets; and the best proof is that hesends me satisfaction because I have cut your necks, and will furthercut them if you will not obey me and the king in everything."

  Hmelnitski spoke the last words in a loud voice, in a railing tone, andwrinkled his
brows as if anger had begun to rise in him. Thecommissioners grew rigid at such an unexpected turn in his answer; butKisel said,--

  "The king, mighty hetman, commands you to stop the shedding of blood,and to begin a treaty with us."

  "Blood is not shed by me, but by the Lithuanian forces," answered thehetman, harshly; "for I have intelligence that Radzivil has destroyedmy Mozir and Turoff. Should this prove true, then I have enough of yourprisoners,--distinguished prisoners,--and I will have their heads cutoff at once. I will not proceed to a treaty now. It is difficult tobegin at present, for the army is not assembled; there is only ahandful of colonels here, the rest being in winter quarters. I cannotbegin without them. Besides, what's the use of talking long in thefrost? What you had to give me you have given, and all men now see thatI am hetman from the hand of the king; and now come to me for a glassof gorailka and dinner, for I am hungry."

  Having said this, Hmelnitski moved toward his residence, and after himthe commissioners and colonels. In the great central room stood a tableready, bending under plundered silver, among which the voevoda, Kisel,might have found some of his own, taken the past year in Gushchi. Onthe table were piled up mountains of pork, beef, and Tartar pilav;throughout the whole room was an odor of millet vudka, served in silvergoblets. Hmelnitski took his place, with Kisel at his right andBjozovski at his left, and with his hand to the gorailka, said,--

  "They say in Warsaw that I drink Polish blood, but I prefer gorailka,leaving the other to the dogs."

  The colonels burst into laughter, from which the walls of the roomtrembled. Such an "appetizer" did the hetman give the commissionersbefore their dinner; and the commissioners gulped it without a word, inorder, as the chamberlain of Lvoff wrote, "not to anger the beast." Butperspiration in heavy drops covered the pale forehead of Kisel.

  The entertainment commenced. The colonels took pieces of meat from theplatters with their hands, the hetman himself placed pieces on theplates of Kisel and Bjozovski; and the first of the dinner passed insilence, for every one was satisfying his hunger. In the silence couldbe heard only the crunching of bones under the teeth of the company orthe gurgling of the drinkers. At times some one threw out a word whichremained without echo till Hmelnitski, who had first satisfied himselfsomewhat, and emptied a number of glasses of millet vudka, turnedsuddenly to the voevoda, and asked,--

  "Who was the leader of your company?"

  Disquiet was reflected on Kisel's face. "Skshetuski, an honorableknight."

  "I know him," said Hmelnitski; "and why did he not wish to be presentwhen you delivered the gifts to me?"

  "He was not associated with us for assistance, but for safety, and hehad an order to that effect."

  "And who gave him that order?"

  "I," answered the voevoda; "for I did not think that it was proper, atthe delivery of the gifts, that dragoons should be standing over thenecks of you and me."

  "I had another opinion, for I know that soldier is stubborn."

  Here Yashevski mixed in the conversation. "We don't care for thedragoons," said he. "We used to think Poles powerful through them; butwe discovered at Pilavtsi that they are not the Poles of other days,who beat the Turks, Tartars, and Germans."

  "Not Zamoiskis, Jolkyevskis, Khodkyevichi, Hmelyetskis, andKonyetspolskis," interrupted Hmelnitski, "but Chorzovskis andZaiontchkovskis,--big fellows, wrapped in iron; and they were dying ofterror as soon as they saw us, and ran off, though there were onlythree thousand Tartars in the place."

  The commissioners were silent, but the eating and drinking seemed tothem more and more bitter each moment.

  "I beg you humbly to drink and eat," said Hmelnitski, "or I shall thinkthat our simple Cossack fare cannot pass your lordly throats."

  "Oh, if they are too narrow we can slit them open a little," saidDaidyalo.

  The Cossacks, feeling encouraged, burst into laughter; but Hmelnitskilooked threateningly at them, and they grew silent again.

  Kisel, who had been ill several days, was pale as a sheet. Bjozovskiwas so red that it seemed as though the blood would burst through hisface. At last he could restrain himself no longer, and shouted,--

  "Have we come here to dine or to be insulted?"

  To this Hmelnitski answered: "You have come for a treaty; but meanwhilethe Lithuanian forces are burning and slaughtering. I hear they havedestroyed Mozir and Turoff; should this prove true, I shall order fourhundred captives to be beheaded in your presence."

  Bjozovski restrained his blood, boiling the moment before. It was true!The lives of the captives depended on the humor of the hetman,--on onetwinkle of his eye; therefore it was necessary to endure everything,and besides to calm his outbursts, to bring him "ad mitiorem etsaniorem mentem."

  In this spirit the Carmelite Lentovski, by nature mild and timid, saidin a quiet voice,--

  "May the God of mercy grant that the news from Lithuania about Mozirand Turoff may be changed!"

  But scarcely had he finished when Fedor Veshnyak, the colonel ofCherkasi, bent toward him and struck with his baton, wishing to hit theCarmelite on the neck. Fortunately he did not reach him, since therewere four men between them; but immediately he cried out,--

  "Wordy priest! it is not your affair to give the lie to me. But comeoutdoors, and I will show you how to respect Zaporojian colonels!"

  Others, however, hurried to quiet him; but not succeeding, they put himout of the room.

  "When, mighty hetman, do you wish that the commissioners should meet?"asked Kisel, wishing to give another turn to the conversation.

  Unfortunately Hmelnitski was no longer sober, therefore he gave a quickand biting answer,--

  "To-morrow will be business and discussion, for now I am in drink. Whydo you talk now of commissions; you do not give me time to eat anddrink. I have enough of this already! Now there must be war!" And hethumped the table till the dishes and cups jumped. "In those four weeksI'll turn you all feet upward and trample you, and sell the remnant tothe Turkish Tsar. The king will be king, so as to execute nobles,dukes, princes. If a prince offends, cut off his head; if a Cossackoffends, cut off his head! You threaten me with the Swedes, but theycannot stand before me. Tugai Bey is near me, my brother, my soul; theonly falcon in the world, he is ready at once to do everything that Iwish."

  Here Hmelnitski, with the rapidity peculiar to drunken men, passed fromanger to tenderness, till his voice trembled from emotion.

  "You wish me to raise my sabre against the Turks and Tartars, but invain. I'll go against you with my good friends. I have sent myregiments around so as to provender the horses and to be ready for theroad, without wagons, without cannon. I shall find all those among thePoles. I will order any Cossack to be beheaded who takes a wagon, and Iwill take no carriage myself, nothing but packs and bags; in thisfashion I will go to the Vistula and say: 'Poles, sit still and bequiet!' And if you say anything beyond the Vistula, then I'll find youthere. We have had enough of your lordship and your dragoons, youcursed reptiles living by injustice itself!"

  Here he sprang from his seat, pulled his hair, stamped with his feet,crying that there must be war, for he had already received absolutionand a blessing for it; he had nothing to do with commissions andcommissioners, he would not allow a suspension of arms.

  Seeing at length the terror of the commissioners, and recollecting thatif they went away at once, war would begin in the winter, consequentlyat a time when the Cossacks, not being able to entrench themselves,fought badly in the open field, he calmed down a little and again saton the bench, dropped his head on his breast, rested his hands on hisknees, and breathed hoarsely. Finally he took a glass of vudka.

  "To the health of the king!" cried he.

  "To his glory and health!" repeated the colonels.

  "Now, Kisel, don't be gloomy," said the hetman, "and don't take toheart what I say, for I've been drinking. Fortune-tellers inform methat there must be war, but I'll wait till next grass. Let there be acommission then; I will free the captives at that time. They tell
methat you are ill, so let this be to your health!"

  Again Hmelnitski dropped into momentary tenderness, and resting hishand on the shoulder of the voevoda brought his enormous red face tothe pale, emaciated cheeks of Kisel.

  After him came other colonels, and approaching the commissioners withfamiliarity shook their hands, clapped them on the shoulders, repeatedafter the hetman: "Till next grass." The commissioners were in torment.The peasant breaths, filled with the odor of gorailka, came upon thefaces of those nobles of high birth, for whom the pressure of thosesweating hands was as unendurable as an affront. Threatenings also werenot lacking among the expressions of vulgar cordiality. Some cried tothe voevoda: "We want to kill Poles, but you are our man!" Others said:"Well, in times past, you killed our people, now you ask favors!Destruction to you!" "You white hands!" cried Ataman Vovk, formerlymiller in Nestervar, "I slew my landlord. Prince Chertvertinski." "Giveus Yeremi," said Yashevski, rolling along, "and we will let you off!"

  It became stifling in the room and hot beyond endurance. The tablecovered with remnants of meat, fragments of bread, stained withvudka and mead, was disgusting. At last the fortune-tellers camein,--conjurers with whom the hetman usually drank till late at night,listening to their predictions,--strange forms, old, bent, yellow, orin the vigor of youth, soothsaying from wax, grains of wheat, fire,water, foam, from the bottom of a flask or from human fat. Among thecolonels and the youngest of them there was frolicking and laughing.Kisel came near fainting.

  "We thank you, Hetman, for the feast, and we bid you good-by," said he,with a weak voice.

  "Kisel, I will come to you to-morrow to dine," answered Hmelnitski,"and now return home. Donyets with his men will attend you, so thatnothing may happen to you from the crowd."

  The commissioners bowed and went out. Donyets with the Cossacks waswaiting at the door.

  "O God! O God! O God!" whispered Kisel, quietly, raising his hands tohis face.

  The party moved in silence to the quarters of the commissioners. But itappeared that they were not to stop near one another. Hmelnitski hadassigned them purposely quarters in different parts of the town, sothat they could not meet and counsel easily.

  Kisel, suffering, exhausted, barely able to stand, went to bedimmediately, and permitted no one to see him till the following day;then before noon he ordered Pan Yan to be called.

  "Have you acted wisely?" asked he. "What have you done? You might haveexposed our lives and your own to destruction."

  "Serene voevoda, mea culpa! but delirium carried me away, and Ipreferred to perish a hundred times rather than behold such things."

  "Hmelnitski saw the slight put on him, and I was barely able to pacifythe wild beast and explain your act. He will be with me to-day, andwill undoubtedly ask for you. Then tell him that you had an order fromme to lead away the soldiers."

  "From to-day forth Bjozovski takes the command, for he is well."

  "That is better; you are too stubborn for these times. It is difficultto blame you for anything in this act except lack of caution; but it isevident that you are young and cannot bear the pain that is in yourbreast."

  "I am accustomed to pain, serene voevoda, but I cannot enduredisgrace."

  Kisel groaned quietly, just like an invalid when touched on the sorespot. Then he smiled with a gloomy resignation, and said,--

  "Such words are daily bread for me, which for a long time I eatmoistened with bitter tears; but now the tears have failed me."

  Pity rose in Skshetuski's heart at the sight of this old man with hismartyr's face, who was passing the last days of his life in doublesuffering, for it was a suffering both of the mind and the body.

  "Serene voevoda," said he, "God is my witness that I was thinking onlyof these fearful times when senators and dignitaries of the Crown areobliged to bow down before the rabble, for whom the empaling stakeshould be the only return for their deeds."

  "God bless you, for you are young and honest. I know that you have noevil intention. But that which you say your prince says, and with himthe army, the nobles, the Diets, half the Commonwealth; and all thatburden of scorn and hatred falls upon me."

  "Each serves the country as he understands, and let God judgeintentions. As to Prince Yeremi, he serves the country with his healthand his property."

  "Applause surrounds him, and he walks in it as in the sunlight,"answered the voevoda. "And what comes to me? Oh, you have spokenjustly! Let God judge intentions, and may he give even a quiet grave tothose who in life suffer beyond measure."

  Skshetuski was silent, and Kisel raised his eyes in mute prayer. Aftera while he began to speak,--

  "I am a Russian, blood and bone. The tomb of the Princes Sviatoldovichilies in this land; therefore I have loved it and that people of Godwhom it nourishes at its breast. I have witnessed injuries committed byboth sides; I have seen the license of the wild Zaporojians, but alsothe unendurable insolence of those who tried to enslave that warlikepeople. What was I to do,--I, a Russian, and at the same time a trueson and senator of this Commonwealth? I joined myself to those who said'Pax vobiscum!' because my blood and my heart so enjoined; and amongthe men whom I joined were our father, the late king, the chancellor,the primate, and many others. I saw that for both sides dissension wasdestruction; I desired all my life to my last breath to labor forconcord; and when blood was already shed I thought to myself, 'I willbe an angel of union.' I continued to labor, and I labor still, thoughin pain, torment, and disgrace, and in doubt almost more terrible thanall. As God is dear to me, I know not now whether your prince came tooearly with his sword or I too late with the olive branch; but this Isee, that my work is breaking, that strength is wanting, that in vain Iknock my gray head against the wall, and going down to the grave I seeonly darkness before me, and destruction,--O God! destruction on everyside."

  "God will send salvation."

  "May he send a ray of it before my death, that I die not indespair!--this in return for all my sufferings. I will thank him forthe cross which I carry during life,--thank him because the mob cry formy head, because they call me a traitor at the Diets, because myproperty is plundered, and for the disgrace in which I live,--for allthe bitter reward which I have received from both sides."

  When he had finished speaking, the voevoda extended his dry handstoward heaven; and two great tears, perhaps the very last in his life,flowed out of his eyes.

  Pan Yan could restrain himself no longer, but falling on his kneesbefore the voevoda, seized his hand, and said in a voice broken bygreat emotion,--

  "I am a soldier, and move on another path; but I give honor to meritand suffering." And the noble and knight from the regiment of Yeremipressed to his lips the hand of that Russian who some months before hewith others had called a traitor.

  Kisel placed both hands on Skshetuski's head. "My son," said he in alow voice, "may God comfort, guide, and bless you, as I bless you."

  The vicious circle of negotiations began from that very day. Hmelnitskicame rather late to the voevoda's dinner, and in the worst temper. Hedeclared immediately that what he had said yesterday about suspensionof arms, a commission at Whitsuntide, and the liberation of prisonershe said while drunk, and that he now saw an intention to deceive him.Kisel calmed him again, pacified him, gave reasons; but these speecheswere, according to the words of the chamberlain of Lvoff, "surdotyranno fabula dicta." The hetman began then with such rudeness thatthe commissioners were sorry not to have the Hmelnitski of yesterday.He struck Pan Pozovski with his baton, only because he had appearedbefore him out of season, in spite of the fact that Pozovski was nearlydead already from serious illness.

  Neither courtesy and good-will nor the persuasions of the voevoda wereof use. When he had become somewhat excited by gorailka and the choicemead of Gushchi, he fell into better humor, but then he would not onany account let himself speak of public affairs, saying, "If we are todrink, let us drink,--to-morrow business and discussion,--if not, I'llbe off with myself." About three o'clock in the morning he insisted o
ngoing to the sleeping-room of the voevoda, which the latter opposedunder various pretexts; for he had shut in Skshetuski there on purpose,fearing that at the meeting of this stubborn soldier with Hmelnitskisomething disagreeable might happen which would be the destruction ofthe colonel. But Hmelnitski insisted and went, followed by Kisel. Whatwas the astonishment of the voevoda when the hetman, seeing the knight,nodded to him, and cried,--

  "Skshetuski, why were you not drinking with us?" And he stretched outhis hand to him in a friendly manner.

  "Because I am sick," replied the colonel, bowing.

  "You went away yesterday. The pleasure was nothing to me without you."

  "Such was the order he had," put in Kisel.

  "Don't tell me that, Voevoda. I know him, and I know that he did notwant to see you giving me honor. Oh, he is a bird! But what would notbe forgiven another is forgiven him, for I like him, and he is my dearfriend."

  Kisel opened wide his eyes in astonishment. The hetman turned to PanYan. "Do you know why I like you?"

  Skshetuski shook his head.

  "You think it is because you cut the lariat at Omelnik when I was a manof small note and they hunted me like a wild beast. No, it is not that.I gave you a ring then with dust from the grave of Christ. Horned soul!you did not show me that ring when you were in my hands; but I set youat liberty anyhow, and we were even. That's not why I like you now. Yourendered me another service, for which you are my dear friend, and forwhich I owe you thanks."

  Pan Yan looked with astonishment at Hmelnitski.

  "See how he wonders!" said the hetman, as if speaking to some fourthperson. "Well, I will bring to your mind what they told me in Chigirinwhen I came there from Bazaluk with Tugai Bey. I inquired everywherefor my enemy, Chaplinski, whom I did not find; but they told me whatyou did to him after our first meeting,--that you grabbed him by thehair and trousers, beat the door open with him, drew blood from him asfrom a dog."

  "I did in fact do that," said Skshetuski.

  "You did splendidly, you acted well. But I'll reach him yet, ortreaties and commissions are in vain,--I'll reach him yet, and playwith him in my own fashion; but you gave him pepper."

  The hetman now turned to Kisel, and began to tell how it was: "Hecaught him by the hair and trousers, lifted him like a fox, opened thedoor with him, and hurled him into the street." Here he laughed tillthe echo resounded in the side-room and reached the drawing-room."Voevoda, give orders to bring mead, for I must drink to the health ofthis knight, my friend."

  Kisel opened the door, and called to the attendant, who immediatelybrought three goblets of the mead of Gushchi.

  Hmelnitski touched goblets with the voevoda and Pan Yan, and drank sothat his head was warmed, his face smiled, great pleasure entered hisheart, and turning to the colonel he said: "Ask of me what you like."

  A flush came on the pale face of Skshetuski; a moment of silencefollowed.

  "Don't fear!" said Hmelnitski; "a word is not smoke. Ask for what youlike, provided you ask for nothing belonging to Kisel."

  The hetman even drunk was always himself.

  "If I may use the affection which you have for me, then I ask justicefrom you. One of your colonels has done me an injury."

  "Off with his head!" said Hmelnitski, with an outburst.

  "It is not a question of that; only order him to fight a duel with me."

  "Off with his head!" cried the hetman. "Who is he?"

  "Bogun."

  Hmelnitski began to blink; then he struck his forehead with his palm."Bogun? Bogun is killed. The king wrote me that he was slain in aduel."

  Pan Yan was astonished. Zagloba had told the truth.

  "What did Bogun do to you?" asked Hmelnitski.

  A still deeper flush came on the colonel's face. He feared to mentionthe princess before the half-drunk hetman, lest he might hear someunpardonable word.

  Kisel rescued him. "It is an important affair," said he, "of whichBjozovski the castellan has told me. Bogun carried off the betrothed ofthis cavalier and secreted her, it is unknown where."

  "But have you looked for her?" asked Hmelnitski.

  "I have looked for her on the Dniester, for he secreted her there, butdid not find her. I heard, however, that he intended to take her toKieff, where he wished to come himself to marry her. Give me, O Hetman,the right to go to Kieff and search for her there. I ask for nothingmore."

  "You are my friend; you battered Chaplinski. I'll give you not only theright to go and seek her wherever you like, but I will issue an orderthat whoever has her in keeping shall deliver her to you; and I'll giveyou a baton as a pass, and a letter to the metropolitan to look for heramong the nuns. My word is not smoke!"

  He opened the door and called to Vygovski to come and write an orderand a letter. Chernota was obliged, though it was after three o'clock,to go for the seal. Daidyalo brought the baton, and Donyets receivedthe order to conduct Skshetuski with two hundred horse to Kieff, andfarther to the first Polish outposts.

  Next day Skshetuski left Pereyaslav.