Ogniem i mieczem. English

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  CHAPTER LVIII.

  Next morning, before the sun had scattered its golden rays over thesky, a new protecting rampart encircled the Polish camp. The oldramparts included too much space. Defence and the giving of mutualassistance were difficult within them. The Prince and Pan Pshiyemski,in view of this, decided to enclose the troops within narrowerintrenchments. They worked vigorously, the hussars as well as all theother regiments, and the camp-servants. Only at three o'clock in themorning did sleep close the eyes of the wearied knights, but at thathour all save the guards were sleeping like stones. The enemy laboredalso, and then was quiet for a long time, after the recent defeat. Noassault was looked for that day.

  Skshetuski, Pan Longin, and Zagloba sat in their tent drinking beer,thickened with bits of cheese, and talked of the labors of the pastnight with that satisfaction peculiar to soldiers after victory.

  "It is my habit to lie down about the evening milking, and rise withthe dawn, as did the ancients," said Zagloba, "but in war it isdifficult! You sleep when you can, and you rise when they wake you. Iam vexed that we must incommode ourselves for such rubbish; but itcannot be helped, such are the times. We paid them well yesterday; ifthey get such a feast a couple of times more, they won't want to wakeus."

  "Do you know whether many of ours have fallen?" asked Podbipienta.

  "Oh, not many; more of the assailants always fall. You are not soexperienced in this as I am, for you have not been through so manywars. We old soldiers have no need to count bodies; we can estimate thenumber from the battle itself."

  "I shall learn from you, gentlemen," said Pan Longin, with amiability.

  "Yes, if you have wit enough; but I haven't much hope of that."

  "Oh, give us peace!" said Skshetuski. "This is not Podbipienta's firstwar. God grant the foremost knights to act as he did yesterday."

  "I did what I could," said the Lithuanian, "not what I wanted."

  "Still your action was not bad," said Zagloba, patronizingly; "and thatothers surpassed you [here he began to curl his mustaches] is not yourfault."

  The Lithuanian listened with downcast eyes and sighed, thinking of hisancestor Stoveiko and the three heads.

  At that moment the tent door opened and Pan Michael entered quickly,glad as a goldfinch on a bright morning.

  "Well, we are here," said Zagloba; "give him some beer."

  The little knight pressed the hands of his three comrades, and said:"You should see how many balls are lying on the square; it passesimagination! You can't pass without hitting one."

  "I saw that too," said Zagloba, "for when I rose I walked a littlethrough the camp. All the hens in the province of Lvoff won't lay somany eggs in two years. Oh, I only wish they were eggs! Then we shouldhave them fried; and you must know, gentlemen, that I consider a plateof fried eggs the greatest delicacy. I am a born soldier, and so areyou. I eat willingly what is good, if there is only enough of it. Onthis account too I am more eager for battle than the pamperedyoungsters of to-day who can't eat anything unusual without getting thegripes."

  "But you scored a success yesterday with Burlai," said Volodyovski. "Tocut down Burlai in that fashion! As I live I did not expect that ofyou, and he was a warrior famous throughout the Ukraine and Turkey."

  "Pretty good work, wasn't it?" asked Zagloba, with satisfaction. "It'snot my first, it's not my first, Pan Michael. I see we were all lookingfor poppyseed in the bottom of the bushel; but we have found four, andsuch another four you could not find in the whole Commonwealth. If Ishould go with you, gentlemen, and with our prince at the head, wecould reach even Stamboul! Just think! Skshetuski killed Burdabut, andyesterday Tugai Bey."

  "Tugai Bey is not killed," interrupted the colonel. "I felt that thesabre was turning in my hand; then they separated us."

  "All one; don't interrupt me, Pan Yan! Pan Michael cut up Bogun atWarsaw, as we have said--"

  "It is better not to mention that," interrupted the Lithuanian.

  "What is said is said," answered Zagloba, "though I should prefer notto mention it. But I go further: Here is Pan Podbipienta fromMyshekishki, who finished Pulyan, and I Burlai. I will not hide fromyou, however, that I would give all these for Burlai alone; and thisperhaps because I had terrible work with him. He was a devil, not aCossack. If I had sons like him legitimately born, I should leave thema splendid name. I am only curious to know what his Majesty the Kingand the Diet will say when they reward us,--who live more on brimstoneand saltpetre than anything else."

  "There was a knight greater than all of us," said Pan Longin; "and noone knows his name or mentions it."

  "I should like to know who he was,--one of the ancients?" askedZagloba, offended.

  "No; he was that man, brother, who at Tshtsiana brought the kingGustavus Adolphus to the ground with his horse, and took him prisoner."

  "I heard it was at Putsek," interrupted Volodyovski.

  "But the king tore away from him, and escaped," said Skshetuski.

  "He did," said Zagloba, closing his eyes. "I know something aboutthat matter, for I was then under Konyetspolski, father of thestandard-bearer. Modesty did not permit that knight to mention his ownname, therefore no one knows it; and believe me, Gustavus Adolphus wasa great warrior,--almost equal to Burlai; but in the hand-to-handconflict with Burlai I had heavier work. It is I who tell you this."

  "That means that you overthrew Gustavus Adolphus?" said Volodyovski.

  "Have I boasted of it, Pan Michael? Then let it remain unremembered. Ihave something to boast of to-day; no need of bringing up old times!This horrid beer rattles terribly in the stomach, and the more cheesethere is in it the worse it rattles. I prefer wine, though God bepraised for what we have! Soon perhaps we shall not have even the beer.The priest Jabkovski tells me that we are likely to have short rations;and he is all the more troubled, for he has a belly as big as a barn.He is a rare Bernardine, with whom I have fallen desperately in love.There is more of the soldier than the monk in him. If he should hit aman on the snout, then you might order his coffin on the spot."

  "But," said Volodyovski, "I have not told you how handsomely the priestYaskolski acted last night. He fixed himself in that corner of thetower at the right side of the castle, and looked at the fight. Youmust know that he is a wonderfully good shot. Said he to Jabkovski: 'Iwon't shoot Cossacks, for they are Christians after all, though theirdeeds are disgusting to the Lord; but Tartars,' said he, 'I cannotstand;' and so he peppered away at the Tartars, and he spoiled about ascore and a half of them during the battle."

  "I wish all priests were like him," sighed Zagloba; "but ourMukhovetski only raises his hands to heaven and weeps because so muchChristian blood is flowing."

  "But give us peace," said Skshetuski, earnestly. "Mukhovetski is a holyman, and you have the best proof of it in this, that though he is notthe senior of these two, they bow down before his worthiness."

  "Not only do I not deny his holiness," retorted Zagloba, "but I supposehe would be able to convert the Khan himself. Oh, gentlemen, hisMajesty the Khan must be so mad that the lice on him are standing ontheir heads from fright. If we have negotiations with the Khan, I willgo with the commissioners. The Khan and I are old acquaintances. Oncehe took a great fancy to me. Perhaps he will remember me now."

  "They will surely choose Yanitski to negotiate," said Skshetuski, "forhe speaks Tartar as well as Polish."

  "And so do I. The murzas and I are as well acquainted as white-facedhorses. They wanted to give me their daughters when I was in the Crimeaso as to have beautiful grandchildren, as I was young in those days,and had made no _pacta conventa_ with my innocence like Podbipienta. Iplayed many a prank."

  "Ah, it is disgusting to hear him!" said Pan Longing dropping his eyes.

  "And you repeat the same thing like a trained starling. It is clearthat the Botvinians are not well acquainted with human speech yet."

  Further conversation was interrupted by a noise beyond the tent. Theknights went out therefore to see what wa
s going on. A multitude ofsoldiers were on the ramparts looking at the place round about, whichduring the night had changed considerably and was still changing beforetheir eyes. The Cossacks had not been idle since the last assault; theyhad made a breastwork and placed cannon in it, longer and carryingfarther than any in the Polish camp; they had begun traverses, zigzags,and approaches. From a distance these embankments looked like thousandsof gigantic mole-hills; the whole slope of the field was covered withthem; the freshly dug earth lay black everywhere in the grass, andevery place was swarming with men at work. The red caps of the Cossackswere glittering on the front ramparts.

  The prince stood on the works with Sobieski and Pshiyemski. A littlebelow, Firlei was surveying the Cossack works through a field-glass,and said to Ostrorog,--

  "The enemy are beginning a regular siege. I see we must abandon defencein the trenches and go to the castle."

  Prince Yeremi heard these words, and said, bending from above to thecastellan: "God keep us from that, for we should be going of our ownchoice into a trap. Here is the place for us to live or die."

  "That's my opinion too, even if I had to kill a Burlai every day," putin Zagloba. "I protest in the name of the whole army against theopinion of the castellan of Belsk."

  "This matter does not pertain to you!" said the prince.

  "Quiet!" whispered Volodyovski, jerking him by the sleeve.

  "We will exterminate them in those hiding-places like so many moles,"said Zagloba, "and I beg your serene Highness to let me go out with thefirst sally. They know me already, and they will know me better."

  "With a sally!" said the prince, and wrinkled his brow. "Wait a minute!The nights are dark in the beginning now." Here he turned to Sobieski,Pshiyemski, and the commanders, and said: "I ask you, gentlemen, tocome to counsel."

  He left the intrenchment, and all the officers followed him.

  "For the love of God, what are you doing?" asked Volodyovski, "Whatdoes this mean? Why, you don't know service and discipline, that youinterfere in the conversation of your superiors. The prince is amild-mannered man, but in time of war there is no joking with him."

  "Oh, that is nothing, Pan Michael! Konyetspolski, the father, was afierce lion, and he depended greatly on my counsels; and may the wolveseat me up to-day, if it was not for that reason that he defeatedGustavus Adolphus twice. I know how to talk with magnates. Didn't yousee now how the prince was astonished when I advised him to make asally? If God gives a victory, whose service will it be,--whose? Willit be yours?"

  At that moment Zatsvilikhovski came up. "What's this? They are rootingand rooting, like so many pigs!" said he, pointing to the field.

  "I wish they were pigs," said Zagloba. "Pork sausage would be cheap,but their carrion is not fit for dogs. Today the soldiers had to dig awell in Firlei's quarters, for the water in the eastern pond wasspoiled from the bodies. Toward morning the bile burst in thedog-brothers, and they all floated. Now next Friday we cannot use fish,because the fish have eaten their flesh."

  "True," said Zatsvilikhovski; "I am an old soldier, but I have not seenso many bodies, unless at Khotim, at the assault of the janissaries onour camp."

  "You will see more of them yet, I tell you."

  "I think that this evening, or before evening, they will move to thestorm again."

  "But I say they will leave us in peace till to-morrow."

  Scarcely had Zagloba finished speaking, when long white puffs of smokeblossomed out on the breastwork, and balls flew over the intrenchment.

  "There!" exclaimed Zatsvilikhovski.

  "Oh, they know nothing of military art!" said Zagloba.

  Old Zatsvilikhovski was right. Hmelnitski had began a regular siege. Hehad closed all roads and escapes, had taken away the pasture, madeapproaches and breastworks, had dug zigzags near the camp, but had notabandoned assaults. He had resolved to give no rest to the besieged; toharass, to frighten, to keep them in continual sleeplessness, and pressupon them till their arms should fall from their stiffened hands. Inthe evening, therefore, he struck upon the quarters of Vishnyevetski,with no better result than the day before, especially since theCossacks did not advance with such alacrity. Next day firing did notcease for an instant. The zigzags were already so near that musketryfire reached the ramparts; the earthworks smoked like little volcanoesfrom morning till evening. It was not a general battle, but a continualfusillade. The besieged rushed out sometimes from the ramparts; thensabres, flails, scythes, and lances met in the conflict. But scarcelyhad a few Cossacks fallen in the ranks, when the gaps were immediatelyfilled with new men. The soldiers had no rest for even a moment duringthe whole day; and when the desired sunset came, a new general assaultwas begun. A sally was not to be thought of.

  On the night of the 16th of July two valiant colonels--Gladki andNebaba--struck upon the quarters of the prince, and suffered a terribledefeat. Three thousand of the best Cossacks lay on the field; the rest,pursued by Sobieski, escaped to the tabor, throwing down their arms andpowder-horns. An equally unfortunate result met Fedorenko, who, takingadvantage of the thick fog, barely failed to capture the town atdaybreak. Pan Korf repulsed him at the head of the Germans; thenSobieski and Konyetspolski cut the fugitives almost to pieces.

  But this was nothing in comparison with the awful attack of July 19. Onthe previous night the Cossacks had raised in front of Vishnyevetski'squarters a lofty embankment, from which guns of large calibre vomitedan uninterrupted fire. When the day had closed, and the first starswere in the sky, tens of thousands of men rushed to the attack. At thesame time appeared some scores of terrible machines, like towers, whichrolled slowly to the intrenchment. At their sides rose bridges, likemonstrous wings, which were to be thrown over the ditches; and theirtops were smoking, blazing, and roaring with discharges of smallcannon, guns, and muskets. These towers moved on among the swarm ofheads like giant commanders,--now reddening in the fire of guns, nowdisappearing in smoke and darkness.

  The soldiers pointed them out to one another from a distance,whispering: "Those are the 'travelling towers.' We are the men thatHmelnitski is going to grind with those windmills."

  "See how they roll, with a noise like thunder!"

  "At them from the cannon! At them from the cannon!" cried some.

  In fact the prince's gunners sent ball after ball, bomb after bomb, atthose terrible machines; but since they were visible only when thedischarges lighted the darkness, the balls missed them most of thetime.

  Meanwhile the dense mass of Cossacks drew nearer and nearer, like ablack wave flowing in the night from the distant expanse of the sea.

  "Uf!" said Zagloba, in the cavalry near Skshetuski, "I am hot as neverbefore in my life. The night is so sultry that there is not a drythread on me. The devils invented those machines. God grant theground to open under them, for those ruffians are like a bone in mythroat,--amen! We can neither eat nor sleep. Dogs are in a bettercondition of life than we. Uf! how hot!"

  It was really oppressive and sultry; besides, the air was saturatedwith exhalations from bodies decaying for several days over the wholefield. The sky was covered with a black and low veil of clouds. A stormor tempest was hanging over Zbaraj. Sweat covered the bodies ofsoldiers under arms, and their breasts were panting from exertion. Atthat moment drums began to grumble in the darkness.

  "They will attack immediately," said Skshetuski. "Do you hear thedrum?"

  "Yes. I wish the devils would drum them! It is pure desperation!"

  "Cut! cut!" roared the crowds, rushing to the ramparts.

  The battle raged along the whole length of the rampart. They struck atthe same time on Vishnyevetski, Lantskoronski, Firlei, and Ostrorog, sothat one could not give aid to the other. The Cossacks, excited withgorailka, went still more ragingly than during the previous assaults,but they met a still more valiant resistance. The heroic spirit oftheir leader gave life to the soldiers. The terrible quarter infantry,formed of Mazovians, fought with the Cossacks, so that they becamethoroughly intermingled with them.
They fought with gun-stocks, fists,and teeth. Under the blows of the stubborn Mazovians several hundred ofthe splendid Zaporojian infantry fell. The battle grew more and moredesperate along the whole line. The musket-barrels burned the hands ofthe soldiers; breath failed them; the voices of the commanders died intheir throats from shouting. Sobieski and Skshetuski fell with theircavalry upon the Cossack flank, trampling whole regiments.

  Hour followed hour, but the assault relaxed not; for Hmelnitski filledthe great gaps of the Cossack ranks, in the twinkle of an eye, with newmen. The Tartars increased the uproar, at the same time sending cloudsof arrows on the defending soldiers; men from behind drove the mob tothe assault with clubs and rawhide whips. Rage contended with rage,breast struck breast, man closed with man in the grip of death. Theystruggled, as the raging waves of the sea struggle with an islandcliff.

  Suddenly the earth trembled; the whole heavens were in blue flames, asif God could no longer witness the horrors of men. An awful crashsilenced the shouts of combatants and the roar of cannon. The artilleryof heaven then began its more awful discharges. Thunders rolled onevery side, from the east to the west. It seemed as though the sky hadburst, together with the cloud, and was rolling on to the heads of thecombatants. At moments the whole world seemed like one flame; atmoments all were blind in the darkness, and again ruddy zigzags oflightning rent the black veil. A whirlwind struck once and again, toreaway thousands of caps, streamers, and flags, and swept them in thetwinkle of an eye over the battle-field. Thunders began to roll, oneafter another; then followed a chaos of peals, flashes, whirlwind,fire, and darkness; the heavens were as mad as the men.

  The unheard-of tempest raged over the town, the castle, the trenches,and the tabor. The battle was stopped. At last the flood-gates ofheaven were open, and not streams, but rivers of rain poured down uponthe earth. The deluge hid the light; nothing could be seen a step inadvance. Bodies were swimming in the ditch. The Cossack regiments,abandoning the assault, fled one after the other to the tabor; going atrandom, they stumbled against one another, and thinking that the enemywas pursuing, scattered in the darkness; guns and ammunition wagonsfollowed them, sticking and getting overturned on the way. Water washeddown the Cossack earthworks, roared in the ditches and zigzags, filledthe covered places, though provided with ditches, and ran roaring overthe plain as if pursuing the Cossacks.

  The rain increased every moment. The infantry in the trenches left theramparts, seeking shelter under the tents. But for the cavalry ofSobieski and Skshetuski there came no order to withdraw; they stood oneby the other as if in a lake, and shook the water from their shoulders.The tempest began gradually to slacken. After midnight the rain stoppedentirely. Through the rents in the clouds here and there the starsglittered. Still an hour passed, and the water had fallen a little.Then before Skshetuski's squadron appeared the prince himselfunexpectedly.

  "Gentlemen," inquired he, "your pouches are not wet?"

  "Dry, serene prince!" answered Skshetuski.

  "That's right! dismount for me, advance through the water to thosemachines, put powder to them and fire them. Go quietly! Sobieski willgo with you."

  "According to orders!" replied Skshetuski.

  The prince now caught sight of the drenched Zagloba. "You asked to goout on a sally; go now with these," said he.

  "Ah, devil, here is an overcoat for you!" muttered Zagloba. "This isall that was wanting."

  Half an hour later, two divisions of knights, two hundred and fiftymen, wading to their waists in the water with sabres in hand, hastenedto those terrible moving towers of the Cossacks, standing about half afurlong from the trench. One division was led by that "lion of lions,"Marek Sobieski, starosta of Krasnostav, who would not hear of remainingin the trench; the other by Skshetuski. Attendants followed the knightswith buckets of tar, torches, and powder. They went as quietly aswolves stealing in the dark night to a sheepfold.

  Volodyovski went, as a volunteer with Skshetuski, for Pan Michael lovedsuch expeditions more than life. He tripped along through the water,joy in his heart and sabre in hand. At his side was Podbipienta, withhis drawn sword, conspicuous above all, for he was two heads higherthan the tallest. Among them Zagloba pushed on panting, while hemuttered with vexation and imitated the words of the prince,--

  "'You asked to go on a sally; go now with these.' All right! A dogwouldn't go to a wedding through such water as this. If ever I advise asally in such weather may I never drink anything but water while Ilive! I am not a duck, and my belly isn't a boat. I have always heldwater in horror, and what kind of water is this in which peasantcarrion is steeping?"

  "Quiet!" said Volodyovski.

  "Quiet yourself! You are not bigger than a gudgeon, and you know how toswim, it is easy for you. I say even that it is unhandsome on the partof the prince to give me no peace. After the killing of Burlai, Zaglobahas done enough; let every one do as much, and let Zagloba have peace,for you will be a pretty-looking crowd when he is gone. For God's sake,if I fall into a hole, pull me out by the ears, for I shall fill withwater at once."

  "Quiet!" said Skshetuski. "The Cossacks are sitting in those darkshelters; they will hear you."

  "Where? What do you tell me?"

  "There in those hillocks, under the sods."

  "That is all that was wanting! May the bright lightning smash--"

  Volodyovski stopped the remaining words by putting his hand onZagloba's mouth, for the shelters were barely fifty yards distant. Theknights went silently indeed, but the water spattered under their feet;happily rain began to fall again, and the patter deadened the noise oftheir steps.

  The guards were not at the shelters. Who could have expected a sallyafter an assault in such a tempest, when the combatants were divided bysomething like a lake?

  Volodyovski and Pan Longin sprang ahead and reached the shelter first.Volodyovski let his sabre drop, put his hand to his mouth and began tocry: "Hei, men!"

  "What?" answered from within the voices of Cossacks, evidentlyconvinced that some one from the Cossack tabor was coming.

  "Glory to God!" answered Volodyovski; "let us in!"

  "Don't you know the way?"

  "I do," replied Volodyovski, and feeling for the entrance he jumped in.Podbipienta, with a few others, rushed after him.

  At that moment the interior of the shelter resounded with the terrifiedshout of men; at the same instant the knights rushed with a shout tothe other shelter. In the darkness were heard groans and clash ofsteel; here and there some dark figures rushed past, others fell on theground, then came the report of a shot; but all did not last longerthan a quarter of an hour. The Cossacks, surprised for the most partwhile in a deep sleep, did not even defend themselves, and weredestroyed before they could seize their weapons.

  "To the marching towers! to the marching towers!" cried Sobieski.

  They hurried to the towers.

  "Fire them from within, for they are wet outside!" shouted Skshetuski.

  But the command was not easy of execution. In these towers built ofpine planks there was neither door nor opening. The Cossack gunnersmounted them on ladders. The guns, since only those of the smallercalibre could be carried, were drawn up with ropes. The knightstherefore ran around the towers some time yet, cutting the planks invain with their sabres or grasping with their hands on corners.

  Happily the attendants had axes; they began to cut. Sobieski orderedthem to place boxes underneath with powder, prepared on purpose. Thebuckets with tar, as well as the torches were lighted; and flame beganto lick the planks, wet outside but full of pitch within.

  Before, however, the planks had caught fire or the powder had exploded.Pan Longin bent down and raised an enormous stone, dug out of theground by the Cossacks. Four of the strongest men could not move itfrom its place; but he raised it, and only through the light of thetar-buckets could it be seen that the blood came to his face. Theknights grew dumb with amazement.

  "He is a Hercules! May the bullets strike him!" cried they, raisingtheir hands.<
br />
  Pan Longin approached the still unkindled machine, bent and hurled thestone at the very centre of the wall.

  Those present bent their heads, so loud was the whistle of the stone.The mortises were broken by the blow; a rattle was heard all around;the tower twisted as if broken in two, and fell with a crash. The pileof timber was covered with pitch and fired in a moment.

  Soon gigantic flames illuminated the whole plain. Rain fellcontinually; but the fire was too strong, and those moving towers wereburning, to the astonishment of both armies, since the night was sowet.

  Stepka, Kulak, and Mrozovetski hurried from the Cossack tabor withseveral thousand men, to quench the fire. Pillars of flame and redsmoke shot up toward the sky, with power increasing each moment, andwere reflected in the lakes and ponds formed by the tempest on thebattle-field.

  The knights began to return in serried ranks to the rampart. They weregreeted even at that distance with shouts of joy. Suddenly Skshetuskilooked around, cast his eyes into the heart of the company, and calledwith a thundering voice: "Halt!"

  Pan Longin and the little knight were not among the returning. It wasevident that, carried away by ardor, they had remained too long at thelast tower, and perhaps found Cossacks hidden somewhere; it was enoughthat, seemingly, they had not noticed the retreat.

  "Return!" commanded Skshetuski.

  Sobieski, at the other end of the line, did not know what had happenedand ran to inquire. At that moment the two knights showed themselves asif they had risen out of the earth, half-way between the towers and theother knights. Pan Longin with his gleaming broadsword strode withgigantic steps, and at his side ran Pan Michael on a trot. Both hadtheir heads turned to the Cossacks, who were chasing them like a packof dogs. By the red light of the flames the whole pursuit was perfectlyvisible. One would have said that an enormous elk with her young wasretreating before a crowd of hunters ready to hurl herself at anymoment on the enemy.

  "They will be killed! By the mercy of God, forward!" cried Zagloba, ina heart-rending voice; "they will be shot with arrows or muskets! Bythe wounds of Christ, forward!" And not considering that a new battlemight begin in a moment he flew, sabre in hand, with Skshetuski andothers, to the succor; he thrust, twisted, sprang up, panted, cried,was shaking all over, and rushed on with what legs and breath remainedto him.

  The Cossacks, however, did not fire, for their muskets were wet, andthe strings of their bows damp; they only pressed on. Some had pushedto the front and were about to run up, when both knights at bay turnedto them and giving an awful shout, raised their sabres on high. TheCossacks halted. Pan Longin, with his immense sword, seemed to themsome supernatural being.

  As two tawny wolves pressed overmuch by hounds turn and show theirwhite teeth, and the dogs whining at a distance do not dare to rush on,so these turned repeatedly, and each time their pursuers halted. Onceonly a man, evidently of bolder nature, ran up to them with a scythe inhis hand; but Pan Michael sprang at him like a wildcat and bit him todeath. The rest waited for their comrades, who were coming on the runin a dense body.

  But the line of Cossacks came nearer and nearer, and Zagloba flew withhis sabre over his head, shouting with an unearthly voice: "Kill!slay!"

  Then there was a report from the bulwarks, and a bomb screaming like ascreech-owl described a red arc in the sky and fell in the dense crowd;after it a second, a third, a tenth. It seemed that battle would beginanew. Till the siege of Zbaraj, projectiles of that kind were unknownto the Cossacks, and when sober they feared them terribly, seeing inthem the sorcery of Yeremi. The crowd therefore stopped for a moment,then broke in two; the bombs burst, scattering death and destruction.

  "Save yourselves! save yourselves!" was shouted in tones of terror.

  All fled. Pan Longin and Volodyovski dropped into the saving ranks ofthe hussars. Zagloba threw himself on the neck of one and the other,and kissed them on the cheeks and eyes. Joy was choking him; but herestrained it, not wishing to show the softness of his heart, andcried,--

  "Oh, the ox-drivers! I won't say that I love you, but I was alarmedabout you! Is that the way you understand service, to lag in the rear?You ought to be dragged behind horses over the square by your feet. Ishall be the first to tell the prince, that he may think of apunishment for you. Now we'll go to sleep. Thank God for that too!Those dog-brothers were lucky to run away before the bombs, for Ishould have cut them up like cabbage. I prefer fighting to seeing myfriends die. We must have a drink to-night. Thank God for that too! Ithought we should have to sing the requiem over you to-morrow. But I amsorry there was no fight, for my hand is itching awfully, though I gavethem beans and onions in the shelters."