CHAPTER XI.
At the house of the inspector of weights and measures, in the outskirtsof Hassan Pasha, at the Saitch, sat two Zaporojians at a table,fortifying themselves with spirits distilled from millet, which theydipped unceasingly from a wooden tub that stood in the middle of thetable. One of them, already old and quite decrepit, was Philip Zakhar.He was the inspector. The other, Anton Tatarchuk, ataman of theChigirin kuren, was a man about forty years old, tall, with a wildexpression of face and oblique Tartar eyes. Both spoke in a low voice,as if fearing that some one might overhear them.
"But it is to-day?" asked the inspector.
"Yes, almost immediately," answered Tatarchuk. "They are waiting forthe koshevoi and Tugai Bey, who went with Hmelnitski himself toBazaluk, where the horde is quartered. The Brotherhood is alreadyassembled on the square, and the kuren atamans will meet in councilbefore evening. Before night all will be known."
"It may have an evil end," muttered old Philip Zakhar.
"Listen, inspector! But did you see that there was a letter to mealso?"
"Of course I did, for I carried the letters myself to the koshevoi, andI know how to read. Three letters were found on the Pole,--one to thekoshevoi himself, one to you, the third to young Barabash. Every one inthe Saitch knows of this already."
"And who wrote? Don't you know?"
"The prince wrote to the koshevoi, for his seal was on the letter; whowrote to you is unknown."
"God guard us!"
"If they don't call you a friend of the Poles openly, nothing will comeof it."
"God guard us!" repeated Tatarchuk.
"It is evident that you have something on your mind."
"Pshaw! I have nothing on my mind."
"The koshevoi, too, may destroy all the letters, for his own head isconcerned. There was a letter to him as well as to you."
"He may."
"But if you have done anything, then--" here the old inspector loweredhis voice still more--"go away!"
"But how and where?" asked Tatarchuk, uneasily. "The koshevoi hasplaced guards on all the islands, so that no one may escape to thePoles and let them know what is going on. The Tartars are on guard atBazaluk. A fish couldn't squeeze through, and a bird couldn't flyover."
"Then hide in the Saitch, wherever you can."
"They will find me,--unless you hide me among the barrels in thebazaar? You are my relative."
"I wouldn't hide my own brother. If you are afraid of death, thendrink; you won't feel it when you are drunk."
"Maybe there is nothing in the letters."
"Maybe."
"Here is misfortune, misfortune!" said Tatarchuk. "I don't feel that Ihave done anything. I am a good fellow, an enemy to the Poles. Butthough there is nothing in the letter, the devil knows what the Polemay say at the council. He may ruin me."
"He is a severe man; he won't say anything."
"Have you seen him to-day?"
"Yes; I rubbed his wounds with tar, I poured spirits and ashes into histhroat. He will be all right. He is an angry fellow! They say that atHortitsa he slaughtered the Tartars like swine, before they capturedhim. Set your mind at rest about the Pole."
The sullen sound of the kettledrums which were beaten on the Koshevoi'sSquare interrupted further conversation. Tatarchuk, hearing the sound,shuddered and sprang to his feet. Excessive fear was expressed by hisface and movements.
"They are beating the summons to council," said he, catching hisbreath. "God save us! And you, Philip, don't speak of what we have beensaying here. God save us!"
Having said this, Tatarchuk, seizing the tub with the liquor, broughtit to his mouth with both hands, and drank,--drank as though he wishedto drink himself to death.
"Let us go!" said the inspector.
The sound of the drums came clearer and clearer.
They went out. The field of Hassan Pasha was separated from the squareby a rampart surrounding the encampment proper, and by a gate withlofty towers on which were seen the muzzles of cannon fixed there. Inthe middle of the field stood the house of the inspector of weights andmeasures, and the cabins of the shop atamans, and around a rather largespace were shops in which goods were stored. These shops were ingeneral wretched structures made of oak planks, which Hortitsafurnished in abundance, fastened together with twigs and reeds. Thecabins, not excepting that of the inspector, were mere huts, for onlythe roofs were raised above the ground. The roofs were black andsmoked; for when there was fire in the cabin the smoke found exit, notonly through the smoke-hole, but through every cranny in the roof, andone might suppose that it was not a cabin at all, but a pile ofbranches and reeds covering a tar-pit. No daylight entered thesecabins; therefore a fire of pitch pine and oak chips was kept up. Theshops, a few dozen in number, were divided into camp-shops whichbelonged to individual camps, and those of strangers in which duringtime of peace Tartars and Wallachians traded,--the first in skins,Eastern fabrics, arms, and every kind of booty; the second, chiefly inwine. But the shops for strangers were rarely occupied, since in thatwild nest trade was changed most frequently to robbery, from whichneither the inspectors nor the shop atamans could restrain the crowds.
Among the shops stood also thirty-eight camp-drinking shops; and beforethem always lay, on the sweepings, shavings, oak-sticks, and heaps ofhorse-manure, Zaporojians, half dead from drinking,--some sunk in astony sleep; others with foam in their mouths, in convulsions ordelirium-tremens; others half drunk, howling Cossack songs, spitting,striking, kissing, cursing Cossack fate or weeping over Cossack sorrow,walking upon the heads and breasts of those lying around. Only duringexpeditions against the Tartars or the upper country was sobrietyenforced, and at such times those who took part in an expedition werepunished with death for drunkenness. But in ordinary times, andespecially in the bazaar, all were drunk,--the inspector, the campataman, the buyers, and the sellers. The sour smell of unrectifiedspirits, mixed with the odor of tar, fish, smoke, and horse-hides,filled the air of the whole place, which in general, by the variety ofits shops, reminded one of some little Turkish or Tartar town.Everything was for sale that at any time had been seized as plunder inthe Crimea, Wallachia, or on the shores of Anatolia,--bright fabrics ofthe East, satins, brocades, velvets, cotton cloths, ticking, linen,iron and brass guns, skins, furs, dried fish, cherries, Turkishsweetmeats, church vessels, brass crescents taken from minarets, gildedcrosses torn from churches, powder and sharp weapons, spear-staffs, andsaddles. In that mixture of objects and colors moved about peopledressed in remnants of the most varied garments, in the summerhalf-naked, always half-wild, discolored with smoke, black, rolled inmud, covered with wounds, bleeding from the bites of gigantic gnatswhich hovered in myriads over Chertomelik, and eternally drunk, as hasbeen stated above.
At that moment the whole of Hassan Pasha was more crowded with peoplethan usual; the shops and drinking-places were closed, and all werehastening to the Square of the Saitch, on which the council was to beheld. Philip Zakhar and Anton Tatarchuk went with the others; butTatarchuk loitered, and allowed the crowd to precede him. Disquiet grewmore and more evident on his face. Meanwhile they crossed the bridgeover the fosse, passed the gate, and found themselves on the broadfortified square, surrounded by thirty-eight large wooden structures.These were the kurens, or rather the buildings of the kurens,--a kindof military barracks in which the Cossacks lived. These kurens wereof one structure and measure, and differed in nothing unless in thenames, borrowed from the various towns of the Ukraine from which theregiments also took their names. In one corner of the square stood thecouncil-house, in which the atamans used to sit under the presidency ofthe koshevoi. The crowd, or the so-called "Brotherhood," deliberatedunder the open sky, sending deputations every little while, andsometimes bursting in by force to the council-house and terrorizingthose within.
The throng was already enormous on the square, for the ataman hadrecently assembled at the Saitch all the warriors scattered over theislands, streams, and meadows; th
erefore the Brotherhood was morenumerous than on ordinary occasions. Since the sun was near itssetting, a number of tar-barrels had been ignited already; and here andthere were kegs of spirits which every kuren had set out for itself,and which added no small energy to the deliberations. Order between thekurens was maintained by the essauls, armed with heavy sticks torestrain the councillors, and with pistols to defend their own lives,which were frequently in danger.
Philip Zakhar and Tatarchuk went straight to the council-house; for oneas inspector, and the other as kuren ataman, had a right to a seatamong the elders. In the council-room there was but one small table,before which sat the army secretary. The atamans and the koshevoi hadseats on skins by the walls; but at that hour their places were not yetoccupied. The koshevoi walked with great strides through the room; thekuren atamans, gathering in small groups, conversed in low tones,interrupted from time to time by more audible oaths. Tatarchuk,noticing that his acquaintances and even friends pretended not to seehim, at once approached young Barabash, who was more or less in aposition similar to his own. Others looked at them with a scowl, towhich young Barabash paid no attention, not understanding well thereason. He was a man of great beauty and extraordinary strength, thanksto which he had the rank of kuren ataman. He was notorious throughoutthe whole Saitch for his stupidity, which had gained him the nicknameof "Dunce Ataman" and the privilege of being laughed at by the eldersfor every word he uttered.
"Wait awhile; maybe we shall go in the water with a stone around theneck," whispered Tatarchuk to him.
"Why is that?" asked Barabash.
"Don't you know about the letters?"
"The plague take his mother! Have I written any letters?"
"See how they frown at us!"
"If I give it to one of them in the forehead, he won't look that way,for his eyes will jump out."
Just then shouts from the outside announced that something hadhappened. The doors of the council-house opened wide, and in cameHmelnitski with Tugai Bey. They were the men greeted so joyfully. A fewmonths before Tugai Bey, as the most violent of the Tartars and theterror of the men from below, was the object of extreme hatred in theSaitch. Now the Brotherhood hurled their caps in the air at the sightof him, as a good friend of Hmelnitski and the Zaporojians.
Tugai Bey entered first, and then Hmelnitski, with the baton in hishand as hetman of the Zaporojian armies. He had held that office sincehis return from the Crimea with reinforcements from the Khan. The crowdat that time raised him in their hands, and bursting open the armytreasury, brought him the baton, the standard, and the seal which weregenerally borne before the hetman. He had changed, too, not a little.It was evident that he bore within himself the terrible power of thewhole Zaporojie. This was not Hmelnitski the wronged, fleeing to thesteppe through the Wilderness, but Hmelnitski the hetman, the spirit ofblood, the giant, the avenger of his own wrongs on millions of people.
Still he did not break the chains; he only imposed new and heavierones. This was evident from his relations with Tugai Bey. This hetman,in the heart of the Zaporojie, took a place second to the Tartar, andendured with submission Tartar pride and treatment contemptuous beyondexpression. It was the attitude of a vassal before his lord. But it hadto be so. Hmelnitski owed all his credit with the Cossacks to theTartars and the favor of the Khan, whose representative was the wildand furious Tugai Bey. But Hmelnitski knew how to reconcile withsubmission the pride which was bursting his own bosom, as well as tounite courage with cunning; for he was a lion and a fox, an eagle and aserpent. This was the first time since the origin of the Cossacks thatthe Tartar had acted as master in the centre of the Saitch; but suchwere the times that had come. The Brotherhood hurled their caps in theair at sight of the Pagan. Such were the times that had been accepted.
The deliberations began. Tugai Bey sat down in the middle of the roomon a large bundle of skins, and putting his legs under him, began tocrack dry sunflower-seeds and spit out the husks in front of himself.On his right side sat Hmelnitski, with the baton; on his left thekoshevoi; but the atamans and the deputation from the Brotherhood satfarther away near the walls. Conversation had ceased; only from thecrowd outside, debating under the open sky, came a murmur and dullsound like the noise of waves. Hmelnitski began to speak:--
"Gentlemen, with the favor, attention, and aid of the serene Tsar[8]of the Crimea, the lord of many peoples and relative of the heavenlyhosts; with the permission of his Majesty the gracious KingVladislav, our lord, and the hearty support of the brave Zaporojianarmies,--trusting in our innocence and the justice of God, we are goingto avenge the terrible and savage deeds of injustice which, while wehad strength, we endured like Christians, at the hands of the faithlessPoles, from commissioners, starostas, crown agents, from all thenobility, and from the Jews. Over these deeds of injustice you,gentlemen, and the whole Zaporojian army have shed many tears, and youhave given me this baton that I might find the speedy vindication ofour innocence and that of all our people. Esteeming this appointment asa great favor from you, my well-wishers, I went to ask of the sereneTsar that aid which he has given. But being ready and willing to move,I was grieved not a little when I heard that there could be traitors inthe midst of us, entering into communication with the faithless Poles,and informing them of our work. If this be true, then they are to bepunished according to your will and discretion. We ask you, therefore,to listen to the letters brought from our enemy. Prince Vishnyevetski,by an envoy who is not an envoy but a spy, who wants to note ourpreparations and the good-will of Tugai Bey, our friend, so as toreport them to the Poles. And you are to decide whether he is to bepunished as well as those to whom he brought letters, and of whom thekoshevoi, as a true friend of me, of Tugai Bey, and of the whole army,gave prompt notice."
Hmelnitski stopped. The tumult outside the windows increased everymoment. Then the army secretary began to read, first, the letter of theprince to the koshevoi ataman, beginning with these words: "We, by thegrace of God, prince and lord in Lubni, Khorol, Pryluki, Gadyatch,etc., voevoda in Russia, etc., starosta, etc." The letter was purelyofficial. The prince, having heard that forces were called in from themeadows, asked the ataman if that were true, and summoned him at onceto desist from such action for the sake of peace in Christian lands;and in case Hmelnitski disturbed the Saitch, to deliver him up to thecommissioners on their demand. The second letter was from PanGrodzitski, also to the chief ataman; the third and fourth fromZatsvilikhovski and the old colonel of Cherkasi to Tatarchuk andBarabash. In all these there was nothing that could bring the personsto whom they were addressed into suspicion. Zatsvilikhovski merelybegged Tatarchuk to take the bearer of his letter in care, and to makeeverything he might want easy for him.
Tatarchuk breathed more freely.
"What do you say, gentlemen, of these letters?" inquired Hmelnitski.
The Cossacks were silent. All their councils began thus, till liquorwarmed up their heads, since no one of the atamans wished to raise hisvoice first. Being rude and cunning people, they did this principallyfrom a fear of being laughed at for folly, which might subject theauthor of it to ridicule or give him a sarcastic nickname for the restof his life; for such was the condition in the Saitch, where amidst thegreatest rudeness the sense of the ridiculous and the dread of sarcasmwere wonderfully developed.
The Cossacks remained silent. Hmelnitski raised his voice again.
"The koshevoi ataman is our brother and sincere friend. I believe inthe koshevoi as I do in my own soul. And if any man were to speakotherwise, I should consider him a traitor. The koshevoi is our oldfriend and a soldier."
Having said this, he rose to his feet and kissed the koshevoi.
"Gentlemen," said the koshevoi, in answer, "I bring the forcestogether, and let the hetman lead them. As to the envoy, since theysent him to me, he is mine; and I make you a present of him."
"You, gentlemen of the delegation, salute the koshevoi," saidHmelnitski, "for he is a just man, and go to inform the Brotherhoodthat if there is a traitor, he
is not the man; he first stationed aguard, he gave the order to seize traitors escaping to the Poles. Say,gentlemen, that the koshevoi is not the traitor, that he is the best ofus all."
The deputies bowed to their girdles before Tugai Bey, who chewed hissunflower-seeds the whole time with the greatest indifference; thenthey bowed to Hmelnitski and the koshevoi, and went out of the room.
After a while joyful shouts outside the windows announced that thedeputies had accomplished their task.
"Long life to our koshevoi! long life to our koshevoi!" shouted hoarsevoices, with such power that the walls of the building seemed totremble to their foundations.
At the same time was heard the roar of guns and muskets. The deputiesreturned and took their seats again in the corner of the room.
"Gentlemen," said Hmelnitski, after quiet had come in some degreeoutside the windows, "you have decided wisely that the koshevoi is ajust man. But if the koshevoi is not a traitor, who is the traitor? Whohas friends among the Poles, with whom do they come to anunderstanding, to whom do they write letters, to whom do they confidethe person of an envoy? Who is the traitor?"
While saying this, Hmelnitski raised his voice more and more, anddirected his ominous looks toward Tatarchuk and young Barabash, as ifhe wished to point them out expressly.
A murmur rose in the room; a number of voices began to cry, "Barabashand Tatarchuk!" Some of the kuren atamans stood up in their places, andamong the deputies was heard the cry, "To destruction!"
Tatarchuk grew pale, and young Barabash began to look with astonishedeyes at those present. His slow mind struggled for a time to discoverwhat was laid to his charge; at length he said,--
"The dog won't eat meat!"
Then he burst out into idiotic laughter, and after him others. And allat once the majority of the kuren atamans began to laugh wildly, notknowing themselves why. From outside the windows came shouts, louderand louder; it was evident that liquor had begun to heat their brains.The sound of the human wave rose higher and higher.
But Anton Tatarchuk rose to his feet, and turning to Hmelnitski, beganto speak:--
"What have I done to you, most worthy hetman of the Zaporojie, that youinsist on my death? In what am I guilty before you? The commissionerZatsvilikhovski has written a letter to me,--what of that? So has theprince written to the koshevoi. Have I received a letter? No! And if Ihad received it, what should I do with it? I should go to the secretaryand ask to have it read; for I do not know how to write or to read. Andyou would always know what was in the letter. The Pole I don't know bysight. Am I a traitor, then? Oh, brother Zaporojians! Tatarchuk wentwith you to the Crimea; when you went to Wallachia, he went toWallachia; when you went to Smolensk, he went to Smolensk,--he foughtwith you, brave men, lived with you, and shed his blood with you, wasdying of hunger with you; so he is not a Pole, not a traitor, but aCossack,--your own brother; and if the hetman insists on his death, letthe hetman say why he insists. What have I done to him? In what have Ishown my falsehood? And do you, brothers, be merciful, and judgejustly."
"Tatarchuk is a brave fellow! Tatarehuk is a good man!" answeredseveral voices.
"You, Tatarchuk, are a brave fellow," said Hmelnitski; "and I do notpersecute you, for you are my friend, and not a Pole,--a Cossack, ourbrother. If a Pole were the traitor, then I should not be grieved,should not weep; but if a brave fellow is the traitor, my friend thetraitor, then my heart is heavy, and I am grieved. Since you were inthe Crimea and in Wallachia and at Smolensk, then the offence is thegreater; because now you were ready to inform the Poles of thereadiness and wishes of the Zaporojian army. The Poles wrote to you tomake it easy for their man to get what he wanted; and tell me, worthyatamans, what could a Pole want? Is it not my death and the death of mygood friend Tugai Bey? Is it not the destruction of the Zaporojianarmy? Therefore you, Tatarchuk, are guilty; and you cannot showanything else. And to Barabash his uncle the colonel of Cherkasiwrote,--his uncle, a friend to Chaplinski, a friend to the Poles, whosecreted in his house the charter of rights, so the Zaporojian armyshould not obtain it. Since it is this way,--and I swear, as God lives,that it is no other way,--you are both guilty; and now beg mercy of theatamans, and I will beg with you, though your guilt is heavy and yourtreason clear."
From outside the windows came, not a sound and a murmur, but as it werethe roar of a storm. The Brotherhood wished to know what was doing inthe council-room, and sent a new deputation.
Tatarchuk felt that he was lost. He remembered that the week before hehad spoken in the midst of the atamans against giving the baton toHmelnitski, and against an alliance with the Tartars. Cold drops ofsweat came out on his forehead; he understood that there was no rescuefor him now. As to young Barabash, it was clear that in destroying himHmelnitski wished to avenge himself on the old colonel of Cherkasi, wholoved his nephew deeply. Still Tatarchuk did not wish to die. He wouldnot have paled before the sabre, the bullet, or the stake; but a deathsuch as that which awaited him pierced him to the marrow of his bones.Therefore, taking advantage of a moment of quiet which reigned afterthe words of Hmelnitski, he screamed in a terrified voice,--
"In the name of Christ, brother atamans, dear friends, do not destroyan innocent man! I have not seen the Pole, I have not spoken with him!Have mercy on me, brothers! I do not know what the Pole wanted of me;ask him yourselves! I swear by Christ the Saviour, the Holy Most Pure,Saint Nicholas the wonder-worker, by Michael the archangel, that youare destroying an innocent man!"
"Bring in the Pole!" shouted the chief inspector.
"The Pole this way! the Pole this way!" shouted the kuren atamans.
Confusion began. Some rushed to the adjoining room in which theprisoner was confined, to bring him before the council. Othersapproached Tatarchuk and Barabash with threats. Gladki, the ataman ofthe Mirgorod kuren, first cried, "To destruction!" The deputiesrepeated the cry. Chernota sprang to the door, opened it, and shoutedto the assembled crowd,--
"Worthy Brotherhood, Tatarchuk is a traitor, Barabash is a traitor;destruction to them!"
The multitude answered with a fearful howl. Confusion continued in thecouncil-room; all the atamans rose from their places; some cried, "ThePole! the Pole!" others tried to allay the disturbance. But while thiswas going on the doors were thrown wide open before the weight of thecrowd, and to the middle of the room rushed in a mass of men from thesquare outside. Terrible forms, drunk with rage, filled the space,seething, waving their hands, gnashing their teeth, and exhaling thesmell of spirits. "Death to Tatarchuk, and Barabash to destruction!Give up the traitors! To the square with them!" shouted the drunkenvoices. "Strike! kill!" And hundreds of hands were stretched out in amoment toward the hapless victims.
Tatarchuk offered no resistance; he only groaned in terror. But youngBarabash began to defend himself with desperate strength. He understoodat last that they wanted to kill him. Terror, despair, and madness wereseen on his face; foam covered his lips, and from his bosom came forththe roar of a wild beast. Twice he tore himself from the hands of hisexecutioners, and twice their hands seized him by the shoulders, by thebreast, by the beard and hair. He struggled, he bit, he bellowed, hefell on the ground, and again rose up bleeding and terrible. Hisclothes were torn, his hair was pulled out of his head, an eye knockedout. At last, pressed to the wall, his arm was broken; then he fell.His executioners seized his feet, and dragged him with Tatarchuk to thesquare. There, by the light of tar-barrels and the great fires, thefinal execution began. Several thousand people rushed upon the doomedmen and tore them, howling and struggling among themselves to get atthe victims. They were trampled under foot; bits of their bodies weretorn away. The multitude struggled around them with that terribleconvulsive motion of furious masses. For a moment bloody hands raisedaloft two shapeless lumps, without the semblance of human form; thenagain they were trampled upon the earth. Those standing farther awayraised their voices to the sky,--some crying out to throw the victimsinto the water, others to beat them into a burning tar-barrel. Thedrunken ones be
gan to fight among themselves. In the frenzy twotubs of alcohol were set on fire, which lighted up the hellish scenewith trembling blue flames; from heaven the moon looked down on italso,--the moon calm, bright, and mild. In this way the Brotherhoodpunished its traitors.
In the council-chamber, the moment the Cossacks dragged Tatarchuk andyoung Barabash through the doors there was quiet, and the atamansoccupied their former places near the wall; for a prisoner was ledforth from the adjoining closet.
The shade fell upon his face; in the half-light could be seen only thetall figure, with simple and haughty bearing, though with hands boundtogether. But Gladki threw a bundle of twigs on the fire, and in amoment a bright flame shot up and covered with a clear light the faceof the prisoner, who turned to Hmelnitski.
When he saw him Hmelnitski started. The prisoner was Pan Yan.
Tugai Bey spat out husks of sunflower-seeds, and muttered in Russian,--
"I know that Pole; he was in the Crimea."
"Destruction to him!" cried Gladki.
"Destruction!" repeated Chernota.
Hmelnitski mastered his surprise, but turned his eyes to Gladki andChernota, who under the influence of that glance grew quiet; thenturning to the koshevoi, he said: "And I know him too."
"Whence do you come?" asked the koshevoi of Pan Yan.
"I was coming with an embassy to you, kosheroi ataman, when robbersfell upon me at Hortitsa, and, in spite of customs observed among thewildest people, killed my men, and, regarding neither my office ofenvoy nor my birth, wounded me, insulted me, and brought me here as aprisoner; for which my lord, Prince Yeremi Vishnyevetski, will know howto demand of you account, koshevoi ataman."
"And why did you dissemble? Why did you crush the head of a brave man?Why did you kill four times as many people as your own number? And youcame with a letter to me to observe our preparations and report them tothe Poles! We know also that you had letters to traitors in theZaporojian army, so as to plan with them the destruction of that wholearmy; therefore you will be received, not as an envoy, but as atraitor, and punished with justice."
"You deceive yourself, koshevoi, and you, self-styled hetman," said thelieutenant, turning to Hmelnitski. "If I brought letters, every envoydoes the same when he goes to strange places; for he takes letters fromacquaintances to acquaintances, so that through them he may havesociety. And I came here with a letter from the prince, not to contriveyour destruction, but to restrain you from deeds which are anunendurable outrage to the Commonwealth, and which in the end willbring ruin on you and the whole Zaporojian army. For on whom do youraise your godless hands? Against whom do you, who call yourselvesdefenders of Christianity, form an alliance with Pagans? Against theking, against the nobility, and the whole Commonwealth. You therefore,not I, are traitors; and I tell you that unless you efface your crimeswith obedience and humility, then woe to you! Are the times of Pavlyukand Nalivaika so remote? Has their punishment left your memory?Remember, then, that the patience of the Commonwealth is exhausted, andthe sword is hanging over your heads."
"Oh, you son of Satan!" shouted the koshevoi. "You bark to squeeze outand escape death; but your threatening and your Polish Latin won't helpyou."
Other atamans began to gnash their teeth and shake their sabres; butSkshetuski raised his head still higher, and said,--
"Do not think, atamans, that I fear death, or that I defend my life,or that I am exhibiting my innocence. Being a noble, I can be triedonly by equals. Here I am standing, not before judges, but beforebandits,--not before nobility, but before serfdom,--not beforeknighthood, but before barbarism; and I know well I shall not escape mydeath, with which you will fill the measure of your iniquity. Before meare death and torment; but behind me the power and vengeance of theCommonwealth, in presence of which you are all trembling."
Indeed the lofty stature, the grandeur of his speech, and the name ofthe Commonwealth made a deep impression. The atamans looked at oneanother in silence. After a while it seemed to them that not aprisoner, but the terrible messenger of a mighty people, was standingbefore them.
Tugai Bey murmured: "That is an angry Pole!"
"An angry Pole!" said Hmelnitski.
A violent knocking at the door stopped further conversation. On thesquare the remains of Tatarchuk and Barabash had been disposed of; andthe Brotherhood sent a new deputation. A number of Cossacks, bloody,panting, covered with sweat, drunk, entered the room. They stood nearthe door, and stretching forth their hands still steaming with blood,began to speak.
"The Brotherhood bow to the elders,"--here they bowed to theirgirdles,--"and ask that the Pole be given them to play with, as theyplayed with Barabash and Tatarchuk."
"Let them have the Pole!" cried Chernota.
"No," cried others, "let them wait! He is an envoy!"
"To destruction with him!" answered a number of voices.
Then all were silent, waiting for the answer of the koshevoi andHmelnitski.
"The Brotherhood ask; and if he is not given, they will take himthemselves," said the deputies.
Skshetuski seemed lost beyond redemption, when Hmelnitski inclined tothe ear of Tugai Bey and whispered,--
"He is your captive. The Tartars took him, he is yours. Will you lethim be taken from you? He is a rich nobleman, and besides Prince Yeremiwill ransom him with gold."
"Give up the Pole!" cried the Cossacks, with increasing violence.
Tugai Bey straightened himself in his seat and stood up. Hiscountenance changed in a moment; his eyes dilated like the eyes of awildcat, they began to flash fire. Suddenly he sprang like a tiger infront of the Cossacks who were demanding the prisoner.
"Be off, clowns, infidel dogs, slaves, pig-eaters!" bellowed he,seizing by the beard two of the Zaporojians and pulling them with rage."Be off, drunkards, brutes, foul reptiles! You have come to take mycaptive, but this is the way I'll treat you." So saying, he pulled someby the beard; at last he threw one down and began to stamp on him withhis feet. "On your faces, slaves! I will send you into captivity, Iwill trample the whole Saitch under foot as I trample you! I will sendit up in smoke, cover it with your carcasses."
The deputies drew back in fear; their terrible friend had shown what hecould do.
And, wonderful thing in Bazaluk, there were only six thousand of thehorde! It is true that behind them stood the Khan and all the power ofthe Crimea; but in the Saitch itself there were several thousandCossacks besides those whom Hmelnitski had already sent toTomakovka,--but still not one voice was raised in protest against TugaiBey. It might be that the method with which the terrible murza haddefended his captive was the only one practicable, and that it broughtconviction at once to the Zaporojians, to whom the aid of the Tartarswas at that time indispensable.
The deputation went out on the square, shouting to the crowd that theywould not play with the Pole, for he was Tugai Bey's captive and TugaiBey said he himself was wild! "He has pulled our beards!" cried they.On the square they began immediately to repeat: "Tugai Bey is wild!""Is wild!" cry the crowd, plaintively,--"is wild, is wild!" In a fewminutes a certain shrill voice began to sing near the fire,--
"Hei, hei! Tugai Bey Is wild, roaring wild. Hei, hei! Tugai Bey, Don't get wild, my friend!"
Immediately thousands of voices repeated: "Hei, hei! Tugai Bey!" And atonce rose one of those songs which afterward spread over the wholeUkraine, as if the wind had carried it, and was sung to the sound oflyre and teorban.
But suddenly the song was interrupted; for through the gates, from theside of Hassan Pasha, rushed a number of men who broke through thecrowd, shouting, "Out of the way! out of the way!" and hastened withall speed to the council-house. The atamans were preparing to go outwhen these new guests fell into the room.
"A letter to the hetman!" shouted an old Cossack. "We are fromChigirin. We have rushed on night and day with the letter. Here it
is!"
Hmelnitski took the letter from the hands of the Cossack, and began toread. Suddenly his face changed; he stopped the reading, and said witha piercing voice,--
"Atamans! The Grand Hetman Pototski sends his son Stephen with his armyagainst us. War!"
In the room there rose a wonderful sound,--uncertain whether of joy oramazement. Hmelnitski stepped forward into the middle of the room, andput his hand on his hip; his eyes flashed lightning, his voice wasawful and commanding,--
"Atamans, to the kurens! Fire the cannon from the tower! Break theliquor-barrels! We march at daybreak to-morrow!"
Prom that moment the common council ceased, the rule of atamans and thepreponderance of the Brotherhood were at an end. Hmelnitski assumedunlimited power. A little while before, through fear that his voicemight not be obeyed, he was forced to destroy his opponents byartifice, and by artifice defend the prisoner. Now he was lord of lifeand death for them all.
So it was ever. Before and after expeditions, even if the hetman waschosen, the multitude still imposed its will on the atamans and thekoshevoi for whom opposition was coupled with danger. But when thecampaign was declared, the Brotherhood became an army subject tomilitary discipline, the atamans officers, and the hetman a dictator incommand. Therefore, when they heard the orders of Hmelnitski, theatamans went at once to their kurens. The council was at an end.
Soon the roar of cannon from the gates leading from Hassan Pasha to thesquare of the Saitch shook the walls of the room, and spread withgloomy echoes through all Chertomelik, giving notice of war.
It opened also an epoch in the history of two peoples; but that wasunknown to the drunken Cossacks as well as to the Zaporojian hetmanhimself.