CHAPTER XVI.
Some days passed by. It appeared to men as if the vault of heaven hadsuddenly dropped on the Commonwealth. Joltiya Vodi; Korsun; thedestruction of the armies of the crown, ever victorious hitherto instruggles with the Cossacks; the capture of the hetmans; the awfulconflagration in the whole Ukraine; slaughters, murders, unheard ofsince the beginning of the world,--all these came so suddenly that menalmost refused to believe that so many misfortunes could come upon oneland at a time. Many, in fact, did not believe it; some became helplessfrom terror, some lost their senses, some prophesied the coming ofantichrist and the approach of the day of judgment. All social tieswere severed; all intercourse between people and families wasinterrupted. Every authority ceased; distinction of persons vanished.Hell had freed from its chains all crimes, and let them out on theworld to revel; therefore murder, pillage, perfidy, brutality,violence, robbery, frenzy, took the place of labor, uprightness, andconscience. It seemed as though henceforth people would live notthrough good, but through evil; that the hearts and intentions of menhad become inverted, and that they held as sacred that which hithertohad been infamous, and that as infamous which hitherto had been sacred.The sun shone no longer upon the earth, for it was hidden by the smokeof conflagrations; in the night, instead of stars and moon, shone thelight of fires. Towns, villages, churches, palaces, forests, went up inflames. People ceased to converse; they only groaned or howled likedogs. Life lost its value. Thousands perished without an echo, withoutremembrance. And from out all these calamities, deaths, groans, smoke,and burnings, there rose only one man. Every moment loftier and higher,every moment more terribly gigantic, he wellnigh obscured the light ofday, and cast his shadow from sea to sea. That man was BogdanHmelnitski.
A hundred and twenty thousand men, armed and drunk with victory, stoodready at his nod. The mob had risen on all sides; the Cossacks of thetowns joined him in every place. The country from the Pripet to theborders of the Wilderness was on fire. The insurrection extended in theprovinces of Rus, Podolia, Volynia, Bratslav, Kieff, and Chernigoff.The power of the hetman increased each day. Never had the Commonwealthopposed to its most terrible enemy half the forces which he thencommanded. The German emperor had not equal numbers in readiness. Thestorm surpassed every expectation. The hetman himself did not recognizeat first his own power, and did not understand how he had risen sohigh. He shielded himself yet with justice, legality, and loyalty tothe Commonwealth, for he did not know then that he might trample uponthese expressions as empty phrases; but as his forces grew there rosein him that immeasurable, unconscious egotism the equal of which is notpresented by history. The understanding of good and evil, of virtue andvice, of violence and justice, were confounded in the soul ofHmelnitski with the understanding of injuries done him, or with hispersonal profit. That man was honorable who was with him; that man wasa criminal who was against him. He was ready to complain of the sun,and to count it as a personal injustice if sunshine were not given athis demand. Men, events, nay, the whole world, he measured with his own_ego_. But in spite of all the cunning, all the hypocrisy of thehetman, there was a kind of deformed good faith in this theory of his.All Hmelnitski's crimes flowed from this theory, but his good deeds aswell; for if he knew no bounds in his cruelty and tyranny to an enemy,he knew how to be thankful for every even involuntary service which wasrendered him.
Only when he was drunk did he forget even good deeds, and bellowingwith fury, with foam on his lips, issue bloody orders, for which hegrieved afterward. And in proportion as his success grew, was heoftener drunk, for unquiet took increasing possession of him. It wouldseem that triumph carried him to heights which he did not wish tooccupy. His power amazed other men, but it amazed himself too. Thegigantic hand of rebellion seized and bore him on with the swiftness oflightning and inexorably. But whither? How was all this to end?Commencing sedition in the name of his own wrongs, that Cossackdiplomat might calculate that after his first successes, or even afterdefeats, he could begin negotiations; that forgiveness would be offeredhim, satisfaction and recompense for injustice and injuries. He knewthe Commonwealth intimately,--its patience, inexhaustible as the sea;its compassion, knowing neither bounds nor measure, which flowed notmerely from weakness, for pardon was offered Nalivaika when he wassurrounded and lost. But after the victory at Joltiya Vodi, after thedestruction of the hetmans, after the kindling of civil war in all thesouthern provinces, affairs had gone too far. Events had surpassed allexpectations, and now the struggle must be for life and death. To whoseside would victory incline?
VLADISLAV IV., KING OF POLAND.]
_From an engraving by Moncornet_.
Hmelnitski inquired of soothsayers, took counsel of the stars, andstrained his eyes into the future, but saw nothing ahead save darkness.At times, therefore, an awful unquiet raised the hairs on his head, andin his breast despair raged like a whirlwind. What will be?--what willbe? For Hmelnitski, observing more closely than others, understood atonce, better than many, that the Commonwealth knew not how to use itsown forces,--was unconscious of them,--but had tremendous power. If theright man should grasp that power in his hand, who could stand againsthim? And who could guess whether terrible danger, the nearness of theprecipice and destruction, might not put an end to broils, internaldissensions, private grievances, rivalries of magnates, wrangling, thebabbling of the Diets, the license of the nobility, and the weakness ofthe king? Then a half-million of escutcheoned warriors alone could moveto the field, and crush Hmelnitski, even if he were aided not only bythe Khan of the Crimea, but by the Sultan of Turkey himself.
Of this slumbering power of the Commonwealth the late King Vladislavwas aware, as well as Hmelnitski; and therefore he labored all his lifeto initiate a mortal struggle with the greatest potentate on earth, foronly in this way could that power be called into life. In accordancewith this conviction, the king did not hesitate to throw sparks on theCossack powder. Were the Cossacks really destined to cause thatinundation, in order to be overwhelmed in it at last?
Hmelnitski understood, too, that in spite of all the weakness of theCommonwealth its resistance was tremendous. Against this Commonwealth,so disorderly, ill-united, insubordinate, the Turkish waves, the mostterrible of all were broken as against a cliff. Thus it was at Khotimwhich he saw almost with his own eyes. That Commonwealth, even in timesof weakness, planted its standards on the walls of foreign capitals.What resistance will it offer, what will it not do when brought todespair, when it must either die or conquer?
In view of this, every triumph of Hmelnitski was to him a new danger,for it hastened the moment when the sleeping lion would wake, andbrought negotiations nearer the impossible. In every victory lay afuture defeat, and in every intoxication bitterness at the bottom.After the storm of the Cossacks would come the storm of theCommonwealth. Already it seemed to Hmelnitski that he heard its dulland distant roar. Behold, from Great Poland, Prussia, populous Mazovia,Little Poland, and Lithuania will come crowds of warriors! They needbut a leader.
Hmelnitski had taken the hetmans captive, but in that good fortunethere lurked also an ambush of fate. The hetmans were experiencedwarriors, but no one of them was the man demanded by that period oftempest, terror, and distress. The leader at that time could be but oneman. That man was Prince Yeremi Vishnyevetski. Just because the hetmanshad gone into captivity the choice would be likely to fall on theprince. Hmelnitski in common with all had no doubt of this.
Meanwhile news flew from beyond the Dnieper to Korsun, where theZaporojian hetman had stopped to rest after the battle, that theterrible prince had started for Lubni; that on the road he was stampingout rebellion; that after his passage villages, hamlets, towns,farmhouses, had vanished, and the places in which they had been werebristling with bloody impaling-stakes and gibbets. Terror doubled andtrebled the number of his forces; it was said that he led fifteenthousand of the choicest troops to be found in the Commonwealth.
In the Cossack camp, shortly after th
e battle at Krutaya Balka, thecry, "Yeremi is coming!" was heard among the Cossacks and spread apanic among the mob, who began to run away unreasoningly. This alarmastonished Hmelnitski greatly.
He had his choice then,--either to march with all his power against theprince and seek him beyond the Dnieper, or, leaving a part of hisforces to capture the castles of the Ukraine, move into the heart ofthe Commonwealth. An expedition against the prince was not withoutdanger, Hmelnitski, in spite of the preponderance of his forces, mightsuffer defeat in a general engagement, and then all would be lost atonce. The mob, who composed the great majority, gave evidence that theywould flee at the very name of Yeremi. Time was necessary to changethis mob into an army capable of facing the regiments of the prince.Besides, Yeremi would not be likely to accept a general battle, butwould be content with defence in castles and partisan war which mightlast entire months, if not years, and by that time the Commonwealthwould surely collect new forces and move to reinforce him.
Hmelnitski therefore determined to leave Vishnyevetski beyond theDnieper, strengthen himself in the Ukraine, organize his power, thenmarch on the Commonwealth and force it to terms. He calculated that thesuppression of the rebellion on the east of the Dnieper alone wouldoccupy for a long time all the forces of the prince, and leave a freefield to himself. He hoped therefore to foment rebellion by sendingsingle regiments to aid the mob, and finally he thought it would bepossible to deceive the prince by negotiations, and retard matters bywaiting till the power of Vishnyevetski should be broken. In view ofthis he remembered Pan Yan.
Some days after Krutaya Balka, and on the very day of the alarm of themob, he had Skshetuski called before him. He received him in the houseof the starosta, in presence of Krechovski only, who was long known toSkshetuski; and after he had greeted him kindly, though not without alofty air corresponding to his present position, he said,--
"Lieutenant Skshetuski, for the kindness which you have shown me I haveransomed you from Tugai Bey and promised you freedom. Now the hour hascome. I give you this baton of a colonel to secure a free passage, incase any of the forces should meet you, and a guard for protectionagainst the mob. You may return to your prince."
Skshetuski was silent; no smile of joy appeared on his face.
"But are you able to take the road, for I see that illness of some kindis looking out through your eyes?"
Pan Yan, in truth, seemed like a shadow. Wounds and recent events hadweakened the young giant, who looked as though he could give no promiseof surviving till the morrow. His face had grown yellow, and the blackbeard, long untrimmed, added to the wretchedness of his appearance.This rose from internal suffering. The knight's heart was almostbroken. Dragged after the Tartar camp, he had been a witness of allthat had happened since they issued from the Saitch. He had seen thedefeat and disgrace of the Commonwealth, and the hetmans in captivity;he had seen the Cossack's triumph, pyramids of heads cut from fallensoldiers, noblemen hanged by the ribs, the breasts of women cut off,and maidens dishonored; he had seen the despair of daring and thebaseness of fear; he had seen everything, endured everything, andsuffered the more because the thought was in his bosom and brain, likethe stab of a knife, that he himself was the remote cause, for he andno other had cut Hmelnitski loose from the lariat. But was a Christianknight to suppose that succor given one's neighbor could bring suchfruit? His pain therefore was beyond measure.
When he asked himself what was happening to Helena, and when he thoughtwhat might happen if an evil fate should keep her in Rozlogi, hestretched his hands to heaven and cried in a voice in which quivereddeep despair, almost a threat: "God! take my life, for I am punishedbeyond my deserts!" Then he saw that he was blaspheming, fell on hisface, and prayed for salvation, for forgiveness, for mercy on hiscountry and that innocent dove, who maybe had called in vain for God'shelp and his. In one word, he had suffered so much beyond his powerthat the freedom granted did not rejoice him; and that Zaporojianhetman, that conqueror who wished to be magnanimous by showing hisfavor, made no impression upon him at all. Seeing this, Hmelnitskifrowned and said,--
"Hasten to take advantage of my favor, lest I change my mind; for it ismy kindness and belief in a just cause which makes me so careless as toprovide an enemy for myself, for I know well that you will fightagainst me."
To which Skshetuski answered: "If God gives me strength."
And he gazed at Hmelnitski, till he looked into the depth of his soul.The hetman, unable to endure the gaze, cast his eyes to the ground, andafter a moment said,--
"Enough of this! I am too powerful to be troubled by one sick man. Tellthe prince your lord what you have seen, and warn him to be lessinsolent; for if my patience fails I will visit him beyond the Dnieper,and I do not think my visit will be pleasant to him."
Skshetuski was silent.
"I say, and repeat once more," added Hmelnitski, "I am carrying on war,not with the Commonwealth, but with the kinglets; and the prince is inthe first rank among them. He is an enemy to me and to the Russianpeople, an apostate from our church, and a savage tyrant. I hear thathe is quelling the uprising in blood; let him see to it that he doesnot spill his own."
Thus speaking, he became more and more excited, till the blood began torush to his face, and his eyes flashed fire. It was evident that one ofthose paroxysms of anger and rage in which he lost his memory andpresence of mind altogether was seizing him.
"I will command Krivonos to bring him with a rope!" cried he. "I willtrample him under foot, and mount my horse on his back!"
Skshetuski looked down on the raging Hmelnitski, and then said calmly:"Conquer him first."
"Hetman," said Krechovski, "let this insolent noble go his way, for itdoes not become your dignity to be affected by anger against him; andsince you have promised him freedom he calculates that either you willbreak your word or listen to his invectives."
Hmelnitski bethought himself, panted awhile, then said,--
"Let him go then, and give him a baton, as I have said, and fortyTartars, who will take him to his own camp, so that he may know thatHmelnitski returns good for good." Then turning to Pan Yan, he added:"You know that we are even now. I liked you in spite of your insolence,but if you fall into my hands again you will not escape."
Skshetuski went out with Krechovski.
"Since the hetman has let you off with your life," said Krechovski,"and you can go where you please, I tell you, for old acquaintance'sake, to seek safety in Warsaw rather than beyond the Dnieper, for youwill not leave there alive. Your time has passed. If you were wise youwould come to our side, but I know that it is useless to tell you this.You would rise as high as we."
"To the gallows," muttered Skshetuski.
"They would not give me the starostaship of Lita, but now I can take,not only one, but ten such places. We will drive out theKonyetspolskis, Kalinovskis, Pototskis, Lyubomirskis, Vishnyevetskis,Zaslavskis, and all the nobility, and divide their estates; which mustbe according to the will of God, for he has already given us two greatvictories."
Pan Yan was thinking of something else, and did not hear the prating ofthe colonel, who continued,--
"When after the battle I saw the high mighty hetman of the crown, mylord and benefactor, bound in Tugai Bey's quarters, and he was pleasedimmediately to call me a Judas and unthankful, I answered him: 'Serene,great voevoda! I am not unthankful, for when I shall be in possessionof your castles and property, I will make you my under-starosta if youwill promise not to get drunk.' Oh, ho! Tugai Bey will get ransom forthose birds that he has caught, and therefore he spares them; were itnot for that, Hmelnitski and I would talk differently to them. But see!the wagon is ready for you and the Tartars are on hand. Where do youwish to go?"
"To Chigirin."
"'As thou makest thy bed, so wilt thou sleep.' The Tartars will conductyou even to Lubni, for such are their orders. See, however, that yourprince does not have them impaled, as he surely would Cossacks. This iswhy Tartars are given to you. The hetman has ordered that your horse be
given you. Farewell! Remember us with kindness. Give our hetman'srespects to your prince, and if he be persuaded to come to Hmelnitskiwith homage, he may find favor. Farewell!"
Pan Yan seated himself in the wagon, which the Tartars surrounded atonce; and they moved on. It was difficult to pass through the square,which was completely packed with Zaporojians and the mob. Both werecooking kasha for themselves, while singing songs over the victory ofJoltiya Vodi and Korsun, composed by blind minstrels, a multitude ofwhom came from all sides to the camp. Between the fires burning underthe kasha kettles, lay here and there bodies of murdered women overwhom orgies had taken place in the night, or stood pyramids of headscut from the bodies of killed and wounded soldiers. These bodies andheads had begun to decay and give out an offensive odor, which howeverdid not seem to be at all disagreeable to the assembled crowds. Thetown bore marks of devastation and the wild license of Zaporojians.Doors and windows were torn out; the shivered fragments of a thousandobjects, mixed with hair and straw, covered the square. The eaves ofhouses were ornamented with hanged men, for the greater part Jews; andhere and there the crowd amused themselves by clinging to the feet ofpendent corpses and swinging on them.
On one side of the square were the black ruins of burnt buildings,among them those of the parish church; the ruins were hot, and smokewas rising from them. The odor of burning permeated the air. Beyond theburnt houses was the Tartar camp, which Skshetuski had to pass, andcrowds of captives watched by Tartar guards. Men from the neighborhoodof Chigirin, Cherkasi, and Korsun, who had been unable to hide, or whohad not fallen under the axe of the mob, went into captivity. Theprisoners were soldiers, captured in the two battles; and townspeopleof the region about, who had been unable or unwilling to join theuprising; nobles living on their own lands, separately or in communes;officials of under-starostas; owners of small tracts of land; villagenobles of both sexes, and children. There were no old men, for theTartars killed them as unfit for sale. They had driven in also wholeRussian villages and settlements,--an act which Hmelnitski did not dareto oppose. In many places it happened that men went to the Cossackcamp, and as a reward the Tartars burned their cottages, and carriedoff their wives and children. But in the universal letting loose andgrowing wild of souls, no one inquired or thought about that. The mobwho took arms gave up their native villages, their wives and children.Their wives were taken from them; but they took other and better women,for they were Polish. After they had sated themselves with the charmsof these they killed them, or sold them to Tartars. Among the prisonersalso were young matrons of the Ukraine, tied by threes and fours to onerope with young women of the petty nobility. Captivity and misfortuneequalized condition.
The sight of these beings shocked the lieutenant to the bottom of hissoul, and roused a thirst for vengeance. Tattered, half naked, exposedto the vile jeers of pagans who were loitering through curiosity incrowds on the square, pushed, struck, or kissed by disgusting lips,they lost their memory and will. Some sobbed, or resisted loudly;others, with staring eyes and bewildered faces, yielded passively toeverything. Here and there was heard a shriek wrested from somecaptive, slaughtered without mercy for an outburst of despairingresistance. The cracking of whips, the whistling of ox-hide lashes, washeard among the crowd of men, and was mingled with screams of pain,with the whining of children, the bellowing of cattle, and the neighingof horses. The booty was not yet divided and arranged for removal;therefore the greatest disorder prevailed everywhere. Wagons, horses,horned cattle, camels, sheep, women, men, heaps of stolen clothing,vessels, arms,--all, thrust into one enormous camp, waited arrangementand order. Scouting-parties drove in from time to time new crowds ofpeople and herds of cattle, laden barges sailed down the Kos, and fromthe chief camp new people arrived continually to sate their eyes withthe sight of the collected wealth. Some, drunk on kumis or vudka,dressed in strange costumes,--in chasubles and surplices, in robes ofRussian priests, or even in women's clothes,--began to dispute,quarrel, and scream over the possession of certain articles. TheTartar herdsmen, sitting on the ground among the cattle, amusedthemselves,--some by giving piercing melodies on their pipes, others byplaying dice or beating one another with clubs. Crowds of dogs whichhad followed their masters barked and howled plaintively.
Skshetuski at length passed this human gehenna, full of groans, tearsof misery, and hellish sounds. He had expected to breathe more freely;but the moment he was beyond the camp a new and terrible sight struckhis eyes. In the distance was the camp proper, from which came acontinual neighing of horses, and near which thousands of Tartarsswarmed in the field by the side of the road leading to Cherkasi. Theyouthful warriors amused themselves with shooting for exercise frombows at the weaker prisoners, or the sick who were unable to endure thelong road to the Crimea. A number of bodies lay around, thrown on theroad, as full of holes as a sieve; some of them still quiveredconvulsively. Those at whom they were shooting hung bound by the handsto trees near the roadside. Among these were also old women. Shoutsaccompanied laughter of approval for good arrow-shots.
"Fine fellows! The bow is in good hands!"
Around the principal camp they were dressing thousands of cattle andhorses for the sustenance of the warriors. The ground was drenched withblood. The sickening odor of raw flesh stifled the breath in thebreast, and among the piles of meat red Tartars hurried around withknives in their hands. The day was oppressive, the sun scorching.Skshetuski with his escort barely reached the open field after anhour's travelling; but from afar there came for a long time the tumultand bellowing of cattle from the main camp. Along the road traces ofthe passage of plunderers were evident. Here and there were burntgardens, chimneys standing alone, young grain trodden under foot, treesbroken, cherry-orchards near the cottages cut down for fuel. On thehigh-road lay thickly, in one place, the carcasses of horses; inanother the bodies of men mutilated fearfully, blue, swollen, and aboveand over them flocks of crows and ravens, flying with tumult and noiseat the approach of people. The bloody work of Hmelnitski thrust itselfupon the sight everywhere, and it was difficult to understand againstwhom the man had raised his hands, since his own country groaned firstof all under the weight of misfortune.
In Mleyeff, Skshetuski met Tartar parties urging on new crowds ofprisoners. Gorodische was burned to the ground. There remained standingonly the stone bell-tower of the church, and the old oak-tree in themiddle of the square, covered with terrible fruit; for upon it weresuspended a number of tens of little Jews, hanged there three daysbefore. There were killed also many nobles from Konoplanka, Staroselo,Venjovka, Balaklei, Vodachevo. The town itself was empty; for the menhad gone to Hmelnitski, and the women, children, and old men had fledto the woods before the expected invasion by the armies of PrinceYeremi. From Gorodische, Skshetuski went through Smila, Zabotin, andNovoselyets to Chigirin, stopping only to rest his horse. They enteredthe town on the second day in the afternoon. War had spared the place;only a few houses were wrecked, and among them that of Chaplinski wasrazed to the ground. In the town was stationed Colonel Naokolopalyets,and with him a thousand Cossacks; but both he and they and the wholepopulation lived in the greatest terror, for they all seemed convincedthat the prince might come at any moment and wreak vengeance such asthe world had never heard of. It was unknown who had circulated thesereports, or where they had come from; fear perhaps had created them.Enough that it was repeated continually that the prince was sailing onthe Sula, that he was already on the Dnieper, had burned Vasyutinets,and had cut off the people in Borysi, and that every approach of men onhorseback caused boundless panic. Skshetuski caught up these reportseagerly; for he understood that though false they prevented theextension of the rebellion beyond the Dnieper, where the hand of theprince pressed directly.
Skshetuski wished to learn something more certain from Naokolopalyets;but it appeared that the lieutenant-colonel, like others, knew nothingabout the prince, and would have been glad himself to extract some newsfrom Skshetuski. Since all boats, large and small, had been broughtover to that ba
nk of the river, fugitives from the other shore did notcome to Chigirin.
Skshetuski, without waiting longer in Chigirin, gave orders to beferried over, and set out for Rozlogi. The assurance that he would soonconvince himself of what had happened to Helena, and the hope thatperhaps she was safe, or had taken refuge with her aunt and the princesin Lubni, brought back his strength and health. He left the wagon forhis horse, and urged without sparing his Tartars, who, thinking him anenvoy and themselves attendants given under his command, dared notoppose him. They flew on therefore as if hunted. Behind them roseyellow clouds of dust hurled up by the hoofs of the horses. They sweptpast farms, gardens, and villages. The country was empty, thehabitations of men depopulated; for a long time they could not find aliving soul. It is likely, too, that every one hid at their approach.Here and there Skshetuski gave orders to search in orchards andbee-gardens, grain-mows and the roofs of barns, but they discovered noman.
Beyond Pogrebi one of the Tartars first espied a certain human formtrying to hide among the rushes which grew on the banks of theKagamlik. The Tartars rushed to the river, and a few minutes laterbrought before Skshetuski two persons entirely naked. One of them wasan old man; the other a stripling, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years ofage. The teeth of both were chattering with terror, and for a long timethey were unable to utter a word.
"Where are you from?" asked Skshetuski.
"Nowhere, sir!" answered the old man. "We go begging with a lyre, andthis dumb boy leads me."
"Where are you coming from now,--from what village? Speak boldly;nothing will happen to you."
"We, sir, travelled through all the villages, till some devil strippedus. We had good boots, he took them; we had good caps, he took them;good coats from people's charity, he took them, and did not leave thelyre."
"I ask you, you fool, from what village you come."
"I don't know, sir,--I am an old man. See, we are naked; we arefreezing at night, in the daytime we ask the charity of people to coverus and feed us; we are hungry!"
"Listen, louts! Answer my question, or I will hang you!"
"I don't know, my lord. If I am this or that, or there will beanything, let me alone."
It was evident that the old man, unable to decide who his questionerwas, determined not to give any answer.
"Were you in Rozlogi, where the Princes Kurtsevichi live?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Hang him!" cried Skshetuski.
"I was, sir," cried the old man, seeing there was no trifling.
"What did you see there?"
"We were there five days ago, and then in Brovarki; we heard that theknights had come there."
"What knights?"
"I don't know, sir; one said Poles, another said Cossacks."
"To horse!" shouted Skshetuski to the Tartars.
The party rushed on. The sun was setting precisely as on that day whenthe lieutenant, after meeting Helena and the princess on the road, rodeby them at the side of Rozvan's carriage. The Kagamlik shone withpurple, just as it had then; the day went to rest with more quiet, morewarmth and calm. But that time Pan Yan rode on with a breast full ofhappiness and awakening feelings of delight; now he rushes on like acondemned man, driven by a whirlwind of trouble and evil forebodings.The voice of despair calls from his soul, "Bogun has carried her away,you will never see her again!" and a voice of hope, "She is safe!" Andthese voices so pulled him between them that they almost tore his heartasunder. He urged the horses to their last strength. One hour followedanother. The moon rose and mounted higher and higher, grew paler andpaler. The horses were covered with foam, and snorted heavily. Theyrushed into the forest, it was passed in a flash; they rushed into theravine; beyond the ravine was Rozlogi. Another moment, and the fate ofthe knight would be settled. The wind whistles into his ears from thespeed, his cap falls from his head, the horse groans under him as ifready to drop. Another moment, and the ravine opens. At last! at last!
Suddenly an unearthly shriek comes from the breast of Skshetuski. Thehouse, granaries, stables, barns, picket-fence, and cherry-orchard hadall disappeared. The pale moon shone upon the hill, and on a pile ofblack ruins which had ceased to smoke. No sound broke the silence.
Skshetuski stood before the trench speechless; he merely raised hishands, looked, and shook his head in bewilderment. The Tartars stoppedtheir horses. He dismounted, sought out the remains of the burnedbridge, passed the trench on the cross-pieces, and sat on the stonelying in the middle of the yard. Having sat down, he began to lookaround like a man who tries to recognize a place in which he findshimself for the first time. Presence of mind left him. He uttered nogroan. After a while he placed his hands on his knees, dropped hishead, and remained motionless; it might have been supposed that he wasasleep. Indeed, if not asleep, he had become torpid; and through hisbrain passed dim visions instead of thoughts. He saw Helena as shelooked when he parted with her before his last journey; but her facewas veiled as it were by mist, therefore her features could not bedistinguished. He wished to bring her out of that misty covering, butcould not, and went away with heavy heart. Then there passed before himthe square at Chigirin, old Zatsvilikhovski, and the impudent face ofZagloba; that face remained before his eyes with a special persistence,until at length the gloomy visage of Grodzitski took its place. Afterthat he saw Kudak again, the Cataracts, the fight at Hortitsa, theSaitch, the whole journey, and all the events to the last day and hour.But farther there was darkness! What was happening to him at thepresent he saw not. He had only a sort of indefinite feeling that hewas going to Helena, to Rozlogi, but his strength had failed; that hewas resting on ruins. He wanted to rise and go farther, but animmeasurable weakness bound him to the place, as if a hundred-poundball were fastened to his feet.
He sat and sat. The evening was advancing. The Tartars arrangedthemselves for the night, made a fire, cooked pieces of horse-flesh,and having satisfied their hunger, lay down on the ground.
But before an hour had passed they sprang to their feet again. From adistance came a noise like the sound made by a great number of cavalrywhen moving on a hurried march.
The Tartars fastened as quickly as possible a white cloth on a pole,and renewed the fire vigorously, so that it might be seen from adistance that they were messengers of peace.
The tramp and snorting of horses, the clatter of sabres, came nearerand nearer; and soon there appeared on the road a division of cavalry,which surrounded the Tartars at once.
A short parley followed. The Tartars pointed to a figure sitting on therising ground,--which was perfectly visible, for the light of the moonfell on it,--and said they were escorting an envoy, but from whom hecould tell best himself.
The leader of the division went with some of his companions to therising ground, but had scarcely come up and looked into the face of thesitting man, when he opened his arms and cried,--
"Skshetuski! By the living God, it is Skshetuski!"
The lieutenant did not move.
"But, Lieutenant, don't you know me? I am Bykhovets. What is the matterwith you?"
The lieutenant was silent.
"Rouse yourself, for God's sake! Here, comrade, come to your mind!"
This was really Pan Bykhovets, who was marching in the vanguard of allVishnyevetski's forces.
Other regiments came up. News of the discovery of Pan Yan spread likelightning in the regiments, therefore all hurried to greet theirfavorite comrade. Little Volodyovski, the two Sleshinskis, Dzik,Orpishevski, Migurski, Yakubovich, Lents, Pan Longin Podbipienta, and anumber of other officers ran as fast as they could to the eminence. Butthey spoke in vain to him, called him by name, pulled him by theshoulders, tried to raise him up. Skshetuski looked on them withwide-open eyes, and recognized no man; or rather, on the contrary,he seemed to recognize them, but was completely indifferent tothem. Then those who knew of his love for Helena--and indeed all knewthat--remembered what place they were in; looking on the black ruinsand the gray ashes, they understood all.
"He has
lost his mind from grief," said one.
"Despair has disturbed his mind."
"Take him to the priest; when he sees him perhaps he will come tohimself."
Pan Longin wrung his hands. All surrounded the lieutenant and looked athim with sympathy. Some wiped away their tears, others sighed sadly;till suddenly a lofty figure appeared, and approaching quietly, placedhis hands upon the lieutenant's head. This was the priest, Mukhovetski.
All were silent and knelt down as if waiting for a miracle; but thepriest performed no miracle. Holding his hands on Pan Yan's head, heraised his eyes to the heavens, which were filled with the light of themoon, and began to pray aloud.
"'Pater noster, qui es in c[oe]lis! sanctificetur nomen tuum, adveniatregnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua--'" Here he stopped, and after a whilerepeated more loudly and solemnly: "'Fiat voluntas tua!'" A deepsilence reigned. "'Fiat voluntas tua!'" repeated the priest for thethird time.
From the mouth of Skshetuski came a voice of measureless pain, but alsoof resignation: "'Sicut in c[oe]lo, et in terra!'" Then the knightthrew himself sobbing on the ground.
"HE RAISED HIS EYES AND BEGAN TO PRAY ALOUD."]
Copyright, 1898, by Little, Brown, and Company.
_From a drawing by J. Wagrez_.