The Deluge. Vol. 1. Генрик Сенкевич
I have put out her eyes with this Kmita, and besides have given her gall to drink. It was not right to do that, and I must repair the wrong. I wish bullets had struck me, for I have acted rudely. I will write a letter asking forgiveness, and then help her in what way I can."
Further thoughts concerning Pan Kmita were interrupted by the attendant Syruts, who riding forward again said: "Pardon, but over there on the hill is Pan Kharlamp riding with some one else."
"Where?"
"Over there!"
"It is true that two horsemen are visible, but Pan Kharlamp remained with the prince voevoda of Vilna. How dost thou know him so far away?"
"By his cream-colored horse. The whole array knows that horse anywhere."
"As true as I live, there is a cream-colored horse in view, but it may be some other man's horse."
"When I recognize the gait, it is surely Pan Kharlamp."
They spurred on; the other horsemen did the same, and soon Volodyovski saw that Pan Kharlamp was in fact approaching.
Pan Kharlamp was the lieutenant of a light-horse squadron in the Lithuanian quota. Pan Volodyovski's acquaintance of long standing, an old soldier and a good one. Once he and the little knight had quarrelled fiercely, but afterward while serving together and campaigning they acquired a love for each other. Volodyovski sprang forward quickly, and opening his arms cried, -
"How do you prosper, O Great-nose? Whence do you come?"
The officer-who in truth deserved the nickname of Great-nose, for he had a mighty nose-fell into the embraces of the colonel, and greeted him joyously; then after he had recovered his breath, he said, "I have come to you with a commission and money."
"But from whom?"
"From the prince voevoda of Vilna, our hetman. He sends you a commission to begin a levy at once, and another commission to Pan Kmita, who must be in this neighborhood."
"To Pan Kmita also? How shall we both make a levy in one neighborhood?"
"He is to go to Troki, and you to remain in these parts."
"How did you know where to look for me?"
"The hetman himself inquired carefully till the people from this place who have remained near him told where to find you. I came with sure information. You are in great and continual favor there. I have heard the prince himself say that he had not hoped to inherit anything from Prince Yeremi, but still he did inherit the greatest of knights."
"May God grant him to inherit the military success of Yeremi! It is a great honor for me to conduct a levy. I will set about it at once. There is no lack of warlike people here, if there was only something with which to give them an outfit. Have you brought much money?"
"You will count it at Patsuneli."
"So you have been there already? But be careful; for there are shapely girls in Patsuneli, like poppies in a garden."
"Ah, that is why stopping there pleased you! But wait, I have a private letter from the hetman to you."
"Then give it."
Kharlamp drew forth a letter with the small seal of the Radzivills. Volodyovski opened it and began to read: -
Worthy Colonel Pan Volodyovski, – Knowing your sincere wish to serve the country, I send you a commission to make a levy, and not as is usually done, but with great haste, for periculum in mora (there is danger in delay). If you wish to give us joy, then let the squadron be mustered and ready for the campaign by the end of July, or the middle of August at the latest. We are anxious to know how you can find good horses, especially since we send money sparingly, for more we could not hammer from the under-treasurer, who after his old fashion is unfriendly to us. Give one half of this money to Pan Kmita, for whom Pan Kharlamp has also a commission. We hope that he will serve us zealously. But tidings have come to our ears of his violence in Upita, therefore it is better for you to take the letter directed to him from Kharlamp, and discover yourself whether to deliver it to him or not. Should you consider the accusations against him too great, and creating infamy, then do not give it, for we are afraid lest our enemies-such as the under-treasurer, and the voevoda of Vityebsk-might raise outcries against us because we commit such functions to unworthy persons. But if you give the letter after having found that there is nothing important, let Pan Kmita endeavor to wipe away his faults by the greatest exertion in service, and in no case to appear in the courts, for he belongs to our hetman's jurisdiction, – we and no one else will judge him. Pay attention to our charge at once, in view of the confidence which we have in your judgment and faithful service.
"The hetman is terribly anxious about horses for you," said Kharlamp, when the little knight had finished reading.
"It will surely be difficult in the matter of horses," answered Volodyovski. "A great number of the small nobility here will rally at the first summons, but they have only wretched little Jmud ponies, not very capable of service. For a good campaign it would be needful to give them all fresh horses."
"Those are good horses; I know them of old, wonderfully enduring and active."
"Bah!" responded Volodyovski, "but small, and the men here are large. If they should form in line on such horses, you would think them a squadron mounted on dogs. There is where the rub is. I will work with zeal, for I am in haste myself. Leave Kmita's commission with me, as the hetman commands; I will give it to him. It has come just in season."
"But why?"
"For he has acted here in Tartar fashion and taken a lady captive. There are as many lawsuits and questions hanging over him as he has hairs on his head. It is not a week since I had a sabre-duel with him."
"Ai!" cried Kharlamp. "If you had a sabre-duel with him, he is in bed at this moment."
"But he is better already. In a week or two he will be well. What is to be heard de publicis?"
"Evil in the old fashion. The under-treasurer, Pan Gosyevski, the full hetman, is ever quarrelling with the prince; and as the hetmans do not agree, affairs do not move in harmony. Still we have improved a little, and I think that if we had concord we might manage the enemy. God will permit us yet to ride on their necks to their own land. Gosyevski is to blame for all."
"But others say it is specially the grand hetman, Prince Radzivill."
"They are traitors. The voevoda of Vityebsk talks that way, for he and the under-treasurer are cronies this long time."
"The voevoda of Vityebsk is a worthy citizen."
"Are you on the side of Sapyeha against the Radzivills?"
"I am on the side of the country, on whose side all should be. In this is the evil, – that even soldiers are divided into parties, instead of fighting. That Sapyeha is a worthy citizen, I would say in the presence of the prince himself, even though I serve under him."
"Good people have striven to bring about harmony, but with no result," said Kharlamp. "There is a terrible movement of messengers from the king to our prince. They say that something is hatching. We expected with the visit of the king a call of the general militia; it has not come! They say that it may be necessary in some places."
"In the Ukraine, for instance."
"I know. But once Lieutenant Brohvich told what he heard with his own ears. Tyzenhauz came from the king to our hetman, and when they had shut themselves in they talked a long time about something which Brohvich could not overhear; but when they came out, with his own ears he heard the hetman say, 'From this a new war may come.' We racked our heads greatly to find what this could mean."
"Surely he was mistaken. With whom could there be a new war? The emperor is more friendly to us now than to our enemies, since it is proper for him to take the side of a civilized people. With the Swedes the truce is not yet at an end, and will not be for six years; the Tartars are helping us in the Ukraine, which they would not do without the will of Turkey."
"Well, we could not get at anything."
"For there was nothing.