Complete Works of Henryk Sienkiewicz

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  “We don’t want to know him. Our old men say that whatever Cossack looks him in the eye is given to death.”

  “It will be so with Hmelnitski.”

  “God knows what will be. This is sure, that it is not for them both to live in the white world. Our father says if you would give him up Yeremi he would let you all go free, and bow down to the king with all of us.”

  Here the soldiers began to frown and grit their teeth.

  “Be silent, or we’ll draw our sabres!”

  “You Poles are angry, but you’ll have your ‘fate.’”

  And so they conversed, sometimes pleasantly and sometimes with threats, which, in spite of them, burst out like thunder-peals. In the afternoon Zatsvilikhovski returned to the camp. There were no negotiations, and a cessation of arms was not obtained. Hmelnitski put forth monstrous demands, — that the prince and Konyetspolski should be given up to him. Finally he told over the wrongs of the Zaporojians, and began to persuade Zatsvilikhovski to remain with him for good; whereupon the old knight was enraged, sprang up, and went away. In the evening followed an assault, which was repulsed with blood. The whole camp was in fire for two hours. The Cossacks were not only hurled from the walls, but the infantry captured the first intrenchment, destroyed the embrasures, the shelters, and burned fourteen moving towers. Hmelnitski swore that night to the Khan that he would not withdraw while a man remained alive in the camp.

  The next day at dawn brought fresh musketry-firing, digging under the ramparts, and a battle till evening with flails, scythes, sabres, stones, and clods of earth. The friendly feeling of the day before, and regret at the spilling of Christian blood gave way to still greater obstinacy. Rain began to fall in the morning. That day half-rations were issued to the soldiers, at which Zagloba complained greatly, but in general empty stomachs redoubled the rage of the Poles. They swore to fall one after the other, and not to surrender to the last breath. The evening brought new assaults from the Cossacks, disguised as Turks, lasting, however, but a short time. A night full of uproar and cries followed, “a very quarrelsome night.” Firing did not cease for a moment. Both sides challenged each other; they fought in groups and pairs. Pan Longin went out to the skirmish, but no one would stand before him; they merely fired at him from a distance. But Stempovski covered himself with great glory, and also Volodyovski, who in single combat killed the famous partisan Dundar.

  At last Zagloba himself came out, but only to encounters of the tongue. “After killing Burlai,” said he, “I cannot meet every common scrub!” But in the encounter of tongues he found no equal among the Cossacks, and he brought them to despair; when covered with a good embankment he cried, as if under the ground, with a stentorian voice, —

  “Sit here at Zbaraj, you clowns, but the Lithuanian soldiers are going down the Dnieper. They are saluting your wives and young women. Next spring you will find crowds of little Botvinians in your cottages, if you find the cottages.”

  The Lithuanian army was really descending the Dnieper, under Kadzivil, burning and destroying, leaving only land and water. The Cossacks knowing this fell into a rage, and in answer hailed bullets on Zagloba, as a man shakes pears from a tree. But Zagloba took good care of his head behind the embankment, and cried again, —

  “You have missed, you dog-spirits, but I didn’t miss Burlai. I am alone here; come to a duel with me! You know me! Come on, you clowns! shoot on while you have a chance, for next winter you’ll be taking care of young Tartars in the Crimea, or making dams on the Dnieper. Come on, come on! I’ll give a copper for the head of your Hmel. Give him a whack on the snout from me, from Zagloba, do you hear? Hei! you filthy fools, is it little of your carrion that lies on the field smelling like dead dogs? The plague sends her respects to you. To your forks, to your ploughs, to your boats, you scurvy villains! It is for you to tug salt and dried cherries against the current of the Dnieper, not to stand in our way.”

  The Cossacks had their laugh too at the “Panowie who have one biscuit for three,” and they were asked why they did not collect their taxes and tithes. But Zagloba got the upper hand in the disputes. These conversations rattled on, interrupted by curses and wild outbursts of laughter for whole nights, under fire and with more or less fighting. Then Pan Yanitski went out to negotiate with the Khan, who repeated again that all would meet their “fate,” till the impatient envoy said: “You promised that long ago, but nothing has happened to us yet! Whoever comes for our heads will leave his own!” The Khan asked Prince Yeremi to meet his vizier in the field; but that was simply treachery, which was discovered, and the negotiations were finally broken off. All this time there was no intermission in the struggle, — assaults in the evening, during the day cannonading and musketry fire, sallies from the ramparts, encounters, hand-to-hand conflict of battalions, and wild attacks of cavalry.

  A certain mad desire of fighting, of blood, and danger upheld the soldiers. They went to battle with songs, as if to a wedding. They had indeed become so accustomed to uproar and tumult that those divisions which were detailed to sleep slept soundly under fire, amidst thickly falling bullets. Provisions decreased every day, for the commanders had not supplied the camp sufficiently before the coming of the prince. The price of everything was enormously high, but those who had money and bought bread or gorailka shared it gladly with others. No one cared for the morrow, knowing that one of two things would not miss them, — either succor from the king, or death! They were equally ready for either, but more ready for battle. An unheard-of case in history, tens meeting thousands with such resistance and such rage that each assault was a new defeat for the Cossacks! Besides, there was no day in which there were not several attacks from the ramparts on the enemy in his own trenches. Those evenings when Hmelnitski thought that weariness must overcome the most enduring and was quietly preparing an assault, joyful songs would come to his ears. Then he struck his hands on his legs with wonder, and thought, “In truth Yeremi is a greater wizard than any in the Cossack camp.” Then he was furious, hurried to the fight, and poured out a sea of blood; for he saw that his star was beginning to pale before the star of the terrible prince.

  In the tabor they sang songs about Yeremi, or in a low voice related things of him, which made the hair stand on the heads of the Cossacks. They said that he would appear at times in the night on the ramparts, and would grow up before one till his head was higher than the towers of Zbaraj; that his eyes were then like two moons, and the sword in his hand like that star of ill omen which God sometimes sends out in the sky for the destruction of men. It was said that when he shouted, the Poles who had fallen in battle rose up with clanking armor and took their places in the ranks with the living. Yeremi was in every mouth, — they sang about him, minstrels spoke of him, the old Zaporojians, the ignorant mob, and the Tartars; and in those conversations, in that hatred, in that superstitious terror there was a certain wild love with which that people of the steppes loved their bloody destroyer. Hmelnitski paled before him, not only in the eyes of the Khan and the Tartars, but in the eyes of his own people; and he saw that he must take Zbaraj, or the spell which he exercised would be dissipated, like darkness before the morning dawn, — he must trample that lion, or perish himself.

  But the lion not only defended himself, but each day he issued more terrible from his lair. Neither stratagem, nor treachery, nor evident preponderance availed. Meanwhile the mob and the Cossacks began to murmur. It was difficult for them to sit in smoke and fire, in a rain of bullets, with the odor of corpses, in rain, in heat, before the face of death. But the valiant Cossacks did not fear toil, nor bad weather, nor storms with fire and blood and death; they feared “Yarema.”

  CHAPTER LX.

  Many a simple knight covered himself with undying glory on that memorable rampart of Zbaraj; but the lyre will celebrate Pan Longin Podbipienta among the first, since the greatness of his gifts could be equalled only by his modesty. The night was gloomy, dark, and wet; the soldiers, wearied with watching at the ramparts,
dozed, leaning on their weapons. After the recent ten days of firing and assaults, this was the first moment of quiet and rest. From the neighboring trenches of the Cossacks — for they were scarcely thirty yards distant — there were neither cries, curses, nor the usual uproar. It appeared as though the enemy, wishing to weary the Poles, had grown weary themselves. Here and there only glittered the faint light of a fire, covered under a mound; from one place came the sweet, low sound of a lute, on which some Cossack was playing; far away in the Tartar camp the horses neighed; and on the embankments, from time to time, was heard the voice of the guards.

  The armored cavalry of the prince was on infantry duty that night. Skshetuski, Podbipienta, Volodyovski, and Zagloba on the bulwark were whispering quietly among themselves; in the intervals of the conversation they listened to the sound of the rain falling into the ditch.

  “This quiet is strange to me,” said Skshetuski. “My ears are so accustomed to thundering and uproar that silence rings in them; but I hope treachery is not hidden in this silence.”

  “Since I am on half-rations it is all one to me,” muttered Zagloba, gloomily. “My courage demands three things, — to eat well, to drink well, and to sleep well. The best strap, if not oiled, will grow dry and break; what if, in addition, you soak it in water, like hemp? The rain soaks us, the Cossacks hackle us, and why should not strips fall from us? Beautiful conditions! — a biscuit costs a florin, and a measure of vudka five. A dog would not take this foul water in his mouth, for in the wells is the essence of the dead; and I am as thirsty as my boots, which have their mouths open like fish.”

  “But your boots drink water without extravagant talk.”

  “You might keep your mouth shut, Pan Michael! You are no bigger than a titmouse; you can live on a grain of millet and drink out of a thimble. But I thank God that I am not so delicate, and that a hen did not scratch me out of the sand with her hind legs, but a woman gave me birth; therefore I must live by eating and drinking, like a man, not like a May-bug; and as I have had nothing in my mouth but spittle since yesterday noon, your jokes are not at all to my taste.”

  Here Zagloba began to puff with anger, and Pan Michael put his hand on his side and said, —

  “I have in my pocket a flask, which I got of a Cossack to-day; but if a hen scratched me out of the sand, I think gorailka from such an insignificant person would not be to your taste. Here’s to you, Yan!” said he, turning to Skshetuski. “Give it here,” said Skshetuski, “for the air is cold.”

  “Drink to Pan Longin.”

  “You are a rogue, Pan Michael,” said Zagloba, “but you are one in a hundred; you take from yourself and give to others. A blessing on hens that scratch such soldiers from the sand! But there are none such, and I was not thinking of you.”

  “Then take it after Podbipienta. I have no wish to offend you.”

  “What are you doing? Leave some to me!” cried Zagloba in alarm, when he saw the Lithuanian drinking. “Why do you throw your head back so far? God grant it to remain in its usual place. You are too long; it is no small task to moisten you. May you burst!”

  “I’ve barely touched it,” said Podbipienta, handing him the flask.

  Zagloba turned over the flask completely, and drank to the bottom; then he snorted, and said, —

  “The only consolation is that if our miseries come to an end, and God lets us take our heads out of these dangers in safety, we’ll reward ourselves for all. They will be sure to prepare some loaves for us. The priest Jabkovski has fine skill in eating, but I’ll make a ram’s-horn of him.”

  “And what word of truth have you and Jabkovski heard to-day from Mukhovetski?”

  “Silence!” said Skshetuski; “there is some one coming in the square.”

  They were silent; and soon a dark figure stood near them, and asked in a hushed voice: “Are you watching?”

  “We are,” answered Skshetuski, straightening himself.

  “Give careful attention; this calm is of evil augury.”

  The prince passed on to see if sleep had overcome the wearied soldiers anywhere. Pan Longin clasped his hands: “What a leader! what a warrior!”

  “He takes less rest than we do,” said Skshetuski. “He examines the whole rampart in this way every night as far as the second pond.”

  “God grant him health!”

  “Amen!”

  Silence followed. All looked with strained eyes into the darkness, but nothing could be seen. The Cossack trenches were quiet, the last light in them quenched.

  “They might be caught napping now, like susliks,” muttered Volodyovski.

  “Who knows?” answered Skshetuski.

  “Sleep torments me,” said Zagloba, “so that my eyes are coming out, and sleep is not permitted. I am curious to know when it will be permitted. Whether there is firing or not, one must stand under arms and nod from weariness, like a Jew on the Sabbath. It’s a dog’s service! I don’t know myself what has got hold of me, — whether it’s the gorailka, or the irritation from that blow which I with the priest Jabkovski was forced to endure without reason.”

  “How was that?” asked Podbipienta; “you began to tell us, and didn’t finish.”

  “I’ll tell you now. Maybe we’ll shake off sleep somehow. I went this morning with Jabkovski to the castle, hoping to come upon something to gnaw. We search and search, look everywhere, find nothing; we return in bad humor. In the yard we meet a Calvinist minister who had been giving the last consolation to Captain Shenberk, of Firlei’s battalion, who was shot yesterday. I opened on him: ‘Haven’t you,’ said I, ‘strolled around about long enough, and displeased the Lord sufficiently? You will draw a curse on us.’ But he, relying evidently on the protection of the castellan of Belsk, answered: ‘Our faith is as good as yours, if not better!’ And he spoke in such a way that we were petrified from horror. But we kept silent. I thought to myself: ‘Jabkovski is here; let him do the arguing.’ But my Jabkovski snorted, and whacked him under the ribs with arguments. He made no answer to this strongest of reasons, for he went spinning around till he was brought up standing against the wall. That moment the prince came in with Mukhovetski and fell upon us; said that we were making an uproar and disturbance; that it was neither the time nor the place, nor were ours the arguments. They washed our heads for us, as if we had been a couple of boys. I wish they were right; for unless I am a false prophet, these ministers of Firlei will bring misfortune to us yet.”

  “And did not that Captain Shenberk renounce his errors?” asked Volodyovski.

  “What, renounce! He died, as he had lived, in abomination!”

  “Oh that men should yield up their salvation rather than their stubbornness!” sighed Pan Longin.

  “God is defending us against Cossack predominance and witchcraft,” continued Zagloba; “but these heretics are offending him. It is known to you, gentlemen, that yesterday, from this very intrenchment before us, they shot balls of thread into the square; and the soldiers say that immediately on the place where the balls fell the ground was covered with a leprosy.”

  “It’s a known fact that devils wait on Hmelnitski,” said the Lithuanian, making the sign of the cross.

  “I saw the witches myself,” added Skshetuski, “and I’ll tell you—”

  Further conversation was stopped by Volodyovski, who pressed Skshetuski’s arm suddenly, and whispered: “Silence!” Then he sprang to the very edge of the rampart, and listened attentively.

  “I hear nothing,” said Zagloba.

  “Ts! the rain drowns it,” answered Skshetuski.

  Pan Michael began to beckon with his hand not to interrupt him, and he listened carefully for some time. At last he approached his comrades. “They are marching!” whispered he.

  “Let the prince know; he has gone to Ostrorog’s quarters,” whispered Pan Yan. “We will run to warn the soldiers.”

  Straightway they hurried along the ramparts, stopping from moment to moment and whispering everywhere to the soldiers on guard
: “They are coming! they are coming!”

  The words flew like silent lightning from mouth to mouth. In a quarter of an hour the prince, already on horseback, was present, and issuing orders to the officers. Since the enemy wished, evidently, to spring into the camp while the Poles were asleep and off guard, the prince enjoined on all to maintain this error. The soldiers were to remain in immovable stillness and let the assaulters come to the very rampart, and when cannon-shot was given as a signal, to strike unexpectedly.

  The soldiers were ready. They dropped the muzzles of their guns, bent forward noiselessly, and deep silence followed. Skshetuski, Pan Longin, and Volodyovski drew long breaths, side by side. Zagloba stayed near them, for he knew by experience that most balls fell on the square, and that it was safest on the ramparts near three such sabres. They merely drew back a little, that the first onrush might not strike them. Podbipienta knelt somewhat to one side with his double-handed sword; Volodyovski crouched near Skshetuski, and whispered in his very ear, —

  “They are coming, surely.”

  “With measured tread.”

  “That’s not the mob, nor the Tartars.”

  “Zaporojian infantry.”

  “Or janissaries; they march well. We could strike them better with cavalry.”

  “It is too dark for cavalry to-night.”

  “Do you hear them now?”

  “Ts! Ts!”

  The camp seemed sunk in deepest sleep. In no place movement, in no place life; everywhere the most profound silence, broken only by the rustle of rain fine as if scattered from a sieve. Gradually, however, there rose in this another rustle, low, but more easily caught by the ear, for it was measured, drawing nearer, growing clearer; at last, a few steps from the ditch, appeared a sort of prolonged dense mass, visible in so far that it was blacker than the darkness, and halted.

  The soldiers held their breaths; but the little knight punched Skshetuski in the side, as if wishing in this way to show his delight. The assailants reached the ditch, let down their ladders into it, descended on them, and moved toward the rampart. The rampart was as silent as if on it and behind it everything had expired; a silence of the grave succeeded. Here and there, in spite of all the care of the assailants, the ladder-rounds squeaked and trembled.