The Deluge: An Historical Novel of Poland, Sweden, and Russia. Vol. 2 (of 2)

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  When they had left the king's chamber the two knights walked on insilence. Volodyovski did not wish to speak; Kmita was unable to utter aword, for pain and rage were gnawing him. They broke through the crowdsof people who had collected in great numbers on the streets inconsequence of tidings that the first detachment of the Tartarspromised by the Khan had arrived, and was to enter the city to bepresented to the king. The little knight led on; Kmita hastened afterhim like one beside himself, with his cap pulled over his eyes andstumbling against men on the way.

  When they had come to a more spacious place Pan Michael seized Kmita bythe wrist and said,--

  "Control yourself! Despair will do nothing."

  "I am not in despair," answered Kmita, "but I want his blood."

  "You may be sure to find him among the enemies of the country."

  "So much the better," answered Kmita, feverishly; "but even should Ifind him in a church--"

  "In God's name, do not commit sacrilege!" interrupted the littlecolonel, quickly.

  "That traitor will bring me to sin."

  They were silent for a time. Then Kmita asked, "Where is he now?"

  "Maybe in Taurogi, and maybe not. Kharlamp will know better."

  "Let us go."

  "It is not far. The squadron is outside the town, but we are here; andKharlamp is with us."

  Then Kmita began to breathe heavily like a man going up a steepmountain. "I am fearfully weak yet," said he.

  "You need moderation all the more, since you will have to deal withsuch a knight."

  "I had him once, and here is what remained." Kmita pointed to the scaron his face.

  "Tell me how it was, for the king barely mentioned it."

  Kmita began to tell; and though he gritted his teeth, and even threwhis cap on the ground, still his mind escaped from misfortune, and hecalmed himself somewhat.

  "I knew that you were daring," said Volodyovski; "but to carry offRadzivill from the middle of his own squadron, I did not expect that,even of you."

  Meanwhile they arrived at the quarters. Pan Yan and Pan Stanislav,Zagloba, Jendzian, and Kharlamp were looking at Crimean coats made ofsheepskin, which a trading Tartar had brought. Kharlamp, who knew Kmitabetter, recognized him at one glance of the eye, and dropping the coatexclaimed,--

  "Jesus, Mary!"

  "May the name of the Lord be praised!" cried Jendzian.

  But before all had recovered breath after the wonder, Volodyovskisaid,--

  "I present to you, gentlemen, the Hector of Chenstohova, the faithfulservant of the king, who has shed his blood for the faith, the country,and the sovereign."

  When astonishment had grown still greater, the worthy Pan Michael beganto relate with enthusiasm what he had heard from the king of Kmita'sservices, and from Pan Andrei himself of the seizure of PrinceBoguslav; at last he finished thus,--

  "Not only is what Prince Boguslav told of this knight not true, but theprince has no greater enemy than Pan Kmita, and therefore he has takenPanna Billevich from Kyedani, so as to pour out on him in some way hisvengeance."

  "And this cavalier has saved our lives and warned the confederatesagainst Prince Yanush," cried Zagloba. "In view of such services,previous offences are nothing. As God lives, it is well that he came tous with you. Pan Michael, and not alone; it is well also that oursquadron is outside the city, for there is a terrible hatred againsthim among the Lauda men, and before he could have uttered a syllablethey would have cut him to pieces."

  "We greet you with full hearts as a brother and future comrade," saidPan Yan.

  Kharlamp seized his head.

  "Such men never sink," said he; "they swim out on every side, andbesides bring glory to the shore."

  "Did I not tell you that?" cried Zagloba. "The minute I saw him inKyedani I thought at once, 'That is a soldier, a man of courage.' Andyou remember that we fell to kissing each other straightway. It is truethat Radzivill was ruined through me, but also through him. Godinspired me in Billeviche not to let him be shot. Worthy gentlemen, itis not becoming to give a dry reception to a cavalier like him; he maythink that we are hypocrites."

  When he heard this Jendzian packed off the Tartar with his coats, andbustled around with the servant to get drinks.

  But Kmita was thinking only how to hear most quickly from Kharlampabout the removal of Olenka.

  "Where were you then?" asked he.

  "I scarcely ever left Kyedani," answered Great Nose. "Prince Boguslavcame to our prince voevoda. He so dressed himself for supper that one'seyes ached in looking at him; it was clear that Panna Billevich hadpleased him mightily, for he was almost purring from pleasure, like acat rubbed on the back. It is said that a cat repeats prayers, but ifBoguslav prayed he was praising the devil. Oh, but he was agreeable,and sweet and pleasant spoken."

  "Let that go!" said Pan Michael, "you cause too great pain to theknight."

  "On the contrary. Speak! speak!" cried Kmita.

  "He said then at table," continued Kharlamp, "that it was no derogationeven to a Radzivill to marry the daughter of a common noble, and thathe himself would prefer such a lady to one of those princesses whom theKing and Queen of France wished to give him, and whose names I cannotremember, for they sounded as when a man is calling hounds in theforest."

  "Less of that!" said Zagloba.

  "He said it evidently to captivate the lady; we, knowing that, beganone after another to look and mutter, thinking truly that he wassetting traps for the innocent."

  "But she? but she?" asked Kmita, feverishly.

  "She, like a maiden of high blood and lofty bearing, showed nosatisfaction, did not look at him; but when Boguslav began to talkabout you, she fixed her eyes on him quickly. It is terrible whathappened when he said that you offered for so many ducats to seize theking and deliver him dead or alive to the Swedes. We thought the soulwould go out of her; but her anger against you was so great that itovercame her woman's weakness. When he told with what disgust he hadrejected your offer, she began to respect him, and look at himthankfully; afterward she did not withdraw her hand from him when hewished to escort her from the table."

  Kmita covered his eyes with his hands. "Strike, strike, whoso believesin God!" said he. Suddenly he sprang from his place. "Farewell,gentlemen!"

  "How is this? Whither?" asked Zagloba, stopping the way.

  "The king will give me permission; I will go and find him," said Kmita.

  "By God's wounds, wait! You have not yet learned all, and to find himthere is time. With whom will you go? Where will you find him?"

  Kmita perhaps might not have obeyed, but strength failed him; he wasexhausted from wounds, therefore he dropped on the bench, and restinghis shoulders against the wall, closed his eyes. Zagloba gave him aglass of wine; he seized it with trembling bands, and spilling some onhis beard and breast, drained it to the bottom.

  "There is nothing lost," said Pan Yan; "but the greatest prudence isneeded, for you have an affair with a celebrated man. Through hurriedaction and sudden impulse you may ruin Panna Billevich and yourself."

  "Hear Kharlamp to the end," said Zagloba.

  Kmita gritted his teeth. "I am listening with patience."

  "Whether the lady went willingly I know not," said Kharlamp, "for I wasnot present at her departure. I know that the sword-bearer of Rossyeniprotested when they urged him previously; then they shut him up in thebarracks, and finally he was allowed to go to Billeviche withouthindrance. The lady is in evil hands; this cannot be concealed, foraccording to what they say of the young prince no Mussulman has suchgreed of the fair sex. If any fair head strikes his eye, though she bemarried, he is ready to disregard even that."

  "Woe! woe!" repeated Kmita.

  "The scoundrel!" cried Zagloba.

  "But it is a wonder to me that the prince voevoda gave her toBoguslav," said Pan Yan.

  "I am not a statesman, therefore I repeat only what the officers said,and namely Ganhoff, who knew all the sec
rets of the prince; I heardwith my own ears how some one cried out in his presence, 'Kmita willhave nothing after our young prince!' and Ganhoff answered, 'There ismore of politics in this removal than love. Prince Boguslav,' said he,'lets no one off; but if the lady resists he will not be able to treather like others, in Taurogi, for a noise would be made. Yanush'sprincess is living there with her daughter; therefore Boguslav must bevery careful, for he seeks the hand of his cousin. It will be hard forhim to simulate virtue,' said he, 'but he must in Taurogi.'"

  "A stone has of course fallen from your heart," cried Zagloba, "forfrom this it is clear that nothing threatens the lady."

  "But why did they take her away?" cried Kmita.

  "It is well that you turn to me," said Zagloba, "for I reason outquickly more than one thing over which another would break his head fora whole year in vain. Why did he take her away? I do not deny that shemust have struck his eye; but he took her away to restrain through herall the Billeviches, who are numerous and powerful, from rising againstthe Radzivills."

  "That may be!" said Kharlamp. "It is certain that in Taurogi he mustcurb himself greatly; there he cannot go to extremes."

  "Where is he now?"

  "The prince voevoda supposed in Tykotsin that he must be at Elblangwith the King of Sweden, to whom he had to go for reinforcements. It iscertain that he is not in Taurogi at present, for envoys did not findhim there."

  Here Kharlamp turned to Kmita. "If you wish to listen to a simplesoldier I will tell you what I think. If any misadventure has happenedto Panna Billevich in Taurogi, or if the prince has been able to arousein her affection, you have no reason to go; but if not, if she is withYanush's widow and will go with her to Courland, it will be safer therethan elsewhere, and a better place could not be found for her in thiswhole Commonwealth, covered with the flame of war."

  "If you are a man of such courage as they say, and as I myself think,"added Pan Yan, "you have first to get Boguslav, and when you have himin your hands, you have all."

  "Where is he now?" repeated Kmita, turning to Kharlamp.

  "I have told you already," answered Great Nose, "but you are forgetfulfrom sorrow; I suppose that he is in Elblang, and certainly will takethe field with Karl Gustav against Charnyetski."

  "You will do best if you go with us to Charnyetski, for in this way youwill soon meet Boguslav," said Volodyovski.

  "I thank you, gentlemen, for kindly advice," cried Kmita. And he beganto take hasty farewell of all, and they did not detain him, knowingthat a suffering man is not good for the cup or for converse; but PanMichael said,--

  "I will attend you to the archbishop's palace, for you are so reducedthat you may fall somewhere on the street."

  "And I!" said Pan Yan.

  "Then we will all go!" put in Zagloba.

  They girded on their sabres, put on warm burkas, and went out. On thestreets there were still more people than before. Every moment theknights met groups of armed nobles, soldiers, servants of magnates andnobles, Armenians, Jews, Wallachians, Russian peasants from the suburbsburned during the two attacks of Hmelnitski.

  Merchants were standing before their shops; the windows of the houseswere filled with heads of curious people. All were repeating that thechambul had come, and would soon march through the city to be presentedto the king. Every living person wished to see that chambul, for it wasa great rarity to look on Tartars marching in peace through the streetsof a city. In other temper had Lvoff seen these guests hitherto; thecity had seen them only beyond the walls, in the form of impenetrableclouds on the background of flaming suburbs and neighboring villages.Now they were to march in as allies against Sweden. Our knights werebarely able to open a way for themselves through the throng. Everymoment there were cries; "They are coming, they are coming!" People ranfrom street to street, and were packed in such masses that not a stepforward was possible.

  "Ha!" said Zagloba, "let us stop a little, Pan Michael. They willremind us of the near past, for we did not look sidewise but straightinto the eyes of these bull-drivers. And I too have been in captivityamong them. They say that the future Khan is as much like me as one cupis like another. But why talk of past follies?"

  "They are coming, they are coming!" cried the people again.

  "God has changed the hearts of the dog-brothers," continued Zagloba,"so that instead of ravaging the Russian borders they come to aid us.This is a clear miracle! For I tell you that if for every pagan whomthis old hand has sent to hell, one of my sins had been forgiven, Ishould be canonized now, and people would have to fast on the eve of myfestival, or I should have been swept up living to heaven in a chariotof fire."

  "And do you remember," asked Volodyovski, "how it was with them whenthey were returning from the Valadynka from Rashkoff to Zbaraj?"

  "Of course I do, Pan Michael; but somehow you fell into a hole, and Ichased through the thick wood to the high-road. And when we came backto find you, the knights could not restrain their astonishment, for ateach bush lay a dead beast of a Tartar."

  Pan Volodyovski remembered that at the time in question it was just theopposite; but he said nothing, for he was wonderfully astonished, andbefore he could recover breath voices were shouting for the tenth time;"They are coming, they are coming!"

  The shout became general; then there was silence, and all heads wereturned in the direction from which the chambul was to come. Nowpiercing music was heard in the distance, the crowds began to open fromthe middle of the street toward the walls of the houses, and from theend appeared the first Tartar horsemen.

  "See! they have a band even; that is uncommon with Tartars!"

  "They wish to make the best impression," said Pan Yan; "but still somechambuls after they have lived long in camp, have their own musicians.That must be a choice body."

  Meanwhile the horsemen had come up and begun to ride past. In front ona pied horse sat a Tartar holding two pipes in his mouth, and as tawnyas if he had been dried and smoked. Bending his head backward andclosing his eyes, he ran his fingers over those pipes, obtaining fromthem notes squeaking, sharp, and so quick that the ear could barelycatch them. After him rode two others holding staffs furnished at theends with brass rattles, and they were shaking these rattles as if infrenzy; farther back some were making shrill sounds with brass plates,some were beating drums, while others were playing in Cossack fashionon teorbans; and all, with the exception of the pipers were singing, orrather howling, from moment to moment, a wild song, at the same timeshowing their teeth and rolling their eyes. After that chaotic music,which went like a brawl past the dwellers in Lvoff, clattered horsesfour abreast; the whole party was made up of about four hundred men.

  This was in fact a chosen body, as a specimen, and to do honor to theKing of Poland, for his own use, and as an earnest sent by the Khan.They were led by Akbah Ulan, of the Dobrudja, therefore of thesturdiest Tartars in battle, an old and experienced warrior, greatlyrespected in the Uluses (Tartar villages), because of his bravery andseverity. He rode between the music and the rest of the party, dressedin a shuba of rose-colored velvet, but greatly faded, and too narrowfor his powerful person; it was lined with tattered marten-skin, heheld in front of him a baton, like those used by Cossack colonels. Hisred face had become blue from the cold wind, and he swayed somewhat onhis lofty saddle; from one moment to another he looked from side toside, or turned his face around to his Tartars, as if not perfectlysure that they could restrain themselves at sight of the crowds, thewomen, the children, the open shops, the rich goods, and that theywould not rush with a shout at those wonders.

  But they rode on quietly, like dogs led by chains and fearing the lash,and only from their gloomy and greedy glances might it be inferred whatwas passing in the souls of those barbarians. The crowds gazed on themwith curiosity, though almost with hostility, so great in those partsof the Commonwealth was hatred of the Pagan. From time to time crieswere heard: "Ahu! ahu!" as if at wolves. Still there were some whoexpected much from them.

  "The Swedes have a terribl
e fear of the Tartars, and the soldiers tellwonders of them, from which their fear increases," said some, lookingat the Tartars.

  "And justly," answered others. "It is not for the cavalry of Karl towar with the Tartars, who, especially those of the Dobrudja, are equalsometimes to our cavalry. Before a Swedish horseman can look around,the Tartar will have him on a lariat."

  "It is a sin to call sons of Pagans to aid us," said some voice.

  "Sin or no sin, they will serve us."

  "A very decent chambul!" said Zagloba.

  Really the Tartars were well dressed in white, black, and party-coloredsheepskin coats, the wool on the outside; black bows, and quivers fullof arrows were shaking on their shoulders; each had besides a sabre,which was not always the case in large chambuls, for the poorest werenot able to obtain such a luxury, using in hand-to-hand conflict ahorse-skull fastened to a club. But these were men, as was said, to beexhibited; therefore some of them had even muskets in felt cases, andall were sitting on good horses, small, it is true, rather lean andshort, with long forelocks on their faces, but of incomparableswiftness.

  In the centre of the party went also four camels: the crowd concludedthat in their packs were presents from the Khan to the king; but inthat they were mistaken, for the Khan chose to take gifts, not givethem; he promised, it is true, reinforcements, but not for nothing.

  When they had passed, Zagloba said: "That aid will cost dear. Thoughallies, they will ruin the country. After the Swedes and them, therewill not be one sound roof in the Commonwealth."

  "It is sure that they are terribly grievous allies," said Pan Yan.

  "I have heard on the road," said Pan Michael, "that the king has made atreaty, that to every five hundred of the horde is to be given one ofour officers, who is to have command and the right of punishment.Otherwise these friends would leave only heaven and earth behind them."

  "But this is a small chambul; what will the king do with it?"

  "The Khan sent them to be placed at the disposal of the king almost asa gift; and though he will make account of them, still the king can dowhat he likes with them, and undoubtedly he will send them with us toCharnyetski."

  "Well, Charnyetski will be able to keep them in bounds."

  "Not unless he is among them, otherwise they will plunder. It cannotbe, but they will give them an officer at once."

  "And will he lead them? But what will that big Aga do?"

  "If he does not meet a fool, he will carry out orders."

  "Farewell, gentlemen!" cried Kmita, on a sudden.

  "Whither in such haste?"

  "To fall at the king's feet, and ask him to give me command of thesepeople."