CHAPTER XXX.
The spring of that year approached with wonderful roads; for while inthe north of the Commonwealth snow was already thawing, the stiffenedrivers were set free, and the whole country was filled with Marchwater, in the south the icy breath of winter was still descending fromthe mountains to the fields, woods, and forests. In the forests laysnow-drifts, in the open country frozen roads sounded under the hoofsof horses; the days were dry, the sunsets red, the nights starry andfrosty. The people living on the rich clay, on the black soil, and inthe woods of Little Poland comforted themselves with the continuance ofthe cold, stating that the field-mice and the Swedes would perish fromit. But inasmuch as the spring came late, it came as swiftly as anarmored squadron advancing to the attack of an enemy. The sun shot downliving fire from heaven, and at once the crust of winter burst; fromthe Hungarian steppes flew a strong warm wind, and began to blow on thefields and wild places. Straightway in the midst of shining pondsarable ground became dark, a green fleece shot up on the lowriver-lands, and the forests began to shed tears from bursting buds ontheir branches.
In the heavens continually fair were seen, daily, rows of cranes, wildducks, teal, and geese. Storks flew to their places of the past year,and the roofs were swarming with swallows; the twitter of birds washeard in the villages, their noise in the woods and ponds, and in theevening the whole country was ringing with the croaking and singing offrogs, which swam with delight in the waters.
Then came great rains, which were as if they had been warmed; they fellin the daytime, they fell in the night, without interruption.
The fields were turned into lakes, the rivers overflowed, the fordsbecame impassable; then followed the "stickiness and the impossible ofmuddy roads." Amid all this water, mud, and swamp the Swedish legionsdragged onward continually toward the south.
But how little was that throng, advancing as it were to destruction,like that brilliant army which in its time marched under Wittemberg toGreat Poland! Hunger had stamped itself on the faces of the oldsoldiers; they went on more like spectres than men, in suffering, intoil, in sleeplessness, knowing that at the end of the road not foodwas awaiting, but hunger; not sleep, but a battle; and if rest, thenthe rest of the dead.
Arrayed in iron these skeletons of horsemen sat on skeletons of horses.The infantry hardly drew their legs along; barely could they holdspears and muskets with trembling hands. Day followed day; they wentonward continually. Wagons were broken, cannons were fastened insloughs; they went on so slowly that sometimes they were able toadvance hardly five miles in one day. Diseases fell on the soldiers,like ravens on corpses; the teeth of some were chattering from fever;others lay down on the ground simply from weakness, choosing rather todie than advance.
But the Swedish Alexander hastened toward the Polish Dariusunceasingly. At the same time he was pursued himself. As in thenight-time jackals follow a sick buffalo waiting to see if he will soonfall, and he knows that he will fall and he hears the howl of thehungry pack, so after the Swedes went "parties," nobles and peasants,approaching ever nearer, attacking ever more insolently, and snatchingaway.
At last came Charnyetski, the most terrible of all the pursuers, andfollowed closely. The rearguards of the Swedes as often as they lookedbehind saw horsemen, at one time far off on the edge of the horizon, atanother a furlong away, at another twice the distance of a musket-shot,at another time, when attacking, on their very shoulders.
The enemy wanted battle; with despair did the Swedes pray to the Lordof Hosts for battle. But Charnyetski did not receive battle, he bidedhis time; meanwhile he preferred to punish the Swedes, or let go fromhis hand against them single parties as one would falcons against waterbirds.
And so they marched one after the other. There were times, however,when Charnyetski passed the Swedes, pushed on, and blocked the roadbefore them, pretending to prepare for a general battle. Then thetrumpet sounded joyously from one end of the Swedish camp to the other,and, oh miracle! new strength, a new spirit seemed to vivify on asudden the wearied ranks of the Scandinavians. Sick, wet, weak, likeLazaruses, they stood in rank promptly for battle, with flaming faces,with fire in their eyes. Spears and muskets moved with as much accuracyas if iron hands held them; the shouts of battle were heard as loudlyas if they came from the healthiest bosoms, and they marched forward tostrike breast against breast.
Then Charnyetski struck once, twice; but when the artillery began tothunder he withdrew his troops, leaving to the Swedes as profit, vainlabor and the greater disappointment and disgust.
When, however, the artillery could not come up, and spears and sabreshad to decide in the open field, he struck like a thunderbolt, knowingthat in a hand-to-hand conflict the Swedish cavalry could not stand,even against volunteers.
And again Wittemberg implored the king to retreat and thus avoid ruinto himself and the army; but Karl Gustav in answer compressed his lips,fire flashed from his eyes, and he pointed to the south, where in theRussian regions he hoped to find Yan Kazimir, and also fields open toconquest, rest, provisions, pastures for horses, and rich plunder.
Meanwhile, to complete the misfortune, those Polish regiments which hadserved him hitherto, and which in one way or another were now aloneable to meet Charnyetski, began to leave the Swedes. Pan Zbrojekresigned first; he had held to Karl hitherto not from desire of gain,but from blind attachment to the squadron, and soldierly faithfulnessto Karl. He resigned in this fashion, that he engaged in conflict witha regiment of Miller's dragoons, cut down half the men, and departed.After him resigned Pan Kalinski, who rode over the Swedish infantry.Yan Sapyeha grew gloomier each day; he was meditating something in hissoul, plotting something. He had not gone hitherto himself, but his menwere deserting him daily.
Karl Gustav was marching then through Narol, Tsyeshanov, and Oleshytse,to reach the San. He was upheld by the hope that Yan Kazimir would barhis road and give him battle. A victory might yet repair the fate ofSweden and bring a change of fortune. In fact, rumors were current thatYan Kazimir had set out from Lvoff with the quarter soldiers and theTartars. But Karl's reckonings deceived him. Yan Kazimir preferred toawait the junction of the armies and the arrival of the Lithuaniansunder Sapyeha. Delay was his best ally; for he was growing daily instrength, while Karl was becoming weaker.
"That is not the march of troops nor of an army, but a funeralprocession!" said old warriors in Yan Kazimir's suite.
Many Swedish officers shared this opinion. Karl Gustav however repeatedstill that he was going to Lvoff; but he was deceiving himself and hisarmy. It was not for him to go to Lvoff, but to think of his ownsafety. Besides, it was not certain that he would find Yan Kazimir inLvoff; in every event the "Polish Darius" might withdraw far intoPodolia, and draw after him the enemy into distant steppes where theSwedes must perish without rescue.
Douglas went to Premysl to try if that fortress would yield, andreturned, not merely with nothing, but plucked. The catastrophe wascoming slowly, but inevitably. All tidings brought to the Swedish campwere simply the announcement of it. Each day fresh tidings and evermore terrible.
"Sapyeha is marching; he is already in Tomashov!" was repeated one day."Lyubomirski is marching with troops and mountaineers!" was announcedthe day following. And again: "The king is leading the quarter soldiersand the horde one hundred thousand strong! He has joined Sapyeha!"
Among these tidings were "tidings of disaster and death," untrue andexaggerated, but they always spread fear. The courage of the army fell.Formerly whenever Karl appeared in person before his regiments, theygreeted him with shouts in which rang the hope of victory; now theregiments stood before him dull and dumb. And at the fires thesoldiers, famished and wearied to death, whispered more of Charnyetskithan of their own king. They saw him everywhere. And, a strange thing!when for a couple of days no party had perished, when a few nightspassed without alarms or cries of "Allah!" and "Strike, kill!" theirdisquiet became still greater. "Charnyetski has fled; God knows what heis preparing!
" repeated the soldiers.
Karl halted a few days in Yaroslav, pondering what to do. During thattime the Swedes placed on flat-bottomed boats sick soldiers, of whomthere were many in camp, and sent them by the river to Sandomir, thenearest fortified town still in Swedish hands. After this work had beenfinished, and just when the news of Yan Kazimir's march from Lvoff hadcome in, the King of Sweden determined to discover where Yan Kazimirwas, and with that object Colonel Kanneberg with one thousand cavalrypassed the San and moved to the east.
"It may be that you have in your hands the fate of the war and us all,"said the king to him at parting.
And in truth much depended on that party, for in the worst caseKanneberg was to furnish the camp with provisions; and if he couldlearn certainly where Yan Kazimir was, the Swedish King was to move atonce with all his forces against the "Polish Darius," whose army he wasto scatter and whose person he was to seize if he could.
The first soldiers and the best horses were assigned, therefore, toKanneberg. Choice was made the more carefully as the colonel could nottake artillery or infantry; hence he must have with him men who withsabres could stand against Polish cavalry in the field.
March 20, the party set out. A number of officers and soldiers tookfarewell of them, saying: "God conduct you! God give victory! God givea fortunate return!" They marched in a long line, being one thousand innumber, and went two abreast over the newly built bridge which had onesquare still unfinished, but was in some fashion covered with planks sothat they might pass.
Good hope shone in their faces, for they were exceptionally well fed.Food had been taken from others and given to them; gorailka was pouredinto their flasks. When they were riding away they shouted joyfully andsaid to their comrades,--
"We will bring you Charnyetski himself on a rope."
Fools! They knew not that they were going as go bullocks to slaughterat the shambles!
Everything combined for their ruin. Barely had they crossed the riverwhen the Swedish sappers removed the temporary covering of the bridge,so as to lay stronger planks over which cannon might pass. The thousandturned toward Vyelki Ochi, singing in low voices to themselves; theirhelmets glittered in the sun on the turn once and a second time; thenthey began to sink in the dense pine-wood.
They rode forward two miles and a half,--emptiness, silence aroundthem; the forest depths seemed vacant altogether. They halted to givebreath to the horses; after that they moved slowly forward. At lastthey reached Vyelki Oehi, in which they found not a living soul. Thatemptiness astonished Kanneberg.
"Evidently they have been waiting for us here," said he to Major Sweno;"but Charnyetski must be in some other place, since he has not preparedambushes."
"Does your worthiness order a return?" asked Sweno.
"We will go on even to Lvoff itself, which is not very far. I must findan informant, and give the king sure information touching Yan Kazimir."
"But if we meet superior forces?"
"Even if we meet several thousand of those brawlers whom the Poles callgeneral militia, we will not let ourselves be torn apart by suchsoldiers."
"But we may meet regular troops. We have no artillery, and against themcannons are the main thing."
"Then we will draw back in season and inform the king of the enemy, andthose who try to cut off our retreat we will disperse."
"I am afraid of the night!" replied Sweno.
"We will take every precaution. We have food for men and horses for twodays; we need not hurry."
When they entered the pine-wood beyond Vyelki Ochi, they acted withvastly more caution. Fifty horsemen rode in advance musket in hand,each man with his gunstock on his thigh. They looked carefully on everyside; examined the thickets, the undergrowth; frequently they halted,listened; sometimes they went from the road to one side to examine thedepths of the forest, but neither on the roads nor at the sides wasthere a man.
But one hour later, after they had passed a rather sudden turn, twotroopers riding in advance saw a man on horseback about four hundredyards ahead.
The day was clear and the sun shone brightly; hence the man could beseen as something on the hand. He was a soldier, not large, dressedvery decently in foreign fashion. He seemed especially small because hesat on a large cream-colored steed, evidently of high breed.
The horseman was riding at leisure, as if not seeing that troops wererolling on after him. The spring floods had dug deep ditches in theroad, in which muddy water was sweeping along. The horseman spurred hissteed in front of the ditches, and the beast sprang across with thenimbleness of a deer, and again went on at a trot, throwing his headand snorting vivaciously from time to time.
The two troopers reined in their horses and began to look around forthe sergeant. He clattered up in a moment, looked, and said: "That issome hound from the Polish kennel."
"Shall I shout at him?"
"Shout not; there may be more of them. Go to the colonel."
Meanwhile the rest of the advance guard rode up, and all halted; thesmall horseman halted too, and turned the face of his steed to theSwedes as if wishing to block the road to them. For a certain time theylooked at him and he at them.
"There is another! a second! a third! a fourth! a whole party!" werethe sudden cries in the Swedish ranks.
In fact, horsemen began to pour out from both sides of the road; atfirst singly, then by twos, by threes. All took their places in linewith him who had appeared first.
But the second Swedish guard with Sweno, and then the whole detachmentwith Kanneberg, came up. Kanneberg and Sweno rode to the front at once.
"I know those men!" cried Sweno, when he had barely seen them; "theirsquadron was the first to strike on Prince Waldemar at Golamb; thoseare Charnyetski's men. He must be here himself!"
These words produced an impression; deep silence followed in the ranks,only the horses shook their bridle-bits.
"I sniff some ambush," continued Sweno. "There are too few of them tomeet us, but there must be others hidden in the woods."
He turned here to Kanneberg: "Your worthiness, let us return."
"You give good counsel," answered the colonel, frowning. "It was notworth while to set out if we must return at sight of a few raggedfellows. Why did we not return at sight of one? Forward!"
The first Swedish rank moved at that moment with the greatestregularity; after it the second, the third, the fourth. The distancebetween the two detachments was becoming less.
"Cock your muskets!" commanded Kanneberg.
The Swedish muskets moved like one; their iron necks were stretchedtoward the Polish horsemen.
But before the muskets thundered, the Polish horsemen turned theirhorses and began to flee in a disorderly group.
"Forward!" cried Kanneberg.
The division moved forward on a gallop, so that the ground trembledunder the heavy hoofs of the horses.
The forest was filled with the shouts of pursuers and pursued. Afterhalf an hour of chasing, either because the Swedish horses were better,or those of the Poles were wearied by some journey, the distancebetween the two bodies was decreasing.
But at once something wonderful happened. The Polish band, at firstdisorderly, did not scatter more and more as the flight continued, buton the contrary, they fled in ever better order, in ranks growing moreeven, as if the very speed of the horses brought the riders into line.
Sweno saw this, urged on his horse, reached Kanneberg, and calledout,--
"Your worthiness, that is an uncommon party; those are regularsoldiers, fleeing designedly and leading us to an ambush."
"Will there be devils in the ambush, or men?" asked Kanneberg.
The road rose somewhat and became ever wider, the forest thinner, andat the end of the road was to be seen an unoccupied field, or rather agreat open space, surrounded on all sides by a dense, deep graypine-wood.
The Polish horsemen increased their pace in turn, and it transpiredthat hitherto they had gone slowly of purpose; for now in a short timethey pushed forward so
rapidly that the Swedish leader knew that hecould never overtake them. But when he had come to the middle of theopen plain and saw that the enemy were almost touching the other end ofit, he began to restrain his men and slacken speed.
But, oh marvel! the Poles, instead of sinking in the opposite forest,wheeled around at the very edge of the half-circle and returned on agallop toward the Swedes, putting themselves at once in such splendidbattle order that they roused wonder even in their opponents.
"It is true!" cried Kanneberg, "those are regular soldiers. They turnedas if on parade. What do they want for the hundredth time?"
"They are attacking us!" cried Sweno.
In fact, the squadron was moving forward at a trot. The little knighton the cream-colored steed shouted something to his men, pushedforward, again reined in his horse, gave signs with his sabre;evidently he was the leader.
"They are attacking really!" said Kanneberg, with astonishment.
And now the horses, with ears dropped back, were coming at the greatestspeed, stretched out so that their bellies almost touched the ground.Their riders bent forward to their shoulders, and were hidden behindthe horse manes. The Swedes standing in the first rank saw onlyhundreds of distended horse-nostrils and burning eyes. A whirlwind doesnot move as that squadron tore on.
"God with us! Sweden! Fire!" commanded Kanneberg, raising his sword.
All the muskets thundered; but at that very moment the Polish squadronfell into the smoke with such impetus that it hurled to the right andthe left the first Swedish ranks, and drove itself into the density ofmen and horses, as a wedge is driven into a cleft log. A terrible whirlwas made, breastplate struck breast-plate, sabre struck rapier; and therattle, the whining of horses, the groan of dying men roused everyecho, so that the whole pine-wood began to give back the sounds of thebattle, as the steep cliffs of mountains give back the thunder.
The Swedes were confused for a time, especially since a considerablenumber of them fell from the first blow; but soon recovering, they wentpowerfully against the enemy. Their flanks came together; and since thePolish squadron was pushing ahead anyhow, for it wished to pass throughwith a thrust, it was soon surrounded. The Swedish centre yieldedbefore the squadron, but the flanks pressed on it with the greaterpower, unable to break it; for it defended itself with rage and withall that incomparable adroitness which made the Polish cavalry soterrible in hand-to-hand conflict. Sabres toiled then against rapiers,bodies fell thickly; but the victory was just turning to the Swedishside when suddenly from under the dark wall of the pinewood rolled outanother squadron, and moved forward at once with a shout.
The whole right wing of the Swedes, under the lead of Sweno, faced thenew enemy in which the trained Swedish soldiers recognized hussars.They were led by a man on a valiant dapple gray; he wore a burka, and awild-cat skin cap with a heron feather. He was perfectly visible to theeye, for he was riding at one side some yards from the soldiers.
"Charnyetski! Charnyetski!" was the cry in the Swedish ranks.
Sweno looked in despair at the sky, then pressed his horse with hisknees and rushed forward with his men.
But Charnyetski led his hussars a few yards farther, and when they weremoving with the swiftest rush, he turned back alone.
With that a third squadron issued from the forest, he galloped to thatand led it forward; a fourth came out, he led that on; pointing to eachwith his baton, where it must strike. You would have said that he was aman leading harvesters to his field and distributing work among them.
At last, when the fifth squadron had come forth from the forest, he puthimself at the head of that, and with it rushed to the fight.
But the hussars had already forced the right wing to the rear, andafter a while had broken it completely; the three other squadrons,racing around the Swedes in Tartar fashion and raising an uproar, hadthrown them into disorder; then they fell to cutting them with steel,to thrusting them with lances, scattering, trampling, and finallypursuing them amid shrieks and slaughter.
Kanneberg saw that he had fallen into an ambush, and had led hisdetachment as it were under the knife. For him there was no thought ofvictory now; but he wished to save as many men as possible, hence heordered to sound the retreat. The Swedes, therefore, turned with allspeed to that same road by which they had come to Vyelki Ochi; butCharnyetski's men so followed them that the breaths of the Polishhorses warmed the shoulders of the Swedes.
In these conditions and in view of the terror which had seized theSwedish cavalry, that return could not take place in order; and soonKanneberg's brilliant division was turned into a crowd fleeing indisorder and slaughtered almost without resistance.
The longer the pursuit lasted, the more irregular it became; for thePoles did not pursue in order, each of them drove his horse accordingto the breath in the beast's nostrils, and attacked and slew whom hewished.
Both sides were mingled and confused in one mass. Some Polish soldierspassed the last Swedish ranks; and it happened that when a Pole stoodin his stirrups to strike with more power the man fleeing in front ofhim, he fell himself thrust with a rapier from behind. The road toVyelki Ochi was strewn with Swedish corpses; but the end of the chasewas not there. Both sides rushed with the same force along the roadthrough the next forest; there however the Swedish horses, weariedfirst, began to go more slowly, and the slaughter became still morebloody.
Some of the Swedes sprang from their beasts and vanished in the forest;but only a few did so, for the Swedes knew from experience thatpeasants were watching in the forest, and they preferred to die fromsabres rather than from terrible tortures, of which the infuriatedpeople were not sparing. Some asked quarter, but for the most part invain; for each Pole chose to slay an enemy, and chase on rather thantake him prisoner, guard him, and leave further pursuit.
They cut then without mercy, so that no one might return with news ofthe defeat. Volodyovski was in the van of pursuit with the Laudasquadron. He was that horseman who had appeared first to the Swedes asa decoy; he had struck first, and now, sitting on a horse which was asif impelled by a whirlwind, he enjoyed himself with his whole soul,wishing to be sated with blood, and avenge the defeat of Golamb. Everylittle while he overtook a horseman, and when he had overtaken him hequenched him as quickly as he would a candle; sometimes he came on theshoulders of two, three, or four, but soon, only in a moment, that samenumber of horses ran riderless before him. More than one hapless Swedecaught his own rapier by the point, and turning the hilt to the knightfor quarter implored with voice and with eyes. Volodyovski did notstop, but thrusting his sabre into the man where the neck joins thebreast, he gave him a light, small push, and the man dropped his hands,gave forth one and a second word with pale lips, then sank in thedarkness of death.
Volodyovski, not looking around, rushed on and pushed new victims tothe earth.
The valiant Sweno took note of this terrible harvester, and summoning afew of the best horsemen he determined with the sacrifice of his ownlife to restrain even a little of the pursuit in order to save others.They turned therefore their horses, and pointing their rapiers waitedwith the points toward the pursuers. Volodyovski, seeing this,hesitated not a moment, spurred on his horse, and fell into the midstof them.
And before any one could have winked, two helmets had fallen. More thanten rapiers were directed at once to the single breast of Volodyovski;but at that instant rushed in Pan Yan and Pan Stanislav, Yuzva Butrym,Zagloba and Roh Kovalski, of whom Zagloba related, that even when goingto the attack he had his eyes closed in sleep, and woke only when hisbreast struck the breast of an enemy.
Volodyovski put himself under the saddle so quickly that the rapierspassed through empty air. He learned this method from the Tartars ofBailgorod; but being small and at the same time adroit beyond humanbelief, he brought it to such perfection that he vanished from the eyewhen he wished, either behind the shoulder or under the belly of thehorse. So he vanished this time, and before the astonished Swedes couldunderstand what had become of him he was er
ect on the saddle again,terrible as a wild-cat which springs down from lofty branches amongfrightened dogs.
Meanwhile his comrades gave him aid, and bore around death andconfusion. One of the Swedes held a pistol to the very breast ofZagloba. Roh Kovalski, having that enemy on his left side, was unableto strike him with a sabre; but he balled his fist, struck the Swede'shead in passing, and that man dropped under the horse as if athunderbolt had met him, and Zagloba, giving forth a shout of delight,slashed in the temple Sweno himself, who dropped his hands and fellwith his forehead to the horse's shoulder. At sight of this the otherSwedes scattered. Volodyovski, Yuzva Footless, Pan Yan, and PanStanislav followed and cut them down before they had gone a hundredyards.
And the pursuit lasted longer. The Swedish horses had less and lessbreath in their bodies, and ran more and more slowly. At last from athousand of the best horsemen, which had gone out under Kanneberg,there remained barely a hundred and some tens; the rest had fallen in along belt over the forest road. And this last group was decreasing, forPolish hands ceased not to toil over them.
At last they came out of the forest. The towers of Yaroslav wereoutlined clearly in the azure sky. Now hope entered the hearts of thefleeing, for they knew that in Yaroslav was the king with all hisforces, and at any moment he might come to their aid. They hadforgotten that immediately after their passage the top had been takenfrom the last square of the bridge, so as to put stronger planks forthe passage of cannon.
Whether Charnyetski knew of this through his spies, or wished to showhimself of purpose to the Swedish king and cut down before his eyes thelast of those unfortunate men, it is enough that not only did he notrestrain the pursuit, but he sprang forward himself with the Shemberksquadron, slashed, cut with his own hand, pursuing the crowd in suchfashion as if he wished with that same speed to strike Yaroslav.
At last they ran to within a furlong of the bridge; shouts from thefield came to the Swedish camp. A multitude of soldiers and officersran out from the town to see what was taking place beyond the river;they had barely looked when they saw and recognized the horsemen whohad gone out of camp in the morning.
"Kanneberg's detachment! Kanneberg's detachment!" cried thousands ofvoices.
"Almost cut to pieces! Scarcely a hundred men are running!"
At that moment the king himself galloped up; with him Wittemberg,Forgell, Miller, and other generals.
The king grew pale. "Kanneberg!" said he.
"By Christ and his wounds! the bridge is not finished," criedWittemberg; "the enemy will cut them down to the last man."
The king looked at the river, which had risen with spring waters,roaring with its yellow waves; to give aid by swimming was not to bethought of.
The few men still left were coming nearer.
Now there was a new cry: "The king's train and the guard are coming!They too will perish!"
In fact, it had happened that a part of the king's provision-chestswith a hundred men of the infantry guard had come out at that moment byanother road from adjoining forests. When they saw what had happened,the men of the escort, in the conviction that the bridge was ready,hastened with all speed toward the town.
But they were seen from the field by the Poles. Immediately about threehundred horsemen rushed toward them at full speed; in front of all,with sabre above his head and fire in his eyes, flew the tenant ofVansosh, Jendzian. Not many proofs had he given hitherto of hisbravery; but at sight of the wagons in which there might be richplunder, daring so rose in his heart that he went some tens of yards inadvance of the others. The infantry at the wagons, seeing that theycould not escape, formed themselves into a quadrangle, and a hundredmuskets were directed at once at the breast of Jendzian. A roar shookthe air, a line of smoke flew along the wall of the quadrangle; butbefore the smoke had cleared away the rider had urged on his horse sothat the forefeet of the beast were above the heads of the men, and thelord tenant fell into the midst of them like a thunderbolt.
An avalanche of horsemen rushed after him. And as when wolves overcomea horse, and he, lying yet on his back, defends himself desperatelywith his hoofs, and they cover him completely and tear from him lumpsof living flesh, so those wagons and the infantry were coveredcompletely with a whirling mass of horses and riders. But terribleshouts rose from that whirl, and reached the ears of the Swedesstanding on the other bank.
Meanwhile still nearer the bank the Poles were finishing the remnant ofKanneberg's cavalry. The whole Swedish army had come out like one manto the lofty bank of the San. Infantry, cavalry, artillery were mingledtogether; and all looked as if in an ancient circus in Rome at thespectacle; but they looked with set lips, with despair in their hearts,with terror and a feeling of helplessness. At moments from the breastsof those unwilling spectators was wrested a terrible cry. At moments ageneral weeping was heard; then again silence, and only the panting ofthe excited soldiers was audible. For that thousand men whom Kanneberghad led out were the front and the pride of the whole Swedish army;they were veterans, covered with glory in God knows how many lands, andGod knows how many battles. But now they are running, like a lost flockof sheep, over the broad fields in front of the Swedish army, dyinglike sheep under the knife of the butcher. For that was no longer abattle, but a hunt. The terrible Polish horsemen circled about, like astorm, over the field of struggle, crying in various voices and runningahead of the Swedes. Sometimes a number less than ten, sometimes agroup more than ten fell on one man. Sometimes one met one, sometimesthe hunted Swede bowed down on the saddle as if to lighten the blow forthe enemy, sometimes he withstood the brunt: but oftener he perished,for with edged weapons the Swedish soldiers were not equal to Polishnobles trained in all kinds of fencing.
But among the Poles the little knight was the most terrible of all,sitting on his cream-colored steed, which was as nimble and as swift asa falcon. The whole army noted him; for whomsoever he pursued hekilled, whoever met him perished it was unknown how and when, with suchsmall and insignificant movements of his sword did he hurl thesturdiest horsemen to the earth. At last he saw Kanneberg himself, whommore than ten men were chasing; the little knight shouted at them,stopped the pursuit by command, and attacked the Swede himself.
The Swedes on the other bank held the breath in their breasts. The kinghad pushed to the edge of the river and looked with throbbing heart,moved at once with alarm and hope; for Kanneberg, as a great lord and arelative of the king, was trained from childhood in every species ofsword exercise by Italian masters; in fighting with edged weapons hehad not his equal in the Swedish army. All eyes therefore were fixed onhim now, barely did they dare to breathe; but he, seeing that thepursuit of the crowd had ceased, and wishing after the loss of histroops to save his own glory in the eyes of the king, said to hisgloomy soul,--
"Woe to me if having first lost my men, I do not seal with my own bloodthe shame, or if I do not purchase my life by having overturned thisterrible man. In another event, though the hand of God might bear me tothat bank, I should not dare to look in the eyes of any Swede." When hehad said this he turned his horse and rushed toward the yellow knight.
Since those Poles who had cut him off from the river had withdrawn,Kanneberg had the hope that if he should finish his opponent, he mightspring into the water, and then what would be would be; if he could notswim the stormy stream, its current would bear him far with the horse,and his brothers would provide him some rescue.
He sprang therefore like a thunderbolt at the little knight, and thelittle knight at him. The Swede wished during the rush to thrust therapier up to the hilt under the arm of his opponent; but he learned inan instant that though a master himself he must meet a master as well,for his sword merely slipped along the edge of the Polish sabre, onlyquivered somehow wonderfully in his hand, as if his arm had suddenlygrown numb; barely was he able to defend himself from the blow whichthe knight then gave him; luckily at that moment their horses bore themaway in opposite directions.
Both wheeled in a circle and returned simultaneousl
y; but they rode nowmore slowly against each other, wishing to have more time for themeeting and even to cross weapons repeatedly. Kanneberg withdrew intohimself so that he became like a bird which presents to view onlya powerful beak from the midst of upraised feathers. He knewone infallible thrust in which a certain Florentine had trainedhim,--infallible because deceitful and almost impossible to be wardedoff,--consisting in this: that the point of the sword was directedapparently at the breast, but by avoiding obstacles at the side itpassed through the throat till the hilt reached the back of the neck.This thrust he determined to make now.
And, sure of himself, he approached, restraining his horse more andmore; but Volodyovski rode toward him with short springs. For a momenthe thought to disappear suddenly under the horse like a Tartar, butsince he had to meet with only one man, and that before the eyes ofboth armies, though he understood that some unexpected thrust waswaiting for him, he was ashamed to defend himself in Tartar and not inknightly fashion.
"He wishes to take me as a heron does a falcon with a thrust," thoughtPan Michael to himself; "but I will use that windmill which I inventedin Lubni."
And this idea seemed to him best for the moment; therefore itsurrounded him like a glittering shield of light, and he struck hissteed with his spurs and rushed on Kanneberg.
Kanneberg drew himself in still more, and almost grew to the horse; inthe twinkle of an eye the rapier caught the sabre, and quickly he stuckout his head like a snake and made a ghastly thrust.
But in that instant a terrible whirling began to sound, the rapierturned in the hands of the Swede; the point struck empty space, but thecurved end of the sabre fell with the speed of lightning; on the faceof Kanneberg, cut through a part of his nose, his mouth and beard,struck his shoulder-blade, shattered that, and stopped only at thesword-belt which crossed his shoulder.
The rapier dropped from the hands of the unfortunate man, and nightembraced his head; but before he fell from his horse, Volodyovskidropped his own weapon and seized him by the shoulder.
The Swedes from the other bank roared with one out burst, but Zaglobasprang to the little knight.
"Pan Michael, I knew it would be so, but I was ready to avenge you!"
"He was a master," answered Volodyovski. "You take the horse, for he isa good one."
"Ha! if it were not for the river we could rush over and frolic withthose fellows. I would be the first--"
The whistle of balls interrupted further words of Zagloba; therefore hedid not finish the expression of his thoughts, but cried,--
"Let us go, Pan Michael; those traitors are ready to fire."
"Their bullets have no force, for the range is too great."
Meanwhile other Polish horsemen came up congratulating Volodyovski andlooking at him with admiration; but he only moved his mustaches, for hewas a cause of gladness to himself as well as to them.
But on the other bank among the Swedes, it was seething as in abeehive. Artillerists on that side drew out their cannons in haste; andin the nearer Polish ranks trumpets were sounded for withdrawal. Atthis sound each man sprang to his squadron, and in a moment all were inorder. They withdrew then to the forest, and halted again, as ifoffering a place to the enemy and inviting them across the river. Atlast, in front of the ranks of men and horses, rode out on his dapplegray the man wearing a burka and a cap with a heron's feather, andbearing a gilded baton in his hand.
He was perfectly visible, for the reddish rays of the setting sun fellon him, and besides he rode before the regiments as if reviewing them.All the Swedes knew him at once, and began to shout,--
"Charnyetski! Charnyetski!"
He said something to the colonels. It was seen how he stopped longerwith the knight who had slain Kanneberg, and placed his hand on hisshoulder; then he raised his baton, and the squadrons began to turnslowly one after another to the pine-woods.
Just then the sun went down. In Yaroslav the bells sounded in thechurch; then all the regiments began to sing in one voice as they wereriding away, "The Angel of the Lord announced to the Most Holy VirginMary;" and with that song they vanished from the eyes of the Swedes.
The Deluge: An Historical Novel of Poland, Sweden, and Russia. Vol. 2 (of 2) Page 30