CHAPTER LI.
September 6, the Polish troops arrived at Vansosh and disposedthemselves for rest, so that before battle horses and men might gainstrength. Pan Gosyevski, the hetman, decided to halt there four or fivedays; but events interfered with his reckoning.
Babinich, as a man knowing the boundary well, was sent on areconnoissance; he was given two light Lithuanian squadrons and a freshchambul of Tartars, for his own Tartars were over-much wearied.
Gosyevski enjoined on him earnestly, before starting, to obtain aninformant and not to return empty-handed. But Babinich merely laughed,thinking to himself that he needed no urging, and that he would bringprisoners, even if he had to find them in the intrenchments of Prostki.
In fact, he returned in forty-eight hours, bringing a number ofPrussians and Swedes, and among them an officer of note, Von Roessel,captain in a Prussian regiment under Boguslav.
The party was received in the camp with great applause. There was noneed of torturing the captain, for Babinich had already done that onthe road by putting the sword-point to his throat. From his statementsit transpired that not only the Prussian regiments of Count Waldeckwere in Prostki, but also six Swedish regiments under command ofMajor-General Israel; of these, four were of cavalry under Peters,Frytjotson, Tauben, and Ammerstein, with two of infantry under thebrothers Engel. Of Prussian regiments, which were very well equipped,besides that of Count Waldeck himself, there were four,--those of thePrince of Wismar, Bruntsl, Konnaberg, General Wahlrat,--with foursquadrons of Boguslav's command, two being of Prussian nobles, and twoof his own men.
Supreme command was held by Count Waldeck; in reality, however, heobeyed in everything Prince Boguslav, to whose influence the Swedishgeneral Israel also yielded.
But the most important intelligence given by Roessel was this,--that twothousand chosen infantry of Pomerania were hastening from Elko toreinforce Prostki; but Count Waldeck, fearing lest these men might betaken by the horde, wished to leave the fortified camp, join thePomeranians, and then make intrenchments a second time. Boguslav,according to Roessel, was so far rather strongly opposed to leavingProstki, and only during the last days began to incline toward thisaction. Gosyevski on hearing this news was greatly rejoiced, for he wascertain that victory would not miss him. The enemy might defendthemselves for a long time in the intrenchments, but neither theSwedish nor the Prussian cavalry could resist the Poles in the openfield.
Prince Boguslav seemed to understand this fact as well as Gosyevski,and for this special reason he did not much approve Waldeck's plans.But he was too vain not to yield before even the reproach of excessivecaution. Besides, he was not distinguished for patience. It might bereckoned almost with certainty that he would grow weary of waiting intrenches, and would seek fame and victory in the open field. Gosyevskihad simply to hasten his advance on the enemy at the moment when theywere leaving the intrenchments.
So thought he; so thought other colonels, such as Hassan Bey, who ledthe horde; Voynillovich, who led the king's regiment; Korsak, alight-horse colonel; Volodyovski, Kotvich, and Babinich. All agreed onone point,--that it was necessary to give up further rest, and march inthe night; that is, in a few hours. Meanwhile Korsak sent his banneret,Byeganski, to Prostki to inform the advancing army every hour of whatwas taking place in the camp. Volodyovski and Babinich took Roessel totheir quarters to learn something more of Boguslav. The captain wasgreatly alarmed at first, for he felt still at his throat Kmita'ssabre-point, but wine soon loosened his tongue. Since he had servedonce in the Commonwealth in a foreign command, he had learned Polish;therefore he was able to answer the questions of the little knight, whodid not know German.
"Have you been long in the service of Prince Boguslav?" askedVolodyovski.
"I do not serve in his army," answered Roessel, "but in the elector'sregiment, which was put under his command."
"Then do you know Pan Sakovich?"
"I have seen him in Koenigsberg."
"Is he with the prince?"
"He is not; he remained in Taurogi."
Volodyovski sighed and moved his mustaches. "I have no luck, as usual,"said he.
"Be not grieved, Michael," said Babinich. "You will find him; if not, Ishall."
Then he turned to Roessel: "You are an old soldier; you have seen botharmies, and you know our cavalry of old: what do you think,--on whoseside will be victory?"
"If they meet you outside the trenches, on yours; but you cannot takethe trenches without infantry and cannon, especially since everythingis done there with Radzivill's head."
"Then do you consider him such a great leader?"
"Not only is that my opinion, but it is the general opinion in botharmies. They say that at Warsaw the Most Serene King of Sweden followedhis advice, and therefore won a great battle. The prince, as a Pole,has a better knowledge of your method of warfare and can manage morequickly. I saw myself that the King of Sweden after the third day ofbattle embraced him in front of the army and kissed him. It is truethat he owed his life to him; for had it not been for the shot of theprince-- But it is a terror to think of it! He is besides anincomparable knight, whom no man can meet with any weapon."
"H'm!" said Volodyovski, "maybe there is such a man."
When he had said this, his mustaches trembled threateningly. Roessellooked at him, and grew suddenly red. For a time it seemed that eitherhe would burst a blood-vessel or break into laughter; but at last heremembered that he was in captivity, and controlled himself quickly.But Kmita with his steel eyes looked at him steadily and said,--
"That will be shown to-morrow."
"But is Boguslav in good health?" asked Volodyovski; "for the fevershook him a long time, and must have weakened him."
"He is, and has been this long time, as healthy as a fish, and takes nomedicine. The doctor at first wanted to give him many preservatives,but immediately after the first came a paroxysm. Prince Boguslav gaveorders to toss that doctor up from sheets; and that helped him, for thedoctor himself got a fever from fright."
"To toss him up from sheets?" asked Volodyovski.
"I saw it myself," answered Roessel. "Two sheets were placed one abovethe other, and the doctor put in the centre of them. Four strongsoldiers took the sheets by the corners, and threw up the poor doctor.I tell you, gentlemen, that he went nearly ten ells into the air, andhe had hardly come down when they hurled him up again. General Israel,Count Waldeck, and the prince were holding their sides from laughter.Many of the officers too were looking at the spectacle, till the doctorfainted. Then the prince was free of his fever, as if some hand hadremoved it."
Though Pan Michael and Babinich hated Boguslav, still they could notrestrain themselves from laughter when they heard of this joke.Babinich struck his knees and cried,--
"Ah, the scoundrel! how he helped himself!"
"I must tell Zagloba of this medicine," said Pan Michael.
"It cured him of the fever," said Roessel; "but what is that, when theprince does not restrain sufficiently the impulses of his blood, andtherefore will not live to ripe age?"
"I think so too," muttered Babinich. "Such as he do not live long."
"Does he give way to himself in the camp?" asked Pan Michael.
"Of course," answered Roessel. "Count Waldeck laughed, saying that hisprincely grace takes with him waiting-maids. I saw myself two handsomemaidens; his attendants told me that they were there to iron hislace--but God knows."
Babinich, when he heard this, grew red and pale; then he sprang up, andseizing Roessel by the arm began to shake him violently.
"Are they Poles or Germans?"
"Not Poles," said the terrified Roessel. "One is a Prussian noblewoman;the other is a Swede, who formerly served the wife of General Israel."
Babinich looked at Pan Michael and drew a deep breath; the littleknight was relieved too, and began to move his mustaches.
"Gentlemen, permit me to rest," said Roessel. "I am dreadfully tired,for the Tartar led me ten mile
s with a lariat."
Kmita clapped his hands for Soroka, and committed the prisoner to him;then he turned with quick step to Pan Michael.
"Enough of this!" said he. "I would rather perish a hundred times thanlive in this ceaseless alarm and uncertainty. When Roessel mentionedthose women just now, I thought that some one was going at my templewith a club."
"It is time to finish!" said Volodyovski, shaking his sabre.
At that moment trumpets sounded at the hetman's quarters; soon trumpetsanswered in all the Lithuanian squadrons, and pipes in the chambuls.
The troops began to assemble, and an hour later were on the march.
Before they had gone five miles a messenger hurried up from Byeganskiof Korsak's squadron, with intelligence for the hetman that a number oftroopers had been seized from a considerable body occupied incollecting on that side of the river all the wagons and horses of thepeasants. Interrogated on the spot, they acknowledged that the tabor ofthe whole army was to leave Prostki about eight o'clock in the morning,and that commands were issued already.
"Let us praise God and urge on our horses," said Gosyevski. "Beforeevening that army will be no longer in existence."
He sent the horde neck and head to push with utmost endeavor betweenWaldeck's troops and the Pomeranian infantry hastening to aid them.After the horde went Lithuanians; being mainly of the light squadrons,they came right after the horde.
Kmita was in the front rank of the Tartars, and urged on his men tillthe horses were steaming. On the road he bowed down on the saddle,struck his forehead on the neck of his horse, and prayed with all thepowers of his soul,--
"Grant me, O Christ, to take vengeance, not for my own wrongs, but forthe insults wrought on the country! I am a sinner; I am not worthy ofThy grace; but have mercy on me! Permit me to shed the blood ofheretics, and for Thy praise I will fast and scourge myself every weekon this day till the end of my life."
Then to the Most Holy Lady of Chenstohova, whom he had served with hisblood, and to his own patron besides, did he commit himself; and strongwith such protection, he felt straightway that an immense hope wasentering his soul, that an uncommon power was penetrating his limbs,--apower before which everything must fall in the dust. It seemed to himthat wings were growing from his shoulders; joy embraced him like awhirlwind, and he flew in front of his Tartars, so that sparks werescattered from under the hoofs of his steed. Thousands of wild warriorsbent forward to the necks of their ponies, and shot along after him.
A river of pointed caps rose and fell with the rush of the horses; bowsrattled behind the men's shoulders; in front went the sound from thetramp of iron hoofs; from behind flew the roar of the oncomingsquadrons, like the deep roar of a great swollen river.
And thus they flew on in the rich starry night which covered the roadsand the fields. They were like a mighty flock of ravening birds whichhad smelled blood in the distance. Fields, oak-groves, meadows, spedpast, till at last the waning moon became pale and inclined in thewest. Then they reined in their beasts, and halted for finalrefreshment. It was not farther now than two miles from Prostki.
The Tartars fed their horses with barley from their hands, so that thebeasts might gain strength before battle; but Kmita sat on a fresh ponyand rode farther to look at the camp of the enemy.
After half an hour's ride he found in the willows the light-horse partywhich Korsak had sent to reconnoitre.
"Well," asked Kmita, "what is to be heard?"
"They are not sleeping, they are bustling like bees in a hive,"answered the banneret. "They would have started already, but have notwagons sufficient."
"Can the camp be seen from some point near at hand?"
"It can from that height which is covered with bushes. The camp liesover there in the valley of the river. Does your grace wish to see it?"
"Lead on."
The banneret put spurs to his horse, and they rode to the height. Daywas already in the sky, and the air was filled with a golden light; butalong the river on the opposite low bank there lay still a dense fog.Hidden in the bushes, they looked at that fog growing thinner andthinner.
At last about two furlongs distant a square earthwork was laid bare.Kmita's glance was fixed on it with eagerness; but at the first momenthe saw only the misty outlines of tents and wagons standing in thecentre along the intrenchments. The blaze of fires was not visible; hesaw only smoke rising in lofty curls to the sky in sign of fineweather. But as the fog vanished Pan Andrei could distinguish throughhis field-glass blue Swedish and yellow Prussian banners planted on theintrenchments; then masses of soldiers, cannon, and horses.
Around there was silence, broken only by the rustle of bushes moved bythe breeze, and the glad morning twitter of birds; but from the campcame a deep sound.
Evidently no one was sleeping, and they were preparing to march, for inthe centre of the intrenchment was an unusual stir. Whole regimentswere moving from place to place; some went out in front of theintrenchments; around the wagons there was a tremendous bustle. Cannonalso were drawn from the trenches.
"It cannot be but they are preparing to march," said Kmita.
"All the prisoners said: 'They wish to make a junction with theinfantry; and besides they do not think that the hetman can come upbefore evening; and even if he were to come up, they prefer a battle inthe open field to yielding that infantry to the knife.'"
"About two hours will pass before they move, and at the end of twohours the hetman will be here."
"Praise be to God!" said the banneret.
"Send to tell our men not to feed too long."
"According to order."
"But have they not sent away parties to this side of the river?"
"To this side they have not sent one. But they have sent some to theirinfantry, marching from Elko."
"It is well!" said Kmita.
And he descended the height, and commanding the party to hide longer inthe rushes, moved back himself with all the breath in his horse to thesquadron.
Gosyevski was just mounting when Babinich arrived. The young knighttold quickly what he had seen and what the position was; the hetmanlistened with great satisfaction, and urged forward the squadronswithout delay.
Babinich's party went in advance; after it the Lithuanian squadrons;then that of Voynillovich, that of Lauda, the hetman's own, and others.The horde remained behind; for Hassan Bey begged for that withinsistence, fearing that his men might not withstand the first onset ofthe heavy cavalry. He had also another reckoning.
He wished, when the Lithuanians struck the enemy's front, to seize thecamp with his Tartars; in the camp he expected to find very richplunder. The hetman permitted this, thinking justly that the Tartarswould strike weakly on the cavalry, but would fall like madmen on thetabor and might raise a panic, especially since the Prussian horseswere less accustomed to their terrible howling.
In two hours, as Kmita had predicted, they halted in front of thatelevation from which the scouting-party had looked into theintrenchments, and which now concealed the march of all the troops. Thebanneret, seeing the troops approaching, sprang forward like lightningwith intelligence that the enemy, having withdrawn the pickets fromthis side of the river, had already moved, and that the rear of thetabor was just leaving the intrenchments.
When he heard this, Gosyevski drew his baton from the holsters of thesaddle, and said,--
"They cannot return now, for the wagons block the way. In the name ofthe Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! There is no reason to hide longer!"
He beckoned to the bunchuk-bearer; and he, raising the horse-tailstandard aloft, waved it on every side. At this sign all the horse-tailstandards began to wave, trumpets thundered, Tartar pipes squeaked, sixthousand sabres were gleaming in the air, and six thousand throatsshouted,--
"Jesus! Mary!"
"Allah uh Allah!"
Then squadron after squadron rose in a trot from behind the height. InWaldeck's camp they had not expected guests so soon, for a feverishmovement set in. The drums ra
ttled uninterruptedly; the regimentsturned with front to the river.
It was possible to see with the naked eye generals and colonels flyingbetween the regiments; they hurried to the centre with the cannon, soas to bring them forward to the river.
After a while both armies were not farther than a thousand yards fromeach other. They were divided only by a broad meadow, in the centre ofwhich a river flowed. Another moment, and the first streak of whitesmoke bloomed out from the Prussian side toward the Poles.
The battle had begun.
The hetman himself sprang toward Kmita's troops,--
"Advance, Babinich! advance in God's name against that line!" And hepointed with his baton to the gleaming regiment of cavalry.
"Follow me!" commanded Pan Andrei. And pressing his horse with spurs,he moved at a gallop toward the river.
More swiftly than an arrow from a bow did they shoot forward. Thehorses had gained their highest speed, and were running with earsdropped back, and bodies stretched out like the bodies of hounds. Theriders bent forward to the manes of their horses, and howling, lashedonward the beasts, which now did not seem to touch earth; they rushedwith that impetus into the river. The water did not restrain them, forthey came upon a broad ford, level and sandy; they reached the otherbank, and sprang on in a body.
Seeing this, the regiment of armored cavalry moved toward them, firstat a walk, then at a trot, and did not go faster; but when Kmita'sfront had come within twenty yards, the command "Fire!" was heard, anda thousand arms with pistols were stretched forward.
A line of smoke ran from one end of the rank to the other; then the twobodies struck each other with a crash. The horses reared at the firstblow; over the heads of the combatants glittered sabres through thewhole length of the line. A serpent as it were of lightning flew fromend to end. The ominous clang of blades against helmets andbreastplates was heard to the other side of the river. It seemed as ifhammers were ringing in forges on plates of steel. The line bent in onemoment into a crescent; for since the centre of the German cavalryyielded, pushed back by the first onset, the wings, against which lessforce was directed, kept their places. But the armored soldiers did notlet the centre be broken, and a terrible slaughter began. On one sideenormous men covered with armor resisted with the whole weight ofhorses; on the other the gray host of Tartars pushed with the force ofaccumulated impetus, cutting and thrusting with an inconceivablerapidity which only uncommon activity and ceaseless practice can give.As when a host of woodcutters rush at a forest of pine-trees there isheard only the sound of axes, and time after time some lofty tree fallsto the ground with a fearful crash, so every moment some one of thecavalry bent his shining head and rolled under his horse. The sabres ofKmita's men glittered in their eyes, cut around their faces, eyes,hands. In vain does a sturdy soldier raise his heavy sword; before hecan bring it down, he feels a cold point entering his body; then thesword drops from his hand, and he falls with bloody face on the neck ofhis horse. When a swarm of wasps attack in an orchard him who isshaking down fruit, vainly does the man ward them off with his hands,try to free himself, dodge aside; they reach his face skilfully, reachhis neck, and each one drives into him a sharp sting. So did Kmita'sraging men, trained in so many battles, rush forward, hew, cut, thrust,spread terror and death more and more stubbornly, surpassing theiropponents as much as a skilful craftsman surpasses the sturdiestapprentice who is wanting in practice. Therefore the German cavalrybegan to fall more quickly; and the centre, against which Kmita himselfwas fighting, became so thin that it might break at any moment.Commands of officers, summoning soldiers to shattered places, were lostin the uproar and wild shouting; the line did not come together quicklyenough, and Kmita pressed with increasing power. Wearing chain-mail, agift from Sapyeha, he fought as a simple soldier, having with him theyoung Kyemliches and Soroka. Their office was to guard their master;and every moment some one of them turned to the right or the left,giving a terrible blow; but Kmita rushed on his chestnut horse to thethickest of the fight, and having all the secrets of Pan Michael, andgigantic strength, he quenched men's lives quickly. Sometimes he struckwith his whole sabre; sometimes he barely reached with the point;sometimes he described a small circle merely, but quick as lightning,and a horseman flew head downward under his beast, as if a thunderbolthad hurled him from the saddle. Others withdrew before the terribleman.
At last Pan Andrei slashed the standard-bearer in the temple; he gaveforth a sound like that which a cock gives if his throat is cut, anddropped the standard from his hand. At that moment the centre broke,and the disordered wings forming two chaotic bodies fled swiftly to thefarther lines of the Prussian army.
Kmita looked through the broken centre into the depth of the field, andsaw at once a regiment of red dragoons flying like wind to the aid ofthe broken cavalry.
"That is nothing!" thought he; "Volodyovski will cross the ford in amoment to aid me."
At that instant was heard the thunder of cannon so loud that the earthtrembled in its foundations; musketry rattled from the intrenchment tothose ranks of the Poles who had pushed forward most. The whole fieldwas covered with smoke, and in that smoke Kmita's volunteers andTartars closed with the dragoons.
But from the side of the river no one came with assistance.
The enemy had let Kmita pass the ford purposely, and then covered theford with such a dreadful shower from cannons and muskets that noliving foot could pass through it.
The troops of Pan Korsak tried first, and turned back in disorder; nextthe squadron of Voynillovich went to the middle of the ford, and turnedback,--slowly, it is true, for that was the king's regiment, one of themost valiant in the army, but with a loss of twelve noted nobles andnineteen soldiers.
The water in the ford which was the only passage through the river wasplashing under the blows of balls as under a dense pouring rain.Cannon-balls flew to the other bank, casting around clouds of sand.
Gosyevski himself rode up on a gallop, and when he had seen this, heknew that it was impossible for one living man to reach the oppositebank.
And still that might decide the fate of the battle. Then the foreheadof the hetman frowned sternly. For a while he looked through his glassalong the whole line of the enemy's troops, and cried to the orderly,--
"Rush to Hassan Bey; let the horde pass the deep bank as it can, andstrike the tabor. What they find in the wagons will be theirs! Thereare no cannon there; it will be only hand to hand."
The horseman sprang forward with what breath was in his horse; but thehetman advanced to where under willows on the meadow stood the Laudasquadron, and halted before it.
Volodyovski was at the head of the squadron, gloomy and silent; but helooked in the eyes of the hetman, and his mustaches quivered.
"What do you think?" asked the hetman; "will the Tartars cross?"
"The Tartars will cross, but Kmita will perish!" answered the littleknight.
"As God lives!" cried the hetman, suddenly; "this Kmita, if he had ahead on his shoulders, might win the battle, not perish!"
Volodyovski said nothing; still he thought: "It was necessary eithernot to send any regiment across the river, or to send five."
The hetman looked awhile yet through his glass at the distant confusionwhich Kmita was making beyond the river; but the little knight, notbeing able to endure any longer, drew near him, and holding hissabre-point upward, said,--
"Your worthiness, if there were an order, I would try the ford again."
"Stop!" said Gosyevski, rather sharply; "it is enough that those willperish."
"They are perishing already," replied Volodyovski.
And in truth the uproar was becoming more definite and greater everymoment. Evidently Kmita was retreating to the river.
"As God lives, I wanted that!" cried the hetman, suddenly; and hesprang like a thunderbolt to Voynillovich's squadron.
In fact, Kmita was retreating. After they had met the red dragoons, hismen fought with their last strength; but the breath was already fai
lingin their breasts, their wearied hands were drooping, and bodies werefalling faster and faster; only hope that aid might come any momentfrom beyond the river kept courage in them yet.
Half an hour more passed, and the cry of "Strike!" was heard no longer;but to the aid of the red dragoons sprang Boguslav's regiment of heavycavalry.
"Death is coming!" thought Kmita, seeing them approaching from theflank.
But he was a soldier who never had a doubt, for a moment, not only ofhis life, but of victory. Long and hazardous practice had given himalso great knowledge of war; therefore lightning at dusk does not flashand then die out so quickly as the following thought flashed to thehead of Pan Andrei: Evidently the Poles could not cross the ford to theenemy; and since they could not, he would lead the enemy to them.
Boguslav's regiment was coming on at full sweep, and not more than ahundred yards distant; in a moment they could strike and scatter hisTartars. Pan Andrei raised the pipe to his mouth, and whistled soshrilly that the nearest dragoon horses rose on their haunches.
That instant other pipes of the Tartar leaders repeated the whistle;and not so swiftly does the whirlwind twist the sand as that chambulturned its horses in flight.
The remnant of the mailed cavalry, the red dragoons, and Boguslav'sregiment sprang after them with all speed.
The shouts of the officers--"Naprzod (Forward)!" and "Gott mit uns (Godwith us)!"--rang like a storm, and a marvellous sight was seen then.Over the broad meadow rushed the disordered and confused chambul ofTartars, straight to the ford, which was rained on with bullets andballs; and they tore onward, as if carried with wings. Every Tartar layon the horse, flattened himself, hid himself in the mane and the neck,in such fashion that had it not been for the cloud of arrows flyingback toward the cavalry, it might be said that the horses were rushingon riderless; after them, with roaring, shouting, and trampling,followed gigantic men, with upraised swords gleaming in their righthands.
The ford was nearer and nearer; there was half a furlong left yet, andevidently the Tartar horses were using their last strength, for thedistance between them and the cavalry was quickly decreasing.
A few moments later the front ranks of the pursuers began to cut withtheir swords the Tartars closing the rear. The ford was right there; itseemed that in a few springs the horses would be in it.
Suddenly something wonderful happened.
Behold, when the chambul had run to the ford, a shrill whistle of pipeswas heard again on the wings, and the whole body, instead of rushinginto the river to seek safety on the other bank, opened in two, andwith the speed of swallows sprang to the right and left, with andagainst the flow of the river.
But the heavy regiments, rushing right on their shoulders with thehighest horse-speed, raced into the ford with the same force, and onlywhen in the water did the horsemen begin to hold in their furiousbeasts.
The cannon, which up to that moment had been showering a rain of ironon the gravel, were silent in a second; the gunners had to spare theirown army.
But Gosyevski was waiting for precisely that instant as for salvation.
The cavalry were hardly in the water when the terrible royal squadronof Voynillovich rushed at it like a hurricane; then the Lauda, theKorsak, the two squadrons of the hetman, and the volunteer squadron;after that, the armored squadron of Prince Michael Radzivill.
A terrible shout, "Kill, slay!" thundered in the air; and before thePrussian regiments could halt, concentrate, use their swords, theVoynillovich squadron had scattered them as a whirl of air scattersleaves; they crushed the red dragoons, pushed back Boguslav's regiment,cut it in two, and drove it over the field toward the main army ofPrussia.
In one moment the river was red with blood. The cannon began to playagain; but too late, for eight squadrons of Lithuanian cavalry weresweeping with thunder and roar over the meadow, and the whole battlewas transferred to the other side of the river.
The hetman was flying with one of his own squadrons, his face radiantwith joy, and with fire in his eyes; for once he had the cavalry beyondthe river, he was certain of victory.
The squadrons, emulating one another in slashing and thrusting, drovebefore them the remnant of the dragoons and the cavalry, which fell ina dense body; for the heavy horses were not able to flee swiftly, andmerely covered the pursuers against missiles from the front.
Meanwhile Waldeck, Boguslav, Radzivill, and Israel sent forward alltheir cavalry to restrain the onset, and hastened themselves to put theinfantry in line. Regiment after regiment ran out of the tabor, andtook their places on the plain. They thrust the butts of their heavyspears into the earth, with the heads pointing forward, inclined like afence to the enemy.
In the next rank musketeers stretched forward the barrels of theirmuskets. Between the quadrangles of regiments they placed cannon in hothaste. Neither Boguslav nor Waldeck nor Israel flattered themselvesthat their cavalry could restrain that of the Poles very long, andtheir whole hope was in the artillery and the infantry. Meanwhile infront of the infantry the mounted regiments struck breast againstbreast. But that happened which the Prussian leaders foresaw.
The pressure of the Lithuanian cavalry was so terrible that theiropponents could not restrain them for one moment, and the first hussarregiments split them as a wedge splits wood, and went without breakinga lance through the dense mass, as a ship driven by strong wind goesthrough waves. The streamers were visible nearer and nearer; at timesthe heads of the hussar horses rose above the throng of the Prussians.
"On your guard!" cried the officers, standing in the quadrangle ofinfantry.
At this word the Prussian soldiers braced themselves more firmly ontheir feet, and strained their arms holding the spears; and all heartswere beating violently, for the terrible hussars had come wholly insight, and were bearing down straightway against them.
"Fire!" was the word of command.
Muskets rattled in the second and third ranks of the quadrangle. Smokecovered the men. A moment later the roar of the coming squadron wasnearer. They are right there! All at once, amid the smoke, the firstrank of infantry see there above them, almost over their heads,thousands of horses' hoofs, wide nostrils, inflamed eyes; a crash ofbroken spears is heard; a fearful shout rends the air; Polish voicesshouting, "Slay!" and German voices, "Gott erbarme Dich meiner (Godhave mercy on me)!"
That regiment is broken, crushed; but in the spaces between otherregiments cannon begin to play. Other squadrons come up. Each onestrikes after a moment on a forest of lances; but perhaps not every onewill break the forest which it strikes, for none has such terribleforce as Voynillovich's squadron. Shouting increases on the whole fieldof battle. Nothing can be seen; but from the mass of combatants groupsof yellow infantry escape in disorder, fleeing from some regiment whichevidently was also beaten.
Horsemen in gray colors pursue, cut, and trample these men, andshout,--
"Lauda! Lauda!"
That was Volodyovski, who with his squadron had fought against a secondquadrangle.
But others were "sticking" yet; victory might still incline to thePrussians, especially as at the tabor stood two regiments intact,which, since the tabor was safe, might be summoned at any moment.
Waldeck had in truth lost his head. Israel was not present, for he hadbeen sent with the cavalry; but Boguslav was watching and managingeverything. He led the whole battle, and seeing the increase of greatperil, sent Pan Byes for those regiments.
Byes urged on his horse, and half an hour later returned bareheaded,with terror and despair in his face.
"The horde is in the tabor!" shouted he, hurrying up to Boguslav.
At that moment unearthly howling was heard on the right wing; thishowling came nearer and nearer.
Suddenly appeared crowds of Swedish horsemen approaching in terriblepanic; after them were fleeing weaponless, bareheaded infantry; afterthe infantry, in confusion and disorder, came wagons drawn by wild andterrified horses. All this mass was rushing at random from the tabortoward the infantry in the
meadow. In a moment they fell on theinfantry, put them into disorder, scattered them, especially when infront they were pressed by Lithuanian cavalry.
"Hassan Bey has reached the tabor!" cried Gosyevski, with ecstasy; andhe let out his last two squadrons like falcons from their rest.
At the same moment that these two squadrons strike the infantry infront, their own wagons rush against them on the flank. The lastquadrangles burst as if under the stroke of a hammer. Of the wholebrilliant Swedish-Prussian army there is formed one gigantic mass, inwhich the cavalry are mingled with the infantry. Men are overturning,trampling, and suffocating one another; they throw off their clothing,cast away their arms. The cavalry press them, cut them, crush them,mash them. It is no longer a battle lost; it is a ruin, one of the mostghastly of the war.
Boguslav, seeing that all was lost, resolved to save at least himselfand some of the cavalry. With superhuman exertion he collected a fewhundred horsemen, and was fleeing along the left wing in the directionof the river's course.
He had already escaped from the main whirl, when Prince MichaelRadzivill, leading his own hussars, struck him on the flank andscattered his whole detachment at a blow. After this Boguslav's menfled singly or in small groups. They could be saved only by the speedof their horses.
In fact, the hussars did not pursue, but struck on the main body ofinfantry, which all the other squadrons were cutting to pieces. Thebroken detachment fled over the field like a scattered herd of deer.
Boguslav, on Kmita's black steed, is rushing like the wind, striving invain by cries to gather around him even a few tens of men. No one obeyshim; each man flees on his own account, glad that he has escaped fromthe disaster, and that he has no enemy in front of him. But rejoicingwas vain. They had not gone a thousand yards when howling was heard infront, and a gray host of Tartars sprang forth from the river, nearwhich they had been lurking till then.
This was Kmita with his men. Leaving the field, after he had broughtthe enemy to the ford, he turned so as to cut off retreat to thefugitives.
The Tartars, seeing the cavalry scattered, scattered themselves in amoment to catch them more easily, and a murderous pursuit began. Two orthree Tartars cut off one trooper, and he rarely defended himself; morefrequently he seized his rapier by the point, and extended the hilt tothe Tartars, calling for mercy. But the Tartars, knowing that theycould not lead these prisoners home, took only officers who could giveransom; the common soldiers received a knife in the throat, and died,unable to say even "God!" Those who fled to the last were stabbed inthe back and shoulders; those under whom the horses did not fall werecaught with lariats.
Kmita rushed for a time over the field, hurling down horsemen andseeking Boguslav with his eyes; at last he beheld him, and knew him atonce by the horse, by the blue ribbon, and the hat with black ostrichfeathers.
A cloud of white steam surrounded the prince; for just the momentbefore two Nogais had attacked him. One he killed with a pistol-shot,and the other he thrust through with a rapier; then seeing a largerparty rushing from one side, and Kmita from the other, he pressed hishorse with spurs, and shot on like a hunted deer followed by hounds.
More than fifty men rushed in a body after him; but not all the horsesran equally, so that soon the fifty formed a long serpent, the head ofwhich was Boguslav and the neck Kmita.
The prince bent forward in his saddle; the black horse appeared not totouch the earth with his feet, but was black over the green grass, likea swallow sweeping close to the ground; the chestnut stretched his necklike a crane, put back his ears, and seemed as if trying to spring fromhis skin. Single willows, clumps of them, groups of alder, shot past;the Tartars were behind, a furlong, two, three furlongs, but they ranand ran. Kmita threw his pistols from the holsters to lighten thehorse's burden; with eyes fastened on Boguslav, with fixed lips, healmost lay on the neck of the horse, pricked his foaming sides withspurs, till soon the foam falling to the earth became rose-colored.
But the distance between him and the prince not only did not decrease asingle inch, but began to increase.
"Woe!" thought Pan Andrei, "no horse on earth can overtake that one."
And when after a few springs the distance increased still more, hestraightened himself in the saddle, let the sword drop on its pendant,and putting his hands around his mouth, shouted in a trumpet-likevoice: "Flee, traitor, flee before Kmita! I will get you, if notto-day, to-morrow."
These words had barely sounded in the air, when on a sudden the prince,who heard them, looked around, and seeing that Kmita alone waspursuing, instead of fleeing farther described a circle, and withrapier in hand rushed upon him.
Pan Andrei gave forth a terrible cry of joy, and without lesseningspeed raised his sabre for a blow.
"Corpse! corpse!" shouted the prince; and wishing to strike the moresurely, he restrained his horse.
Kmita, when he had come up, held in his own beast till his hoofs sankin the earth, and rapier met sabre.
They closed in such fashion that the two horses formed almost one body.A terrible sound of steel was heard, quick as thought; no eye couldcatch the lightning-like movement of rapier and sabre, nor distinguishthe prince from Kmita. At times Boguslav's hat appeared black, at timesKmita's steel morion gleamed. The horses whirled around each other. Theswords clinked more and more terribly.
Boguslav, after a few strokes, ceased to despise his opponent. All theterrible thrusts which he had learned from French masters were parried.Sweat was now flowing freely from his face with the rouge and white; hefelt weariness in his right arm already. Wonder seized him, thenimpatience, then rage; therefore he determined to finish, and he thrustso terribly that the hat fell from his head.
Kmita warded with such force that the prince's rapier flew to the sideof the horse; and before Boguslav could defend himself again, Kmita cuthim with the very end of the sabre in the forehead.
"Christ!" cried the prince in German, rolling to the earth.
He fell on his back.
Pan Andrei was as if stunned for the moment, but recovered quickly. Hedropped his sabre on its pendant, made the sign of the cross, sprangfrom his horse, and seizing the hilt, again approached the prince.
He was terrible; for pale as a sheet from emotion, his lips werepressed, and inexorable hatred was in his face.
Behold his mortal enemy, and such a powerful one, lying now at his feetin blood, still alive and conscious, but conquered, and not withforeign weapons nor with foreign aid.
Boguslav looked at him with widely opened eyes, watching carefullyevery move of the victor; and when Kmita stood there above him, hecried quickly,--
"Do not kill me! Ransom!"
Kmita, instead of answering, stood with his foot on Boguslav's breast,and pressed with all his power; then he placed the point of his sabreon the prince's throat so that the skin yielded under the point,--heonly needed to move his hand, to press more firmly. But he did not killhim at once. He wished to sate himself yet with the sight, and make thedeath of his enemy more grievous. He transfixed Boguslav's eyes withhis own eyes, and stood above him, as a lion stands above an overthrownbuffalo.
The prince, from whose forehead blood was flowing more and morecopiously, so that the whole upper part of his head was as if in apool, spoke again, but now with a greatly stifled voice, for the footof Pan Andrei was crushing his breast,--
"The maiden--listen--"
Barely had Pan Andrei heard these words when he took his foot fromBoguslav's breast, and raised his sword. "Speak!" said he.
But Boguslav only breathed deeply for a time; at last, with a voice nowstronger, he said,--
"The maiden will die, if you kill me. The orders are given."
"What have you done with her?" asked Kmita. "Spare me, and I will giveher to you. I swear on the Gospel."
Pan Andrei struck his forehead with his fist. It was to be seen for atime that he was struggling with himself and with his thoughts; then hesaid,--
"Hear me, traitor! I would give a hundred such
degenerate ruffians forone hair of hers. But I do not believe you, you oath-breaker!"
"On the Gospel!" repeated the prince. "I will give you a safe-conductand an order in writing."
"Let it be so. I will give you your life, but I will not let you out ofmy hands. You will give me the letter; but meanwhile I will give you tothe Tartars, with whom you will be in captivity."
"Agreed," answered Boguslav.
"Remember," said Pan Andrei, "your princely rank did not preserve youfrom my hand, nor your army, nor your fencing. And be assured that asmany times as you cross my path, or do not keep word, nothing will saveyou,--even though you were made Emperor of Germany. Recognize me! OnceI had you in my hands, now you are lying under my feet!"
"Consciousness is leaving me," said the prince. "Pan Kmita, there mustbe water near by. Give me to drink, and wash my wound."
"Die, parricide!" answered Kmita.
But the prince, secure of life, recovered all his self-command, andsaid,--
"You are foolish, Pan Kmita. If I die, she too--" Here his lips grewpale.
Kmita ran to see if there was not some ditch near at hand, or even somepool. The prince fainted, but for a short time; he revived, happily forhimself, when the first Tartar, Selim, son of Gazi Aga, the banneretamong Kmita's Tartars, was coming up, and seeing the enemy weltering inblood, determined to pin him to the earth with the spear-point of thebanner. The prince in that terrible moment still had strengthsufficient to seize the point, which, being loosely fastened, fell fromthe staff.
The sound of that short struggle brought back Pan Andrei.
"Stop! son of a dog!" cried he, running from a distance.
The Tartar, at the sound of the familiar voice, pushed up to his horsewith fear. Kmita commanded him to go for water, and remained himselfwith the prince; for from afar were to be seen approaching at a gallopthe Kyemliches, Soroka, and the whole chambul, who, after they hadcaught all the horsemen, came to seek their leader.
Seeing Pan Andrei, the faithful Nogais threw up their caps with loudshouts.
Akbah Ulan sprang from his horse and began to bow to him, touching withhis hand his forehead, his mouth, and his breast. Others smacking theirlips, in Tartar fashion, looked with greediness into the eyes of theconquered; some rushed to seize the two horses, the chestnut and theblack, which were running at a distance each with flying mane.
"Akbah Ulan," said Kmita, "this is the leader of the army which weconquered this morning, Prince Boguslav Radzivill. I give him to you;and do you keep him, for dead or alive they will pay you for himliberally. Now take care of him; put on him a lariat, and lead him tocamp."
"Allah! Allah! We thank the leader! We thank the conqueror!" cried allthe Tartars in one voice; and again was heard the smacking of athousand lips.
Kmita mounted and went with a part of the Tartars to the field ofbattle. From a distance he saw the standard-bearers with theirstandards, but of the squadrons there were only a few men present; therest had gone in pursuit of the enemy. Crowds of camp servants werebusy on the battle-field, plundering the corpses and fighting here andthere with the Tartars, who were plundering also. The latter lookedspecially terrible, with knives in their hands, and with arms stainedto the elbows. You would have said that a flock of crows had droppedfrom the clouds to the battle-plain. Their wild laughter and shoutswere heard over the whole meadow.
Some holding in their lips knives still steaming drew with both handsdead men by the feet; others in sport threw at one another severedheads. Some were filling bags; others, as in a bazaar, were holding upbloody garments, praising their value, or examining the weapons whichthey had taken.
Kmita passed over the field where he had first met the cavalry. Bodiesof men and horses, cut with swords, lay scattered there; but wheresquadrons had cut infantry, there were whole piles of corpses, andpools of stiffened blood plashed under foot like muddy water in aswamp.
It was difficult to advance through the fragments of broken lances,muskets, corpses, overturned wagons, and troops of Tartars pushingaround.
Gosyevski was still on the intrenchment of the fortified camp, and withhim were Prince Michael Radzivill, Voynillovich, Volodyovski, Korsak,and a number of men. From this height they took in with their eyes thefield far away to its uttermost edges, and were able to estimate thewhole extent of the victory and the enemy's defeat.
Kmita, on beholding these gentlemen, hastened his pace; and Gosyevski,since he was not only a fortunate warrior but an honorable man withouta shadow of envy in his heart, had barely seen Pan Andrei, when hecried,--
"Here comes the real victor! He is the cause of winning the day. Ifirst declare this in public. Gracious gentlemen, thank Pan Babinich;for had it not been for him we could not have crossed the river."
"Vivat Babinich!" cried a number of voices. "Vivat, vivat!"
"Where did you learn war, O soldier," cried the hetman, withenthusiasm, "that you know what to do in a moment?"
Kmita did not answer, for he was too tired. He merely bowed on everyside, and passed his hand over his face, soiled with sweat and withpowder-smoke. His eyes gleamed with an uncommon light, and still thevivats sounded incessantly. Division after division returned from thefield on foaming horses; and those who came joined their voices fromfull breasts in honor of Babinich. Caps flew into the air; whoso had apistol still loaded gave fire.
Suddenly Kmita stood in the saddle, and raising both hands high,shouted,--
"Vivat Yan Kazimir, our lord and gracious father!"
Here there was such a shout as if anew battle had begun. Unspeakableenthusiasm seized all. Prince Michael ungirded his sabre, which had ahilt set with diamonds, and gave it to Kmita. The hetman threw hisown costly cloak on the shoulders of the hero, who again raised hishands,--
"Vivat our hetman, victorious leader!"
"May he increase and flourish!" answered all, in a chorus.
Then they brought together the captured banners, and thrust them intothe embankment at the feet of the leaders. The enemy had not taken oneof theirs. There were Prussian, Prussian of the general militia,nobles', Swedish, and Boguslav flags; the whole rainbow of them waswaving at the embankment.
"One of the greatest victories of this war!" cried the hetman. "Israeland Waldeck are in captivity, the colonels have fallen or are incaptivity, the army is cut to pieces." Here he turned to Kmita: "PanBabinich, you were on that side, you must have met Boguslav; what hashappened to him?"
Here Pan Michael looked diligently into Kmita's eyes, but Kmita saidquickly,--
"God has punished Boguslav with this hand." Then he stretched forth hisright hand; but at that moment the little knight threw himself into hisarms.
"Yendrek," cried he, "I am not envious! May God bless you!"
"You formed my hand!" answered Pan Andrei, with effusion.
But a further expression of brotherly feeling was stopped by PanMichael Radzivill.
"Is my cousin killed?" asked he, quickly.
"Not killed," answered Kmita, "for I granted him life; but he iswounded and captive, and over there my Nogais are bringing him."
At these words astonishment was depicted on Volodyovski's face, and theeyes of the knight were turned to the plain, on which appeared a partyof some tens of Tartars approaching slowly; at last, when they hadpassed a group of broken wagons, they came within some tens of yards ofthe intrenchment.
The hetman and the officers saw that the Tartar riding in advance wasleading a prisoner; all recognized Boguslav, but in what a change offortune!
He, one of the most powerful lords in the Commonwealth; he, who evenyesterday was dreaming of independent rule; he, a prince of the GermanEmpire,--was walking now with a lariat around his neck, at the side ofa Tartar horse, without a hat, with bloody head bound in a filthy rag!But such was the venom in the hearts of the knights against thismagnate that his terrible humiliation did not excite the pity of any,and nearly all mouths shouted at the same moment,--
"Death to the traitor! Bear him apart on sabres
! Death, death!"
Prince Michael covered his eyes with his hand, for still that was aRadzivill led with such humiliation. Suddenly he grew red andshouted,--
"Gracious gentlemen! that is my cousin, that is my blood, and I havespared neither life nor property for the country. He is my enemy whowill raise a hand against that ill-fated man."
The knights were silent at once.
Prince Michael was universally beloved for his bravery, liberality, anddevotion to the country. Even when all Lithuania fell into the hands ofthe Northerners, he alone defended himself in Nyesvyej, and in the timeof the Swedish wars he contemned the persuasions of Prince Yanush, andwas one of the first to join the confederacy of Tyshovtsi. His voicetherefore found hearing at once. Finally, it may be that no one wishedto oppose so powerful a man; it is enough that the sabres were placedat once in the scabbards, and even some officers, clients of theRadzivills, exclaimed,--
"Take him from the Tartars! Let the Commonwealth judge him, but let nothonorable blood be insulted by Pagans."
"Take him from the Tartars!" repeated the prince; "we will find surety,and he will pay the ransom himself. Pan Voynillovich, move your men andlet them take him by force, if it is impossible otherwise."
"I offer myself as a surety to the Tartars," said Pan Gnoinski.
Then Volodyovski pushed up to Kmita and said: "Yendrek, what have youdone? He will go safely out of this trouble!"
Kmita sprang forward like a wounded wild-cat.
"With the permission of your highness," cried he. "This is my prisoner!I granted him life, but under conditions to which he swore by hisheretical gospel; and may I fall dead here if he will go out of thehands into which I gave him before he fulfils everything!"
When he had said this, he struck his horse, blocked the road, and hisinborn impulsiveness had almost carried him away; for his face began towrithe, he distended his nostrils, and his eyes began to castlightning.
Meanwhile Voynillovich pressed him with his horse. "Aside, PanBabinich!" cried he.
"Aside, Pan Voynillovich!" roared Kmita, and struck with the hilt ofhis sabre Voynillovich's horse with such force that the steed totteredon his legs as if struck by a ball and dug the ground with hisnostrils. Then there rose a fierce shout among the knights, so thatGosyevski pushed forward and cried,--
"Silence, gentlemen! Gracious prince, in virtue of my authority ashetman, I declare that Pan Babinich has a right to the prisoner, andthat whoso wishes to free him from Tartar hands must give guarantee tohis conqueror."
Prince Michael mastered his indignation, calmed himself, and said,directing his speech to Pan Andrei,--
"Say what you wish."
"That he observe the conditions with me before he leaves captivity."
"But he will keep them when he is free."
"Impossible! I do not believe him."
"Then I swear for him, by the Most Holy Mother, whom I recognize, andon the word of a knight, that all will be observed to you. In theopposite case you may make demand on my honor and property."
"That is sufficient for me!" said Kmita. "Let Pan Gnoinski go ashostage, for otherwise the Tartars will make resistance. I will giveway on your word."
"I thank you, Cavalier!" answered Prince Michael. "Do not fear, either,that he will receive his freedom at once, for I will give him to thehetman by right, and he will remain a prisoner until the kingpronounces sentence."
"That will be so!" answered the hetman; and ordering Voynillovich tosit on a fresh horse, for that one was hardly able to stand, he senthim with Pan Gnoinski for the prince.
But the affair did not pass easily yet; for Hassan Bey made a terribleresistance, and only the sight of Pan Gnoinski and the promise of aransom of a hundred thousand thalers could pacify him.
In the evening Prince Boguslav found himself in the tents of Gosyevski.He was cared for with attention; two physicians did not leave him for amoment, and both guaranteed his life, for the wound, since it had beengiven with the very end of the sabre, was not too serious.
Volodyovski could not forgive Kmita for having granted the prince hislife, and from sorrow avoided him all day. It was only in the eveningthat Pan Andrei himself went to Pan Michael's tent.
"Fear the wounds of God!" cried the little knight, at sight of him; "Ishould have expected this of any other than of you, to let that traitorgo alive!"
"Listen to me, Michael, before you condemn me," said Kmita, gloomily."I had him under my foot and held my sabre point at his throat, andthen do you know what the traitor said? That there were commands givento kill Olenka in Taurogi if he should be slain. What had I,unfortunate man, to do? I purchased her life with his life. What had Ito do? By the cross of Christ, what had I to do?"
Here Pan Andrei began to pull his hair, to stamp, from bewilderment;and Volodyovski thought for awhile, then said,--
"I understand your despair; but still--you see, you have let go atraitor who may bring grievous suffering to the country. There is nodenying, Yendrek, that you have rendered wonderful service to-day; butat last you sacrificed the public good to your own private ends."
"And what would you have done if you were told that there was a knifeat the throat of Panna Anusia?"
Pan Michael's mustaches quivered fiercely. "I do not offer myself as anexample. H'm! what would I have done? But Pan Yan, who has a Romansoul, would not have let him live; and besides, I am certain that Godwould not have let innocent blood flow for the reason he mentioned."
"Let me do penance. Punish me, O God, not according to my heavy sin,but according to Thy mercy; for to sign a sentence against that dove--"Here Kmita closed his eyes. "Angels forefend! Never, never!"
"It is passed," said Volodyovski.
Here Pan Andrei took a paper out of his bosom. "See, Michael, what Iobtained. This is a command to Sakovich, to all the officers ofRadzivill, and to the Swedish commandants. We forced him to write it,though he could barely move his hand. Prince Michael himself saw tothat. This is freedom for her, safety for her. I will lie in the formof a cross every day for a year, I will have myself scourged, I willbuild a church, but I will not sacrifice her life. I have not a Romansoul. Well, I am not a Cato like Pan Yan, true! But I will notsacrifice her; no, by a hundred thunders, I will not, even if at last Iam roasted in hell on a spit--"
Kmita did not finish, for Pan Michael sprang up to him and stopped hismouth with his hand, crying in a terrified voice,--
"Do not blaspheme, for you will draw the vengeance of God on her. Beatyour breast, quickly, quickly!"
And Pan Andrei began to beat his breast: "Mea culpa! mea culpa! meamaxima culpa!" At last the poor soldier burst into loud weeping, for hedid not know himself what to do.
Pan Michael let him have his cry out; then he pacified him, andasked,--
"And what will you undertake now?"
"I will go with my men whither I am sent, as far as Birji. Only let themen and horses draw breath first. On the road I will shed as muchheretical blood as I can, to the glory of God."
"And you will have your merit. Do not lose heart, Yendrek. God ismerciful!"
"I will go directly ahead. All Prussia is open at present; only hereand there shall I light upon small garrisons."
Pan Michael sighed: "Oh, I would go with you as gladly as to paradise.But I must keep my command. You are fortunate to lead volunteers.Yendrek, listen, brother! and when you find both, take care of thatone, so that no evil befall her. God knows, she may be predestined tome."
When he had said this, the little knight cast himself into the arms ofPan Andrei.
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