CHAPTER LIII.
Old Zakhar went back to Kieff after a few days' rest, and then cametidings that the commissioners had no great hopes of peace, or in factalmost despaired of it. They were able to obtain merely an armisticetill the Russian Whitsuntide, in accordance with which a new commissionwas to begin, with plenary powers. But the demands and conditions putforth by Hmelnitski were so exorbitant that no one believed that theCommonwealth could agree to them. Vigorous arming was commencedtherefore on both sides. Hmelnitski sent envoy after envoy to the Khanto hasten at the head of all his forces; he sent also to Stamboul,where Pan Bechinski, on behalf of the king, had resided for aconsiderable time. In the Commonwealth writs for the national militiawere expected every moment. News came of the appointment of freshleaders,--the cup-bearer, Ostrorog, Lantskoronski, and Firlei,--and thecomplete removal from military affairs of Yeremi Vishnyevetski, who wasable to shield the country only at the head of his own forces. Notmerely the soldiers of the prince, not merely the nobles of Russia, butalso the partisans of the former commanders were indignant at such aselection and such disfavor, declaring justly that if there had beenpolitical reasons for sacrificing Yeremi while there was hope ofconcluding a treaty, his removal in presence of war was a great, anunpardonable blunder; for he alone was able to meet Hmelnitski, andconquer that famous leader of rebellion. Finally the prince himselfcame to Zbaraj for the purpose of assembling as many forces aspossible, to stand in readiness on the borderland of the conflict.
An armistice had been concluded, but at every moment it proved of noavail. Hmelnitski ordered, it is true, the execution of some colonelsstationed here and there in camps, who in spite of the armistice hadpermitted themselves to attack castles, and squadrons encamped invarious places; but he was unable to restrain the masses of the people,and the numerous independent bands, who either had not heard of thearmistice, or who knew not even the meaning of the word. They attackedtherefore continually the boundaries secured by the agreement, thusbreaking every engagement made by the hetman. On the other hand, thetroops of private persons and of the king in pursuing robbersfrequently passed the Pripet and the Goryn in the province of Kieff,continued into the depth of the province of Bratslav, and there,attacked by the Cossacks, fought regular battles, not infrequentlybloody and stubborn. Hence continual complaints from the Cossacks andPoles of the violation of the armistice, which it was indeed beyond thepower of man to observe. The armistice existed therefore so far asHmelnitski on one side, and the king and hetmans on the other, had notmoved into the field; but the war was raging, in fact, before the mainforces had rushed to the combat, and the first warm rays of springshone again upon burning villages, towns, cities, and castles, givinglight to slaughter and human misfortune.
Parties from the neighborhood of Bar, Hmelnik, and Makhnovka appearedaround Zbaraj, slaying, robbing, burning. Yeremi dispersed these withthe hands of his colonels; but he took no part in this small warfarehimself, as he intended to move with his whole division when thehetmans should be already in the field.
He sent out therefore detachments with orders to pay for blood withblood, for robbery and murder with the stake. Podbipienta went withothers and gained a victory at Cherni Ostroff; but he was a knightterrible only in battle,--to prisoners taken with arms in their handshe was too indulgent; therefore he was not sent a second time. But inexpeditions of this kind Volodyovski distinguished himself; as apartisan he had no rival save Vershul alone, for no one accomplishedsuch lightning marches. No one knew how to approach the enemy sounexpectedly, break them up with such wild onset, scatter to the fourwinds, and exterminate by hunting down, hanging, and slaughtering; soonhe was invested with terror and the favor of the prince. From the endof March to the middle of April Volodyovski dispersed seven independentparties, each one of which was three times stronger than his own; andhe did not grow weary in his work, but showed a continually increasingeagerness, as if gaining it from the blood he was shedding.
The little knight, or rather the little devil, teased Zagloba toaccompany him in these expeditions, for he loved his company above allthings; but the worthy noble opposed every suggestion, and thusexplained his inactivity:--
"My stomach is too big, Pan Michael, for these struggles andencounters; and besides, each man has his special power. To strike withhussars in the thick of the enemy in the open day, break through acamp, capture standards,--that's my forte, the Lord God created andfitted me for that; but to hunt a rabble in the night through thebrush,--I leave that to you, who are as slender as a needle, and caneasily push through everywhere. I am a knight of ancient date, and Iprefer to tear through as the lion does, rather than creep along like abloodhound on trails. Besides, after the evening milking I must to bed,for that is my best time."
Volodyovski therefore went alone, and alone conquered, till a certaintime when, going out toward the end of April, he returned in the middleof May, as woe-begone and gloomy as if he had met a defeat and wastedhis men. Thus it appeared to all; but in that long and difficultexpedition Volodyovski had gone beyond Ostrog to the neighborhood ofGolovna, and had defeated there, not a common band made up of therabble, but several hundred Zaporojians, half of whom he killed and theother half captured. The more astonishing, therefore, was the profoundgloom which as a fog covered his face, joyous by nature. But PanVolodyovski said not a word to any man; scarcely had he dismounted whenhe went for a long conversation with the prince, taking two unknownknights, and then, in company with them, went to Zagloba withoutstopping, though those eager for news seized him by the sleeve alongthe way.
Zagloba looked with a certain astonishment on the two giganticmen, whom he had never seen before, and whose uniform, with giltshoulder-knots, showed that they served in the Lithuanian army.Volodyovski said,--
"Shut the door, and give orders to admit no one, for we have to speakon affairs of importance."
Zagloba gave the order to the servant; then he began to look unquietlyon the strangers, noting from their faces that they had nothing good totell.
"These are," said Volodyovski, pointing to the young man, "the PrincesBulygi Kurtsevichi, Yuri and Andrei."
"The cousins of Helena!" cried Zagloba.
The princes bowed and said both at once: "Cousins of the deceasedHelena."
The ruddy face of Zagloba became pale blue in a moment. He began tobeat the air with his hands as if he had been struck with a bullet. Heopened his lips, unable to catch breath, rolled his eyes, and said orrather groaned: "How?"
"There is news," answered Volodyovski, gloomily, "that the princess wasmurdered in the monastery of Nikolai the Good."
"The mob suffocated with smoke in a cell twelve young ladies and somenuns, among whom was our cousin," added Prince Yuri.
This time Zagloba's countenance, formerly blue, became so red thatthose present were afraid of apoplexy. Slowly his lids dropped over hiseyes; he covered them with his hands, and from his mouth came a freshgroan: "Oh, world! world! world!" Then he was silent.
But the princes and Volodyovski began to complain.
"Oh, good lady, we your friends and relatives gathered together,--wewho wished to go to save you," said the young knight, sighing timeafter time; "but it is evident that we were late with our aid. Ourwillingness was in vain, in vain our sabres and our courage; for youare in another and better than this bad world, waiting upon the Queenof Heaven."
"Oh, cousin," cried the gigantic Yuri, who in grief seized his hairanew, "forgive us our faults, and for every drop of your blood we willpour out three gallons."
"So help us God!" responded Andrei.
The two men stretched their hands to heaven. Zagloba rose from hisseat, advanced a few steps toward the bed, tottered like one drunk, andfell on his knees before the image.
After a moment the bells in the castle sounded for midday,--sounded asgloomily as if they were death-bells.
"She is no more!" said Volodyovski again. "The angels have taken her toheaven, leaving us tears and sighs."
At last Zagloba calmed himself; they had thought indeed that perhapswearied by pain he had fallen asleep on his knees. After a time,however, he rose, stood up, sat on the bed; but he had become as itwere another man. His eyes were red, bloodshot; his head drooping; hislower lip hung upon his beard; imbecility had settled on his face, anda certain unexampled decrepitude, so that it might in truth appear thatthe former Zagloba, lively, jovial, full of fancy, had died, and thereremained only an old man weighted and wearied with years.
Meanwhile, in spite of the protests of the servant at the door,Podbipienta entered; and again began complaints and regrets. TheLithuanian called to mind Rozlogi, and the first meeting with theprincess,--her sweetness, youth, beauty. At length he remembered thatthere was some one more unhappy than any of them,--her betrothed, PanSkshetuski,--and he began to ask the little knight about him.
"Skshetuski is with Prince Koretski, at Korets, to which place he camefrom Kieff; and he lies there in illness, unconscious of God's world,"said Volodyovski.
"Should not we go to him?" asked the Lithuanian.
"There is no reason to go," replied Volodyovski. "The prince'sphysician answers for his health. Pan Sukhodolski--one of PrinceDominik's colonels, but a great friend of Skshetuski--is there, and ourold Zatsvilikhovski; they both have him in care and watchfulness. Helacks for nothing, and that delirium does not leave him is the betterfor him."
"Oh, God of power!" said the Lithuanian, "have you seen Skshetuski withyour own eyes?"
"I saw him; but if they had not told me that that was he, I should nothave known him, pain and sickness have so devoured him."
"Did he recognize you?"
"He knew me undoubtedly, though he said nothing, for he smiled andnodded his head. Such pity possessed me that I could stay no longer.Prince Koretski wishes to come here with his squadron. Zatsvilikhovskiwill come with him, and Pan Sukhodolski swears that he will come too,even if he has an order to the contrary from Prince Dominik. They willbring Pan Yan unless disease gets the better of him."
"And whence have you tidings of the princess's death?" asked PanLongin. "Have these young men brought it?" added he, pointing to theprinces.
"No. These knights learned all by chance in Korets, where they had comewith messages from the voevoda of Vilna, and came here with me, forthey had letters from the voevoda to our prince. War is certain, andnothing will come of the commission."
"We know that already ourselves, but tell us who informed you of thedeath of the princess?"
"Zatsvilikhovski told me, and he knows it from Skshetuski. Hmelnitskigave Skshetuski permission to search for her in Kieff, and themetropolitan himself had to assist. They searched mainly in themonasteries, for those of our people who remained in Kieff are secretedin them. And they thought surely that Bogun had placed the princess insome monastery. They sought and sought and were of good heart, thoughthey knew that the mob had suffocated twelve young ladies with smoke atNikolai the Good. The metropolitan contended that they would not haveattacked the betrothed of Bogun, but it has turned out otherwise."
"Then she was at the convent of Nikolai the Good?"
"She was. Skshetuski met Pan Yoakhim Yerlich, who was hiding in amonastery; and as he had asked every one about the princess, he askedhim too. Pan Yerlich said that there were certain young ladies whom theCossacks had taken, but at Nikolai the Good twelve remained, whomafterward they suffocated with smoke,--among them Kurtsevichovna.Skshetuski, since Yerlich is a hypochondriac and only half-witted fromcontinual terror, did not believe him, and hurried off immediately asecond time to Nikolai the Good to inquire. Unfortunately the nuns,three of whom were suffocated in the same cell, did not know the names,but hearing the description which Skshetuski gave, they said that shewas the one. Then Skshetuski went away from Kieff and straightway fellill."
"The only wonder is that he is still alive."
"He would have died undoubtedly but for that old Cossack who nursed himduring captivity in the Saitch, and then came here with letters fromhim, and when he had returned, helped him again in his search. He tookhim to Korets and gave him into the hands of Zatsvilikhovski."
"May God protect him, for he has never yet consoled him!" saidPodbipienta.
Volodyovski ceased, and a silence of the grave reigned over all. Theprinces resting upon their elbows sat motionless with frowning brows;Podbipienta raised his eyes to heaven, and Zagloba fixed his glassygaze on the opposite wall as if sunk in the deepest thought.
"Rouse yourself!" said Volodyovski, shaking him by the shoulder. "Ofwhat are you thinking so? You will not think out anything, and all yourstratagems will be useless."
"I know that," answered Zagloba, with a broken voice. "I am thinkingthat I am old, that I have nothing to do in this world."
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