The Deluge. Vol. 2

"How was it? Tell, by the living God, for I cannot stay in my skin!"

"Breath fails me yet," said Kharlamp; "I have ridden day and night, I am terribly tired. Charnyetski will come, then I will tell all from the beginning. Let me now draw breath a little."

"Then Karl has gone out of the sack. I foresaw that, did I not? Do you not remember that I prophesied it? Let Kovalski testify."

"Uncle foretold it," said Roh.

"And whither has Karl gone?" asked Pan Michael.

"The infantry sailed down in boats; but he, with cavalry, has gone along the Vistula to Warsaw."

"Was there a battle?"

"There was and there was not. In brief, give me peace, for I cannot talk."

"But tell me one thing. Is Sapyeha crushed altogether?"

"How crushed! He is pursuing the king; but of course Sapyeha will never come up with anybody."

"He is as good at pursuit as a German at fasting," said Zagloba.

"Praise be to God for even this, that the army is intact!" put in Volodyovski.

"The Lithuanians have got into trouble!" said Zagloba. "Ah, it is a bad case! Again we must watch a hole in the Commonwealth together."

"Say nothing against the Lithuanian army," said Kharlamp. "Karl Gustav is a great warrior, and it is no wonder to lose against him. And did not you, from Poland, lose at Uistsie, at Volbor, at Suleyov, and in ten other places? Charnyetski himself lost at Golembo. Why should not Sapyeha lose, especially when you left him alone like an orphan?"

"But why did we go to a dance at Varka?" asked Zagloba, with indignation.

"I know that it was not a dance, but a battle, and God gave you the victory. But who knows, perhaps it had been better not to go; for among us they say that the troops of both nations (Lithuanian and Poland) may be beaten separately, but together the cavalry of hell itself could not manage them."

"That may be," said Volodyovski; "but what the leaders have decided is not for us to discuss. This did not happen, either, without your fault."

"Sapyo must have blundered; I know him!" said Zagloba.

"I cannot deny that," muttered Kharlamp.

They were silent awhile, but from time to time looked at one another gloomily, for to them it seemed that the fortune of the Commonwealth was beginning to sink, and yet such a short time before they were full of hope and confidence.

"Charnyetski is coming!" said Volodyovski; and he went out of the room.

The castellan was really returning; Volodyovski went to meet him, and began to call from a distance, —

"The King of Sweden has broken through the Lithuanian army, and escaped from the sack. There is an officer here with letters from the voevoda of Vilna."

"Bring him here!" cried Charnyetski. "Where is he?

"With me; I will present him at once."

Charnyetski took the news so much to heart that he would not wait, but sprang at once from his saddle and entered Volodyovski's quarters.

All rose when they saw him enter; he barely nodded and said, —

"I ask for the letter!"

Kharlamp gave him a sealed letter. The castellan went to the window, for it was dark in the cottage, and began to read with frowning brow and anxious face. From instant to instant anger gleamed on his countenance.

"The castellan has changed," whispered Zagloba to Pan Yan; "see how his beak has grown red. He will begin to lisp right away, he always does when in anger."

Charnyetski finished the letter. For a time he twisted his beard with his whole hand; at last he called out with a jingling, indistinct voice, —

"Come this way, officer!"

"At command of your worthiness!"

"Tell me the truth," said Charnyetski, with emphasis, "for this narrative is so artfully put together that I am unable to get at the affair. But – tell me the truth, do not color it – is the army dispersed?"

"Not dispersed at all, your grace."

"How many days are needed to assemble it?"

Here Zagloba whispered to Pan Yan: "He wants to come at him from the left hand as it were."

But Kharlamp answered without hesitation, —

"Since the army is not dispersed, it does not need to be assembled. It is true that when I was leaving, about five hundred horse of the general militia could not be found, were not among the fallen; but that is a common thing, and the army does not suffer from that; the hetman has even moved after the king in good order."

"You have lost no cannon?"

"Yes, we lost four, which the Swedes, not being able to take with them, spiked."

"I see that you tell the truth; tell me then how everything happened."

"Incipiam (I will begin)," said Kharlamp. "When we were left alone, the enemy saw that there was no army on the Vistula, nothing but parties and irregular detachments. We thought – or, properly speaking, Pan Sapyeha thought – that the king would attack those, and he sent reinforcements, but not considerable, so as not to weaken himself. Meanwhile there was a movement and a noise among the Swedes, as in a beehive. Toward evening they began to come out in crowds to the San. We were at the voevoda's quarters. Pan Kmita, who is called Babinich now, a soldier of the first degree, came up and reported this. But Pan Sapyeha was just sitting down to a feast, to which a multitude of noble women from Krasnik and Yanov had assembled – for the voevoda is fond of the fair sex – "

"And he loves feasting!" interrupted Charnyetski.

"I am not with him; there is no one to incline him to temperance," put in Zagloba.

"Maybe you will be with him sooner than you think; then you can both begin to be temperate," retorted Charnyetski. Then he turned to Kharlamp: "Speak on!"

"Babinich reported, and the voevoda answered: 'They are only pretending to attack; they will undertake nothing! First,' said he, 'they will try to cross the Vistula; but I have an eye on them, and I will attack myself. At present,' said he, 'we will not spoil our pleasure, so that we may have a joyous time! We will eat and drink.' The music began to tear away, and the voevoda invited those present to the dance."

"I'll give him dancing!" interrupted Zagloba.

"Silence, if you please!" said Charnyetski.

"Again men rush in from the bank saying that there is a terrible uproar. 'That's nothing!' the voevoda whispered to the page; 'do not interrupt me!' We danced till daylight, we slept till midday. At midday we see that the intrenchments are bristling, forty-eight pound guns on them; and the Swedes fire from time to time. When a ball falls it is the size of a bucket; it is nothing for such a one to fill the eyes with dust."