Ogniem i mieczem. English

  CHAPTER XII.

  Hmelnitski and Skshetuski went to spend the night at the house of thekoshevoi, and with them Tugai Bey, for whom it was too late to returnto Bazaluk. The wild bey treated the lieutenant as a captive who was tobe ransomed for a large sum, and therefore not as a slave; and withgreater respect indeed than he would have shown perhaps to Cossacks,for he had seen him formerly as an envoy at the court of the Khan. Inview of this the koshevoi asked Pan Yan to his own house, and alsochanged his bearing toward him. The old koshevoi was a man devoted bodyand soul to Hmelnitski, who had conquered and taken possession of him.He had observed that Hmelnitski seemed anxious to save the life of thecaptive at the time of the council; but he was more astonished when,after having barely entered the room, Hmelnitski turned to Tugai Bey.

  "Tugai Bey," said he, "how much ransom do you think of getting for thiscaptive?"

  Tugai Bey looked at Skshetuski and answered: "You said this was a manof distinction, and I know that he was an envoy of the terrible prince,and the terrible prince is fond of his own men. Bismillah! one pays andthe other pays--together--" here Tugai Bey stopped to think--"twothousand thalers."

  Hmelnitski answered: "I will give you two thousand thalers."

  The Tartar was silent for a moment. His black eyes appeared to pierceHmelnitski through and through. "You will give three," said he.

  "Why should I give three when you asked two yourself?"

  "For if you wish to have him, it is important for you; and if it isimportant, you will give three."

  "He saved my life."

  "Allah! that is worth a thousand more."

  Here Skshetuski interfered in the bargain. "Tugai Bey," said he, withanger, "I can promise you nothing from the prince's treasury; but evenif I had to injure my own fortune, I would give you three. I havealmost that much saved in the prince's hands, and a good village, whichwill be sufficient. And I do not want to thank this hetman for myfreedom and life."

  "And whence dost thou know what I shall do with thee?" askedHmelnitski; and then turning to Tugai Bey, he said: "The war willbegin. You will send to the prince, and before the return of yourmessenger much water will flow down the Dnieper, but I will take youthe money myself to Bazaluk to-morrow."

  "Give four, and I will not say another word to the Pole," answeredTugai, impatiently.

  "I will give four, on your word."

  "Hetman," said the koshevoi, "I will count it out this minute. I haveit here under the wall, maybe more."

  "To-morrow you will take it to Bazaluk," said Hmelnitski.

  Tugai Bey stretched himself and yawned. "I am sleepy," said he."To-morrow before daylight I must start for Bazaluk. Where am I tosleep?"

  The koshevoi showed him a pile of sheepskins against the wall. TheTartar threw himself on this bed, and a little later was snorting likea horse.

  Hmelnitski walked a number of times across the room, and said: "Slumberescapes my eyelids; I cannot sleep. Give me something to drink, mostworthy koshevoi."

  "Gorailka or wine?"

  "Gorailka. I cannot sleep."

  "It is cockcrow already," said the koshevoi.

  "It is late. Go you to sleep, old friend! Drink and go!"

  "Here is to fame and success!"

  "To success!"

  The koshevoi wiped his lips with his sleeve, then gave his hand toHmelnitski, and going to the other corner of the room buried himselfalmost in sheepskins, for his blood had grown cold through age. Soonhis snoring answered the snoring of Tugai Bey.

  Hmelnitski sat at the table, sunk in silence. Suddenly he started up,looked at Skshetuski, and said: "Well, worthy lieutenant, you arefree."

  "I am thankful to you, Zaporojian hetman, though I do not conceal fromyou that I should prefer to thank some one else for my freedom."

  "Then do not thank. You saved my life, I return you good; now we areeven. And I must tell you also that I will not let you go immediatelyunless you give me the word of a knight that when you have returned youwill say nothing of our preparation or power or of anything you haveseen in the Saitch."

  "I see only this, that you offer me useless fruit of freedom to taste.I will not give you such a word; for by giving it, I should actprecisely as those who go over to the enemy."

  "My life and the safety of the Zaporojian army lie in this, that theGrand Hetman should not move on us with all his forces, which he wouldnot be slow to do should you inform him of our power. Be not surprised,then, if I detain you until I find myself out of danger, unless yougive your word. I know what I have undertaken; I know how formidable isthe power opposed to me,--the two hetmans, your terrible prince (who isa whole army himself), the Zaslavskis and Konyetspolskis and all thosekinglets who keep their feet on the Cossack neck! Not small was mylabor, nor few the letters I wrote before I succeeded in putting theirwatchfulness to sleep; now I cannot allow you to rouse it. Since themasses of the people, with the Cossacks of the towns, and all who areoppressed in faith and freedom will take my side, as well as theZaporojian army and the Khan of the Crimea, I expect to manage theenemy, for my power will be considerable; but most of all do I trust inGod, who has beheld the injustice done, and who sees my innocence."

  Here Hmelnitski drank a glass of vudka, and began to walk unquietlyaround the table. Skshetuski measured him with his eyes, and spoke withpower,--

  "Do not blaspheme, Zaporojian hetman, by calling upon God and hisdivine protection; for in truth you will only bring down upon yourselfhis anger and swift punishment. Is it right for you to call the Highestto your defence,--you, who for the sake of your private squabbles andthe injustice done you raise such a terrible storm, kindle the flame ofcivil war, and join yourself with Pagans against Christians? For whatwill happen? Whether victorious or vanquished, you will shed a sea ofhuman blood and tears, you will desolate the land worse than locusts,you will shake the Commonwealth, you will raise your hand againstmajesty, you will desecrate the altars of the Lord; and all thisbecause Chaplinski took some land from you, and threatened you when hewas drunk! What do you not attempt? What do you not devote to yourprivate interests? You call upon God; and though I am in your power,though you can take my life and freedom, I tell you that you are aSatan. Call not God to your assistance, for hell alone can give youaid!"

  Hmelnitski grew purple and reached for his sword. He looked at thelieutenant like a lion about to roar and spring on his victim, but herestrained himself. Fortunately, he was not drunk yet. Perhaps, also,disquiet had seized him, maybe certain voices called from his soul toturn from the road; for suddenly, as if wishing to defend himselfbefore his own thoughts, he said,--

  "From another I should not have endured such speech, but do you have acare that your boldness does not exhaust my patience. You frighten mewith hell, you speak to me of private interests and of treason. Andfrom whence do you know that I have risen to avenge private wrongsalone? Where should I find assistance, where those thousands who have,already taken my side and who are taking it, if I wished merely toredress wrongs of my own? Look around at what is going on in theUkraine. Oh, rich land, motherland, native land! And who in her is sureof to-morrow, who in her is happy, who is not robbed of his faith,spoiled of his freedom; who in her is not weeping and sighing?--saveonly the Vishnyevetskis, the Pototskis, the Zaslavskis, Kalinovskis,Konyetspolskis, and a handful of nobles! For them are crown estates,dignities, land, and people,--for them happiness and golden freedom;and the rest of the nation in tears stretch forth their hands to heavenwaiting for the pity of God, since the pity of the king cannot helpthem. How many, even of the nobility, unable to bear this intolerableoppression, have fled to the Saitch, as I myself have fled? I want nowar with the king, I want no war with the Commonwealth! It is themother, and he is the father. The king is a merciful lord; but thekinglets!--with them it is impossible for us to live; their extortions,their rents, meadow-taxes, mill-taxes, eye and horn taxes, theirtyranny and oppression exercised through the agency of Jews, cry forvengeance. What thanks has the Zapo
rojian army received for greatservices rendered in numerous wars? Where are the Cossack rights? Theking gave them, the kinglets took them away. Nalivaika quartered!Pavlyuk burned in a brazen bull! The blood is not dry on the woundsinflicted by the sabres of Jolkevski and Konyetspolski! The tears havenot dried for those killed and empaled an stakes; and now look! What isgleaming in the sky?"--here Hmelnitski pointed through the window atthe flaming comet,--"The anger of God, the scourge of God! And if Ihave to be the scourge of God on earth, then let the will of God bedone! I will take the burden on my shoulders."

  Having said this, he raised his hand above his head and seemed to flameup like a great torch of vengeance, and began to tremble; and then hedropped on the bench, as if bent down by the weight of his destiny.

  Silence followed, interrupted only by the snoring of Tugai Bey and thekoshevoi, and by the plaintive chirp of the cricket in one corner ofthe cabin.

  The lieutenant sat with drooping head, as if seeking answers to thewords of Hmelnitski, as weighty as blocks of granite; at length hebegan to speak in a quiet and sad voice,--

  "Alas! even if that were true, who art thou, Hetman, to create thyselfjudge and executioner? With what tyranny and pride art thou carriedaway? Why dost thou not leave judgment and punishment to God? I do notdefend the wicked, I do not praise injustice, I do not call oppressionright; but, dost thou believe in thyself, Hetman? Thou complainest ofoppression from the kinglets,--that they listen neither to the king norjustice. Thou condemnest their pride, but art thou free of it thyself?Do you not raise your hand upon the Commonwealth, on right and majesty?You see the tyranny of lordlets and nobility, but you do not see thatwere it not for their breasts, their bosoms, their breastplates, theirpower, their castles, their cannon, and their legions, this land,flowing with milk and honey, would groan under the hundred timesheavier yoke of the Turk and the Tartar! For who would defend it? Bywhose care and power is it that your children are not serving asjanissaries, and your women dragged off to infamous harems? Who settledthe desert, founded villages and towns, and raised up the sanctuary ofGod?"

  Here the voice of Skshetuski grew stronger and stronger; and Hmelnitskilooked with gloomy eyes into the bottle of vudka,[9] put his clinchedfists on the table, and was silent as if struggling with himself.

  "And who are they?" continued Skshetuski. "Have they come from Germanyor from Turkey? Is it not the blood of your blood, and the bone of yourbone? Are not the nobility yours, and the princelets yours? If that istrue, then woe to thee, Hetman; for thou art raising up the youngerbrothers against the elder, and making parricides of them. Oh, in God'sname, even if they were wicked,--even if all of them, as many as thereare, have trampled upon justice, violated rights,--let God judge themin heaven, and the Diet on earth, but not you, O Hetman! Are you ableto say that among yours there are only just men? Have yours never beenguilty, that you have a right to cast a stone at another for his guilt?And if you ask me, Where are the rights of the Cossacks, I answer: Notkinglets betrayed them, but Zaporojians,--Loboda, Sasko, Nalivaika, andPavlyuk, of whom you falsely say that he was roasted in a brazen bull,for you know well that this is not true! Your seditions, yourdisturbances and attacks, made like attacks of Tartars, were put down.Who let the Tartars into the boundaries of the Commonwealth, so thatwhen they were coming back laden with booty, they might be attacked?You! Who--God guard us!--gave their own Christian people intocaptivity? Who raised the greatest disturbances? You! Before whom isneither noble nor merchant nor village safe? Before you! Who hasinflamed domestic war, who has sent up in smoke the villages and townsof the Ukraine, plundered the sanctuaries of God, violated women? You!you! What do you want, then? Do you want that the rights of makingcivil war and of robbing and plundering should be granted you? Intruth, more has been forgiven you than taken away! We wished to cureputrid members instead of cutting them off, and I know no power in theworld but the Commonwealth that would exhibit equal patience andclemency by permitting such an ulcer in its own bosom. But what is yourgratitude in response? There sleeps your ally, but the raging enemy ofthe Commonwealth,--your friend, but the foe of the cross andChristianity,--not a kinglet of the Ukraine, but a murza of the Crimea;and with him you will go to burn your own home, and with him to judgeyour own brother. But he will lord it over you, and you will be forcedto hold his stirrup."

  Hmelnitski emptied another glass of vudka. "When we, with Barabash,were with his Majesty the King, and when we wept over the oppressionand injustice practised on us, he said, 'But have you not muskets, andhave you not sabres at your side?'"

  "If you were standing before the King of kings, he would say, 'Forgiveyour enemies, as I forgive mine.'"

  "I do not wish to war with the Commonwealth."

  "But you put your sword to its throat."

  "I go to free the Cossacks from your fetters."

  "To tie them in Tartar bonds!"

  "I wish to defend the faith."

  "In company with the Pagan."

  "Stop! You are not the voice of my conscience. Stop, I tell you!"

  "Blood will weigh you down, the tears of men will accuse you, deathawaits you, judgment awaits you!"

  "Screech-owl!" shouted Hmelnitski in rage, and flashed a knife beforethe breast of Skshetuski.

  "Strike!" said Skshetuski.

  Again came a moment of silence; again there was nothing to be heard butthe snore of the sleeping men and the plaintive chirp of the cricket.

  Hmelnitski stood for a time with the knife at Skshetuski's breast;suddenly he trembled, he bethought himself, dropped the knife, andseizing the decanter of vudka, began to drink. He emptied it, and satheavily on the bench.

  "I cannot stab him," he muttered,--"I cannot. It is late--is thatdaylight?--but it is late to turn from the road. Why speak to me ofjudgment and blood?"

  He had already drunk much; the vudka was rising to his head. He wenton, gradually losing consciousness: "What judgment? The Khan promisedme reinforcements. Tugai Bey is sleeping here! To-morrow the Cossacksmarch. With us is Saint Michael the victorious! But if--if--I ransomedthee from Tugai Bey--remember it, and say--Oh, something pains--pains!To turn from the road--'tis late!--judgment--Nalivaika--Pavlyuk--"

  Suddenly he straightened himself, strained his eyes in fright, andcried: "Who is there?"

  "Who is there?" repeated the half-roused koshevoi.

  But Hmelnitski dropped his head on his breast, nodded a couple oftimes, muttered, "What judgment?" and fell asleep.

  Skshetuski grew very pale and weak from recent wounds and from theexcitement of talking. He thought therefore that perhaps death wascoming, and began to pray aloud.