Ogniem i mieczem. English

  CHAPTER XXXIV.

  Ok a certain calm night a band of horsemen, about twenty in number,moved along the right bank of the Valadinka in the direction of theDniester. They went very slowly, the horses almost dragging one footafter the other. A short distance in front of the others rode two, asit were an advance guard; but evidently there was no cause for guardingor being on the watch, since for a whole hour they had been talkingtogether instead of looking at the country about them. Reining in theirhorses every little while, they looked at the party behind, and one ofthem called out at this moment: "Slowly there! slowly!" And the otherswent still more slowly, scarcely moving.

  At last the party, pushing out from behind the eminence which hadcovered them with its shadow, entered the open country, which wasfilled with moonlight, and then it was possible to understand thereason of their careful gait. In the centre of the caravan two horsesabreast carried a swing tied to their saddles, and in this swing laythe form of some person. The silver rays lighted its pale face andclosed eyes.

  Behind the swing rode ten armed men. From their lances withoutbannerets, it was evident that they were Cossacks. Some ledpack-horses, others rode by themselves; but while the two riders infront seemed to pay not the least attention to the country about them,those behind glanced around on every side with unquiet and alarm. Andstill the region seemed to be a perfect desert.

  Silence was unbroken save by the noise of the horses' hoofs and thecalling of one of the riders in front, who from time to time repeatedhis warning: "Slowly! carefully!"

  At length he turned to his companion. "Horpyna, is it far yet?" heinquired.

  The companion called Horpyna, who in reality was a gigantic young womandisguised as a Cossack, looked at the starry heavens and replied,--

  "Not far. We shall be there before midnight. We shall pass the Enemy'sMound, the Tartar Valley, and right there is the Devil's Glen. Oh, itwould be terrible to pass that place between midnight and cockcrow!It's possible for me, but for you it would be terrible, terrible!"

  The first rider shrugged his shoulders and said: "I know the devil is abrother to you, but there are weapons against the devil."

  "Devil or not, there are no weapons," answered Horpyna. "If you, myfalcon, had looked for a hiding-place through the whole world for yourprincess, you could not have found a better. No one will pass hereafter midnight unless with me, and in the glen no living man has yetput foot. If any one wants soothsaying, he waits in front of the glentill I come out. Never fear! Neither Pole nor Tartar will get there,nor any one, any one. The Devil's Glen is terrible, you will see foryourself."

  "Let it be terrible, but I say that I shall come as often as I like."

  "If you come in the daytime."

  "Whenever I please. And if the devil stands in my road, I'll seize himby the horns."

  "Oh, Bogun, Bogun!"

  "Oh, Dontsovna, Dontsovna, don't trouble yourself about me! Whetherthe devil takes me or not is no concern of yours; but I tell youthis,--take council with your devils when you please, if only no harmcomes to the princess; but if anything happens to her, then neitherdevils nor vampires will tear you from my grasp."

  "Oh, they tried to drown me once when I lived with my brother on theDon, another time the executioner was going to cut my head off inYampol,--I didn't care for that. But this is another thing. I willguard her out of friendship for you, so that no spirit will make a hairof her head fall, and in my hands she is safe from men. She won'tescape you."

  "And, you owl, if you talk this way, why do you prophesy evil? Why doyou hoot in my ear, 'Pole at her side! Pole at her side!'"

  "It was not I that spoke, but the spirits. But now perhaps there is achange. I will prophesy for you to-morrow on the water of themill-wheel. On the water everything is clearly visible, but it isnecessary to look a long time, you will see yourself. But you are afurious dog; if the truth is told, you are angry and wish to kill one."

  Conversation was interrupted, and only the striking of the horses' feetagainst the stones was heard, and certain sounds from the direction ofthe river, like the chirping of crickets.

  Bogun paid not the least attention to these sounds, though they mightastonish one in the night. He raised his face to the moon and fell intodeep thought.

  "Horpyna!" said he, after a while.

  "What?"

  "You are a witch; you must know whether or not it is true thatthere is an herb of some kind that whoever drinks of it must fall inlove,--lubystka, is it?"

  "Yes, lubystka. But unfortunately for you, lubystka will not help. Ifthe princess hadn't fallen in love with some one else, then you mightgive it to her; but if she is in love, do you know what will happen?"

  "What?"

  "She will love the other man still more."

  "Oh, perish with your lubystka! You know how to prophesy evil, but youdon't know how to help."

  "Listen to me! I know other herbs which grow from the earth; whoeverdrinks them will be like a stump two days and two nights, knowingnothing of the world. I will give her those herbs, and then--"

  The Cossack shuddered in his saddle, and fixed on the witch his eyesgleaming in the darkness. "What are you croaking about?" he asked.

  "Then you can--" said the witch, and burst into loud laughter like theneighing of a mare. This laughter resounded with ill-omened echothrough the windings of the glen.

  "Wretch!" said Bogun.

  Then the light of his eyes went out gradually; he dropped again intomeditation, and at length began to speak as if to himself,--

  "No, no! When we captured Bar, I rushed first to the monastery, so asto defend her from the drunken crowd and smash the head of any manwho should come near her; but she stabbed herself with a knife, andnow has no consciousness of God's world. If I lay a finger on her, shewill stab herself again, or jump into the river if you are notcareful,--ill-fated that I am!"

  "You are at heart a Pole, not a Cossack, if you will not constrain thegirl in Cossack fashion--"

  "That I were a Pole, that I were a Pole!" cried Bogun, grasping the capon his head with both hands, for pain had seized him.

  "The Polish woman must have bewitched you," muttered Horpyna.

  "Ai! if she has not," answered he, sadly, "may the first bullet notpass me; may I finish my wretched life on the empaling stake! I loveone in the world, and that one does not love me!"

  "Fool!" cried Horpyna, with anger; "but you have got her!"

  "Hold your tongue!" cried he, with rage. "If she lays hands on herself,then what? I'll tear you apart and then myself. I'll break my headagainst a rock, I'll gnaw people like a dog. I would have given my soulfor her, Cossack fame. I would have fled beyond the Yagorlik from theregiments to the end of the earth, to live with her, to die at herside. That's what I would have done. But she stabbed herself with aknife, and through whom? Through me! She stabbed herself with a knife!Do you hear?"

  "That's nothing. She will not die."

  "If she dies, I will nail you to the door."

  "You have no power over her."

  "I have none, I have none. Would she had stabbed me,--it would havebeen better had she killed me!"

  "Silly little Pole! She should have been kind to you. Where will shefind your superior?"

  "Arrange this, and I will give you a pot of ducats and another ofpearls. In Bar we took booty not a little, and before that we tookbooty too."

  "You are as rich as Prince Yeremi, and full of fame. They say Krivonoshimself is afraid of you."

  The Cossack waved his hand. "What is that to me if my heart is sore--"

  And silence came again. The bank of the river grew wider and moredesolate. The pale light of the moon lent fantastic forms to the treesand the rocks. At last Horpyna said,--

  "This is the Enemy's Mound. We must ride together."

  "Why?"

  "It is a bad place."

  They reined in their horses, and after a while the party coming onbehind joined them. Bogun rose in the stirrups and looked i
nto thecradle.

  "Is she asleep?" he asked.

  "She is sleeping as sweetly as an infant," answered an old Cossack.

  "I gave her a sleeping dose," said the witch.

  "Slowly, carefully!" said Bogun, fixing his eyes on the sleeper; "don'twake her! The moon is looking straight into her face, my dear one!"

  "It shines quietly, it will not wake her," whispered one of theCossacks.

  The party moved on. Soon they arrived at the Enemy's Mound. It was alow hill lying close to the river and sloping like a round shield onthe earth. The moon covered the place entirely with its beams, lightingup the white stones scattered over the whole extent of it. In somespots they lay singly; in others they formed heaps, as it werefragments of buildings, ruined castles, and churches. Here and therestone slabs stuck up, planted endwise in the earth like gravestones ina cemetery. The whole mound was like a great ruin, and perhaps in otherages, long before the days of the Yagellons, human life flourished uponit; now not only the mound but the whole neighborhood as far asRashkoff was an empty waste, in which wild beasts alone found refuge,and in the night evil spirits held their dances.

  The party had scarcely reached half the height of the mound, when thelight breeze which had been blowing hitherto changed into a regularwhirlwind, which began to encircle the mound with a certain gloomy,ominous whistling; and then it appeared to the Cossacks that amongthose ruins were heard heavy sighs, issuing as it were from straitenedbreasts, sad groans, laughter, wailing, and puling of infants. Thewhole mound began to be alive, to call with various voices. From behindthe stones lofty dark figures seemed to look, shadows of strange formsglided along quietly among the slabs. Far off in the darkness gleamedlights like the eyes of wolves. Finally, from the other end of themound, from among the thickest heaps and piles, was heard a lowguttural howling, to which other howling responded at once.

  "Vampires!" whispered a young Cossack, turning to the old essaul.

  "No, werewolves," answered the old essaul, in a still lower voice.

  "O Lord, have mercy on us!" said others in terror, removing their capsand crossing themselves devoutly.

  The horses began to point their ears forward and snort. Horpyna, ridingat the head of the party, muttered unintelligible words, as it were asort of Satanic Pater-noster. When they had arrived at the other end ofthe mound, she turned and said,--

  "Well, it is over. We are safe now. I had to keep them back with acharm, for they were very hungry."

  A sigh of relief came from every breast. Bogun and Horpyna rode aheadagain; but the Cossacks, who a little while before had held theirbreaths, began to whisper and talk. Each one remembered what hadhappened to him when he met ghosts or werewolves.

  "We couldn't have passed without Horpyna," said one.

  "She is a powerful witch."

  "And our ataman does not fear even the werewolf. He didn't look, didn'tlisten, only turned toward his princess."

  "If what happened to me happened to him, he wouldn't have been so freefrom danger," said the old essaul.

  "And what happened to you, Father Ovsivuyu?"

  "Once, while riding from Reimentarovka to Gulaipolye, I passed nearsome mounds at night, and I saw something jump from a grave behind meon the saddle. I looked; it was a little child, blue and pale!Evidently the Tartars had taken it captive with its mother and it haddied without baptism. Its eyes were burning like candles, and it wailedand wailed. It jumped from the saddle to my neck, and I felt it bitingme behind the ear. O Lord, save us! it is a vampire! I had served longin Wallachia, where there are more vampires than people, but wherethere are weapons against them. I sprang from the horse and thrust mydagger into the ground. 'A vaunt! disappear!' and it groaned, seizedthe hilt of the dagger, and slipped down along the edge under thegrass. I cut the ground in the form of a cross and rode off."

  "Are there so many vampires in Wallachia, father?"

  "Every other Wallachian after death becomes a vampire, and theWallachian vampires are the worst of all. They call them brukolaki."

  "And who is stronger, father,--the werewolf or the vampire?"

  "The werewolf is stronger, but the vampire is more stubborn. If you areable to get the upper hand of the werewolf, he will serve you, butvampires are good for nothing except to follow blood. The werewolf isalways ataman over the vampires."

  "And Horpyna commands the werewolves?"

  "Yes, surely. As long as she lives she will command them. If she hadnot power over them, then the ataman would not give her his cuckoo, forwerewolves thirst for maiden's blood above all."

  "But I have heard that they have no approach to an innocent soul."

  "To a soul they have not, but to a body they have."

  "Oh, it would be a pity! She is a beauty. Blood and milk! our fatherknew what to take in Bar."

  Ovsivuyu smacked his tongue. "There is no denying it; she is a goldenPole."

  "But I am sorry for her," said a young Cossack. "When we were puttingher in the swing she clasped her white hands and begged, saying, 'Killme; do not ruin me, unfortunate one!'"

  "No harm will come to her."

  Further conversation was interrupted by the approach of Horpyna.

  "Hei! young men," said the witch, "this is Tartar Valley, but don'tfear; it is terrible here only one night in the year. Right after it isthe Devil's Glen, and then my place."

  In fact, the howling of dogs was soon heard. The party entered themouth of the glen, running at right angles to the river, and so narrowthat four horses could hardly enter it abreast. At the bottom of thischasm flowed a rivulet, changing color in the light of the moon like asnake, and running quickly to the river. But as the party pushed on,the precipitous and jagged walls receded from each other, leaving arather roomy, slightly ascending valley, enclosed at each side withcliffs. The place was covered here and there with lofty trees. No windwas blowing. Long, dark shadows of the trees lay on the ground, and inthe spaces flooded with the light of the moon certain white, round, orprolonged objects gleamed sharply, in which the Cossacks recognizedwith terror the skulls and leg-bones of men. They looked aroundtherefore with distrust, marking their foreheads from time to time withthe cross. Soon a light glimmered in the distance between the trees,and at that same time two terrible dogs ran up, enormous, black, withgleaming eyes, barking and howling at the sight of the men and horses.At the voice of Horpyna they stopped, however, and began to run aroundthe riders, sneezing and panting.

  "They are not what they seem," whispered the Cossacks.

  "They are not dogs," said old Ovsivuyu, in a voice betraying deepconviction.

  Just then a cottage became visible behind the trees; back of it astable; farther and higher up another dark building. The cottageappeared strong and well-built, and in its windows a light was shining.

  "This is my dwelling," said Horpyna to Bogun, "and up there is the millwhich grinds grain for us; and I tell fortunes from the water on thewheel. I will tell yours. Your princess will live in the best chamber;but if you wish to ornament the walls, we can remove her to the otherside immediately. Stop and dismount!"

  The party halted, and Horpyna began to cry: "Cheremis, I say!Cheremis!"

  A figure holding a bunch of burning pitch-pine came out in front of thecottage, and raising the torch, began to look in silence at thosepresent. It was an old man, an ugly creature, small, quite a dwarf,with a flat, square face, and slanting eyes, like cracks.

  "What sort of devil are you?" asked Bogun.

  "Don't ask him," said the giantess; "his tongue is cut out. Come nearerand listen!" continued the witch; "it is better, perhaps, to carry theprincess to the mill. The Cossacks will fit up her chamber, and drivenails that would wake her up."

  The Cossacks, having dismounted, began to untie the swing carefully.Bogun watched over everything with the greatest care, and carried thehead of the swing himself when it was taken to the mill. The dwarflighted the way in advance with the torch. The princess, put to sleepby Horpyna with a decoction of somniferous herbs,
did not wake; hereyelids merely trembled a little from the light of the torch. Her faceappeared alive from those red gleams. Perhaps, also, wonderful dreamssoothed the girl, for she smiled sweetly during the journey, which waslike a funeral. Bogun looked at her, and it appeared to him that hisheart would break the ribs in his breast. "My darling, my cuckoo!"whispered he quietly; and the terrible though beautiful face of thechief became mild, and flamed with the great light of love, which hadseized him, and was seizing him every moment the more, as fire,forgotten by the traveller, seizes the wild steppe.

  Horpyna, walking at his side, said: "When she wakes from this sleep shewill be well. Her wound will heal, and she will be well."

  "Glory be to God! glory be to God!" answered the chief.

  The Cossacks began to loosen from six horses great packs in front ofthe cottage, and to take out the booty,--rich stuffs, carpets, andother valuables taken at Bar. A good fire was kindled in the room; andwhen some brought in new tapestry, others put it up to the wooden wallsof the room. Bogun not only thought of a safe cage for his bird, but hedetermined so to furnish it that captivity should not seem unendurable.He came soon from the mill and directed the work himself. The night waspassing away, and the moon had already removed its pale light from thesummits of the cliffs. In the cottage were still heard the muffledblows of hammers. The simple room had become more like a chamber, whenthe walls were covered with drapery and the floor carpeted. Thesleeping princess was brought back and placed on soft cushions.

  Then all grew silent, except that in the stable for some time yetbursts of laughter were heard in the stillness like the neighing of ahorse: the young witch was wrestling with the Cossacks, giving themfisticuffs and kisses.