With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz (big ebook reader .txt) 📕

“What! Did you scold her?”

“I have killed her, I have killed her!” groaned he; and he wrung his hands over his head.

But Horpyna, approaching the princess, soon discovered that it was not death, but a deep faint, and putting Bogun outside the door, began to assist her. The princess opened her eyes after a time.

“My dear, there is nothing the matter with you,” said the enchantress. “You were frightened at him, I see, and darkness settled on you; but the darkness will pass and health will come. You are like a nut, my girl; you have long to live in the world and enjoy happiness.”

“Who are you?” asked the princess, with a weak voice.

“I? Your servant, for he so ordered it.”

“Where am I?”

“In the Devil’s Glen. A pure wilderness here; you will see no one but him.”

“Do you live here?”

“My farm is here. I am Dontsovna. My brother is a colonel under Bogun; he leads young heroes, and I stay here, and will care for you in this golden chamber. From a cottage it has become a bower, so that light gleams from it. He has brought all this for you.”

Helena looked at the lively face of the young woman, and it seemed to her full of sincerity.

“But will you be good to me?”

The white teeth of the young witch gleamed in a smile. “I shall; why shouldn’t I? But do you be good also to the ataman. He is a falcon, he is a glorious hero, he will⁠—”

Here the witch bent to the ear of Helena, whispered something, then burst into laughter.

“Be off!” screamed the princess.

Two days later in the morning Horpyna sat with Bogun under the willow near the mill-wheel, and looked at the water foaming on it.

“You will be careful of her, you will guard her, you will not let your eye off her, so that she shall never leave the glen.”

“The glen has a narrow neck near the river, but there is space enough here. Order the neck to be filled with stones, and we shall be as if in the bottom of a jug. When I need to go out I shall find a way.”

“How do you live here?”

“Cheremís plants corn under the cliffs, cultivates grapes, and snares wild fowl. With what you have brought she will want nothing unless bird’s milk. Have no fear! She will not leave the glen, and no one will know of her unless your men say she is here.”

“I have made them swear silence. They are faithful fellows; they will say nothing, even if straps were torn from their skin. But you said yourself that people came here to you as to a soothsayer.”

“Sometimes they come from Rashkoff, and sometimes when they hear of me they come from God knows what places. But they stay at the river; no one enters the glen, for they are afraid. You saw the bones. These were people who wished to enter; their bones are lying around.”

“Did you kill them?”

“Whoever killed them, killed them! Those in search of soothsaying wait at the opening of the glen and I go to the wheel. What I see in the water, I tell them. I shall examine for you directly, but I don’t know whether anything will be seen, for it does not always appear.”

“If only you see nothing bad!”

“If I see something bad, you will not go; and in that case it would be better not to go.”

“I must. Hmelnitski sent me a letter to Bar to return, and Krívonos ordered me. The Poles are marching on us now with great forces, so we must concentrate.”

“When will you come back?”

“I know not. There will be a great battle such as has not been yet. Either death to us or to the Poles. If they beat us, I will hide here; if we are victorious, I will come for my cuckoo and take her to Kiev.”

“And if you perish?”

“Being a witch, it is for you to tell.”

“But if you perish?”

“Once my mother bore me.”

“Oh, pshaw! But what shall I do with the girl⁠—twist her neck, or how?”

“But touch her with your hand and I will have you drawn on a stake with oxen.” The chief fell into gloomy thought. “If I perish, tell her to forgive me.”

“Ah, she is a thankless Pole that for such love she does not love. If I were wooed in that way, I should not resist you.” Saying this, Horpyna nudged the chief in the side twice, showing all her teeth in laughter.

“Go to the devil!” said the Cossack.

“Oh, be quiet! I know that you are not for me.”

Bogun looked into the foaming water on the wheel as if he wished himself to soothsay.

“Horpyna!” said he after a while.

“Well, what is it?”

“When I have gone will she be sorry for me?”

“If you are not willing to constrain her in Cossack fashion, then perhaps it is better for you to go.”

“I will not, I cannot, I dare not. I know that she would die.”

“Then maybe it is better for you to go. While she sees you she will not wish to know you, but when she has been a couple of months with me and Cheremís, you will be dearer to her.”

“If she were well, I know what I should do. I should bring a priest from Rashkoff and have a marriage celebrated; but now I am afraid, for if she were frightened, she would die. You have seen yourself.”

“Leave us in peace. What do you want of a priest and a marriage? You are not a real Cossack. I want neither Pole nor Russian priest here. There are Dobrudja Tartars in Rashkoff, you want to get them on our shoulders too; and if you should bring them, how much of the princess would you see? What has got into your head? Go your way and come back.”

“But look in the water and tell me what you see. Tell the truth and don’t lie,