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

“True, it is hard to leave him here like a dog,” muttered Zagloba. “Since we met him in a duel, he is no longer a peasant for us, but a soldier, to whom such assistance is due. Who will carry him with me, gentlemen?”

“I,” said Volodyovski.

“Then carry him on my burka,” added Kharlamp.

In a moment Bogun was lying on the mantle, the ends of which Zagloba, Volodyovski, Kushel, and Eliasenko held; and the whole party, in company with Kharlamp and the Selitskis, moved with slow steps toward the inn.

“He has a firm life,” said Zagloba; “he is moving yet. My God, if any man had told me that I should become his nurse and carry him in this fashion, I should have thought that he was trifling with me. I have too feeling a heart, I know that myself; but life is cruel. I’ll dress his wounds too. I hope we shall meet no more in this world; let him remember me kindly in the next.”

“Then you think that he will not recover by any means?” asked Kharlamp.

“He! I wouldn’t give a wisp of old straw for his life. Such was his fate, and he could not escape it; for even if he had succeeded with Pan Volodyovski, he wouldn’t have escaped my hands. But I prefer that it has happened as it has, for already there is an outcry against me as a merciless slaughterer. And what am I to do when a man crawls into my way? I had to pay Pan Dunchevski five hundred sequins’ fine, and you know, gentlemen, that estates in Russia give no income now.”

“True, for they have plundered you there to the last,” said Kharlamp.

“Oh, this Cossack is heavy!” said Zagloba; “I’ve lost my breath.⁠—Plundered us, yes, plundered; but I hope the Diet will make some provision, otherwise we are reduced to death. But he is heavy, he is heavy! See, the blood is beginning to run again! Hurry, Pan Kharlamp, to the inn; let the Jew mix some dough with spiderweb. It won’t help the dead man much, but care is a Christian act, and it will be easier for him to die. Hurry, Pan Kharlamp!”

Kharlamp pushed ahead; and when at last they carried the chief into the room, Zagloba betook himself, with great knowledge of the art and expertness, to dressing him. He stopped the blood, closed the wounds, then turned to Eliasenko and said⁠—

“You, grandfather, are not needed here. Ride with all speed to Zaborovo, ask to be placed before the prince, deliver the letter, and tell what you saw, everything as it was. If you lie, I shall know, for I am a confidant of his Highness the Prince, and I shall command your head to be cut off. Give my respects to Hmelnitski, for he knows and loves me. We will give a fitting funeral to your ataman. You do your own work; do not loiter in corners, or someone will settle you before you can tell who you are. Be in good health, and be off!”

“Let me stay, gentlemen, even till he gets cold.”

“Be off, I tell you!” said Zagloba, threateningly; “if not, I’ll order the peasants to take you to Zaborovo. And my respects to Hmelnitski.”

Eliasenko bowed to the girdle and went out. Zagloba said again to Kharlamp and the Selitskis⁠—

“I’ve got that Cossack off; for what has he to do here, and if someone should kill him, which might easily happen, then the blame would be laid on us. The partisans of Zaslavski and the curs of the chancellor would be first to roar with all their might that in spite of God’s law Vishnyevetski’s men murdered the whole Cossack embassy. But a wise head has a remedy for everything. We won’t let ourselves be eaten in kasha by these fops, these parasites; and when necessary you, gentlemen, will bear witness how it all happened, and that he challenged us himself. I must order the bailiff of this place to bury him somehow. They don’t know here who he was; they will think that he was a noble, and bury him decently. It’s time for us too to be on the road, Pan Michael, for we have a report to make to the prince yet.”

The hoarse breathing of Bogun interrupted these words.

“Oh, the soul is seeking a way for itself,” said Zagloba. “It is getting dark, and the spirit will go groping to the other world. But since he put no shame on our young lady, may God give him eternal rest⁠—amen! Let us go, Pan Michael. From my heart I forgive him all his sins, though to tell the truth, I put myself more in his way than he put himself in mine. But the end has come. Gentlemen, I wish you good health. It was a delight to make the acquaintance of such honorable men, but remember to testify in case of need.”

Prince Yeremi heard of the slaying of Bogun with notable indifference, especially when he learned that there were men outside his regiments who were ready at any moment to testify that Volodyovski had been challenged. If the affair had not happened just before the announcement of Yan Kazimir’s election, if the struggle of the candidates had been still going on, the opponents of Yeremi and at their head the chancellor would certainly not have failed to forge weapons against him out of this event, in spite of all witnesses and testimony. But after Prince Karl’s withdrawal, men’s minds were occupied with other things, and it was easy to foresee that the whole affair would be drowned in oblivion. Hmelnitski, it is true, might raise it to show what new injuries he was enduring every day; but Yeremi justly hoped that Prince Kazimir in sending his answer would order it to be stated from himself how the envoy had perished, and Hmelnitski would not dare to doubt the truth of the