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

wishing to say: “Cry not, beautiful maiden! we too are in the care of the Lord.” A calm, increasing every moment, came to her from the steppe. Pictures of death and pursuit were blotted from her mind, and straightway a sort of weakness seized her, but a sweet one; slumber began to close her eyelids; the horses went slowly, the movement lulled her. She dropped asleep. XX

Helena was wakened by the barking of dogs. Opening her eyes, she saw in the distance before her a great shady oak, an enclosure, and a well-sweep. She roused her companion at once: “Oh, wake up!”

Zagloba opened his eyes. “What is this? Where are we?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wait a moment! This is a Cossack wintering-place.”

“So it appears to me.”

“Herdsmen live here, no doubt. Not too pleasant company! And these dogs howl as if wolves had bitten them. There are horses and men at the enclosure. No help for it; we must ride up to them, lest they pursue us if we pass. You must have been asleep.”

“I was.”

“One, two, three, four horses saddled⁠—four men there at the enclosure. Well, that is no great force. True, they are herdsmen. They are doing something in a hurry. Hallo there, men, come this way!”

The four Cossacks approached immediately. They were, in fact, herders who watched horses in the steppe during the summer. Zagloba noticed at once that only one of them had a sabre and a gun. The other three were armed with horse-jaws fastened to staves, but he knew that such herdsmen were often dangerous to travellers.

When all four approached they gazed from under their brows at the newcomers; in their bronzed faces could not be found the least trace of welcome. “What do you want?” asked they, without removing their caps.

“Glory to God!” said Zagloba.

“For the ages of ages! What do you want?”

“Is it far to Syrovati?”

“We don’t know of any Syrovati.”

“And what is this place called?”

“Gusla.”

“Give our horses water.”

“We have no water; it is dried up. But where do you ride from?”

“From Krivaya Rudá.”

“Where are you going?”

“To Chigirin.”

The herdsmen looked at one another. One of them, black as a bug and crooked-eyed, began to gaze intently at Zagloba. At last he asked: “Why did you leave the highway?”

“It was hot there.”

The crooked-eyed man put his hand on the reins of Zagloba’s horse: “Come down from the horse, come down! You have nothing to go to Chigirin for.”

“How so?” asked Zagloba, quietly.

“Do you see that young fellow there?” asked crooked-eye, pointing to one of the herdsmen.

“I do.”

“He has come from Chigirin. They are slaughtering Poles there.”

“And do you know, fellow, who is following us to Chigirin?”

“Who?”

“Prince Yeremi.”

The insolent face of the herdsman dropped in a moment. All, as if by command, removed their caps.

“Do you know, you trash!” continued Zagloba, “what the Poles do to those who slaughter? They hang them. And do you know how many men Prince Yeremi has, and do you know that he is no farther than two or three miles from here? And how have you received us, you dog souls! What stuff you tell!⁠—the well is dried up, you have no water for horses! Ah, basilisks! I’ll show you!”

“Oh, don’t be angry, Pan! The well is dried up. We go to the Kagamlik with our horses, and bring water for ourselves. But say the word and we will run for water.”

“Oh, I can get on without you! I will go with my attendant. Where is the Kagamlik?” inquired he, sternly.

“About a mile and a quarter from here,” said the crooked-eyed man, pointing to a line of reeds.

“And must I return this way, or can I go along the bank?”

“Go by the bank. The river turns to the road about a mile from here.”

“Dash ahead, young man!” said Zagloba, turning to Helena.

The pretended youth turned his horse and galloped on.

“Listen!” said Zagloba, turning to the herdsman. “If the vanguard comes up, say that I went to the road along the river.”

“I will.”

A quarter of an hour later Zagloba was riding again by the side of Helena.

“I invented the prince for them in season,” said he, blinking with his cataract-covered eye. “Now they will stay all day waiting for the vanguard. They shuddered at the mere name of the prince.”

“I see you have such ready wit that you will save us from every trouble,” said Helena, “and I thank God for sending me such a guardian.”

These words went to the heart of the noble. He smiled, stroked his beard, and said⁠—

“Well, hasn’t Zagloba a head on his shoulders? Cunning as Ulysses! and I must tell you, had it not been for that cunning, the crows would have eaten me long ago. Can’t help it, I must save myself. They believed easily that the prince was coming, for it is probable that he will appear tomorrow or next day in this neighborhood with a fiery sword like an archangel. And if he should only strike Bogun somewhere on the road, I would make a vow to walk barefoot to Chenstokhova. Even if those herdsmen did not believe, the very mention of the power of the prince was enough to restrain them from attacks on our lives. Still I tell you that their impudence is no good sign to us, for it means that the peasants here have heard of the victories of Hmelnitski, and will become more and more insolent every moment. We must keep therefore to the waste places and visit few villages, for they are dangerous. We have got into such a snare that, as I live, it would be hard to invent a worse one.”

Alarm again seized Helena. Wishing to get some word of hope from Zagloba, she said: “But you will save me and yourself this time?”

“Of course,” said the old fox; “the head is given to think about the body. I have become so attached to you that I will struggle for you as for my own daughter. But, to tell the truth,