The Deluge. Vol. 1

The highway leading from Kovno through Shavli to Mitava was covered with wagons and carriages, in which were the wives and children of nobles wishing to take refuge from war in estates in Courland. In Shavli itself, which was an appanage of the king, there were no private squadrons of the hetman, or men of the quota; but here the captive colonels saw for the first time a Swedish detachment, composed of twenty-five knights, who had come on a reconnoissance from Birji. Crowds of Jews and citizens were staring at the strangers. The colonels too gazed at them with curiosity, especially Volodyovski, who had never before seen Swedes; hence he examined them eagerly with the desiring eyes with which a wolf looks at a flock of sheep.

Pan Kovalski entered into communication with the officer, declared who he was, where he was going, whom he was conveying, and requested him to join his men to the dragoons, for greater safety on the road. But the officer answered that he had an order to push as far as possible into the depth of the country, so as to be convinced of its condition, therefore he could not return to Birji; but he gave assurance that the road was safe everywhere, for small detachments, sent out from Birji, were moving in all directions, – some were sent even as far as Kyedani. After he had rested till midnight, and fed the horses, which were very tired, Pan Roh moved on his way, turning from Shavli to the east through Yohavishkyele and Posvut toward Birji, so as to reach the direct highway from Upita and Ponyevyej.

"If Zagloba comes to our rescue," said Volodyovski, about daylight, "it will be easiest to take this road, for he could start right at Upita."

"Maybe he is lurking here somewhere," said Pan Stanislav.

"I had hope till I saw the Swedes," said Stankyevich, "but now it strikes me that there is no help for us."

"Zagloba has a head to avoid them or to fool them; and he will be able to do so."

"But he does not know the country."

"The Lauda people know it; for some of them take hemp, wainscots, and pitch to Riga, and there is no lack of such men in my squadron."

"The Swedes must have occupied all the places about Birji."

"Fine soldiers, those whom we saw in Shavli, I must confess," said the little knight, "man for man splendid! Did you notice what well-fed horses they had?"

"Those are Livland horses, very powerful," said Mirski. "Our hussar and armored officers send to Livland for horses, since our beasts are small."

"Tell me of the Swedish infantry!" put in Stankyevich. "Though the cavalry makes a splendid appearance, it is inferior. Whenever one of our squadrons, and especially of the important divisions, rushed on their cavalry, the Swedes did not hold out while you could say 'Our Father' twice."

"You have tried them in old times," said the little knight, "but I have no chance of testing them. I tell you, gentlemen, when I saw them now in Shavli, with their beards yellow as flax, ants began to crawl over my fingers. Ei, the soul would to paradise; but sit thou here in the wagon, and sigh."

The colonels were silent; but evidently not Pan Michael alone was burning with such friendly feeling toward the Swedes, for soon the following conversation of the dragoons surrounding the wagon came to the ears of the prisoners.

"Did you see those pagan dog-faiths?" said one soldier; "we were to fight with them, but now we must clean their horses."

"May the bright thunderbolts crush them!" muttered another dragoon.

"He quiet, the Swede will teach thee manners with a broom over thy head!"

"Or I him."

"Thou art a fool! Not such as thou wish to rush at them; thou seest what has happened."

"We are taking the greatest knights to them, as if into the dog's mouth. They, the sons of Jew mothers, will abuse these knights."

"Without a Jew you cannot talk with such trash. The commandant in Shavli had to send for a Jew right away."

"May the plague kill them!"

Here the first soldier lowered his voice somewhat and said, "They say the best soldiers do not wish to fight against their own king."

"Of course not! Did you not see the Hungarians, or how the hetman used troops against those resisting. It is unknown yet what will happen. Some of our dragoons too took part with the Hungarians; these men very likely are shot by this time."

"That is a reward for faithful service!"

"To the devil with such work! A Jew's service!"

"Halt!" cried, on a sudden, Kovalski riding in front.

"May a bullet halt in thy snout!" muttered a voice near the wagon.

"Who is there?" asked the soldiers of one another.

"Halt!" came a second command.

The wagon stopped. The soldiers held in their horses. The day was pleasant, clear. The sun had risen, and by its rays was to be seen, on the highway ahead, clusters of dust rising as if herds or troops were coming.

Soon the dust began to shine, as if some one were scattering sparks in the bunches of it; and lights glittered each moment more clearly, like burning candles surrounded with smoke.

"Those are spears gleaming!" cried Pan Michael.

"Troops are coming."

"Surely some Swedish detachment!"

"With them only infantry have spears; but there the dust is moving quickly. That is cavalry, – our men!"

"Ours, ours!" repeated the dragoons.

"Form!" thundered Pan Roh.

The dragoons surrounded the wagon in a circle. Pan Volodyovski had flame in his eyes.

"Those are my Lauda men with Zagloba! It cannot be otherwise!"

Now only forty rods divided those approaching from the wagon, and the distance decreased every instant, for the coming detachment was moving at a trot. Finally, from out the dust pushed a strong body of troops moving in good order, as if to attack. In a moment they were nearer. In the first rank, a little from the right side, moved, under a bunchuk, some powerful man with a baton in his hand. Scarcely had Volodyovski put eye on him when he cried, -

"Pan Zagloba! As I love God, Pan Zagloba!"

A smile brightened the face of Pan Yan. "It is he, and no one else, and under a bunchuk! He has already created himself hetman. I should have known him by that whim anywhere. That man will die as he was born."

"May the Lord God give him health!" said Oskyerko.

Then he put his hands around his mouth and began to call, "Gracious Kovalski! your relative is coming to visit you!"

But Pan Roh did not hear, for he was just forming his dragoons. And it is only justice to declare that though he had a handful of men, and on the other side a whole squadron was rolling against him, he was not confused, nor did he lose courage. He placed the dragoons in two ranks in front of the wagon; but the others stretched out and approached in a half-circle, Tartar fashion, from both sides of the field. But evidently they wished to parley, for they began to wave a flag and cry, -

"Stop! stop!"

"Forward!" cried Kovalski.

"Yield!" was cried from the road.

"Fire!" commanded in answer Kovalski.

Dull silence followed, – not a single dragoon fired. Pan Roh was dumb for a moment; then he rushed as if wild on his own dragoons.

"Fire, dog-faiths!" roared he, with a terrible voice; and with one blow of his fist he knocked from his horse the nearest soldier.

Others began to draw back before the rage of the man, but no one obeyed the command. All at once they scattered, like a flock of frightened partridges, in the twinkle of an eye.

"Still I would have those soldiers shot!" muttered Mirski.

Meanwhile Kovalski, seeing that his own men had left him, turned his horse to the attacking ranks.

"For me death is there!" cried he, with a terrible voice.

And he sprang at them, like a thunderbolt. But before he had passed half the distance a shot rattled from Zagloba's ranks.

Pan Roh's horse thrust his nose into the dust and fell, throwing his rider. At the same moment a soldier of Volodyovski's squadron pushed forward like lightning, and caught by the shoulder the officer rising from the ground.

"That is Yuzva Butrym," cried Volodyovski, "Yuzva Footless!"

Pan Roh in his turn seized Yuzva by the skirt, and the skirt remained in his hand; then they struggled like two enraged falcons, for both had gigantic strength. Butrym's stirrup broke; he fell to the ground and turned over, but he did not let Pan Roh go, and both formed as it were one ball, which rolled along the road.

Others ran up. About twenty hands seized Kovalski, who tore and dragged like a bear in a net; he hurled men around, as a wild boar hurls dogs; he raised himself again and did not give up the battle. He wanted to die, but he heard tens of voices repeating the words, "Take him alive! take him alive!" At last his strength forsook him, and he fainted.

Meanwhile Zagloba was at the wagon, or rather on the wagon, and had seized in his embraces Pan Yan, the little knight, Mirski, Stankyevich, and Oskyerko, calling with panting voice, -

"Ha! Zagloba was good for something! Now we will give it to that Radzivill. We are free gentlemen, and we have men. We'll go straightway to ravage his property. Well! did the stratagem succeed? I should have got you out, – if not in one way, in another. I am so blown that I can barely draw breath. Now for Radzivill's property, gracious gentlemen, now for Radzivill's property! You do not know yet as much of Radzivill as I do!"

Further outbursts were interrupted by the Lauda men, who ran one after another to greet their colonel. The Butryms, the Smoky Gostsyeviches, the Domasheviches, the Stakyans, the Gashtovts, crowded around the wagon, and powerful throats bellowed continually, -

"Vivat! vivat!"

"Gracious gentlemen," said the little knight when it grew somewhat quieter, "most beloved comrades, I thank you for your love. It is a terrible thing that we must refuse obedience to the hetman, and raise hands against him; but since his treason is clear, we cannot do otherwise. We will not desert our country and our gracious king-Vivat Johannes Casimirus Rex!"

"Vivat Johannes Casimirus Rex!" repeated three hundred voices.

"Attack the property of Radzivill!" shouted Zagloba, "empty his larders and cellars!"

"Horses for us!" cried the little knight.

They galloped for horses.

Then Zagloba said, "Pan Michael, I was hetman over these people in place of you, and I acknowledge willingly that they acted with manfulness; but as you are now free, I yield the command into your hands."

"Let your grace take command, as superior in rank," said Pan Michael, turning to Mirski.

"I do not think of it, and why should I?" said the old colonel.

"Then perhaps Pan Stankyevich?"

"I have my own squadron, and I will not take his from a stranger. Remain in command; ceremony is chopped straw, satisfaction is oats! You know the men, they know you, and they will fight better under you."

"Do so, Michael, do so, for otherwise it would not be well," said Pan Yan.

"I will do so."

So saying, Pan Michael took the baton from Zagloba's hands, drew up the squadron for marching, and moved with his comrades to the head of it.

"And where shall we go?" asked Zagloba.

"To tell the truth, I don't know myself, for I have not thought of that," answered Pan Michael.

"It is worth while to deliberate on what we should do," said Mirski, "and we must begin at once. But may I be permitted first to give thanks to Pan Zagloba in the name of all, that he did not forget us in straits and rescued us so effectually?"

"Well," said Zagloba, with pride, raising his head and twisting his mustache. "Without me you would be in Birji! Justice commands to acknowledge that what no man can think out, Zagloba thinks out. Pan Michael, we were in straits not like these. Remember how I saved you when we were fleeing before the Tartars with Helena?"

Pan Michael might have answered that in that juncture not Zagloba saved him, but he Zagloba; still he was silent, and his mustache began to quiver. The old noble spoke on, -

"Thanks are not necessary, since what I did for you today you certainly would not fail to do for me to-morrow in case of need. I am as glad to see you free as if I had gained the greatest battle. It seems that neither my hand nor my head has grown very old yet."

"Then you went straightway to Upita?" asked Volodyovski.

"But where should I go, – to Kyedani? – crawl into the wolf's throat? Of course to Upita; and it is certain that I did not spare the horse, and a good beast he was. Yesterday early I was in Upita, and at midday we started for Birji, in the direction in which I expected to meet you."

"And how did my men believe you at once? For, with the exception of two or three who saw you at my quarters, they did not know you."

"To tell the truth, I had not the least difficulty; for first of all, I had your ring, Pan Michael, and secondly, the men had just learned of your arrest and the treason of the hetman. I found a deputation to them from Pan Mirski's squadron and that of Pan Stankyevich, asking to join them against the hetman, the traitor. When I informed them that you were being taken to Birji, it was as if a man had thrust a stick into an ant-hill. Their horses were at pasture; boys were sent at once to bring them in, and at midday we started. I took the command openly, for it belonged to me."

"But, father, where did you get the bunchuk?" asked Pan Yan. "We thought from a distance that you were the hetman."

"Of course, I did not look worse than he? Where did I get the bunchuk? Well, at the same time with the deputations from the resisting squadrons, came also Pan Shchyt with a command to the Lauda men to march to Kyedani, and he brought a bunchuk to give greater weight to the command. I ordered his arrest on the spot, and had the bunchuk borne above me to deceive the Swedes if I met them."

"As God lives, he thought all out wisely!" cried Oskyerko.

"As Solomon!" added Stankyevich.

Zagloba swelled up as if he were yeast.

"Let us take counsel at once as to what should be done," said he at last. "If it is agreeable to the company to listen to me with patience, I will tell what I have thought over on the road. I do not advise you to commence war with Radzivill now, and this for two reasons: first, because he is a pike and we are perches. It is better for perches never to turn head to a pike, for he can swallow them easily, but tail, for then the sharp scales protect them. May the devil fix him on a spit in all haste, and baste him with pitch lest he burn overmuch."

"Secondly?" asked Mirski.

"Secondly," answered Zagloba, "if at any time, by any fortune, we should fall into his hands, he would give us such a flaying that all the magpies in Lithuania would have something to scream about. See what was in that letter which Kovalski was taking to the Swedish commandant at Birji, and know the voevoda of Vilna, in case he was unknown to you hitherto."

So saying, he unbuttoned his vest, and taking from his bosom a letter, gave it to Mirski.

"Pshaw! it is in German or Swedish," said the old colonel. "Who can read this letter?"

It appeared that Pan Stanislav alone knew a little German, for he had gone frequently to Torun (Thorn), but he could not read writing.

"I will tell you the substance of it," said Zagloba. "When in Upita the soldiers sent to the pasture for their horses, there was a little time. I gave command to bring to me by the locks a Jew whom every one said was dreadfully wise, and he, with a sabre at his throat, read quickly all that was in the letter and shelled it out to me. Behold the hetman enjoined on the commandant at Birji, and for the good of the King of Sweden directed him, after the convoy had been sent back, to shoot every one of us, without sparing a man, but so to do it that no report might go abroad."

All the colonels began to clap their hands, except Mirski, who, shaking his head, said, -

"It was for me who knew him marvellous, and not find a place in my head, that he would let us out of Kyedani. There must surely be reasons to us unknown, for which he could not put us to death himself."

"Doubtless for him it was a question of public opinion."

"Maybe."

"It is wonderful how venomous he is," said the little knight; "for without mentioning services, I and Ganhof saved his life not so long ago."

"And I," said Stankyevich, "served under his father and under him thirty-five years."

"He is a terrible man!" added Pan Stanislav.

"It is better not to crawl into the hands of such a one," said Zagloba. "Let the devils take him! We will avoid fighting with him, but we will pluck bare these estates of his that lie on our way."

"Let us go to the voevoda of Vityebsk, so as to have some defence, some leader; and on the road we will take what can be had from the larders, stables, granaries, and cellars. My soul laughs at the thought, and it is sure that I will let no one surpass me in this work. What money we can take from land-bailiffs we will take. The more noisily and openly we go to the voevoda of Vityebsk, the more gladly will he receive us."

"He will receive us gladly as we are," said Oskyerko. "But it is good advice to go to him, and better can no one think out at present."

"Will all agree to that?" asked Stankyevich.

"As true as life!" said Pan Mirski. "So then to the voevoda of Vityebsk! Let him be that leader for whom we prayed to God."

"Amen!" said the others.

They rode some time in silence, till at last Pan Michael began to be uneasy in the saddle. "But could we not pluck the Swedes somewhere on the road?" asked he at last, turning his eyes to his comrades.

"My advice is: if a chance comes, why not?" answered Stankyevich. "Doubtless Radzivill assured the Swedes that he had all Lithuania in his hands, and that all were deserting Yan Kazimir willingly; let it be shown that this is not true."

"And properly!" said Mirski. "If some detachment crawls into our way, we will ride over it. I will say also: Attack not the prince himself, for we could not stand before him, he is a great warrior! But, avoiding battles, it is worth while to move about Kyedani a couple of days."

"To plunder Radzivill's property?" asked Zagloba.

"No, but to assemble more men. My squadron and that of Pan Stankyevich will join us. If they are already defeated, – and they may be, – the men will come to us singly. It will not pass either without a rally of nobles to us. We will bring Pan Sapyeha fresh forces with which he can easily undertake something."

In fact, that reckoning was good; and the dragoons of the convoy served as the first example, though Kovalski himself resisted-all his men went over without hesitation to Pan Michael. There might be found more such men in Radzivill's ranks. It might also be supposed that the first attack on the Swedes would call forth a general uprising in the country.

Pan Michael determined therefore to move that night toward Ponyevyej, assemble whom he could of the Lauda nobles in the vicinity of Upita, and thence plunge into the wilderness of Rogovsk, in which, as he expected, the remnants of the defeated resisting squadrons would be in hiding. Meanwhile he halted for rest at the river Lavecha, to refresh horses and men.

They halted there till night, looking from the density of the forest to the high-road, along which were passing continually new crowds of peasants, fleeing to the woods before the expected Swedish invasion.

The soldiers sent out on the road brought in from time to time single peasants as informants concerning the Swedes; but it was impossible to learn much from them. The peasants were frightened, and each repeated separately that the Swedes were here and there, but no one could give accurate information.

When it had become completely dark, Pan Volodyovski commanded the men to mount their horses; but before they started a rather distinct sound of bells came to their ears.

"What is that?" asked Zagloba, "it is too late for the Angelus."

Volodyovski listened carefully, for a while. "That is an alarm!" said he.

Then he went along the line. "And does any one here know what village or town there is in that direction?"

"Klavany, Colonel," answered one of the Gostsyeviches; "we go that way with potash."

"Do you hear bells?"

"We hear! That is something unusual."

Volodyovski nodded to the trumpeter, and in a low note the trumpet sounded in the dark forest. The squadron pushed forward.

The eyes of all were fixed in the direction from which the ringing came each moment more powerful; indeed they were not looking in vain, for soon a red light gleamed on the horizon and increased every moment.

"A fire!" muttered the men in the ranks.

Pan Michael bent toward Skshetuski. "The Swedes!" said he.

"We will try them!" answered Pan Yan.

"It is a wonder to me that they are setting fire."

"The nobles must have resisted, or the peasants risen if they attacked the church."

"Well, we shall see!" said Pan Michael. And he was panting with satisfaction.

Then Zagloba clattered up to him. "Pan Michael?"

"What?"

"I see that the odor of Swedish flesh has come to you. There will surely be a battle, will there not?"

"As God gives, as God gives!"

"But who will guard the prisoner?"

"What prisoner?"

"Of course, not me, but Kovalski. Pan Michael, it is a terribly important thing that he should not escape. Remember that the hetman knows nothing of what has happened, and will learn from no one, if Kovalski does not report to him. It is requisite to order some trusty men to guard him; for in time of battle he might escape easily, especially if he takes up some stratagem."

"He is as capable of stratagems as the wagon on which he is sitting. But you are right; it is necessary to station some one near. Will you have him under your eye during this time?"

"H'm! I am sorry to be away from the battle! It is true that in the night near fire I am as good as blind. If it were in the daytime you would never have persuaded me; but since the public good requires it, let this be so."

"Very well, I will leave you with five soldiers to assist; and if he tries to escape, fire at his head."

"I'll squeeze him like wax in my fingers, never fear! – But the fire is increasing every moment. Where shall I stay with Kovalski?"

"Wherever you like. I've no time now!" answered Pan Michael, and he rode on.

The flames were spreading rapidly. The wind was blowing from the fire and toward the squadron, and with the sound of bells brought the report of firearms.

"On a trot!" commanded Volodyovski.