Pan Michael

In answer, they raised such a shout that the snow began to fall from the roof; the little knight cried in addition, "Let the muskets roar there as a vivat to the Pani!" Upon his return to the room he found Basia dancing with Azya. When the Tartar embraced, that sweet figure with his arm, when he felt the warmth coming from her and her breath on his face, his pupils went up almost into his skull, and the whole world turned before his eyes; in his soul he gave up paradise, eternity, and for all the houris he wanted only this one.

Then Basia, when she noticed in passing the crimson jacket of Eva, curious to know if Azya had proposed yet, inquired, —

"Have you told her?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It is not time yet," said he, with a strange expression.

"But are you greatly in love?"

"To the death, to the death!" answered the Tartar, with a low but hoarse voice, like the croaking of a raven.

And they danced on, immediately after Pan Adam, who had pushed to the front. Others had changed partners, but Pan Adam did not let Zosia go; only at times he seated her on a bench to rest and recover breath, then he revelled again. At last he stopped before the orchestra, and holding Zosia with one arm, cried to the musicians, —

"Play the krakoviak! on with it!"

Obedient to command, they played at once. Pan Adam kept time with his foot, and sang with an immense voice, —

"Lost are crystal torrents,
In the Dniester River;
Lost in thee, my heart is,
Lost in thee, O maiden!
U-há!"

And that "U-há" he roared out in such Cossack fashion that Zosia was drooping from fear. The dignified Naviragh, standing near, was frightened, the two learned Anardrats were frightened; but Pan Adam led the dance farther. Twice he made the circle of the room, and stopping before the musicians, sang of his heart again, —

"Lost, but not to perish,
Though the current snatch it;
In the depth 'twill seek out
And bear back a gold ring.
U-há!"

"Very pretty rhymes," cried Zagloba; "I am skilled in the matter, for I have made many such. Bark away, cavalier, bark away; and when you find the ring I will continue in this sense, —

"Flint are all the maidens,
Steel are all the young men;
You'll have sparks in plenty
If you strike with will.
U-há!"

"Vivat! vivat Pan Zagloba!" cried the officers, with a mighty voice, so that the dignified Naviragh was frightened, and the two learned Anardrats were frightened, and began to look at one another with exceeding amazement.

But Pan Adam went around twice more, and seated his partner at last on the bench, panting, and astonished at the boldness of her cavalier. He was very agreeable to her, so valiant and honest, a regular conflagration; but just because she had not met such a man hitherto, great confusion seized her, – therefore, dropping her eyes still lower, she sat in silence, like a little innocent.

"Why are you silent; are you grieving for something?" asked Pan Adam.

"I am; my father is in captivity," answered Zosia, with a thin voice.

"Never mind that," said the young man; "it is proper to dance! Look at this room; here are some tens of officers, and most likely no one of them will die his own death, but from arrows of Pagans or in bonds, – this one to-day, that to-morrow. Each man on these frontiers has lost some one, and we make merry lest God might think that we murmur at our service. That is it. It is proper to dance. Laugh, young lady! show your eyes, for I think that you hate me!"

Zosia did not raise her eyes, it is true; but she began to raise the corners of her mouth, and two dimples were formed in her rosy cheeks.

"Do you love me a little bit?" asked he.

And Zosia, in a still lower voice, said, "Yes; but – "

When he heard this. Pan Adam started up, and seizing Zosia's hands, began to cover them with kisses, and cry, —

"Lost! No use in talking; I love you to death! I don't want any one but you, my dearest beauty! Oh, save me, how I love you! In the morning I'll fall at your mother's feet. What? – in the morning! I'll fall to-night, so as to be sure that you are mine!"

A tremendous roar of musketry outside the window drowned Zosia's answer. The delighted soldiers were firing, as a vivat for Basia; the window-panes rattled, the walls trembled. The dignified Naviragh was frightened a third time; the two learned Anardrats were frightened; but Zagloba, standing near, began to pacify them.

"With the Poles," said he to them, "there is never rejoicing without outcry and clamor."

In truth, it came out that all were just waiting for that firing from muskets to revel in the highest degree. The usual ceremony of nobles began now to give way to the wildness of the steppe. Music thundered again; dances burst out anew, like a storm; eyes were flashing and fiery; mist rose from the forelocks. Even the oldest went into the dance; loud shouts were heard every moment; and they drank and frolicked, – drank healths from Basia's slipper; fired from pistols at Eva's boot-heels. Hreptyoff shouted and roared and sang till daybreak, so that the beasts in the neighboring wilds hid from fear in the deepest thickets.

Since that was almost on the eve of a terrible war with the Turkish power, and over all these people terror and destruction were hanging, the dignified Naviragh wondered beyond measure at those Polish soldiers, and the two learned Anardrats wondered no less.

CHAPTER XXXV

All slept late next morning, except the soldiers on guard and the little knight, who never neglected service for pleasure. Pan Adam was on his feet early enough, for Panna Zosia seemed still more charming to him after his rest. Arraying himself handsomely, he went to the room in which they had danced the previous evening to listen whether there was not some movement or bustle in the adjoining chambers where the ladies were.

In the chamber occupied by Pani Boski movement was to be heard; but the impatient young man was so anxious to see Zosia that he seized his dagger and fell to picking out the moss and clay between the logs, so that, God willing, he might look through the chink with one eye at Zosia.

Zagloba, who was just passing with his beads in his hand, found him at this work, and knowing at once what the matter was, came up on tiptoe and began to belabor with the sandalwood beads the shoulders of the knight.

Pan Adam slipped aside and squirmed as if laughing; but he was greatly confused, and the old man pursued him and struck him continually.

"Oh, such a Turk! oh, Tartar! here it is for you; here it is for you! I exorcise you! Where are your morals? You want to see a woman? Here it is for you; here it is for you!"

"My benefactor," cried Pan Adam, "it is not right to make a whip out of holy beads. Let me go, for I had no sinful intention."

"You say it is not right to strike with a rosary? Not true! The palm on Palm Sunday is holy, and still people strike with it. Ha! these were Pagan beads once and belonged to Suban Kazi; but I took them from him at Zbaraj, and afterward the apostolic nuncio blessed them. See, they are genuine sandalwood!"

"If they are real sandalwood, they have an odor."

"Beads have an odor for me, and a girl for you. I must dress your shoulders well yet, for there is nothing to drive out the Devil like a chaplet."

"I had no sinful intention; upon my health I had not!"

"Was it only through piety that you were opening a chink?"

"Not through piety, but through love, which is so wonderful that I'm not sure that I shall not burst from it, as a bomb bursts. What is the use in pretending, when it is true? Flies do not trouble a horse in autumn as this affection troubles me."

"See that this is not sinful desire; for when I came in here you could not stand still, but were striking heel against heel as if you were standing on a firebrand."