The noblemen shall then on horseback mount,
I and my nephew at their head; and somewhat
Shall be!” “O Polish blood!” the Bernardine
Cried with deep feeling, and towards the Judge
He sprang with open arms, embracing him.
“True child of the Soplicas! Heaven designs thee
To cleanse the sinning of thine exiled brother!
I ever honoured thee, but at this moment
I love thee, as though we own brothers were.
Let us prepare all things; but ’tis not time
To go forth yet. I will myself appoint
The place, and will to you proclaim the time.
I know the Czar sent lately couriers
Unto Napoleon, to beg for peace;
War is not yet declared; but our Prince Joseph168
Has heard from Binion, a Frenchman, who
Is of the Emperor’s Council, that all these
Negotiations will but end in nought,
That war will come to pass. The prince sent me
As scout to give commands that the Litvini
Be ready to inform Napoleon, when
He shall arrive, that Litva would again
Unite herself to Poland, to her sister,
And that they ask that Poland be restored.
And meanwhile, brother, it is needful you
Should with the Count agree; true ’tis that he
Eccentric is, and somewhat singular,
But young, and honourable; a good Pole.
We’ve need of such. In revolutions such
Eccentric men are necessary. I
Can say this from experience; even fools
May be of use, if they are honest, and
Beneath good governance. The Count’s a lord,
And he among the nobles has great weight.
The district all will move, if that he stir
In insurrection. Knowing his great riches,
Each nobleman will say: ‘ ’Tis a sure thing,
If lords are in it.’ I’ll make haste at once
To him.”—“Let him the first declare himself,”
The Judge replied; “let him come here to me,
And beg my pardon, for I am his elder,
And I hold office. As concerns the suit,
Let it be judged by arbitration.” But
The Bernardine had slammed the door to. “Well!
A happy journey!” said the Judge. The priest
Mounted a wagon standing at the door.
He touched the horses with his whip, and shook
The reins upon their sides; the wagon swift
Vanished in clouds of mist. The monk’s grey cowl
Alone rose here and there above the wreaths,
Like to a vulture o’er the clouds. The Wozny
Had long gone forth unto the County’s house.
As an experienced fox, when lured by smell
Of bacon, runs towards it, but as he
Knows well the wiles of hunters, as he runs
He stands, and sits still, raises up his tail,
And with it towards his nostrils drives the wind
As with a fan; interrogates the wind,
If may be hunters have not poisonèd
The meat—Protasy went thus off the road,
And circled by a field of hay around
The house, pretending that he there perceived
A vicious ox. Thus making tacks expert,
He stood beside the garden, and he stooped,
And ran; thou wouldst have said he followed after
A landrail, till he all at once sprang o’er
The hedge, and entered in among the hemp.
In this sweet-smelling, green, and thick-grown plant,
Round a house planted, lies a sure asylum
For beast and man. Not seldom does a hare,
Surprised among the cabbages, spring out
To hide among the hemp, than brushwood surer.
For deep in the thick green no greyhound can
O’ertake him, neither mastiff track him out,
For the strong odour of the hemp. Among
The hemp a servant of the mansion can
Escape from whip or fist; there may he sit
Until his lord has stormed away his rage:
And even peasants, or escaped recruits,
While the authorities in forests seek them,
Do sit among the hemp. And hence in time
Of battles, seizures, raids, the parties both
Will spare no efforts to possess this stronghold
Of hemp, which to the house’s front extends
Beneath the well, and usually behind
Does border on the hops. Protasy, though
A bold man, yet felt not a little fear.
The odour of the hemp recalled to him
His past adventures as a Wozny, one
After another, taking as his witness
The hemp. How one time he with summons served
A nobleman of Telsz, a Dzindolet,
Who, holding to his breast a pistol, ordered
That he should crawl beneath the table, there
Recant his summons with a voice of cur.169
How later Wolodkowicz,170 a proud lord,
And insolent, who Diets would disperse,
And violate tribunals; and when he
Received official summons, tore the paper,
And placing heyduks171 at the door with sticks,
Himself upraised above the Wozny’s head
His naked rapier, crying, “Either die,
Or eat thy paper.” So the Wozny made
As he would eat it, like a prudent man;
Till, stealing to the window, in the garden
Of hemp he entered. At that time indeed
’Twas no more Litvin custom to resist
A summons by the sabre or the whip,
And seldom did the Wozny hear at times
A scolding. But Protasy could not know
As yet this change of custom, since for long
He had served no summons, though aye ready, though
He would entreat the Judge; the Judge till now,
Through due respect to ancient years, refused
The old man’s prayers. To-day this sacrifice
He would accept from sheer necessity.
The Wozny gazes, watches; everywhere
’Tis silent; slowly pushes he the hemp
Aside with both hands, parting wide the thicket
Of stalks, he glided onward through the plants,
As dives a fish beneath the waves. He raised
His head, but everywhere is silence round.
He searches through the windows all the palace
Interior; ’tis empty all; he enters
The gallery. Not fearless, he uplifts
The latch; all void as an enchanted castle.
He draws his summons forth, and reads aloud
His declaration. At this moment he
Did hear a rattling, and he wished to fly,
When some one from the doors towards him came,
By good luck, some one known to him. ’Twas Robak!
Both marvelled. Plainly it was seen the Count
Had marched off somewhere with his household all,
And in great haste, for all the doors stood wide.
’Twas seen he went off armed; for guns and rifles
Were strewn about the floor, and further on
Were ramrods, triggers, with the gunsmith’s tools,
Wherewith they had the firearms late repaired;
And gunpowder and paper for the making
Of cartridges. Was then the Count a-hunting
With all his servants gone? But what should mean
These hand-arms; here a headless sabre, that
Had rusty grown, here lay a beltless sword;
No doubt a weapon had selected been
From
