With the strong liquor, for they aimed but ill,
And missed; they rarely wound, and seldom kill;
And yet two Matthews have already wounds,
And one of the Bartholomews lies low.
The nobles rarely fire, with but few guns;
They would with sabres strike upon the foe.
The elder men restrain them; thick the balls
Whistle, they wound, they drive on; soon they make
The courtyard clear before them, now begin
To clatter on the mansion’s window-panes.
Thaddeus, who by his uncle’s orders had
Stayed in the mansion to defend the women,
Now hearing loud and louder rage the fight,
Ran forth; the Chamberlain rushed after him,
Since Thomas brought to him at length his sabre.
He hastened, joined him to the noblemen,
And placed him at their head; rushed on, upraised
His sword; the nobles at his pointing moved.
The Jägers, them admitting, poured a hail
Of bullets. Wounded lay Isajewicz,
Wilbik, and Razor. Robak after this
Restrains the nobles on one side, and Matthew
Restrains them on the other. In their zeal
The nobles colder grow, look round, draw back.
The Russians mark this. Captain Rykow thinks
To strike the last blow, from the court to drive
The nobles, and the mansion to command.
“Form for the charge!” he cried, “and to your pikes.
Forward!” and presently the file, their stocks
Planting like hop-poles, bent their heads, and marched
Forwards, and quickened step. In vain the nobles
Resist them from the front, fire on the wings;
The file already had o’er-passed the court.
The Captain, pointing with his sword unto
The house-door, crieth, “Yield, Soplica, or
I’ll give command to fire the house!” “Then fire it,”
Replied the Judge, “I’ll fry me at that fire.”
O house of Soplicowo! if unhurt
Thy white walls gleam beneath the elm-trees still;
If still the assembly of the neighbouring nobles
Sit at the Judge’s hospitable board,
They surely often drink the Bucket’s health;
Without him Soplicowo were undone.
The Bucket hitherto few proofs of courage
Had given, though from the stocks the first set free
Among the nobles, though immediately
He found his well-loved Bucket in the cart,
His favourite gun, there with a sack of balls.
He would not fight; he trusted not himself,
He said, while fasting. So he went where stood
A tub of spirits, in his hand he raised.
The stream, as with a spoon, unto his lips.
Then, soon as he well strengthened was and warmed,
He set his cap right; from his knees he took
The Bucket in both hands; the powder rammed
Down in the gun, and poured the priming o’er,
And looked upon the battle-field. He saw
How that bright wave of bayonets smote and sundered
The nobles; he against this billow swam;
He stooped him down to earth, and dived among
The thick grass in the courtyard’s midst; till there,
Where nettles grew, he close in ambush laid,
And called by signs the Bustard to him. He
Stood on the threshold, with his gun defending
The mansion, for his dear Sophia lived there;
And though by her his suit remained despised,
He loved her ever, and in her defence
Were glad to perish. Now the file of Jägers
Already on the nettles had encroached
Marching, when Bucket drew the trigger back;
And from the jaws of that deep-throated gun
A dozen balls all jagged let he fly
Among the Muscovites. A second dozen
The Bustard hurls. The Jägers were confused,
And frightened at the ambush, all the file
Wound in a knot, drew back, threw out their wounded,
And then the Baptist drove them back again.
The barn was far off. Fearing a long round,
Beneath the garden wall had Rykow sprung,
There in their course he stayed his flying band,
He ranked them, but he changed their form of file.
Of one file he composed a triangle,
The sharp wedge pointed forward, but two sides
He placed against the garden wall. Well did he,
For horsemen from the castle rushed on him.
The Count, who in the castle under guard
Of Muscovites had been, when fled dispersed
The frightened guard, his courtiers placed on horse;
And hearing shots, he led his cavalry
Right under fire; himself the foremost rode,
With sabre lifted high. Then Rykow cried,
“The half-battalion fire!” A fiery thread
Then flew along the locks, and from the sable
Barrels projecting forward, whistled forth
Three hundred bullets. Of the cavalry
Three fell down wounded; one man lay a corpse.
The Count’s horse fell, and fell the Count; the Klucznik
Ran, crying out for help, for he had seen
The Jägers for their target take the last
Of the Horeszkos, by spindle side.
Robak stood nearer; with his body he
The Count did cover, and for him received
The shot; he drew him from beneath his horse,
Commanded that the nobles step apart,
Take better aim, and spare resultless shots,
And lurk behind the hedges, or the wells,
Behind the walls of cowsheds; and the Count
Shall with his horsemen wait a better time.
Most marvellously Thaddeus understood
The plans of Robak, and accomplished them.
He stood concealed behind a wood-built well,
And as he aimed with coolness and with skill
From a two-barrelled gun—he well could hit
A florin thrown in air—inflicted thus
Most horrid wounds on Muscovy. He chose
The seniors; and his first shot slew at once
A sergeant-major, then from both the barrels
Each after each he cut two sergeants off.
Now at the borders of the triangle
He shot, now at the midst, where stood the staff.
At this impatiently did Rykow rage,
Stamped with his feet, and gnawed his sabre’s hilt.
Cried, “Major Plut, what is to come of this?
Soon none will here remain to give commands.”
So Plut in anger said to Thaddeus,
“Shame on you, Master Pole, to hide behind
A piece of wood; be not a coward, come
Out in the midst; fight honourably, like
A soldier.” To him Thaddeus made reply,
“Then, Major, if you are so bold a knight,
Why hide you thus behind a Jäger’s collar?
I am not afraid of you; come from behind
The hedges; you have caught it on your face;
But yet I’m ready still to fight with you.
Why all this bloodshed? For between us two
This quarrel was; let pistols or the sword
Decide it. I will give you choice of arms,
From cannons down to pins. If not, I’ll shoot
You all like wolves in pitfalls.” Saying this,
He fired, and aimed so well, that the lieutenant
He struck who stood at side of Rykow. “Major,”
Did
