Basia waited patiently and long till Pan Gorzenski should finish. He stuttered, meanwhile, and moved his lips continually, as if eating.
“What do you think yourself of the movement of the horde toward Haysyn?” asked she at last.
“I think that their horses have pawed out all the grass from under the snow, and that they wish to make a camp in another place. Besides, it may be that the horde; living near Doroshenko’s men, are quarrelling with them; it has always been so. Though they are allies and are fighting together, only let encampments stand side by side, and they fall to quarrelling at once in the pastures and at the bazaars.”
“That is the case surely,” said Azya.
“And there is another point,” continued Pan Gorzenski; “the reports did not come directly through partisans, but peasants brought them; the Tartars here began to talk without evident reason. Three days ago Pan Yakubovich brought in from the steppes the first informants who confirmed the reports, and all the cavalry marched out immediately.”
“Then you are here with infantry only?” inquired Azya.
“God pity us!—forty men! There is hardly anyone to guard the fortalice; and if the Tartars living here in Mohiloff were to rise, I know not how I could defend myself.”
“But why do they not rise against you?” inquired Basia.
“They do not, because they cannot in any way. Many of them live permanently in the Commonwealth with their wives and children, and they are on our side. As to strangers, they are here for commerce, not for war; they are good people.”
“I will leave your grace fifty horse from my force,” said Azya.
“God reward! You will oblige me greatly by this, for I shall have someone to send out to get intelligence. But can you leave them?”
“I can. We shall have in Rashkoff the parties of those captains who in their time went over to the Sultan, but now wish to resume obedience to the Commonwealth. Krychinski will bring three hundred horse certainly; and perhaps Adurovich, too, will come; others will arrive later. I am to take command over all by order of the hetman, and before spring a whole division will be assembled.”
Pan Gorzenski inclined before Azya. He had known him for a long time, but had had small esteem for him, as being a man of doubtful origin. But knowing now that he was the son of Tugai Bey, for an account of this had been brought by the recent caravan in which Naviragh was travelling, Gorzenski honored in the young Tartar the blood of a great though hostile warrior; he honored in him, besides, an officer to whom the hetman had confided such significant functions.
Azya went out to give orders, and calling the sotnik David, said—
“David, son of Skander, thou wilt remain in Mohiloff with fifty horse. Thou wilt see with thy eyes and hear with thy ears what is happening around thee. If the Little Falcon in Hreptyoff sends letters to me, thou wilt stop his messenger, take the letters from him, and send them with thy own man. Thou wilt remain here till I send an order to withdraw. If my messenger says, ‘It is night,’ thou wilt go out in peace; but if he says, ‘Day is near,’ thou wilt burn the place, cross to the Moldavian bank, and go whither I command thee.”
“Thou hast spoken,” answered David; “I will see with my eyes and hear with my ears; I will stop messengers from the Little Falcon, and when I have taken letters from them I will send those letters through our man to thee. I will remain till I receive an order; and if the messenger says to me, ‘It is night,’ I will go out quietly; if he says, ‘Day is near,’ I will burn the place, cross to the Moldavian bank, and go whither the command directs.”
Next morning the caravan, less by fifty horse, continued the journey. Pan Gorzenski escorted Basia beyond the ravine of Mohiloff. There, after he had stuttered forth a farewell oration, he returned to Mohiloff, and they went on toward Yampol very hurriedly. Azya was unusually joyful, and urged his men to a degree that astonished Basia.
“Why are you in such haste?” inquired she.
“Every man hastens to happiness,” answered Azya, “and mine will begin in Rashkoff.”
Eva, taking these words to herself, smiled tenderly, and collecting courage, answered, “But my father?”
“Pan Novoveski will obstruct me in nothing,” answered the Tartar, and gloomy lightning flashed through his face.
In Yampol they found almost no troops. There had never been any infantry there, and nearly all the cavalry had gone; barely a few men remained in the castle, or rather in the ruins of it. Lodgings were prepared, but Basia slept badly, for those rumors had begun to disturb her. She pondered over this especially—how alarmed the little knight would be should it turn out that one of Doroshenko’s chambuls had advanced really; but she strengthened herself with the thought that it might be untrue. It occurred to her whether it would not be better to return, taking for safety a part of Azya’s soldiers; but various obstacles presented themselves. First, Azya, having to increase the garrison at Rashkoff, could give only a small guard, hence, in case of real danger, that guard might prove insufficient; secondly, two thirds of the road was passed already; in Rashkoff there was an officer known to her, and a strong garrison, which, increased by Azya’s detachment and by the companies of those captains, might grow to a power quite important. Taking all this into consideration, Basia determined to journey farther.
But she could not sleep. For the first time during that journey alarm seized her, as if unknown danger were hanging over
