In truth, his calmness was only apparent. There was no resignation whatever in his soul, and at the first glance it was evident to any man that under the torpor there was something ominous and terrible, and, should it break forth, that giant would do something awful, just as a wild element would. That was as if written on his forehead explicitly, so that even his friends approached him with a certain timidity; in talking with him, they avoided reference to the past.
The sight of Basia in Hreptyoff opened closed wounds in him, for while kissing her hands in greeting, he began to groan like an aurochs that is mortally wounded, his eyes became bloodshot, and the veins in his neck swelled to the size of cords. When Basia, in tears and affectionate as a mother, pressed his head with her hands, he fell at her feet, and could not rise for a long time. But when he heard what kind of office the hetman had given him, he became greatly enlivened; a gleam of ominous joy flashed up in his face, and he said—
“I will do that, I will do more!”
“And if you meet that mad dog, give him a skinning!” put in Zagloba.
Pan Adam did not answer at once; he only looked at Zagloba; sudden bewilderment shone in his eyes; he rose and began to go toward the old noble, as if he wished to rush at him.
“Do you believe,” said he, “that I have never done evil to that man, and that I have always been kind to him?”
“I believe, I believe!” said Zagloba, pushing behind the little knight hurriedly. “I would go myself with you, but the gout bites my feet.”
“Novoveski,” asked the little knight, “when do you wish to start?”
“Tonight.”
“I will give you a hundred dragoons. I will remain here myself with another hundred and the infantry. Go to the square!”
They went out to give orders. Zydor Lusnia was waiting at the threshold, straightened out like a string. News of the expedition had spread already through the square; the sergeant therefore, in his own name and the name of his company, began to beg the little colonel to let him go with Pan Adam.
“How is this? Do you want to leave me?” asked the astonished Volodyovski.
“Pan Commandant, we made a vow against that son of a such a one; and perhaps he may come into our hands.”
“True! Pan Zagloba has told me of that,” answered the little knight.
Lusnia turned to Novoveski—
“Pan Commandant!”
“What is your wish?”
“If we get him, may I take care of him?”
Such a fierce, beastly venom was depicted on the face of the Mazovian that Novoveski inclined at once to Volodyovski, and said entreatingly—
“Your grace, let me have this man!”
Pan Michael did not think of refusing; and that same evening, about dusk, a hundred horsemen, with Novoveski at their head, set out on the journey.
They marched by the usual road through Mohiloff and Yampol. In Yampol they met the former garrison of Rashkoff, from which two hundred men joined Novoveski by order of the hetman; the rest, under command of Pan Byaloglovski, were to go to Mohiloff, where Pan Bogush was stationed. Pan Adam marched to Rashkoff.
The environs of Rashkoff were a thorough waste; the town itself had been turned into a pile of ashes, which the winds had blown to the four sides of the world; its scant number of inhabitants had fled before the expected storm. It was already the beginning of May, and the Dobrudja horde might show itself at any time; therefore it was unsafe to remain in those regions. In fact, the hordes were with the Turks, on the plain of Kuchunkaury; but men around Rashkoff had no knowledge of that, therefore every one of the former inhabitants, who had escaped the last slaughter, carried off his head in good season whithersoever seemed best to him.
Along the road Lusnia was framing plans and stratagems, which in his opinion Pan Adam should adopt if he wished to outwit the enemy in fact and successfully. He detailed these ideas to the soldiers with graciousness.
“You know nothing of this matter, horse-skulls,” said he; “but I am old, I know. We will go to Rashkoff; we will hide there and wait. The horde will come to the crossing; small parties will cross first, as is their custom, because the chambul stops and waits till they tell if ’tis safe; then we will slip out and drive them before us to Kamenyets.”
“But in this way we may not get that dog brother,” remarked one of the men in the ranks.
“Shut your mouth!” said Lusnia. “Who will go in the vanguard if not the Lithuanian Tartars?”
In fact, the previsions of the sergeant seemed to be coming true. When he reached Rashkoff Pan Adam gave the soldiers rest. All felt certain that they would go next to the caves, of which there were many in the neighborhood, and hide there till the first parties of the enemy appeared. But the second day of their stay the commandant brought the squadron to its feet, and led it beyond Rashkoff.
“Are we going to Yagorlik, or what?” asked the sergeant in his mind.
Meanwhile they approached the river just beyond Rashkoff, and a few “Our
