A week after the departure of Anusia with Kotchyts, Sapyeha’s camp was
still at Byala. Kmita, with the Tartars, was ordered to the
neighborhood of Rokitno; he was resting too, for the horses needed food
and rest after the long road. Prince Michael Kazimir Radzivill, the
owner of the place by inheritance, came also to Byala; he was a
powerful magnate of the Nyesvyej branch of Radzivills, of whom it was
said that they had inherited from the Kishkis alone seventy towns and
four hundred villages. This Radzivill resembled in nothing his kinsmen
of Birji. Not less ambitious perhaps than they, but differing in faith,
an ardent patriot, and an adherent of the lawful king, he joined with
his whole soul the confederacy of Tyshovtsi, and strengthened it as
best he could. His immense possessions were, it is true, greatly
ravaged by the last war, but still he stood at the head of considerable
forces and brought the hetman no small aid.
Not so much, however, did the number of his soldiers weigh in the
balance as the fact that Radzivill stood against Radzivill; in this way
the last seeming of justice was taken from Boguslav, and his acts were
covered with the open character of invasion and treason.
Therefore Sapyeha saw Prince Michael in his camp with delight. He was
certain now that he would overcome Boguslav, for he surpassed him much
in power; but according to his custom he weighed his plans slowly,
stopped, considered, and summoned councils of officers.
Kmita also was at these councils. He so hated the name Radzivill that
at first sight of Prince Michael he trembled from anger and rage; but
Michael knew how to win people by his countenance alone, on which
beauty was united with kindness. The great qualities of this Radzivill,
the grievous times which he had recently passed while defending the
country from Zolotarenko and Serobryani, his genuine love for the king,
made him one of the most honorable cavaliers of his time. His very
presence in the camp of Sapyeha, the rival of the house of Radzivill,
testified how far the young prince knew how to sacrifice private to
public affairs. Whoso knew him was forced to love him. This feeling
could not be resisted even by the passionate Kmita, despite his first
opposition.
Finally the prince captivated the heart of Pan Andrei by his advice.
This advice was not merely to move against Boguslav, but to move
without negotiations, to dash upon him at once: “Do not let him take
castles; give him neither rest nor chance to draw breath; make war upon
him with his own method.” In such decision the prince saw speedy and
certain victory.
“It cannot be that Karl Gustav has not moved also; we must have our
hands free, therefore, as soon as possible, and hasten to succor
Charnyetski.”
Of the same opinion was Kmita, who had been fighting three days with
his old evil habit of self-will so as to restrain himself from
advancing without orders.
But Sapyeha liked to act with certainty, he feared every inconsiderate
step; therefore he determined to wait for surer intelligence.
And the hetman had his reasons. The reported expedition of Boguslav
against Podlyasye might be only a snare, a trick of war. Perhaps it was
a feigned expedition with small forces, to prevent the junction of
Sapyeha with the king. That done, Boguslav would escape from before
Sapyeha, receiving battle nowhere, or delaying; but meanwhile Karl
Gustav with the elector would strike Charnyetski, crush him with
superior forces, move against the king himself, and smother the work in
its inception,—the work of defence created by the glorious example of
Chenstohova. Sapyeha was not only a leader, but a statesman. He
explained his reasons with power at the councils, so that even Kmita
was forced in his soul to agree with him. First of all, it was
incumbent to know what course to take. If Boguslav’s invasion proved to
be merely a trick, it was sufficient to send a number of squadrons
against him, and move with all speed to Charnyetski against the chief
power of the enemy. The hetman might leave boldly a few or even more
squadrons, for his forces were not all around Byala. Young Pan
Krishtof, or the so-called Kryshtofek Sapyeha, was posted with two
light squadrons and a regiment of infantry at Yavorov; Horotkyevich was
moving around Tykotsin, having under him half a dragoon regiment very
well trained, and five hundred volunteers, besides a light horse
squadron named for Sapyeha; and in Byalystok were land infantry.
These forces would more than suffice to stand against Boguslav, if he
had only a few hundred horses.
But the clear-sighted hetman sent couriers in every direction and
waited for tidings.
At last tidings came; but like thunderbolts, and all the more so that
by a peculiar concurrence of circumstances all came in one evening.
They were just at council in the castle of Byala when an officer of
orderlies entered and gave a letter to the hetman. Barely had the
hetman cast eyes on it when he changed in the face and said,—
“My relative is cut to pieces at Yavorov by Boguslav himself; hardly
has he escaped with his life.”
A moment of silence followed.
“The letter is written in Bransk, in fright and confusion,” said he;
“therefore it contains not a word touching Boguslav’s power, which
must, I think, be considerable, since, as I read, two squadrons and a
regiment of infantry are cut to pieces. It must be, however, that
Boguslav fell on them unawares. The letter gives nothing positive.”
“I am certain now,” said Prince Michael, “that Boguslav wants to seize
all Podlyasye, so as to make of it a separate or feudal possession in
the treaties. Therefore he has surely come with as much power as he
could possibly get. I have no other proofs save a knowledge of
Boguslav. He cares neither for the Swedes nor the Brandenburgers, only
for himself. He is an uncommon warrior, who trusts in his fortunate
star. He wants to win a province, to avenge Yanush, to cover himself
with glory; and to do this he must have a corresponding power, and has
it, otherwise he would not march on us.”
“For everything the blessing of God is indispensable,” said Oskyerko;
“and the blessing is with us!”
“Serene great mighty hetman,” said Kmita, “information is needed. Let
me loose from the leash with my Tartars, and I will bring you
information.”
Oskyerko, who had been admitted to the secret and knew who Babinich
was, supported the proposal at once and with vigor.
“As God is good to me, that is the best idea in the world! Such a man
is needed there, and such troops. If only the horses are rested.”
Here Oskyerko was stopped, for the officer of orderlies entered the
room again.
“Serene great mighty hetman!” said he.
Sapyeha slapped his knees and exclaimed. “They have news! Admit them.”
After a while two light-horsemen entered, tattered and muddy.
“From Horotkyevich?” asked Sapyeha.
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?”
“Killed, or if not killed, we know not where he is.”
The hetman rose, but sat down again and inquired calmly,—
“Where is the squadron?”
“Swept away by Prince Boguslav.”
“Were many lost?”
“We were cut to pieces; maybe a few were left who were taken captive
like us. Some say that the colonel escaped; but that he is wounded I
saw myself. We escaped from captivity.”
“Where were you attacked?”
“At Tykotsin.”
“Why did you not go inside the walls, not being in force?”
“Tykotsin is taken.”
The hetman covered his eyes for a moment with his hand, then he began
to pass his hand over his forehead.
“Is there a large force with Boguslav?”
“Four thousand cavalry, besides infantry and cannon; the infantry very
well trained. The cavalry moved forward, taking us with them; but
luckily we escaped.”
“Whence did you escape?”
“From Drohichyn.”
Sapyeha opened wide his eyes. “You are drunk. How could Boguslav come
to Drohichyn? When did he defeat you?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“And is he in Drohichyn?”
“His scouting-parties are. He remained in the rear himself, for some
convoy is captured which Pan Kotchyts was conducting.”
“He was conducting Panna Borzobogati!” cried Kmita.
A silence followed. Boguslav’s success, and so sudden, had confused the
officers beyond measure. All thought in their hearts that the hetman
was to blame for delay, but no one dared say so aloud.
Sapyeha, however, felt that he had done what was proper, and had acted
wisely. Therefore he recovered first from the surprise, sent out the
men with a wave of his hand, and said,—
“These are ordinary incidents of war, which should confuse no one. Do
not think, gentlemen, that we have suffered any defeat. Those regiments
are a loss surely; but the loss might have been a hundred times greater
if Boguslav had enticed us to a distant province. He is coming to us.
We will go out to meet him like hospitable hosts.”
Here he turned to the colonels: “According to my orders all must be
ready to move?”
“They are ready,” said Oskyerko. “Only saddle the horses and sound the
trumpet.”
“Sound it to-day. We move in the morning at dawn, without fail. Pan
Babinich will gallop ahead with his Tartars, and seize with all haste
informants.”
Kmita had barely heard this when he was outside the door, and a moment
later hurrying on as his horse could gallop to Rokitno.
And Sapyeha also did not delay long.
It was still night when the trumpets gave out their prolonged sounds;
then cavalry and infantry poured forth into the field; after them
stretched a long train of squeaking wagons. The first gleams of day
were reflected on musket-barrels and spear-points.
And they marched, regiment after regiment, squadron after squadron, in
great regularity. The cavalry sang their matins, and the horses snorted
sharply in the morning coolness, from which the soldiers predicted sure
victory for themselves.
Their hearts were full of consolation; for the knighthood knew from
experience that Sapyeha weighed everything, that he labored with his
head, that he considered every undertaking from both sides, that when
he began a thing he would finish it, and when he moved he would strike.
At Rokitno the lairs of the Tartars were cold; they had gone the night
before, hence must have pushed far in advance. It surprised Sapyeha
that along the road it was difficult to learn anything of them, though
the division, numbering, with volunteers, several hundred, could not
pass without being seen.
The most experienced officers wondered greatly at this march, and at
Pan Babinich for being able to lead in such fashion.
“Like a wolf he goes through the willows, and like a wolf he will
bite,” said they; “he is as if born for the work.”
But Oskyerko, who, as has been said, knew who Babinich was, said to
Sapyeha,—
“It was not for nothing that Hovanski put a price on his head. God will
give victory to whom he chooses; but this is sure, that war with us
will soon be bitter for Boguslav.”
“But it is a pity that Babinich has vanished as if he had fallen into
water,” answered the hetman.
Three days passed without tidings. Sapyeha’s main forces had reached
Drohichyn, had crossed the Bug, and found no enemy in front. The hetman
began to be disturbed. According to the statements of the light horse,
Boguslav’s scouts had reached Drohichyn; it was evident therefore that
Boguslav had determined to withdraw. But what was the meaning of this
withdrawal? Had Boguslav learned that Sapyeha’s forces were superior,
and was he afraid to measure strength with him, or did he wish to
entice the hetman far toward the north, to lighten for the King of
Sweden his attack on Charnyetski and the hetmans of the kingdom?
Babinich was to find an informant and let the hetman know. The reports
of the light horse as to the number of Boguslav’s troops might be
erroneous; hence the need of precise information at the earliest.
Meanwhile five days more passed, and Babinich gave no account of
himself. Spring was coming; the days were growing warmer; the snow was
melting. The neighborhoods were being covered with water, under which
were sleeping morasses which hindered the march in an unheard of
degree. The greater part of the cannons and wagons the hetman had to
leave in Drohichyn, and go farther on horseback. Hence great
inconvenience and murmuring, especially among the general militia. In
Bransk they came upon such mud that even the infantry could not march
farther. The hetman collected on the road horses from peasants and
small nobles, and seated musketeers on them. The light cavalry took
others; but they had gone too far already, and the hetman understood
that only one thing remained,—to advance with all speed.
Boguslav retreated unceasingly. Along the road they found continual
traces of him in villages burned here and there, in corpses of men
hanging on trees. The small local nobles came every little while with
information to Sapyeha; but the truth was lost, as is usual in
contradictory statements. One saw a single squadron, and swore that the
prince had no more troops; another saw two; a third three, a fourth an
army five miles long. In a word they were fables such as men tell who
know nothing of armies or war.
They had seen Tartars, too, here and there; but the stories concerning
them seemed most improbable, for it was said that they were seen not
behind the prince’s army, but in front, marching ahead. Sapyeha panted
angrily when any one mentioned Babinich in his presence, and he said to
Oskyerko,—
“You overrated him. In an evil hour I sent away Volodyovski, for if he
were here I should have had long ago as many informants as I need; but
Babinich is a whirlwind, or even worse. Who knows, he may in truth have
joined Boguslav and be marching in the vanguard.”
Oskyerko himself did not know what to think. Meanwhile another week
passed; the army had come to Byalystok.
It was midday.
Two hours later the vanguard gave notice that some detachment was
approaching.
“It may be Babinich!” cried the hetman. “I’ll give him _Pater Noster!_”
It was not Babinich himself. But in the camp there rose such commotion
over the arrival of this detachment that Sapyeha went out to see what
was taking place.
Meanwhile officers from different squadrons flew in, crying,—
“From Babinich! Prisoners! A whole band! He seized a crowd of men!”
Indeed the hetman saw a number of tens of men on poor, ragged horses.
Babinich’s Tartars drove nearly three hundred men with bound hands,
beating them with bullock-skin whips. The prisoners presented a
terrible sight. They were rather shadows than men. With torn clothing,
half naked, so poor that the bones were pushing through their skin,
bloody, they marched half alive, indifferent to all things, even to the
whistle of the whips which cut them, and to the wild shouts of the
Tartars.
“What kind of men are they?” asked the hetman.
“Boguslav’s troops!” answered one of Kmita’s volunteers who had brought
the prisoners together with the Tartars.
“But where did you get so many?”
“Nearly half as many more fell on the road, from exhaustion.”
With this an old Tartar, a sergeant in the horde, approached, and
beating with the forehead, gave a letter from Kmita to Sapyeha.
The hetman, without delay, broke the seal and began to read aloud:—
“Serene great mighty hetman! If I have sent neither news nor informants
with news hitherto, it is because I went in front, and not in the rear
of Prince Boguslav’s army, and I wished to learn the most possible.”
The hetman stopped reading.
“That is a devil!” said he. “Instead of following the prince, he went
ahead of him.”
“May the bullets strike him!” added Oskyerko, in an undertone.
The hetman read on.
“It was dangerous work, as Boguslav’s scouts marched in a wide front;
but after I had cut down two parties and spared none. I worked to the
van of the army, from which movement great confusion came upon the
prince, for he fell to thinking at once that he was surrounded, and as
it were was crawling into a trap.”
“That is the reason of this unexpected withdrawal!” cried the hetman.
“A devil, a genuine devil!” He read on with still more curiosity,—
“The prince, not understanding what had happened, began to lose his
head, and sent out party after party, which we cut up notably, so that
none of them returned in the same number. Marching in advance, we
seized provisions, cut dams, destroyed bridges, so that Boguslav’s men
advanced with great trouble, neither sleeping nor eating, having rest
neither day nor night. They could not stir from the camp, for the
Tartars seized the unwary; and when the camp was sleeping, the Tartars
howled terribly in the willows; so the enemy, thinking that a great
army was moving on them, had to stand under arms all night. The prince
was brought to great despair, not knowing what to begin, where to go,
how to turn,—for this reason it is needful to march on him quickly,
before his fear passes. He had six thousand troops, but has lost nearly
a thousand. His horses are dying. His cavalry is good; his infantry is
passable; God, however, has granted that from day to day it decreases,
and if our army comes up it will fly apart. I seized in Byalystok the
prince’s carriages, some of his provision chests and things of value,
with two cannons; but I was forced to throw most of these into the
river. The traitor from continual rage has grown seriously ill, and is
barely able to sit on his horse; fever leaves him neither night nor
day. Panna Borzobogati is taken, but being ill the prince can make no
attack on her honor. These reports, with the account of Boguslav’s
desperation, I got from the prisoners whom my Tartars touched up with
fire, and who if they are touched again will repeat the truth. Now I
commend my obedient services to you, serene great mighty hetman,
begging for forgiveness if I have erred, the Tartars are good fellows,
and seeing a world of plunder, serve marvellously.”
“Serene great mighty lord,” said Oskyerko, “now you surely regret less
that Volodyovski is away, for he could not equal this devil incarnate.
Oh, he is an ambitious piece; he even hurled the truth into the eyes of
Prince Yanush, not caring whether it was pleasant or unpleasant for
that hetman to hear it. This was his style with Hovanski, but Hovanski
had fifteen times more troops.”
“If that is true, we need to advance at the greatest speed,” said
Sapyeha.
“Before the prince can collect his wits.”
“Let us move on, by the dear God! Babinich will cut the dams, and we
will overtake Boguslav!”
Meanwhile the prisoners, whom the Tartars had kept in a group in front
of Sapyeha, seeing the hetman, fell to groaning and weeping, showing
their misery and calling for mercy in various tongues; for there were
among them Swedes, Germans, and the Scottish guards of Prince Boguslav.
Sapyeha took them from the Tartars, and gave command to feed them and
take their testimony without torture. Their statements confirmed the
truth of Kmita’s words; therefore the rest of Sapyeha’s army advanced
at great speed.