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MAZEPPA
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Crown 8vo. cloth, gilt top, 6_s._
A FORBIDDEN NAME.
‘We have to congratulate the author upon a thoroughly competent piece of
work. The style is good and without affectations; the principal
characters are drawn with a due regard for both the strength and
shortcomings of human nature, and are conducted through their allotted
parts with sympathy, consistency, and intelligence, whilst the parts
allotted to them are such as to present dilemmas to each in his or her
turn, and therefore to keep the author’s brain busy and the reader’s
interested.... As good a novel of its kind as we expect to see for some
time.’--MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.
‘A well-thought-out study of unrest and political intrigue in the
Russian capital soon after the death of the great Peter.... Alike in
matter as in manner the novel is one of notable merit, and will be read
with the greatest interest.’--SCOTSMAN.
‘If you care for an historical novel of a time and of a country which
have lain almost fallow in spite of their wealth of material, I can
recommend to you Mr. Fred. Whishaw’s “A Forbidden Name.” ... Whether
Catherine was capable of the magnanimity she shows ... readers in their
breathless interest in the tale will hardly stop to ask.’--TRUTH.
‘“A Forbidden Name” involves a good deal of free but effective handling
of Russian Court history during the later decades of the last
century.’--SPECTATOR.
‘The pathos and historic interest of the book can be enjoyed in their
full measure.’--DAILY EXPRESS.
‘The theme is well handled.’--ATHENÆUM.
‘The style is pleasant and easy.’--MORNING LEADER.
‘Mr. Whishaw is an expert concocter of historical-adventure stories....
The story is well compacted of love, politics, and fighting.’--ACADEMY.
‘Mr. Fred. Whishaw’s customary skill in telling Russian stories has not
deserted him in “A Forbidden Name.” ... The tale is brightly written,
and contains much thrilling incident.’--DAILY TELEGRAPH.
‘Mr. Whishaw may always be counted upon to speed a passing
hour.’--GLASGOW HERALD.
‘A stirring tale, told in the vigorous and graphic style characteristic
of the writer.’--WESTERN MAIL.
‘Full of adventure.’--ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS.
‘The book is well written and is capital reading.’--DAILY NEWS.
‘There is excitement enough in it to satisfy the most exacting reader,
yet its most thrilling incident never exceeds the bounds of possibility.
It is a volume all lovers of the semi-historical novel of adventure will
revel in.’--LLOYD’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER.
‘A good lively tale of adventure.’--LITERATURE.
‘It is well told, full of spirit, and the fighting parts are nothing if
not realistic.--SATURDAY REVIEW.
‘A most excellently narrated drama.... We can thoroughly recommend Mr.
Whishaw’s able and interesting novel to the reader who likes artistic
workmanship as much as stirring incident and drama.’--VANITY FAIR.
‘A capital story.’--MIDDLESEX GAZETTE.
‘The plot is at once stirring and pathetic. Mr. Whishaw has produced an
unusually good book.’--GUARDIAN.
‘The story is well told.’--LITERARY WORLD.
London: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 St. Martin’s Lane, W.C.
MAZEPPA
BY
FRED. WHISHAW
AUTHOR OF ‘A FORBIDDEN NAME’ ETC.
[Illustration: colophon]
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1902
PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. LTD., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON
MAZEPPA
CHAPTER I
I will begin my story from the moment when, at the age of sixteen, my
destiny first came more directly in touch with that of Mazeppa, my
cousin in the third degree and my compatriot. My father was Chelminsky,
a captain under the renowned Hmelnisky, a great and honoured name among
Cossacks; for under his leadership our tribes threw off the yoke of the
Polish King and became once more independent, as Cossacks should for
ever be.
Mazeppa’s father and mine were relatives, rivals, and near neighbours.
The same may be said of Mazeppa and myself, for together we entered
service as pages at the Court of John Casimir of Poland, and together we
left it. Also, as I shall presently show, we were in after life in
constant rivalry--whether as lovers, as leaders of our compatriots, or
in any other capacity.
Our home was in Volhynia, near the borders of Poland and of the
Ukraine, and our estates were distant but three or four leagues from one
another: thus as youths Mazeppa and I met occasionally, though not very
frequently. Our educations differed considerably, for my cousin’s tutor
was a cultured Pole who held, and made no secret of his opinion, that
the training of the mind is of greater importance in the life of a man
than the training of the body, supposing that a youth must make his own
way in the world. Therefore Mazeppa was brought up as a clerk, though
possessing strength and activity of body which made easy for him the
acquisition of skill in manly exercises; while my father preferred that
I should be made a soldier, a horseman, a swordsman--in a word, that I
should become a true Cossack.
Nevertheless, when Mazeppa was sent as page to the Polish Court, my
father being dead by that time, my mother wished that I should go also,
in order to acquaint myself with the ways of princes and courtiers, and
attain a knowledge of life in high places. The King being at this time
anxious to oblige the Cossack nation, there was little difficulty in
securing employment for us.
Neither Mazeppa nor I were popular among the Polish youths at Court,
though I may say that the ladies were less disposed to cavil at us.
We were Russian, we were told, though we stoutly denied the fact, and
Russians were to the Poles at this time as the sun to the ice. The
Cossacks, emancipated by our great leader, with my father and others,
had lately found it difficult to stand alone, and being obliged to
choose for support between Russian, Turk and Pole, had chosen the
former. We were therefore, strictly speaking, under allegiance to the
Tsar. Moreover, we were of the Orthodox religion; hence, though actually
and jealously Cossack in nationality, we were, in a sense, and as our
Polish companions loved to assure us, Russians. This was a constant
source of quarrel between us and them, and in the end was the immediate
cause of our departure from the Court of John Casimir.
In this quarrel, which I shall now describe, I was of course upon the
side of Mazeppa; so that our connection began not in rivalry but in
friendship, and for a while after this event we remained the closest of
friends, and if there was any feeling of rivalry it did not show itself.
It was I that had made a swordsman of Mazeppa, which is a proud boast;
for indeed--thanks to the instruction and practice which I gave to him
during the earlier days of our life at Court--he became a very expert
handler of the foils--a pupil of whom any master might justly be proud.
The fatal quarrel was none of our seeking, but we were of an age when to
fight is as natural as to breathe or to eat, though in the Court of King
John Casimir personal encounters were not encouraged--were, indeed,
strictly forbidden--a fact which rendered indulgence in the pastime a
dangerous luxury.
There were five of us pages, all lads of sixteen, and at certain hours
of the day it was our duty to assemble in the ante-room appointed to our
use, and there to await His Majesty’s pleasure.
On this day we five loitered long and wearily; and the King not
appearing, and we having nothing better to do, we took to
quarrelling--the three young Polish blades forming one party and we two
Cossack youths the other.
I must confess that it was generally I who was at the bottom of the
disputes in which we constantly engaged, though usually without coming
to blows. Mazeppa was, perhaps, as independent in spirit and as
quarrelsome as I, at heart, but his manners were better: he was more of
a courtier than I, and also more cautious and less frank; but his tongue
when he used it bit very deeply.
‘Here come the Russians,’ said one of the Poles, ‘entering the room as
though it were their own property.’
‘Only Russians since the Cossacks overthrew the Poles,’ replied I,
cruelly throwing in his teeth for the hundredth time the victory of my
father and his Cossacks.
‘Poor Cossacks that cannot stand on their own legs!’ laughed
Vladimirsky, one of the three Poles, ‘but must for ever hold hands with
Pole or Russian, lest they fall for lack of support.’
‘Who supported us when we thrashed you at Moldávetz?’ said I. ‘Moreover,
it is better to be allied with a bear than a fox, though I protest we
require neither, and it is certain that we hate both.’
‘Peace, Chelminsky,’ said Mazeppa, ‘this conversation grows stale, we
have heard it so often! Vladimirsky will never learn the difference
between a Russian and a Cossack: he is short of understanding, for which
we may blame his parents, but scarcely himself.’
‘I will tell you,’ began Zofsky, another of them, ‘of what these two
fellows most remind me, Vladimirsky. They remind me of a Russian bear
and his keeper that I saw last spring in a street in the city. The bear
was a fierce, ill-mannered brute--another Chelminsky--while the keeper,
who constantly kept him in check lest he should get himself into
trouble by his stupidity and ruthlessness, was Mazeppa.’
‘Did the bear, then, fall upon those of the crowd who baited or laughed
at him?’ said I, feigning a coolness which I did not feel.
‘When he showed signs of doing so, for the fool did not know that any
one of the bystanders could have smashed his head with an axe.
Mazeppa--I should say the keeper--interfered and pulled at the chain
which was fastened to the nose of the rash and foolish beast.’
‘One day,’ I said, ‘that bear will show that he is not for ever to be
baited with impunity; he will fall upon some fool that is taunting him,
and maybe his keeper will not prevent him from teaching his enemies a
lesson.’
‘That would be an unfortunate day for both bear and keeper,’ laughed
Zofsky, ‘for they would gain nothing better than broken heads.’
‘Let us play at bear and bystander!’ said I, and in spite of Mazeppa,
who cried, ‘Hush, Chelminsky,’ and of the others, who stepped forward to
interfere, I administered a couple of quick buffets, one on Zofsky’s
right cheek and the other on his left, and in a moment all five of our
swords flew out of their scabbards, and there was promise of a good
battle--three Poles to us two Cossacks.
The battle actually began.
Zofsky, red in the face and furious, sprang towards me, and our swords
clashed. Mazeppa, with his left arm, pressed me gently backwards until I
stood beside him, back to the wall, I defending myself, meanwhile,
against Zofsky’s onslaught.
‘Against odds,’ Mazeppa said, ‘it is better to have no one behind us,
and especially,’ he added, glancing at our three opponents, ‘when we
have Poles for adversaries.’
At this the three sprang angrily upon us, and for a minute or two there
was quite a din of clashing swords, so that we did not know that the
door of the King’s cabinet had opened and the King himself had entered
the ante-room.
His stern voice was heard quickly enough, and with lightning speed our
weapons found scabbards, and we stood, all five, with hanging heads and
flushed faces.
For a moment the King was silent. Doubtless he looked sternly upon each
one of us, but I think not an eye was raised to meet his. Certainly my
own gazed only upon the toe of my shoe.
‘I am amazed!’ said the King, very distinctly. ‘Are you, gentlemen, in
ignorance of the King’s commands in respect to quarrelling?’
No one replied.
‘Speak you, Vladimirsky’ said the King.
‘Pardon, Majesty,’ said Vladimirsky, ‘I have not the plea of ignorance.’
‘And you, Zofsky?’
‘I was struck first, Majesty,’ said Zofsky; ‘my anger carried me away: I
am guilty.’
‘Struck? Within the precincts of my Court? And by whom?’ thundered the
King.
‘By me, Majesty,’ I said, ‘whom he first insulted in a manner which it
was impossible to tolerate!’
‘Impossible? And yet it is possible to disobey the King’s command! What
say you, Mazeppa?’
‘We were attacked, Majesty,’ said Mazeppa; ‘it is the instinct of our
race to stand by one another. I could not see Chelminsky cut to pieces
before my eyes.’
‘Indeed,’ said the King, very sternly; ‘if that be so, go fight one
another’s battles where you will for the future. I will have no
spitfires in my Court; go, both of you, whence you came. Let me see your
faces no more. As for you others, your case shall be considered.’
Then Zofsky behaved in a manner I should not have expected, for he stood
forth and boldly told the King that it might be he and Vladimirsky were
more to blame in this matter than we, since they had, indeed, provoked
us in a manner that no honourable man could tolerate. But the honest
fellow did no service to his cause, for the King flew into a passion and
chased from his Court both Zofsky and Vladimirsky, who might otherwise
have been forgiven as well as our two selves, so that of his five pages
only one remained to him. What became of these young Poles I have never
heard and have never inquired; enough that the career of Mazeppa and
myself was ended in so far as concerned the Court of Poland. We retired
into Volhynia with hearts abashed and heavy, somewhat sullen, and much
depressed in spirit, for both of us were ambitious, and indeed it seemed
as though our prospects were irretrievably ruined.