See us now at the headquarters of the Hetman or chief of the Registered
Cossacks, by name Doroshenko. These Registered Cossacks are they whose
names are entered in the book as adherents of the King of Poland: they
are thus distinguished from those others who espouse the cause of the
Tsar of Russia. It was Mazeppa who so quickly found a new career for
both of us, and that by his amazing assurance; for he rode straight to
the Court of the Hetman (who holds his head, be it remembered, as high
as the Polish King himself, though in a measure his vassal), and
demanded employment, stating our names and the places we came from, but
preserving silence--be sure--upon the reason for our leaving home.
‘Which is Chelminsky?’ asked the Hetman, and learning that it was I,
‘What, the son of our good captain, under Hmelnisky?’ he asked with
interest.
I blushed, and said that so it was.
‘Then I say that none have a better right to demand service among us
here,’ said he, taking me by the hand. ‘You shall find a good friend in
me, my man,’ he added kindly, ‘and if you are like your father we shall
be glad of you indeed! I do not know your name, Pan Mazeppa, but you
seem to be one who goes with his eyes open.’
‘You will find that Mazeppa’s eyes never shut, Hetman,’ I said; ‘be wise
and take him into your special service. He can do many things besides
ride and use a sword, in which common accomplishments he excels.’
‘Is he a _gramatny_?’ asked the Hetman. ‘Can he write and read?’
‘I am as much clerk as soldier,’ said Mazeppa, ‘and I know figures.’
‘Come, then, that falls in well for both of us,’ said the Hetman, ‘for
my _peesar_ (secretary) died but a week since, and all these
fellows--though they are devils to fight and can write well with their
swords upon the body of an enemy--can wield a pen no more than ply a
needle. You shall be tried, sir, as _peesar_, and you, Chelminsky, shall
remain soldier.’
Thus Mazeppa first received employment in the country of which he was
destined to be the greatest of all, by virtue of his friendship with
myself--a matter which has given me cause for many reflections and for
some laughter. I to have been Mazeppa’s godfather in Cossack-land! and
he to have owed his first advancement to me! Lord! how oddly things
happen in this world.
As young men and leaders, for so we soon became, we did well among our
equals at the Hetman’s Court, and presently stood high in Doroshenko’s
favour.
With the ladies Mazeppa was ever popular: fickle and inconstant as water
was he, yet having some quality of attractiveness which drew female
hearts to him in spite of the fate which--it was to be seen--would
surely overtake those who trusted him. It may be that women did not take
him seriously, as at this time he certainly did not take them. At any
rate, he ever stood well with them. With the men he was not so popular,
though, for some reason, they seldom quarrelled with him. When they did
so they fared ill, for if it came to swords Mazeppa was as skilful as
any, and rarely received so liberally as he gave; while if matters went
before the Hetman, then Mazeppa’s tongue easily gained him the victory,
however weak his cause, for in craftiness and cleverness he was the
superior of all, and it so happened that those who offended him came
invariably to ill either immediately or soon, and either upon one plea
or another, so that men began to fear Mazeppa.
Occasionally we differed, he and I; but our quarrels were not serious,
for, though I began to know Mazeppa from this time somewhat better than
I had known him heretofore, or cared to show even now, yet I was fond of
him as my first friend, and he of me.
When Mazeppa was chosen, therefore, as ambassador or secret envoy of the
Hetman to the Turk in Constantinople, I was chosen by Mazeppa to
accompany him. We bore letters from the Hetman, who wrote, at Ian
Casimir’s request, suggesting a combined movement of Turk, Pole and
Cossack against the Russian Tsar, who grew aggressive.
But it happened that we never reached Constantinople, for before we had
been many days travelling we were fallen upon, at evening, by a body of
Russian Cossacks, who held us prisoners until we should have been
examined by their captain in the morning.
During the night, when our guards slept, Mazeppa nudged me.
‘Wake, Chelminsky,’ he said, ‘and eat this.’
‘I am not hungry,’ I replied wearily, ‘let me sleep.’
‘Eat, fool, and talk to-morrow,’ he said angrily, holding something out
to me. I took it: it was several small scraps of paper.
‘What is this jest?’ I asked. ‘This is not the time for fooling, but for
sleeping.’
‘It is no jest; this is part of the Hetman’s letter, which was concealed
in my boot. I have eaten much of it and can swallow no more; eat your
share: it must all go, and quickly.’
I swallowed a scrap or two of paper and choked. Mazeppa snatched the
rest of the torn letter and thrust it into his long boot. Two soldiers
awoke. Mazeppa clapped me upon the back.
‘He chokes for want of water!’ he said. ‘Give us a drink, friend, for
the love of Heaven. We are all Cossacks, though we swear by different
overlords!’
They gave us water, and Mazeppa drank also. Afterwards, when the fellows
were asleep again, I tried to swallow more pieces of the letter, but
made but a poor job of it. Mazeppa ate some of it, contriving to swallow
better than I had done. I hid the rest in my boot, intending to finish
it before daylight, and thought I had done so; but when we were
carefully examined at morning for letters or despatches, one small scrap
was found in my boot, and upon this scrap were treasonable words which
betrayed our mission.
‘Oho!’ said the Captain; ‘so you are envoys to the Turk? We have made
our capture, men! Come, you young gamecocks,’--to us--‘where is the rest
of the letter?’
‘Down our throats, most of it,’ said Mazeppa, laughing; ‘washed down by
the water which you kindly provided us withal.’
‘Come, reveal: what was in this letter?’ said the man. ‘You had better
disclose, or, who knows? we may rip you up to find the pieces. Which of
you swallowed the letter? This one, I’ll be sworn, since he is so
silent, and seeing, too, that a scrap was found in his boot.’ The
Captain nodded his head at me.
Mazeppa did not contradict. I have since thought that if it had come to
ripping us open in order to secure the letter, I should have been the
first and perhaps the only one to suffer. At that time I did not suspect
that Mazeppa would have allowed me to be the victim; the suspicion came
long afterwards, when I knew more of the man’s heart.
The fellows consulted, however, and determined to leave us to digest the
letter, whatever it might be.
‘It seems a serious matter,’ said the Captain; ‘and you shall be taken
to the Tsar’s Court at Moscow. They have ways there of getting men to
reveal what it is desirable to know.’
‘Take us to the devil if you will,’ laughed Mazeppa. ‘The Tsar shall
know just as much or just as little as we--who know nothing--can tell
him. It is easier to eat a sealed letter than to read it.’
‘It is easiest of all to tell what was in it, when the knout is at the
back!’ laughed the Captain. ‘We shall see what will happen, Mr.
Boastful.’
And so we were actually carried to Moscow to the Court of the Tsar, and
since we were not allowed to ride together, nor to speak a word to one
another on the way, I did not know what Mazeppa intended to do, or
whether he would reveal or conceal what he knew of the vanished letter,
or the object of our mission.
As for me I hoped, and prayed also, that I should be found courageous in
the time of trial, and that I should not be forced to betray our trust
under the anguish of the knout, which tears the flesh like the claws of
a bear.
But in this matter, as in every position of difficulty, Mazeppa, born
diplomatist and leader of men, found a way to escape--though not the
most honourable. Since this is an honest record, however, and not a
story drawn up for my own glorification or Mazeppa’s, I must admit that
I was so greatly relieved and delighted by our unhoped-for escape from
the knout or other torture, that I thought less of the end attained than
of the means employed to attain it!
We were confined separately in Moscow, and I was surprised one day
when--together with the jailor--Mazeppa entered my chamber.
‘We are free, Chelminsky,’ he said. ‘Come forth--we are in the Tsar’s
favour.’
‘But how--how and why--we who were his arch enemies, and caught in the
act of working for his disadvantage!’ I cried, hastening out of my
captivity, however, and following him quickly from the house as I spoke.
‘The Tsar Alexis is the strong man,’ said Mazeppa. ‘I was brought before
him and spoke with him, and I have discerned that it is so. From this
time we are no longer registered vassals of the Pole: we are Russians,
my friend, and shall henceforward offer our allegiance to the Tsar.’
‘Oh, Mazeppa!’ I exclaimed; ‘have you turned traitor and betrayed our
own kith?’
‘Bah! we are all Cossacks: those are not more our kith than these; your
own father fought the Poles--why not you?’
‘That was for independence, not for the Tsar!’ I groaned.
‘Well,’ said Mazeppa, somewhat disdainfully, ‘then refuse to be the
Tsar’s man. Go back and sit in your prison for a few years, if you
prefer it, or in a worse place; taste the knout and die of weariness of
your own society and the devil’s!’