All who have read thus far in my records must be already impressed by
the fact that I have told the varying tale of my destiny wheresoever it
crosses that of Mazeppa with strictest impartiality. One day I succeed
in having the better of him, another I am worsted by him; and on the
whole he out-foxes me, save, perhaps, in one important matter.
On this day of our appointed duel I must admit my utter defeat and
discomfiture. I was fooled, and worsted, and out-foxed, as, doubtless, I
deserved to be, for if I had acted in cold instead of hot blood I should
never have persuaded myself that Mazeppa would fight me.
When we came to the rendezvous in the place appointed, Bedinsky and I,
thinking--poor fools--to find our Mazeppa with one other, we found
Mazeppa, indeed, but attired as Hetman and attended by an escort of
fifty lances.
‘What is this fooling, Mazeppa?’ said I. ‘Send these fellows away, all
but one, and let us come to an issue.’
‘We shall come to an issue, Chelminsky, as soon--I doubt not--as will be
pleasing to you. Seize and disarm the rebels, officer.’
Then Bedinsky and I were suddenly pounced upon by a dozen men each and
overpowered. Our weapons were taken from us and we were bound to two
trees.
Then began a trial. An indictment was read: I, Chelminsky, had conspired
against the authority of the elected Hetman. I had formed a party of
revolution which should take the first opportunity to upset the
Government and elect a new Hetman, that Hetman to be Chelminsky.
Three witnesses were produced from Heaven knows where among the trees,
and these rascals, men whom I had believed to be on my side, described
how both I and Bedinsky and others--still to be arrested--had gone among
the people canvassing for supporters, promising reward and favour to all
those who would assist in ousting the Hetman last elected and in raising
another in his place.
‘Save yourself the trouble, Mazeppa,’ I cried, bitterly scornful, ‘all
these things are admitted. I am the culprit: Bedinsky and the others
named are but private friends of mine and not responsible for the
“revolution”--if so you must call it--which is the child of my own
brain.’
‘A fool-child, like its father,’ said Mazeppa. ‘Did I not say from the
first you were a fool, Chelminsky? Too great a fool to be Hetman, even
as I told Peter the Tsar! He believed me, my friend, and would not have
nominated thee in any case.’
‘That is a lie, Mazeppa,’ said I. ‘Maybe I shall yet prove it!’
‘That must be as the court wills,’ he replied. ‘The offence is admitted,
gentlemen of the court: the culprit Chelminsky has confessed his crime.
Proceed to judgment and sentence.’
The witnesses were put back and the judges--three colonels of Cossack
regiments, my equals in rank--deliberated. Their deliberations did not
last long--but five minutes at the most--and they presently announced
themselves agreed.
‘The prisoners are guilty,’ said the senior colonel, and it will
scarcely be believed, but both we and others who were named, but not
present, were then and there sentenced to death by beheading.
‘My God, Mazeppa!’ I cried. ‘Do I dream? Am I to be done to death by
thee because from first to last we have been rivals in love and
politics? Dost thou fear I shall win in the end? Keep thy Hetmanship and
let me go!’
Mazeppa held up his hand.
‘Let the sentence be executed,’ he said.
‘Thou devil, Mazeppa!’ I cried. ‘I would to heaven I had allowed the
wolves to gnaw thy naked carcass that day in Volhynia thou knowest of!’
Mazeppa flushed red and then grew pale.
‘The Hetman was set riding naked through his own country, brothers,’
said I, ‘for disgraceful conduct: he was bound to his horse and would
have starved but for me. It was then he bestowed the immeasurable favour
of his presence upon the Cossack nation, who have now made him their
Hetman. I am Chelminsky, whose father, under Hmelnisky, fought and beat
the Poles. I wish I had left this tyrant to the wolves: it is I that
should be Hetman--not Mazeppa!’
I must have been beside myself to speak these foolish words: to my shame
I record them.
‘Let the sentence go forward,’ said Mazeppa, white with rage; ‘Bedinsky
first.’
And then before my eyes they bound poor Bedinsky upon his knees to a
tree stump and beheaded him with a sword.
I commended my soul to Christ, praying even more heartily that Mazeppa’s
misdeeds might be remembered against him for this crowning sin.
And now came my turn. They came to remove me from the tree to which I
was bound in order that I might be re-bound to a stump more convenient
for beheading; but Mazeppa bade them pause.
‘Chelminsky, thou has proved once again how great a fool thou art,’ he
said. ‘Know that I had made up my mind to forgive in remembrance of our
old friendship and of a certain service thou didst me, and which I have
not forgotten. But since thou hast lied before all these people,
inventing some ridiculous adventure of which I have now heard for the
first time, maliciously desiring to injure me in the eyes of my faithful
people, I have thought better of my mercy. Thou must die for thy
foolishness.’
‘Mercy and Mazeppa!’ I exclaimed bitterly. ‘Mercy is a bastard child if
of thy begetting, Mazeppa; no wonder it is strangled at the very birth!’
‘Stay,’ he said; ‘thy invention has given me an idea. I will have thee
stripped and set riding; it is a pretty invention. Strip him, men.’
‘Or, stay,’ said Mazeppa, as the fellows began to unbind me in order to
divest me of my clothes. ‘My fool of a heart is soft for thee,
Chelminsky; thou shalt be given a chance. There is thy own horse; mount
him and ride like the devil. Thou shalt be pursued after an hour: thou
shalt have neither weapon nor money; there shall be a reward for thy
shooting; do you hear, men? Fifty gold pieces for Chelminsky’s head so
long as it is taken from his shoulders in Cossack territory.’
‘Good! I accept,’ I cried, ‘and I thank thee, Mazeppa. I will remember
this to thy credit!’
‘Well, mount and ride like the devil. Take his sword and his purse. Now
go.’
My heart bounded for joy. I could scarce believe that this good fortune
had befallen me--me who stood a moment before in the very shadow of
death! My horse was ready saddled: it was Shadrach, a splendid stallion
of Ukraine blood, somewhat heavily formed, but of spirit unmatched.
As I leaped away I half expected to hear a volley behind me and to be
toppled from my saddle in obedience to a signal from Mazeppa; but I did
him an injustice, for he intended me to have this chance of life.
I would ride straight for Moscow: Mazeppa and his men would know this
and would follow upon my heels without the trouble of finding my tracks;
but what cared I? My pursuers must have good horseflesh between their
knees if they would catch Shadrach.
I must ride fifty leagues before I should be safe: by then I should be
in Russian territory and beyond the reach of my pursuers.
Away we careered, we with our start of an hour, and at first Shadrach
went well; but before we had gone many leagues I realised that he was
not at his best. He sweated and foamed; his breath laboured, and the
exertion, which would have been a trifle to him on another day,
distressed him.
I dismounted and examined the beast. I was prepared for the discovery
which I now made: he had been tampered with. Some devil, inspired by a
worse devil, of course, must have doctored him in his stable this
morning.
‘Mazeppa,’ I said to myself, ‘this mercy of thine is a deep-laid scheme.
This chance of life, for which I thanked thee, is no chance!’
I sat down by the roadside and thought for my life. Shadrach stood by
with heaving flanks and head held low; his eyes dull, his mouth
distressed with foam. ‘You shall carry me to yonder wood,’ I said, ‘and
then farewell, old friend, for a while!’
The road, half a league further on, became a rutty forest track, dark
overhead, and running through dense rows of large trees.
I tied Shadrach to a stump, well off the road, first emptying my
saddle-bags. There was a coil of thin rope among other things. I never
went without this, in case I should require it, in emergency, for
halter, spare bridle, or for a thousand possible purposes. It should do
me a good turn this day!
I now took the rope and fastened it across the track at a few inches
above the ground, passing it from tree to tree so that the first horse
coming this way must inevitably trip and fall.
Then I hid myself behind a bush close at hand, and waited.