Some time before sunset Pan Kmita set out, blessed by his tearful
wife with a crucifix, in which splinters of the Holy Cross were set
in gold; and since during long years the knight had been inured to
sudden journeys, when he started, he rushed forth as if to seize
Tartars escaping with plunder.
When he reached Vilno, he held on through Grodno to Byalystok,
and thence to Syedlets. In passing through Lukov, he learned that
Pan Yan had returned the day previous from Kalish with his wife
and children, Pan Zagloba accompanying. He determined, therefore,
to go to them; for with whom could he take more efficient counsel
touching the rescue of Pan Michael?
They received him with surprise and delight, which were turned into
weeping, however, when he told them the cause of his coming.
Pan Zagloba was unable all day to calm himself, and shed so many
tears at the pond that, as he said himself afterward, the pond
rose, and they had to lift the flood-gate. But when he had wept
himself out, he thought deeply; and this is what he said at the
council,--
“Yan, you cannot go, for you are chosen to the Chapter; there will
be a multitude of cases, as after so many wars the country is full
of unquiet spirits. From what you relate, Pan Kmita, it is clear
that the storks[6] will remain in Vodokty all winter, since they
are on the work-list and must attend to their duties. It is no
wonder that with such housekeeping you are in no haste for the
journey, especially since ’tis unknown how long it may last. You
have shown a great heart by coming; but if I am to give earnest
advice, I will say: Go home; for in Michael’s case a near confidant
is called for,--one who will not be offended at a harsh answer, or
because there is no wish to admit him. Patience is needful, and
long experience; and your grace has only friendship for Michael,
which in such a contingency is not enough. But be not offended, for
you must confess that Yan and I are older friends, and have passed
through more adventures with him than you have. Dear God! how many
are the times in which I saved him, and he me, from disaster!”
“I will resign my functions as a deputy,” interrupted Pan Yan.
“Yan, that is public service!” retorted Zagloba, with sternness.
“God sees,” said the afflicted Pan Yan, “that I love my cousin
Stanislav with true brotherly affection; but Michael is nearer to
me than a brother.”
“He is nearer to me than any blood relative, especially since I
never had one. It is not the time now to discuss our affection.
Do you see, Yan, if this misfortune had struck Michael recently,
perhaps I would say to you, ‘Give the Chapter to the Devil, and
go!’ But let us calculate how much time has passed since Kharlamp
reached Jmud from Chenstohova, and while Pan Andrei was coming from
Jmud here to us. Now, it is needful not only to go to Michael, but
to remain with him; not only to weep with him, but to persuade
him; not only to show him the Crucified as an example, but to
cheer his heart and mind with pleasant jokes. So you know who
ought to go,--I! and I will go, so help me God! If I find him in
Chenstohova, I will bring him to this place; if I do not find him,
I will follow him even to Moldavia, and I will not cease to seek
for him while I am able to raise with my own strength a pinch of
snuff to my nostrils.”
When they had heard this, the two knights fell to embracing Pan
Zagloba; and he grew somewhat tender over the misfortune of Pan
Michael and his own coming fatigues. Therefore he began to shed
tears; and at last, when he had embraces enough, he said,--
“But do not thank me for Pan Michael; you are not nearer to him
than I.”
“Not for Pan Michael do we thank you,” said Kmita; “but that man
must have a heart of iron, or rather one not at all human, who
would be unmoved at sight of your readiness, which in the service
of a friend makes no account of fatigue and has no thought for age.
Other men in your years think only of a warm corner; but you speak
of a long journey as if you were of my years or those of Pan Yan.”
Zagloba did not conceal his years, it is true; but, in general,
he did not wish people to mention old age as an attendant of
incapability. Hence, though his eyes were still red, he glanced
quickly and with a certain dissatisfaction at Kmita, and answered,--
“My dear sir, when my seventy-seventh year was beginning, my heart
felt a slight sinking, because two axes[7] were over my neck; but
when the eighth ten of years passed me, such courage entered my
body that a wife tripped into my brain. And had I married, we might
see who would be first to have cause of boasting, you or I.”
“I am not given to boasting,” said Kmita; “but I do not spare
praises on your grace.”
“And I should have surely confused you as I did Revera Pototski,
the hetman, in presence of the king, when he jested at my age.
I challenged him to show who could make the greatest number of
goat-springs one after the other. And what came of it? The hetman
made three; the haiduks had to lift him, for he could not rise
alone; and I went all around with nearly thirty-five springs. Ask
Pan Yan, who saw it all with his own eyes.”
Pan Yan, knowing that Zagloba had had for some time the habit of
referring to him as an eye-witness of everything, did not wink, but
spoke again of Pan Michael. Zagloba sank into silence, and began to
think of some subject deeply; at last he dropped into better humor
and said after supper,--
“I will tell you a thing that not every mind could hit upon. I
trust in God that our Michael will come out of this trouble more
easily than we thought at first.”
“God grant! but whence did that come to your head?” inquired Kmita.
“H’m! Besides an acquaintance with Michael, it is necessary to have
quick wit from nature and long experience, and the latter is not
possible at your years. Each man has his own special qualities.
When misfortune strikes some men, it is, speaking figuratively, as
if you were to throw a stone into a river. On the surface the water
flows, as it were, quietly; but the stone lies at the bottom and
hinders the natural current, and stops it and tears it terribly,
and it will lie there and tear it till all the water of that river
flows into the Styx. Yan, you may be counted with such men; but
there is more suffering in the world for them, since the pain, and
the memory of what caused it, do not leave them. But others receive
misfortune as if some one had struck them with a fist on the
shoulder. They lose their senses for the moment, revive later on,
and when the black-and-blue spot is well, they forget it. Oi! such
a nature is better in this world, which is full of misfortune.”
The knights listened with attention to the wise words of Zagloba;
he was glad to see that they listened with such respect, and
continued,--
“I know Michael through and through; and God is my witness that I
have no wish to find fault with him now, but it seems to me that
he grieves more for the loss of the marriage than of the maiden.
It is nothing that terrible despair has come, though that too,
especially for him, is a misfortune above misfortunes. You cannot
even imagine what a wish that man had to marry. There is not in him
greed or ambition of any kind, or selfishness: he has left what
he had, he has as good as lost his own fortune, he has not asked
for his salary; but in return for all his labors and services he
expected, from the Lord God and the Commonwealth, only a wife. And
he reckoned in his soul that such bread as that belonged to him;
and he was about to put it to his mouth, when right there, as it
were, some one sneered at him, saying, ‘You have it now! Eat it!’
What wonder that despair seized him? I do not say that he did not
grieve for the maiden; but as God is dear to me, he grieved more
for the marriage, though he would himself swear to the opposite.”
“That may be true,” said Pan Yan.
“Wait! Only let those wounds of his soul close and heal; we shall
see if his old wish will not come again. The danger is only in
this, that now, under the weight of despair, he may do something or
make some decision which he would regret later on. But what was to
happen has happened, for in misfortune decision comes quickly. My
attendant is packing my clothes. I am not speaking to dissuade you
from going; I wished only to comfort you.”
“Again, father, you will be a plaster to Michael,” said Pan Yan.
“As I was to you, you remember? If I can only find him soon,
for I fear that he may be hiding in some hermitage, or that he
will disappear somewhere in the distant steppes to which he is
accustomed from childhood. Pan Kmita, your grace criticises my age;
but I tell you that if ever a courier rushed on with despatches as
I shall rush, then command me when I return to unravel old silk,
shell peas, or give me a distaff. Neither will hardships detain me,
nor wonders of hospitality tempt me; eating, even drinking, will
not stop me. You have not yet seen such a journey! I can now barely
sit in my place, just as if some one were pricking me from under
the bench with an awl. I have even ordered that my travelling-shirt
be rubbed with goats’ tallow, so as to resist the serpent.”