"No, you fellows, I won't. What is the good of all those silly
goings-on? Aren't you tired of these foolish jokes? People already call
us good-for-nothing scapegraces. Better go to bed!" So Levko said one
evening to his companions, who were trying to persuade him to take part
with them in further practical jokes. "Farewell, brothers! Good night!"
he said, and left them with quick steps.
"Does my bright-eyed Hanna sleep?" he thought as he passed the house
shaded by the cherry-trees. Then in the silence he heard the sound of a
whispered conversation. Levko stood still. Between the trees there
glimmered something white. "What is that?" he thought, as he crept
closer and hid himself behind a tree.
By the light of the moon he saw the face of a girl standing opposite
him. It was Hanna. But who was the tall man who had his back turned to
him? In vain he strained his eyes; the whole figure was hidden in
shadow, and the slightest forward step on Levko's part would expose him
to the risk of discovery. He therefore leant quietly against the tree,
and determined to remain where he was. Then he heard the girl utter his
name distinctly.
"Levko? Levko is a baby," said the tall man in an undertone. "If I ever
find him with you, I will pull his hair."
"I should like to know what rascal is boasting of pulling my hair," said
Levko to himself, stretching out his head and endeavouring to miss no
word. But the stranger continued to speak so low that he was inaudible.
"What, aren't you ashamed?" said Hanna after he had finished. "You are
lying and deceiving me; I will never believe that you love me."
"I know," continued the tall man, "that Levko has talked nonsense to you
and turned your head." (Here it seemed to the Cossack as though the
stranger's voice were not quite unknown to him, and that he must have
heard it somewhere or other.) "But Levko shall learn to know me,"
continued the stranger. "He thinks I don't notice his rascally tricks;
but he will yet feel the weight of my fists, the scoundrel!"
At these words Levko could no longer restrain his wrath. He came three
steps nearer, and took a run in order to plant a blow which would have
stretched the stranger on the ground in spite of his strength. At that
moment, however, a ray of light fell on the latter's face, and Levko
stood transfixed, for he saw it was his father. But he only expressed
his surprise by an involuntary shake of the head and a low whistle.
On the other side there was the sound of approaching footsteps. Hanna
ran hastily into the house and closed the door behind her.
"Good-bye, Hanna!" cried one of the youths, who had stolen up and
embraced the headman, but started back alarmed when he felt a rough
moustache.
"Good-bye, my darling!" cried another, but speedily executed a
somersault in consequence of a violent blow from the headman.
"Good-bye, good-bye, Hanna!" exclaimed several youths, falling on his
neck.
"Go to the deuce, you infernal scoundrels!" shouted the headman,
defending himself with both hands and feet. "What kind of Hanna do you
take me for? Hang yourselves like your fathers did, you children of the
devil! Falling on one like flies on honey! I will show you who Hanna
is!"
"The headman! The headman! It is the headman!" cried the youths, running
away in all directions.
"Aha, father!" said Levko to himself, recovering from his astonishment
and looking after the headman as he departed, cursing and scolding.
"Those are the tricks you like to play! Splendid! And I wonder and
puzzle my head why he pretends to be deaf when I only touch on the
matter! Wait, you old sinner, I will teach you to cajole other people's
sweethearts. Hi! you fellows, come here!" he cried, beckoning to the
youths, who gathered round him. "Come nearer! I told you to go to bed,
but I am differently minded now, and am ready to go round with you all
night."
"That is reasonable," exclaimed a broad-shouldered, stout fellow, who
was regarded as the chief toper and good-for-nothing in the village. "I
always feel uncomfortable if I do not have a good fling, and play some
practical jokes. I always feel as though there were something wanting,
as though I had lost my cap or my pipe--in a word, I don't feel like a
proper Cossack then!"
"Do you really want to bait the headman?" asked Levko.
"The headman?"
"Yes, the headman. I don't know for whom he takes himself. He carries on
as though he were a duke. It is not only that he treats us as if we were
his serfs, but he comes after our girls."
"Quite right! That is true!" exclaimed all the youths together.
"But are we made of any worse stuff than he? We are, thank God! free
Cossacks. Let us show him so."
"Yes, we will show him!" they shouted. "But when we go for the headman,
we must not forget his clerk."
"The clerk shall have his share, too. Just now a song that suits the
headman occurs to me. Go on! I will teach it you!" continued Levko,
striking the strings of his guitar. "But listen! Disguise yourselves as
well as you can."
"Hurrah for the Cossacks!" cried the stout reveller, dancing and
clapping his hands. "Long live freedom! When one lets the reins go, one
thinks of the good old times. It feels as jolly as though one were in
paradise. Hurrah, you fellows! Go ahead!"
The youths rushed noisily through the village street, and the pious old
women, aroused from their sleep, looked through the windows, crossed
themselves drowsily, and thought, "There they go, the wild young
fellows!"