Pan Michael was right. Kmita had triumphed. The Hungarians and a part
of the dragoons of Myeleshko and Kharlamp who had joined them, lay dead
close together in the court of Kyedani. Barely a few tens of them had
slipped out and scattered around the castle and the town, where the
cavalry pursued them. Many were caught; others never stopped of a
certainty till they reached the camp of Sapyeha, voevoda of Vityebsk,
to whom they were the first to bring the terrible tidings of the grand
hetman's treason, of his desertion to the Swedes, of the imprisonment
of the colonels and the resistance of the Polish squadrons.
Meanwhile Kmita, covered with blood and dust, presented himself with
the banner of the Hungarians before Radzivill, who received him with
open arms. But Pan Andrei was not delighted with the victory. He was as
gloomy and sullen as if he had acted against his heart.
"Your highness," said he, "I do not like to hear praises, and would
rather a hundred times fight the enemy than soldiers who might be of
service to the country. It seems to a man as if he were spilling his
own blood."
"Who is to blame, if not those insurgents?" answered the prince. "I too
would prefer to send them to Vilna, and I intended to do so. But they
chose to rebel against authority. What has happened will not be undone.
It was and it will be needful to give an example."
"What does your highness think of doing with the prisoners?"
"A ball in the forehead of every tenth man. Dispose the rest among
other regiments. You will go to-day to the squadrons of Mirski and
Stankyevich, announce my order, to them to be ready for the campaign. I
make you commander over those two squadrons, and over the third, that
of Volodyovski. The lieutenants are to be subordinate to you and obey
you in everything. I wished to send Kharlamp to that squadron at first,
but he is useless. I have changed my mind."
"What shall I do in case of resistance? For with Volodyovski are Lauda
men who hate me terribly."
"Announce that Mirski, Stankyevich, and Volodyovski will be shot
immediately."
"Then they may come in arms to Kyedani to rescue these officers. All
serving under Mirski are distinguished nobles."
"Take a regiment of Scottish infantry and a German regiment. First
surround them, then announce the order."
"Such is the will of your highness."
Radzivill rested his hands on his knees and fell to thinking.
"I would gladly shoot Mirski and Stankyevich were they not respected in
the whole country as well as in their own regiments. I fear tumult and
open rebellion, an example of which we have just had before our eyes. I
am glad, thanks to you, that they have received a good lesson, and each
squadron will think twice before rising against us. But it is
imperative to act swiftly, so that resisting men may not go to the
voevoda of Vityebsk."
"Your highness has spoken only of Mirski and Stankyevich, you have not
mentioned Volodyovski and Oskyerko."
"I must spare Oskyerko, too, for he is a man of note and widely
related; but Volodyovski comes from Russia[21] and has no relatives
here. He is a valiant soldier, it is true. I counted on him,--so much
the worse that I was deceived. If the devil had not brought hither
those wanderers his friends, he might have acted differently; but after
what has happened, a bullet in the forehead waits him, as well as those
two Skshetuskis and that third fellow, that bull who began first to
bellow, 'Traitor, traitor!'"
Pan Andrei sprang up as if burned with iron: "Your highness, the
soldiers say that Volodyovski saved your life at Tsibyhova."
"He did his duty; therefore I wanted to give him Dydkyemie for life.
Now he has betrayed me; hence I give command to shoot him."
Kmita's eyes flashed, and his nostrils began to quiver.
"Your highness, that cannot be!"
"How cannot be?" asked Radzivill, frowning.
"I implore your highness," said Kmita, carried away, "that not a hair
fall from Volodyovski. Forgive me, I implore. Volodyovski had the power
not to deliver to me the commission, for it was sent to him and left at
his disposal. But he gave it. He plucked me out of the whirlpool.
Through that act of his I passed into the jurisdiction of your
highness. He did not hesitate to save me, though he and I were trying
to win the same woman. I owe him gratitude, and I have vowed to repay
him. Your highness, grant for my sake that no punishment touch him or
his friends. A hair should not fall from the head of either of them,
and as God is true, it will not fall while I live. I implore your
highness."
Pan Andrei entreated and clasped his hands, but his words were ringing
with anger, threats, and indignation. His unrestrained nature gained
the upper hand, and he stood above Radzivill with flashing eyes and a
visage like the head of an angry bird of prey. The hetman too had a
storm in his face. Before his iron will and despotism everything
hitherto in Lithuania and Russia had bent. No one had ever dared to
oppose him, no one to beg mercy for those once condemned; but now
Kmita's entreating was merely for show, in reality he presented
demands; and the position was such that it was impossible to refuse
him.
At the very beginning of his career of treason, the despot felt that he
would have to yield more than once to the despotism of men and
circumstances, and would be dependent on adherents of far less
importance than this one; that Kmita, whom he wished to turn into a
faithful dog, would be rather a captive wolf, ready when angry to bite
its master's hand.
All this roused the proud blood of Radzivill. He resolved to resist,
for his inborn terrible vengefulness urged him to that.
"Volodyovski and the other three must lose their heads," said he, with
a loud voice.
But to speak thus was to throw powder on fire.
"If I had not dispersed the Hungarians, these are not the men who had
lost their heads," shouted Kmita.
"How is this? Are you renouncing my service already?" asked the hetman,
threateningly.
"Your highness," answered Pan Andrei, with passion, "I am not
renouncing; I am begging, imploring. But the harm will not happen.
These men are famous in all Poland. It cannot be, it cannot be! I will
not be a Judas to Volodyovski. I will follow your highness into fire,
but refuse not this favor."
"But if I refuse?"
"Then give command to shoot me; I will not live! May thunderbolts split
me! May devils take me living to hell!"
"Remember, unfortunate, before whom you are speaking."
"Bring me not to desperation, your highness."
"To a prayer I may give ear, but a threat I will not consider."
"I beg,--I implore." Here Pan Andrei threw himself on his knees.
"Permit me, your highness, to serve you not from constraint, but with
my heart, or I shall go mad."
Radzivill said nothing. Kmita was kneeling; pallor and flushes chased
each other like lightning gleams over his face. It was clear that a
moment more and he would burst forth in terrible fashion.
"Rise!" said Radzivill.
Pan Andrei rose.
"To defend a friend you are able. I have the test that you will also be
able to defend me and will never desert. But God made you of nitre, not
of flesh, and have a care that you run not to fluid. I cannot refuse
you anything. Listen to me: Stankyevich, Mirski, and Oskyerko I will
send to the Swedes at Birji; let the two Skshetuskis and Volodyovski go
with them. The Swedes will not tear off their heads there, and it is
better that they sit out the war in quiet."
"I thank your highness, my father," cried Andrei.
"Wait," said the prince. "I have respected your oath already too
much; now respect mine. I have recorded death in my soul to that old
noble,--I have forgotten his name,--that bellowing devil who came here
with Skshetuski. He is the man who first called me traitor. He
mentioned a bribe; he urged on the others, and perhaps there would not
have been such opposition without his insolence." Here the prince
struck the table with his fist. "I should have expected death sooner,
and the end of the world sooner, than that any one would dare to shout
at me, Radzivill, to my face, 'Traitor!' In presence of people! There
is not a death, there are not torments befitting such a crime. Do not
beg me for him; it is useless."
But Pan Andrei was not easily discouraged when once he undertook a
thing. He was not angry now, nor did he blaze forth. But seizing again
the hand of the hetman, he began to cover it with kisses and to entreat
with all the earnestness in his soul--
"With no rope or chain could your highness bind my heart as with this
favor. Only do it not half-way nor in part, but completely. That noble
said yesterday what all thought. I myself thought the same till you
opened my eyes,--may fire consume me, if I did not! A man is not to
blame for being unwise. That noble was so drunk that what he had on his
heart he shouted forth. He thought that he was defending the country,
and it is hard to punish a man for love of country. He knew that he was
exposing his life, and shouted what he had on his mind. He neither
warms nor freezes me, but he is to Pan Volodyovski as a brother, or
quite as a father. Volodyovski would mourn for him beyond measure, and
I do not want that. Such is the nature within me, that if I wish good
to a man I would give my soul for him. If any one has spared me, but
killed my friend, may the devil take him for such a favor! Your
highness, my father, benefactor, do a perfect kindness,--give me this
noble, and I will give you all my blood, even tomorrow, this day, this
moment!"
Radzivill gnawed his mustaches. "I determined death to him yesterday in
my soul."
"What the hetman and voevoda of Vilna determined, that can the Grand
Prince of Lithuania and, God grant in the future, the King of Poland,
as a gracious monarch, efface."
Pan Andrei spoke sincerely what he felt and thought; but had he been
the most adroit of courtiers he could not have found a more powerful
argument in defence of his friends. The proud face of the magnate grew
bright at the sound of those titles which he did not possess yet, and
he said,--
"You have so understood me that I can refuse you nothing. They will all
go to Birji. Let them expiate their faults with the Swedes; and when
that has happened of which you have spoken, ask for them a new favor."
"As true as life, I will ask, and may God grant as quickly as
possible!" said Kmita.
"Go now, and bear the good news to them."
"The news is good for me, not for them; and surely they will not
receive it with gratitude, especially since they did not suspect what
threatened them. I will not go, your highness, for it would seem as if
I were hurrying to boast of my intercession."
"Do as you please about that, but lose no time in bringing the
squadrons of Mirski and Stankyevich; immediately after there will be
another expedition for you, from which surely you will not flee."
"What is that?"
"You will go to ask on my behalf Pan Billevich, the sword-bearer of
Rossyeni, to come to me here at Kyedani, with his niece, and stay
during the war. Do you understand?"
Kmita was confused. "He will not be ready to do that. He went from
Kyedani in a great rage."
"I think that the rage has left him already. In every case take men,
and if they will not come of their own will put them in a carriage,
surround it with dragoons, and bring them. He was as soft as wax when I
spoke with him; he blushed like a maiden and bowed to the floor, but he
was as frightened at the name of the Swedes as the devil is at holy
water, and went away. I want him here for myself and for you; I hope to
form out of that wax a candle that I can light when I like and for whom
I like. It will be all the better if it happens so; but if not, I will
have a hostage. The Billeviches are very powerful in Jmud, for they are
related to almost all the nobles. When I have one of them in my hands,
and that one the eldest, the others will think twice before they
undertake anything against me. Furthermore, behind them and your maiden
are all that throng of Lauda men, who, if they were to go to the camp
of the voevoda of Vityebsk, would be received by him with open arms.
That is an important affair, so important that I think to begin with
the Billeviches."
"In Volodyovski's squadron are Lauda men only."
"The guardians of your maiden. If that is true, begin by conveying her
to Kyedani. Only listen: I will undertake to bring the sword-bearer to
our side, but do you win the maiden as you can. When I bring over the
sword-bearer, he will help you with the girl. If she is willing, I will
have the wedding for you at once. If not, take her to the altar without
ceremony. When the storm is over, all will be well. That is the best
method with women. She will weep, she will despair, when they drag her
to the altar; but next day she will think that the devil is not so
terrible as they paint him, and the third day she will be glad. How did
you part from her yesterday?"
"As if she had given me a slap in the face."
"What did she say?"
"She called me a traitor. I was almost struck with paralysis."
"Is she so furious? When you are her husband, tell her that a distaff
is fitter for her than public affairs, and hold her tight."
"Your highness does not know her. She must have a thing either virtue
or vice; according to that she judges, and more than one man might envy
her her mind. Before you can look around she has struck the point."
"She has struck you to the heart. Try to strike her in like manner."
"If God would grant that, your highness! Once I took her with armed
hand, but afterward I vowed to do so no more. And something tells me
that were I to take her by force to the altar it would not be to my
heart, for I have promised her and myself not to use force again. If
her uncle is convinced he will convince her, and then she will look on
me differently. Now I will go to Billeviche and bring them both here,
for I am afraid that she may take refuge in some cloister. But I tell
your highness the pure truth, that though it is a great happiness for
me to look on that maiden, I would rather attack the whole Swedish
power than stand before her at present, for she does not know my honest
intentions and holds me a traitor."
"If you wish I will send another,--Kharlamp or Myeleshko."
"No, I would rather go myself; besides, Kharlamp is wounded."
"That is better. I wanted to send Kharlamp yesterday to Volodyovski's
squadron to take command, and if need be force it to obedience; but he
is an awkward fellow, and it turns out that he knows not how to hold
his own men. I have no service for him. Go first for the sword-bearer
and the maiden, and then to those squadrons. In an extreme case do not
spare blood, for we must show the Swedes that we have power and are not
afraid of rebellion. I will send the colonels away at once under
escort; I hope that Pontus de la Gardie will consider this a proof of
my sincerity. Myeleshko will take them. The beginning is difficult. I
see that half Lithuania will rise against me."
"That is nothing, your highness. Whoso has a clean conscience fears no
man."
"I thought that all the Radzivills at least would be on my side, but
see what Prince Michael writes from Nyesvyej."
Here the hetman gave Kmita the letter of Kazimir Michael. Pan Andrei
cast his eyes over the letter.
"If I knew not the intentions of your highness I should think him
right, and the most virtuous man in the world. God give him everything
good! He speaks what he thinks."
"Set out now!" said the prince, with a certain impatience.