Hmelnitski remained awhile at Korsún, and then pushed on to Bélaya
Tserkoff, where he established his capital. The horde was disposed in
camp on the other side of the river, sending out parties through the
whole province of Kieff. Pan Longin Podbipienta therefore had been
grieving in vain over the dearth of Tartar heads. Skshetuski foresaw
correctly that the Zaporojians seized by Ponyatovski at Kanyeff gave
false information. Tugai Bey not only had not departed, but had not
gone even to Chigirin. What is more, new Tartar reinforcements came
from every side. The petty sovereigns of Azoff and Astrakhan, who had
never been in Poland before, came with four thousand warriors. Twelve
thousand of the Nogai horde came, and twenty thousand of the Bélgorod
and Budjak hordes,--all sworn enemies hitherto of the Zaporojians and
the Cossacks, now brothers and sworn allies against Christian blood.
Finally the Khan Islam Giréi himself came with twelve thousand from
Perekop. The whole Ukraine suffered from these friends; not only the
nobles suffered, but the Russian people, whose villages were burned,
cattle driven away, and whose wives and children were hurried
into captivity. In those times of murder, burning, and bloodshed there
was only one rescue for the peasant, and that was to flee to
Hmelnitski,--where from being a victim he became a destroyer, and
ravaged his own country; but at least his life was safe. Unhappy
country! When rebellion broke out in it Pan Nikolai Pototski punished
and wasted it to begin with; then the Zaporojians and the Tartars, who
came as if for its liberation; and now Yeremi Vishnyevetski hovered
over it.
Therefore all who were able fled to Hmelnitski's camp; even nobles
fled, for other means of safety were not to be found. Thanks to this,
Hmelnitski increased in power; and if he remained long in Bélaya
Tserkoff and did not move at once to the heart of the Commonwealth, it
was above all to give order to these lawless and wild elements.
In his iron hands they changed quickly into military strength. Skeleton
regiments of trained Zaporojians were at hand; the mob was divided
among these. Colonels were appointed from koshevoi atamans of long
standing; single parties were sent out to capture castles, and receive
thereby training for battle. They were men valiant by nature, fitted
beyond all others for war, used to arms, familiar with fire and the
bloody front of battle, through Tartar raids.
Two colonels, Handja and Ostap, went to Nestorvar, which they captured,
cutting to pieces all the Jews and nobles among its inhabitants, and
beheading Prince Chetvertinski's miller on the threshold of the castle.
Ostap made the princess his captive. Others went in other directions,
and success attended their arms; for a terror of the heart seized the
Poles,--a terror "unusual to that people," who dropped the weapons from
their hands and lost their strength.
More than once it happened that the colonels importuned Hmelnitski:
"Why don't you move on Warsaw? Why do you stay resting here, getting
information from wizards, and filling yourself with gorailka, letting
the Poles recover from their terror and assemble their men?" More than
once also the drunken crowd howled in the night-time, surrounding the
quarters of Hmelnitski, asking him to lead them against the Poles. The
hetman had raised the rebellion and given it a terrible power, but now
he began to see that this power was urging him forward to an unknown
future; therefore he gazed often into that future with uncertain eye,
tried to solve the riddle of it, and in the face of that future was
disturbed at heart.
As has been said, among those colonels and atamans he alone knew what
terrible power there was in the apparent weakness of the Commonwealth.
He had raised the rebellion, gained the victory at Jóltiya Vodi, at
Korsún had swept away the armies of the Crown,--but what further?
He assembled the colonels then in council, and glancing at them with
bloodshot eyes before which they all trembled, proposed the very same
question,--"What further? What do you want? To go to Warsaw? Then
Prince Vishnyevetski will be here, and kill your wives and children
with the speed of lightning. He will leave only earth and water behind,
and will follow to Warsaw, marching with the whole power of the nobles
who will join him. Then, caught between two fires, we shall perish; if
not in battle, empaled on stakes. You cannot depend on Tartar
friendship. To-day they are with us; to-morrow they may turn against us
and rush off to the Crimea, or sell our heads to the Poles. Well, what
more will you say? March on Vishnyevetski? He would detain our forces
and those of the Tartar till armies could be enrolled in the heart of
the Commonwealth and brought to his aid. Choose!"
The alarmed colonels were silent, and Hmelnitski continued:--
"Why are you silent? Why do you urge me no longer to go to Warsaw? If
you know not what to do, then rely on me, and with God's help I will
save my own head and yours, and win satisfaction for the Zaporojian
army and all the Cossacks."
In fact, there remained one method,--negotiation. Hmelnitski knew well
how much he could extort from the Commonwealth in that way. He
calculated that the Diets would rather agree to liberal concessions
than to taxes, levies of troops, and war, which would have to be long
and difficult. Finally, he knew that in Warsaw there was a strong
party, and at the head of it the king himself (news of whose death had
not yet come), with the chancellor and many nobles, who would be glad
to hinder the growth of the colossal fortunes of the magnates of the
Ukraine, and to create a power for the hands of the king out of the
Cossacks, conclude a permanent peace with them, and use those thousands
of warriors for foreign wars. In these conditions Hmelnitski might
acquire a distinguished position for himself, receive the baton of
hetman from the king, and gain countless concessions for the Cossacks.
This was why he remained long in Bélaya Tserkoff. He armed his men,
sent general orders in every direction, collected the people, created
whole armies, took possession of castles, for he knew they would
negotiate only with power, but he did not move into the heart of the
Commonwealth. If he could conclude peace by negotiation, then either
the weapon would drop from the hand of Vishnyevetski, or, if the prince
would not lay it aside, then not Hmelnitski, but Vishnyevetski, would
be the rebel carrying on war against the will of the king and the
Diets. He would move then on Vishnyevetski, but by command of the king
and the Commonwealth; and the last hour would have struck not for
Vishnyevetski alone, but for all the kinglets of the Ukraine, with
their fortunes and their lands.
Thus meditated the self-created Zaporojian hetman; such was the pile
that he built for the future. But on the scaffolding of this edifice
the dark birds, Care, Doubt, Fear, sat many a time, and ominous was
their croaking. Will the peace party be strong enough in Warsaw? Will
it begin negotiations with him? What will the Diet and the Senate say?
Will they close their ears in the capital to the groans and cries of
the Ukraine? Will they shut their eyes to the flames of conflagration?
Will not negotiations be prevented by the influence of the magnates
possessing those immeasurable estates, the preservation of which
will be for their interest? And has the Commonwealth become so
terror-stricken that it will forgive him?
On the other hand, Hmelnitski's soul was rent by the doubt. Has not the
rebellion become too inflamed and too developed? Would those wild
masses allow themselves to be confined within any limits? Suppose he,
Hmelnitski, should conclude peace, the cut-throats may continue to
murder and burn in his name, or take vengeance on his head for their
deluded hopes. Then that swollen river, that sea, that storm! An awful
position! If the outbreak had been weaker, they would not negotiate
with him, by reason of his weakness; but because the rebellion is
mighty, negotiations, by the force of things, may be defeated. Then
what will happen?
When such thoughts besieged the weighty head of the hetman he shut
himself up in his quarters, and drank whole days and nights. Then among
the colonels and the mob the report went around: "The hetman is
drinking!" and following his example, all drank. Discipline was
relaxed, prisoners killed, fights sprang up, booty was stolen. The day
of judgment was beginning, the reign of horror and ghastliness. Bélaya
Tserkoff was turned into a real Inferno.
One day Vygovski, a noble captured at Korsún and made secretary to the
hetman, came in. He began to shake the drinker without ceremony, till
seizing him by the shoulders he seated him on the low bench and brought
him to his senses.
"What is it? What the plague--" demanded Hmelnitski.
"Rise up, Hetman, and come to yourself!" answered Vygovski. "An embassy
has come."
Hmelnitski sprang to his feet, and in a moment was sober.
"Hi, there!" he cried to the Cossack sitting at the threshold, "give me
my cap and baton. Who has come? From whom?"
"The priest Patroni Lasko, from Gushchi, from the voevoda of Bratslav."
"From Pan Kisel?"
"Yes."
"Glory to the Father and Son, glory to the Holy Ghost and to the Holy
Most Pure!" said Hmelnitski, making the sign of the cross. His face
became clear, he regained his good humor,--negotiations had begun.
But that day there came news of a character directly opposed to the
peaceful embassy of Pan Kisel. It was stated that Prince Yeremi, after
he had given rest to his army, wearied with its march through the woods
and swamps, had entered into the rebellious country; that he was
killing, burning, beheading; that a division sent under Skshetuski had
dispersed a band of two thousand Cossacks with a mob and cut them to
pieces; that the prince himself had taken Pogrébische, the property of
the princes Zbaraski, and had left only earth and water behind him.
Awful things were related of the storm and taking of Pogrébische,--for
it was a nest of the most stubborn murderers. The prince, it was said,
told the soldiers: "Kill them so they will feel they are dying." The
soldiers therefore allowed themselves the wildest excesses of cruelty.
Out of the whole town not a single soul escaped. Seven hundred
prisoners were hanged, two hundred seated on stakes. Mention is made
also of boring out eyes with augers and burning on slow fires. The
rebellion was put down at once in the whole neighborhood. The
inhabitants either fled to Hmelnitski or received the lord of Lubni on
their knees with bread and salt, howling for mercy. The smaller bands
were all rubbed out, and in the woods, as stated by fugitives from
Samorodka, Spichina, Pleskoff, Vakhnovka, there was not a tree on which
a Cossack was not hanging. And all this was done not far from Bélaya
Tserkoff and the many-legioned armies of Hmelnitski.
So when Hmelnitski heard of this he began to roar like a wounded
aurochs. On one side negotiations, on the other the sword. If he
marches against the prince, it will mean that he does not want the
negotiations proposed through Pan Kisel, the Lord of Brusiloff. His
only hope was in the Tartars. Hmelnitski jumped up and hurried to the
quarters of Tugai Bey.
"Tugai Bey, my friend!" said he, after giving the usual salaams, "as
you saved me at Jóltiya Vodi and Korsún, save me now! An envoy has come
here from the voevoda of Bratslav, with a letter, in which the voevoda
promises satisfaction, and to the Zaporojian army the restoration of
its ancient freedom, on condition that I cease from war, which I must
do to show my sincerity and good-will. At the same time news has come
that my enemy, Prince Vishnyevetski, has razed Pogrébische and left no
man living. He is cutting down my warriors, empaling them, boring out
their eyes with augers. I cannot move on him. To you I come, asking
that you move on your enemy and mine with your Tartars; otherwise he
will soon attack our camp here."
The murza, sitting on a pile of carpets taken at Korsún or stolen from
the houses of nobles, swayed backward and forward some time, contracted
his eyes as if for closer thinking; at last he said,--
"Allah! I cannot do that."
"Why?" asked Hmelnitski.
"Because, as it is, I have lost for you beys and men enough at Jóltiya
Vodi and Korsún, why should I lose more? Yeremi is a great warrior! I
will march against him if you march, but not alone. I am not such a
fool as to lose in one battle all that I have gained so far; better
send out my detachments for booty and captives. I have done enough for
you unbelieving dogs. I will not go myself, and I will dissuade the
Khan from going. I have spoken."
"You swore to give me aid."
"I did; but I swore to make war at your side, not instead of you. Go
away from here!"
"I let you take captives from my own people, gave you booty, gave you
the hetmans."
"Yes, for if you had not I should have given you to them."
"I will go to the Khan."
"Be off, I tell you!"
The pointed teeth of the murza had already begun to gleam from under
his mustache. Hmelnitski knew that he had nothing to get from him, and
it was dangerous to stop longer; he rose therefore and went in fact to
the Khan.
But he got the same answer from the Khan. The Tartars had their own
minds and were looking for their own profit. Instead of venturing on a
general battle against a leader who was considered invincible, they
preferred to send out plundering parties and enrich themselves without
bloodshed.
Hmelnitski returned in a rage to his own quarters, and from despair was
going to the decanter again, when Vygovski took it away from him.
"You will not drink, worthy hetman!" said he. "There is an envoy, and
you must finish with him first."
Hmelnitski was furious. "I will have you and the envoy empaled!"
"I will not give you gorailka. Are you not ashamed, when fortune has
raised you so high, to fill yourself with gorailka, like a common
Cossack? Pshaw! it must not be. News of the envoy's arrival has spread
about the army, and the colonels want a council. It is not for you to
drink now, but to forge the iron while it is hot; for now you can
conclude peace and receive all you want; afterward it will be too late,
and my life and yours are involved in this. You should send an envoy at
once to Warsaw, and ask the king for favor."
"You are a wise head," said Hmelnitski. "Command them to ring the bell
for council, and tell the colonels on the square that I shall come out
directly."
Vygovski went out, and in a moment the bell was ringing for council. At
the sound the Zaporojian army began to assemble immediately. The
leaders and colonels sat down,--the terrible Krívonos, Hmelnitski's
right hand; Krechovski, the sword of the Cossacks; the old and
experienced Filon Daidyalo, colonel of Kropivnik; Fedor Loboda, of
Pereyaslàv; the cruel Fedorenko, of Kalnik; the wild Pushkarenko, of
Poltava, whose command was composed of herdsmen alone; Shumeiko, of
Nyejin; the fiery Chernota, of Gadyach; Yakubovich, of Chigirin;
besides Nosach, Gladki, Adamovich, Glukh, Pulyan, Panich. Not all the
colonels were present; for some were on expeditions, and some were in
the other world,--sent there by Prince Yeremi.
The Tartars were not invited this time to the council. The Brotherhood
assembled on the square. The crowding multitudes were driven away with
clubs and even with whirlbats, on which occasion cases of death were
not wanting.
Finally Hmelnitski himself appeared, dressed in red, wearing his cap,
the baton in his hand. By his side walked the priest Patroni Lasko,
white as a dove; and on the other side Vygovski, carrying papers.
Hmelnitski took a place among the colonels, and sat for a time in
silence; then he removed his cap as a sign that the council was open.
He rose and began to speak:--
"Gentlemen, colonels, and atamans! It is known to you how we were
forced to seize arms on account of the great injustices which we
suffered without cause, and with the aid of the most serene Tsar of the
Crimea, demand from the Polish lords our ancient rights and privileges,
taken from us without the will of his Majesty the King, which
undertaking God has blessed; and having sent a terror upon our
faithless tyrants, altogether unusual to them, has punished their
untruth and oppression, and rewarded us with signal victories, for
which we should thank him with grateful hearts. Since, then, their
insolence is punished, it is proper for us to think how the shedding of
Christian blood may be restrained, which the God of mercy and our
orthodox faith command; but not to let the sabres from our hands until
our ancient rights and privileges are restored in accordance with the
will of his most serene Majesty the King. The voevoda of Bratslav
writes me, therefore, that this may come to pass, which I too believe,
for it is not we who have left obedience to his Majesty the King and
the Commonwealth, but the Pototskis, the Kalinovskis, the
Vishnyevetskis, the Konyetspolskis, whom we have punished; therefore a
proper concession and reward is due to us from his Majesty and the
estates. I beg you therefore, gentlemen, to read the letter of the
voevoda of Bratslav, sent to me through Father Patroni Lasko, a noble
of the orthodox faith, and to determine wisely whether the spilling of
Christian blood is to be restrained, and concessions and rewards made
to us for our obedience and loyalty to the Commonwealth."
Hmelnitski did not ask whether the war was to be discontinued, but he
asked for a decision to suspend the war. Immediately, therefore,
murmurs of discontent were raised, which soon changed into threatening
shouts, directed mainly by Chernota of Gadyach.
Hmelnitski was silent, but noted carefully where the protests came
from, and fixed firmly in his memory those who opposed him.
Vygovski then rose with the letter of Kisel in his hand. Zorko had
brought a copy to be read to the Brotherhood. A deep silence followed.
The voevoda began the letter in these words:--
"Chief of the Zaporojian Army of the Commonwealth.
"My old and dear Friend,--While there are many who understand you to be
an enemy of the Commonwealth, I not only am thoroughly convinced myself
of your loyalty to the Commonwealth, but I convince other senators and
colleagues of mine of it. Three things are clear to me: First, that
though the army of the Dnieper guards its glory and its freedom for
centuries, it maintains always its faith to the king, the lords, and
the Commonwealth; second, that our Russian people are so firm in their
orthodox faith that every one of us prefers to lay down his life rather
than to violate that faith in any regard; third, that though there be
various internal blood-spillings (as now has happened, God pity us!),
still we have all one country in which we were born and use our rights,
and there is not indeed in the whole world another such rule and
another such land as ours, with respect to rights and liberties.
Therefore we are all of us in the same manner accustomed to guard the
crown of our mother; and though there be various circumstances (as
happens in the world), still reason commands us to consider that it is
easier in a free government to make known our injuries than having lost
that mother, not to find another such, either in a Christian or a pagan
world."
Loboda of Pereyasláv interrupted the reading. "He tells the truth,"
said he.
"He tells the truth," repeated other colonels.
"Not the truth! He lies, dog-believer!" screamed Chernota.
"Be silent! You are a dog-believer yourself!"
"You are traitors. Death to you!"
"Death to you!"
"Listen; wait awhile! Read! He is one of us. Listen, listen!"
The storm was gathering in good earnest, but Vygovski began to read
again. There was silence a second time.
The voevoda wrote, in continuation, that the Zaporojian army should
have confidence in him, for they knew well that he, being of the same
blood and faith, must wish it well. He wrote that in the unfortunate
blood-spilling at Kuméiki and Starets, he had taken no part; then he
called on Hmelnitski to put an end to the war, dismiss the Tartars or
turn his arms against them, and remain faithful to the Commonwealth.
Finally; the letter ended in the following words:--
"I promise you, since I am a son of the Church of God, and as my house
comes from the ancient blood of the Russian people, that I shall myself
aid in everything just. You know very well that upon me in this
Commonwealth (by the mercy of God) something depends, and without me
war cannot be declared, nor peace concluded, and that I first do not
wish civil war," etc.
Now rose immediate tumult for and against; but on the whole the letter
pleased the colonels, and even the Brotherhood. Nevertheless, in the
first moment it was impossible to understand or hear anything on
account of the fury with which the letter was discussed. The
Brotherhood, from a distance, seemed like a great vortex, in which
swarms of people were seething and boiling and roaring. The colonels
shook their batons, sprang at and thrust their fists in one another's
eyes. There were purple faces, inflamed eyes, and foam on the mouth;
and the leader of all who called for war was Chernota, who fell into a
real frenzy. Hmelnitski too, while looking at his fury, was near an
outbreak, before which everything generally grew silent as before the
roaring of a lion. But Krechovski, anticipating him, sprang on a bench,
waved his baton, and cried with a voice of thunder,--
"Herding oxen is your work, not counselling, you outrageous slaves!"
"Silence! Krechovski wants to speak!" cried Chernota, first, who hoped
that the famous colonel would speak for war.
"Silence! silence!" shouted others.
Krechovski was respected beyond measure among the Cossacks, for the
important services which he had rendered, for his great military brain,
and wonderful to relate, because he was a noble. They were silent at
once, therefore, and all waited with curiosity for what he would say.
Hmelnitski himself fixed an uneasy glance on him.
But Chernota was mistaken in supposing that the colonel would declare
for war. Krechovski, with his quick mind, understood that now or never
might he obtain from the Commonwealth those starostaships and dignities
of which he dreamed. He understood that at the pacification of the
Cossacks they would try to detach and satisfy him before many others,
with which Pan Pototski, being in captivity, would not be able to
interfere. On this account he spoke as follows:--
"My calling is to give battle, not advice; but as we are in council, I
feel impelled to give my present opinion, since I have earned your
favor as well if not better than others. Why did we kindle war? We
kindled present war for the restoration of our liberties and rights,
and the voevoda of Bratslav writes that this restoration will take
place. Therefore, either it will, or it will not. If it will not, then
war; if it will, peace! Why spill blood in vain? Let them pacify us,
and we will pacify the crowd, and the war will stop. Our father
Hmelnitski has arranged and thought out all this wisely,--that we are
on the side of his Majesty the King, who will give us a reward for
that; and if the lordlings will oppose, then he will let us have our
sport with them, and we will have it. I should not advise to send the
Tartars off; let them arrange themselves in camps in the Wilderness,
and stay till we have one thing or another."
Hmelnitski's face brightened when he heard these words; and now the
colonels in immense majority, began to call for a suspension of war and
an embassy to Warsaw, to ask the Lord of Brusiloff to come in person to
negotiate. Chernota still shouted and protested; but the colonel fixed
threatening eyes on him and said,--
"You, Chernota, Colonel of Gadyach, call for war and bloodshed; but
when the light cavalry of Dmukhovski advanced upon you at Korsún, you
squealed like a little pig, 'Oh, brothers, my own brothers, save me!'
and you ran away in the face of your whole regiment."
"You lie!" roared Chernota. "I am not afraid of the Poles, nor of you."
Krechovski squeezed the baton in his hand and sprang toward Chernota;
others began also to belabor the Gadyach colonel with their fists. The
tumult increased. On the square the Brotherhood bellowed like a herd of
wild bulls.
Then Hmelnitski himself rose a second time.
"Gentlemen, colonels, friends," said he, "you have decided to send
envoys to Warsaw, to mention our faithful services to his most serene
Majesty the King, and to ask for a reward. But also whoever wishes war
may have it,--not with the king nor the Commonwealth, for we have never
carried on war with either, but with our greatest enemy, who is now red
with Cossack blood, who at Starets bathed himself in it, and still does
not cease to bathe himself, and continues in his hatred of the
Zaporojian armies; to whom I sent a letter and envoys asking him to
abandon that hatred, but who cruelly murdered my envoys, gave no answer
to me, not paying respect to your chief, through which he is guilty of
contempt against the whole Zaporojian army. And now, having come from
the Trans-Dnieper, he has destroyed Pogrébische, punishing innocent
people, for whom I have shed bitter tears. From Pogrébische, as I was
informed this morning, he marched to Nyemiroff, and left no person
alive there. And since the Tartars from fear and terror will not march
against him, he will be seen soon on the way to destroy us here,
innocent people, against the will of our affectionate king and the
whole Commonwealth; for in his insolence he regards no man, and as he
is now rebelling, so is he always ready to rebel against the will of
his Majesty the King."
It grew very still in the assembly; Hmelnitski drew breath and spoke
on:--
"God has rewarded us with a victory over the hetmans, but Yeremi is
worse than the hetmans and all the kinglets,--a son of Satan, living by
pure injustice. Against whom I should march myself were it not that in
Warsaw he would begin to cry, through his friends, that I do not want
peace, and blacken our innocence before the king. That this should not
happen, it is necessary that his Majesty the King and the whole
Commonwealth should know that I do not want war, that I am sitting here
in quiet, and that he first comes on us with war. Therefore I am not
able to move, I must remain for negotiations with the voevoda of
Bratslav. That he, devil's son, should not break our power, it is
necessary to make a stand against him and destroy his power as we did
that of our enemies, those gentlemen, the hetmans at Jóltiya Vodi and
Korsún. Therefore I ask some of you to go against him of your own will,
and I will write to the king that that took place aside from me, and
for our absolute defence against the hatred and attacks of
Vishnyevetski."
Profound silence reigned in the assembly. Hmelnitski continued:--
"To whomsoever wishes to go on this undertaking I will give men enough,
good men, and I will give cannon and artillerists, so that with God's
aid he may sweep aside our enemy and gain a victory over him."
But not one of the colonels stepped forward.
"Sixty thousand chosen men I will give," said crafty Hmelnitski.
Silence. And they were all fearless warriors, whose battle-shouts had
echoed more than once around the walls of Tsargrad.[12] And perhaps for
this very reason each one of them feared to lose the glory he
possessed, by meeting the terrible Yeremi.
Hmelnitski eyed the colonels, who under the influence of that glance
looked to the ground. The face of Vygovski put on a look of satanic
malice.
"I know a hero," said Hmelnitski, mournfully, "who would speak at this
moment, and not avoid this work, but he is not among us."
"Bogun!" exclaimed some voices.
"Yes. He has already swept away Yeremi's garrison at Vassílyevka; but
they wounded him in the engagement, and he lies now in Cherkasi
struggling with Mother Death. And since he is not here, there is no one
here as I see. Where is Cossack renown? Where are the Pavlyuks, the
Nalivaikas, the Lobodas, and the Ostranitsas?"
A short, thick man, with a blue and gloomy face, and a mustache red as
fire over a crooked mouth, and with green eyes, rose from the bench,
pushed forward toward Hmelnitski, and said, "I will go." This was
Maksim Krívonos.
Shouts of "Glory to him!" rose in thunder; but he stood with his baton
at his side, and spoke with a hoarse and halting voice,--
"Do not think, Hetman, that I feel fear. I should have stood up at
first, but I thought, 'There are better than I!' But matters being as
they are, I will go. Who are you? [turning to the colonels]. You are
the heads and the hands; but I have no head, only hands and a sword.
Once my mother bore me! War is my mother and my sister. Vishnyevetski
slaughters, I will slaughter; he hangs, and I will hang. But you,
Hetman, give me good warriors; for with a mob you can do nothing with
Vishnyevetski. And so I go to take castles, kill, slaughter, hang!
Death to the white hands!"
Another ataman stepped forward. "I will go with you, Maksim." This was
Pulyan.
"And Chernota of Gadyach, and Gladki of Mirgorod, and Nosach will go
with you," said Hmelnitski.
"We will," said they, in one voice; for the example of Krívonos roused
them, and courage entered them.
"Against Yeremi, against Yeremi!" thundered shouts through the
assembly. "Cut! slay!" repeated the Brotherhood; and after a time the
council became a carousal. The regiments assigned to Krívonos drank
deeply, for they were going to death. They knew this well themselves,
but there was no fear in their hearts. "Once our mother bore us!"
repeated they after their leader; and on this account they spared
nothing on themselves, as is usual before death. Hmelnitski permitted
and encouraged this; the crowd followed their example. The legions
began to sing songs in a hundred thousand voices. Horses let loose and
prancing through the camp raised clouds of dust, and caused
indescribable disorder. They were chased with cries and shouts and
laughter. Great crowds loitered along the river, fired muskets, crowded
and pushed to the quarters of the hetman himself, who finally ordered
Yakubovich to drive them away. Then began fighting and confusion, till
a drenching rain drove them all to the wagons and tents.
In the evening a storm burst forth in the sky. Thunder rolled from one
end of the clouds, to the other; lightning flashed through the whole
country, now with white and now with ruddy blaze. In the light of these
flashes Krívonos marched out of camp at the head of sixty thousand
men,--some from the best warriors, the rest from the mob.