Skshetuski so marched with his detachment that he rested during the day
in forests and ravines, throwing out pickets carefully, and pushed
forward only in the night. Whenever he approached a village he usually
surrounded it so that not a man went out, took provisions, feed for his
horses, but above all collected information concerning the enemy; then
he marched away without inflicting harm on the people. But when out of
sight he changed his road abruptly, so that the enemy in the village
might not know in what direction he had gone. The object of his
expedition was to discover whether Krívonos with his forty thousand men
was still besieging Kamenyets, or having given up the fruitless siege,
was marching to assist Hmelnitski so as to join him for a general
engagement; and further what the Dobrudja Tartars were doing,--whether
they had crossed the Dnieper already and joined Krívonos, or were still
on the other bank. These were important items for the Polish army,
which the commanders should have tried to obtain; but being men without
experience, it did not enter their heads to do so. Yeremi therefore
took that burden on himself. If it should appear that Krívonos, with
the hordes of Bélgorod and Dobrudja, had abandoned the siege of the
impregnable Kamenyets and was marching to Hmelnitski, then it behooved
them to attack the latter as quickly as possible before he had grown to
his highest power.
Meanwhile the commander-in-chief, Prince Dominik Zaslavski Ostrogski,
was not hastening, and at the time of Skshetuski's departure he was
expected at the camp in two or three days. Evidently he was feasting
along the road, according to his custom, and felt well; but the most
favorable moment for breaking the power of Hmelnitski was passing, and
Prince Yeremi was in despair at the thought that if the war should be
carried on further in this fashion, not only Krívonos and the forces
beyond the Dniester would come to Hmelnitski in season, but also the
Khan himself at the head of all the forces from Perekop, Nogai, and
Azoff.
There were tidings in camp that the Khan had already crossed the
Dnieper, and was moving westward day and night with two hundred
thousand horse; but day after day passed, and Prince Dominik did not
arrive. It became more and more likely that the troops at Cholganski
Kamen would have to meet forces five times more numerous, and in case
of defeat nothing would prevent the enemy from breaking into the heart
of the Commonwealth at Cracow and Warsaw.
Krívonos was the more dangerous in this, that in case the commanders
wished to push into the heart of the Ukraine, he, by going from
Kamenyets directly northward to Konstantinoff, could bar their retreat,
and in every case they would be taken then between two fires.
Skshetuski determined therefore not only to gain information concerning
Krívonos, but to check him. Penetrated with the importance of this
task, on the accomplishment of which the fate of the whole army was in
part dependent, he risked willingly his own life and the lives of his
soldiers, though that undertaking might have been considered insane or
mad if the young knight had had the intention of checking with five
hundred men in an offensive battle the forty thousand men of Krívonos
reinforced by the hordes of Bélgorod and Dobrudja. But Skshetuski was
too experienced a soldier to rush into insane undertakings, and he knew
perfectly well that in case of battle the torrent would sweep over the
bodies of himself and his men in an hour. He seized upon other means.
He gave out among his own soldiers that they were merely the advance
guard of a whole division of the terrible prince, and this report he
spread everywhere in all the farms, villages, and towns through which
it came to him to pass. And in truth it spread like a flash of
lightning along Zbruch, Smotrich, Studenitsa, Ushka, Kalusik, and from
them it reached the Dniester and flew on farther as if driven by the
wind from Kamenyets to Yagorlik. It was repeated by Turkish pashas in
Khotím, the Zaporojians in Yampol, and the Tartars in Rashkoff. And
again was heard that famous cry, "Yarema is coming!" from which the
hearts of the rebellious people sank, and from which they trembled,
knowing neither the day nor the hour.
And no one doubted the truth of the report. The commanders would fall
upon Hmelnitski, and Yeremi on Krívonos,--that lay in the order of
things. Krívonos himself believed in it, and his hands dropped. What
was he to do? Move on the prince? At Konstantinoff there was another
spirit in his men and he had more troops; still they were beaten,
decimated, barely escaped with their lives. Krívonos was sure that his
Cossacks would fight madly against all other armies of the
Commonwealth, and against every other leader, but with the approach of
Yeremi they would speed away like a flock of swans before an eagle, or
like the thistle-down of the steppes before the wind.
To wait for the prince at Kamenyets was still worse. Krívonos
determined to hurry eastward as far as Bratslav, to avoid his evil
spirit and move toward Hmelnitski. He knew, it is true, that circling
around in this way he would not arrive in time; but at least he would
hear of the results in season, and plan for his own safety.
A new report came with the wind, that Hmelnitski was already defeated.
Skshetuski had spread it purposely, as he had the previous report. This
time the unfortunate Krívonos knew not what to do.
Later he determined all the more to march to the east and push on as
far as possible into the steppes; maybe he would meet the Tartars and
find shelter among them. But first of all he wished to be sure;
therefore he looked carefully among his colonels to find a man trusty
and prepared for everything, so as to send him with a party to get
information. But the choice was difficult; there was a lack of
volunteers, and it was absolutely necessary to find a man who in case
he should fall into the hands of the enemy would not disclose the plans
of retreat, even if burned with fire, empaled on a stake, or broken on
a wheel. At last Krívonos found the man. One night he gave the order to
call Bogun, and said to him,--
"Do you hear, Yurku, my friend Yarema is marching on us with a great
force; we shall all perish, unfortunates!"
"I have heard that he is coming,--you have already spoken of that,
father. But why should we perish?"
"We cannot withstand him. We could another, but not Yeremi. The
Cossacks are afraid of him."
"But I am not afraid of him. I cut to pieces a regiment of his at
Vassílyevka beyond the Dnieper."
"I know that you are not afraid of him; your fame of a Cossack and a
hero is equal to his as a prince. But I cannot give him battle, for my
Cossacks are unwilling. Remember what they said at the council,--how
they rushed on me with sabres because I wanted to lead them to
slaughter."
"Then we will go to Hmelnitski; there we shall find blood and booty."
"They say that Hmelnitski is already defeated."
"I do not believe that, Father Maksim. Hmelnitski is a fox; he will not
strike the Poles without the Tartars."
"I think so too, but we must find out. Then we could go around this
devil of a Yeremi and join Hmel; but we must have information. Now, if
some one who has no fear of Yeremi were to go with a party and take
prisoners, I should fill his cap with ruddy sequins."
"I'll go, Father Maksim,--not for sequins, but for Cossack, for heroic
glory."
"You are the next ataman to me, and since you are willing to go, you
will become first ataman yet over the Cossacks, good hero, for you are
not afraid of Yeremi. Go, my falcon, and hereafter you have but to ask
for what you want. Well, I tell you, if you were not going I should go
myself; but it is not for me to go."
"No; for if you were to go, father, the Cossacks would say that you
were saving your head and would scatter over the world, but when I go
their courage will increase."
"Shall I give you many men?"
"I will not take many; it is easier to hide and approach with a small
force. But give me about five hundred good warriors, and my head for
it, I will bring you informants,--not soldiers, but officers from whom
you will learn everything."
"Go at once! They are firing cannon from Kamenyets with joy,--salvation
to the Poles and destruction to us innocents."
Bogun went out, and began to prepare at once for the road. His heroes,
as was the fixed practice on such occasions, drank to the verge of
destruction, "before Mother Death should clasp them to her breast." He
too drank with them till he was snorting from gorailka.
He frolicked and revelled, then had a barrel filled with tar, and just
as he was, in brocade and serge, sprang into it, sank a couple of
times, once over his head, and shouted,--
"I am black as Mother Night. Polish eyes won't see me now!"
He rolled himself on Persian carpets, sprang on his horse and rode
away. After him clattered, amid the darkness of night, his trusty
heroes, followed by shouts: "Glory! Luck!"
Skshetuski had already pushed on to Yarmolintsi, where, meeting
opposition, he baptized the townspeople in blood, and having told them
that Prince Yeremi would arrive next day, gave rest to his wearied
horses and men. Then assembling his officers in council, he said to
them,--
"So far God has given us success. I see also, by the terror which
seizes the peasants, that they take us for the advance guard of the
prince, and believe that his whole force is following. We must look
out, however, that they do not bethink themselves when they see that
one company is going everywhere."
"And shall we go about in this way long?" asked Zagloba.
"Till we find out what Krívonos has determined."
"Then we may not come in time for the battle at the camp?"
"Maybe not."
"Well, I am not glad of that," said Zagloba. "My hand has become a
little exercised on the ruffians at Konstantinoff. I captured something
from them there; but that is a trifle. My fingers are itching now."
"Perhaps you will get more fighting than you expect," answered Pan Yan,
seriously.
"How is that?" asked Zagloba, rather alarmed.
"Why, any day we may come upon the enemy, and though we are not here to
bar the road with arms, we shall have to defend ourselves. But to
return to the subject. We must occupy more country, so they may know of
us in several places at once; cut down the obstinate here and there, so
as to spread terror; and everywhere circulate reports. Therefore I
think we must separate."
"So I think," said Volodyovski. "We shall increase in their eyes, and
those who escape to Krívonos will talk about legions."
"Well, Lieutenant, you are leader here, give the orders," said
Podbipienta.
"I will go through Zinkoff to Solodkovets, and farther if I can," said
Skshetuski. "You, Podbipienta, will go straight down to Tatarjiski; and
you, Michael, go to Kupin; and Zagloba will press on to Zbruch, near
Satanoff."
"I!" exclaimed Zagloba.
"Yes. You are a man of thought and full of stratagems. I supposed you
would undertake the enterprise willingly; but if not, Sergeant Kosmach
will lead the fourth party."
"I will take it under my command," cried Zagloba, who was suddenly
dazzled by the thought that he would be the leader of a separate party.
"If I asked, it was because I am sorry to part with you."
"But have you experience in military matters?" asked Volodyovski.
"Have I experience? It hadn't yet come into the head of any stork to
make a present of you to your father and mother when I was commanding
larger bodies of men than this. I served all my life in the army, and
should have served to this moment had it not been for the mouldy
biscuit that stuck in my stomach and stayed there three years. I had to
go for a bezoar to Galáts, the details of which journey I will tell in
proper time, but now I am in a hurry for the road."
"Go on, then, and spread the reports that Hmelnitski is beaten,
and that the prince has passed Ploskiroff," said Skshetuski.
"Don't take the first informant that comes along; but when you meet
scouting-parties from Kamenyets, try to get people who are able to give
information about Krívonos, for those whom we have now tell
contradictory stories."
"I hope I may meet Krívonos himself. I hope he will want to go on a
scouting expedition. I should give him pepper and ginger. Don't be
afraid! I will teach the ruffians to sing, and dance for that matter."
"In three days we shall meet again at Yarmolintsi, and now each one to
his journey," said Skshetuski. "And I beg of you to spare your men."
"In three days at Yarmolintsi," repeated Volodyovski, Zagloba, and
Podbipienta.