"Halt! halt! Who are ye?"
"But who are ye?"
"Tsyprianovitch of Yedlinka."
"For G.o.d"s sake! these are our people!"
And two riders pushed from the ranks quickly. One inclined to Pan Serafin, seized his hand straightway, and covered it with kisses; the other rushed to the priest"s shoulder.
"Stanislav!" cried Pan Serafin.
"Yatsek!" shouted the priest.
The greetings and embraces continued till speech came to Pan Serafin,--
"For G.o.d"s sake, whence come ye?"
"Our regiment was marching to Cracow. Yatsek and I had permission to visit you at Yedlinka. Meanwhile we learned at Radom, while halting for food there, that thou, father, and the priest, and the Bukoyemskis had set out an hour earlier by the highroad toward Kieltse."
"Did the prelate tell thee?"
"No! We did not see him. Radom Jews told us; we did not go then to Yedlinka, but moved on at once lest we might miss you. At midnight we heard firing, so we all rushed to give aid, thinking that bandits had fallen upon travellers. It did not occur to us that ye were the persons. G.o.d be thanked, G.o.d be thanked, that we came up in season!"
"Not bandits attacked us, but the Krepetskis. It is a question of Panna Anulka, who is with us."
"As G.o.d lives!" exclaimed Stanislav. "Then I think that his soul will leave Yatsek."
"I wrote to thee about her, but it is evident that my letter did not reach thee."
"No, for we are marching these three weeks. I have not written of late because I had to come hither."
Shouts from the Bukoyemskis, the attendants, and the warriors stopped further converse. At that moment also attendants ran up with lighted torches. A supply had been taken by Pan Serafin that he might have wherewith to give light during darkness. It was as clear on the road as in daylight, and in those bright gleams Yatsek saw the gray horse on which Panna Anulka was sitting.
He grew dumb at sight of her.
"Yes, she is with us," said Father Voynovski, seeing his astonishment.
Then Yatsek urged his horse forward, and halted before her. He uncovered his head, and remained there lost as he looked at her. His face was as white as chalk, his breath had almost left him, and he was speechless.
After a moment the cap fell to the earth from his fingers, his head dropped to the mane of the horse, and his eyes closed.
"But he is wounded!" cried Lukash Bukoyemski.
CHAPTER XXIV
Yatsek was really wounded. One of those robbers, who defended themselves to the utmost, cut him, with a scythe in the left shoulder, and since he and the men marched without mail, the very end of the iron had cut into his arm rather deeply from the shoulder to the elbow. The wound was not over grievous, but it bled quite profusely; because of this the young man had then fainted. The experienced Father Voynovski commanded to put him in a wagon, and, when the wound had been dressed, he left him in care of the women. Yatsek opened his eyes somewhat later, and began again to look, as at a rainbow, into the face of Panna Anulka, which was there bending over him.
Meanwhile the attendants filled the ditch and removed all obstructions.
The wagons and the men pa.s.sed to the dry road beyond, where they halted to bring the train into order, take some rest, and question the prisoners. From Tachevski the priest went to the Bukoyemskis to see if they had suffered. But they had not. The horses were torn and even stabbed with forks, but not seriously; the men themselves were in excellent humor, for all were admiring their valor, since they had crushed before war, more opponents than had many others during years of campaigning.
"Now, gentlemen, ye may join Pan Zbierhovski," said the hussars here and there. "From of old it is known, and G.o.d grant that men will see soon, that our regiment is the first even among hussars. Pan Zbierhovski admits no common men, or any man easily, but he will accept you with gladness, and we shall be charmed from our hearts to find you in our company."
The Bukoyemskis knew that this might not be, for they could not have the attendants, or the outfit demanded in such a high regiment, but they listened to those speeches with rapture, and when cups went the round, they let no man surpa.s.s them.
When that part was ended, the captured bandits were seized by their heads, and led from the mud to Zbierhovski and the priest and Pan Serafin. No bandit had escaped, for with a detachment of twelve hundred there were men to surround the whole quagmire and both ends of the ridgeway. The appearance of the prisoners astonished Pan Serafin. He had thought to find Martsian among them, as he had told Stanislav, and Martsian"s Radom outcasts also; meanwhile he saw before him a ragged rabble reeking with turf and bespattered with mud of the ridgeway, a company made up, like all bodies of that kind, of deserters from the infantry, of runaway servants and serfs, in a word, of all kinds of wicked, wild scoundrels working at robbery in remote places and forests. Many such parties were raging, especially in the wooded region of Sandomir, and since they were strengthened by men who were eager for anything, men who if captured were threatened with terrible punishment, their attacks were uncommonly daring, and they fought savage battles.
The search through the quagmire continued for a time yet, then Pan Serafin turned to Zbierhovski.
"Gracious colonel," said he. "These are highway robbers. We thought them quite different. This was an attack of common bandits. We thank you, and all your men with grateful hearts for effective a.s.sistance, without which, as is possible, we should not have seen the sun rise this morning."
"These night marches are good," said Zbierhovski, and he smiled while he was speaking. "The heat does not trouble, and it is possible to serve others. Do you wish to examine these captives immediately?"
"Since I have looked at them closely already, it is not needed. The court in the town will examine them, and the headsman will guide them."
At this a tall, bony fellow, with a gloomy face, and light hair pushed out from the captives and said, as he bent to Pan Serafin"s stirrup.
"Great mighty lord, spare our lives, and we will tell truth. We are common bandits, but the attack was not common."
The priest and Pan Serafin, on hearing this, looked at each other with roused curiosity.
"Who art thou?" asked the priest.
"I am a chief. There were two of us, for this party was formed of two bands, but the other man fell. Give me pardon, and I will tell everything."
Father Voynovski stopped for a moment.
"We cannot save you from justice," said he, "but for you it is better in every case to tell truth, than be forced to declare it under torture. Besides, if ye confess, G.o.d"s judgment and man"s will be more lenient."
The bandit looked at his companions, uncertain whether to speak or be silent. Meanwhile the priest added,--
"And if ye tell the whole truth, we can intercede with the king, and commend you to his mercy. He accepts offenders in the infantry, and recommends mercy now to judges."
"In that case," said the man, "I will tell everything. My name is Obuh; the leader of the other band was Kos, and a n.o.ble engaged us to fall on your graces."
"But do ye know the name of that n.o.ble?"
"I did not know him, for I am from distant places, but Kos knew him, and said his name was Vysh."
The priest and Pan Serafin looked at each other with astonishment.
"Vysh,[6] didst thou say?"
"Yes."