"My only Basia is recovering; she is recovering!"
And he rushed at her hands, and sometimes he kissed those poor little feet which had waded so valiantly through the deep snows to Hreptyoff; in a word, he loved her and honored her beyond estimation. He felt wonderfully indebted to Providence, and on a certain time he said in presence of Zagloba and the officers:--
"I am a poor man, but even were I to work off my arms to the elbows, I will find money for a little church, even a wooden one. And as often as they ring the bells in it, I will remember the mercy of G.o.d, and the soul will be melting within me from grat.i.tude."
"G.o.d grant us first to pa.s.s through this Turkish war with success,"
said Zagloba.
"The Lord knows best what pleases Him most," replied the little knight: "if He wishes for a church He will preserve me; and if He prefers my blood, I shall not spare it, as G.o.d is dear to me."
Basia with health regained her humor. Two weeks later she gave command to open the door of her chamber a little one evening; and when the officers had a.s.sembled in the room, she called out with her silvery voice:--
"Good-evening, gentlemen! I shall not die this time, aha!"
"Thanks to the Most High G.o.d!" answered the officers, in chorus.
"Glory be to G.o.d, dear child!" exclaimed Pan Motovidlo, who loved Basia particularly with a fatherly affection, and who in moments of great emotion spoke always in Russian.[28]
"See, gentlemen," continued Basia, "what has happened! Who could have hoped for this? Lucky that it ended so."
"G.o.d watched over innocence," called the chorus again through the door.
"But Pan Zagloba laughed at me more than once, because I have more love for the sabre than the distaff. Well, a distaff or a needle would have helped me greatly! But didn"t I act like a cavalier, didn"t I?"
"An angel could not have done better!"
Zagloba interrupted the conversation by closing the door of the chamber, for he feared too much excitement for Basia. But she was angry as a cat at the old man, for she had a wish for further conversation, and especially to hear more praises of her bravery and valor. When danger had pa.s.sed, and was merely a reminiscence, she was very proud of her action against Azya, and demanded praise absolutely. More than once she turned to the little knight, and pushing his breast with her finger said, with the mien of a spoiled child,--
"Praise for the bravery!"
And he, the obedient, praised her and fondled her, and kissed her on the eyes and on the hands, till Zagloba, though he was greatly affected himself in reality, pretended to be scandalized, and muttered,--
"Ah, everything will be as lax as grandfather"s whip."
The general rejoicing in Hreptyoff over Basia"s recovery was troubled only by the remembrance of the injury which Azya"s treason had wrought in the Commonwealth, and the terrible fate of old Pan Novoveski, of Pani and Panna Boski, and of Eva. Basia was troubled no little by this, and with her every one; for the events at Rashkoff were known in detail, not only in Hreptyoff, but in Kamenyets and farther on. A few days before, Pan Myslishevski had stopped in Hreptyoff; notwithstanding the treason of Azya, Krychinski, and Adurovich, he did not lose hope of attracting to the Polish side the other captains. After Pan Myslishevski came Pan Bogush, and later, news directly from Mohiloff, Yampol, and Rashkoff itself.
In Mohiloff, Pan Gorzenski, evidently a better soldier than orator, did not let himself be deceived. Intercepting Azya"s orders to the Tartars whom he left behind, Pan Gorzenski fell upon them, with a handful of Mazovian infantry, and cut them down or took them prisoners; besides, he sent a warning to Yampol, through which that place was saved. The troops returned soon after. So Rashkoff was the only victim. Pan Michael received a letter from Pan Byaloglovski himself, giving a report of events there and other affairs relating to the whole Commonwealth.
"It is well that I returned," wrote Pan Byaloglovski, among other things, "for Novoveski, my second, is not in a state now to do duty. He is more like a skeleton than a man, and we shall be sure to lose a great cavalier, for suffering has crushed him beyond the measure of his strength. His father is slain; his sister, in the last degree of shame, given to Adurovich by Azya, who took Panna Boski for himself. Nothing can be done for them, even should there be success in rescuing them from captivity. We know this from a Tartar who sprained his shoulder in crossing the river; taken prisoner by our men, he was put on the fire, and divulged everything. Azya, Krychinski, and Adurovich have gone to Adrianople. Novoveski is struggling to follow without fail, saying that he must take Azya, even from the centre of the Sultan"s camp, and have vengeance. He was always obstinate and daring, and there is no reason now to wonder at him, since it is a question of Panna Boski, whose evil fate we all bewail with tears, for she was a sweet maiden, and I do not know the man whose heart she did not win. But I restrain Novoveski, and tell him that Azya himself will come to him; for war is certain, and this also, that the hordes will move in the vanguard. We have news from Moldavia from the perkulabs, and from Turkish merchants as well, that troops are a.s.sembling already near Adrianople,--a great many of the horde. The Turkish cavalry, which they call "spahis," are mustering too; and the Sultan himself is to come with the janissaries. My benefactor, there will be untold myriads of them; for the whole Orient is in movement, and we have only a handful of troops. Our whole hope is in the rock of Kamenyets, which, G.o.d grant, is provisioned properly. In Adrianople it is spring; and with us almost spring, for tremendous rains are falling and gra.s.s is appearing. I am going to Yampol; for Rashkoff is only a heap of ashes, and there is no place to incline one"s head, or anything to put into the mouth. Besides, I think that we shall be withdrawn from all the forts."
The little knight had information of equal and even greater certainty, since it came from Hotin. He had sent it too a short time before to the hetman. Still, Byaloglovski"s letter, coming from the remotest boundary, made a powerful impression on him, precisely because it confirmed that intelligence. But the little knight had no fears touching war, his fears were for Basia.
"The order of the hetman to withdraw the garrisons may come any day,"
said he to Zagloba; "and service is service. It will be necessary to move without delay; but Basia is in bed yet, and the weather is bad."
"If ten orders were to come," said Zagloba, "Basia is the main question; we will stay here until she recovers completely. Besides, the war will not begin before the end of the thaws, much less before the end of winter, especially as they will bring heavy artillery against Kamenyets."
"That old volunteer is always sitting within you," replied the little knight, with impatience; "you think an order may be delayed for private matters."
"Well, if an order is dearer to you than Basia, pack her into a wagon and march. I know, I know, you are ready at command to put her in with forks, if it appears that she is unable to sit in the wagon with her own strength. May the hangman take you with such discipline! In old times a man did what he could, and what he couldn"t he didn"t do. You have kindness on your lips, but just let them cry, "Haida on the Turk!"
then you"ll spit out your kindness as you would a peachstone, and you will take that unfortunate woman on horseback with a lariat."
"I without pity for Basia! Fear the wounds of the Crucified!" cried the little knight.
Zagloba puffed angrily for a time, then looking at the suffering face of Pan Michael, he said,--
"Michael, you know that I say what I say out of love really parental for Basia. Otherwise would I be sitting here under the Turkish axe, instead of enjoying leisure in a safe place, which at my years no man could take ill of me? But who got Basia for you? If it shall be seen that it was not I, then command me to drink a vat of water without a thing to give taste to it."
"I could not repay you in a lifetime for Basia!" cried the little knight.
Then they took each other by the shoulders, and the best harmony began between them.
"I have planned," said the little knight, "that when war comes, you will take Basia to Pan Yan"s place. Chambuls do not go that far."
"I will do so for you, though it would delight me to go against the Turk; for nothing disgusts me like that swinish nation which does not drink wine."
"I fear only one thing: Basia will try to be at Kamenyets, so as to be near me. My skin creeps at thought of this; but as G.o.d is G.o.d she will try."
"Do not let her try. Has little evil come already, because you indulge her in everything, and let her go on that expedition to Rashkoff, though I cried out against it immediately?"
"But that is not true! You said that you would not advise."
"When I say that I will not advise a thing, that is worse than if I had spoken against it."
"Basia ought to be wise now, but she will not. When she sees the sword over my head she will resist."
"Do not let her resist, I repeat. For G.o.d"s sake, what sort of a straw husband are you?"
"I confess that when she puts her fists in her eyes and begins to cry, or just let her pretend to cry, the heart in me is like b.u.t.ter on a frying-pan. It must be that she has given me some herb. As to sending her, I will send her, for her safety is dearer to me than my own life; but when I think that I must torture her so the breath stops in me from pity."
"Michael, have G.o.d in your heart! Don"t be led by the nose!"
"Bah! don"t be led yourself. Who, if not you, said that I have no pity for her?"
"What"s that?" asked Zagloba.
"You do not lack ingenuity, but now you are scratching behind your ear yourself."
"Because I"m thinking what better argument to use."
"But if she puts her fists in her eyes at once?"
"She will, as G.o.d is dear to me!" said Zagloba, with evident alarm.
And they were perplexed, for, to tell the truth, Basia had measured both perfectly. They had petted her to the last degree in her sickness, and loved her so much that the necessity of opposing her wish and desire filled them with fear. That Basia would not resist, and would yield with submission to the decree, both knew well; but not to mention Pan Michael, it would have been pleasanter for Zagloba to rush himself the third man on a whole regiment of janissaries, than to see her putting her little fists into her eyes.