So there seems to be no other way but do as other villages are doing."
"Kill the carrion! Finish them off! Tear them with wild horses!" they began to shout frantically at once, attacking the Gajdas with their sticks.
"Silence! Stop there, you fools!" Jedrzej roared, putting himself in front of the Gajdas to protect them. "Wait! We all know they are robbers, thieves, and traitors who deserve punishment; but first let everyone who has anything to charge them with come forward and say it to their face. For we have come here to sentence and not to murder them. We don"t want to play off our revenge on them, but to punish them justly."
The people crowded together more closely, for everyone felt awkward at being the first to come forward. There was a loud hubbub of voices as they recalled their grievances and pressed with threats towards the prisoners. At last the miller stepped forward, and, raising his hand, said solemnly:
"I swear before G.o.d and men that they stole my horses and four hundred roubles. I caught them in the act.... At the point of the knife they forced me to swear that I would not give them away. They threatened me with revenge if I did. They are robbers of the worst sort."
"And I swear that the Gajdas stole my cow," said another man.
"And they took my sow."
"And my mare and foal," others deposed.
The a.s.sembled people listened in grim silence.
The snow suddenly ceased to fall and the wind increased, beating round the church and tearing at the swaying, moaning trees; large grey clouds flew across the sky; but the steady voices continued their accusations uninterruptedly. At intervals there was an ominous murmur and the thumping of sticks, or else the Gajdas cried:
"That"s not true! They"re giving wrong evidence! The thieves from Wola did all that! Don"t believe it!"
But fresh people came forward, accusing them of still heavier crimes.
And finally they reproached them with the murder of the Jews and with betraying the postmaster"s daughters and the priest, with committing arson, joining in drinking bouts with the police, and not going to church: any known misdemeanour was hastily raked up and thrown furiously at their miserable heads. There was a great clamour, for each man tried to shout down the other, everyone cursed and swore to avenge himself, and was so eager to beat the Gajdas that Jedrzej, unable to restrain them all, shouted angrily:
"Hold your noise, and let me have a say!"
The hubbub subsided slightly, and only the women continued their quarrelsome chattering.
"Do you plead guilty?" he asked, bending over them.
"No! We"re wrongly charged! They are lying--that"s all their spite! We swear to it!" they cried in despair.
"If you plead guilty, you will get a lighter sentence," he urged them, relenting a little.
The miller, Jedrzej, and those few who were less excited, still tried to protect them from the enraged crowd, which moved on towards them like a storm, shouting and flourishing sticks. But the women managed to jump at them and scratch them spitefully.
The scene at the church door became more terrible every instant.
"We must have the priest here before we finish with them!... The priest!" the miller cried suddenly.
The people stopped. Someone ran to fetch the Vicar.
"Or shall we put off carrying out the sentence till to-morrow?" the miller proposed.
Thumping their sticks together, the crowd shouted:
"Let"s have done with them!... No need for such scoundrels to have a priest!... Let them die like dogs! No delay, or else they"ll run and fetch the Cossacks! Kill them off!"
But the Gajdas, feeling that this brought a possibility of rescue, began to implore despairingly:
"Men, have pity! Send the priest; we want to make our confession! The priest!..."
Unfortunately for them, the priest was not at home. He had gone away somewhere the previous evening.
"Then let them make their confession before all the people," someone said.
"Very good! Yes, let them confess--and tell the truth!" the rest a.s.sented.
Someone cut the ropes binding their hands, and set them on their knees before the church door.
"Open the church! They are going to make their confession! Open it!"
shouted many voices.
But Jedrzej exclaimed: "No need of that! It"s a sin to bring such scoundrels into the house of G.o.d; it"s enough that we allow them to come on to consecrated ground. Quiet there!" he called to the dissatisfied women who kept on talking; and, bending over the Gajdas, he said:
"Now confess; but only say the plain truth. The people have power to forgive you your trespa.s.ses." He knelt down beside them, and all the rest followed his example, sighing and crossing themselves.
The Gajdas mumbled something, looking round meanwhile in all directions.
"Speak up! Louder! They even want to cheat G.o.d!" the crowd shouted indignantly.
The elder Gajda, who seemed to have lost heart completely, began to shiver, and burst out crying, confessing his sins through heavy sobs.
A dead silence spread through the crowd; no one dared to breathe, or even cough; that pitiful voice, spreading through the darkness like a pool of blood, was the only sound besides the bell pealing overhead and the soughing trees.
The people were awestruck, and their flesh began to creep. They beat their b.r.e.a.s.t.s in terror; here and there a moan broke from them; an icy fear penetrated them, for Gajda, while all the time throwing the blame on his son and the policeman, not only pleaded guilty to what he was accused of, but to many other even worse crimes....
When he had finished he prostrated himself with outstretched arms, striking his head on the threshold of the church door. His entreaties for mercy were so piteous that many people in the crowd began to cry also.
"Now let Kacper confess!" the men howled. "Kacper! Get on, you blackguard! Be quick!" They began to beat and kick him, till he raised himself, exclaiming furiously:
"You"re blackguards yourselves! You want to murder innocent people!
You"re thieves and traitors yourselves!"
He cursed and threatened them dreadfully, till the old man begged him to stop.
"You"d better knuckle under, son. Confess; then perhaps they"ll pardon you. Knuckle under!..."
"I won"t! I won"t beg for mercy from blackguards! Dogs! d.a.m.ned scoundrels! Carrion! I"ve no need to confess myself. Let them kill me--the swine! Only let them dare to do it! The Cossacks will give it them back for me to-morrow. Only let them touch me!"
He roared this like a wild beast, and, suddenly springing to his feet and belabouring the nearest bystanders with his fists, he began to beat his way madly through the crowd. The old man slipped after him like a wolf. There was a fearful outcry, but the Gajdas were instantly overpowered and thrown down, like a bundle of rags, where they had lain before.
"They are trying to run away!" Jedrzej shouted angrily. "They are threatening vengeance! Punish them, you fellows! Beat them to death like mad dogs! Let everyone have a go at them--everyone--whoever believes in G.o.d!"
The crowd swayed like a forest, and flung itself upon the men; a hundred sticks rose and fell with a hollow crash, and the air was rent with a terrific roar as though the whole world were breaking to pieces. It was like a whirlwind raging and then suddenly subsiding.
Only curses and women"s shrieks and the thud of sticks were heard in the darkness now, while at moments wild, piercing cries rang out from the men who were being murdered.
And a few minutes later there was nothing at the church door but a black shapeless ma.s.s pounded into the slush; it gave out a sickly smell of blood.