Pan Michael Part 37

"Halim, listen!" whispered Mellehovich.

"Effendi," answered the messenger.

"Tell Krychinski that he is wise, for in the letter there was nothing that could harm me; tell him that he is wise. Let him never write more clearly. They will trust me now still more, all of them, the hetman himself, Bogush, Myslishevski, the command here,--all! Do you hear? May the plague stifle them!"

"I hear, Effendi."

"But I must be in Rashkoff first, and then I will return to this place."

"Effendi, young Novoveski will recognize you."

"He will not. He saw me at Kalnik, at Bratslav, and did not know me. He will look at me, wrinkle his brows, but will not recognize me. He was fifteen years old when I ran away from the house. Eight times has winter covered the steppes since that hour. I have changed. The old man would know me, but the young one will not know me. I will notify you from Rashkoff. Let Krychinski be ready, and hold himself in the neighborhood. You must have an understanding with the perkulabs. In Yampol, also, is our squadron. I will persuade Bogush to get an order from the hetman for me, that it will be easier for me to act on Krychinski from that place. But I must return hither,--I must! I do not know what will happen, how I shall manage. Fire burns me; in the night sleep flies from me. Had it not been for her, I should have died."

Mellehovich's lips began to quiver; and bending still again to the messenger, he whispered, as if in a fever, "Halim, blessed be her hands, blessed her head, blessed the earth on which she walks! Do you hear, Halim? Tell them there that through her I am well."

CHAPTER XXVI.

Father Kaminski had been a soldier in his youthful years and a cavalier of great courage; he was now stationed at Ushytsa and was reorganizing a parish. But as the church was in ruins, and parishioners were lacking, this pastor without a flock visited Hreptyoff, and remained there whole weeks, edifying the knights with pious instruction. He listened with attention to the narrative of Pan Mushalski, and spoke to the a.s.sembly a few evenings later as follows:--

"I have always loved to hear narratives in which sad adventures find a happy ending, for from them it is evident that whomever G.o.d's hand guides, it can free from the toils of the pursuer and lead even from the Crimea to a peaceful roof. Therefore let each one of you fix this in his mind: For the Lord there is nothing impossible, and let no one of you even in direst necessity lose trust in G.o.d's mercy. This is the truth!

"It was praiseworthy in Pan Mushalski to love a common man with brotherly affection. The Saviour Himself gave us an example when He, though of royal blood, loved common people and made many of them apostles and helped them to promotion, so that now they have seats in the heavenly senate.

"But personal love is one thing, and general love--that of one nation to another--is something different. The love which is general, our Lord, the Redeemer, observed no less earnestly than the other. And where do we find this love? When, O man, you look through the world, there is such hatred in hearts everywhere, as if people were obeying the commands of the Devil and not of the Lord."

"It will be hard, your grace," said Zagloba, "to persuade us to love Turks, Tartars, or other barbarians whom the Lord G.o.d Himself must despise thoroughly."

"I am not persuading you to that, but I maintain this: that children of the same mother should have love for one another; but what do we see?

From the days of Hmelnitski, or for thirty years, no part of these regions is dried from blood."

"But whose fault is it?"

"Whoso will confess his fault first, him will G.o.d pardon."

"Your grace is wearing the robes of a priest to-day; but in youth you slew rebels, as we have heard, not at all worse than others."

"I slew them, for it was my duty as a soldier to do so; that was not my sin, but this, that I hated them as a pestilence. I had private reasons which I will not mention, for those are old times and the wounds are healed now. I repent that I acted beyond my duty. I had under my command one hundred men from the squadron of Pan Nyevodovski; and going often independently with my men, I burned, slaughtered, and hanged.

You, gentlemen, know what times those were. The Tartars, called in by Hmelnitski, burned and slew; we burned and slew; the Cossacks left only land and water behind them in all places, committing atrocities worse than ours and the Tartars. There is nothing more terrible than civil war! What times those were no man will ever describe; enough that we and they fought more like mad dogs than men.

"Once news was sent to our command that ruffians had besieged Pan Rus.h.i.tski in his fortalice. I was sent with my troops to the rescue. I came too late; the place was level with the ground. But I fell upon the drunken peasants and cut them down notably; only a part hid in the grain. I gave command to take these alive, to hang them for an example.

But where? It was easier to plan than to execute; in the whole village there was not one tree remaining; even the pear-trees standing on the boundaries between fields were cut down. I had no time to make gibbets; a forest too, as that was a steppe-land, was nowhere in view. What could I do? I took my prisoners and marched on. 'I shall find a forked oak somewhere,' thought I. I went a mile, two miles,--steppe and steppe; you might roll a ball over it. At last we found traces of a village; that was toward evening. I gazed around; here and there a pile of coals, and besides gray ashes, nothing more. On a small hillside there was a cross, a firm oak one, evidently not long made, for the wood was not dark yet and glittered in the twilight as if it were afire. Christ was on it, cut out of tin plate and painted in such a way that only when you came from one side and saw the thinness of the plate could you know that not a real statue was hanging there; but in front the face was as if living, somewhat pale from pain; on the head a crown of thorns; the eyes were turned upward with wonderful sadness and pity.

When I saw that cross, the thought flashed into my mind, 'There is a tree for you; there is no other,' but straightway I was afraid. In the name of the Father and the Son! I will not hang them on the cross. But I thought that I should comfort the eyes of Christ if I gave command in His presence to kill those who had spilled so much innocent blood, and I spoke thus: 'O dear Lord, let it seem to Thee that these men are those Jews who nailed Thee to the cross, for these are not better than those.' Then I commanded my men to drag the prisoners one by one to the mound under the cross. There were among them old men, gray-haired peasants, and youths. The first whom they brought said, 'By the Pa.s.sion of the Lord, by that Christ, have mercy on me!' And I said in answer, 'Off with his head!' A dragoon slashed and cut off his head. They brought another; the same thing happened: 'By that Merciful Christ, have pity on me!' And I said again, 'Off with his head!' the same with the third, the fourth, the fifth; there were fourteen of them, and each implored me by Christ. Twilight was ended when we finished. I gave command to place them in a circle around the foot of the cross. Fool! I thought to delight the Only Son with this spectacle. They quivered awhile yet,--one with his hands, another with his feet, again one floundered like a fish pulled out of water, but that was short; strength soon left their bodies, and they lay quiet in a circle.

"Since complete darkness had come, I determined to stay in that spot for the night, though there was nothing to make a fire. G.o.d gave a warm night, and my men lay down on horse-blankets; but I went again under the cross to repeat the usual 'Our Father' at the feet of Christ and commit myself to His mercy. I thought that my prayer would be the more thankfully accepted, because the day had pa.s.sed in toil and in deeds of a kind that I accounted to myself as a service.

"It happens frequently to a wearied soldier to fall asleep at his evening prayers. It happened so to me. The dragoons, seeing how I was kneeling with head resting on the cross, understood that I was sunk in pious meditation, and no one wished to interrupt me; my eyes closed at once, and a wonderful dream came down to me from that cross. I do not say that I had a vision, for I was not and am not worthy of that; but sleeping soundly, I saw as if I had been awake the whole Pa.s.sion of the Lord. At sight of the suffering of the Innocent Lamb the heart was crushed in me, tears dropped from my eyes, and measureless pity took hold of me. 'O Lord,' said I, 'I have a handful of good men. Dost Thou wish to see what our cavalry can do? Only beckon with Thy head, and I will bear apart on sabres in one twinkle those such sons, Thy executioners.' I had barely said this when all vanished from the eye; there remained only the cross, and on it Christ, weeping tears of blood. I embraced the foot of the holy tree then, and sobbed. How long this lasted, I know not; but afterward, when I had grown calm somewhat, I said again, 'O Lord, O Lord! why didst Thou announce Thy holy teaching among hardened Jews? Hadst Thou come from Palestine to our Commonwealth, surely we should not have nailed Thee to the cross, but would have received Thee splendidly, given Thee all manner of gifts, and made Thee a n.o.ble for the greater increase of Thy divine glory. Why didst Thou not do this, O Lord?'

"I raise my eyes,--this was all in a dream, you remember, gentlemen,--and what do I see? Behold, our Lord looks on me severely; He frowns, and suddenly speaks in a loud voice: 'Cheap is your n.o.bility at this time; during war every low fellow may buy it, but no more of this! You are worthy of each other, both you and the ruffians; and each and the other of you are worse than the Jews, for you nail me here to the cross every day. Have I not enjoined love, even for enemies, and forgiveness of sins? But you tear each other's entrails like mad beasts. Wherefore I, seeing this, suffer unendurable torment. You yourself, who wish to rescue me, and invite me to the Commonwealth, what have you done? See, corpses are lying here around my cross, and you have bespattered the foot of it with blood; and still there were among them innocent persons,--young boys, or blinded men, who, having care from no one, followed others like foolish sheep. Had you mercy on them; did you judge them before death? No! You gave command to slay them all for my sake, and still thought that you were giving comfort to me. In truth, it is one thing to punish and reprove as a father punishes a son, or as an elder brother reproves a younger brother, and another to seek revenge without judgment, without measure, in punishing and without recognizing cruelty. It has gone so far in this land that wolves are more merciful than men; that the gra.s.s is sweating b.l.o.o.d.y dew; that the winds do not blow, but howl; that the rivers flow in tears, and people stretch forth their hands to death, saying, "Oh, our refuge!"'

"'O Lord,' cried I, 'are they better than we? Who has committed the greatest cruelty? Who brought in the Pagan?'

"'Love them while chastising,' said the Lord, 'and then the beam will fall from their eyes, hardness will leave their hearts, and my mercy will be upon you. Otherwise the onrush of Tartars will come, and they will lay bonds upon you and upon them, and you will be forced to serve the enemy in suffering, in contempt, in tears, till the day in which you love one another. But if you exceed the measure in hatred, then there will not be mercy for one or the other, and the Pagan will possess this land for the ages of ages.'

"I grew terrified hearing such commands, and long I was unable to speak till, throwing myself on my face, I asked, 'O Lord, what have I to do to wash away my sins?' To this the Lord said, 'Go, repeat my words; proclaim love.' After that my dream ended.

"As night in summer is short, I woke up about dawn, all covered with dew. I looked; the heads were lying in a circle about the cross, but already they were blue. A wonderful thing,--yesterday that sight delighted me; to-day terror took hold of me, especially at sight of one youth, perhaps seventeen years of age, who was exceedingly beautiful. I ordered the soldiers to bury the bodies decently under that cross; from that day forth I was not the same man.

"At first I thought to myself, the dream is an illusion; but still it was thrust into my memory, and, as it were, took possession of my whole existence. I did not dare to suppose that the Lord Himself talked with me, for, as I have said, I did not feel myself worthy of that; but it might be that conscience, hidden in my soul in time of war, like a Tartar in the gra.s.s, spoke up suddenly, announcing G.o.d's will. I went to confession; the priest confirmed that supposition. 'It is,' said he, 'the evident will and forewarning of G.o.d; obey, or it will be ill with thee.'

"Thenceforth I began to proclaim love. But the officers laughed at me to my eyes. 'What!' said they, 'is this a priest to give us instruction? Is it little insult that these dog brothers have worked upon G.o.d? Are the churches that they have burned few in number; are the crosses that they have insulted not many? Are we to love them for this?' In one word, no one would listen to me.

"After Berestechko I put on these priestly robes so as to announce with greater weight the word and the will of G.o.d. For more than twenty years I have done this without rest. G.o.d is merciful; He will not punish me, because thus far my voice is a voice crying in the wilderness.

"Gracious gentlemen, love your enemies, punish them as a father, reprimand them as an elder brother, otherwise woe to them, but woe to you also, woe to the whole Commonwealth!

"Look around; what is the result of this war and the animosity of brother against brother? This land has become a desert; I have graves in Ushytsa instead of parishioners; churches, towns, and villages are in ruins; the Pagan power is rising and growing over us like a sea, which is ready to swallow even thee, O rock of Kamenyets."

Pan Nyenashinyets listened with great emotion to the speech of the priest, so that the sweat came out on his forehead; then he spoke thus, amid general silence:--

"That among Cossacks there are worthy cavaliers, a proof is here present in Pan Motovidlo, whom we all love and respect. But when it comes to the general love, of which Father Kaminski has spoken so eloquently, I confess that I have lived in grievous sin hitherto, for that love was not in me, and I have not striven to gain it. Now his grace has opened my eyes somewhat. Without special favor from G.o.d I shall not find such love in my heart, because I bear there the memory of a cruel injustice, which I will relate to you briefly."

"Let us drink something warm," said Zagloba.

"Throw horn-beam on the fire," said Basia to the attendants.

And soon after the broad room was bright again with light, and before each of the knights an attendant placed a quart of heated beer. All moistened their mustaches in it willingly; and when they had taken one and a second draught. Pan Nyenashinyets collected his voice again, and spoke as if a wagon were rumbling,--

"My mother when dying committed to my care a sister; Halshka was her name. I had no wife nor children, therefore I loved that girl as the apple of my eye. She was twenty years younger than I, and I had carried her in my arms, I looked on her simply as my own child. Later I went on a campaign, and the horde took her captive. When I came home I beat my head against the wall. My property had vanished in time of the invasion; but I sold what I had, put my last saddle on a horse, and went with Armenians to ransom my sister. I found her in Bagchesarai.

She was attached to the harem, not in the harem, for she was only twelve years of age then. I shall never forget the hour when I found thee, O Halshka. How thou didst embrace my neck! how thou didst kiss me in the eyes! But what! It turned out that the money I had brought was too little. The girl was beautiful. Yehu Aga, who carried her away, asked three times as much for her. I offered to give myself in addition, but that did not help. She was bought in the market before my eyes by Tugai Bey, that famous enemy of ours, who wished to keep her three years in his harem and then make her his wife. I returned, tearing my hair. On the road home I discovered that in a Tartar village by the sea one of Tugai Bey's wives was dwelling with his favorite son Azya. Tugai Bey had wives in all the towns and in many villages, so as to have everywhere a resting-place under his own roof. Hearing of this son, I thought that G.o.d would show me the last means of salvation for Halshka. At once I determined to bear away that son, and then exchange him for my sister; but I could not do this alone. It was necessary to a.s.semble a band in the Ukraine, or the Wilderness, which was not easy,--first, because the name of Tugai Bey was terrible in all Russia, and secondly, he was helping the Cossacks against us. But not a few heroes were wandering through the steppes,--men looking to their own profit only and ready to go anywhere for plunder. I collected a notable party of those. What we pa.s.sed through before our boats came out on the sea tongue cannot tell, for we had to hide before the Cossack commanders. But G.o.d blessed us. I stole Azya, and with him splendid booty. We returned to the Wilderness in safety. I wished to go thence to Kamenyets and commence negotiations with merchants of that place.

"I divided all the booty among my heroes, reserving for myself Tugai Bey's whelp alone; and since I had acted with such liberality, since I had suffered so many dangers with those men, had endured hunger with them, and risked my life for them, I thought that each one would spring into the fire for me, that I had won their hearts for the ages.

"I had reason to repent of that bitterly and soon. It had not come to my head that they tear their own ataman to pieces, to divide his plunder between themselves afterward; I forgot that among them there are no men of faith, virtue, grat.i.tude, or conscience. Near Kamenyets the hope of a rich ransom for Azya tempted my followers. They fell on me in the night-time like wolves, throttled me with a rope, cut my body with knives, and at last, thinking me dead, threw me aside in the desert and fled with the boy.

"G.o.d sent me rescue and gave back my health; but my Halshka is gone forever. Maybe she is living there yet somewhere; maybe after the death of Tugai Bey another Pagan took her; maybe she has received the faith of Mohammed; maybe she has forgotten her brother; maybe her son will shed my blood sometime. That is my history."

Here Pan Nyenashinyets stopped speaking and looked on the ground gloomily.

"What streams of our blood and tears have flowed for these regions!"

said Pan Mushalski.

"Thou shalt love thine enemies," put in Father Kaminski.

"And when you came to health did you not look for that whelp?" asked Zagloba.