‘Bah! traitor!’ said Mazeppa with scorn. ‘Must you for ever be a fool, Chelminsky? Shall we not do the best for our own country? What matters who is Hetman or whether a man dies, or a hundred men, if we are learning meanwhile what is wisdom and what is folly?’
‘I am not a reader of riddles,’ said I, ‘but this I know and will say, that you shall treat me as an equal, for your equal I am, or it maybe that swords will be drawn, and it shall be shown that you have a superior.’
‘See here, Chelminsky,’ said Mazeppa in his friendliest manner; ‘put up your sword, or rather do not dream of drawing it against me who am your best friend. You are my equal in most things, I admit, and maybe my superior in some. But in one matter, at any rate, I have you at advantage, for my eyes see further than yours into the coming time, which, I must tell you, if we so desire it, shall be pregnant with good things for us: for you and me that is, and through us for the Cossack nation.’
‘Oh, indeed!’ I laughed; ‘forgive me for my ignorance; I knew thee not for a prophet until this day!’
‘Prophecy goes mainly by the gathering and the placing together of little atoms of knowledge. When one has collected together a pile of such atoms he may stand upon the top and prophesy. Now I know that the Tsar has—for no merit of my own, but because he sees in me an instrument—I know, I say, that the Tsar has set a favourable eye upon me. I know also that Russia is large and full of latent force, but that Poland is small and proud and disinclined to make profitable bargains with our people. She is afraid of Russia. She has just applied to the Turk for aid against the Tsar. We should know that! but the Moslems are not to be trusted: see how they cheated the Poles in the wars of Hmelnisky and your father! As men have been they shall be; they will cheat again. Russia is the strong man armed and the best friend for us, by which I mean that with her we may make the best bargain. Now the Tsar desires that I—and of course yourself—shall return as Russian Cossacks. Samoilovitch is the Russian Hetman, and to his service we shall go. Can you now prophesy with me, or shall I say more?’
‘I do not see that we are any farther advanced than when we began to speak,’ said I. ‘We have, very treacherously, exchanged our allegiance from Pole to Russian; that I knew before. What else have you shown that I know not? You are a poor prophet so far, Mazeppa.’
‘Well, then, I will show more. The Tsar somewhat distrusts Samoilovitch. In any case the Hetman cannot live—or govern—for ever. One day, sooner or later—it may be sooner than one supposes—there will be required a new Hetman, and he will be a nominee of the Tsar.’
‘But he will not be a foolish, callow youth of thy age,’ I said, laughing scornfully. ‘Is this thy prophecy? Be sure, my friend, the next Hetman will not be named Mazeppa!’
‘Either that or Chelminsky,’ he replied, quite seriously. ‘That will depend. Mark you, there is no need of haste in these changes. In five years, in ten maybe, we shall be so much older and wiser. The Tsar, be assured, does not speak so directly of these matters as I now speak with you, but he allows his meaning to appear. As confidential secretary to Samoilovitch I shall soon learn much, says the Tsar, that it is important for him to know. The Tsar values the friendship and the allegiance of the Cossacks. They might, at emergency, bring him fifty thousand lances, or more. He would have me sit and watch and bide my time. It was the Tsar who said the Hetman cannot live for ever.’
All this certainly gave colour to Mazeppa’s hints. The surprise of the communication took my breath away. I had never so much as dreamed of the possibility of Mazeppa attaining one day to the Hetmanship of the Cossacks, nor had I cherished so foolish an ambition for myself: the idea of such a thing had never occurred to me. I sat and gazed at Mazeppa, too amazed to speak.