Presently, when a group of Peter’s men stood about me, I observed that Mazeppa and the Tsar spoke together apart, and I was consumed with the desire to know what was said, for I trusted Mazeppa not at all, and I judged that he would not allow so good an opportunity to go by without stabbing me in the dark.
In this opinion of Mazeppa I did him no injustice, for the Tsar, in speaking with me alone a little later, informed me of his own accord of what had passed.
‘Mazeppa is furious with you,’ said his Highness, laughing, ‘else he would scarcely give you so bad a character. You are too great a fool, Chelminsky, to become Hetman. So says Mazeppa. For Hetman a leader of men is needed, not a mere trick-rider of horses!’
‘Better one that can ride than one who falls off,’ said I. The Tsar laughed, after his manner, very loudly.
‘Mazeppa will not shed tears for thy unkindness, Tsar,’ I continued, ‘for to say truth he pins his faith upon the Regent, not thee. “She will for ever sit in the highest place,” says Mazeppa, “though the little Tsar Peter shall wear fine clothes and be called by a great title.”’
Peter flushed and looked angry. ‘Why said Mazeppa this, and why do you tell me of it?’ he asked.
‘Concerning what your Highness said of the Hetmanate,’ I replied. ‘Mazeppa would be Hetman, and doubtless the Regent will support him—has already so promised him, as I believe. Thus he is not alarmed by the threat of your Highness that I shall be Hetman, because, says Mazeppa, it is her Highness the Regent who shall appoint to the office, and not the Tsar Peter.’
‘Oh!’ said the Tsar, flushing, ‘he said this, did he? Well, my friend, when we see, then we shall know!’
Riding back to Moscow Mazeppa was coldly disposed towards me. He spoke little, but said suddenly when we neared the city, ‘If thou art wise, Chelminsky, forget what this youth said of the Hetmanate, for be sure that before Peter is Tsar Mazeppa will be Hetman; wherefore build no hopes and suffer no disappointment!’
‘As to that,’ said I, ‘I may forget and I may remember!’