"Halt! halt! Who are ye?"
"But who are ye?"
"Tsyprianovitch of Yedlinka."
"For God's sake! these are our people!"
And two riders pushed from the ranks quickly. One inclined to Pan Serafin, seized his hand straightway, and covered it with kisses; the other rushed to the priest's shoulder.
"Stanislav!" cried Pan Serafin.
"Yatsek!" shouted the priest.
The greetings and embraces continued till speech came to Pan Serafin,--
"For God's sake, whence come ye?"
"Our regiment was marching to Cracow. Yatsek and I had permission to visit you at Yedlinka. Meanwhile we learned at Radom, while halting for food there, that thou, father, and the priest, and the Bukoyemskis had set out an hour earlier by the highroad toward Kieltse."