“It does,” answered Lusnia. “They march in the night, evidently to gain shelter from heat, and rest in the day; they are sending the horses now to pasture till evening.”
“Is there a large guard with the horses?”
Lusnia pushed out again to the edge of the wood, and did not return for a longer time. At last he came back and said,—
“There are about fifteen hundred horses and twenty-five men with them. They are in their own country; they fear nothing, and do not put out strong watches.”
“Could you recognize the men?”
“They are far away yet, but they are Lithuanian Tartars. They are in our hands already.”
“They are,” said Pan Adam.
In fact, he was convinced that not a living foot of those men would escape. For such a leader as he, and such soldiers as he led, that was a very light task.
Meanwhile the herdsmen had driven the beasts nearer and nearer to the forest. Lusnia thrust himself out once again to the border, and returned a second time. His face was shining with cruelty and gladness.
“Lithuanian Tartars,” whispered he.