“Volodyovski,” was the answer. And the two knights fell into each other’s embrace.
“What! How is it there?” asked the officers, rushing out to the breach.
“Praise be to God! the miners are cut down to the last man; their tools are broken and scattered. Their work is for nothing.”
“Praise be to God! Praise be to God!”
“But is Mushalski with his men?”
“He is not here yet.”
“We might go to help him. Gracious gentlemen, who is willing?”
But that moment the breach was filled again. Mushalski’s men were returning in haste, and decreased in number considerably, for many of them had fallen from bullets. But they returned joyously, for with an equally favorable result. Some of the soldiers had brought back hammers, drills, and pickaxes as a proof that they had been in the mine itself.
“But where is Mushalski?” asked Pan Michael.
“True; where is Pan Mushalski?” repeated a number of voices.