“And the crows will pick you!”
“Tell what you want, a hundred devils! Why did you come to our cabin?”
“Come yourselves, and you will not split your throat crying from the thicket. Nearer, nearer!”
“On your word.”
“A word is for knights, not for robbers. If it please you, believe; if not, believe not.”
“May two come?”
“They may.”
After a while from out the thicket a hundred yards distant appeared two men, tall and broad-shouldered. One somewhat bent seemed to be a man of years; the other went upright, but stretched his neck with curiosity toward the cabin. Both wore short sheepskin coats covered with gray cloth of the kind used by petty nobles, high cowhide boots, and fur caps drawn down to their ears.
“What the devil!” said Kmita, examining the two men with care.
“Colonel!” cried Soroka, “a miracle indeed, but those are our people.”