“Were you the only ones in the neighborhood of Jivyets?”
“The only ones.”
“Do you know that the King of Poland has passed?”
“He passed with those dragoons who fought with us at Suha. Many saw him.”
“Why did you not pursue him?”
“We were afraid of the mountaineers.”
Here Kmita began again in Polish: “Gracious Lord, the road is open and you will find a night’s lodging in Jivyets, for only a part of the place is burned.”
But unconfiding Tyzenhauz was speaking at this time with the castellan of Voinik, and said: “Either that is a great warrior and true as gold, or a finished traitor. Consider, your worthiness, that all this may be simulated, from the taking of this horseman to his confederates. And if this is a trick,—if the Swedes are in ambush in Jivyets,—if the king goes and falls as into a net?”
“It is safer to convince one’s self,” answered the castellan of Voinik.
Then Tyzenhauz turned to the king and said aloud: “Gracious Lord, permit me to go ahead to Jivyets and convince myself that what this cavalier says and what this trooper declares is true.”