“Of your instructions we will speak later, my dear Pan Sakovich. We have chased you nearly a hundred and fifty miles, as a hound does a hare. Have you ever heard of a hare proposing to a hound to surrender?”
“We have received reinforcements.”
“Von Kyritz, with eight hundred men, and so tired that they will lay down their arms before battle. I will give you Hmelnitski’s saying ‘There is no time to talk!’”
“The elector with all his power is with us.”
“That is well,—I shall not have far to seek him; for I wish to ask him by what right he sends troops into the Commonwealth, of which he is a vassal, and to which he is bound in loyalty.”
“The right of the strongest.”
“Maybe in Prussia such a right exists, but not with us. But if you are the stronger, take the field.”
“The prince would long since have attacked you, were it not for kindred blood.”
“I wonder if that is the only hindrance!”
“The prince wonders at the animosity of the Sapyehas against the house of Radzivill, and that your worthiness for private revenge hesitates not to spill the blood of the country.”