Silence followed.
“Sound the kettle-drums and other drums!” said Boguslav at last; “let the troops form in rank!”
The officer went out; the prince remained alone.
“That is a terrible man!” said he to himself; and he felt that a new paroxysm of fever was seizing him.
CHAPTER XXVI.
It is easy to imagine Sapyeha’s amazement when Kmita not only returned safely himself, but brought with him a number of tens of horsemen and his old servant. Kmita had to tell the hetman and Oskyerko twice what had happened, and how it had happened; they listened with curiosity, clapping their hands frequently and seizing their heads.
“Learn from this,” said the hetman, “that whoso carries vengeance too far, from him it often slips away like a bird through the fingers. Prince Boguslav wanted to have Poles as witnesses of your shame and suffering so as to disgrace you the more, and he carried the matter too far. But do not boast of this, for it was the ordinance of God which gave you victory, though, in my way, I will tell you one thing,—he is a devil; but you too are a devil! The prince did ill to insult you.”
“I will not leave him behind in vengeance, and God grant that I shall not overdo it.”
“Leave vengeance altogether, as Christ did; though with one word he might have destroyed the Jews.”
Kmita said nothing, and there was no time for discussion; there was not even time for rest. He was mortally wearied, and still he had determined to go that night to his Tartars, who were posted in the forests and on the roads in the rear of Boguslav’s army. But people of that period slept soundly on horseback. Pan Andrei simply gave command then to saddle a fresh horse, promising himself to slumber sweetly on the road.