A moment of silence followed.
“Then you served with Kuklinovski?” asked Kmita.
“We did, for we thought that being near we might serve the holy monks and your grace, and so it has happened. We did not serve against the fortress,—God save us from that! we took no pay unless we found something on Swedes.”
“How on Swedes?”
“For we wanted to serve the Most Holy Lady even outside the walls; therefore we rode around the camp at night or in the daytime, as the Lord God gave us; and when any of the Swedes happened alone, then we—that is—O Refuge of sinners!—we—”
“Pounded him!” finished Kosma and Damian.
Kmita laughed. “Kuklinovski had good servants in you. But did he know about this?”
“He received a share, an income. He knew, and the scoundrel commanded us to give a thaler a head. Otherwise he threatened to betray us. Such a robber,—he wronged poor men! And we have kept faith with your grace, for not such is service with you. Your grace adds besides of your own; but he, a thaler a head, for our toil, for our labor. On him may God—”
“I will reward you abundantly for what you have done,” said Kmita. “I did not expect this of you.”
The distant sound of guns interrupted further words. Evidently the Swedes had begun to fire with the first dawn. After a while the roar increased. Kmita stopped his horse; it seemed to him that he distinguished the sound of the fortress cannon from the cannon of the Swedes, therefore he clinched his fist, and threatening with it in the direction of the enemies’ camp said,—