The officers hurried, and brought by the shoulder a "sub-neighbor" from the cow-house.
"Well, fellow," said Zatsvilikhovski, "were you here when the Cossacks with Bogun attacked the castle?"
The peasant, as was customary, began to swear that he had not been present, that he had not seen anything, did not know anything. But Zatsvilikhovski knew with whom he had to deal; therefore he said,--
"Oh, I know, you son of a Pagan, that you were right here when they plundered the place. Lie to some one else. Here is a gold ducat for you, and there is a soldier with a sword. Take your choice. Besides, if you do not tell, we will burn the village, and harm will come to poor people through you."
Then the "sub-neighbor" began to tell of what he had seen. When the Cossacks fell to revelling on the square before the house, he went with others to see what was going on. They heard that the old princess and her sons were killed, but that Nikolai had wounded the ataman, who lay as if lifeless. What happened to the young woman they could not discover; but at daybreak next morning they heard that she had escaped with a noble who had come with Bogun.
"That's it! that's it!" said Zatsvilikhovski. "Here is your gold ducat. You see that no harm has come to you. And did you or any one in the neighborhood see that noble?"
"I saw him; but he was not from this place."
"What did he look like?"
"He was as big as a stove, with a gray beard, and swore like a minstrel; blind of one eye."
"Oh, for God's sake!" said Pan Longin, "that must be Pan Zagloba."