"Let him lose it. I'll clip his ears for him as I did for Pan Dunchevski."
"Oh, spare us! I should not like to have you try him as an enemy."
"Well, well, let me only see him."
This wish of Zagloba was fulfilled sooner than he expected. When they arrived at Konskovoli, Volodyovski determined to stay for the night, as the horses were terribly road-weary. Who can describe the astonishment of the two friends when on entering the dark anteroom of the inn they recognized Pan Podbipienta in the first noble they met!
"Oh! how are you? How long, how long!" cried Zagloba; "and the Cossacks did not cut you up in Zamost?"
Pan Podbipienta took them one after the other by the shoulders, and kissed them on the cheeks. "And have we met?" he repeated with joy.
"Where are you going?" asked Volodyovski.
"To Warsaw,--to the prince."
"The prince is not in Warsaw; he went to Cracow with the king, before whom he has to carry the globe at the coronation."
"But Pan Weyher sent me to Warsaw with a letter inquiring where the prince's regiments are to go, for God be thanked they are required no longer in Zamost."