For the Right

by Karl Emil Franzos

The terrible night was over, the garrison had returned; but an agony of fear was uppermost in the district town. What Taras had dared seemed well-nigh incredible, and greater than the horror of what was past was the direful apprehension of what the future might bring. He might return any night; nay, in broad daylight even.

Thoughts like these also occupied the magistrates, who held a special meeting the following morning at the District Board office. The captain of the hussars, and one or two other officers had been invited to attend, but they had no comfort to offer; it seemed nothing short of a miracle that the raid should have succeeded, and more incomprehensible still that the band should have made good its retreat. As to its numbers, opinions differed greatly. The commotion raised by their flying entrance into the town, and the rapidity with which they had overpowered the soldiers, tended naturally to an over-estimation of their strength. There was one witness, however, who swore that Taras had fully a thousand men under his command. "A thousand, I tell you, for a certainty, on the honour of a nobleman!" It was Thaddeus de Bazanski who averred this. For having got over his fright, the experience he had undergone appeared to him rather lucky than otherwise. And well it might, considering the bottles of fine Moldavian the tale would be worth, not to mention the halo of importance it cast around him!

"A thousand men, I say, at the very least," he reiterated. "You will believe an old officer, who for years has ridden at the head of a regiment, and allow his fitness for estimating numbers. But concerning this avenger, if I may judge by my own experience, I should say a manly denunciation would suffice to cow him. If you show pluck, he knocks under--he did so, at least, with me. 'Where is the mandatar?' he stormed, as we met. 'Taras,' said I, undaunted, 'I am a guest under this roof, and a nobleman born. I am not going to turn informer!' I said this quietly, with all the sang-froid I am in the habit of preserving in a desperate situation, and, for the matter of that, I have known worse dangers in my time. As for him--well he bit his lip, and, turning on his heel, said to his men, 'Comrades, it is no use to think of intimidating an officer of such standing----'"

But the Board never learned what further the frightened Taras had to say concerning that officer, for a loud tumult was rising in the market-place, coming nearer and nearer. The magistrates jumped from their seats, crowding the windows, and an unlooked-for spectacle met their eyes below. In the centre of a moving crowd there appeared an open car, and upon it the lost Kapronski. He seemed unhurt, and even in good spirits, for he kept smiling to the right and to the left in acknowledgment of the people's salutation; but he waved his hands only, never touching his travelling cap, which was pulled low over his ears.

The excitement of the Board was such that it passed unnoticed when the commissioner did not even bare his head on entering their presence. They grew aware of it only when, having bowed low, he began with somewhat uncertain accents: "I venture to crave permission of the worshipful Board to keep my head covered. I am anxious to save your feelings, for I--I got wounded--a bad cut."

"Wounded!" cried the old town surgeon, who served on the Board, and unable to restrain his professional eagerness, he caught at the cap. But the sight of Kapronski, minus his head-gear, was so tragi-comical that, with all their anxieties, the magistrates could not but smile.

"What on earth is the meaning of this," cried the district governor.

"It is the punishment which, among the Huzuls, is reserved for cowards," Mr. Wroblewski, the secretary of the Board, hastened to explain.

Kapronski rewarded him with a vicious glance. "The secretary speaks the truth," said he, putting on a bold front; "but it is not more than is reserved for himself and all this worshipful Board if you have the misfortune of falling into Taras's hands. He has inflicted this infamy on me for no other reason but that I did my duty in carrying out your orders."

The smiles had vanished. "Tell us all about it," cried the magistrates, eagerly.