"But I daresay it would need only a hint to Hajek," interposed the captain. "I know what stuff the man is made of. If he is told that all of us are in danger of our lives here, he'll be ready to leave us with post-horses even."
"Well, and where is he to be found, if that is the case?" inquired the governor, open to this reasoning.
"I can tell you," cried Dr. Starkowski, "in no less a place than the town gaol. On my way hither I was told so by the chief constable. Hajek, it appears, came to him at daybreak this morning, imploring him to have him shut up, since prison was the only place of safety. He is quite beside himself with terror, I hear--an object to behold."
"Well, the mandatar may consider his movements by and by," said the governor. "Our chief care for the present is the question of reinforcements, as the captain has pointed out. And considering the urgency of the case, I will forthwith despatch letters to the nearest military stations at Stanislaw and Czernowitz. And I will also have matters reported to the Provincial governor--I mean I will not do so by writing only, but will despatch one of the commissioners to Lemberg, to add every information by word of mouth."
At which Kapronski gave a jerk, craning his neck eagerly.
"Wait till you are asked!" cried the irritated governor. "On consideration I have hardly any choice but to send you! It will be as well to get rid of that cropped head of yours for a while--the people here are frightened enough already, without keeping before their eyes such a lively reminder of Taras's visit as you present. Besides, I daresay you will prove an interesting sight to the gentlemen at Lemberg. I shall expect you to be ready within half-an-hour."
Kapronski bowed as deeply as before, hardly knowing how to hide his satisfaction. He had succeeded in making his own confession of the falsehood he had been guilty of; and had not only, as he believed, revenged himself on Taras, but on his colleagues as well. He had paid them out, he thought, for the slights with which they were apt to treat him, and it delighted him to see them all afraid for their lives. Moreover, his falsified report resulted in one thing his cowardly soul approved of--the prospect of military reinforcement--for he could not have foreseen his being sent away from the menaced city. But since the governor's decision now promised to place him personally out of danger, a really malicious thought presented itself to his dastardly mind--he remembered what Taras actually did say. "Your worship," he began, and his voice quivered with the consciousness of his meanness. "I venture to submit ... my own impression ... fully alive to the importance of the case...."
"Well, and what have you to say?"
"Only just this. Would it not be well to anticipate any trouble this bandit is likely to give; to make it impossible, and, perchance, even force him to sue for peace? I know how easily he is cowed...."
"It would seem so," cried the burgomaster; "at least, he has thus been described to us already."