"Will not the sabre be of use to him?" asked Stankyevich, laughing. "Pan Oskyerko has said well,--you have fooled away your head. You must have had pistols in the holsters too?" "I had!" said Kovalski, as if out of his mind. Suddenly he seized his head with both hands: "And the letter of the prince to the commandant of Birji! What shall I, unfortunate man, do now? I am lost for the ages! God give me a bullet in the head!" "That will not miss you," said Mirski, seriously. "How will you take us to Birji now? What will happen if you say that you have brought us as prisoners, and we, superior in rank, say that you are to be thrown into the dungeon? Whom will they believe? Do you think that the Swedish commandant will detain us for the reason simply that Pan Kovalski will beg him to do so? He will rather believe us, and confine you under ground." "I am lost!" groaned Kovalski. "Nonsense!" said Volodyovski. "What is to be done, Pan Commandant?" asked the sergeant. "Go to all the devils!" roared Kovalski. "Do I know what to do, where to go? God give thunderbolts to slay thee!" "Go on, go on to Birji; you will see!" said Mirski. "Turn back to Kyedani," cried Kovalski. "If they will not plant you at the wall there and shoot you, may bristles cover me!" said Oskyerko. "How will you appear before the hetman's face? Tfu! Infamy awaits you, and a bullet in the head,--nothing more." "For I deserve nothing more!" cried the unfortunate man. "Nonsense, Pan Roh! We alone can save you," said Oskyerko. "You know that we were ready to go to the end of the world with the hetman, and perish. We have shed our blood more than once for the country, and always shed it willingly; but the hetman betrayed the country,--he gave this land to the enemy; he joined with them against our gracious lord, to whom we swore allegiance. Do you think that it came easy to soldiers like us to refuse obedience to a superior, to act against discipline, to resist our own hetman? But whoso to-day is with the hetman is against the king. Whoso to-day is with the hetman is a traitor to the king and the Commonwealth. Therefore we cast down our batons at the feet of the hetman; for virtue, duty, faith, and honor so commanded. And who did it? Was it I alone? No! Pan Mirski, Pan Stankyevich, the best soldiers, the worthiest men. Who remained with the hetman? Disturbers. But why do you not follow men better, wiser, and older than yourself? Do you wish to bring infamy on your name, and be trumpeted forth as a traitor? Enter into yourself; ask your conscience what you should do,--remain a traitor with Radzivill, the traitor, or go with us, who wish to give our last breath for the country, shed the last drop of our blood for it. Would the ground had swallowed us before we refused obedience to the hetman; but would that our souls never escaped hell, if we were to betray the king and the country for the profit of Radzivill!"