Page:Henryk Sienkiewicz - Potop - The Deluge (1898 translation by Jeremiah Curtin) - Vol 1.djvu/613

Rh "One by the side of the other!"

His eagle eyes penetrated through smoke and dust, and when among the buildings he saw somewhere a dense mass of caps or helmets, straightway he crushed it with an accurate shot, as if with a thunderbolt. At times he burst out into laughter when he had caused greater or less destruction. The balls flew over him and at his side, — he did not look at anything; suddenly, after a shot he sprang to the opening, fixed his eyes in the distance, and cried, —

"The gun is dismounted! Only three pieces are playing there now!"

He did not rest until midday. Sweat was pouring from him, his shirt was steaming ; his face was blackened with soot, and his eyes glittering. Fyotr Charnyetski himself wondered at his aim, and said to him repeatedly, —

"War is nothing new to you ; that is clear at a glance. Where have you learned it so well?"

At three o'clock in the afternoon a second Swedish gun was silent, dismounted by Kmita's accurate aim. They drew out the remaining guns from the intrenchments about an hour later. Evidently the Swedes saw that the position was untenable.

Kmita drew a deep breath.

"Rest!" said Charnyetski to him.

"Well! I wish to eat something. Soroka, give me what you have at hand."

The old sergeant bestirred himself quickly. He brought some gorailka in a tin cup and some dried fish. Kmita began to eat eagerly, raising his eyes from time to time and looking at the bombs flying over at no great distance, just as if he were looking at crows. But still they flew in considerable number, not from Chenstohova, but from the opposite side; namely, all those which passed over the cloister and the church.

"They have poor gunners, they point too high," said Pan Andrei, without ceasing to eat; "see, they all go over us, and they are aimed at us."

A young monk heard these words, — a boy of seventeen years, who had just entered his novitiate. He was the first always to bring balls for loading, and he did not leave his place though every vein in him was trembling from fear, for he saw war for the first time. Kmita made an indescribable impression on him by his calmness, and hearing his words he took refuge near him with an involun-