Page:Henryk Sienkiewicz - Potop - The Deluge (1898 translation by Jeremiah Curtin) - Vol 2.djvu/634

624 ball and dug the ground with his nostrils. Then there rose a fierce shout among the knights, so that Grosyevski pushed forward and cried, —

"Silence, gentlemen ! Gracious prince, in virtue of my authority as hetman, I declare that Pan Babinich has a right to the prisoner, and that whoso wishes to free him from Tartar hands must give guarantee to his conqueror."

Prince Michael mastered his indignation, calmed himself, and said, directing his speech to Pan Andrei, —

"Say what you wish."

"That he observe the conditions with me before he leaves captivity."

"But he will keep them when he is free."

"Impossible! I do not believe him."

"Then I swear for him, by the Most Holy Mother, whom I recognize, and on the word of a knight, that all will be observed to you. In the opposite case you may make demand on my honor and property."

"That is sufficient for me!" said Kmita. "Let Pan Gnoinski go as hostage, for otherwise the Tartars will make resistance. I will give way on your word."

"I thank you, Cavalier!" answered Prince Michael. "Do not fear, either, that he will receive his freedom at once, for I will give him to the hetman by right, and he will remain a prisoner until the king pronounces sentence."

"That will be so!" answered the hetman; and ordering Voynillovich to sit on a fresh horse, for that one was hardly able to stand, he sent him with Pan Gnoinski for the prince.

But the aiTair did not pass easily yet; for Hassan Bey made a terrible resistance, and only the sight of Pan Gnoinski and the promise of a ransom of a hundred thousand thalers could pacify him.

In the evening Prince Boguslav found himself in the tents of Gosyevski. He was cared for with attention; two physicians did not leave him for a moment, and both guaranteed his life, for the wound, since it had been given with the very end of the sabre, was not too serious.

Volodyovski could not forgive Kmita for having granted the prince his life, and from sorrow avoided him all day. It was only in the evening that Pan Andrei himself went to Pan Michael's tent.

"Fear the wounds of God!" cried the little knight, at sight of him; "I should have expected this of any other than of you, to let that traitor go alive!"