Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/72

44 there only in winter, for wolf and wild boar hunting, the château was plainly fitted up, but it contained, nevertheless, the whole winter wardrobe of His Majesty, all kinds of furs of great value, a collection of excellent fowling-pieces, and a cellar abundantly provided.

They broke in everywhere, and carried away everything in the course of the day, so admirably, that they seemed to vie with each other in the art of pillage; it must, however, be observed, that neither soldiers nor subaltern officers had any part in the booty, as the glory and profit of it were exclusively reserved for the generals and field-officers. Major Iwan-Petrowicz Titow, the second in command in our escort, complained almost with tears in his eyes, of having got for his share, only the red damask curtains taken from the bed of one of the king's valets de chambre; the youngest son of a noble family could not have complained more bitterly of the injustice done to him by his elder brothers, in the division of their patrimony.