Fire in the Steppe (39 page)

But Pan Bogush repeated every little while, with a very mysterious mien, "This is nothing in comparison with what is waiting for him; but I am not free to speak of it." And when the others shook their heads with doubt, he cried, "There are two great men in the Commonwealth,—Pan Sobieski and that Azya, son of Tugai Bey."

"By the dear God," said Pan Novoveski, made impatient at last, "prince or not prince, what can he be in this Commonwealth, unless he is a noble? He is not naturalized yet."

"The hetman will get him ten naturalizations!" cried Basia.

Eva listened to these praises with closed eyes and a beating heart. It is difficult to say whether it would have beaten so feverishly for a poor and unknown Azya as for Azya the knight and man of great future. But that glitter captivated her; and the old remembrance of the kisses and the fresh dream went through her with a quiver of delight.

"So great and so celebrated," said Eva. "What wonder if he is as quick as fire!"

Basia took the Tartar that very day to "an examination," following the advice of her husband; and fearing the shyness of Azya, she resolved not to insist too much at once. Still, he had barely appeared before her when she said, straight from the bridge,—

"Pan Bogush says that you are a great man; but I think that the greatest man cannot avoid love."

Azya closed his eyes, inclined his head, and said, "Your grace is right."

"I see that you are a man with a heart."

When she had said this, Basia began to shake her yellow forelock and blink, as if to say that she knew affairs of this kind well, and also hoped that she was not speaking to a man without knowledge. Azya raised his head and embraced with his glance her charming figure. She had never seemed so wonderful to him as on that day, when her eyes, gleaming from curiosity and animation, and the blushing child-like face, full of smiles, were raised toward his face. But the more innocent the face, the more charm did Azya see in it; the more did desire rise in his soul; the more powerfully did love seize and intoxicate him as with wine, and drive out all other desires, save this one alone,—to take her from her husband, bear her away, hold her forever at his breast, press her lips to his lips, feel her arms twined around his neck: to love, to love even to forget himself, even to perish alone, or perish with her. At thought of this the whole world whirled around with him; new desires crept up every moment from the den of his soul, like serpents from crevices in a cliff. But he was a man who possessed also great self-control; therefore he said in spirit, "It is impossible yet!" and he held his wild heart at check when he chose, as a furious horse is held on a lariat.

He stood before her apparently cold, though he had a flame in his mouth and eyes, and his deep pupils told all that his compressed lips refused to confess. But Basia, having a soul as pure as water in a spring, and besides a mind occupied entirely with something else, did not understand that speech; she was thinking in the moment what further to tell the Tartar; and at last, raising her finger, she said:

"More than one bears in his heart hidden love, and does not dare to speak of it to any one; but if he would confess his love sincerely, perhaps he might learn something good."

Azya's face grew dark for a moment; a wild hope flashed through his head like lightning; but he recollected himself, and inquired, "Of what does your grace wish to speak?"

"Another would be hasty with you," said Basia, "since women are impatient, and not deliberate; but I am not of that kind. As to helping, I would help you willingly, but I do not ask your confidence in a moment; I only say this to you: Do not hide; come to me even daily. I have spoken of this matter with my husband already; gradually you will come to know and see my good-will, and you will know that I do not ask through mere curiosity, but from sympathy, and because if I am to assist, I must be certain that you are in love. Besides, it is proper that you show it first; when you acknowledge it to me, perhaps I can tell you something."

Tugai Bey's son understood now in an instant how vain was that hope which had gleamed in his head a moment before; he divined at once that it was a question of Eva Novoveski, and all the curses on the whole family which time had collected in his vengeful soul came to his mouth. Hatred burst out in him like a flame; the greater, the more different were the feelings which had shaken him a moment earlier. But he recollected himself. He possessed not merely self-control, but the adroitness of Orientals. In one moment he understood that if he burst out against the Novoveskis venomously, he would lose the favor of Basia and the possibility of seeing her daily; but, on the other hand, he felt that he could not conquer himself—at least then—to such a degree as to lie to that desired one in the face of his own soul by saying that he loved another. Therefore, from a real internal conflict and undissembled suffering, he threw himself suddenly before Basia, and kissing her feet, began to speak thus:—

"I give my soul into the hands of your grace; I give my faith into the hands of your grace. I do not wish to do anything except what you command me; I do not wish to know any other will. Do with me what you like. I live in torment and suffering; I am unhappy. Have compassion on me; if not, I shall perish and be lost."

And he began to groan, for he felt immense pain, and unacknowledged desires burned him with a living flame. But Basia considered these words as an outburst of love for Eva,—love long and painfully hidden; therefore pity for the young man seized her, and two tears gleamed in her eyes.

"Rise, Azya!" said she to the kneeling Tartar. "I have always wished you well, and I wish sincerely to help you; you come of high blood, and they will surely not withhold naturalization in return for your services. Pan Novoveski will let himself be appeased, for now he looks with different eyes on you; and Eva—" Here Basia rose, raised her rosy, smiling face, and putting her hand at the side of her mouth, whispered in Azya's ear,—"Eva loves you."

His face wrinkled, as if from rage; he seized his hips with his hands, and without thinking of the astonishment which his exclamation might cause, he repeated a number of times in a hoarse voice, "Allah! Allah! Allah!" Then he rushed out of the room.

Basia looked after him for a moment. The cry did not astonish her greatly, for the Polish soldiers used it often; but seeing the violence of the young Tartar, she said to herself, "Real fire! He is wild after her." Then she shot out like a whirlwind to make a report to her husband, Pan Zagloba, and Eva.

She found Pan Michael in the chancery, occupied with the registry of the squadron stationed in Hreptyoff. He was sitting and writing, but she ran up to him and cried, "Do you know? I spoke to him. He fell at my feet; he is wild after her."

The little knight put down his pen and began to look at his wife. She was so animated and pretty that his eyes gleamed; and, smiling, he stretched his arms toward her. She, defending herself, repeated again,—

"Azya is wild after Eva!"

"As I am after you," said the little knight, embracing her.

That same day Zagloba and Eva knew most minutely all her conversation with Azya. The young lady's heart yielded itself now completely to the sweet feeling, and was beating like a hammer at the thought of the first meeting, and still more at thought of what would happen when they should be alone. And she saw already the face of Azya at her knees, and felt his kisses on her hands, and her own faintness at the time when the head of a maiden bends toward the arms of the loved one, and her lips whisper, "I love." Meanwhile, from emotion and disquiet she kissed Basia's hands violently, and looked every moment at the door to see if she could behold in it the gloomy but shapely form of young Tugai Bey.

But Azya did not show himself, for Halim had come to him,—Halim, the old servant of his father, and at present a considerable murza in the Dobrudja. He had come quite openly, since it was known in Hreptyoff that he was the intermediary between Azya and those captains who had accepted service with the Sultan. They shut themselves up at once in Azya's quarters, where Halim, after he had given the requisite obeisances to Tugai Bey's son, crossed his hands on his breast, and with bowed head waited for questions.

"Have you any letters?" asked Azya.

"I have none, Effendi. They commanded me to give everything in words."

"Well, speak."

"War is certain. In the spring we must all go to Adrianople. Commands are issued to the Bulgarians to take hay and barley there."

"And where will the Khan be?"

"He will go straight by the Wilderness, through the Ukraine, to Doroshenko."

"What do you hear concerning the encampments?"

"They are glad of the war, and are sighing for spring; there is suffering in the encampments, though the winter is only beginning."

"Is the suffering great?"

"Many horses have died. In Belgrod men have sold themselves into slavery, only to live till spring. Many horses have died, Effendi; for in the fall there was little grass on the steppes. The sun burned it up."

"But have they heard of Tugai Bey's son?"

"I have spoken as much as you permitted. The report went out from the Lithuanian and Podolian Tartars; but no one knows the truth clearly. They are talking too of this,—that the Commonwealth wishes to give them freedom and land, and call them to service under Tugai Bey's son. At the mere report all the villages that are poorer were roused. They are willing, Effendi, they are willing; but some explain to them that this is all untrue, that the Commonwealth will send troops against them, and that there is no son of Tugai Bey at all. There were merchants of ours in the Crimea; they said that some there were giving out, 'There is a son of Tugai Bey,' and the people were roused; others said, 'There is not,' and the people were restrained. But if it should go out that your grace calls them to freedom, land, and service, swarms would move. Only let it be free for me to speak."

Azya's face grew bright from satisfaction, and he began to walk with great strides up and down in the room; then he said, "Be in good health, Halim, under my roof. Sit down and eat."

"I am your servant and dog, Effendi," said the old Tartar.

Azya clapped his hands, whereupon a Tartar orderly came in, and, hearing the command, brought refreshments after a time,—gorailka, dried meat, bread, sweetmeats, and some handfuls of dried water-melon seeds, which, with sunflower seeds, are a tidbit greatly relished by Tartars.

"You are a friend, not a servant," said Azya, when the orderly retired. "Be well, for you bring good news; sit and eat."

Halim began to eat, and until he had finished, they said nothing; but he refreshed himself quickly, and began to glance at Azya, waiting till he should speak.

"They know here now who I am," said Azya, at length.

"And what, Effendi?"

"Nothing. They respect me still more. When it came to work, I had to tell them anyhow. But I delayed, for I was waiting for news from the horde, and I wished the hetman to know first; but Novoveski came, and he recognized me."

"The young one?" asked Halim, with fear.

"The old, not the young one. Allah has sent them all to me here, for the maiden is here. The Evil Spirit must have entered them. Only let me become hetman, I will play with them. They are giving me the maiden; very well, slaves are needed in the harem."

"Is the old man giving her?"

"No.
She
—she thinks that I love, not her, but the other."

"Effendi," said Halim, bowing, "I am the slave of your house, and I have not the right to speak before your face; but I recognized you among the Lithuanian Tartars; I told you at Bratslav who you are; and from that time I serve you faithfully. I tell others that they are to look on you as master; but though they love you, no one loves you as I do: is it free for me to speak?"

"Speak."

"Be on your guard against the little knight. He is famous in the Crimea and the Dobrudja."

"And, Halim, have you heard of Hmelnitski?"

"I have, and I served Tugai Bey, who warred with Hmelnitski against the Poles, ruined castles, and took property."

"And do you know that Hmelnitski took Chaplinski's wife from him, married her himself, and had children by her? What then? There was war; and all the troops of the hetmans and the king and the Commonwealth did not take her from Hmelnitski. He beat the hetmans and the king and the Commonwealth; and besides that, he was hetman of the Cossacks. And I,—what shall I be? Hetman of the Tartars. They must give me plenty of land, and some town as capital; around the town villages will rise on rich land, and in the villages good men with sabres, many bows and many sabres. And when I carry her away to my town, and have her for wife, the beauty, with whom will the power be? With me. Who will demand her? The little knight,—if he be alive. Even should he be alive, and howl like a wolf and beat with his forehead to the king with complaint, do you think that they would raise war with me for one bright tress? They have had such a war already, and half the Commonwealth was flaming with fire. Who will take her? Is it the hetman? Then I will join the Cossacks, will conclude brotherhood with Doroshenko, and give the country over to the Sultan. I am a second Hmelnitski; I am better than Hmelnitski: in me a lion is dwelling. Let them permit me to take her, I will serve them, beat the Cossacks, beat the Khan, and beat the Sultan; but if not, I will trample all Lehistan
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with hoofs, take hetmans captive, scatter armies, burn towns, slay people. I am Tugai Bey's son; I am a lion."

Here Azya's eyes blazed with a red light; his white teeth glittered like those of old Tugai; he raised his hand and shook his threatening fist toward the north, and he was great and terrible and splendid, so that Halim bowed to him repeatedly, and said hurriedly, in a low voice,—

"Allah kerim! Allah kerim!"
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Then silence continued for a long time. Azya grew calm by degrees; at last he said, "Bogush came here. I revealed to him my strength and resource; namely, to have in the Ukraine, at the side of the Cossack nation, a Tartar nation, and besides the Cossack hetman a Tartar hetman."