he
feeding of dogs, the gathering and cleaning of arms; at supper hardly any
one came to the table. Even the faction of Bobtail ceased to be agitated
by its long and weighty quarrel with the party of Falcon; the Notary and
the Assessor went arm in arm to look for lead. The rest, wearied with
toil, went early to sleep, in order to rise in good season.

[To-day Thaddeus had been given a room in an out-building. Going in, he
closed the door and hid the candle in the fireplace, pretending that he
had already gone to sleep--but he did not close his eyes. He evidently
awaited the night, and to him the time seemed long. He stood by the window
and through the opening cut in the shutter observed the doings of the
watchman, who was continually walking about the yard. When he saw him far
away, at one bound he leapt out, closed the window, and bending to the
ground crept along like a pointer. His further steps the autumn night
shrouded in thick darkness.61]

BOOK IV--DIPLOMACY AND THE CHASE

ARGUMENT

A vision in curl papers awakes Thaddeus--Belated discovery of a
mistake--The tavern--The emissary--The skilful use of a snuffbox
turns discussion into the proper channel--The jungle--The
bear--Danger of Thaddeus and the Count--Three shots--The dispute of
the Sagalas musket with the Sanguszko musket settled in favour of
the single-barrelled Horeszko carbine--Bigos--The Seneschal's tale
of the duel of Dowejko and Domejko, interrupted by hunting the
hare--End of the tale of Dowejko and Domejko.

Ye comrades of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, trees of Bialowieza, Switez,
Ponary, and Kuszelewo! whose shade once fell upon the crowned heads of the
dread Witenes and the great Mindowe, and of Giedymin, when on the height
of Ponary, by the huntsmen's fire, he lay on a bear skin, listening to the
song of the wise Lizdejko; and, lulled by the sight of the Wilia and the
murmur of the Wilejko, he dreamed of the iron wolf;62 and awakened, by the
clear command of the gods, he built the city of Wilno, which sits among
the forests as a wolf amid bison, wild boars, and bears. From this city of
Wilno, as from the she-wolf of Rome, went forth Kiejstut and Olgierd and
his sons,63 as mighty hunters as they were famous knights, in pursuit now
of their enemies and now of wild beasts. A hunter's dream disclosed to us
the secrets of the future, that Lithuania