rom the rear? What do you
think? Let our Warhorse neigh, let the Bear roar in Zmudz!108 Ah, if only
a thousand men, if but five hundred should press from behind upon the
Muscovites, and spread abroad the rising like fire; if we, seizing cannon
and standards from the Muscovites, should go as conquerors to greet the
deliverers of our kinsmen? We advance! Napoleon, seeing our lances, asks,
'What army is that?' We shout, 'The insurgents, Most August Emperor; the
volunteers of Lithuania!' He asks, 'Who is their commander?'--'Judge
Soplica!' Ah, who then would dare to breathe a word of Targowica? Brother,
while Ponary stands, while the Niemen flows, so long will the name of the
Soplicas be famous in Lithuania; to their grandsons and great-grandsons
the capital of the Jagiellos109 will point, saying, 'There is a Soplica,
one of those Soplicas who first started the revolt.' "

"People's talk is of small account," answered the Judge. "I have never
greatly cared for the praises of the world. God is my witness that I am
innocent of my brother's sins; in politics I have never meddled much, but
have performed the duties of my office and ploughed my patch of ground.
But I am a gentleman by birth, and should be glad to wipe out the blot on
my escutcheon; I am a Pole, and should be glad to do some service for my
country--even to lay down my life. With the sabre I was never over skilled,
and yet some men have received slashes even from me. The world knows that
at the time of the last Polish district assemblies I challenged and
wounded the two brothers Buzwik, who---- But enough of this. What is your
idea, sir? Should we take the field at once? To gather musketeers is easy;
I have plenty of powder, and at the parish house the priest has some small
cannon; I remember that Jankiel has told me that he has some points for
lances, which I may take in case of need. He smuggled these lance-points
in cases of goods, from Koenigsberg; we will take them, and make shafts at
once. There will be no lack of sabres; the gentry will mount their steeds,
my nephew and I at the head, and----? Somehow we'll manage it!"

"O Polish blood!" exclaimed the Bernardine with emotion, leaping towards
the Judge with open arms; "true child of the Soplicas! God ordains you to
wipe out the sins of your vagabond brother. I have always respected you,
but from this instant I love you, as though we were own brothers. Let us
prepare everything, but it is not yet time to take