quadron commander Dwernicki,210 and Lieutenant
Rozycki,211 the leader of a platoon, managed to swing the iron pole: thus
the blade was passed for trial from hand to hand along the line.

But General Kniaziewicz, the tallest of stature, proved to be also the
stoutest of arm. Seizing the huge blade, he swung it as lightly as a
common sword and flashed it like lightning over the heads of the guests,
recalling to their minds the tricks of the Polish school of fencing, the
_cross stroke_, the _mill_, the _crooked slash_, the _downright blow_, the
_stolen slash_, and the attitudes of _counterpoint_212 and _tierce_, which
he knew likewise, for he had been trained in the School of Cadets.

While he was still laughing and fencing, Rembajlo had kneeled and embraced
him about the knees, and was groaning out between his tears, at every turn
of the sword:--

"Beautiful! General, were you ever a confederate? Beautiful, splendid!
That is the Pulawskis'213 thrust! Thus Dzierzanowski214 bore himself! That
is Sawa's thrust! Who can so have trained your arm except Maciej
Dobrzynski! But that? General, that is my invention; in Heaven's name, I
do not wish to boast, but that stroke is known only in Rembajlo hamlet,
and from my name it is called _My-boy's slash_. Who can have taught it to
you? That is my stroke, mine!"

He rose and clasped the General in his arms.

"Now I can die in peace! There still exists a man who will fondle my
darling child; for I have long been grieving, both day and night, at the
thought that after my death this my blade might rust away! Now it will not
rust! Your Excellency the General, forgive me!--throw away those spits,
those German swordlets; it is shameful for a gentleman's son to wear that
little cane! Take instead a sabre such as befits a gentleman: now I lay at
your feet this my penknife, which is the most precious thing that I
possess in all the world. I have never had a wife, I have never had a
child: it has been both wife and child to me; from my embrace it has never
departed; from dawn till dark have I petted it; it has slept by night at
my side! And since I have grown old, it has been hanging on the wall above
my couch, like God's commandments over the Jews! I thought to have it
buried in my grave along with my arm; but I have found an owner for it.
May it be your servant!"

The General, half laughing, and half touched with emotion, replied:--

"Comrade, if you give up to me your wife and child, y