t in which lies the table service of the Horeszkos and with it
various rings, necklaces, bracelets, rich plumes, caparisons, and
marvellous swords--the Pantler's treasures, hidden from plunderers, in the
ground; to Pani Sophia, as his heiress, they belong; I have guarded them
in the castle like the eyes in my head, keeping them from the Muscovites,
and from you, my Soplica friends. I have likewise a good-sized pouch of my
own thalers, saved from my earnings, and likewise from the gifts of my
masters; I had intended, when the castle should be returned to us, to
devote some pennies to the repairing of the walls--to-day it turns out that
they will be needed for the new style of farming. And so, Pan Soplica, I
am moving to your abode; I shall live with my lady, on her bounty, and
shall rock to sleep a third generation of Horeszkos; I will train my
lady's child to use the penknife, if it is a son--and she will have a son,
for wars are coming on, and in time of war sons are always born."

Hardly had Gerwazy spoken these last words, when Protazy approached with
dignified steps; he bowed, and took from the bosom of his kontusz a huge
panegyric, two and a half sheets long.226 It had been composed in rime by
a young subaltern, who once had been a famous writer of odes in the
capital; he had later donned a uniform, but, retaining even in the army
his devotion to letters, he still continued to make verses. The Apparitor
read aloud full three hundred of them; at last, when he came to the
place:--

Thou whose fair eyes
Rouse in us painful joys and blissful sighs;
When on Bellona's ranks thy glance descends,
All spears are broken and each buckler bends:
To-day soft Hymen conquers cruel Mars;
Thy gentle hand the hissing serpents tears }
From Discord's hydra front, emblem of dreadful wars-- }

Thaddeus and Sophia began to clap vigorously, as if in applause, but
really because they did not wish to hear further. Now at the Judge's
bidding the parish priest mounted the table and proclaimed Thaddeus's
determination to the villagers.

Hardly had the peasants heard this news, when they leapt towards their
young master and fell at the feet of their lady. "The health of our
masters!" they shouted with tears, and Thaddeus shouted, "The health of
our fellow citizens, free Poles, our equals!" "I propose the health of the
common people!" said Dombrowski--the people shouted: "Long live the
generals, vivat the army, v