Meanwhile other scouts returned. All brought the same
report: "The woods are on fire."

But the prince did not allow himself to be disturbed in
the least by this. "It is a villanous method," said he;
"but nothing will come of it. The fire will not go beyond
the rivers entering the Trubej."

In fact, into the Trubej, along which the army marched
to the north, there fell so many small rivers forming here
and there broad morasses, impassable for fire, that it would
have been necessary to ignite the woods beyond each one of
them separately. The scouts soon discovered that this was
being done. Every day incendiaries were brought in; with
these they ornamented the pine-trees along the road.
The fires extended vigorously along the rivers to the
east and west, not to the north. In the night-time the
heavens were red as far as the eye could see. The women
sang sacred hymns from dusk to the dawning of the day.
Terrified wild beasts from the flaming forests took refuge
on the road and followed the army, running in among the
cattle of the herds. The wind blew in the smoke, which
covered the whole horizon. The army and the wagons
pushed forward as if through a dense fog, which the eye
could not penetrate. The lungs had no air; the smoke bit
the eyes, and the wind kept driving it on more and more
each moment. The light of the sun could not pierce the
clouds, and there was more to be seen in the night-time
than in the day, for flames gave light. The woods seemed
to have no end.

In the midst of such burning forests and such smoke did
Prince Yeremi lead his army. Meanwhile news came that
the enemy was marching on the other side of the Trubej.
The extent of his power was unknown, but Vershul's
Tartars affirmed that he was still far away.

One night Pan Sukhodolski came to the army from Bo-
denki, on the other side of the Desna. He was an old at-
tendant of the prince, who some years before had settled
in a village. He was fleeing before the peasants, but
brought news as yet unknown in the army.

Great consternation was caused when, asked by the prince
for news, he answered: "Bad, your Highness! You know
already of the defeat of the hetmans and the death of the
king?"

The prince, who was sitting on a small camp-stool in front
of the tent, sprang to his feet. "How?--is the king dead?".