burst forth. Perhaps even Hmelnitski himself could not,
--- Hmelnitski, who had just sent letters to Pan Pototski, to
the Cossack commissioner, and to the royal standard-bearer,
full of accusation and complaints, and at the same time of
assurances of loyalty to Vladislav IV and the Common-
wealth. Did he wish to win time, or did he suppose that
some agreement might yet end the dispute? On this there
was a variety of opinions. There were only two men who
did not deceive themselves for a single moment. These
men were Zatsvilikhovski and Barabash.

The old colonel had also received a letter from Hmelnit-
ski. The letter was sarcastic, threatening, and full of
abuse. Hmelnitski wrote:--

"We shall begin, with the whole Zaporojian army. to beg most
fervently and to ask for that charter of rights which you secreted.
And because you secreted it for your own personal profit and ad-
vantage, the whole Zaporojian army creates you a colonel over sheep or swine, but not over men. I beg pardon if in any way I
failed to please you in my poor house in Chigirin on the feast-day
of Saint Nicholas, and that I went off to the Zaporojie without your
knowledge or permission,"

"Do you see," said Barabash to Zatsvilikhovski and Fan
Yan, "how he ridicules me? Yet it was I who taught him
war, and was in truth a father to him."

"He says, then, that the whole Zaporojian army will de-
mand their rights," said Zatsvilikhovski. "That is simply
a civil war, of all wars the most terrible."

"I see that I must hasten," said Skshetuski. "Give me
the letters to those men with--whom I am to come in
contact."

"You have one to the koshevoi ataman?"

"I have, from the prince himself."

"I will give you a letter to one of the kuren atamans.
Barabash has a relative there, --- Barabash also."From these
you will learn everything. Who knows, though, but it is
too late for such an expedition? Does the prince wish to
hear what is really to be heard there? The answer is
brief: ' Evil! ' And he wants to know what to do? Short
advice: ' Collect as many troops as possible and join the
hetmans.' "

"Despatch a messenger, then, to the prince with the
answer and the advice," said Skshetuski. "I must go; for
l am on a mission, and I cannot alter the decision of the
prince,"