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Jendrek was looking for a stone, but his parents, taking notice of the man's deathly pallor and his sunken eyes for the first time, restrained him. 'Maybe they have poisoned him too, whispered Slimakowa. Slimak shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to make of it. He began to question Maciek: Had anything happened in his absence?
The tired children cautiously stole into the room; the gospodyni poured out some soup for them and told them to sit in the corner and be quiet. And quiet they were, except at one moment when Stasiek fell off the bench and his mother slapped Jendrek for it. Maciek dozed, dreaming that he was drinking vodka.
At the first note Slimak had taken off his cap, his wife crossed herself, and Maciek stepped aside and knelt down. Stasiek, with wide-open eyes, began to tremble, and Jendrek started running down the hill, waded through the river, and headed at full speed for the camp.
'What makes you take trouble about that wretched child, Maciek? Slimakowa would say; 'if you talked to her about the Blessed Bible itself she would take no notice; she's dreadfully stupid, I never saw such a noodle in all my life. 'She doesn't talk, because she has sense, said Maciek; 'when she begins to talk she will be as wise as an old man.
Bells jingled violently, and a one-horse sledge passed Maciek like a whirlwind. He crossed himself. 'Drive on, Andrei! 'Stop, Count! It's too risky! 'Go on! Another sledge flew past. 'Bravo! Sporting fellow! 'Drive on, Jacent! Two sledges were racing each other, a driver and a mask in each.
When the Germans on horseback came up, Slimak lit a torch and ran behind the barn. A pig's carcass lay in a puddle. 'That's our hog, cried Fritz, 'they stole it from under our noses and while there was a light in the house. 'Daredevils! muttered Maciek. 'To tell you the truth, laughed Earner's farmhand, 'we thought it was you who had done it. 'Go to the devil!
'And...Soltys, have you heard what the accursed Jew has been saying about Maciek and the child being frozen to death? 'How shouldn't I have heard? said the Soltys, reluctantly; 'it's true. 'Frozen...frozen? 'Yes, of course. But, he added, 'every one understands that it's not your fault. He didn't look after the horses and you discharged him. No one told him to go down into the ravines.
'Well...ah...I told him I wanted to beg a favour of him about the field, but he said, "Oh, leave me alone, I have no head for business to-day." 'And when will you go again? Slimak held up his hands: 'Perhaps to-morrow, or the day after, when they have slept off their dance. That same day Maciek drove a sledge to the forest, taking with him an axe, a bite of food, and 'Silly Zoska's' daughter.
For Slimak the horses were part of his working machinery, for Maciek they were friends and brothers. Who but they in the whole world had longed for him, had greeted him heartily when he returned, or looked after him when he went out? No one but Wojtek and Kasztan. For years they had shared hardships together. Now they were gone, perhaps led away into misery, through his, Maciek's, fault.
They disappeared among the juniper bushes, and then flickered up again, now high, now low, coming nearer and nearer, until a number of objects, running at full speed, could be seen in the uncertain light of the flames. The tumult of voices increased; Maciek heard the clattering of hoofs, the cracking of whips. 'Heh! stop...there's a hill there! 'Look out! don't be crazy!
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