Page 277 of 788

When they had eaten and drunk their fill, they put the beast on a

waggon, and themselves mounted their steeds. All were gay and

talkative, except the Assessor and the Notary, who were more

testy than the day before, quarrelling over the merits of that

Sanguszko gun and that Sagalas musket from Balabanowka. The Count

and Thaddeus also rode on in no merry mood, being ashamed that

they had missed and had retreated; for in Lithuania whoever lets

a bear get through the circle of beaters must toil long before he

repairs his fame.

The Count said that he had reached the pike first, and that

Thaddeus had hindered him from encountering the beast; Thaddeus

maintained that, being the stronger, and the more skilful in work

with a heavy pike, he had wished to relieve the Count of the

trouble. Such nipping words they said to each other, now and

again, in the midst of the cries and uproar of the train.