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"To the village!" shouted the Judge, "on horseback, for the

headman of the peasants! To-morrow at daybreak let the beaters be

ready, but volunteers! Whoever comes with a pike I will release

from two days' work on the roads and five days' field-service for

myself."

"Hurry," cried the Chamberlain, "saddle my grey, and gallop full

speed to my house; get quickly my two bulldogs,59 which are

famous all over the district; the male is named Sprawnik, and the

bitch Strapczyna.60 Gag them, tie them in a sack, and to save

time bring them here on horseback."

"Vanka," cried the Assessor in Russian to his boy, "draw my

Sanguszko hunting knife over the whetstone; you know, the knife

that the prince presented to me; and look to my belt, to see

whether there is a bullet in every cartridge."

"Get the guns ready!" shouted everybody.

The Assessor kept calling: "Lead, lead! I have a bullet mould in

my game bag."