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Then on the other side of the room many of the gentry poured in

through the windows with swords, Switch at their head. In the

hall Plut and Rykov behind him were calling the soldiers; already

the three nearest the house were running to their aid; already

three glittering bayonets were gliding through the door, and

behind them there were bent forward three black helmets. Maciek

stood by the door with his switch raised on high, and, squeezing

close to the wall, lay in wait for them as a cat for rats; then

he struck a fearful blow. Perhaps he would have felled three

heads, but the old man either had poor eyesight, or else he was

too much wrought up; since, before they put forward their necks,

he smote on their helmets, and stripped them off; the switch,

falling, clinked on the bayonets.-The Muscovites started back,

and Maciek drove them out to the yard.