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."There you are, my dear.Is there anything else you need?"She smiled."Yes.I'd like you to wash my back.If you're to be my husband,I'll expect it of you.This can be your trial performance."Chapter 39Armies on the Move AgainAfter the funeral ceremonies and a day and night of rest, Mazeppa's army rosefrom its robes at first dawn, broke camp, and immediately after sunrise rodeout of Kato Town down to the river.But not in drag-ass defeat.It gallopedoff whooping, as if in victory.It was the first time since they'd enteredSota that Mazeppa's braves had all been together on the march.Heretoforethey'd been a gaggle of war parties, suited to the type of war he envisionedand the type of fighting men he had.* * *Seen from the fort, two thousand braves made a long column, but soon the lastof them had galloped out of sight, concealed by terrain and the riverineforest.Headed northward, for from its elbow at Kato, the Sota River ran verynearly north for many miles, the road to Hasty keeping it company near theeast shore.The military council could see no sign that the town had been or would beset afire.Yet the Dkota weren't abandoning the war, and Frazier was in nomood for needless risks.He sent orders to the civil authorities and gateguards that no one was to leave the stockade without his approval orGeneral Jarvi's.Mazeppa might hope to draw the defenders outside, and in anhour or two come storming back, hoping to succeed by ruse where force hadfailed.Then he called for volunteers to follow the invaders and report on them, andfrom those volunteers, appointed a dozen.After giving them instructions, hesent them off under an ensign and sergeant who knew the country.But there was one volunteer he didn't consider sending: the one-timeDkota, Gavan Feeny.Until finding him among the volunteers, Frazier hadn'trealized the young man was in the fort.Gavan, it turned out, had joined theKato Town militia, and taken part in the defense.Withholding him from thisscouting mission was not a matter of distrust.As Frazier explained to theyouth, he had better uses for his knowledge, then and in the future.* * *Mostly the Sota River Road ran through riverine forest that spilled over ontoadjacent uplands.For the first four miles, Mazeppa found the road promising:no abatises.But that changed.The road wasn't blocked, but on each side itwas flanked by felled trees.Mazeppa stopped.As far up the road as he couldsee, there was no sign of defenders, but Sotan bowmen were quite able to layquietly concealed.Of course, they sometimes left such barriers without asingle ambusher; it was hard to be sure.Some distance in advance, the Dkota scouts rode listening, scanning.Even the birds sounded normal.Stopping, they signed to one another, then tworode back and reported.Again the army moved.Mazeppa, who could bePage 147ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlmarvelously patient, responded to an impulse, and nudged his mount into acanter.In fact, Katoan ambushers were there, and after letting the scouts and thelead parties pass well into the trap, began to loose arrows at the column.One struck Mazeppa's horse behind the shoulder; it fell like a stone.Which may have saved the chief's life, for at virtually the same instantanother hit his quiver when it might otherwise have struck him.He hit theground rolling and came up on his feet, arrows spilling, then dove for thecover of the fallen tops to avoid being trampled.Other riders too were down.Mazeppa didn't call a retreat; didn't have a chance.His braves turned back ontheir own, shouting, warning those behind.Several slowed or stopped to loadthe fallen onto their mounts.Others, not disabled, saved themselves, forthese were men who, in the face of a stampede, might grasp the mane of a leadhorse running full out, swing aboard bareback, and control it at once.It was a one-sided gantlet run at full speed.More horses went down.Others were hit but ran on.Some not hit had riders shot from their backs.But a half minute later the Dkota were out of it.No one knew for sure howmany men they'd lost, nor were they about to go back and see.It could have been worse, Mazeppa realized.This ambush had not been heavilymanned.* * *They continued their retreat at a trot till they came to a place whereearlier, open land had been glimpsed on higher ground.Mazeppa stopped, andsent scouts to examine it.They reported a sizeable clearing, with anabandoned cabin and outbuildings.Mazeppa decided, signalled, and leading hiscolumn, urged his new mount up the sharp slope, to regroup in the clearing.Onits far edge was a gap in the enclosing forest.Gesturing, Mazeppa called tohis chief scout: "Leonid, see what's on the other side of that gap."The scout signed acknowledgement, and trotted his horse in that direction.Now, Mazeppa thought, I will have my chiefs learn who, of their braves, didnot emerge from the ambush.But that was not his prime concern.It was time to consider the morale of hisbraves again.Two nights earlier, they'd sent the spirits of many of theirbrothers to God, and this morning they'd fled headlong out of an ambush,attacked by-how many dirt-eaters? Forty? Fifty?* * *They left the clearing with its buildings burning behind them.Mazeppa'sscouts led cross-country eastward and northward, picking their way through anirregular mosaic of forest and prairie, keeping largely to open ground andmeeting no resistance [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]