to take my chance, particularly as I was hurrying to the frontier with the hope of finding Jezioranski's camp. Since Langiewicz's discomfiture, the proprietors of Galicia had concentrated their energies on the equipment of Jezioranski's detachment, of which great hopes were formed.

CHAPTER VII

INSURGENTS.

NEXT day I left Rzeszow at sunset, making for Lezaysk, a town of 2,000 inhabitants, on the San, situate about two miles from the point where Jezioranski crossed the frontier. I was without a guide, and experienced considerable difficulty in reaching my halting-place for the night, which was ten miles distant from Rzeszow. The peasants regarded me with very curious eyes whenever I asked my way, and seemed uncertain what line of conduct to pursue. In one village through which I rode, I found a peasant engaged in painting the coffin of his child. On a groundwork of dark blue he had just finished "LH.S." in white, and was engaged in designing a cross. This seemed such a contrast to all I had seen and heard of the coarse and savage nature of the peasant, that I regarded the scene with singular interest. The evening was exquisitely beautiful, and such an intensely peaceful air seemed to reign in the village that I could hardly realize that all thoughts were engrossed with warlike subjects. At about 11 o'clock I reached Stobvina, and set about the, by no means easy, task of finding my lodging for the night. On an eminence I espied a white building gleaming in the moonlight, which I took for the proprietor's house, and accordingly making for it across the fields, was a good deal taken

aback to find it was a church. I shall not easily forget the expression of two grinning faces of devils on either side the porch, who seemed to enjoy my discomfiture marvellously. I happily succeeded in waking up the curé, with whom I had a very singular interview in the moonlight. I was particularly struck with the gentleness of his manner, and have since learnt that he is a well-known character, and much beloved in his neighbourhood. After the battle of Hutta Kreszowka, in the first days of March, where Czechowski was engaged for two days with the Russians before he was driven across the frontier, some of the wounded were brought to the hospital in Rzeszow, where they all died. The sad fate of these poor fellows, who had bled almost to death before they reached the hospital, created an intense sensation in the place. Most of the dead were beardless boys, and they were carried to the grave on the shoulders of young girls. Dzikowski, the curé of Stobvina, was chosen to pronounce the funeral oration, and his eloquence drew tears from all who were present.

With little further difficulty I found my quarters for the night, and early in the morning continued my journey. The sun burnt with a fierce heat, and towards noon thunder-clouds drifted up from the west, and it was evident a tremendous storm was coming. My road lay through a huge pine-forest, in the clearances of which from time to time I came upon small villages, and happily, when the storm burst directly overhead, I found shelter under a porch. It was a fine sight to see the tall pines bending before the wind, and their tops lashed into a fury like the waves of the sea. Overhead was a pitchy blackness, and the howling and hissing of

the wind made most weird music. Towards evening the storm abated, and I proceeded on my way with a barefooted peasant for my guide. I was now following the identical route which Jezioranski had taken a few days before, and at a farm-house where I was entertained they told me that the general had put up there the day before he crossed the frontier. His troops approached their rendezvous in the woods near Lezaysk in small bodies, the general travelling in a wagon accompanied only by a middle-aged lady, passing for a farmer and his wife going to market.

Intense relief was felt throughout the land when the general and his troops got safely over the frontier, as, owing to the excessive vigilance of the Austrian authorities and the abundance of Russian spies, the Poles began to despair of the possibility of a successful passage. The Bezirksamtmann of Lezaysk, within two miles of the point where Jezioranski crossed, assured the Kreisamtmann in Rzeszow, that not even a bird could get over the frontier without his knowing it. On emerging from the pine-forest, which is nearly 20 miles in diameter, the traveller on nearing Lezaysk perceives a huge cloister on his left, and it was just at the back of this building that the detachment, led by a forester, passed to the point where they crossed the San. At all the regular ferries Austrian troops were stationed, and even where both banks of the river are Austrian no one was allowed to pass without the visé of the government official.

It was therefore necessary to construct a raft expressly for the passage of the insurgents. This operation necessarily occupied some hours, and in less than

half an hour after the detachment had got safely across, the Austrian troops, which had orders to obstruct the passage, arrived on the spot.

General Jezioranski's first brush with the Russians took place on May 1. The moment the news of the fight reached me I drove without loss of time to the spot, for the chance of finding the insurgent camp still close to the Galician frontier. On arriving at the house of Baron Bruniçki, at Lublinieç, the nearest village to the scene of action, I was fortunate enough to find one of the commissioners appointed by the Central Government to provision the insurgent forces, on the point of starting for the camp, with stores of all kinds. I at once accepted the offer of a seat in his carriage, and at a little before sunset we set off, with an insurgent, who had received a contusion in the battle of the day before, for our guide. After crossing a huge marsh on a species of causeway, which does duty for a road, we approached the woods, and very soon completely lost our way. After driving about for a couple of hours, we found ourselves at the end exactly at the point where we had started, and ascertained from a forester that we had nearly reached the Russian camp in the course of our wanderings. We were once stopped by a patrol of drunken Austrian soldiers, but a fresh bottle of spirits proved an excellent passport, and so we got safely by them. We were determined, cost what it might, to reach the camp that night, as our cargo was very precious, and so, making a desperate effort, we drove once more into the heart of the forest. Happily, we had bright moonlight; and, if it had not been for the conviction that we should certainly have been hung had we fallen into the hands of the Russians,