Mazeppa; or the Wild Horse of the Ukraine. A romance

Chapter I. The Charge

— THE WILD HORSE.— THE DREADFUL RIDE.— OFT AND AVAT. . " The wild horse ! The wild horse ! A happy thought— it will be a great revenge. My sabre shall'not drink the blood of the villain. Bring out the wild horse of the Ukraine, and let him once again sniff the morning air.' By the heavens above us he shall have a rider. Slaves ! dastards.! Do you tremble and stand aghast No. 1. ■ 2 MAZEPPA; OR, THE at my orders? Am I or ami not a prince of the Caucasus ? Fly ! The hoise ™!«^tf^"»L«ri on the haughty lip of Prince Ureka, as ™th tho wild gestn«sofamadm* he thus gave or#ersto\is retainers that filled even then stubborn souls with dismay. & stamped vrith his armed heel upon the marble floor ofthe magnificient court-yard in wb ch he trod until sparks flew from the chafed stoae. His voice grew hoarse with rage, and the hot blood mantled in his "The wild hcise!" he again shouted.

"The wild horse! Bring him from his prison, tie untamed king of the wastes and forests. I swear that a rider he shall have to day, and before the red sun smilesagain in the glowing west if that rider be not a corspe, he bears a charmed life indeed, and I care not if the day should come that he once more confronts me in my ancient halls. Bring out One ofthe most aged and most trusted councillors of the Prince Ureka cast himself at his feet, and while the wild throng of warriors armed in the Caucasian and picturesque costume, looked on in bewilderment and surprise, he spoke,— " My chief— my master ! Oh, do not stain the chivalry of your whole life by such a deed as this. If the page Tolozi has sinned against you, let the punishment he be doomed to suf_ar, be calm and just, and worthy of you and of his offence. „ "Peace!" cried the prince.

"Peace, I say." "Nay hear me. I have spoken to you unchided amid the heat ot battle, and surely I may do so now, amid the wilder roar of your own passions." " Ah ! have you so little care of life P" . " Life ! life I Have I not risked it a thousand times in your service. Kill me if you will, but still with my latest breath I declare against the act you meditate." Like a flash of light, the Prince Ureka drew a poinard from its sheath, and all present fully expected that he was about to plunge it into the heart of the aged warrior who had thus dared with such audacious counsel to step between him and his wild passions, but a better feeling even at that moment came over the soul of the prince, and flinging the dagger from him, he said, — «No — no, I will not stain my threshold with the blood of Hie innocent, but as surelv as warmth is begot of sunshine, will I pursue my purpose as regards the ; page "Tolozi, I swear it by the God above us, and he who now would sees to make meperjured, can no longer call himself of my race or tribe."

There was a death-like .stillness after these words were uttered, for the oath of the prince once taken, they all knew was irrevocable. None dared dream of asking him to break it, and even the ancient councillor who had already ventured so much, fell back now among the crowd of armed men without another word. A peal of thunder from the misty mountains in the distance now came to thenears, and when it ceased the air felt hot, and the silence seemed more than natural. Superstitious fears filled many a breast, and there was not one present who did not fully expect that ere long, some frightful manifestations of divine displeasure, would become horribly clear to all. "The wild horse," again shouted the prince. " Bring out the wild horse ; will none obey me P" A crowd of soldiers now departed for the stables of the castle, and as they dispersed, the object of all this anger and violence became visible.

Loaded with a chain of massive iron links, which was bound roughly many times around him, was a youth verging upon manhood, and yet possessing so much of the beauty of early Use about him that it did indeed seem a world of pities to doom such an one to the cruel fate that awaited him. His air was noble — his eve flashing clear and bright, and the sunny ringlets danced around his ample brow in the morning air, even such as might have become well the god of music and poetry himself. There was but one sign of emotion upon his countenance, and that consisted of a slight nervous twitching of the under lip. It would appear as if the retainers of the Prince Ureka had gathered around - - ■ ■ ; • w • v ■ .1. . OP THE UKRAINE. 3 the prisoner for the express purpose of sheltering him from the gaze of their chief, for the moment the latter saw him, again all his terrible passions burst out afresh with blazing fury.

" Villain— dastard— wretch !" he shrieked. " Oh, for some yet happier thought of vengeance ! I would kill thee, but that would be mercy." " My lord," whispered a man in chain armour. " My lord." " Peace, the coward speaks," cried Ureka, waving his hand towards the captive, who had shewn an inclination to say something. "Hie coward has spoken," said the youth. "It is Tolozi who now addresses himself to the Prince Ureka." " Deny your guilt, and die with a lie upon your tongue." " No. If my acts be those of guilt, guilty am I. Prince Ureka, you made into the country which owns me as one of her sons, a predatory incursion, and you stole for her beauty, Miaza the flower of our valley. Me you likewise spared from fire and sword, and brought hither with her. You forced her to become your wife ; you forced me to become your page by name, but I would have hurled the wine-cup I have often handed to you in your face, rather than have done so, had it not been for Miaza."

" Grant me patience." " You have need to make such a prayer. I have spoken—now do your worst." "You confess?" "What?" " That you have dishonoured me. That you are the minion of her whom I per mitted to share my princely state." " You know not what you say. I have no more words for such as you. I defy you." "You defy?" " Aye, and boast that defiance." " Dearly shall you rue that boast. My faithful followers, go to your lady's chamber, and bring her hither— she shall be a witness to the punishment of her lover." "Oh, no— no," cried Tolozi. "Ah, does that move you?" "It does, Prince Ureka, and it ought to move you. Shame upon your man hood, to seek revenge upon a woman." " Shame lies upon you and upon her, who have forced me to seek revenge at all. Bring her forth. She shall.see her minion start upon an errand from which he will not return."

"I challenge you to the combat." cried the page. " Ha ! ha ! The combat with a stripling such as you ?" " My hand might fall heavy on the crest of such a robber," said Tolozi. The prince advanced a step, but the captive blenched not, and at that moment another peal of thunder shook tho heavens. "My lord," whispered the man again, who had been before so roughly repulsed when he wished to say something to the prince. " My lord." " Speak, Meda, what would you say ?" - " Does my lord think that placing the page upon the wild horse will insure his punishment ?" " Why not ?" " "Nit In* TinPS 1ik(1 __l nPllQ "Then he shall be so lashed to the animal, that were he ten thousand fiends ne should not escape the death I design him— famine in tbe wilderness." " If my lord would punish him here ?" "How?"

" Have him cast into the bath copper, and slowly heat it until with the bubbles of hissing steam, his last shrieks mingle. " No — no. The horse. The wild horse !" Now from one of the great gates leading to the stables of the castle there MAZEPPA; OR, THE 4 issued a tumultuous throng of persons, and it was evident that some unusual ob ject was in the midst of them ; some dozen or more of them had fast hold ot ropes of emk thickness, and so they slowly came over to where the Prince Ureka and the immediate body guard that was always around him were waiting. The captive youth, too, looked with straining Jeyes>pon the approaoh_ng throng. To him it had a fearful interest. _ -* i Every noise was stilled in expectation Slowly the throng of persons advanced, as if they were au engaged in dragging some desperately heaw object, and then suddenly it appeared as if that object had lost all its weight, and was upon the contrary giving them an impetus forward.

All these strange proceedings came from the wayward fancies of the wild horse, which in obedience to the orders they had received, they were bringing, strongly bound, into the presence of the prince. Ureka waved his hand, and the throng paused and separated, so that a view could be got of the noble creature they had in bondage, and certainly never before had such a steed been seen in the Ukraine. For size, it was immense, and yet it's perfect symmetry took off in a great degree any appearance of its being more than ordinarily large. In colour it was a dusky bay. It's flowing mane fell in wild disorder about its neck, and its flashing eyes were terrific to behold, while with dilated nostrils and steaming breath, it stood hampered by ropes around its legs, before Prince Ureka. Twice the noble creature made au effort to start off at headlong speed, but as often it fell encumbered by the ropes, and when it rose again, the foam was upon its lips, and its sides wetted with perspiration.

Passion even upon that dumb brute was working its wondrous sway, and its heart was swelling almost to bursting. Even Prince Ureka shrunk back before the gaze of the infuriated wild horse, and in a loud voice he called to his men to make certain they had the creature safe in the toils. It was with a strange and steady glance that the page, Tolozi, regarded the animal which was, unconsciously and unwillingly, to be the means of his punishment. " A noble creature !" muttered Ureka, and then, addressing one of his troop, he added,*," have all means been tried to tame the horse ?" " All, my lord, all." "Aud nothing will bring him to submission *'• "Nothing, great prince. Hunger— thirs. — oio»_— carresses; all have been tried and found in vain. We never met with such a wild untameable spirit, and were about to pray of your greatness to allow us to let it go to its native wildernesses again."

" 'Tis well ; it shall go, but not without a rider * " A rider, gracious lord ? There lives not the man who could maintain a seat upon that creature long enough to cry, Behold." " You think so ?" " With submission to my lord, yes." The Prince Ureka drew himself up to his full height, and in a voice that was neard loud and clear, even above a sudden howling wind that set in from the mountains, he cried,— "Seize the page! seize the traitor to his master! bind him to the back of the horse, and on your lives > I charge you, do so in that manner that he may not escape the company of the wild steed." «-«<»fc fai!u&rMVi.cried struggled to release himself from the encircling folds of the heavy chain, which cramped his limbs, "tyrant, aye worse than" &L^ereSllallrme,aday' e™JHsl>you yol dwn/me To death" W lit , CiT • 3 day When y°v.U W0™ rather wM» A had placed your righ hand in a blazing furnace, than glven this order.

There are those still in the Caucasian chain of mountams who mourn for me, and for the bright star of their nation you have forced to mate with you." a hea OF THE UKRAINE. 5 « b'lwLTl w/'?d PriBCe' menacine17' M he talf 'drew his scymetar, de:.hp0fe^ "'tissaid that thMe wh° are n- J'Æ hfe fw1 ;ui3 tr-e <*»* J"" sl<™ are in sufficient force to bind me to the back of that noble animal whom you hold in bondage, but when I look again, and I have a feeling that Heaven wil/pcrmit me to doTo, uponThe towers and pinnacles of this casts. _t wiU be but to .ee them mouldering into du£ or wrapped by fire in conflagration. Once more I defy you and all your boasted power I cafl upon your slaves to tremble for themselves when they7 see Zt you are capable of such an act as this." J J The nrince stood forward from among his people, and it was evident he was making a great effort to assume something like judicial calm and "This is not an act of vengeance," he said, "it is an act of solemn execution.

Divesting myself of mme arms, and walkmg in the security of mine own abode, I sought the chamber of her, whom I had raised to my own princely state and dignity. I found there this man— he dies, were all the world leagued m arms to defend him. Bind him to the horse." <- The guards of the prince now laid more violent hold upon the youth, and dragged him towards the wild steed ; the untamed horse however, took fresh alarm at this struggle, and made so terrified an effort to recover his liberty, that had he not been hampered with exceeding skill by those around him, he must have done so. As it was, there were two groups of men, in the state of the greatest possible confusion. One battling and struggling with the page, and the other with the wild horse. At this moment some folding doors were thrown open, that led from the castle into the court yard, and the beautiful forced bride of the Prince of the Ukraine made her appearauce.

Chapter II. Iib

StOR__."»JHE WILD FLIGHT— THE LAST DITlANCE. The prince'had evidently, at the moment,', forgotten the savage and cruel order he had issued, for the beautiful Miaza to be present, at , the frightful punishment which was decreed against t the youth who rightfully or wrongly, he called her paramour. Rage and fear both sat upon his countenance, at her approach, but when he observed the guards, who followed close upon the few female attendants she brought with her, he recollected that to the angry suggestion of his own violent passions, he owed her presence upon that occasion. Like most persons similarly situated, he would gladly now have dispensed with the too strict obedience as his own passionate behest*. . , ..,.„. He was silent and confused. » '"Ti ' It would! be in vain for language to? attempt to depict the chums of the beauti ful being who now stood amid such a concourse of rough armed men.

She was delicately fair, but it was a fairness divested entirely of anything like anfunhealthful tinge. Her e^es were of the mostl beautiful blue that the fancy can pioture, and the long floating ringlets of her hair, were of that changeful 6unny» character, to which it puzzles the beholderjto impart a name. Her eyes wandered around the dense throng of persons assembled, until they MAZEPPAjJDR, THE MuponlhT^Titedfeatures^f^ this world Abrisht flush suffused her countenance, and she made one step forward, as ttough the contemplation of that face and .form, merged all other persons and circumstances into forgetfulness. The youth could but clasp his hands, but advanoe he could not, for the tetters and the firm grasp of his captors held him back. . a. . ,, But if there had been a relenting movement in the breast of the pnncc the flush of feeling that came over the countenance of Miaza, whose i eyes met those of tbe young page, banished it.

A wildne.s of passion was anin within "som and there was no extent, at that moment, to winch he could not have carried his vengeance^ again— "bind him to the horse, and send it dashing back to its native wilderness." . Another rapid glance from the horse tothe page, and then from the page to the horse, seemed now sufficient to awaken Miaza to a full consciousness of the fate that was intended for the youth. "No, no," she cried, "mercy— have mercy upon him— you cannot do sucn a deed — mercy— mercy !" , . , , „ " Slaves,'' shrieked the prince, " do you hesitate ? Bind him to the horse. The guards dragged the captive forward several paces, while by strenuous exertions the wild horse was maintained for a time in a quiescent attitude ; but the vouth himself did not feel disposed to abandon all hope of lite without a struggle, and he now made efforts far beyond what one would have supposed to be his strength.

The greatest confusion prevailed, and a more animated scene than that which was exhibited in the luxuriant wilderness of nature, where stood the castle of Wreka, could not have been imagined. Many a painter of the wild and the wonderful would have been glad to embody on canvass that strange episode. It was a scene full of contrasts. There was the infuriated Prince Ureka, his eyes flashing with the fire of such a resentment as even he had never before felt. Then there was the youthful page, summoning all his early energies to combat manfully as best he might, with the certainty of a terrible death, for notwithstanding his haughty defiance ofthe prince, he could not conceal from his own perceptions that it would require a something little short of a miracle to save him from the fate that seemed to yawn for him. . . . . , .

Contrasted with these persons, was the beautiful Miaza, and the few shrinking fear-stricken female attendants that she had with her, while as a background to the animated picture, were the dark faces of the mail clad warriors, who waited upon the imperious orders of the Prince of the Ukraine. We must not omit the horse in our category, and that noble creature standing in an attitude of partly terror, and partly defiance, was indeed a study for a poet or a sculptor, that seldom in this world could have been met with. But now the furious efforts the horse had made, to achieve his freedom were over. He had fallen, and again risen, while the guards were dragging towards him the fated page. Then it was that Miaza, forgetting in the danger of him whom she loved, all her timidity and all womanish scruples, no longer sought for| mercy where she saw mercy there was none, but dashing forward, herself plunged among a crowd of aimed men, and strove to rescue the page.

This was a sight that while it for a moment paralysed even the fiercest and the most unfeeling warriors of the tribe, drove the prince almost mad with rage, and he too with a shout of anger, rushed amid the throng, All was uproar and confusion.— None of the warriors dared lay a hand upon the beautiful Miaza, but the prince himself seized her, with such violence, from the contest that she sunk insensible to the ground. It was a mercy that the remainder of that frightful scene was shut out from her view, or for ever, with a horrible distinctness, it would have been imprinted upon her memory. OP THE UKRAINE. 7 " Carry her to her chamber," shouted the prince, in a voice hoarse with passion. "Let not my sight be blasted by beholding her." The terrified attendants raised her like a blighted lily from the ground ; with blanched cheeks, aud tremblingjiands, they retired with her to the interior of the castle.

But if the sight oLthe beautiful Circassian, rushing to the aid of the page,' Tolozi, had raised a whirlwind of furious passions in the breast of the prince,' the effect of such a scene was prodigious in the heart of the page. The force which he had summoned to his aid, before, to do battle with his captors was great, but now, the strength of madness appeared to belong to him, and getting one arm at liberty, he struck down several of his foes, with a force that seemed preter natural. Swords were drawn, and imprecations came from many lips. The contest would have been quickly enough terminated in the death of the page, had not the prince thought it a piece of more refined cruelty to bind him to the back of the wild horse, and accordingly, he at once interposed to prevent bloodshed. "What," he shouted, "must you draw your swords against aa unarmed man.

Cannot all my warriors bind to a horse's back the villain who has dis honoured me ?" ' ■ , ?" ' . Am tC"- The reproach was felt, and the half-drawn weapons, were restored to then scabbards, and once more, with the power of many hands, the youth was dragged towards the wild horse, which again commenced an ineffectual struggle for freedom. - ' • „. , . . , . " Give me a sword," cried the page. " Give me a sword, and let me prove on any three of you, that I can fight for life and liberty." " Bind him to the horse ! Bind him to the horse !" shouted the prince. " Hold, yet a moment," said Tolozi. «' Hear me, Prince Ureka." "Not a word. Not another word." ".. . . . . " You shall hear me, tyrant. All your minions cannot force me sufficiently soon to my fate, to prevent me from saying to you, that which shall please me to make you hear.

Even now, when you stand in exultation to look, as you think, your last of me, a something comes across my mind, that makes me seel that 1 shall yet see another sun rise," ' - . "Aye, with your dying eyes you may perchance look upon it. I would wish you a dav and night of agony." -ajzzo " Monster ! you shall rue this day."J^ ■* ... "Rave on. I am content." ..' , , „ „ , ,, , "And you, ye slaves of the despotic will of such a man," added the page, ad dressing the guards around him. « You who with a blind obedience yie Id to the behests of one inferior to the meanest ofyou, think you that Heaven.-will look with an eye of indifference upon this day's most horrible ud unholy wori : ? "fend him to the horse," shouted the prince^ " My scymetar shall drink the blood of him who longer dallies with my orders."

He drew as he uttered these words, his flashing bade, and the guards knew weU that it was no idle threat that came thus from the lips of Ureka. All hope now that he would in some way commute the sentence of the page was past, and in rie.it earnest they prepared themselves to obey the cruel mandate. YrobXy now that such a feeling had taken fair hold of them they began to think that M sooner the affair wasVer the better, for they bent all their energies nhndtttC SSftn^m^w&deharge cf the wild horse, felfSial thev were Sn to exercise unwearied care over that infuriated £« mal; for as Ve pa^was brought close to the noble beast its struggles were truly tC Ro?es were at hand in abundance. The page was lifted from his feet, and dashed 0nT^as^g°Seedh°l to flowing mane of the animal, he seemed himself to wish toSS'it ot it! hePa!uon?cours_.gand, indeed, his last chance of safety would now S MAZEPPA; OR, THE WILD HORSEOF THE U^^NK___ have been to escape with the steed while luTwas unbound, for thelh^inlhat had bein tapped6 Sim was removed either accidentally or designedly in the St^f eethat he escape not." cried the prince.

"Bind him tightly." The rones werr_ast over him. He was forcibly dragged from the temporary Ma?he had oEeTunon the back of the steed, and hk lead was secured to the nœk of the animal. The cords were lashed round and round him. They were S l nitS theTmade deep furrows in his flesh, and in the hide of the r no, -md- B horse. Hasty knots were tied in various directions, and the captive was o aU appearance secure, lying upon his back with his hands so tied that he could make no effort to free himself. "Prince Ureka," he shouted, "one word before I go. "Speak, I exult in a whining appeal to mercy." " Nearer ; nearer to me." ... , * __«_.*_ ifij „»„_ ;„ The prince approaohed, and then, twisting round his head painfully, m page in tones of exultation cried. " In your teeth I hurl my defiance and my scorn.

So unexpected was this last sentiment, that forgetting his more refined system of revenge, the prince was upon the point of at once sacrificing the youth, by plunging liis 'sword into his defenceless breast, but the glitter ofthe weapon played in the eyes of the wild horse, and put the finishing stroke to the terrible excitement under which he laboured. ' No longer did it become possible t».withold him. The cords by which, tor yet a moment, the retainers of Prince Ureka strove to curb him, snapped asunder like pack-thread. Several of the guards were dashed down, and trampled under foot. " Not, yet, not yet !" cried the prince. " Defiance !" shouted the page. " Defiance, and revenge to come. With a sound from his lips, that struck terror into the hearts of all who heard it, the wild horse now by one mad plunge freed itself of all controul, and then for the brief interval of time, during which, perchance, one hurried breath might have been drawn, it stood still as a statue, its broad nostrils sniffed the morning air, and then it turned to the' west.

The mountains in the far distance looked still blue and misty, for the morning light had not yet chased away the soft dews of a summer's night, but it was in that direction the home of the wild horse lay. There were the mountains up whose rugged sides he had often sprung with thundering hoofs. There were the vallies rich with pasturage, and no one to curb the license of the herd. There were the rivers, in the flood of which during noontide heats, he coidd lave his panting hide. Another moment, and he was off and away, like an arrow from a bow. CHAPTER HI. MAEEIPA ASD THE St-_ED.«"»THE SATINE AND THE MOUNTAIN. Who shall describe the feelings that crept in shuddering horror, _ round the heart of the unhappy captive, at that moment, when the wild horse with all the speed of madness, dashed from the castle gate, to seek its native home in the wilderness.

Oh, it was horrible to think of the many hours of mortal suffering that migtt be the lot of him who was lashed to his back by bonds, which it would have required thrice his strength to burst asunder ; and as horrible was it to think of the only means to escape, that presented themselves to the imagination— to eseape from lingering torture, which could only arise from being dashed to pieces down WILD HORSE OP THE UKRAINE. 9 THB WARRIORS OF THE UKRAINB ABOUT TO BIND MAZEPPA TO THB WILD HORSE, some prodigious precipice, or against the overhanging and massive boughs of the prest trees. At first the speed of the horse was so tremendous, that the breath of the captive, came in short and frightful gusts from his labouring breast, he , could not likewise, for a time, be quite certain, that the cords which held him," were sufficiently secure to maintain their present position.

Some one or two might give way, while others still did their duty, and he might be dragged a bruised mangled mass at the heels of that furious courser. No. 2. I Nothing met his gaze, but the sky above, with all its floating mass of fleecy clouds, and now and then the dark foliage of a forest tree, as furiously the wild horse took his course beneath its far spreading branches. The muttering storm, which several times during the last half hour, had given indications of its rapid approach, was now more unequivocal in its demonstrations. Dense masses of clouds were rapidly gathering from the south-west, and every now and then, a large drop of rain would rail suddenly upon the face of the victim. But still he was unhurt, if we may except the cruel pain occasioned by the tightness with which he was bound round by cords, and as the wild horse rushed far — far away from human habitation, taking his path up a forest glade, upon the soft turf of which his hoofs had scarce mado a sound, the unhappy page began to think more collectedly upon his situation.