n the yard, where a few moments before there had been so many cries, now
everything was desolate and silent as in a graveyard; all had gone afield.
Thaddeus pricked up his ears, and put his hands to them like trumpets; he
listened till the wind that blew from the forest brought to him the sound
of horns and the shouts of the hunting throng.

Thaddeus's horse was waiting saddled in the stable. So, musket in hand, he
vaulted upon it, and like a madman galloped towards the inns that stood
near the forest chapel, where the beaters were to have gathered at early
dawn.

The two taverns bent forward from either side of the road, threatening
each other with their windows like enemies. The old one rightfully
belonged to the owner of the castle; the new one Judge Soplica had built
to spite the castle. In the former, as in his own inheritance, Gerwazy
ruled supreme; in the latter Protazy occupied the highest place at the
table.

The new tavern was not peculiar in its appearance. The old one was built
according to an ancient model, which was invented by Tyrian carpenters,
and later spread abroad over the world by the Jews; a style of
architecture completely unknown to foreign builders: we inherit it from
the Jews.

The tavern was in front like an ark, behind like a temple; the ark was
Noah's genuine oblong chest, known to-day under the simple name of stable;
in it there were various beasts, horses, cows, oxen, bearded goats; and
above flocks of birds; and a pair each of various sorts of reptiles--and
likewise insects. The rear portion, formed like a marvellous temple,
reminded one by its appearance of that edifice of Solomon that Hiram's
carpenters, the first skilled in the art of building, erected on Zion. The
Jews imitate it to this day in their schools, and the design of the
schools may be traced in their taverns and stables. The roof of lath and
straw was peaked, turned-up, and crooked as a Jew's torn cap. From the
gable protruded the edges of a balcony, supported on a row of close-set
wooden columns; the columns, which were a great architectural marvel, were
solid, though half decayed, and were put up crooked, as in the tower of
Pisa; they did not conform to Greek models, for they lacked bases and
capitals. On the columns rested semicircular arches, also of wood, in
imitation of Gothic art. Above were artistic ornaments, crooked as the
arms of Sabbath candlesticks,69 executed not with the graver or chisel,
but with skilful