Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/74

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ITINERARY OF THE PRISONERS.

following manner: as soon as he arrived at a place, the prisoners were shut up in granaries, and the Russian soldiers were quartered in the houses; Chruszczew, with his wife, daughters, niece, and little children, took possession of the house of the proprietor, and we were lodged in another which was the nearest to his. These matters arranged, his aides-de-camp, and the officers of his suite, ran to their respective departments: one, followed by some grenadiers, went down to the cellars, in order to seize all the wine which was to be found there; another went to the stables and took the best horses; some ran from house to house to raise contributions laid upon the inhabitants, others shut up the unfortunate Jews in the pig-styes, to make them confess where their treasures were concealed. Whilst the officers were engaged with such activity, the general, followed by the ladies, passed through the apartments of the Lord of the place, where the ladies and gentlemen, with satirical jokes, clever maliciousness, and im-