That was when Herr Piotroski stood and banged his cane for silence. "We haven't heard from Uncle Olek yet. Uncle Olek, which action do you think we should pursue?"
Everybody turned to the old man at the other end of the table from Mitzi. He had not allowed them to make him president, but he was still respected and expected to sit on the council.
Uncle Olek stood slowly, and looked at the entire village. His eyes were burning under his bushy white brows. "I think that we have a responsibility to the Olbermann family. So it is the right thing for us to send a representative to town and let them know what is happening."
That brought a huge reaction from the crowd. It sounded to Mitzi kind of like a roar. People started shouting at Uncle Olek, and then shouting at each other.
Uncle Olek was still standing up, waving his hands for quiet. Finally Herr Piotroski banged on the table and shouted until it was quiet. "There you go, Uncle Olek. What else do you have to say?"
Uncle Olek took a deep breath, and steadied himself with his cane. "I was saying, before I was interrupted, that we also have a responsibility to the Olbermann family to protect their land. So I think we also need a plan to protect the village. And it is here at the grange that we look for plans to protect our homes and families."
The shouting began again, and the discussion went on for a while. Finally, Herr Piotroski stood and banged with his cane. Mitzi decided that everybody was getting a little tired because it didn't take as long to quiet as it had before.
Herr Piotroski said, "As president of this grange, I've decided. Tonight we will send someone into town with a letter. Mitzi will write the letter for us, and we will send Wictor to town with it. Wictor, make sure you give it to the Olbermann family, and wait for their reply. The law should deal with this."
Wictor was Mitzi's cousin, just a year younger. He could also read and write a little, but not as much as Mitzi. The agreement between the village families and the Olbermann family was handed to Mitzi. He was to make a copy that would be presented to the intruders when they came back in the morning. And another paper detailing all the decisions of the grange would be prepared and sent with Wictor when he left in the morning. Mitzi realized that he would be up very late tonight getting all the paperwork ready for the confrontation.
Mitzi meticulously finished the minutes of the meeting, then started on the other articles. But he couldn't help but think about the trip to town. Wictor would be walking all day, and reach the inn after dark. It would take at least a day to negotiate with the factor for the Olbermann family, and then a whole day back to the village. Mitzi really wondered if there really was time to wait for the Olbermanns to respond.
****
Early the next morning, Herr Piotroski and Uncle Olek stood at the entrance to the courtyard. They watched as Wictor ran down the road and over the hill. There was no way Wictor could return for at least three days, and perhaps longer, if it took time for him to locate the factor, or convince him of the seriousness of their petition. He carried a sack with food and a blanket. Evidence of apprehension and discomfort were visible on the elders' faces. But they were resolved. The law said thus and such, and the law would be obeyed.
Now it was time for the Cossacks to return. Herr Piotroski and Uncle Olek stood by the road with the other adults. Mitzi stood with the other young men in the courtyard, near the doors of the homes, and the mothers had insisted that all the children stay with them inside the houses.
Herr Piotroski had been adamant that they should not arm themselves with axes and hoes because they didn't want to provoke violence, and would only resort to it as a final choice. So the boys stood as grim and threatening as possible with their hands at their sides.
Then on the road opposite of where Wictor had disappeared, Mitzi heard a clatter. A man on horseback, followed by twenty swaggering men on foot came down the road towards them. Mitzi nudged his cousin Karl. "Come on, I want to see this." He and the rest of the boys ran to Uncle Olek's house because it was the tallest. They hurried inside, and ran up to the garret, then squeezed out the window and sat on the roof on the courtyard side. From here, they could see the entire village.
Everyone in the village watched the splashy color and glitter of steel as Duroski and his men approached the village elders. The two groups finally met, and Herr Piotroski waved the paper in the air.
Jarusz Duroski stepped down from his horse. Mitzi was not close enough to hear everything said, but the captain waved his fist in the air, and then struck Herr Piotroski's paper to the ground.
The brigands laughed, and moved closer around Duroski as he pulled himself back up on his horse. He laughed with his men, then pointed at the hay barn just outside of the village. Then he shouted in a voice loud enough for Mitzi to hear. "Burn it to the ground!"
Several of the Cossacks were armed with swords or clubs. Some of them marched over to the hay barn just outside the village, and began lighting fires. When the grange elders ran over and tried to defend their barn, they were struck to the ground. Mitzi jumped up, and crawled through the window, followed closely by the other young men.
They hurried down the stairs, but before they reached the front door, they encountered Aunt Marie. She was Uncle Olek's spinster daughter, older than Mitzi's mother. She lived with Uncle Olek, and took care of him. Now she was planted firmly in front of the door, with her hands on her hips.
"Where do you all think you're going?" Aunt Marie's voice was stern, and the young men skittered to a stop in front of her. All of them were more afraid of Aunt Marie than they were of the intruders outside.
Mitzi felt a hand push him forward, and he cleared his throat. "Aunt Marie, we're going out to help. We can't just stay in here and let them burn down the village. They are threatening the village elders. We've got to go and help."
"No, you don't. You are to stay in here. We can't afford to lose you, and the brigands have already left. You just wait right here until I get word from my father."
By the time the boys were able to leave the house, the barn was fully engulfed. The brigands were outside the village on a hill. They stood and watched the blaze.
Mitzi's father and the other elders of the grange were frantically filling buckets to keep sparks from the barn under control, but there was no saving the barn. Herr Piotroski signaled the boys to come help with the buckets.
Duroski could be heard laughing as he and his men left for their camp next to the burned-out manor house.
****
That evening, as Mitzi sat at his little table to take notes, he felt waves of anger and determination wash across the meeting. After the intruders had left that day, the village spent a long time dealing with hot spots in the barn. The only thing that kept it from burning other buildings were the old stone walls, and the fact that there was almost no hay left after the winter.
The leaders of the grange were seated at the front table. Everyone was streaked with soot, and exhausted. Herr Piotroski stood and announced that the brigands had demanded that the supplies be set out on the morrow. And further, if the supplies were not put out, two houses in the village would be set afire.
At this statement, the mood of the villagers became, if anything, more determined. Snatches of conversation drifted across the courtyard. Mitzi's mother could be heard. "But what if they have firearms? What can we do for that?"
There was more hand waving and shouting. It was very difficult for Mitzi to write down what was happening, because he had trouble telling what the consensus was.
Uncle Olek said, "We have six light crossbows in the village. And a couple of the boys are very good. But they would never stand against a concerted attack. There are still more of them than there are of us."