Boryna joins the timber-carting partnership

Maciej Boryna joins a timber-carting partnership proposed by the Voyt, agreeing to haul the manor’s wood alongside the Voyt, The Miller, and Antek’s Brother-in-law. The decision appears to bring him into cooperation with the manor at a moment when he is still weighing the village’s resistance to its timber plans. Yet Boryna regards cartage as a separate business from the underlying dispute: he accepts the chance to earn money without promising to surrender his position on the wood. The episode turns a practical offer into a revealing test of his independence and his capacity to keep competing interests apart.

Background and the Voyt’s Approach

Boryna’s agreement follows a period of hesitation. He has been angry that the squire failed to summon him to a meeting at the blacksmith’s, and he has not decided whether to join the Voyt’s side or go with Kłąb and the others. His uncertainty is therefore more than a question of whether the work is profitable: the offer arrives while his standing among the village men and his relationship with the manor remain unsettled.

The Voyt takes Boryna aside to speak privately, and they sit together long enough for Józka Boryna to serve them supper. The Voyt presses him not to break with the manor, to defer his own matter, and not to join Kłąb and the others. When persuasion alone seems ineffective, he introduces a concrete inducement: he, The Miller, and Antek’s Brother-in-law have agreed with the manor to transport wood to the sawmill and planks to town. He now offers Boryna a place in their partnership. The shift from political counsel to a paid opportunity gives the proposal its force.

The Offer and Boryna’s Decision

The Voyt presents the work as both immediate and lucrative. Boryna has good draught horses and farmhands who are not yet occupied in the fields; cartage is paid by the stere, and the Voyt estimates that Boryna could earn a hundred roubles before fieldwork begins. The felling is already under way in the near clearings, the roads are passable, and loads can be hauled while sleighs can still travel. The Voyt’s farmhand is due to start on Thursday, and Boryna is told that he could begin as soon as the next day.

Boryna does not accept at once. He asks when the carting will start, then brings up the case concerning the cow, whose outcome he expects to learn in court the following day. The Voyt reassures him that joining the partnership will work out, but Boryna continues to deliberate. He studies the Voyt, makes marks on the bench, and scratches his head before finally agreeing to cart with the group. The pause matters: his decision follows consideration of timing, existing business, and the return his horses and farm labor might bring, rather than an immediate conversion to the Voyt’s position.

A Partnership, Not a Political Surrender

The Voyt leaves delighted, believing that the cartage offer has bought Boryna over and secured his support. Boryna’s own calculation is different. He reasons that the other partners can afford to placate the manor: The Miller’s land is not on the village register, while the Voyt and Antek’s Brother-in-law occupy church lands. Boryna, by contrast, has his own land at stake. Their circumstances make the partnership unequal in significance even if they share the same work.

For Boryna, transporting wood does not settle whether he will accept the manor’s actions regarding the forest. He treats the hauling as one matter and the wood itself as another, leaving open the possibility that agreement or strife with the squire may still come later. He can nod along with the others, appear to take their side, and earn a few dozen roubles without giving away anything of his own. His private satisfaction at believing the others have mistaken his agreement for submission makes the gap between the Voyt’s interpretation and Boryna’s intention explicit.

Consequences and Significance

The immediate consequence is practical: Boryna commits his horses and available farm labor to a business that promises income before the fields demand their work. His acceptance also gives the Voyt reason to think that he has drawn Boryna into cooperation with the manor. But the scene does not show Boryna abandoning his doubts or resolving the land conflict. Instead, the agreement creates a temporary overlap between men whose interests remain distinct.

The episode’s tension rests on the difference between outward assent and inward reservation. The Voyt uses a short-term commercial opportunity to secure what he hopes will be political alignment; Boryna accepts the opportunity while withholding that larger allegiance. His decision is neither simple resistance nor reconciliation. It shows how the manor’s timber economy can draw village leaders into profitable arrangements even as the question of land and wood remains unresolved. The partnership begins, in Boryna’s understanding, as a way to make money without deciding the separate matter that still divides him from the squire.