While the guests are out for a walk, Protazy directs that the tables for dinner be transferred to the Castle, thereby upsetting Gerwazy. The latter regales the Count with the details of the origin of the feud, and suggests that the Count seek revenge. Robak, and Jankiel, the tavern keeper, counsel restraint, as does Micha , an old warrior, but to no effect. Happily the Count has locked the Soplica family in the manor house and posted guards, causing the foray to degenerate into an attack on the cellar and the pantry. A general debauch follows.
Someone summons the Russian military.
Commanded by Major Plut and Captain Rykow, the latter friendly to the Poles, the Russians tie up the drunks. Robak appears and plies the Russians with the spirits, getting them drunk and, in turn, leading a counter attack. In the ensuing fight, Major Plut is killed and the young Poles, Tadeusz and the Count, must escape across the border to the Duchy of Warsaw. Gerwazy, listening to his story, finally gives up thoughts of revenge. Then comes the year 1812 and the arrival of Napoleon s Grand Arm e, its Polish units, and Tadeusz, now a cavalry officer, all on their way to Moscow.