Andrei Kmita, now pretending to be a Catholic nobleman from Electoral Prussia, is disillusioned by the talk of the nobles who are now resigned to Swedish rule. He is forced to sell his horses to a Prussian commandant at Pryasnysh in return for a paper receipt which he can now use as his pass to get to Warsaw. News arrives of the fall of Cracow and the defeat of Charnyetski and, the closer Kmita gets to the capital, the more news he hears about the severe Swedish oppression under Wittemberg, the garrison commander and Radzeyovski, and the looting, particularly by Polish traitors which mostly goes unpunished. Swedish and German plunderers near Sohachev besiege Pan Lushchevski, the starosta, at Strugi, his private estate. Kmita and his men come to his aid and beat them off. He finally leaves for Chenstohova (Czestochowa), filled with hope when the starosta's daughter, also called Olenka, tells him she will be faithful to her lover, also called Andrei.