Urban legends...
Well, it means that he went with the men to the Zausolye to lead something. They've arrived, it's them. They look, convict people are sitting on the shore - by the fire. And the fire is not burning, but only burning. Kachan then approached them, bowed: you, they say, are shy, say a kind word. We, they say, came to fish, But they say: "God grant you to catch. Treat us, they say."