Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/65

 who had entered into a secret alliance with the Polish ruler. Swatopluk himself, being of a very treacherous character, easily believed in the treachery of others, and so he at once determined to take signal vengeance upon the Wirsovs. On this homeward journey, Mutina, with his two sons, came to meet his king, and was received most cordially. The whole patty remained all night at the fortress of Breslau. The next morning the king ordered his lords to meet him in the banquet hall, and when they were all together, he entered, and began to denounce the whole race of Wirsovs, charging them with all manner of crimes. He then turned to his hired murderers, and ordered them to begin the work of death. Such a consternation fell upon those present that for a moment a deathlike silence reigned in the hall; but it was only for a moment, for the assassins were thirsty for the blood of their victims. The Wirsovs present, together with all their friends and attendants, were murdered without mercy. Then the bloody men mounted their horses, and galloped off to Libitz, the chief seat of the Wirsovs, to continue the work of death. When the warden announced that a body of horsemen were coming to the fortress, Bozej said: “It ’s our soldiers from Hungary; in God’s name let them enter.” The assassins repaid the kind welcome by murdering the inmates and plundering the fortress. But the Wirsov family was very large, the members living upon their estates in various parts of the country; and as Swatopluk had made the determination to exterminate the whole race of Wirsovs, the work of butchery lasted for many days. They were hunted down like wild beasts; some were found and