Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/25



THE

CHAPTER I., at the Savage Bull, an inn which belonged to the monastery, were sitting a number of persons, listening to the tales of a veteran warrior, who had come from distant parts, and was relating adventures through which he had passed in war and on the road.

He was a bearded man, in the vigor of life, broad shouldered, almost immense, but spare of flesh; his hair was caught up in a net ornamented with beads; he wore a leathern coat with impressions made on it by armor; his belt was formed entirely of bronze squares; under this belt was a knife in a horn sheath; at his side hung a short travelling-sword.

Right there near him, behind the table, sat a youth with long hair and a gladsome expression of eye, evidently the man's comrade, or perhaps his armor-bearer, for he was also in travelling-apparel, and wore a similar coat, on which were impressions of armor. The rest of the society was composed of two country people from the neighborhood of Cracow and three citizens in red folding caps, the sharp-pointed tops of which hung down on one side a whole yard.

The innkeeper, a German wearing a yellow cowl and collar with indented edge, was pouring to them from a pitcher into earthen tankards substantial beer, and listening with interest to the narrative of warlike adventures.

But with still greater interest did the citizens listen. In those days the hatred which, during the time of, distinguished citizens from knightly landowners, had decreased notably; citizens held their heads higher than in later centuries. They were still called at that time "des aller durchluchtigsten Kuniges und Herren" and their

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