Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/262

238 "Just in this did God bless us, that the prince was without an army; he had only a court and women."

"How was that?" asked De Lorche, looking at the knight with astonishment. "Then you fell upon women in time of peace, and upon the prince who was building a castle on his own land?"

"When the glory of the Order and Christianity are in question no deeds are dishonorable."

"And that terrible knight is only avenging his young wife killed in time of peace by you?"

"Whoso raises a hand against a Knight of the Cross is a son of darkness."

De Lorche was amazed when he heard this, but he had no time to answer Danveld, for they had ridden out onto a broad, snowy, weed-covered plain, on which the prince had alighted from his horse, and after him others began to dismount.

Skilled foresters under the lead of the chief huntsman disposed guests and the court in a long row at the edge of the plain, so that being in concealment themselves they had in front of them an empty space which facilitated shooting from crossbows and bows. The two shorter sides of the plain were beset with snares, behind which were woodmen, whose duty it was to turn a beast toward the hunters, or if it would not be frightened it became entangled in the snares and they killed it with spears.

Innumerable crowds of Kurpie, disposed skilfully in a so-called circle, were to drive out every living creature to the plain from the depth of the forest.

Beyond the hunters was a net, so that any beast which succeeded in passing the line might be caught in its meshes, and killed.

The prince stood in the centre of the line, in a slight depression which passed through the whole width of the plain. The chief huntsman, Mrokota of Motsarzev, chose this position for him, knowing that just there the largest beasts would seek escape from the circle. The prince had a crossbow in his hand, near his side stood against a tree a heavy spear, and a little behind him were two "defenders" with axes on their shoulders, immense fellows, as bulky as trees of the forest, who besides axes had drawn crossbows, to be given to the prince should he need them.

The princess and Danusia did not dismount; the prince never permitted that, because of danger from wild bulls and