Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/320

296 "Dost thou know," said he, "that on such holidays hellish power grows benumbed and devils hide themselves in holes? Fishermen found one of those devils once in a pond near Sandomir the day before Christmas eve. He had a pike in his snout, but when the sound of church bells reached him, he lost strength right away, and they beat him with sticks until evening. This storm is a stiff one, but it is by permission of the Lord Jesus, who wishes the morrow to be filled all the more with rejoicing."

"True enough! If we were only at the castle; but had it not been for these men, we might have ridden till midnight, for we had got off the road," answered Hlava.

He said this, for the fire had gone down.

They had now really entered the town. Drifts of still deeper snow were lying on the streets there; so great were these drifts that in many places they almost hid the windows. For this reason people passing outside the town could not see lights. But the storm seemed less violent. On the streets none were celebrating the Christmas festival; citizens were sitting already at supper. Before some houses boys, with a crib and a goat, were singing in spite of the snow-storm. On the square were men wrapped in pea-straw, and acting as bears, but in general the place was empty. The merchants who accompanied Zbyshko, and other nobles on the road, remained in the town. Zbyshko and the nobles went to the old castle, in which the prince dwelt, and which had, even at that time, glass windows, which, in spite of the storm, shone brightly in front of the wayfarers when they drew near.

The drawbridge on the moat had been let down, for the old time of Lithuanian attacks had passed, and the Knights of the Cross, foreseeing war with the King of Poland, sought the friendship of the Prince of Mazovia. One of the prince's men blew a horn, and the gate was open directly. There were between ten and twenty bowmen there, but on the walls not a living soul, for the prince had given leave to go down. Old Mrokota, who had arrived two days earlier, met the guests, greeted them in the prince's name, and conducted them to rooms in which they could array themselves properly for the table.

Zbyshko fell at once to asking him about Yurand of Spyhov, and he answered that Yurand was not there, but that they expected him, since he had promised to come, and if his health had grown worse he would have informed them.