Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/466

28 one knocked at the door. Yagenka and Anulka, who slept in a little room near the front chamber, heard also the pattering of small feet on the floor and ceiling, and even along the walls. This did not frighten them overmuch, for in Zgorzelitse they had been accustomed to imps which were fed by Zyh in his time, and which, by the general opinion of those days, were not malicious if one did not spare broken food on them. But one night a deep, ominous roar was given out in a neighboring thicket; next morning they found in the mud immense hoof tracks, which might be those of a wild ox or buffalo, but Vit said that they were tracks of Boruta, who though in the form of a man, and even of a nobleman, has hoofs instead of feet, and the boots in which he shows himself among people he takes off in the mud to spare them.

Matsko, on hearing that one might reconcile Boruta by drink, meditated all day over this: would it be sinful to show friendly feeling to an evil spirit?—and he consulted with Yagenka.

"I might hang an ox-bladder of wine or mead on the fence at night," said he; "if it is drunk in the night, we shall know that he is about here."

"If the heavenly powers are not offended," replied Yagenka; "we must not offend, for we need a blessing to rescue Zbyshko."

"I am afraid of that too, but I think this way: mead is not the soul. I will not give my soul; but what do the heavenly powers care for one ox-bladder of mead?" Then he lowered his voice and added: "For a noble to entertain a noble, though the most worthless, is a common occurrence, and people say that he is a noble."

"Who?" inquired Yagenka.

"I have no wish to mention the name of the unclean one."

But Matsko hung out on the fence with his own hands that evening a large ox-bladder in which drinks were carried usually, and next morning the bladder was empty to the bottom. It is true that Hlava, when they spoke of it, smiled somewhat strangely, but no one noticed him. Matsko was glad, for he hoped that when they crossed the swamp no unexpected hindrance or happening would meet them.

"Unless it is said untruly that he knows honor," thought Matsko.

The first need of all was to inquire if there was really a way through the forest. There might be, for wherever the