Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/488

50 Matsko and Yagenka, reining in their pacers, looked in the direction indicated by the guide, and in fact they saw on the hill, half a furlong or more away, a form which seemed to exceed the usual dimensions of man considerably.

"The fellow says truly that he is large," muttered Matsko.

Then the old man spat toward one side on a sudden and said,—

"A charm on the dog!"

"Why do you adjure?" inquired Yagenka.

"Because I remember how on the same kind of morning Zbyshko and I saw on the road between Tynets and Cracow a giant of such size. The people said then that it was Valger the Charming. Well, it turned out to be the lord of Tachev; but nothing good came of the matter. A charm on the dog!"

"This is not a knight, for he is on foot," said Yagenka, looking more sharply. "I see even that he has no weapons, he has nothing but a stick in his left hand."

"And feels the way out in front, as if the time were night," added Matsko.

"And he barely moves. It is sure that he is blind, or something."

"He is blind, he is blind! as I live!"

They spurred on, and soon halted in front of the old man, who, descending the hill very slowly, was searching for the road with a stick. He was indeed immense, though seen from near by he did not appear to them a giant. They discovered that he was entirely blind. Instead of eyes, he had two red depressions in his face. His right hand also was lacking; in place of it he carried a knot formed of a dirty rag. His white hair fell to his shoulders and his beard reached his girdle.

"The poor man has neither boy nor dog, and finds the road for himself by groping," said Yagenka. "In God's name I cannot leave him without help! I do not know whether he can understand me, but I will speak to him in our speech."

She sprang from her horse quickly, and standing in front of the old man looked for money in the leather pouch which depended from her girdle.

The old man, when he heard the tramp of horses, and the noise, stretched his stick foward [sic], and raised his head in the manner of blind people.