Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/534

96 "But hast thou forgotten Vilno?" asked he. "And are the times few that we have fought shield to shield, face to face with them? And hast thou forgotten what ill-success they had in meeting us—and how they complained of our stubbornness, saying that it was not enough to sweat horses and break lances, that they had to take our lives, or give their own up? There were men from foreign lands also who challenged us—but all went away in disgrace. Why hast thou grown there thus softened?"

"I have not grown softened, for I fought in Malborg where men met with sharp lances. But you do not know all the strength of those people."

The old man grew angry.

"But dost thou know all the Polish strength? Hast thou seen our banners assembled? Thou hast not. But the German strength rests on injustice to man, and on treachery; for there is not a finger's length of land where they are that belongs to them. Our princes took them in as a beggar is taken to a house—where gifts are given him; but they, when they had grown in strength, bit the hand that fed them, as a shameless mad dog might do. They gathered in lands, they took cities by treachery, that is where their strength lies! But though all the kings on earth went to aid them, the day of judgment and vengeance is approaching them."

"You asked me to tell what I saw, and now you are angry. Better let me be silent," said Zbyshko.

Matsko muttered for a time as if angry, but after a while calmed himself, and continued,—

"Well, the case is like this: A pine-tree, immense, as a tower, stands in the forest before a man; he thinks: 'That will stand for the ages of ages;' but let him give a good blow with the back of an axe, the tree will sound hollow, and the dust of decay will drop from it. Such is the might of the Order. I asked thee to tell what thou hast done there, what thou hast accomplished. Hast thou met a man at sharp lances?—tell that to me."

"I have. With insolence and impoliteness did they receive me in the first days, for it was known to them that I had met Rotgier. Perhaps something ill would have happened me had I not gone with a letter from Prince Yanush; besides, De Lorche, whom they reverence, guarded me from their malice. But later came feasts and tournaments, during which the Lord Jesus blessed me. You have heard that Ulrich, the Grand Master's brother, took me into