Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/542

 the usual anxiety was no longer evident, and his eyes gleamed as in the old time.

"Well!" cried he. "We are to be in front now, not in the rear!" And he took them to the head of the division.

"Listen," added he; "we may strike the Germans unexpectedly, but if they see us and are able to form in line, then we must be the first of our people to fall on them, for our armor is the surest, and our swords are the best in this division."

"That is what we shall do!" said Matsko.

Other men sat back with more weight in their saddles, as if they were going to make a charge straightway. This one and that drew breath into his breast and tried whether his sword would come easily from its scabbard.

Zbyshko repeated once more that if nobles or brothers in white mantles were found among men on foot they were not to be slain, but taken prisoners; then he sprang again to the guides, and after a moment stopped the division. They had come to the road which led from the landing-place opposite the island into the interior of the country. In fact there was no real road, but rather a trail made not long before through the forest, and levelled out only as much as was needed for warriors or wagons to escape from disaster. On both sides stood a lofty pine forest, and on both sides lay the great trunks of old pines cut down to open the roadway. The undergrowth of hazel was in places so dense that it hid altogether the depth of the forest. Zbyshko chose this place at a turn so that those approaching might not see him from a distance and have time to withdraw or to form in line of battle. He took both sides of the trail and gave command to await the enemy.

The Jmud men, accustomed to forest life, and to war in the wilderness, dropped down behind tree trunks, earth clumps, hazel bushes, and bunches of young fir as quickly as if the earth had swallowed them. Not a man gave out a sound, not a horse a snort. From time to time near the hiding people a little beast would pass, and then a big beast, which, when it saw that it had almost touched a man, roared and rushed terrified into the distance. At moments a breeze rose and filled the forest with a sound that was earnest and majestic, then there was stillness; after that naught was heard save the distant call of the cuckoo and the near hammering of woodpeckers.

The Jmud men listened to those sounds with immense