Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/567

 Rh have affected him, for it is always so; at first such a wound is not much, but it pains later on. For this reason he cannot flee quickly, and may be forced to take rest."

"But the people, hast thou said that with the knight Arnold and the old comtur there are no people?" inquired Matsko.

"There are two men with the cradle, which is borne between two saddles. There was a good sized party of others, but those the Jmud men overtook and cut to pieces."

"It must be this way," said Zbyshko; "the men at the cradle will be tied by our attendants, you, uncle, seize Siegfried, and I will strike on Arnold."

"Indeed," answered Matsko, "I am able to handle Siegfried, for through the love of the Lord Jesus there is strength in my bones yet. But do not trust overmuch in thyself, for that man must be a giant."

"Oh, we shall see," answered Zbyshko.

"Thou art strong, I do not deny that, but there are stronger. Hast thou forgotten those knights of ours whom we saw in Cracow? Couldst thou manage Povala of Tachev, or Pashko Zlodye, or still more, Zavisha Charny? Do not vaunt too much, think of the issue."

"Rotgier was no piece of a man," muttered Zbyshko.

"But will there be no work for me?" inquired Hlava.

He received no answer, for Matsko's mind was occupied with another thing.

"If God bless us," said he, "we must reach Mazovian forests somehow. There we shall be safest, and finish everything at one blow."

But after a while he sighed, thinking surely that even then not everything would be finished, for they would have to do something for Yagenka.

"He!!" muttered he, "wonderful are God's dispensations! I think often of this: why did it not happen thee to marry quietly, and me to sit near thee in peace? For that is the way it happens oftenest among nobles in our kingdom; we alone are dragging our way along through various lands and pathless places, instead of keeping house at home in Christian fashion."

"Well, that is true, but God's will!" answered Zbyshko.

And they rode on for a time in silence; then the old knight turned again to his nephew.

"Dost thou believe in that vagabond? What sort of man is he?"

—9