Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/609

 Rh men's faces are usually when they wish to announce something uncommon.

"There is a man," cried he, "hanging on the road before you!"

Hlava was alarmed lest that might be the work of robbers, and inquired quickly,—

"Is it far from here?"

"The shot of a crossbow—at the very road."

"Is no one with him?"

"No, no one; but I frightened away a wolf which was sniffing him."

The mention of a wolf pacified Hlava, for it showed that there were no people near by, nor any ambush. Meanwhile Yagenka said,—

"See what it is!"

Hlava galloped forward and after a while returned still more quickly.

"Siegfried is hanged!" cried he, reining in his horse before Yagenka.

"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit! Siegfried? The Knight of the Cross?"

"The Knight of the Cross. He hanged himself with the bridle."

"Hanged himself?"

"It is evident that he did, for the saddle is lying near him. If robbers had done the deed they would have killed the man simply, and taken the saddle, for it is of value."

"How shall we pass?"

"Let us not go that way! let us not go!" cried Anulka, in fear. "Something will catch us."

Yagenka too was frightened a little, for she believed that foul spirits gathered in great crowds around bodies of suicides. But Hlava was daring and felt no fear.

"Oh," said he, "I was near him and even pushed him with a lance, and still I feel no devil on my shoulder."

"Do not blaspheme!" called Yagenka.

"I am not blaspheming," answered Hlava, "but I trust in the power of God. Still, if you are afraid we can go around through the forest."

Anulka begged them to go around, but Yagenka thought a while, and said,—

"Ei, it is not proper to leave a corpse unburied. Burial is a Christian act enjoined by the Lord Jesus. Siegfried was a man in every case."