Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/656

 218

went by land through Helmno to Grudziondz, where they stopped for the night and passed the next day, for the Grand Master had to judge a question of fishing between the castle starosta of the Order and the neighboring nobility whose lands bordered on the Vistula. Thence they sailed on barges of the Order down the river to Malborg. Zyndram, Povala, and Zbyshko passed all the time at the side of the Master, who was curious to learn what impression would be made, especially on Zyndram, by the might of the Order when he looked from near by at it. This concerned Conrad, because Zyndram was not only a valiant and terrible knight in single combat, but an uncommonly skilful warrior. There was no other man in the kingdom who knew, as he did, how to lead large armies, muster regiments for battle, build castles as well as storm them, and throw bridges across broad rivers; no other man who understood "guns" so well,—that is, arms of various nations, and all military tactics. The Master, knowing that much depended on the opinion of Zyndram in the counsel of the King, thought that if he could astonish him by the greatness of the Order's wealth, and by its army, war would be deferred for a long time. And, above all, the sight of Malborg might itself fill the heart of every Pole with dread, for no other fortress on earth could compare, even approximately, with that one, counting the High Castle, the Middle Castle, and the First Castle. Already, from afar, in sailing down the Nogat, the knights saw the mighty bastions standing out against the sky. The day was bright and clear, so they could see them perfectly; and after some time, when the barges had approached, the points of the church gleamed still more on the lofty castle and the gigantic walls, towering some above others, partly in red brick, but mainly covered with that celebrated gray-white coating which only masons of the