Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/698

 260 "Do you say," inquired she, "that a battle in the field is not so dangerous for a knight as the taking of castles?"

"But look, what happened to Vilk? Against a beam of wood thrown from a wall no armor can save a man; but on the field, if a knight has proper training, he may avoid surrender though ten be against him."

"But Zbyshko? Has he good armor?"

"He has a number of suits of good armor, but that taken from the Frisians is the best, because it was forged in Milan. A year ago it was a little large, but now it is just right for him."

"Then against armor like that no weapon prevails, does it?"

"What the hand of man has made may be destroyed by the hand of man also. Against Milan armor is the Milan sword, or the arrows of the English."

"The arrows of the English?" asked Yagenka, with alarm.

"But have I not told thee of them? There are no better archers on earth than the English, unless those of the Mazovian wilderness; but the Mazovians have not such good bows as the English. An English arrow will go through the best armor a hundred yards distant. I saw them at Vilno. And not a man of them missed, and there were some who could hit a falcon while flying."

"Oh, the sons of Pagans! How did you manage them?"

"There was no other way but to rush straight at them. They handle halberds well, the dog-ears, but hand to hand our man will take care of himself."

"Besides, the hand of God guarded you, and now it will guard Zbyshko."

"I pray often in this way: 'O Lord God, thou hast created and settled us in Bogdanets, so guard us henceforth and let us not perish.' Ha! it is God's business now to protect us. Indeed, it is no small affair to manage the whole world and miss nothing, but first we must bring ourselves into notice as best we can by being bountiful to the holy church, and, second, God's mind is not man's mind."

Thus did they converse frequently, giving consolation and hope to each other. Meanwhile days, weeks, and months flowed by. In the autumn Matsko had an affair with old Vilk. There had been from of old a boundary dispute between the Vilks and the abbot, about a forest clearing which the abbot, when he held the mortgage on Bogdanets, had seized and cleared of roots. In his day he had challenged