Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/721

 Rh God prospered us. Old Pakosh of Sulislavitse has one village and twenty-two sons, but they are not dying of hunger. Are the lands in the kingdom and Lithuania small in extent? Are the villages and castles in the hands of the dog brother Knights few in number? Hei! well, since the Lord Jesus has favored us so much, there will be a proper place (for them) since there are castles there, all of red brick, of which our gracious king may make places for castellans." And it was a thing worthy of note that though the Order had risen then, as it were, to the summit of its greatness, because in wealth, power, and the number of trained troops it surpassed all Western kingdoms, still this old knight thought of the castles of the Order as future residences for his grandsons; and surely many in Yagello's kingdom had a like thought, not merely because those were old Polish lands on which the Order had settled, but because a feeling of mighty power was storming in the nation, and seeking an outlet on every side.

Only in the fourth year, counting from Zbyshko's marriage, was the castle finished, and even then with the assistance not only of local laborers and men from Zgorzelitse and Mochydoly, but also from the region about, especially from old Vilk of Brozova, who, left alone in the world after the death of his son, had become very friendly to Matsko, and afterward turned his heart toward Zbyshko and Yagenka.

Matsko adorned the chambers of the castle with booty which either he and Zbyshko had taken in war, or which had been inherited from Yurand of Spyhov; added to these were effects left by the abbot and others which Yagenka had brought from her own home. He put in glass windows from Sieradz, and arranged a magnificent residence.

Zbyshko with his wife and children moved into the castle only on the fifth year, when the other buildings, such as stables, cowhouses, kitchens, and baths were finished, and also cellars, which old Matsko had made of stone and limemortar, so that they should have endless durability. But he did not move into the castle himself; he preferred to remain in the old bent house, and to every prayer of Zbyshko and Yagenka he answered in the negative, expressing his mind in the following manner,—

"I will die here where I was born. You see, during the time of the war of the Grymaliti and Nalentchi Bogdanets was burned to the ground, all the cottages, yes, even the