Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/727

 Rh case I must go to Malborg, so that I might say to God and man that I did what was in my power. I begged the lady then to arm me with some message, and give me a letter to Malborg, for I knew that otherwise I should not bring my head out of that wolf's-nest. In my soul I thought this way: 'He would not, it is true, grant a meeting to Zavisha, or Povala, or Pashko, but if, in presence of the Master himself, of all the comturs and guests, I slap him on the face or pull his beard and mustache, he will meet me.'"

"God support you!" cried Zbyshko, with enthusiasm.

"Well," continued the old man. "There is a way for everything if a man has a head on his shoulders. But in this case the Lord Jesus withdrew his favor, for I did not find Lichtenstein in Malborg. They told me that he had gone to Vitold as an envoy. I knew not what to do then, whether to wait or to follow him. I was afraid of missing him on the road. And since I was acquainted from former times with the Grand Master and the grand keeper of the wardrobe, I explained to them, as a secret, why I had come; they shouted at me that that could not be."

"Why?"

"For the very same reason which the princess in Plotsk had given. And the Grand Master said also: 'What wouldst thou think of me should I fight a duel with every knight from Mazovia or Poland?' Well, he was right, for he would have been out of the world long ago. Then he and the keeper of the wardrobe were astounded, and told of this at the supper table in the evening. Their story acted on the company as the blowing of a man would on a swarm of bees, especially on the guests; a crowd started up at once. 'Kuno,' cried they, 'may not fight, but we may.' I chose three then, wishing to fight with them in turn, but the Master, after great petitions, gave permission to fight with only one, whose name was Lichtenstein, and who was a relative of Kuno."

"Well, what?" cried Zbyshko.

"This—I have brought back his armor, but I am sorry for its condition; it is smashed so that no one would give a gryven for it."

"Fear God! then you have fulfilled your vow?"

"At first I was glad, for I thought myself that I had, but afterward I thought: 'No, that is not the same!' And now I have no peace, for it is not the same."

Zbyshko fell to consoling him,—

—19