Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/734

 296 personage who had fled from that capital stopped at Konietspole and told the masters there that Ulrich von Jungingen and other Knights of the Order did not trouble themselves about news from Poland, feeling certain that with one blow they would conquer and overturn all the kingdom, "so that not a trace would be left of it." He repeated therewith the words of the Grand Master Ulrich uttered at a feast in Malborg: "The more there are of them the cheaper will sheepskin coats be in Prussia." Hence they prepared for war with delight and intoxication, confident in their own strength, and in the aid which all, even the most distant kingdoms, would send them; but in spite of these signs of war preparations and efforts, the war did not come so quickly as people wished.

It was tedious at home for Zbyshko of Bogdanets also. All things had long since been made ready, the soul in him was rushing forth to battle and to glory, hence each day's delay annoyed him. and frequently he mentioned this to his uncle, just as if war or peace depended on Matsko.

"You see you promised to a certainty that it would come, and now there is nothing and nothing," said Zbyshko.

"Thou art wise, but not very!" answered Matsko. "Dost thou not see what is happening?"

"But if the king at the last hour agrees? They say that he does not want war."

"They say so, for he does not. But who, if not he, shouted: 'I should not be a king were I to permit them to take Drezdenko! ' but as the Germans took Drezdenko they keep it to this hour. Of course the king does not wish to spill Christian blood, but the lords of the council who have quick wit, feeling the superior power of the Poles, are pushing the Germans to the wall—and I may say this to thee, that if Drezdenko were not in question, something else would be discovered."

"As I have heard, the Grand Master Conrad himself took Drezdenko, and he feared the king, surely."

"He feared him, for he knew Polish strength better than others, but even he was unable to restrain the greed of the Order. In Cracow they told me as follows: Old von Ost, the heir of Drezdenko, at the time when the Knights seized Nova Marchia, did homage as feudatory of the king, for that had been Polish land for ages, so he wished to belong to the kingdom. But the Knights of the Cross invited him to Malborg, made him drunk with wine, and enticed from