CHAPTER XXV.
"Whose escort is this?" asked Yurand beyond Radzanov, starting up from meditation as if from a dream.
"Mine," answered Zbyshko.
"But did all my men perish?"
"I saw them dead in Nedzborz."
"The old warriors are gone!"
Zbyshko made no answer, and they rode on in silence, but quickly; for they wished to be in Spyhov at the earliest, hoping to find there messengers from the Knights of the Cross. Fortunately for them, frosts had come, and the roads were beaten, hence they could hurry. Toward evening Yurand spoke again, and inquired about those monks of the Order who had been at the hunting-lodge. Zbyshko explained everything, and told also of their complaints and their departure; of the death of De Fourcy, and the action of his own armor-bearer, who had crushed Danveld's arm in such terrible fashion. During this narrative one circumstance struck him, the presence at the lodge of that woman who had brought the healing balsam from Danveld. At the stopping-place he fell to inquiring of Hlava and Sanderus touching this person, but neither of them knew exactly what had become of her. It seemed to them that she had gone away either with the men who had come for Danusia or soon after. It occurred then to Zbyshko that she might have been sent to warn those men in case Yurand had been present at the hunting-lodge. In that event, they would not have presented themselves as people from Spyhov; they could have some other letter prepared to give the princess, instead of the false one attributed to Yurand. All this was planned with hellish acuteness, and Zbyshko, who till then had known the Knights of the Cross in the open field only, thought for the first time that hands were not sufficient to oppose them, but that a man had to conquer them with his head also. To him this thought was bitter; for his immense pain and sorrow turned first of all to desire for blood and struggle. To him even the rescue of Danusia presented itself as a series of battles, either alone or in company; meanwhile he
