The Knights of the Cross/Volume 2/Chapter 69

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

CHAPTER LXIX.

They remained a time in Plotsk on business of Yagenka's inheritance and the abbot's will; afterward, when provided with documents, they moved forward without resting much on their journey, which was easy and safe, for the heat had dried swamps and narrowed rivers, while the roads lay through a peaceful country inhabited by people who were of Polish race, and hospitable. From Sieradz, however, the careful Matsko despatched an attendant to Zgorzelitse, to announce his own coming and that of Yagenka; because of this Yasko, Yagenka's brother, hurried out halfway to meet them and conducted them home at the head of armed attendants.

There was much rejoicing when they met, with many greetings and many outcries. Yasko and Yagenka had always resembled each other as much as two drops of water, but he had outgrown her. He was a splendid young fellow, daring, joyous, like his father, from whom he had inherited a love for singing, and he was as lively as a fire spark. He thought himself a person of years and strength; he considered that he was a mature man, for he managed his attendants as a genuine chief, and they carried out every command of his in a flash, fearing evidently his power and importance.

Matsko and Yagenka wondered at this; while Yasko looked with delight at the beauty and polish of his sister, whom he had not seen for a long time. He told them meanwhile that he had been preparing to visit her, and had they delayed a little in coming they would not have found him at home. He wished to see the world, he said, rub against men, get knightly training, and find a chance to fight in one and another place with knights on their wanderings.

"To learn the world and the manners of people is a good thing," said Matsko in answer, "for a man learns what he is to do and say in every juncture, and it strengthens the native wit in him. But as to fighting, it is better that I should say that thou art too young yet than that a strange knight should say so, and besides not fail to laugh at thee."

"He would cry after laughing," said Yasko; "if not he, then his wife and children would surely cry."

And the youth glanced around with tremendous daring, as if to say to all knights wandering through the world, "Prepare for death!" But the old man of Bogdanets inquired,—

"Well, Stan and Vilk, have they left thee in peace? I ask, for they were glad to look at Yagenka."

"They have indeed; Vilk was killed in Silesia. He attacked a German castle there, and he took it; but they hurled down a beam of wood from the walls on him, and two days later he let his last breath out."

"A pity for him. His father went also in his day to Silesia against the Germans, who oppress our people—and plunder them. To take castles is the worst work of all, for neither armor nor knightly training assist a man. God grant that Prince Vitold will not try castles, but will crush the Knights of the Order in the field! But Stan, what is he doing?"

Yasko began to laugh.

"Stan is married. He took the daughter of a free landtiller in Wysoki Breg, a great beauty. Hei! not only a good-looking girl, but a manager: she does not give the man his will once, and slaps his hairy face for him; she leads Stan by the nose, as a bear-trainer leads his beast on a chain."

The old knight was immensely amused when he heard this.

"Look at her! All women are the same! Yagenka, thou too wilt be like the others! Praise to God that there was no trouble with those two quarrellers; it is a real wonder to me that they did no harm to Bogdanets."

"Stan wanted to do something, but Vilk, who was wiser, gave him no chance. He came to us at Zgorzelitse, and inquired, 'What has become of Yagenka?' I told him that she had gone for an inheritance from the abbot. 'Why did not Matsko tell me? ' asked he. 'But is Yagenka thine, that he should tell thee?' said I to him. So, after thinking a while he said, 'True, she is not mine.' And as he had a quick mind, he saw, of course, that he would win you and us to his side by defending Bogdanets from Stan. So they met on the Lavitsa near Piaski, cut each other up, and then drank to kill, as they always did."

"Lord light Vilk's soul!" added Matsko.

And he sighed deeply, glad that there were no damages in Bogdanets beyond those caused by his long absence.

In fact, he found none; on the contrary there was an increase of cattle, and from the small herd of mares there were colts, some from the Frisian war horses unusually large and powerful. There was a loss only in this, that some captives had fled, but not many, for they could flee only toward Silesia, and there the Germanized robber knights treated captives worse than did Polish nobles. But the enormous old house had inclined toward its fall considerably. The plaster had fallen; the walls and ceiling had grown crooked; and the larch beams, cut two hundred years or more before, had begun to rot. Throughout all the rooms, inhabited of old by the numerous Grady of Bogdanets, it leaked during the great summer rains. There were holes in the roof, which was covered by broad patches of green and reddish moss. The whole building had squatted and looked like an immense mouldering mushroom.

"With care it would last, for it began to decay only a little while ago," said the knight to old Kondrat, the head laborer, who in the absence of his lords looked after the property.

"I could live here till death," added Matsko after a time, "but Zbyshko needs a castle."

"For God's sake! A castle?"

"Hei! But why not?"

It was the darling idea of the old man to build a castle for Zbyshko and his future children. He knew that a noble who dwelt, not in an ordinary mansion, but behind a moat and a palisade, and who besides had a watch-tower where a guard gazed on the surrounding regions, was considered as somebody right away by his neighbors, and such a man managed more easily. Matsko did not desire much for himself at that time, but for Zbyshko and Zbyshko's sons he would not stop at little, all the more since their property had increased now considerably.

"Let him take Yagenka, and with her Mochydoly and the abbot's inheritance: no one in these parts could equal us then. God grant such an outcome!"

All this depended on one thing: would Zbyshko come home? that was uncertain and dependent again on God's mercy. Matsko said then in his mind, that for him it was needful to be in the best favor with the Lord God and not merely offend Him in nothing, but win Him in every way possible. With this intent he spared on the church of Kresnia neither wax nor game; and a certain evening when visiting at Zgorzelitse, he said,—

"I will go to-morrow to the grave of Yadviga, our holy queen."

Yagenka sprang up from the bench in great fear,—

"Have you bad tidings?"

"I have none of any kind, for I could not at this time. But thou rememberest how, when I was sick from that splinter in my side,—that one, thou knowest, when ye went, thou and Zbyshko, for beavers,—I vowed that if God would return me health, I would go to her grave. All praised my desire then. And indeed! The Lord God has holy servants enough up there, but not every saint—and there are many—has such influence as our Lady, whom I fear to offend, because I am concerned about Zbyshko."

"True, as life!" said Yagenka. "But you have only just returned from a terrible journey."

"Never mind! I want to finish all, and then sit down at home quietly till Zbyshko comes back here. Only let our queen intercede for him before the Lord Jesus, and even ten Germans cannot beat him with his good armor. After the journey I shall build the castle with firmer hope."

"But you have strong bones."

"It is true that I am still active. I will say something else too. Let Yasko, who is impatient for a journey, go with me. I have experience, and shall be able to restrain him. And should any accident happen,—for the boy's hands are itching,—thou knowest that for me it is no new thing to fight on foot or on horseback, with sword or with axe."

"I know. No one could guard him better than you."

"But I think that it will not happen to him to fight; while the queen was alive, Cracow was filled with foreign knights, who wished to look at her beauty, but now they prefer Malborg, since there is more Malvoisie to be found in the kegs there."

"Yes, but there is a new queen now."

Matsko made a wry face and waved his hand.

"I have seen her! And will say no more—dost understand?"

After a while he added,

"In three or four weeks we shall be back here."

In fact, that happened. The old knight commanded Yasko to swear on his knightly honor and on the head of Saint George that he would not insist on a longer journey, and they rode away.

They reached Cracow without accident, for the country was at peace, and safe from all attacks of Germanized princes beyond the border, and from robber German knights by fear of the power of the kingdom and by the determined bravery of the knighthood. After performing their vows, the old knight and Yasko were presented at the royal court by Povala of Tachev and the little prince, Yamont. Matsko supposed that at the court and in offices they would ask him eagerly about the Knights of the Cross, since he had become well acquainted with the Order, and had looked at it closely. But after consulting with the chancellor and with the sword-bearer of Cracow, he saw with astonishment that their knowledge of the Knights of the Cross was not less than his, but still greater. They knew to the minutest detail all that was happening in Malborg itself and in other castles, even the remotest. They knew what detachments of troops there were, how many warriors there were, how many cannon, how much time was required to assemble the armies, what the plans were in case of hostilities. They knew even details concerning every comtur,—was he quick-tempered and abrupt, or was he thoughtful; and they had recorded all points as carefully as if war had been appointed for the morrow.

The old knight was immensely delighted at this, for he understood that they were preparing for war far more deliberately, strenuously, and wisely than in Malborg.

"The Lord Jesus has given us as much, or greater bravery," said Matsko to himself, "and surely more mind and greater foresight."

And such was the case at that period. He learned also soon whence information came to them: it was given by inhabitants of Prussia, people of all ranks, Germans as well as Poles. The Order had succeeded in rousing such hatred against itself that all people in Prussia looked at Yagello's armies as salvation. Matsko remembered then what Zyndram had told him in Malborg, and said to himself in spirit,—

"That man has a head indeed!—a pile of wisdom."

And he recalled every word of Zyndram's; and once he borrowed even from that wisdom, for when it happened that young Yasko inquired concerning the Knights of the Cross, he answered,—

"They are strong, the beasts; but what thinkest thou, will not a knight fly out of his seat, even though he be the mightiest, if the saddle-girth and the stirrup-straps are cut under him?"

"He will fly out, as true as I stand here," said the youth.

"Ha! seest thou?" cried Matsko, with a thundering voice. "This is what I wanted to bring thee to!"

"Why so?"

"Because the Order is just such a knight."

And after a while he added,—

"Thou wilt not hear this from any common mouth—never fear."

And when Yasko could not understand clearly what the question was, he fell to explaining the affair to him, but forgot to add that he had not thought out the comparison himself, but that it had come word for word from the strong head of Zyndram.