The Knights of the Cross, or, Krzyzacy: Historical Romance
better to die in my own courtyard!"
He had longed to see Bogdaniec for several years, therefore now, when he
was so near it, he must go there, even if it were his last night. God was
merciful, having permitted him who was so ill, to reach here.
He brushed away the tears gathered under his eyelids, with his hand,
looked around and said:
"If these are the woods of Wilk of Bizozowa we will be home this
afternoon."
"They do not belong to Wilk of Bizozowa any longer; but to the abbot,"
said Zych.
Macko smiled and said after awhile:
"If they belong to the abbot, then sometime, they may belong to us."
"Bah! awhile ago you were talking about death," said Zych joyfully, "and
now you wish to outlive the abbot."
"No, I will not outlive him; but Zbyszko may."
Further conversation was interrupted by the sound of horns in the forest.
Zych stopped his horse and began to listen.
"Somebody is hunting," said he. "Wait."
"Perhaps it is the abbot. It would be pleasant to meet him here."
"Keep quiet!"
Here he turned to his retinue.
"Stop!"
They halted. The horns resounded nearer, and soon afterward the baying of
dogs was heard.
"Stop!" repeated Zych. "They are coming toward us."
Zbyszko jumped from his horse and began to shout:
"Give me the crossbow! The beast may attack us! Hasten! Hasten!"
Having seized the crossbow from the servant's hands, he rested it against
the ground, pressed it against his abdomen, bent, stretched his back like
a bow, and having seized the string with the fingers of both hands, he
pulled it on to the iron hook; then placed an arrow and sprang into the
woods.
"He stretched it without a crank!" whispered Zych, astonished at such
great strength.
"Ho, he is a strong boy!" answered Macko, proudly.
Meanwhile, the sound of horns and the barking of dogs stole nearer; all
at once, at the right side of the forest, a heavy trampling resounded,
accompanied by the crackling of broken branches and bushes--then out of
the thicket rushed an old bearded urus, with his gigantic head lowered,
with bloody eyes and panting tongue, breathless and terrible. Coming to a
small ravine, he leaped it, but fell on his forelegs; but immediately he
arose, and a few seconds later he would have disappeared in the thicket
on the other side of the road, when the string of the crossbow twanged,
the whistling of the arrow resounded, the beast reared, turned, roared
dreadfully and fell on the ground as if he were struck by a thunderbolt.
Zbyszko leaped from behind a tree, again stretched the crossbow, and
approached the bull who was pawing the ground with his hind feet.
But having glanced at it, he turned quietly toward the retinue, and began
to shout from afar:
"I hit him so hard that he is severely wounded!"
"You are a strong boy!" said Zych, riding toward him, "with one arrow
only!"
"Bah, it was near, and the speed was great. Come and see; not only the
iron, but even the shaft has disappeared under the left shoulder bone."
"The huntsmen must be near; they will claim the beast."
"I will not give it to them!" answered Zbyszko. "It was killed on the
road, and the road is not private property."
"But if it belong to the abbot?"
"Well, then he may have it."
Meanwhile, several dogs came out of the forest. Having perceived the
animal, they rushed on him.
"Soon the huntsmen will appear," said Zych. "Look! There they are, but
they do not see the beast yet. Stop! Stop! Here, here! Killed! Killed!"
Then he became silent, and sheltered his eyes with one hand; after a
while, he said:
"For God's sake! what has happened? Have I become blind, or does it only
seem so to me?"
"There is some one on a piebald horse in the front," said Zbyszko.
Then Zych exclaimed at once:
"Dear Jesus! It must be Jagienka!"
And he began to shout:
"Jagna! Jagna!"
Then he rushed forward; but before he could make his horse gallop,
Zbyszko perceived a most wonderful spectacle; he beheld a girl sitting
like a man, on a swift piebald horse, rushing toward them; she had a
crossbow in one hand and a boar-spear on her shoulders. Her floating hair
was full of hop strobiles; her face was bright like the dawn. Her shirt
was opened on the bosom, and she wore a _serdak_.[70] Having reached
them, she reined in her horse; for a while, her face expressed surprise,
hesitation, joy; finally, being scarcely able to believe her own eyes,
she began to cry in a childish voice:
"_Tatulo_,[71] _tatus_[71] dearest!"
In the twinkling of an eye, she jumped from her horse, and Zych
dismounted also to welcome her; she threw her arms around his neck. Fora
long time, Zbyszko heard only the sounds of kisses and these two words:
"_Tatulo!_ Jagula! _Tatulo!_ Jagula!" repeated in a joyful outburst.
Both retinues now approached, and Macko arrived also; they continued to
repeat: "_Tatulo!_ Jagula!" and still kissed each other. Finally Jagienka
asked:
"Then you decided to return from the war? Are you well?"
"From the war. Why should I not be well? And you? And the boys? Are they
well also? Yes, otherwise you would not run in the forest. But, my girl,
what are you doing here?"
"Don't you see that I am hunting?" answered Jagienka, laughing.
"In somebody else's woods?"
"The abbot gave me permission. He even sent me experienced huntsmen and a
pack of hounds."
Here she turned to the servants:
"Chase the dogs away, they will tear the skin!"
Then to Zych:
"Oj, how glad I am to see you!" And they again kissed each other. When
they were through, Jagna said:
"We are far from home; we followed the beast. I am sure it must be more
than ten miles; the horses are exhausted. What a large urus! Did you
notice? He must have at least three of my arrows in him; the last one
killed him."
"He was killed by the last, but it was not yours; this knight killed
him."
Jagienka threw her hair back and looked at Zbyszko sharply, but not very
friendly.
"Do you know who he is?" asked Zych.
"I do not know."
"No wonder you do not recognize him, because he has grown. Perhaps you
will recognize old Macko of Bogdaniec?"
"For God's sake! is that Macko of Bogdaniec?" exclaimed Jagienka.
Having approached the wagon, she kissed Macko's hand.
"It is you?"
"Yes, it is I; but I am obliged to ride in the wagon, because the Germans
wounded me."
"What Germans? The war was with the Tartars?"
"There was a war with the Tartars, but we were not in that war; we fought
in the war in Lithuania, Zbyszko and I."
"Where is Zbyszko?"
"Then you did not recognize Zbyszko?" said Macko smiling.
"Is that man Zbyszko?" exclaimed the girl, looking again at the young
knight.
"Yes, it is he."
"You must give him a kiss, because he is an old acquaintance of yours,"
said Zych, mirthfully.
Jagienka turned gaily toward Zbyszko; but suddenly she retreated, and
having covered her eyes with her hand, she said:
"I am bashful."
"But we have known each other since we were children," said Zbyszko.
"Aha! we know each other well. I remember when you made us a visit with
Macko about eight years ago, and my _matula_[72] gave us some nuts with
honey; you being the elder, struck me with your fist and then ate all the
nuts yourself."
"He will not act like that now!" said Macko. "He has been with _Kniaz_
Witold, and with the court in Krakow, and he has learned courtly
manners."
But Jagienka was now thinking about something else; turning toward
Zbyszko, she asked:
"Then you killed the urus?"
"Yes."
"We must see where the arrow is."
"You cannot see it; it disappeared under the shoulder bone."
"Be quiet; do not dispute," said Zych. "We all saw him shoot the urus,
and we saw something still better; he bent the bow without a crank."
Jagienka looked at Zbyszko for the third time, but now with astonishment.
"You bent the crossbow without a crank?"
Zbyszko, detecting some doubt in her voice, rested the crossbow on the
ground, and bent it in the twinkling of an eye; then wishing to show that
he was familiar with knightly manners, he kneeled on one knee and handed
the bow to Jagienka. But the girl, instead of taking it from him,
suddenly blushed--she did not know why herself, and began to fasten the
shirt, which, during the swift riding, had become opened on her bosom.
CHAPTER IV.
The next day after their arrival at Bogdaniec, Macko and Zbyszko began to
look around their old home; they soon realized that Zych of Zgorzelice
was right when he told them that at first they would be uncomfortable.
With the farming they could get along quite well. There were several
fields cultivated by the peasants whom the abbot had settled there.
Formerly there had been much cultivated land in Bogdaniec; but after the
battle at Plowce[73] where the family Grady perished, there was a
scarcity of working hands; and after the invasion of the Germans from
Szlonsk and after the war of Nalenczs with Grzymalits, the formerly rich
fields became overgrown with trees. Macko could not help it. In vain he
tried for several years to bring farmers from Krzesnia and rent the land
to them; they refused to come, preferring to remain on their own strips
of land rather than to cultivate some one else's. His offer however
attracted some shelterless men; in the different wars, he captured
several slaves whom he married and settled in the houses; and in that way
he populated the village. But it was hard work for him; therefore as soon
as he had an opportunity, Macko pledged the whole of Bogdaniec, thinking
that it would be easier for the powerful abbot to settle the land with
peasants, and that the war would bring to him and to Zbyszko some people
and money. In fact, the abbot was energetic. He had increased the working
force of Bogdaniec with five peasant families; he increased the stock of
cattle and horses; then he built a barn, a stable and a cow house. But as
he did not live in Bogdaniec, he did not repair the house. Macko, who had
hoped to find the _grodek_ surrounded with a ditch and hedge when he
returned, found everything just as he had left it, with this difference
only, that the walls were more crooked and seemed to be lower, because
they had settled deeper in the earth.
The house contained an enormous hall, two large rooms with alcoves, and a
kitchen. In the rooms there were windows made of bladders; and in the
centre of each room, there was a fireplace made of lime, and the smoke
escaped through a hole in the ceiling. From the ceilings now blackened
from smoke, during former times used to hang the hams of boars, bears and
deer, rumps of roes, sides of beef and rolls of sausages. But now the
hooks were empty as well as the shelves fastened to the walls, on which
they used to put the tin and earthen dishes. The walls beneath the
shelves were no longer empty, however, because Zbyszko had ordered his
servants to hang helmets, cuirasses, long swords and short swords on
them; and further along boar-spears and forks, caparisons and saddles.
The smoke blackened the weapons, and it was necessary to clean them very
often. But Macko, who was careful, ordered the servants to put the costly
clothes in the alcove in which his bed stood.
In the front rooms there stood near the windows, pine tables and benches
of the same, on which the lords used to sit during the meals, with all
their servants. People accustomed to war were easily satisfied; but in
Bogdaniec there was neither bread nor flour and no dishes. The peasants
brought what they could; Macko expected that the neighbors, as was then
customary, would help him; and he was not mistaken, at least as far as
Zych of Zgorzelice was concerned.
The second day, when the old _wlodyka_ was sitting on a log in front of