# The Knights of the Cross/Volume 2/Chapter 41

* CHAPTER XLI.
* Yagenka, when she learned that she was to stay at Matsko's command in Spyhov, was unable to utter a word for a while from astonishment, sorrow, and anger; she merely looked with widely opened eyes at Hlava, who, understood well how disagreeable the news was which he had brought her.
* "I should like," said he, "to give you a report of what we have heard in Schytno, for we heard much that is new and important."
* "And is it about Zbyshko?"
* "No; but there is Schytno news—you know—"
* "I understand. Let the boy unsaddle the horses, and you come with me."
* And commanding the boy, she took Hlava upstairs with her.
* "Why did Matsko leave us? why must we stay in Spyhov? and why did you return?" asked she in one breath.
* "I returned," said Hlava, "because the knight Matsko commanded. I wanted to go to the war, but a command is a command. 'Thou wilt return,' said the knight; 'thou wilt take care of the lady of Zgorzelitse, and thou wilt wait for news from me. It may be,' said he, 'that thou wilt have to conduct her home, for, of course, she cannot go alone there.'"
* "By the dear God! what has happened? Have they found Yurand's daughter? Did Matsko go not to Zbyshko, but only to find Danusia? Hast thou seen her? Hast thou spoken to her? Why didst thou not bring her, and where is she at present?"
* When Hlava heard this avalanche of questions, he bent down to the knees of the lady and said,—
* "Let it not cause anger to your grace that I do not answer all questions at once, for I cannot; but I will answer in turn one after another, if there be no hindrance."
* "Well! Have they found her, or not?"
* "No. But still there is certain news that she was in Schytno, and that they have taken her somewhere, perhaps to eastern castles."
* ​"And we, why are we to stay in Spyhov?"
* " Should she be found, as your grace sees, there would indeed be no reason to stay here."
* Yagenka was silent, but her cheeks flushed.
* "I thought, and I think now," said Hlava, "that we shall not snatch her alive from those dog brothers, but everything is in the Lord's hand. I must tell from the beginning. We went to Schytno. The knight Matsko showed Lichtenstein's letter to the under-voyt, and the under-voyt, since he had carried a sword behind Lichtenstein in his youth, kissed the seal before our eyes, received us hospitably, and suspected nothing. If we had had some men near by we might have taken the castle, so far did he trust in us. There was no hindrance either in seeing the priest, we talked two nights through, and learned wonderful things, which the priest knew from the executioner."
* "The executioner is dumb."
* "Dumb, but he knows how to tell the priest everything by signs, and the priest understands the man as if he were speaking with the living word to him. Wonderful is that which has happened; the finger of God must have been in it. That executioner cut off Yurand's hand, plucked the tongue from him, and burnt out his eye. He is of such sort that when a man is in question he shudders at no punishment; even were they to command him to tear a man to pieces with his teeth, he would do so. But he will not raise a finger on any girl, and should they command him to do so, no punishment would move him. He is in this state of mind for the reason that once he himself had an only daughter whom he loved wonderfully, and whom the Knights of the Cross—"
* Here Hlava hesitated and did not know how to continue; seeing which Yagenka said,—
* "What do I care about an executioner's daughter?"
* "It touches the affair," answered Hlava. "After our young lord cut up the knight Rotgier the old comtur Siegfried became almost insane. In Schytno they say that Rotgier was his son, but the priest denies that; though he confirms this, that never has a father loved a son more, and to gain revenge, he has sold his soul to the devil, as the executioner has witnessed. He talked to the dead man, as I to you; the corpse smiled at him from the coffin, gritted its teeth, and licked its lips with its black tongue when the old comtur promised the head of Pan Zbyshko. ​But, since he could not get Pan Zbyshko then, he gave command to torture Yurand, and put Yurand's tongue and his hand into Rotgier's coffin. The corpse began to eat them raw—"
* "Oh, terrible to hear such things! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!" said Yagenka, and rising, she threw a billet of wood on the fire, for it had grown dusk then.
* "That is how it was," continued Hlava. "I do not know how it will be settled at the last judgment, for what belonged to Yurand must be returned to him. But how that will be done is beyond human reason. The executioner saw all this. So when the old comtur had sated the vampire with human flesh he went to offer him Yurand's daughter, for the dead man had whispered to him, as it seems, that he wanted to wash down his food with the blood of that innocent. But the executioner, who, as I have said, would do anything except to endure wrong done a girl, hid on the staircase. The priest says that he is not in his full mind, and is really a beast; but he understands that one thing, and when there is need, no man can equal him in cunning. He sat then on the stairs and waited for the comtur. The old comtur heard the breathing of the executioner, saw his gleaming eyes, and was frightened, for he thought it was the devil. Then the executioner gave the comtur a blow of his fist on the neck, thinking that would shock his spine so that there would be no sign left of violence; still he did not kill him. But Siegfried fainted and was sick from fright, and when he recovered, he feared to attack Yurand's daughter."
* "But he took her away?"
* "He took her away, and with her the executioner also.
* The old comtur did not know that it was he who had defended Danusia; he thought that it was some unknown power, good or evil. But he did not choose to leave the executioner in Schytno. He feared his testimony, or something,—he is dumb, it is true, but in case of a trial he might tell through the priest what he knows. So the priest said at last to the knight Matsko: 'Old Siegfried will not destroy
* Yurand's daughter now, for he is afraid; and though be should command another to do so, while the executioner is alive he will not desert her, all the more that he has defended her already.'"
* "Did the priest know whither they had taken her?"
* ​"He did not know exactly, but he heard that they said something about Ragneta, which castle is not far from the Lithuanian, or Jmud boundary."
* "But what did Matsko say to this?"
* "When he heard this he said to me next morning: 'If this is true maybe we shall find her; but I must go with all my breath to Zbyshko, so that they should not bring him to a hook, as they brought Yurand. If they tell him that they will give her up if he comes himself for her, he will go, and then old Siegfried will wreak on him such vengeance for the sake of Rotgier as human eye has never witnessed.'"
* "That is true! that is true!" cried Yagenka with fear. "Since that is why he hurried off he did well."
* After a while, turning to Hlava again, she said,—
* "But he was mistaken in sending you back. Why guard us here in Spyhov? Old Tolima can guard, and there you would be useful to Zbyshko, for you are strong and clever."
* "But in case of need, who will take you, young lady, to Zgorzelitse?"
* "In case of need you will come here before them. They must send news through some one; let them send it through you—and you will take us then to Zgorzelitse."
* Hlava kissed her hand and asked with emotion,—
* "You will stay here meanwhile?"
* "God is above the orphan! We will stay here."
* "And it will not be dreary for you. What will you do here?"
* "Beg the Lord Jesus to return happiness to Zbyshko, and to preserve you all in health."
* When she had said this she wept heartily, and he bent to her knees again.
* "You are just like an angel in heaven," said he.