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I wished then to challenge all who were in Szczytno, but people said that Jurand slaughtered them like cattle, and I did not know who was alive and who dead.... Because, may God and the Holy Cross help me, I will not desert Jurand till the last moment!" "You speak nobly and worthily," said Mikolaj of Dlugolas.
He was at Szczytno and should tell the master what he saw." Zbyszko understood a few of his words, and whatever he did not, Mikolaj explained to him; he then embraced de Lorche so tightly that the knight almost groaned. The prince again said to Zbyszko: "And are you also absolutely determined to go?" "Absolutely, gracious lord. What else am I to do?
Here the prince interrupted: "Starosta from Szczytno! you know better than anybody else that Jurand would not miss a challenge." Then he turned to all present and said: "If one of you will challenge Jurand to a fight on horseback or on foot, I give my permission. If he be taken prisoner or killed, then Herr von Bergow will be released without paying any ransom.
After a while they crowded together and whispered, pulled, and pushed each other. Finally, a certain Sucharz, a member of the garrison and village blacksmith, approached Jurand, clasped his feet and said: "We intended to go to Szczytno, as soon as they brought you here, but that knight, who brought you, hindered us. Permit us, sir, now. We cannot leave them unpunished.
To let him go, this oppressor and executioner of members of the Order, this conqueror in so many encounters, the cause of so many infamies, calamities and defeats, then the murderer of Danveld, the conqueror of von Bergow, the murderer of Meineger, Godfried and Hugue, he who even in Szczytno itself shed more German blood than one good fight in war. "No, I cannot! I cannot!"
I ask of your majesty: even Jurand himself suspected us of that action, and when suspecting, before we summoned him to Szczytno, why did he search for robbers through the whole border in order to buy his daughter back from them?" "It is true!" said the prince. "Even if you were hiding something from men, you cannot hide it from God.
He had only one eye; would it be strange therefore that the other eye was lost in the fracas, for he threw himself madly upon the whole garrison of Szczytno. Alas! Jurand! His last joy in life trembled for a moment in the heart of the old Knight of the Cross. So, should Jurand survive, he ought to be set free.
Grief and anger rendered her speechless for a while, and with wide opened eyes she stared at the Bohemian, which told him how unwelcome was the information he brought her. He therefore said: "I should also like to inform you, what we heard at Szczytno. There is much and important news." "Is it from Zbyszko?" "No, from Szczytno. You know...."
"How can that be ascertained?" asked Father Kaleb. "If we knew that the priest of Szczytno had already returned from the synod. I should like to see him," said Macko. "I have letters from Lichtenstein to Szczytno and I can go there without fear." "It was not a synod gathering, but a congress," replied Father Kaleb, "and the chaplain must have returned long ago." "Very well.
"No, but there is sure information that she was at Szczytno, and that she was probably removed to a distant castle in the east." "But why must we remain at Spychow?" "Bah! If she were found?... It is true, as your grace is aware.... There would be no reason for remaining here...." Jagienka was silent, only her cheeks reddened. But the Bohemian said;
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