Christ’s servant and friar!”
“Honor to him!” shouted Powala of Taczew.
“Honor!” repeated the others.
“But,” said the Krzyzak, “I am here among you as an envoy and I carry in me the majesty of the whole Order which is Christ’s Order. Whosoever offends me, therefore, offends the Order; and whosoever offends the Order, offends Christ himself; and such an offence, I, in the presence of God and the people, cannot forgive; and if your law does not punish it, let all Christian lords know.”
After these words, there was a profound silence. Then after a while there could be heard here and there the gnashing of teeth, the heavy breathing of suppressed wrath and Danusia’s sobbings.
By evening all hearts were in sympathy with Zbyszko. The same knights who in the morning were ready to cut him into
