The Knights of the Cross

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Zbyszko, who was always accustomed to execute all his undertakings promptly, was determined now to act in his uncle's behalf. The following morning, he and de Lorche started for Plock. The road along the frontier, owing to numerous bands of robbers, was always, even in time of perfect peace, unsafe. Those bands were protected and supported by the Knights of the Cross, to whom King Jagiello spoke in severe terms about it. In spite of complaints which were supported in Rome, in spite of the threatenings and severe measures of justice, the neighboring comthurs often permitted their paid soldiers to join the robbers, and actually protected those who fell into the hands of the Poles, while sheltering those robbers who returned with booty and captives, not only in the villages belonging to the Order, but also in the castles. It was just in such murderous hands that many a traveler and inhabitant beyond the frontier were found. Especially children of wealthy parents were kidnapped for ransom. But two young knights with a considerable train composed, besides the hostlers, of about a dozen armed men on foot and horseback, feared no attack. They therefore reached Plock without an accident. There, about one mile distant from the city, they met with the unexpected. There in the inn they met Tolima, who had arrived one day before them. It had happened thus: when the starosta of the Knights of the Cross at Lubowa heard that the deputy had succeeded in hiding part of the ransom at the time when it had been taken from Tolima near Brodnice, he sent him back to that castle with an order to the comthur to force him to show the spot where he had hid the money. Tolima profited by this chance, and escaped. When the knights wondered at his easy escape, he explained to them as follo...