Meanwhile Zych assisted Macko to the bench and ordered some wine for him. Jagienka went to get it. The abbot turned to Zbyszko and began to talk thus:
"Enough of joking! I compared you to a girl, not to humiliate you, but to praise your beauty, of which many girls would be proud. But I know that you are a man! I have heard about your deeds at Wilno, about the Fryzes, and about Krakow. Zych has told me all about it, understand!"
Here he began to look intently into Zbyszko's eyes, and after a while he said:
"If you have promised three peacocks' tufts, then search for them! It is praiseworthy and pleasing to God to persecute the foes of our nation. But, if you have promised something else, I will release you from the vow."
"Hej!" said Zbyszko; "when a man promises something in his soul to the
Lord Jesus, who has the power to release him?"
Macko looked with fear at the abbot; but evidently he was in an excellent humor, because instead of becoming angry, he threatened Zbyszko with his finger and said:
"How clever you are! But you must be careful that you do not meet the same fate that the German, Beyhard, did."
"What happened to him?" asked Zych.
"They burned him on a pile."
"What for?"