"Stupid boys!"
"Why?"
"Because while Zych was away one of them should have taken you by force. What could Zych do, if when he returned he had found you with a baby on your lap?"
At this Jagienka's blue eyes flashed immediately.
"Do you think I would let them take me? Have we not people in Zgorzelice, and do I not know how to manage a crossbow or a boar-spear? Let them try! I would chase them back home and even attack them in Rogow or Brzozowa. Father knew very well that he could go to the war and leave me home alone."
Speaking thus, she frowned, and shook the crossbow threateningly, so that Zbyszko began to laugh, and said: "You ought to have been a knight and not a girl."
She becoming calmer, answered: "Cztan guarded me from Wilk and Wilk from Cztan. Then I was also under the abbot's tutelage, and it is well for everyone to let the abbot alone."
"Owa!" answered Zbyszko. "They are all afraid of the abbot! But I, may Saint George help me to speak the truth to you, I would neither be afraid of the abbot, nor of your peasants, nor of yourself; I would take you!"
At this Jagienka stopped on the spot, and fixing her eyes on Zbyszko, asked in a strange, soft, low voice: "You would take me?"
Then her lips parted and blushing like the dawn, she waited for his answer.
But he evidently was only thinking what he would do, were he in Cztan or Wilk's position; because after a while, he shook his golden hair and said further: "A girl must marry and not fight with the boys. Unless you have a third one, you must choose one of these two."
"You must not tell me that," answered the girl, sadly.
"Why not? I have been away from home for a long time, therefore I do not know whether there is somebody around Zgorzelice, of whom you are fond or not."
"Hej!" answered Jagienka. "Let it be!"
They walked along silently, trying to make their way through the thicket which was now much denser because the bushes and the trees were covered with wild hop vines. Zbyszko walked first, tearing down the green vines, and breaking the branches here and there; Jagienka followed him with a crossbow on her shoulder, looking like a hunting goddess.
"Beyond that thicket," said she, "there is a deep brook; but I know where the ford is."