CHAPTER V.
Princess Anna did not wonder overmuch at the arrival of Yurand, for, it happened often that in the midst of continual pursuits, attacks, and battles with neighboring German knights, he was overcome by a sudden longing to see Danusia. He appeared then unexpectedly either in Warsaw, Tsehanov, or wherever the court of Prince Yanush was living. At sight of the child dreadful grief burst forth in him always; for in the course of years Danusia had grown so much like her mother that when he saw her it seemed to him that he was looking at his dead one, such as he had known her on a time with Princess Anna in Warsaw. More than once people thought that from such grief his heart would break,—that heart given only to vengeance. The princess implored him often to leave his bloody Spyhov and remain at the court near Danusia. Prince Yanush, esteeming Yurand's bravery and value, and wishing also to avoid those vexations to which the continual happenings at the boundary exposed him, offered his favorite the dignity of swordbearer. Always in vain. It was just the sight of Danusia that opened the old wounds in Yurand. After some days he lost desire for food, conversation, and sleep. His heart began evidently to be indignant and to bleed; at last he vanished from the court and returned to the swamps of Spyhov, to drown his grief and anger in bloodshed.
"Woe to the Germans!" said the people then. "They are no sheep, except for Yurand; to the Germans Yurand is a wolf." In fact, after a certain time it was reported that foreign volunteers were seized while passing along the boundary road to the Knights of the Cross; then news came of burnt castles, of captured servants, or of life and death combats, in which the terrible Yurand was always victorious.
With the predatory disposition of the Mazovians and the German knights who by the authority of the Order rented lands and castles in the adjoining Mazovia, even in time of profound peace between the princes of Mazovia and the Order the uproar of battle never ceased on the boundary.
