They halted. The horns resounded nearer, and soon afterward the baying of dogs was heard. "Stop!" repeated Zych. "They are coming toward us." Zbyszko jumped from his horse and began to shout: "Give me the crossbow! The beast may attack us! Hasten! Hasten!" Having seized the crossbow from the servant's hands, he rested it against the ground, pressed it against his abdomen, bent, stretched his back like a bow, and having seized the string with the fingers of both hands, he pulled it on to the iron hook; then placed an arrow and sprang into the woods. "He stretched it without a crank!" whispered Zych, astonished at such great strength. "Ho, he is a strong boy!" answered Macko, proudly. Meanwhile, the sound of horns and the barking of dogs stole nearer; all at once, at the right side of the forest, a heavy trampling resounded, accompanied by the crackling of broken branches and bushes--then out of the thicket rushed an old bearded urus, with his gigantic head lowered, with bloody eyes and panting tongue, breathless and terrible. Coming to a small ravine, he leaped it, but fell on his forelegs; but immediately he arose, and a few seconds later he would have disappeared in the thicket on the other side of the road, when the string of the crossbow twanged, the whistling of the arrow resounded, the beast reared, turned, roared dreadfully and fell on the ground as if he were struck by a thunderbolt. Zbyszko leaped from behind a tree, again stretched the crossbow, and approached the bull who was pawing the ground with his hind feet. But having glanced at it, he turned quietly toward the retinue, and began to shout from afar: "I hit him so hard that he is severely wounded!" "You are a strong boy!" said Zych, riding toward him, "with one arrow only!" "Bah, it was near, and the speed was great. Come and see; not only the iron, but even the shaft has disappeared under the left shoulder bone." "The huntsmen must be near; they will claim the beast." "I will not give it to them!" answered Zbyszko. "It was killed on the road, and the road is not private property." "But if it belong to the abbot?" "Well, then he may have it." Meanwhile, several dogs came out of the forest. Having perceived the animal, they rushed on him. "Soon the huntsmen will appear," said Zych. "Look! There they are, but they do not see the beast yet. Stop! Stop! Here, here! Killed! Killed!" Then he became silent, and sheltered his eyes with one hand; after a while, he said: "For God's sake! what has happened? Have I become blind, or does it only seem so to me?" "There is some one on a piebald horse in the front," said Zbyszko. Then Zych exclaimed at once: "Dear Jesus! It must be Jagienka!" And he began to shout: "Jagna! Jagna!"