Macko felt considerably better the next day. He slept till morning, and when he awoke, immediately asked for something to eat. He would not even look at the bear's grease; but they cooked twenty eggs for him. He ate them voraciously, also a big loaf of bread, and drank about four quarts of beer; then he demanded that they call Zych, because he felt jovial. Zbyszko sent one of the Turks, given to him by Zawisza, after Zych who mounted a horse and came in the afternoon when the young people were ready to go to the Odstajny lake to catch a beaver. At first there was plenty of laughter and singing, while they drank mead; but afterward the old _wlodykas_ began to talk about the children, each praising his own. "What a man Zbyszko is!" said Macko; "there is no other like him in the world. He is brave and as agile as a wild-cat. Do you know that when they conducted him to the scaffold in Krakow, all the girls standing at the windows were crying, and such girls;--daughters of knights and of castellans, and also the beautiful townswomen." "They may be beautiful and the daughters of castellans, but they are not better than my Jagienka!" answered Zych of Zgorzelice. "Did I say they were better? It will be difficult to find a better girl than Jagienka." "I do not say anything against Zbyszko either; he can stretch a crossbow without a crank." "He can underprop a bear also. Did you see how he cut the bear? He cut the head and one paw off." "He cut the head off, but he did not underprop it alone. Jagienka helped him." "Did she? He did not tell me about that." "Because he promised her not to tell anyone. The girl was ashamed because she went into the forest alone at night. She told me all about it; she never hides the truth. Frankly speaking, I was not pleased because who knows what might have happened. I wanted to scold her, but she said, 'If I be not able to preserve my wreath myself, how can you preserve it, you _tatulu_; but do not fear, Zbyszko knows what knightly honor is.'" "That is true. They have gone alone to-day also." "They will be back in the evening. But during the night, the devil is worse and the girl does not feel ashamed because of the darkness." Macko thought for a while; then he said as if to himself: "But they are fond of each other." "Bah! it is a pity he made a vow to another!" "That is, as you know, a knightly custom. They consider the one who has no lady, a churl. He also made a vow to capture some peacocks' tufts, and those he must get because he swore by his knightly honor; he must also challenge Lichtenstein; but from the other vows, the abbot can release him." "The abbot is coming soon." "Do you expect him?" asked Macko; then he said again: "And what does such a vow amount to; Jurand told him positively that he could not give the girl to him! I do not know whether he had promised her to some one else, or whether he had destined her for God."