Pagina 339 di 788

The art of throwing knives, terrible in hand to hand combat, had

at that time already fallen into disuse in Lithuania, and was

familiar only to old men; the Warden had tried it often in tavern

quarrels, and the Seneschal was expert at it. From the motion of

his arm one could see that he would hit hard, and from his eyes

one could easily guess that he was aiming at the Count (the last

of the Horeszkos, although in the female line); the young men,

less observant, did not understand the motions of the old

Seneschal, but Gerwazy turned pale, shielded the Count with the

bench, and withdrew towards the door.-"Catch him!" shouted the

crowd.