Everyone of them wanted to be a Turk.

"Very well, you rascals, just attend to me! I must tell you what to say when you stand before the Pasha, for if you answer foolishly you will be bastinadoed. First of all he will ask you: 'Are you Master Ladislaus Szekely's men?' You will answer: 'Yes, we are!' Then he will ask you: 'Were you at elesd on a certain day?' And you must admit that you were.

Finally, he will ask you if you met Feriz Beg there? You will admit everything, and then he will instantly release you from servitude. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes!" roared the incendiaries; and dancing in their fetters they followed the provost-marshal upstairs, who turned his extraordinary small head back from time to time to smile at them, at the same time twisting the ends of his poor thin moustache with an air of crafty self-satisfaction.

One day two letters reached Grosswardein from Stambul. One of these letters was from Kucsuk Pasha to his son, the other was from the Sultan to Ajas Pasha.

The letter to Feriz Beg was as follows:

"MY SON,--Let thy heart rejoice: Kiuprile and Maurocordato have not been wasting their time. The Grand Vizier is very wrath with the Prince and his Court. The death of the four-and-twenty Spahis is an affair of even greater importance in Stambul just now than the capture of Candia. I fancy we shall very soon get what we want."

Feriz Beg understood the allusion, and went at once to the Pasha in the best of humours.

"Listen to what the omnipotent Sultan writes," said the Pasha, producing a parchment sealed with green wax, adorned below with the official signature of the Sultan, the so-called Tugra, which was not unlike a bird's-nest made of spiders'-webs.

Feriz Beg pressed the parchment to his forehead and his lips, and the further he read into it the more his face filled with surprise and joy.

"VALIANT AJAS PASHA MY FAITHFUL SERVANT!--I wish thee always all joy and honour. Inasmuch as I learn from thee that the faithless servants of the Prince, in time of peace and amity, have slain four-and-twenty Spahis, and that their masters not only have not punished this misdeed but even presumed to deceive me with lying reports thereof, thereby revealing their ill-will towards me, now therefore I charge and authorise thee in case the counsellors of the Prince do not surrender the murderers in response to my ultimatum, which even now is on its way to them, or in case they make any objection whatsoever, or even if they simply pa.s.s over the matter in silence; in any such case I charge and authorise thee instantly to invade Transylvania with all the armies at thy disposal, and by the nearest route. Kucsuk Pasha also will immediately be ready at hand with his bands at Vorostorony, and the Tartar King hath also our command to lend thee a.s.sistance. This done, I will either drive the Prince into exile or take him prisoner, when I will at once strike off the chains of Master Paul Beldi--who, because of his stubbornness, now sits in irons at Jedekula--and whether he will or not, I will place him incontinently on the throne of the Prince, etc., etc."

"Dost thou believe now that we shall get the murderers?" asked Ajas Pasha triumphantly.

"Never!" said Feriz Beg, laughing aloud and beside himself with joy.

"What dost thou say?" growled the astonished Ajas; "but suppose we go for them ourselves?"

"Well!" said Feriz, perceiving that he had nearly betrayed himself, "in that case--yes." But he said to himself "Not then or ever; and Paul Beldi will be released, and Paul Beldi will become Prince, and his wife will be Princess Consort, and Aranka will be a Princess too, and we shall see each other again."

At that moment an aga entered the room and announced with a look of satisfaction:

"Master Ladislaus Szekely has now sent the murderers."

Feriz Beg reeled backwards. The word "impossible" hung upon his lips, and he nearly let it escape. It _was_ impossible.

"Let them come in!" said Ajas Pasha viciously. He would have preferred to carry out the Sultan's conditional command, seize the Princ.i.p.ality, and conduct the campaign personally.

Feriz Beg fancied he was dreaming when he saw the forty or fifty selected rascals who, led by Martin Pok, drew up before Ajas Pasha; the rogues were dressed up as soldiers but thief, criminal, was written on the face of each one of them.

Master Martin Pok exhibited them to the Pasha and Feriz Beg, and very wisely stood aside from them. Feriz Beg clapped his hands together in astonishment. He knew better than anyone that these fellows had never seen the Spahis, and he waited to hear what they would say.

Ajas Pasha sat on his sofa with a countenance as cold as marble, and at a sign from him a file of Janissaries formed behind the backs of the rascals, who tried to look as pleasant and smiling as possible before the Pasha to gain his favour.

"Ye are Master Ladislaus Szekely's men, eh?" inquired the Pasha of the false heroes.

"We are--at thy service, unconquerable Pasha," they replied with one voice, folding their hands across their b.r.e.a.s.t.s and bowing down to the very ground.

The Pasha beckoned to the Janissaries to come softly up behind each one of them.

"Ye were at elesd at midnight on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, eh?" he asked again.

"We were indeed--at thy service invincible Pasha!" they repeated striking their knees with their foreheads.

Feriz Beg rent his clothes in his rage. He would have liked to have roared at them: "Ye lie, you rascals! You were not there at all!" but he was obliged to keep silence.

Ajas beckoned again to the Janissaries, and very nicely and quietly they drew their swords from their sheaths, and, grasping them firmly, concealed them behind their backs.

The Pasha put the third question to the robbers.

"Ye met Feriz Beg, eh?"

"Lie not!" cried Feriz furiously. "Look well at me! Have you ever seen me anywhere before? Did you ever meet me at elesd?"

The interrogated, bowing to the earth, replied with the utmost devotion: "Yes--at your service, invincible Pasha and most valiant Beg!"

At that same instant the swords flashed in the hands of the Janissaries, and the heads of the robbers suddenly rolled at their feet.

"Oh, ye false knaves!" cried Feriz Beg, striking his forehead with his clenched fist.

Ajas Pasha turned coolly towards Martin Pok: "Greet thy master, and tell him from me that another time he must be quicker, and not make me angry.--As for thee, Feriz, my son, pay me back those hundred ducats!"

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE HOSTAGE.

One evening two hors.e.m.e.n dressed as Turks rode into the courtyard of the fortress of Szamosujvar, and demanded an audience of the n.o.ble Dano Solymosi, the commandant. A soldier conducted to him the two Moslems, one of whom seemed to be a man advanced in years, whose sunburnt face was covered with scars; the other was a youth, whose face was half hidden in the folds of a large mantle, only his dark eyes were visible.

"Good evening, captain," said the elder Turk, greeting the commandant, who at the first moment recognised the intruder and joyfully hastened towards him and grasped his hand.

"So G.o.d has brought Kucsuk Pasha to my humble dwelling."

"Then thou dost recognise me, worthy old man?" said Kucsuk, just touching the hand of the worthy old Magyar.

"How could I help it, my good sir? Thou didst free my only daughter from the hands of the filthy Tartars, thou didst deliver her from grievous captivity, thou didst give her a place of refuge, food, and pleasant words in a foreign land. I should not be a man if I were to forget thee."

"Well, for all these things I have come hither to beg something of thee."

"Command me! My life and goods are at thy service."

"Dost thou not detain here the family of Paul Beldi?"

"Yes, sir; they brought the unfortunate creatures. .h.i.ther."