“Good!” said Banfi, contracting his brows. “The girl has flown from me too—whither, I know not.”
“Yes, my lord, you do; and the worst of it is, others know it also. Close to the Gradina Dracului there is a habitation among the rocks, and there she dwells.”
“Silence!” cried Banfi, aghast. “How know you that?”
“Balassa has lodged a complaint with the Prince about the abduction of the girl. The matter is not such a trifle as you imagine. Azrael is the Sultan’s daughter, who, after being betrothed to Ali Pasha, was carried off by Corsar Beg, whom Balassa’s poison alone saved from the silken cord, while Balassa himself has become a homeless vagabond because of her. She has been the ruin of all who ever possessed her. It is your turn now. The Prince having promised the disgraced Ladislaus Csaky everything he likes to ask, if only he can ferret out the girl’s hiding-place, Csaky slyly commissioned the Patrol-officer to make inquiries among the people whether a panther had been seen anywhere in the woods, for he well knew that it is the habit of this wild beast to roam about in search of prey. Its track led them to the rocky retreat, the girl has been seen, and everything discovered.”
“Devils and hell!” cried Banfi, turning pale.
“Listen further. Csaky communicated his plan to Ali Pasha, and it was agreed between them that while the Pasha attacked Banfi-Hunyad, Csaky with two thousand Wallachs was to scour the mountains under the pretext of a hunt, and storm the Devil’s Garden.”
“What infernal villainy!” cried Banfi, striking his sword with his fist.
“It is just possible, my lord, that you might still arrive in time,” added the renegade insidiously, “if you do not stay here too long.”
“We’ll be off at once,” cried Banfi, pale with rage. “I’ll teach these lickspittlers to invade the domains of a free nobleman at the very moment when he himself is fighting against the enemies of his country. A few hundred men will be sufficient to keep Ali Pasha in check from this side. With the rest I wager I’ll be able to pull Master Ladislaus Csaky out by the ears if I catch him trespassing.”
And immediately Banfi commanded his men to set out for Marisel as swiftly and as silently as possible, and bade the little band he left behind him light many large fires in the wood, so as to make the enemy believe that the whole host was bivouacking there, while he himself hastened towards the imperilled hiding-place. To Zülfikar he paid five hundred gold pieces for his timely warning.
The same night Ali Pasha fell with his whole host upon the two or three hundred Hungarians whom Banfi had left behind him; scattered them after a brief resistance, and hastened back to Grosswardein, swallowing as best he could the indignity of a great defeat, for he left behind him two thousand dead, and the whole of his baggage.
From him too Zülfikar received the covenanted one thousand gold pieces, thus doing a service to the Turks and to the Hungarians at the same time, and making both of them pay him for his pains.
V
The Banquet Tribunal
The blast of hunting-horns resounded from the Batrina Mountains, the hubbub of the chase came nearer and nearer; a group of well-dressed, well-mounted gentlemen led the way, and at their head rode Count Ladislaus Csaky.
“After him! after him!” resounded on all sides, and the pack were already in full cry, when the cavalcade, emerging from the thicket into an open glade, suddenly encountered another party coming from the opposite direction, in whose leader they all recognized Denis Banfi. Csaky with considerable confusion called the beaters back.
Banfi rode up to the group with an ironical smile.
“Welcome, gentlemen, to my domains. Delighted, I’m sure, at my great good fortune. Probably you have lost your way; but, if not, you are my guests, and consequently doubly welcome. But, pray, why do you stare at me so wildly? You really remind me of the Hindu proverb, which says, ‘He who beats the woods for a stag, oftentimes falls in with a lion.’ ”
“We regard your Excellency neither as a stag nor yet as a lion,” returned Csaky, blushing up to the ears in his confusion. “The fact is, we fancied ourselves on lawful ground.”
“Of course! of course!” returned Banfi, with an offensive smile. “You are on my property, and that is certainly lawful ground. I don’t know how to express my gratitude for such an honour. No doubt you are tired too. I therefore invite you all to Bonczhida, just to take a little potluck with me.”
“We are much obliged,” returned Csaky angrily, “but we are unable just now to accept your invitation.”
“Nay, nay; you’ll not put me off. It is not my practice to let those who have come to me as guests depart hungry and thirsty. I cannot regard you as poachers, I suppose? And if you are not poachers, you must be guests.”
“A third case is also possible.”
“I know of none.”
“Your Excellency shall learn from me that there is, though.”
“Quite right. But there will be time for that at table. So turn your horses’ heads towards Bonczhida, gentlemen.”
“I’ve already said that we can’t accept your invitation.”
“What! Are you so ill acquainted with my hospitality as not to know that, if necessary, I will carry you off by force? Ha, ha! You must take away with you a reminiscence of Bonczhida. As you know now what my wild animals are like, you must make the acquaintance of my domestic animals also. In any case, I mean to take you by force.”
“A truce to jesting, Banfi. This is not the place for it.”
“Methinks ’tis you that jest. I am perfectly serious when I say that I will take you with me even against
