King Matthias and the Beggar Boy Part 5

Mr. Samson had given them three rooms in a distant corner of the gloomy building, where they were quite out of the way of everybody; and Esther's rooms being the two inner ones, she could never leave them without the knowledge and permission of the old woman, through whose room she had to pa.s.s.

There was no doubt that Mr. Samson carried on an extensive business of a peculiar kind. He was very secret about it, and what with his armed garrison, and the odd way in which the castle was built, as if to stand a siege, there seemed good reason to suspect that his valuable goods and rich merchandise were collected from the whole length and breadth of Hungary, and were, in fact, gathered from every country-house and peddler's pack and bundle which he could find means to plunder. Not that Samson ever resorted to violence if he could possibly help it--quite the contrary; and though he was reckoned among the most powerful robber-knights of the time, he was really more thief than robber, and did also a great deal in a quiet way by lending money at very high interest.

He would steal out of the castle on foot, disguised now as a beggar and now as a Jew; and his followers were never to be seen anywhere together in any number. They lounged along singly, at a considerable distance one from the other, and they took care not to excite suspicion in any way.

They had nothing in the way of weapons but a couple of short, sharp daggers, which they kept carefully concealed, and never used except in cases of extreme necessity, and in secret places, such as deep ravines or woods; but when they did have recourse to them, they used them with bold determination and deadly certainty. No one ever escaped from the clutches of these accursed robbers, and no one therefore could ever betray them. They managed, too, to conceal all traces of their deeds of blood, so that though there were rumours and suspicions, the guilt was not brought home to them. People who met them saw but one, or at most two, at a time, looking as meek and mild "as if they could not count up to three," as the saying is.

Mr. Samson himself rarely went out quite alone. There were always one or two men in whom he placed especial confidence, and one or other of these always accompanied him.

And now Miska shall take up his narrative again.

"I was not badly off in the castle," said he. "I was bent on winning Mr.

Samson's confidence above everything, and I succeeded, because I strove to enter into all his thoughts. I was not too humble and deferential, but I put myself in his place, and showed great interest in all the work that went on inside, which was chiefly keeping guard and cleaning arms.

"Mr. Samson went away once every fortnight; and I fancy the Jews came twice while I was there, for Mr. Samson twice shut all the doors carefully, which he did not do at other times. I must say I should have liked to join him in his secret adventures; but much as he seemed to trust me, I had no chance of doing so.

"I had been in the castle about a fortnight, I suppose, when one night the bell rang in my little room. There was a bell to every hole in the castle, and the bell-pulls all hung in a long row along two sides of one of Mr. Samson's rooms.

"I got up at once and went to him, and found him lying in an arm-chair, wearing a flowing indoor robe.

"'Alpar Janos,' said he, 'I have to leave the castle to-morrow; you will stay here. Keep an eye on the people, and when I come back tell me minutely all that has happened during my absence. I believe you are faithful to me; and if you continue to please me, I will double your wages.'

"I received his orders respectfully, as usual; but after a short pause I said, 'I would much rather you should take me with you, for I think you would find me more useful outside than here, where there is nothing I can do.'

"'I want a faithful man more here than outside,' said Mr. Samson. 'Your turn will come presently; meantime obey all the governor's orders as if I were here myself. And now you can go. Everybody will notice my absence to-morrow, but for all that don't you say a word about it to any one--that is one of my laws.'

"'I will obey you, sir,' I said, and then I went back to my quarters.

"The governor, a gloomy-looking, stout fellow, who could hardly be more than four-and-twenty, and was called simply Kalman, had taken a great liking to me, for I always showed him more respect, if possible, than I did to Mr. Samson himself."

"You were wise there," interposed the king. "The smaller the man, the more respect he claims."

"And," continued Miska, "this stood me in good stead; for while Mr.

Samson was away we lived better, and now and then the governor sent me a draught of good wine."

"Ah, I see," said the king; "nothing much out of the ordinary way--rumour has said more than was true. But did you become acquainted with little Esther?"

"The young lady came out into the gallery more often while Mr. Samson was away. Sometimes she would walk up and down there till late in the evening, and she would bring out her harp and sing to it. She was so gentle and kind that I spoke to her one day and asked her to listen to a song of mine; I had made the verses and invented the tune myself."

"Oh!" laughed the king; "then you are a poet too, are you, Miska?"

"Only a sort of 'willow-tree verse-maker,'[6] Mr. King. But pretty Miss Esther listened to it very kindly--and what is more, she wrote it down--and after that she spoke to me every evening, and asked me many questions about Buda and Your Highness; and I told her long stories of all that I had seen in the woods and fields. She wanted to hear about the trees and flowers and birds, which she remembered; and one evening, when no one was within hearing, I told her how I had met Your Highness, and how you had sent me to Visegrad, and all I had seen there, and how you promised me a horse. I had to tell her that story so often that I think she knows every step of the way. I did not tell her that Your Highness had sent me to get into the castle, for walls have ears. But one evening she stopped singing suddenly and asked me what I had come there for. So first I said, 'To be one of Mr. Samson's servants;' and then I said in a whisper, 'To set you free.'

[Footnote 6: Hedge-poet.]

"'Ah, Jancsi, if you only could!' she said. 'How lovely it would be! But you can't; n.o.body can.'

"So then I told her not to be afraid, for I would somehow; and if I couldn't, some one else would, I knew--meaning Your Highness, of course."

"And pray what did the old lady say to your talking to her charge in this way?"

"O Mr. King, she was my very good mistress; I managed to get into her good graces. And there's no denying it, Your Highness, when Mr. Samson went away for the third time, Miss Esther herself told me to be very attentive to the old woman. And it answered perfectly, for she asked me all sorts of things and put all confidence in me; and the governor often chaffed me about it, and said that Mrs. Euphrosyne and I would be making a match of it. Miss Esther often said how happy we might be if we could escape from Mr. Samson and the gloomy castle, and I promised, Your Highness, when Mrs. Euphrosyne was not listening."

"Well, Miska, and I promise too. Miss Esther shall be let out when I get in," said the king. "But now listen. Have you told me all that I want to know about the interior of the castle?"

"Ah," said Miska, "who could find out all its secrets? Mr. Samson said more than once: 'Woe to him who tries to take it, for it will cost the lives of thousands, and he will never get in after all.' And it was as he said: when they a.s.saulted the castle, Mr. Samson did not so much as leave his room, but sat there as quiet as you please. What went on up above in the roof I don't know, for others were sent up and I was not. I only heard the firing, and saw them bringing the gunpowder out in small casks through a trap-door. More than once, too, I heard him say that he had only to pull a string and the castle and everything in it would be blown up. And I saw the red string, too, which would have done it: it could not be reached except by means of a ladder, and it was in Mr.

Samson's own sleeping-room."

"Then you saw them raise the black standard?"

"To be sure; and they did it as easily as if they were lifting a stick."

"But tell me, how did you get out?" asked the king, cutting him short.

"I did that only five days ago," said Miska. "Mr. Samson called me at last one evening and said,--

"'Miska, I am satisfied with you; you will go with me to-night, at midnight. There will be only the two of us; have you the courage?'

"'I have,' I answered.

"'See,' Mr. Samson went on, taking a couple of daggers out of a table-drawer, 'I will make you a present of these; they are the only arms you will have. Be ready, and when I ring at midnight make haste and come to me.'

"I haven't much more to tell you, Mr. King. He led me through several vaults till we came to a door which led into an underground pa.s.sage, and this ended in a cave, which I took good note of, so that I could find it again; and when we had pa.s.sed through it and reached the open air, my spirits rose. We went on through a thick wood, Mr. Samson taking the lead. The night was dark and stormy. I kept him talking all the while, and tried to enliven him with all sorts of jokes; and he actually called me a very sly dog, and laughed himself as if he enjoyed them.

"We had been going on about a couple of hours, when Mr. Samson said we had reached our destination, and that before long a rich Jew would be pa.s.sing by, and that he had a well-filled money-bag which we were to take away from him. He warned me to be careful, and not to use my dagger unless he called out.

"I suppose Mr. Samson had heard of the rich Jew's coming from his Jew friends, who frequently came to the castle without any one's knowing anything about it--so I heard from Kalman--and by secret ways which he had told them of.

"The moon shone out through the thick trees for a moment, and I saw that Mr. Samson was standing near a footpath, and facing a narrow opening in the wood, about three steps away from me.

"Presently I fancied that I heard footsteps, and Mr. Samson whispered, 'Come here behind me, quietly, that they may not hear you.'

"In a short time I saw a dark shadow moving towards us. Mr. Samson stood like a lynx, stiff and motionless, with his eyes fixed on the approaching Jew.

"'Now,' thought I, 'now or never!' and I drew out a rope-noose which I had kept carefully hidden under my dolmany. The next moment I had thrown it over Mr. Samson's shoulders, and so successfully that his two arms were pinioned to his body, and he was helpless in a moment.

"'Traitor!' roared Mr. Samson, and in a moment he gave a stab backwards with his dagger in spite of his pinioned arm, and he did it so cleverly too that it went about three inches deep into me. Fortunately it struck my thigh-bone, or there would have been an end of me.

"The pain was sharp, but in spite of that I pulled the noose tighter, and then I suddenly tripped him up with my foot, and threw him down.

"'Here! here!' I cried hurriedly, holding the robber fast. 'Come here, gossip Jew; there is nothing to fear.' For when Mr. Samson roared out, his victim, the Jew, had stopped still, with his feet glued to the ground. But when I cried out that I was the king's man and had caught a thief, he came forward--in a frightened, reluctant way though; and he would not have come at all but that I called to him not to turn back, for if he did, probably before he had got away Mr. Samson's robbers would have come up, as they were lying in wait for him as well as we, and knew that he had a bag full of money."

"But what do you mean?" cried the king. "You took Mr. Samson prisoner?"

"To be sure I did," said Miska, "and I have given him up to Mr. General Rozgonyi;[7] and the Jew came along with me."

[Footnote 7: The king had made Sebastian Rozgonyi Captain of Upper Hungary.]