But like many another monarch who has had the welfare of his people at heart, Matthias was very fond of going about among them and seeing for himself, with his own eyes, what was the real state of affairs and what were their needs and wrongs. More than once on these secret expeditions it had happened to him to come across men of humble birth, whom, like Miska the beggar boy, he fancied capable of being turned to valuable account, and took accordingly into his service. And his shrewd eye seldom deceived him.
Did not Paul Kinizsi the giant, for instance, turn out to be one of his most famous generals? And yet he was only a miller's boy to begin with—a miller's boy, but an uncommonly strong one; for when the king first saw him, he was holding a millstone in one hand and cutting it with the other—a proof of strength which made the king think he was wasted on the mill, and would be a valuable acquisition to the army, as he certainly proved to be.
Something more and better than mere brute strength had attracted him in Miska, and had induced him to send the boy on his hazardous mission to Mr. Jason Samson.
Nothing, of course, had been heard of him since he started, and now, sundry other robbers having been disposed of or reduced to order, it was Mr. Samson's turn.
But being an uncommon character himself, Matthias was attracted by anything uncommon and out of the way in other people. He was fond, too, of unravelling mysteries, and therefore, much as he hated lawlessness and robbery, and greatly as he was exasperated by some of Mr. Samson's secret doings, nevertheless the man appeared by all accounts to be such a very strange, remarkable being that the king's curiosity was whetted, and after himself paying a secret visit to the eccentric "Cube," as he called the odd-looking castle, he resolved to try what mild measures would do, before proceeding to extremities.
Whether Miska had succeeded in getting into the robber's nest or not the king had no means of finding out, but his first step was to have a summons nailed up in the middle of all the four sides of the grim castle. It ran as follows:—
"All good to you from God, Mr. Jason Samson!
"Present yourself in Buda on the third day of the coming year, and give an account of your stewardship.
"Matthias, the King."
The men charged with affixing this to the castle walls withdrew when their work was done without having seen any one. But some one or other had seen and read the summons; for when they returned the next morning, it had been torn down, and in its place, also affixed to the four sides, appeared these words:—