There was one loud, terrible cry, and when the cloud of smoke cleared away, a couple of hundred men were to be seen lying dead and maimed round about the castle.
The king had given Zokoli strict orders to spare his men as much as possible. He ordered one more assault on the same side therefore, thinking that the defenders would not have had time to reload their guns. But again a couple of hundred of the besiegers fell a useless sacrifice to the experiment; and unwilling to waste any more lives, General Zokoli retired, completely baffled and much mortified, to report what had happened. And then the king's anger blazed forth, and he exclaimed,—
"Wait, and I'll teach you, Samson!"
CHAPTER IV.
IN THE ROBBER'S NEST.
Great men—especially the very few who are great even in their night-shirts, as the saying is, which was the case with King Matthias, if it ever was with any one—great men are, by their very natures, strongly attached to their own ideas and opinions. It is not easy to shake them when once they have made up their minds about a matter; for truly great men are not given to hasty judgments. They are firm in their convictions, but they have some reason to be so.
Now the king had a sort of instinct or power of reading character, and he felt convinced that the beggar boy whom he had come across so strangely would either succeed in getting into the castle, or would never be heard of again. He had firm faith in him.
There were a good many matters, as we have seen, requiring his attention in Hungary just then, and therefore, though he was extremely angry with Samson for his contemptuous behaviour, he decided to put off punishing him for a time. He felt that, after General Zokoli's discomfiture, it would be wisest not to take any further steps against the clever robber until he could be certain of success; and he resolved on all accounts therefore to wait until Miska made his appearance, or at least until the six months had expired.
Of course there were some who believed that Miska would never be seen again. The king had taken a fancy to him, that was all; but he was only a beggar boy, when all was said and done, and most likely he had sold his new clothes to the first Jew he came across, and was in rags again by this time!
When three months, four months, five months, passed away without bringing any news, those who knew anything about the matter shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads more than ever.