"The King's orders," replied Agha haughtily.
Akos was about to make some fiery reply, but Kuthen interrupted him, saying quietly, "Let it be as the King wills!" and with that he turned his horse's head from the gate.
CHAPTER VI.
MISTAKE THE SECOND.
The day had closed gloomily, ominously, for the refugees; and to understand how it was that a king so chivalrous as Béla could consent to make a prisoner of his guest, we must go back and see what had taken place a few hours earlier.
Béla, as already said, was fully alive to the danger which threatened his land and people, and at the first news of the advance of the Mongols, he had sent Héderváry the Palatine to block all the roads and passes between Transylvania and Wallachia, and make full arrangements for their defence. But even this prudent step was not approved by every one. The wiseacres, and the sort of people who always see farther than their fellows, attributed the King's orders to fear, and said so too, openly and unreservedly.
There were others who simply refused to believe any alarming reports, alleging that they were all got up by the bishops and chief clergy, that they might have an excuse for staying at home at ease, instead of attending the Pope's Council in Rome.
Others accused the King, the Kunok, and other foreign guests who had lately arrived at the Court of Pest.
Some of these, the most timorous, actually wanted to force the King to send an embassy to the Great Khan, offering him an annual tribute and other shameful conditions.
Béla was a courageous man, and a true Magyar and king in the best sense of the words. He was calm, brave, and energetic. He saw through the cowards and despised their accusations; for it is the poltroon who is ever the first to accuse others of cowardice, and there is, moreover, one thing which he can never pardon—the being discovered trembling by men braver than himself.