"What do we want with such brutes?" cried Stephen passionately. "Cannot we fight and win our battles with our own swords? We shall be disgraced for ever by this rabble!"
"The count must be put on his guard," I exclaimed. "I will go to his hôtel and inform him of the plot."
"It will be useless trouble," said Stephen. "One man cannot fight against thirty thousand, and the count is too brave a veteran to yield."
"He must yield or die," said John. "I have learned enough to know that. The chiefs of the revolution have decided to kill him unless he recalls the order for the regiment to march."
I put on my hat; the others did the same, and accompanied me into the street.
A crowd of students rushing by caught sight of our costume, and surrounding us, cried, "Long live Hungary!"
Much to their surprise, we bared our heads and responded by a hearty, "Long live King Ferdinand!" for, although our country was at war with Austria, we remembered that Austria's emperor was Hungary's king.
In the square on the north side of the hôtel we stopped, and I gave my weapons to Stephen, so that the guards might not suspect me of having any design on the life of the minister.
"Tell him," said Rokoczy earnestly, "that unless he gives way his life is lost."
I left them standing at the corner of the square, and went on alone to the courtyard of the hôtel.