The two men put up their weapons.
"So good a soldier as you are should not be here guarding a girl," said Amesa.
"Guarding a girl?" said the man in amazement, but, recollecting himself, added, "And why not guard a girl?"
"Come," replied Amesa, "you and I can serve each other. You can do that for me which no other man can; and I can give to you more gold than any other Albanian can."
"And when you are king of Albania, Prince Amesa, you can reward me with high appointment," said the stranger with a slight sneer, which, however, Amesa did not notice, at the moment thinking of what the stargeshina had said of the man's interest in the movement against his uncle's leadership.
"You have but to ask your reward when that event comes," he replied.
"I will swear to serve Amesa against Scanderbeg to the death," said the man offering his hand.
"You know the girl's true story?" asked Amesa.
"Of course," was the cautious reply. "But of that I may not speak a word. I can leave his service whose man you say I am, but I cannot betray anything he may have told me. As you know the girl's story it is needless to tempt me to divulge it," added he, with shrewd non-committal of himself to any information that the other might recognize as erroneous.
"You speak nobly for a Servian," said the voivode.