"How so?" exclaimed Maria confounded.
"All my orders have been distributed already."
"Then they must be recalled."
"It's impossible, impossible," cried the master, wringing his hands; and he glanced anxiously, from time to time, through the window, through which a far distant reddish light was beginning to illuminate the room. "They have already fired the house of the headsman."
"What!" cried Maria beside herself.
"That was to be the beginning of it. It is impossible now to hold them back any longer."
"Oh, fools and madmen!" hissed the lady. Her immediate impulse was to rush from the room. At the door, however, she recovered her sang froid, and, turning back, clutched Bodza by the arm and whispered in his ear:
"There is now only one remaining way of gaining a complete victory."
"What is that?"
"We must revolt the county-town also. If we succeed we shall have the General as a hostage, if we do not, at least we shall give the soldiers something to do."