"It is possible, my lord, that you may yet get there in time," added the deserter, cunningly,—"if you do not delay too long."
"Let us start at once," said Banfy, pale with rage. "I'll teach these sycophants to touch the possession of a free nobleman while he himself is fighting against the foe of his fatherland. A few hundred men will be enough to hold Ali Pasha in check here; with the rest I'll wager that I can make it uncomfortable for Ladislaus Csaki if he crosses my borders."
And at once Banfy sent orders to his men to start for Marisel in perfect silence; he ordered the few troops remaining to light a great many fires in the forest to make the enemy believe that the entire force was still there, and he himself hurried on to Azraele's hiding place. For Zulfikar he counted out five hundred gold pieces for his information.
Ali Pasha, according to agreement, had attacked by night with his entire force the line of military posts left by Banfy and held by a few hundred men; had driven them back after a short resistance and leaving behind two thousand dead and all his baggage, and swallowing down his vexation at a great defeat, had hurried away to ward Gross Nagy Varad. From him too Zulfikar received the thousand gold pieces stipulated; he had done a service alike to the Hungarian and to the Turk, and had allowed himself to receive pay from both parties.
CHAPTER XIV
THE COURT OF JUSTICE IN THE BANQUET HALL
A blast of hunting horns echoed from the mountains of Batrina and the din of the chase drew nearer. A group of distinguished-looking riders was seen in the cavalcade and at their head rode Ladislaus Csaki.
"After him! After him!" rang out from all sides. Evidently the beast had been started when the group of riders, coming out of a thicket into a clearing, met a group from the other direction in which all recognized Dionysius Banfy as leader, and astounded they cut short their chase.
Banfy rode toward the group with a scornful smile. "Welcome, my lords, to my estate! I am very glad that this good fortune is mine. Probably you have lost your way, otherwise you are my guests and so welcome. But why do you stare at me so wildly? you call to mind the Hindoo proverb; 'He who hunts a deer in the forest often comes upon lions.'"
"We consider you neither deer nor lion," replied Csaki, blushing in his confusion to his very ears;—"but we expected to find ourselves on lawful ground."