Feriz Beg rent his clothes in his rage. He would have liked to have roared at them: "Ye lie, you rascals! You were not there at all!" but he was obliged to keep silence.
Ajas beckoned again to the Janissaries, and very nicely and quietly they drew their swords from their sheaths, and, grasping them firmly, concealed them behind their backs.
The Pasha put the third question to the robbers.
"Ye met Feriz Beg, eh?"
"Lie not!" cried Feriz furiously. "Look well at me! Have you ever seen me anywhere before? Did you ever meet me at Élesd?"
The interrogated, bowing to the earth, replied with the utmost devotion: "Yes—at your service, invincible Pasha and most valiant Beg!"
At that same instant the swords flashed in the hands of the Janissaries, and the heads of the robbers suddenly rolled at their feet.
"Oh, ye false knaves!" cried Feriz Beg, striking his forehead with his clenched fist.
Ajas Pasha turned coolly towards Martin Pók: "Greet thy master, and tell him from me that another time he must be quicker, and not make me angry.—As for thee, Feriz, my son, pay me back those hundred ducats!"