Read Ebook: King Matthias and the Beggar Boy by J Sika Mikl S B R Gaye Selina Translator

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Ebook has 351 lines and 24440 words, and 8 pages

"Well, things might have gone very crooked," proceeded Miska; "for I had no sooner given the alarm than they were both down on me at once as quick as lightning, and I felt two daggers strike my mail coat.

"Fortunately for me I was quite prepared, and I did not lose my presence of mind. I fired one pistol just as they fell upon me, but of course I did not hit either of them. But my armour had done me good service; for the two fellows were disconcerted when they found that their daggers had touched metal, and I had time to jump on one side and point my second pistol at them.

"There was a little pause; my men had not given up their designs upon me, as it seemed, but were consulting, I suppose, how to escape the second charge of peas, and they seemed to mean to separate and come on me from both sides at once. 'But,' thought I, 'if you have, so have I--wits, I mean--and as from all I had heard of Samson's rascally associates I was quite sure that I had found my gentlemen, I took advantage of the short pause, and cried out,--

"'May seventy-seven thousand thunderbolts strike you! Hear what I have to say, and don't rush upon a fellow like mad dogs!

"'I am wanting to come across Mr. Samson; I am tired of living on my own bread, and I should like to enter his service. If you belong to the castle, it would be better for you to take me to him, instead of attacking me; for I am not in the least afraid of you--and, what's more, a couple of chaps like you won't outwit me.'

"As soon as I had said my say with all possible speed, but in a firm rough voice, one of the scamps looked me all over from top to toe, as if he were going to buy me of a broker. The man was a sturdy, stout-limbed fellow, and as black as the darkest gipsy; and standing only a span from the muzzle of my pistol, without winking an eyelid, he said,--

"'Who are you, and what do you want with Mr. Samson? If you have come to spy, you may say your last prayer, for you won't see the sun again.'

"The man said this in such a soft, drawling voice, and so deliberately, that it suddenly struck me he was imbecile; for I had my finger on the trigger all the time, and one touch would have stretched him on the ground. However, I won't deny that his cool composure made me shudder a little.

"I answered as coolly as I could, 'I want to enter his service, sir, for I fancy he is a fine brave man; and a fellow like me, who cares nothing for his life, might be useful to him.'

"My man kept his eye upon my every movement. At last he said,--

"'I don't know who you are yet.'

"I hesitated half a moment, for I did not want to tell him my real name, and then I said they called me Alp?r J?nos, that I was an orphan, and that until now I had made a poor living by doing just anything that came to hand--which was true enough.

"As far as I could see in the twilight, the man's face began to clear; he whispered a few words to his companion in a language I did not know, Slovack or Latin, then looked me over again from top to toe, and said,--

"'Good! then you can come with us. We will show you the way in; it will be your own affair how you get out again, if you grow tired of scanty dinners.'

"Here our conversation ended," said the lad; while the king, who had listened to his preface with lively interest, said, "Very good. So you got in. And now tell me what the castle is like inside."

And here perhaps it will be better to take the words out of Miska's mouth and describe in our own way what he saw.

The castle, as has been said, was built round the four sides of a square, and, as was often the case with old strongholds, a wide covered gallery, or corridor, ran along each side, surrounding the courtyard. There was not a sign of stables anywhere, for there was no way of getting horses in except by lowering them over the walls by a windlass. The ground-floor consisted of store-rooms and living-rooms; the keys of the former being always kept by the master, who allowed none but the most trusty persons to go into them, for they contained valuable goods of every sort and kind. Mr. Samson regularly visited these vaults, on the fifteenth of every month at midnight, when he was accompanied by twelve Jews. But how these latter got in, where they came from, and where they went to, was known to no one but Mr. Samson himself. The men looked like merchants, and he gave stuffs and ornaments, in certain quantities and of certain values, to each. Then he took them into a large empty room lighted by a four-cornered lamp which hung from the ceiling, and here for a couple of hours they were all busy counting money at a stone table. This was packed into various bags, and when Mr. Samson had given a purse to each of his agents, the Jews took their departure amid a shower of compliments, and in what appeared to be a very well satisfied frame of mind, Mr. Samson escorting them and showing them the way. But whither they went, and why, and how, and by what way--that heaven alone could tell.

In the upper story of the castle there were some fine, cheerful, and well-lighted rooms; which is not a little surprising, for their windows all looked into the covered gallery, and from that into the courtyard. However, this may be explained to some extent by the fact that the windows of these upper rooms were wide and lofty, the walls were painted snow-white, and were covered with some sort of varnish which doubled the light.

The furniture was in accordance with the taste of the day, and chosen rather for its good wearing qualities than for comfort; but the bright colours produced a pleasing and cheerful effect on the whole.

Mr. Samson kept an entire half of this story for the use of himself and his only relation, a young girl of fifteen named Esther, and an old woman who lived with her. Of the two other sides of the square, one was occupied by servants, the other was furnished but unused.

CAUGHT.

One is apt to fancy that strange, out-of-the-way characters must needs be striking and uncommon in their persons, and it is really quite startling to find them after all mere ordinary-looking, every-day people.

Jason Samson, in spite of his remarkably eccentric conduct, was just one of these commonplace individuals to look at. It was himself, in fact, who had taken Miska into the castle; a man of middle size, neither stout nor thin, neither young nor old, but just middling in all respects. His features were such as we see over and over again, without having either our sympathies or interest in the least aroused. One can't call such persons either ill-looking or handsome, and their every-day characters inspire no feeling but that of utter indifference.

Mr. Samson was said, naturally enough, to be a man-hater. The walls of the Cube castle were twelve feet thick, and its inmates could see nothing either of their fellow-creatures or of God's beautiful world; for there was neither door to go in by nor window to look out of, and nothing whatever to be seen but the courtyard.

It was not a cheerful home certainly for the young girl whom Mr. Samson had some years previously brought to live there. He called her a relation of his, and she called him "uncle," but it did not at all follow that she was his niece; for it is the custom in Hungary, and considered only common politeness, for young people to address their elders as "uncles" and "aunts," whether related or not.

If Mr. Samson was commonplace in appearance, little Esther was very much the reverse. Without being regularly beautiful, there was a great charm about her, and she had a look of distinction which was entirely wanting in her guardian or jailer. Her clear, deep-blue eyes were full of life and animation, and the whole expression of her face told of a good heart. Add to this that she had a remarkably sweet and beautiful voice, and that, though untaught, she had a good ear for music, and was very fond of singing, and it will be understood that Esther was altogether not uninteresting. If she was not striking at first sight, yet the more one saw of her the more impressed and attracted one felt.

She was very much in awe of her "uncle," though she could not have said why, and though she had now lived with him some seven years, ever since the death of her parents indeed, when he had brought her away to the castle, with her attendant Euphrosyne, she being then a child of eight.

Esther was now fifteen, but she had as yet no idea that Mr. Samson was planning in his own mind to unite her more closely to himself by making her his wife, or she would have shrunk from him even more than she did now, though she knew nothing against him, and he could never be said to have ill-treated her in any way except that he kept her a close prisoner. Perhaps he thought that, considering her age, she had liberty enough; for she was free to go from one room to another, and she could walk up and down the gallery and in the courtyard.

But though she had grown accustomed to the life now, there were times, especially when the sun shone down for a short hour or two into the dull courtyard, in spring and summer, when the girl would look up with longing eyes to the blue sky and wonder what the world looked like outside the four grey walls. Sometimes she would see a bird fly past overhead, or watch a lark soaring up into the air, singing as it went. Then the past would come back to her, and she would remember a time when she had run about the green fields, and had spent long days in the garden; when she had gathered wild flowers and wood-strawberries, and had heard the birds sing.

It made her a little sad to think of it all, and for a time she felt as if she were in a cage, and wondered whether she was to spend all her life in it; but she was blessed with a cheerful disposition, and on the whole she was not unhappy. She made occupation for herself in one way and another: she sewed, she embroidered, she netted; she read the two or three books she had over and over again, and she even wrote a little. When one day Mr. Samson brought her a harp from his hoard of treasures, she was delighted indeed: and having soon managed to teach herself how to play on it, she spent many a happy evening singing such songs as she had picked up or invented for herself.

Mr. Samson liked to hear the full, clear young voice singing in the gallery, though he seldom took any apparent notice of the singer. In his way perhaps he would have missed Esther a little if she had been taken from him; but he was not a kindly or affectionate personage, and the girl had no one to care for but Euphrosyne, a rather tiresome, foolish old woman, who often tried her patience a good deal with her whims and fidgets. Esther, however, was very patient with her, and clung to her simply because there was no one else to cling to.

Mr. Samson had given them three rooms in a distant corner of the gloomy building, where they were quite out of the way of everybody; and Esther's rooms being the two inner ones, she could never leave them without the knowledge and permission of the old woman, through whose room she had to pass.

There was no doubt that Mr. Samson carried on an extensive business of a peculiar kind. He was very secret about it, and what with his armed garrison, and the odd way in which the castle was built, as if to stand a siege, there seemed good reason to suspect that his valuable goods and rich merchandise were collected from the whole length and breadth of Hungary, and were, in fact, gathered from every country-house and peddler's pack and bundle which he could find means to plunder. Not that Samson ever resorted to violence if he could possibly help it--quite the contrary; and though he was reckoned among the most powerful robber-knights of the time, he was really more thief than robber, and did also a great deal in a quiet way by lending money at very high interest.

He would steal out of the castle on foot, disguised now as a beggar and now as a Jew; and his followers were never to be seen anywhere together in any number. They lounged along singly, at a considerable distance one from the other, and they took care not to excite suspicion in any way.

They had nothing in the way of weapons but a couple of short, sharp daggers, which they kept carefully concealed, and never used except in cases of extreme necessity, and in secret places, such as deep ravines or woods; but when they did have recourse to them, they used them with bold determination and deadly certainty. No one ever escaped from the clutches of these accursed robbers, and no one therefore could ever betray them. They managed, too, to conceal all traces of their deeds of blood, so that though there were rumours and suspicions, the guilt was not brought home to them. People who met them saw but one, or at most two, at a time, looking as meek and mild "as if they could not count up to three," as the saying is.

Mr. Samson himself rarely went out quite alone. There were always one or two men in whom he placed especial confidence, and one or other of these always accompanied him.

And now Miska shall take up his narrative again.

"I was not badly off in the castle," said he. "I was bent on winning Mr. Samson's confidence above everything, and I succeeded, because I strove to enter into all his thoughts. I was not too humble and deferential, but I put myself in his place, and showed great interest in all the work that went on inside, which was chiefly keeping guard and cleaning arms.

"Mr. Samson went away once every fortnight; and I fancy the Jews came twice while I was there, for Mr. Samson twice shut all the doors carefully, which he did not do at other times. I must say I should have liked to join him in his secret adventures; but much as he seemed to trust me, I had no chance of doing so.

"I had been in the castle about a fortnight, I suppose, when one night the bell rang in my little room. There was a bell to every hole in the castle, and the bell-pulls all hung in a long row along two sides of one of Mr. Samson's rooms.

"I got up at once and went to him, and found him lying in an arm-chair, wearing a flowing indoor robe.

"'Alp?r J?nos,' said he, 'I have to leave the castle to-morrow; you will stay here. Keep an eye on the people, and when I come back tell me minutely all that has happened during my absence. I believe you are faithful to me; and if you continue to please me, I will double your wages.'

"I received his orders respectfully, as usual; but after a short pause I said, 'I would much rather you should take me with you, for I think you would find me more useful outside than here, where there is nothing I can do.'

"'I want a faithful man more here than outside,' said Mr. Samson. 'Your turn will come presently; meantime obey all the governor's orders as if I were here myself. And now you can go. Everybody will notice my absence to-morrow, but for all that don't you say a word about it to any one--that is one of my laws.'

"'I will obey you, sir,' I said, and then I went back to my quarters.

"The governor, a gloomy-looking, stout fellow, who could hardly be more than four-and-twenty, and was called simply K?lm?n, had taken a great liking to me, for I always showed him more respect, if possible, than I did to Mr. Samson himself."

"You were wise there," interposed the king. "The smaller the man, the more respect he claims."

"And," continued Miska, "this stood me in good stead; for while Mr. Samson was away we lived better, and now and then the governor sent me a draught of good wine."

"Ah, I see," said the king; "nothing much out of the ordinary way--rumour has said more than was true. But did you become acquainted with little Esther?"

"The young lady came out into the gallery more often while Mr. Samson was away. Sometimes she would walk up and down there till late in the evening, and she would bring out her harp and sing to it. She was so gentle and kind that I spoke to her one day and asked her to listen to a song of mine; I had made the verses and invented the tune myself."

"Oh!" laughed the king; "then you are a poet too, are you, Miska?"

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