It was a most unusual thing for the Mongols to abandon any attack, butjust as Talabor had begun to pelt the assailants with the heavy missilesalready mentioned, one of the chiefs sent with Libor (possibly to act asspy upon him), hastily quitted the post of danger and hurried after thegovernor-clerk, whom he found in the wood, trying as best he might tobind up the wound from which he had now drawn the arrow. The wound,though deep enough, was not serious.
"Why, KnA(C)z! sitting here under the trees, are you?" cried the Mongolroughly, in his own uncouth tongue. "Sitting here, when those Magyardogs have done for more than a hundred of our men!"
"Directly, BajdAir!" said Libor sharply, "you see I have been shot in thehead and can't move!"
"Directly? and can't move? shot in the head? Perhaps you don't keep yourhead where we Mongols keep ours! but what will the Khan say, if we takeback only five or six out of 300 men?"
"Five or six?" repeated Libor in alarm; "are so many lost?"
"Well, and if it's not so many! and if you, who ought to be first in thefight have managed to save your own skin! quite enough have fallen forall that, and we shall all perish if this mad business goes on anylonger. Take care, KnA(C)z! Look after yourself! for Batu Khan is not usedto being played with by new men such as you!"
Libor staggered to his feet, and though badly frightened by hisill-success, as well as by what BajdAir had said, his natural cunning didnot altogether desert him.
"Be off, BajdAir! and don't blame me! Of course, I meant it for the best!The castle is crammed with gold and silver, and there are some goodhorses, as well as a pretty girl or two. Who could have supposed therascals would defend themselves in such a fashion! Be off, I tell you,BajdAir, and stop this senseless fighting, and we'll draw off into thewoods."
"What! with empty hands?"
"Who is to help it? But we won't go quite empty-handed either."
The Mongol glanced up from under his cap as Libor said this, and hissmall eyes glittered like fire-flies in the darkness.
"Master Peter has a large sheep-fold in a valley not far from here, andthe few men who guard it are nothing to reckon with; if we drive off thesheep, there will be a good feast for a thousand or two of hungryfellows in the camp."
"What's that?" said the Tartar hotly. "Why, we shall eat those upourselves! All the cattle have been driven off out of our way, and weare as hungry as wolves!"
"Only go, BajdAir, and call the men off, and then I'll tell you somethingwhich will make up for our ill-luck here."
BajdAir shook his head. He was in no good humour, but he had gained hisobject, and he went off, cursing and threatening, to stop the assault.
As for the amends which Libor promised, we can say only so much as this,that they were ample. He believed the country to be wholly at theMongols' mercy, he was well acquainted with the neighbourhood, and heled his men, who had now dwindled to thirty or so, to the mostdefenceless places, where they found cattle enough to satisfy them.
So great was the prevailing terror, that many had fled from their homesleaving everything behind them, or had been so harassed by perpetualalarms that they had at last concealed their property in such senselessways that it was found without difficulty.
However it may have been in this case, it was a fact that when KnA(C)zLibor returned from his campaign, he received high praise from BatuKhan, who cared nothing at all that the force had melted away tilllittle more than a fourth part was left to return to the SajA cubed. Batu hadfurther uses for Libor.
When the Mongols had at last made off, and Moses and Talabor found thatthe shepherds had been killed, and the sheep, either eaten on the spot,carried off, or scattered in the woods, they first cautiously searchedthe neighbourhood, and then proceeded with no little labour, to bury thedead.
This done, Talabor made it his business to ride out every day, and wassometimes absent for hours, scouring the country while those at homewere busy with the governor, strengthening the defences of the castle.
One morning, some days after the attack, Talabor asked to speak to Dora.It had been a trying time for all in the castle, but Dora had gone backto her usual habits, and was looking after her household affairs asstrictly and regularly as if nothing had happened. In one thing she wassomewhat changed: her confidence in and dependence upon Talabor had muchincreased.
"Well, Talabor, is there any good news?" she asked gently.
"May I speak plainly, dear young mistress?" he asked, by way of answer.
"I never wish you to speak otherwise, Clerk Talabor."
"Then I will tell you at once, that you must not stay here any longer,mistress. The place is too unsafe now that the Mongols know it."
"Must not? and where could I go?"
"We have to do with dangerous enemies, and they are enraged, and will becertain to revenge themselves as soon as they can," he urged.
Dora sighed. "I know, Talabor, but I am not going to move till I hearfrom my father."
"Dear lady," said Talabor again, after a pause. "Dear mistress--perhapsyou may have noticed that I have been out riding every day. I havescoured the whole neighbourhood for miles round, and I have learnt agood deal more than the mere rumours which are all that reach us here."
"And you have dared to keep it to yourself?"
"Yes, dear mistress, I have dared! I did not wish to trouble you fornothing, and one hears many things. If I have done wrong, God knows, Icould not do anything else until I was sure."
"Talabor!" said Dora, quite disarmed, "and why do you speak now?"
"Because the time has come when I must either tell you the worst, or letyou risk your precious life."
Dora shuddered but did not speak, and Talabor went on to tell her, whatwe already know, of the invasion, and of the successes already gained byBatu Khan. There were naturally many gaps in his narrative, and muchthat was already sorrowful fact, he knew only as rumour and surmise. Butstill, with all deficiencies it was abundantly evident that her presenthome was no longer safe, and that the very next week, day, even hour,she might be exposed to fresh and graver peril.
And still, what was she to do?
"Is that all?" she asked presently, "you have not heard anything of myfather?"
"I have heard that he is alive at least," responded Talabor cheerfully,"though twice I heard the contrary----"
"And you kept it from me?"
"Why should I tell you what I did not believe myself, and what thosewho told me were not at all sure of? It was only a report, and now Iknow for certain that Master Peter is alive."
"Certain? how?"
"Truly," and he told how the news had reached him, adding, "so now weknow where to find him, when we have the opportunity."
"Ah! that settles it then, Talabor. The proper place for a good daughteris with her father. I'll go to him!"
But while Dora was thus making up her mind to ride to the camp, eventshad taken place which, when they came to her ears, made her hesitateagain as to what she ought to do.
Meantime, until they could decide, Talabor went on strengthening thewalls in every way he could think of, and rendering the steep approachmore difficult.