CHAPTER XV.
DORA'S RESOLVE.
For days, weeks, months, Talabor had been expecting Libor and hisMongols to return and renew their attack upon the castle, whose defenceshe had strengthened in every way possible to him.
But spring had given way to summer, and summer to autumn, and still theyhad not come. When a winter of unusual severity set in, he felt theposition safer, for the steep paths were blocked with snow or slipperywith ice.
Rumours of the fatal battle had not been long in reaching the castle,and fugitives had been seen by one or another of the villagers, whoseaccounts, though they differed in many respects, all agreed in this,that the country was in the hands of the Mongols, and that the King hadfled for his life--whether he had saved it was doubtful. One reportedthe death of both the Szirmays, another declared that Master Peter hadescaped with the King.
The general uncertainty began to tell upon the inhabitants of thecastle.
Gradually, one by one, the men of the garrison disappeared. If a manwere sent out hunting, or to gather what news he could in theneighbourhood, he not seldom vanished. Whether he had deserted, orwhether he had been captured, who could say? In either case he mightbring the Mongols down upon them.
At last, when the number of fighting men was so diminished that it wouldhave been out of the question for them to offer any serious resistance,disquieting events began to occur among the house-servants. One day twoof them were nowhere to be found! One was a turnkey of Master Peter's,the other a maid-servant, a simple, country girl, whom no one would havesupposed capable of counting up to three!
These two had evidently not gone empty-handed, moreover, a few silverplates and other light articles having vanished at the same time!Neither of them had been sent out to reconnoitre; neither, least of allthe peasant girl, could have gone a-hunting. They had deserted, and theyhad stolen anything they could lay hands on!
After this discovery Dora became every day more uneasy, feeling that thedanger from within might be as great as that from without.
Talabor kept his eye with redoubled vigilance upon those who were left,but confidence was destroyed in all but one or two.
Early one morning it was found that the whole of the plate haddisappeared from the great dining hall. Every chest was empty, and noone of the servants knew where the contents were. Talabor had spent anentire night in carrying them away to a hiding place shown him by MasterPeter, a sort of well-like cavity in a cellar, of which he kept the keyalways about him. He had been busy for days digging out the earth andrubbish, without letting anyone, even the faithful Moses, know what hewas about; for, like many another sorrowful Magyar in those days, theold man had of late been trying to drown his grief in wine, and Talaborfeared that his tongue might betray what his fidelity would have keptsecret.
All being ready, he carried down the silver from the chests in which ithad been locked, and finally removed from the shelves in the dining halleven what had been in daily use. This done, he filled the pit with earthagain, and left no traces to indicate the hiding place of Master Peter'streasure.
Libor, of course, was well aware of its existence, and Talabor sometimeswondered whether he were intending to keep the knowledge of it tohimself, to be made use of later on, when the winter was over, and thecastle more easily reached. Be this as it might, neither he nor theMongols appeared again; and only once had Talabor encountered any in hisrides. So far as he could see and learn, the neighbourhood seemed to befree of them; and still anxiety rather increased than diminished, as dayfollowed day without bringing any news to be relied on.
Early one morning Dora sent for Talabor, who went expecting merely somefresh suggestion or order; but he had no sooner entered the room thanshe met him, and without any sort of preliminary, exclaimed, in asomewhat agitated voice, "Talabor! you are loyal to us, and to me, Iknow you are! aren't you? You would do anything for me? I am sure youwould!"
Talabor fell upon one knee, and with glowing countenance raised his handto heaven, by way of answer. His heart swelled within him, and just thenhe felt strong enough for anything.
"Good Talabor, I believe you," said Dora; "but get up and listen to whatI want to say. I am only a woman, and perhaps I give myself credit formore courage than I really have; but one thing I know, I have a strongwill, and I have made up my mind. I mean to go and find the King and myfather!"
"What!" exclaimed Talabor, almost petrified by the mere idea of sodaring a step. "Master Peter--we don't even know whether----"
"He is alive!" interrupted Dora very decidedly.
"But the King! whether it is true or not, who can say? But so far as Ican gather he seems to be in Dalmatia, and the Tartars are pursuing him.The country may still be full of them, for anything I know; and you meanto run such a frightful risk as this would be? Dear mistress----"
"I do mean, Talabor!" said Dora, "I do mean; for it seems to me that Imay have worse to face if I stay here; and what is more, I can't do anygood by staying. I can't in the least help those who would, I know, laydown their lives for me. Did not you yourself say, months ago, that thisplace was not safe?"
"True, but then things were not as they are now, and I was thinking ofsome safer refuge, not of a perilous winter journey. We will defendourselves to the last, and now that we are free of traitors, we shall bestronger than before."
"To the last, you say? Then the last person would be myself, and Ishould be left to die by torture or to become the slave of some Mongolscoundrel! No, Talabor! if I could protect those who have been faithfuland devoted to me, if I could even protect those who have deceived me,robbed me and deserted me so disgracefully, I would stay, but mypresence here does no one any good."
"And," Dora continued, after a moment's pause, "the fact is we areliving over a volcano, for who can answer for it that none of those whohave stayed behind are traitors, and what of those who are gone? Whythen, should you wish to stay?"
Dora had taken to "theeing and thouing" Talabor, ever since the time ofdanger and anxiety which they had passed through together. It showed himthat she had confidence in him; but he, of course, continued to addressher in the third person.
"Because," replied the young man in a firm voice, "I can put down anymischief that may raise its head here; and because, dear lady, if thereis any danger of your being attacked here in the castle, the dangersoutside in the open are a thousand times more serious."
"You are mistaken in one thing, Talabor. It may all be, perhaps it is,as you say, but something tells me to go! I can't explain it, but it isas if I were continually hearing a voice within saying, 'Go, go;' but ifI made a mistake in expecting you to follow me blindly----"
"Oh, dear lady, how could you be mistaken in trusting the most devotedof your servants! Let it be as you say! Command me, and I will neithergainsay, nor delay to do what you wish."
"You really mean it?"
"I do! before Heaven I do."
"Well now, Talabor, can you deny that there is a sort of nightmareoppression about this place? The garrison has dwindled to three, andthere are but four servants. We can't reckon upon Mr. Moses, for hegrows harder to stir every day."
It was all so perfectly true that Talabor could say nothing; but theytalked on for a time, and then Dora began to think and consult with himas to the first steps to be taken. She wished to discharge all herduties as mistress of the castle to the end, as far as was possible; andthe first question was, what was to become of Moses and the rest of thehousehold? This settled, they thought it time to take the old governorinto their confidence.
Mr. Moses had long been of opinion that the castle was no safe place tostay in, and he readily undertook to conduct the remaining members ofthe garrison and household to a place of greater safety.
In the depths of the neighbouring forest lived an old charcoal-burner,who supplied the castle blacksmith with charcoal, and had managed tosteal up with it now and then all through these perilous times. The hut,or rather cave, in which the poor man and his family lived, was far awayfr
om any road, it was closed in by rocks, and was altogether sodifficult, if not impossible, for any stranger to discover, that Mosesand Talabor thought it the safest place of any to be found. But Dorabegged them both to keep their own counsel until the time for actionshould come; and as to when that time should be, no one knew butherself.
Latterly, as troubles had multiplied, it had become a sort of fixed ideawith her that she must go and find her father at all costs, or at leastmake sure whether he were still alive or dead, and in the latter eventshe had resolved to take refuge in a convent.