CHAPTER XL.
What was really the matter with Raby the police never learned; but wecan tell the reader.
When at about three hours after midnight, they had brought him to theAssembly House, the whole gang of his enemies was awaiting him,including the gaoler.
He was received with a shout of derisive laughter, as he came into theroom, thick with tobacco-smoke.
"So the Emperor has given you decorations, has he?" thus they jeered athim. "Well, we'll see what sort of ornaments we can procure for yourworship," and such like remarks, were freely fired off at him.
But Raby bore all the jeers of his tormentors in a dignified silence,and quietly submitted to the searching process, whereby he was strippedof all his valuables, and fetters slipped over his wrists and ankles,the gold lace being cut off from his new coat so that he might not hanghimself with it! Then he was led back into the cell he had formerlyoccupied, and left to himself.
But, he reflected, his captivity could not last long. The twopolice-officers must be still there, and when all was said, they werethe masters. And failing all else, had not the Emperor himself promisedto come? Up till then, he would have patience. The visit of his friendson the following day did not give him much hope that their help wouldavail him.
On the third day, the prison doctor sought him out, and with the help ofthe gaoler, began to subject him to a long process of disinfecting,which he said, was necessary for every prisoner who came from across thefrontier, seeing that in Turkey the oriental plague was raging.
We have seen how the two Viennese officers were smoked out of the city.This left the coast clear for Raby's examination the following day. Hisearlier trial had taken place before the district commissioner as apolitical offender: now he was haled before the ordinary assizes as acommon criminal.
The indictment which set forth how Raby by the help of diabolic arts,had forcibly broken out of custody, and fled to another country, wasread. It called for five and twenty years' solitary imprisonment,together with public chastisement; which should allow of his being atappointed intervals set in the public stocks, with a placard showing thenature of his crime hung round his neck.
Raby, in his defence, demanded that the judges should call one of thetwenty men who had forcibly seized him the night of his flight; thiswas, he said, exacted by the Emperor in his instructions as to thetrial.
Laskoy struck the table with his fist. "That is not true," he said, "itis not in his Majesty's instructions."
"I have seen it myself," said Raby, "the Emperor gave it into my ownhands to read."
At these words there was a perfect outburst of wrath and indignationfrom the whole company, so that Raby could not speak for the uproar;when the noise had quieted down, he went on:
"The men who freed me are not forthcoming as witnesses. But there aretwo at least, who must know what happened that night, and this is theheyduke who stood before the door of my cell, and the other who kept thegate. Though I did not see them I know what their names were, for Iheard the castellan address them as Sipos and Nagy."
"Let them be brought in," said Laskoy to the castellan with a meaninggrimace.
But it was Raby's turn to be astonished when the witnesses entered. Forthere before him, stood his two travelling companions, the pretendedpig-dealer, Kurovics, and his comrade, who had accompanied him toVienna! And these, it appeared, were the two heydukes who had beencommissioned to play this trick upon their unsuspecting victim. Raby'sbrain fairly reeled at the thought of the lying fraud to which he hadbeen forced to lend himself.
But the examination of Sipos was beginning. "It seems you were the guardat the door of the prisoner's cell, the night of his escape?" questionedthe judge. "Do you know what happened?"
The witness groaned, and murmured something incoherent.
"Tell us what you know. The truth, out with it!" as the man hesitated.
"Ah, how can I say it!" exclaimed the fellow, while the gaoler shook hisfist at him menacingly.
"I'll tell all," he said, "just as it happened. The gaoler ordered fourand twenty of us heydukes to disguise ourselves as Turks, then to breakopen the door of the prisoner's cell, and put on him a peasant girl'sdress and escort him to Vienna in this disguise. He gave us money forthe journey, and told us the Pesth magistracy had ordered it."
At this outspoken testimony, Raby could hardly contain himself, hestamped on the floor till his irons rang again. So the whole intriguewas manifest! His enemies themselves had hatched this conspiracy againsthim, and now they dared to condemn the victim of their own wicked plot!
He attempted to protest, but the whole crew shouted him down. "Hold yourpeace, traitor!" they cried! "Hold your peace! Not a word will we hearfrom you!"
And their anger was not less hot against the witness whom they called aliar and false swearer, and then and there ordered him to receive fiftystrokes with the lash, and this was Sipos' reward for telling the truth.
"Let the other witness appear," cried Laskoy. "Now, Janos Nagy, you arean honest man, and will tell us what happened, so out with it!"
Nagy, otherwise the false Kurovics, had the example of his comradebefore him, and bethought himself in time of what he might expect if hewas too truthful, so he took his line accordingly.
"This is the true history, your worships. When, on the sixth of Decemberlast, I was keeping guard before the door of the gate of the prison, andmy comrade stood before the prisoner's cell, I heard a loud crackingnoise; then the door of Mr. Raby's dungeon flew open, and he came out ina fiery chariot drawn by six black cats, whilst on the box sat a demonin a red dolman, who gave first my comrade, and then me, such a switchin the face with his long tail, that we could hear and see nothingfurther--so stunned were we. And then with a noise like thunder, theprisoner disappeared in a flash."
Raby was astounded--not at the witness, but at his hearers.
"Is it possible, is it credible," he cried, "that you gentlemen, canaccept such testimony as this?"
"Be silent, and don't interrupt the witness," yelled Laskoy, "we don'twant you to teach us. You know we have laws against witchcraft, and wemean to enforce them. Mr. notary," he cried, turning to Tarhalmy,"please take the depositions of the witness."
And Raby saw with amazement that Tarhalmy did not hesitate to do as hewas bidden. And suddenly there flashed across the prisoner what Mariskahad written to him. Here the wise and fools alike seemed to be leaguedagainst him. In vain he protested his innocence in the Emperor's name,and that of the law and common-sense: it availed nothing. Finally theyled him out of the room while they debated on his sentence.
It was not long before he was conducted back again to hear it. Of theseveral indictments against him, several had not been verified, but oneat least they indeed had proved, and that was, that by diabolic agencyhe had escaped from the dungeon. That was enough to condemn him, and"death by the axe" was awarded accordingly.
When Raby heard it, he could contain his indignation no longer:
"Gentlemen, and you my most worshipful judges," he cried, "hear mebefore I depart, for there is no tribunal on earth so tyrannical that itwill not allow the criminal to justify himself. Why am I condemned? Whyhave such punishments, ending with the death-penalty itself, been metedout to me? Why have I suffered thus? Simply because I strove to heal thewoes of the oppressed; just because the Emperor has sent me hither toinquire into the grievances of the people, whose cry has reached him.The poor were no rebels against the law; they sought only justice, and Idesired to help them to attain it. Do you remember what authority isgiven to you, when you are placed in the seat of law? Is it not a divinecommission to defend the right of the individual, as of the people,alike? If you are confident in the success of your cause, I am equallyso in that of mine, for my conscience is clear, I have broken neitherthe laws of God nor of man, and to my convictions I will never be false.I only ask one thing for my people, that they may be freed from the yokeof the oppressor. Is that a crime deserving the death penalty? Well, letmy head fall; m
y blood be on those who shed it!"
Several of the judges could not restrain their tears. Tarhalmy hid hisface in his hands; was it that he could not face the prisoner?
Raby's last words rang with such intense sincerity that not one of thosepresent had dared to interrupt his speech. Laskoy was the only one tospeak when the accused had ended his defence, and all he said was, "Takethe prisoner away!"
"I appeal then against the judgment of the court," said Raby as he wasbeing led out.
"That is permitted; meantime, he who is under sentence of death must beheavily ironed till the hour of execution."
"Against that likewise I protest," said Raby firmly. And they led himout and called for the prison locksmith.