As he crossed the threshold, Satan Laczi pointed to the toy and said:
"I left it on the casket as a remembrance in exchange for the little stockings some one in this house knit for my little lad. We learn to make such things in prison, where time hangs heavily on one"s hands."
"But how did you manage to open the door when it was locked and the key inside?" inquired the count.
Satan Laczi showed him the tools which he used to turn keys from the outside.
"Any burglar can open a door from the outside if the key is left in the lock, Herr Count. Only those doors can be securely locked which have no keyholes outside."
"I have no idea how that could be arranged," said Count Vavel.
"I am acquainted with a jack of all trades here in the neighborhood who could make such a door for you if I told him how to make it. He is a carpenter, locksmith, and clock-maker, all in one person."
The count shook his head wonderingly. The robber was to direct the locksmith how to fashion a lock that no one could open!
"Shall I send the man to the castle?" asked Satan Laczi.
"Yes; if the fellow is sensible, and does not chatter."
"But he is a fool that never knows when to stop talking. But he talks only on one subject, so you need not be afraid to employ him. He understands everything you tell him, will do just as you say, but will not talk about what he is doing for you. There is only one subject on which he will chatter, and that is, how Napoleon might be beaten. He is continually talking about stratagems, infernal machines, and how to win a battle. On this subject he is crazy. He will make doors for the Herr Count that can"t be opened, and tell everybody else only how to make infernal machines, and how to build fortifications."
"Very good; then send him to me."
"But--I must say something else, Herr Count--no matter how secure your locks may be, that treasure is best guarded against robbers which is kept in the room you sleep in. A man of courage is worth a hundred locks. I am not talking without a purpose when I say the Herr Count must look after his treasure. I know more than I say, and Satan Laczi is not the greatest robber in the world. Be on your guard!"
"I thank you."
"Does the Herr Count still believe that it was I and my comrades who broke into the manor?"
"No; I am convinced that it was not you."
"Then my mission here is accomplished--"
"Not yet," interposed the count, stepping to a cupboard, and taking from it a straw-covered bottle and a goblet. "Here,"--filling the goblet and handing it to the robber,--"he who comes to my house as a guest must not quit it without a parting gla.s.s."
"A strange guest, indeed!" responded the robber, taking the proffered gla.s.s. "I came without knocking for admittance. But I performed a masterpiece to-day; the Herr Count will find it out soon enough! I do not drink to your welfare Herr Count, for my good wishes don"t go for much in heaven!"
The count seated himself at the table, and said: "Don"t go just yet, my friend; I want to give you a few words of advice. I believe you are a good man at heart. Quit your present mode of life, which will ultimately lead you--"
"Yes, I know--to the gallows and to h.e.l.l," interposed the robber.
"Take up some trade," pursued the count. "I will gladly a.s.sist you to become an honest man. I will lend you the money necessary to begin work, and you can pay me when you have succeeded. Surely honest labor is the best."
"I thank you for the good advice, Herr Count, but it is too late. I know very well what would be best for me; but, as I said, it is too late now.
There was a time when I would gladly have labored at my trade,--for I have one,--but no one would tolerate me because of my repulsive face.
From my childhood I have been an object of ridicule and abuse. My father was well-born, but he died in a political prison, and I was left dest.i.tute with this hideous face. No one would employ me for anything but swine-herd; and even then luck was against me, for if anything went wrong with a litter of pigs, I was always blamed for the mishap, and sent about my business. Count Jharose gave me a job once; it was a ridiculous task, but I was glad to get any kind of honest work. I had to exercise the count"s two tame bears--promenade with them through the village. The bears" fore paws were tied about their necks, so that they were obliged to walk on their hind feet, and I had to walk between them, my hands resting on a fore leg of each animal, as if I were escorting two young women. When we promenaded thus along the village street, the people would laugh and shout: "There go Count Jharose"s three tame bears." At last I got out of the way of doing hard work, and got used to being ridiculed by all the world. But I had not yet learned to steal.
The bears grew fat under my care. I was given every day two loaves of bread to feed to them. One day I saw, in a wretched hut at the end of the village, a poor woman and her daughter who were starving. From that day the bears began to grow thin; for I stole one of the loaves of bread and gave it to the poor women, who were glad enough to get it, I can tell you! But the steward found out my theft, and I was dismissed from the count"s service. The poor women were turned out of their miserable hut. The mother froze to death,--for it was winter then,--and the daughter was left on my hands. We got a Franciscan monk, whom we met in the forest, to marry us--which was a bad move for the girl, for no one would employ her, because she was my wife. So the forest became our home, hollow trees our shelter; and what a friend an old tree can become! Well, to make a long story short, necessity very soon taught me how to take what belonged to others. I got used to the vagrant life. I could not sleep under a roof any more. I could n"t live among men, and pull off my hat to my betters. When the little lad came into the world, I said to my wife: "Do you quit the forest, and look for work in some village. Don"t let the little one grow up to become a thief." She did as I bade her; but the people who hired her always found out that she was the wife of Satan Laczi, and then they would not keep her, and she would have to come back to me in the forest. And that is where I shall end my days--in the forest. I am not good for anything any more; I could n"t even plow a furrow any more. I shall end on the gallows--I feel it. I should have liked the life of a soldier, but they never would take me; they always said I would disgrace any regiment to which I might belong.
Yes, I would rather have been a soldier than anything else; but what is not to be will not be! I shall keep to my forest. I am obliged to the Herr Count for his good wishes and this delicious brandy."
The robber placed the empty gla.s.s on the table, took up his hat, and walked with heavy steps toward the door. Here he halted to say:
"I must tell you that the touch-holes of all your firearms are filled with wax. Have them cleaned, or you will not be able to shoot with them."
The count rose, and hastened to convince himself that this statement was true. He found that his firearms had indeed been rendered useless; the robber had taken good care to protect himself from an attack. When Vavel looked around again, Satan Laczi had disappeared.
CHAPTER IV
The afternoon of the following day, Henry entered the count"s study to announce that a crazy person was below, who insisted on speaking to the lord of the castle. The stranger said he had invented a cannon that would at one shot destroy fifteen hundred men. He would take no denial, but insisted that Henry should tell the Herr Count that Master Matyas had arrived.
"Yes; I sent for him to come here," answered the count. "Show him up."
The appearance of the man whom Henry conducted to his master"s presence was certainly original. He wore a costume unlike any prevailing fashion.
His upper garment was so made that it might be worn either as a coat or a mantle; if sleeves were desired there were sleeves, and none if none were required. Even his shoes were inventions of his own, for no regular shoemaker could have fashioned them. He held between the fingers of his right hand a bit of lead-pencil, with which he would ill.u.s.trate what he described on the palm of his left hand.
"You come in good time, Master Matyas," said the count.
"Yes--yes. If only I had been in good time at the battle of Marengo!"
sighed the singular man.
"Too late now for regrets of that sort, Master Matyas," smilingly responded Count Vavel. "Facts cannot be changed! I have a task for you which I desire to have completed as quickly as possible. Come, and I will show you what I want you to do."
It was the hour Marie spent in her garden; consequently the count was at liberty to conduct the jack of all trades to the young girl"s apartment, and explain what he wished to have done.
Master Matyas listened attentively to what the count said, and took the necessary measurements. When he had done so, he turned toward his patron, and said in a serious tone:
"Do you know why we lost the battle of Marengo? Because General Gvozdanovics, when Napoleon"s cavalry made that famous a.s.sault, was not clever enough to order three men into every tree on that long avenue--two of the men to load the muskets, while the third kept up a continual fire. The French hors.e.m.e.n could not have ridden up the trees, and the entire troop of cavalry would have dropped under the continuous fire! The general certainly should have commanded: "Half battalion--half left! Up the trees--forward!""
"That is true, Master Matyas," a.s.sented Count Vavel; "but I should like to know if you fully understand what I want you to do, and if you can do it?"
Master Matyas"s face brightened suddenly. "I "ll tell you what, Herr Count; if I succeed in doing what you want, I shall be able, if ever Napoleon makes another attack on us, to pen him up, with his entire army, so securely that he won"t be able to stir!"
"I have no doubt of that!" again a.s.sented the count. "What I want, however, is a secure barrier that cannot be opened from the outside.
Pray understand me. I want this barrier made in such a manner that the person within the barricade will have sufficient light and air, but be invisible to any one outside, and be perfectly secure from intruders.
Could not you let me have a little drawing of what you propose to do?"
"Certainly"; and taking a small sketch-book from his pocket, Master Matyas proceeded to do as he was requested--first, however, explaining to the count a drawing of the cannon which would mow down at one shot fifteen hundred men. "You see," he explained, "here are two cannon welded together at the breech, with their muzzles ten degrees apart. But one touch-hole suffices for both. The b.a.l.l.s are connected by a long chain, and when the cannon are fired off, the b.a.l.l.s naturally fly in opposite directions and forward at the same time, and, stretching the chain, mow off the heads of every man jack with whom it comes in contact! Fire! Boom! Heads off!"
The count was perfectly satisfied with Master Matyas. He had found a man who fully understood his business, and who knew how to hold his tongue on all subjects but on that of his infernal machines, and of his stratagems to defeat Napoleon. For two weeks Master Matyas labored diligently at his task in the Nameless Castle, during which time Henry heard so much about warlike stratagems that his sides ached from the continued laughter. But when the villagers questioned Master Matyas about his work at the castle, they could learn nothing from him but schemes to capture the ever-victorious Corsican.
"Herr Count," one day observed Henry, toward the close of the second week, "if I hear much more of Master Matyas"s wonderful battles, I shall become as crazy as he is!"
And the count replied:
"You are crazy already, my good Henry--and so am I!"