By the time Moses came in to see Dora, she was utterly worn out.
"I don't think so," was the answer. "At least, he said nothing about it."
"We must all watch to-night, Mr. Moses; I am afraid they may come back and bring more with them."
"My dear young lady," said Moses, "whether they do or not, this castle is no place for you now. It is only the mercy of God which has preserved you this time."
"But I must not stir from here until I hear from my father! Besides, where can I go? If the Tartars have discovered such an out-of-the-way place as this, the country must be swarming with them!"
"It was easy enough for them to find their way here," growled Moses, with sundry not too respectful expletives. "It was that good-for-nothing clerk, Libor, who brought them down on us."
"That's true indeed; but now that they have found us out, others may come. So, Mr. Moses, we must have our eyes open, and as soon as we can, we must have the moat cleared, and make the castle more secure if possible."
Moses said "good-night," though he well knew that Dora would not go to rest, and then he, too, went to the porter's room.
It was a most unusual thing for the Mongols to abandon any attack, but just as Talabor had begun to pelt the assailants with the heavy missiles already mentioned, one of the chiefs sent with Libor (possibly to act as spy upon him), hastily quitted the post of danger and hurried after the governor-clerk, whom he found in the wood, trying as best he might to bind up the wound from which he had now drawn the arrow. The wound, though deep enough, was not serious.
"Why, Knéz! sitting here under the trees, are you?" cried the Mongol roughly, in his own uncouth tongue. "Sitting here, when those Magyar dogs have done for more than a hundred of our men!"
"Directly, Bajdár!" said Libor sharply, "you see I have been shot in the head and can't move!"
"Directly? and can't move? shot in the head? Perhaps you don't keep your head where we Mongols keep ours! but what will the Khan say, if we take back 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 the fight have managed to save your own skin! quite enough have fallen for all that, and we shall all perish if this mad business goes on any longer. Take care, Knéz! Look after yourself! for Batu Khan is not used to being played with by new men such as you!"