Next morning there was not
a trace of them anywhere.
CHAPTER XXI
THE HUNTED BEAST
Such a piece of audacity could not be overlooked.
That a robber horseman should in the middle of the nineteenth century
and within the confines of a civilized state take it into his head to
attack, in broad daylight, post wagons defended by a strong escort of
regular soldiers--was a thing unheard of.
The news spread like lightning through the six confederated counties and
everyone seized his sword and musket. So old Gerzson Satrakovics whom
everybody had laughed at, was right after all. It was universally agreed
that a stop must be put to this sort of thing once for all. There was no
waiting now for the meetings of Quarter Sessions. The lord-lieutenants
of the counties proclaimed the _statarium_,[47] called out the
_banderia_[48] and gathered together the county _pandurs_[49] and the
militia, in order by their combined efforts, to extirpate the evil
without having recourse to the assistance of the military--a measure
always repugnant to the freedom-loving Magyars.
[Footnote 47: A decree authorizing summary procedure.]
[Footnote 48: Mounted gentry.]
[Footnote 49: Police.]
Squire Gerzson was elected the leader of this vast hunt, whose area
extended over hundreds of square miles, by all the six counties
concerned--it was generally felt that this was but due to him for the
neglect of his warnings--and Mr.
Pages:
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352