"
"I am much obliged to your lordship," replied Vamhidy cooly, "but I am
bound by instructions from which I cannot depart. It is not pleasure
that brings me hither. Besides I have got a sure clue at last which I
must follow up and I know not whither it may lead me."
"Bravo! So you are on his track at last, eh! Take care my friend it is
not a false clue. These rascals are very crafty."
"It is a real clue that I have discovered. You must know that before the
confiscated gold captured in the Lucsia Cavern was sent to Vienna, every
coin of it was marked with a little cross, a very simple official
precaution, but it has proved very useful to us. Now I have come upon
these marked ducats among the people here. They themselves, I believe,
are innocent and can give the name of the persons from whom they
received them; and so, by tracing the various intermediaries, we shall
come at last, upon the original dispensers of these ducats. I can
imagine how Fatia Negra will laugh when he hears that the soldiers of
six counties are hunting for him in the depths of the forests and
tapping every rotten tree-stump in search of him while he is sitting
comfortably in some large theatre and eyeing the ballet-dancers through
his opera glass; but he will be very much surprised when, one fine day,
without any preliminary siege-operations we shall tap at his own door
and enquire: 'Is Fatia Negra at home?'"
Hatszegi laughed heartily.
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