After having in some measure soothed the terrors of his daughter, the
chancellor called to him his trusty Hakem. He briefly explained to him
that the Duke of Lithuania was at that moment in open rebellion
against his Majesty, and placed in his hands a warrant for his
execution. "The law cannot reach him through its usual servants," he
said; "it is a bold enterprise I propose to you--to decapitate a
general at the head of his troops."
If this was a measure which hardly another minister than Laski would
have contemplated, it was one also which he would have hardly found
another than Hakem to undertake and accomplish. The bravery of this
man was all but miraculous, and was only rescued from madness by the
extreme skill and address by which it was supported. In battle, he
rushed on danger as a bold and delighted swimmer plunges in the waves,
which to him are as innocuous as the breeze that is freshening them.
Yet, when the excitement was passed, he relapsed into a state of
apparent apathy. He had been taken captive in one of those
engagements, at this time not unfrequent, between the Poles and the
Turks, with the latter of whom he had served as a soldier of fortune.
To say that he was taken prisoner, is hardly correct; for he was found
lying half dead on the field of battle, and was brought home by the
Poles, by some caprice of compassion, with their own sick and dying.
Neither was it constraint that held him beneath the roof of Laski, or
in the nominal condition of a slave, for at all times escape would
have been easy to him. It was either attachment to those who lived
beneath that roof, or an equal indifference to every thing without or
beyond it, that retained him there.
To propose to Hakem some bold and perilous enterprise, was to offer
him one of the few pleasures to which he was open. He accepted,
therefore, of the strange commission now entrusted to him without
hesitation; stipulating, only, that he might take from the stables of
the king a horse which was much celebrated for its amazing power and
fleetness.
Mounted upon this incomparable steed, he pursued his way to the camp
of the Duke of Lithuania. On his journey he had made trial of its
speed, and yet had husbanded its strength. Arrived at the plain where
the insurgent army was encamped, he there lay in ambush for some time,
till he saw where the duke, passing his troops in review, rode
somewhat in advance of what in the language of modern warfare we
should call his staff. Hakem set spurs to his horse, and rushed upon
him with the velocity of lightning, his drawn cimeter flashing in the
sun, and his loud cry of defiance calling the duke to his defence.
Thus challenged, he put his lance in rest to meet his furious
assailant. But the thrust of the lance was avoided, and the next
moment the head of the duke was seen to roll upon the field. The Arab
wheeled round, and, without quitting his steed, picked up the severed
head, placed it on his saddle-bows, and darted off fleeter than the
wind. A cry of horror and a shout of pursuit arose from the whole
army, who were spectators of this scene. Every horse was in motion.
But where the contest is one of speed, of what avail are numbers? In
the whole camp there was not a steed which could compete with that on
which the solitary fugitive was mounted, and was already seen scouring
the plain at a distance. As he fled, a paper was observed to fall from
his hands, which the wind bore amongst his innumerable pursuers; it
was the judicial warrant that had been thus strangely executed.
Meanwhile, at the palace, the royal mind of Sigismund was not a little
disquieted and alarmed by this sudden rebellion of the powerful Duke
of Lithuania. That alarm would not have been diminished had he been
aware that this open rebellion was to be aided by a secret domestic
treason, which, in his own palace, was lying in ambush for his life.
The queen, whilst watching her opportunity to perform her part in this
criminal enterprise, affected to throw all the blame of this
formidable rebellion on the unpopularity of the minister Laski, whose
measures, indeed, the duke proclaimed as the main motive of his
conduct.
Matters were in this condition when Count Laski, attended by his
slave, entered the royal apartment. There were present, beside the
queen, several of the nobility--all prepared, by the insinuations and
address of the queen, to give but a cold greeting to the minister.
"In good time," said the queen, "Count Laski makes his appearance. We
wish to know how you will extricate his Majesty from the peril in
which your unpopular counsels have thrust him. With what forces will
you meet the Duke of Lithuania? Now, when there is need of the brave
chivalry of Poland to defend the king from rebellion, we find the
nobility alienated from the crown by your unwise, and arrogant, and
plebeian policy. But let us hear what is the excellent advice, what is
the good intelligence, that you now bring us?"
"The Duke of Lithuania, madam," said the chancellor, slightly raising
his voice, but preserving the same calm dignity as if he had been
presiding in a high court of justice--"the Duke of Lithuania is in
open, manifest rebellion; and rebellion is, in the laws of all
nations, punished by death."
"Punished!" said the queen scoffingly: "are you speaking of some
trembling caitiff who holds up his naked hand at your bar of justice?
Punished! you must conquer him."
"Your Majesty will be pleased to hear," continued the chancellor with
a look full of significance, "that Albert Glinski, Duke of Lithuania,
whose treason was open and proclaimed, has been by the royal warrant
sentenced"----
Count Laski paused.
"Sentenced!" exclaimed Bona, and repeated her scornful laugh, which
this time but ill concealed a certain vague terror that was rising in
her mind. "Is our chancellor mad, or does he sport with us? This
rebel, whom you talk of sentencing--of condemning, we presume, to the
block--stands at the head of a greater army than his Majesty can at
this moment assemble."
"And the sentence," pursued the minister, "has been executed!"
As he pronounced these words, the slave Hakem advanced, and drawing
aside his robe, which had hitherto concealed it, he held up by the
hair the severed head of the Duke of Lithuania.
There ran a thrill of horror through the assembly. But, the next
moment, a loud hysterical shriek drew the attention of all parties to
the queen: she had fallen insensible at the feet of the king. The
council was abruptly dismissed.