the assault to be sounded, and soon the brave soldiers, always accustomed to be victorious wherever they went, might have been seen climbing the ladders on one side of the "Cube." As soon as they reached the top of the wall, which was also the ridge of the roof, it turned on a hinge, or rather sprang open like a trap-door, as if it had been touched by a conjuring rod, and disclosed to their astonished eyes the gaping mouths of three rows of guns ranged close together. Now came a blast, loud and deep, like the sound of some giant trumpet or organ-pipe, and then what appeared like a long fiery serpent darted from one corner of the building to the other, and was followed the next moment by the thundering roar of a couple of thousand guns. There was one loud, terrible cry, and when the cloud of smoke cleared away, a couple of hundred men were to be seen lying dead and maimed round about the castle. [Pg 41]The king had given Zokoli strict orders to spare his men as much as possible. He ordered one more assault on the same side therefore, thinking that the defenders would not have had time to reload their guns. But again a couple of hundred of the besiegers fell a useless sacrifice to the experiment; and unwilling to waste any more lives, General Zokoli retired, completely baffled and much mortified, to report what had happened. And then the king's anger blazed forth, and he exclaimed,— [Pg 41] "Wait, and I'll teach you, Samson!" [Pg 42] [Pg 42] CHAPTER IV. IN THE ROBBER'S NEST. IN THE ROBBER'S NEST. Great men—especially the very few who are great even in their night-shirts, as the saying is, which was the case with King Matthias, if it ever was with any one—great men are, by their very natures, strongly attached to their own ideas and opinions. It is not easy to shake them when once they have made up their minds about a matter; for truly great men are not given to hasty judgments. They are firm in their convictions, but they have some reason to be so. Now the king had a sort of instinct or
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