Devay now went to Buda, where he had first exercised his ministry, and which was now subject to John Zapolya, the rival of Ferdinand of Austria. Zapolya, a capricious and despotic prince, was at this time in a very ill humor.[562] He had a favorite horse, which the smith from unskilfulness had pricked to the quick while shoeing it. The king, in a fit of rage, had ordered the smith to be cast into prison, and had sworn that if the animal died of the injury, the man who had pricked it should die too. Hearing that the preacher who was branded by the priests as a great heretic had arrived in his capital, his splenetic humor immediately vented itself on him. Theologian or shoeing-smith, it was all one to him, when once he was displeased. Devay was seized and confined in the same prison with the artisan. Thus the reformer escaped from a gulf only to be dashed against a rock; he fell from Charybdis upon Scylla. He was in expectation of death, but he had a good conscience; and, his zeal increasing in the prospect of eternity, he ardently desired to win some souls to God before appearing in His presence. He therefore entered into conversation with his unfortunate companion in captivity; and finding him melancholy and alarmed, he did what Paul had done in the prison at Philippi for the jailer trembling at the earthquake—he besought him to receive Jesus Christ as his Saviour, assuring him that this alone sufficed to give him eternal life. The smith believed, and great peace took the place of the distress which overwhelmed him. This was a great joy for the faithful evangelist. The horse got well, and the king, appeased, gave orders for the release of his smith from prison. When the jailer came to bring this news to the man, the latter, to the great surprise of his keeper, refused the favor which was offered him. ‘I am a partaker,’ said he, ‘in the faith for which my companion is to die. I will die with him.’ This noble speech was reported to Zapolya, who, although capricious, was still a feeling man: and he was so much affected that he commanded both the prisoners to be set at liberty. This second imprisonment of Devay lasted till 1534.