♦Suspicions of the Emperor.♦ The fact was that Leopold shrank from sending his victorious neighbour into a rebellious province of his empire. Yet he dared not stop him. His suspicions were increased when John received overtures from Tekeli, the Hungarian leader, and attempted to intercede for him. The Emperor’s coldness had so far alienated his German allies, that the Elector of Saxony withdrew his troops, and the Elector of Bavaria threatened to do the same. He did nothing to recognise the services of the Duke of Lorraine. He coveted the spoil, and even had the assurance to suggest, through his head groom, that John should present him with some of the Vizier’s horses. The gift was made and received as a due. The king also made such handsome presents to many of the German princes, that he gaily tells the queen she will have to be content with the buffaloes and camels.[109] His general distrust of the Austrians was such that he deposited his part of the spoil with the Jesuits.[110] ♦John advances into Hungary.♦ At length (September 17), weary of waiting for the Imperial troops, he started for the Danube. His design was to attack Lower Hungary, which had been a Turkish province for a hundred and fifty years, and to invest Buda, its capital. Thither the Vizier had retired to rally the remains of his army, and was avenging his defeat by the execution of a crowd of pachas. The Turks could hardly believe that the Christians would retaliate at once by invading their territory, and Sobieski’s advance created the utmost alarm. But he was unhappily delayed at Presburg by a fever[111] which attacked his troops and produced such distress as to shake his resolution to proceed. ♦Intrigues of the queen.♦ Another cause of his chagrin was the scarcely concealed intriguing of the queen among the troops to force him to return. She tried to persuade him that she was in constant fear of the troops of Tekeli. In two admirable letters[112] he tells her the powerful motives which induce him to continue the campaign. He shows her that the Poles are crushing their national enemy without the cost of one sou to the republic, and declares that, since the Christian armies have elected him their generalissimo, he will remain even if his countrymen desert him to finish the campaign. “I have devoted my life,” he says, “to the glory of God and to this holy cause, and to that I will adhere.”