CHAP. PAGE I. A HUNT IN THE YEAR 1666 1 II. THE HOUSE AT EBESFALVA 18 III. A PRINCE IN HIS OWN DESPITE 27 IV. A BANQUET WITH THE PRINCE OF TRANSYLVANIA 37 V. BODOLA 45 VI. THE BATTLE OF NAGY SZÖLLÖS 57 VII. THE PRINCESS 70 VIII. THE PERI 85 IX. THE PRINCE AND HIS MINISTER 105 BOOK II. THE DEVIL'S GARDEN. I. THE PATROL 125 II. SANGE MOARTE 135 III. AN HUNGARIAN MAGNATE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 155 IV. THE MIDNIGHT BATTLE 173 V. THE BANQUET TRIBUNAL 189 VI. THE DIET OF KAROLY-FEHERVÁR 197 VII. THE JUS LIGATUM 210 VIII. DEATH FOR A KISS 218 IX. CONSORT AND CONCUBINE 228 X. THE SENTENCE 257 'MIDST THE WILD CARPATHIANS. BOOK I. BY COMMAND OF THE PADISHAH. CHAPTER I. A HUNT IN THE YEAR 1666. Before us lies the valley of the Drave, one of those endless wildernesses where even the wild beast loses its way. Forests everywhere, maples and aspens a thousand years old, with their roots under water; magnificent morasses the surface of which is covered, not with reeds and water-lilies, but with gigantic trees, from the dependent branches of which the vivifying waters force fresh roots. Here the swan builds her nest; here too dwell the royal heron, the blind crow, the golden plover, and other man-shunning animals which are rarely if ever seen in more habitable regions. Here and there on little mounds, left bare during the long summer drought by the receding waters, sprout strange and gorgeous flowers, such perhaps as the earth has not brought forth since the Flood overwhelmed her. In this slimy soil every blade of grass shoots up like gigantic broom; the funnel-shaped convolvuluses and the evergreen ground-ivy put forth tendrils as stout and as strong as vine branches, which, stretching from tree to tree, twine round their stems and hang flowery garlands about the dark, sombre maples, just as if some hamadryad had crowned the grove dedicated to her.