The Kaiser shook his head as he went through it. "Of course I understand Serb," he said; "but I never wrote this. Where did you get it from?" "From the leader of the twenty-four men dressed as Turks, who, in your Majesty's name, dragged me by night from out of the dungeon of the Assembly House in Pesth. Two of them came hither with me. Your Majesty saw them in the other room." "Bring them in here," ordered the Emperor. One of the two secretaries went then and there to fetch them in, but returned immediately with the news that the two men had already left the Hofburg. "The police must be notified," said Joseph. But all their trouble was in vain. The two unknowns on leaving the palace had made direct for the river-bank, where a boat manned by four oarsmen had awaited them, and carried them away in the fog which overhung the river. Here was an enigma to clear up! Why the men had conducted him to the palace; why they had waited for his meeting with the Emperor and then deserted him entirely; whether they had been indeed friends or foes in disguise, Ráby could not imagine. It remained an unsolved mystery. CHAPTER XXXVII. That year saw the appearance of a strange and new phenomenon in Vienna, namely the first Hungarian newspaper. Then for the first time did the Magyar feel he had a purpose in life, and see that by providing the world with a certain quantity of news (whether true or otherwise it mattered not to him), he could get for that same news a certain amount of money. Such was the _début_ of the _Magyar Hiradó_; it was edited in Vienna, and then circulated in Hungary forthwith. Little it mattered to its readers what were the news it contained; as long as there was something to read was the main concern of its eager public. And so it was that a copy of the _Magyar Hiradó_ found its way to the Assembly House in Pesth, for the head-notary, Tárhalmy, had been extravagant enough to invest in one. His neighbours borrowed it freely, and many were the messages that Mariska received to ask her to procure for the senders the loan of the coveted news-sheet. And even the girl herself was not without curiosity to see what this famous journal contained, though she was too ignorant of Hungarian to be able to understand its contents. She fondly imagined that everything that happened in the world would be written down there as news, and she often tried to spell out the strange Magyar sentences. One day, however, after more futile efforts than usual, she summoned up courage to ask her father the question she had at heart! "Father, is poor Mathias Ráby released?" Tárhalmy looked at her sadly, he guessed well enough the reason of her study of the _Magyar Hiradó_. "This time he is free, child," he answered; "but if he runs into danger again, he won't get off so easily." "Is he really a bad man, father?" "He is the best man alive, and both just and honourable."