This picturesque barbarity appealed to the imagination of the Turkish ruler, who, as an artist in cruelty, conceded that Vlad belonged to a class above him. When the Turkish sovereign made a punitive expedition to Bucharest, he found the approach to the town, half a mile long, lined with stakes, on which were rotting the bodies of 2000 dead Turks. “How,” Mohammed said, “can we despoil of his estates a man who is not afraid to defend it by such means as these?” Vlad hung on the invading army, always inflicting losses, without showing himself long enough to be attacked in a formal battle. Using his familiarity with the Turkish language, he penetrated with some companions into the midst of the Turkish camp, and would have succeeded in murdering Mohammed himself, had not a mistake been made in selecting the tent. Instead of the Sultan one of the pashas was killed. Though there are conflicting accounts as to the details of Vlad’s versatility in defense, we know that Mohammed gave up his plan of aggression against Wallachia and returned to his capital, Adrianople. Vlad’s career was cut short by the enmity of his neighbor the Moldavian King, Stephen, who, afraid of his influence, drove him from his throne, although he had relied on Vlad to promote his own interests when the Moldavian succession was in dispute. This was, of course, a gross error in statesmanship, for the only possibility of resisting Turkish aggression in these extreme Eastern lands of Europe depended on the close coöperation of Moldavia and Wallachia. If Wallachia were once occupied by the Turks, Moldavia’s invasion was certain to be the next step. After Vlad’s expulsion, he took refuge at the court of Matthias of Hungary. His successor, Radu, was entirely devoted to Turkish interests; and soon after this change of rule in Wallachia, Stephen of Moldavia was able to seize the seaport town of Kilia, whose inhabitants were not unwilling to accept an overlord of better reputation than Radu, whose close relations with the Sultan had made him an object of contempt (1465). In the hostilities that followed between Matthias of Hungary and Stephen of Moldavia, the Hungarian King, who had taken up Vlad’s cause, was beaten at the battle of Baia. Stephen then invaded Transylvania, captured Peter Aron, the pretender to the throne of Moldavia, and put him to death. Peace was restored with the Hungarians on terms that were advantageous to Stephen, who received two fortresses.