Therefore, I think it is extremely fortunate that you are, for the
present, safe in the hands of these brigands, and should certainly
advise you to make no attempt to leave them, until you are
perfectly well and strong.
"I have, as you directed me, hidden a few pieces of gold in your
shoe, and have handed the rest of your money to your man, who is
starting to join you. He will conceal it about him. I have just
heard that a body of troops are starting at once for the forest,
and that orders have been sent to other towns, to send detachments
into it at different points, so it is evident the authorities are
determined to catch you, if possible. If you had killed half a
dozen traders in a smaller way, they would have cared little about
it; but just at present, pressed as the king is by want of money,
he is bound to do everything he can to please the Jewish traders,
as it is upon them that he must rely for loans for the payment of
his troops.
"In this matter, then, he will leave no stone unturned to gratify
them, and I should strongly advise your band to move away from the
neighbourhood, at any rate for a time. They may plunder whole
villages with impunity, but what is regarded as the murder of the
richest citizen of Warsaw, a man mixed up in business and politics
with half the principal nobles of the land, is a different matter
altogether.
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