it to Mongol soldier . . . they all let you pass, do not harm you.”
“And now, let us go to the tent.” With these words Peta slipped the big gold signet ring he had taken in the battle at Kalka from the king Mesteslav off his finger and proffered it to Peace-Renown. Set within the ring was a beautiful green beryl with figures carved upon it. Peace-Renown hesitated about accepting the gift from the enemy which perhaps represented the reward for her father’s traitorous deed.
“Take it, child, it is the gift of the great descendant of Jinghis Khan,” said the boyar. “It’s a sign of his gracious beneficence assuring your safety within the encampment.”
“We will have to part, my dear. Their military rules forbid women to remain within their entrenchment. But with that ring you will be able to come and go whenever you need to do so.”
While Peace-Renown still hesitated an idea suddenly suggested itself to her and she took the ring. Turning her face away demurely, she said briefly, “Thank you!”
Peta ordered that she be taken to another tent which had been hurriedly prepared for her father while Tuhar Wolf remained with the Mongolian commanders to take part in their parley.
The first to speak was Peta, chief commander of the army, a man of about forty and a typical Mongolian, short, with lively, deep-set, piercingly bright little eyes, cool-headed, quick to resolve and quick to strike.
“Sit down, friend,” said he to the boyar. “When we tell you that we have been anticipating your arrival, we wish to have it understood that we praise your faithfulness to the great Jinghis Khan. However, you are somewhat tardy. Our army has been here three days already while the great Jinghis Khan, in sending us to the West, to the land of his serfs the Magyars, had warned us against tarrying in any place as long as three
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