enemy. The two armies encountered each other a few leagues from
Moscow. The followers of Michel, fighting with the energies of
despair, were unexpectedly successful, and Georges, with his Russian
and Tartar troops, was thoroughly defeated.

Kavgadi, the leader of the Tartar allies of Georges, was taken
prisoner. Michel, appalled by the thought of the vengeance he might
anticipate from the great khan, whose power he had thus ventured to
defy, treated his captive, Kavgadi, with the highest consideration,
and immediately set him at liberty loaded with presents. Georges,
accompanied by Kavgadi, repaired promptly to the court of the khan,
Usbeck, who was then encamped, with a numerous army, upon the shores
of the Caspian Sea. Soon an embassador of the khan arrived at
Vladimir, and informed Michel that Usbeck was exasperated against him
to the highest degree.

"Hasten," said he, "to the court of the great khan, or within a month
you will see your provinces inundated by his troops. Think of your
peril, when Kavgadi has informed Usbeck that you have dared to resist
his authority."

Terrified by these words, the nobles of Michel entreated him not to
place himself in the power of the khan, but to allow some one of them
to visit the _horde_, as it was then called, in his stead, and
endeavor to appease the wrath of the monarch.

"No," replied the high-minded prince; "Usbeck demands my presence not
yours. Far be it from me, by my disobedience, to expose my country to
ruin. If I resist the commands of the khan, my country will be doomed
to new woes; thousands of Christians will perish, the victims of his
fury. It is impossible for us to repel the forces of the Tartars. What
other asylum is there then for me but death? Is it not better for me
to die, if I may thus save the lives of my faithful subjects?"

He made his will, divided his estates among his sons, and entreating
them ever to be faithful to the dictates of virtue, bade them an
eternal adieu. Michel encountered the khan near the mouth of the Don,
as it enters the Sea of Azof. Usbeck was on a magnificent hunting
excursion, accompanied by his chieftains and his army. For six weeks
he did not deign, to pay any attention to the Russian prince, not even
condescending to order him to be guarded. The rich presents Michel had
brought, in token of homage, were neither received nor rejected, but
were merely disregarded as of no moment whatever.

At length, one morning, suddenl