fe which caused him no
trouble. But in the year 1325 Georges again went to the horde on the
eastern banks of the Caspian. At the same time, Dmitri appeared in the
encampment. Meeting Georges accidentally, whom he justly regarded as
the murderer of his father, he drew his sword, and plunged it to the
hilt in the heart of the grand prince. The khan, accustomed to such
deeds of violence, was not disposed to punish the son who had thus
avenged the death of his father. But the friends of Georges so
importunately urged that to pardon such a crime would be an
ineffaceable stain upon his honor, would be an indication of weakness,
and would encourage the Russian princes in the commission of other
outrages, that after the lapse of ten months, during which time Dmitri
had been detained a captive, Usbeck ordered his execution, and the
unfortunate prince was beheaded. Dmitri was then but twenty-seven
years of age.

And yet Usbeck seems to have had some regard for the cause of the
young prince, for he immediately appointed Alexander, a brother of
Dmitri, and son of Michel, to succeed Georges in the grand
principality. The Novgorodians promptly received him as their ruler.
Affairs wore in this State when, at the close of the summer of 1327,
an embassador of Usbeck appeared, with a band of Tartars, and entered
the royal city of Tver, which was the residence of Alexander. The
principality of the Tver was spread along the head waters of the
Volga, just north of the principality of Moscow. The report spread
through the city that the Mogol embassador, Schevkal, who was a
zealous Mohammedan, had come to convert the Russians to Mohammedanism,
that he intended the death of Alexander, to ascend the throne himself,
and to distribute the cities of the principality to his followers.

The Tverians, in a paroxysm of terror and despair, rallied for the
support of their prince and their religion. In a terrible tumult all
the inhabitants rose and precipated themselves upon the embassador and
his valiant body guard. From morning until night the battle raged in
the streets of Tver. The Tartars, overpowered by numbers, and greatly
weakened by losses during the day, took refuge in a palace. The
citizens set the palace on fire, and every Tartar perished, either
consumed by the flames or cut down by the Russians.

When Usbeck heard of this event, he was, at first, stupefied by the
audacity of the deed. He imagined that all Russia was in the
conspiracy,