o Manasseh.

"Now take me with you whithersoever you will!" she cried, and she sank
on his bosom and suffered him to clasp her in a warm embrace.

CHAPTER XIV.

WALLACHIAN HOSPITALITY.

Manasseh had not much choice of routes in making his way, with his
companion, to Transylvania. After leaving Italy, he bent his course
first to Dees, as the road thither seemed to offer no obstacles to
peaceful travellers. Troops were, indeed, encountered here and there on
the way; but they suffered Manasseh and Blanka to pass unmolested.
Manasseh had fortunately provided a generous hamper of supplies, so that
his companion was not once made aware that they were passing through a
district lately overrun by a defeated army, which had so exhausted the
resources of all the wayside inns that hardly a bite or a sup was to be
had for love or money.

The weather was unusually fine, as the sunny autumn had that year
extended into the winter. The Transylvanian was perfectly familiar with
the region, and entertained his fellow-traveller with legends and
stories of the places through which they passed. In the splendid
chestnut forests that crowned the heights of Nagy-Banya he told her the
adventures of the bandit chief, Dionysius Tolvaj, who kept the whole
countryside in terror, until at last the men of Nagy-Banya hunted him
down and slew him. In his mountain cave are still to be seen his stone
table, his fireplace, and the spring from which he drank. Manasseh also
related the adventures of bear-hunters in these woods, and told about
the search for gold that had long been carried on in the mountains, and
often with success, so that many of them were now honeycombed with
shafts and tunnels.

Up from yonder valley rose the spirit of the mountains, a white and
vapoury form, with which the sturdy mountaineers fought for the
possession of the hidden treasure. In reality, however, it was no genie,
but simply the fumes of sulphur and arsenic from the smelting works of
the miners, who never drew breath without inhaling poison. And yet they
lived and throve and were a healthy and happy people, the men strong,
the women fair, and one and all fondly attached to their mountain home.

One evening Manasseh pointed to a town in the distance, and told his
companion that it was Kolozsvar. As they drew nearer they saw that it
was garrisoned with a division of the national guard. Manasseh was now
among people who knew him well, and he did not expect t