n drinking out of the barrel as if they had made
up their minds to discover what poison really tasted like.

The lout of a spokesman now filled his hat with brandy up to the brim,
and held it out towards Maria.

"Come, young sir," said he, "if you don't believe that there's poison in
it, just taste for yourself and see."

Maria, full of loathing, pushed aside the dirty hat-full of nauseous
fluid.

"You see! he won't drink it! he knows there is poison in it."

"Pull him off his horse!" cried a voice from the midst of the crowd.

"We ought to hang him up where the Hetfalusy squires are going to be
hung!" roared the others.

The dirty lout, who had offered her brandy, quickly seized the horse's
bridle, and several of the mob stretched out their hands towards Maria.

These savage menaces acted like a stimulant upon the Polish lady, she
recovered her presence of mind instantly. She brought down the round
knob of her riding-whip like lightning on the head of the fellow who was
trying to hold her horse back, and he fell like a log prone to the
ground. Then giving her good steed the spur she leaped clear of the
encircling mob. A bludgeon came whizzing after her just above her head,
and the belated sweeping strokes of a couple of scythes just missed her.
One or two agile young ruffians even set off after her, and as two large
waggons lay right across her path a little further on, they made sure of
overtaking her there. But the lady, with a single bound, leaped over the
obstacle, whereupon her pursuers remained behind, but as she turned her
back upon them they sent after her a horrible yell of laughter. "That's
right, go on!" she heard them cry, "you are going to a good place, where
you'll be well looked after--ha, ha, ha!"

Maria had only proceeded a few hundred paces when she was thunderstruck
to perceive that her horse was beginning to limp. More than once it
stumbled heavily, and suddenly it went dead lame.

The good steed, when it leaped the obstruction, must assuredly have
sprained its front leg.

Presently it could scarce put one foot before the other, and Maria was
obliged to tighten the reins continually to relieve the poor beast and
prevent it from stumbling as much as possible. It was as well that her
pursuers had abandoned the chase, for she could scarce have hoped to
escape from them now.

But what sort of disorderly mob could this be? Maria, now growing
thoroughly alarmed, began to ask herself; a mob w