l come to your
assistance at the head of a fresh band of them."

Maria approved of his design, and, whipping up her horse, galloped
towards the town at such a rate that shaggy Hanak felt constrained to
pray Heaven that his comrade might not break his neck before he got
there.

CHAPTER XII.

IN THE MIDST OF THE FIRE.

Zudar was to-night more anxious than at other times. He had put up the
iron shutters in front of his windows immediately after dusk, and had
gone to bed much earlier than usual.

The evening prayer of the little girl soothed him for a while. "Amen!
Amen!" he kept repeating after her, laying stress upon the word--and
then something began agitating him again strangely.

"An evil foreboding, an evil foreboding," he kept on murmuring; "some
great calamity is about to befall me."

"You have caught cold, my good father," said the little girl soothingly,
stroking the old man's forehead with her tiny hand; "your hand is
trembling, your head is burning..."

"I am all shivering inside," said the old man; "a sort of deadly
coldness seems to come from within me. Don't you hear a noise in the
courtyard?"

"There is nothing, my father. Only the horses are stamping in the
stable."

"But don't you hear talking, whispering beneath the windows, just as if
someone was digging at the wall below?"

"The dog is settling down for the night; 'tis he who is scratching down
below there. Go to rest, my good father!"

"I will lie down, but I shall not be able to sleep. Put my musket at the
head of my bed."

Elise took the gun down from the wall, examined it carefully to make
sure that it was in perfect order, and then leaned it against the bed.

Then they both lay down.

Zudar kept conversing for a long time with Elise in the darkness, and
assuring her that he should never go to sleep--nevertheless, suddenly,
there was a deep silence, followed presently by a deep, thunderous
snore, only interrupted from time to time by cries of terror, as if the
sleeper were tormented by evil dreams, and at such times he would fling
himself violently against the sides of the bed.

The child did not sleep. Resting on her elbows she lay there listening
and gazing steadily into the vision-haunted darkness.

Presently it seemed to her also as if a large concourse of people was
moving backwards and forwards along the wall outside, and a great deal
of whispering appeared to come from the kitchen.

Suddenly she heard a soft k