Gross Wardein, which lay a long distance off, near the
Transylvanian frontier. I had provided myself with one of the wicker
carriages of the country, and travelled post, usually having three
horses harnessed abreast; or, where there was much uphill, a team of
five.

I mention this, for I own that the exhilaration of speeding along at the
stretching gallop of these splendid _juckers_, tossing their wild names
madly, and ringing out their myriads of bells, was an ecstasy of delight
almost maddening. Over and over, as the excited driver would urge his
beasts to greater speed by a wild shrill cry, have I yelled out in
concert with him, carried away by an intense excitement I could not
master.

On the second day of the journey we left the region of roads, and
usually directed our course by some church spire or tower in the
distance, or followed the bank of a river, when not too devious. This
headlong swoop across fields and prairies, dashing madly on in what
seemed utter recklessness, was glorious fun; and when we came to cross
the small bridges which span the streams, without rail or parapet at
either side, and where the deviation of a few inches would have sent us
headlong into the torrent beneath, I felt a degree of blended terror and
delight such as one experiences in the mad excitement of a fox-hunt.

On the third morning I discovered, on awaking, that a heavy fall of snow
had occurred during the night, and we were forced to take off our wheels
and place the carriage on sledge-slides. This alone was wanting to make
the enjoyment perfect, and our pace from this hour became positively
steeple-chasing. Lying back in my ample fur mantle, and my hands
enclosed in a fur muff, I accepted the salutations of the villagers
as we swept along, or blandly raised my hand to my cap as some wearied
guard would hurriedly turn out to present arms to a supposed "magnate;"
for we were long out of the beat of usual travel, and rarely any but
some high official of the State was seen to come "extra post," as it is
called, through these wild regions.

Up to Izarous the country had been a plain, slightly, but very slightly,
undulating. Here, however, we got amongst the mountains, and the charm
of scenery was now added to the delight of the pace. On the fifth day
I learned, and not without sincere regret, that we were within seven
German miles--something over thirty of ours--from Gross Wardein, from
which the Hunyadi Schloss only lay about f