lowed after Banfy, but
could not overtake him. He kept ahead all the way, sometimes several
hours' march. It was already late at night when Banfy with his two
hundred riders reached the point where the Koeroes cuts its way through
the wooded valley. At the bridge the Turks had encamped. The Bedouins
lay there with their long weapons, on the watch. It was not possible
to take them by surprise. In the direction of Banfy-Hunyad there was a
glow on the heavens, sometimes sinking, sometimes mounting high again.
Banfy left his men in concealment on the further bank, while he
himself, attended by only four men went down to the river to find a
ford. The Koeroes is here so furious that it sweeps the horseman from
his horse; but fortunately, on account of the drought of the hot
summer, it had so fallen that Banfy soon found a place where it flowed
quietly, and waded through with his comrades. Then he sent one of them
back to bring the rest, but he himself remained gazing fixedly in the
direction where the fire was in sight.

Meantime, one of the six Bedouin horsemen on guard noticed the three
riders, and the leader called out to them to stand. Banfy tried to
retreat, but three Bedouins sprang on him from behind and three more
rushed toward him, lances in rest.

"Bend down on your horses' necks and seize your spear in your left
hand," Banfy shouted to his men, and drew his sword against the
assailants; so in the darkness of the night they fell upon one another
silently. Banfy was in the middle. The lances of the three Bedouins
whizzed through the air at the same time. Banfy's comrades fell on
both sides from their horses, while he with his left hand skilfully
wrested the lance from one of the guards and with the right hand dealt
him a blow that cleft his skull. When Banfy saw that he was alone he
turned at once on his two foes and struck one down with his lance and
the other with his sword. Three more horsemen came furiously toward
him from the bank. "Come on," growled Banfy, with that grim humor so
characteristic of certain warriors in the moment of danger. "I'll
teach you how to handle the spear," he added, with a smile; shielded
on the rear by a group of trees, he thrust his sword into its sheath,
grasped his spear with both hands and within two minutes all three lay
stretched on the ground. Then he looked round and saw with joy that
the enemy at the bridge were too far away to notice the fight, and his
two hundred horsemen w