g, another too small; so Gyuri went on and on in
search of one, and got so far that soon the carriage was out of sight,
and only Veronica's red sunshade was to be seen in the distance, like a
large mushroom. At length his eyes fell on a young birch, which grew
near to a small precipice. It was too big for a seedling and too small
for a tree, but well-grown and promising. All the same it must be
sacrificed, and down came the axe.

But hardly had two or three blows been struck, when a voice was heard,
crying out:

"Reta! Reta!" (Help! Help!)

Gyuri started and turned round. Who had called? The voice seemed quite
close, but no one was visible far and near.

Again the call for help was repeated, and now it seemed to come out of
the earth, and Gyuri immediately concluded it came from the precipice,
and ran toward it.

"Here I am!" he called out. "Where are you and what is the matter?"

"I am down the precipice," was the answer; "help me, for God's sake!"

Gyuri looked down, and saw a figure there in a black coat, but he could
not see much of it, for it would have been dangerous to have gone too
near to the edge.

"How did you manage to get down there?"

"I fell in yesterday evening," answered the man in the black coat.

"What! Yesterday evening! And can't you get out?"

"It is impossible, for there is nothing to hold on to, and if I catch
hold of any projecting bits, they give way, and I fall back with them."

"You are in a bad way altogether! And has no one passed here since
then?"

"No one comes this way. I was prepared for the worst when I heard the
sound of blows in the neighborhood. Thank God you came! Help me if you
can, good man, whoever you may be, and I will reward you!"

"I will help you of course with the greatest pleasure, but I must think
first how to manage it. If I let down the trunk of a small tree could
you climb up it?"

"I am very weak from want of sleep and from hunger," answered the man,
his voice getting weaker from shouting.

"Poor fellow! Wait a moment!"

He had suddenly remembered the apples Mrs. Mravucsan had put in his
pockets that morning.

"Hallo, there! Lookout! I am going to throw down a few apples to go on
with while I think over what I am to do."

He took the apples out of his pockets, and rolled them down one after
the other.

All of a sudden he remembered that Veronica's was among them. Supposing
she were vexed at his giving it away!

"Have you got them?"

"Yes