tryman carrying maize to be ground
at the mill, him they took along with them as guide.

After that they travelled all night long, passing through Skeritora and
Nyigsa, till they came to the cataract of Vidra, which they reached at
dawn of day.

The houses of these Alpine villages are so far apart that next
neighbours cannot even see each other's dwellings, as there is at least
half a league between them. This circumstance and the night-season
favoured Szilard's plans. They could surround each house, one by one,
without the inhabitants of the other houses being aware of what had
happened in the first ones.--A fruitless labour for they found nothing
of a suspicious nature.

Tired out, the band, early in the morning, reached the house beneath the
waterfall; here they felt the need of halting. Szilard put some
questions to the guide and then dismissed him, commanding him to return
to Skeritora.

When the guide had mounted, the _pandur_ sergeant observed to Szilard:
"I fancy, your honour, that that rascal does not mean to return to
Skeritora, but as soon as he is out of sight will turn back and give the
alarm beforehand in all the districts on our line of march."

"I fancy so too."

"But then every suspected person will get wind of the whole affair and
have time to bolt."

"That is just what I want. The trouble is at present that they lie so
still."

And with that he ordered half of his _pandurs_ to lie down and sleep and
the other half to remain awake and so relieve each other every three
hours. So the _pandurs_ rested till midday and then the sergeant began
to urge Szilard to set off again or else they would arrive too late.

"It is too early yet," replied Szilard, and he spent a good half of the
afternoon there doing nothing. Only then did he take horse again,
complaining to everyone how much yesterday's ride had taken it out of
him, and asking everybody he met on the road, coming or going, where the
next village lay?--how to get to it?--and in what direction the highroad
lay?

The old _pandurs_ naturally began murmuring among themselves. "Oh!" said
they, "if he keeps on blurting out his whole line of route like this, we
shall only have the empty nests of the robbers to thresh out for our
trouble."

"And this chap thinks, forsooth, that he will capture Fatia Negra!"
growled the veteran sergeant.

But no sooner did they get beyond the fenced fields than Szilard
suddenly turned his horse's head and leading