He was obliged to promise, for there were five
of them, and except women he was alone in the house. They drank a
quantity of his wine, and asked for no reckoning, saying they would pay
for it the next day along with the gunpowder.
Directly they had left the premises, the innkeeper set off as fast as
his legs could carry him to St Miklos to ask for help. The robbers
seemed to be such bunglers that one would judge them to be new to the
business; but the innkeeper's terror knew no bounds, and he declared
they were awful-looking cut-throats. Two of the men were caught the
next day. I saw them brought into the village heavily manacled; they
were harmless-looking Wallacks, not very different in appearance from my
guide over the mountain. Though armed with guns, they made no
resistance; and when they were discovered they had called out lustily to
the soldiers not to fire, for they would give themselves up. I expect
they were let off with imprisonment, but I never heard the end of the
story. I owed them a grudge for spoiling my bear-hunt, which I missed
altogether, for I could not wait until the following Sunday.
I left St Miklos with an introduction to some rich Armenians at
Toplicza, where I intended making my next halt.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the
frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration of
State property--An unpleasant night on the mountain--Snowstorm.
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