tly 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.

At Toplicza I was very hospitably received by the family to whom I took
the letter of introduction from my friends at the last place.
Unfortunately I could not converse with the elders of the family, for
they spoke no German, and my Hungarian was limited. However, there was a
charming young lady with whom I found no difficulty in getting on; she
understood not only the language but the literature of Germany.

A bear-hunt was soon proposed in my honour. The headman of the village
was brought into our council, and he quickly sent round orders that
everybody was to appear the following day--which conveniently happened
to be _fete_ day--for a hunt. Those who had guns would be placed at
different "stands," and those who had no guns were expected to act as
beaters.

The _Richter_, or headman, was a fine specimen of a Wallack; he was six
feet three, broad chested, with flowing black hair--a handsome fellow of
that type. I told him I should not like to fight him if he knew how to
use his fists. He was pleased at the little compliment. The next day the
Wallacks came pouring in from all the outlying parts of the village. It
was really a very picturesque sight. The men wore thongs of leather
round their feet in pl