cases of capital offences, and no less than two hundred of the
malefactors were condemned to the gallows.

"Wherever they can the peasants will shelter the 'poor lads' from the
law," said my friend. "It happened only last spring in our neighbourhood
that a robber had been tracked to a village, but though this had
happened on several occasions, yet the authorities failed to find him.
It was known that he had a sweetheart there, a handsome peasant girl,
who was herself a favourite with everybody. One day, however, the
soldiers discovered him hidden in a hay-loft. There was a terrible
struggle; the robber, discharging his revolver, killed one man and
wounded another. At length he was secured, strongly bound, and placed in
a waggon to be conveyed to the nearest fortress. When passing through a
wood the convoy was set upon by a lot of women, who flung flowers into
the waggon, and a little farther on a rescue was attempted; but the
military were in strong force, and the villagers had to content
themselves with loud expressions of sympathy for the 'poor lad.' He was,
in truth, a handsome, gallant young fellow--open-handed, generous to the
poor, and with the courage of a lion--just the sort of hero for a
mischievous romance."

The following story, related by my friend Baroness B----, proves that
there were men amongst these outlaws who were not destitute of patriotic
feeling. In the year 1867 a band of "poor lads" surprised a country
gentleman's house by night. It was their habit to ask for money and
valuables, and woe betide those who refused, unless they were strong
enough to resist the demand. Horrible atrocities were committed by these
miscreants, who have been known to torture the inhabitants of lonely
dwellings, finishing their brutal work by setting fire to house and
homestead.

On the occasion above named the robber band consisted of more than a
dozen well-armed men, and as the household was but small, resistance
was out of the question. They made a forcible entrance, and were going
the round of every room in the house, collecting all valuables of a
portable nature, when it chanced that they entered the guest-chamber,
that had for its occupant no less a person than the great patriot
Francis Deak. The intruders instantly pounced on a very handsome gold
watch lying on a table near the bedside. Mr Deak, thus rudely disturbed,
awoke to the unpleasant fact that his much-prized watch was in the hands
of the robbers. Giving