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.

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 place of boots; and those who had no guns were armed with the usual long staff surmounted by the formidable axe-head.

A great deal of time was wasted in preparations.  The Wallacks are the most dilatory people in the whole world.  It was nearly three o’clock before we got to the forests where we hoped to give Bruin a rendezvous.  The guns that some of the party carried were “a caution”—­more fit for a museum of armoury than for anything else.  The Wallacks try to remedy the inefficiency of their guns by cramming in very large charges of powder, at least two bullets, and some buckshot besides.  I often thought the danger was greater to themselves than to the bear.  They never fire over twenty-five yards, and in fact generally allow the bear to come within twelve yards, when they pepper away at him.