The Strange Story of Rab Ráby

  CHAPTER XXXIV.

  The fugitives had only one more station to accomplish before theyreached the Austrian frontier, where the Hungarian jurisdiction ceased.Was there trouble at the frontier over Raby's identification, at leastit meant that he would be taken to Vienna to prove it, and not back toPesth.

  They heard from travellers they met on the way that the Emperor was backin the capital, owing to the army being in winter quarters, andhostilities against the Turks being suspended for the time being. Raby,thereupon grew more anxious than ever as to his possible reception bythe Kaiser, whose concurrence he still doubted in his forcible rescue,though, by this, the Emperor had doubtless seen that his formal ordersavailed nothing, and he probably thought it impolitic to use militaryforce to free his representative.

  It was revolving such thoughts in his mind, that Raby and his guidescame to the wayside inn where they were to pass their last night onMagyar territory. It was a poor little "csarda," as such hostelries arecalled in Hungary, between Pozsony and Hainburg, wherein only now andagain travellers passed the night, driven thereto by stress of weather.The accommodation left much to be desired, and its reputation was noneof the best. It was whispered, indeed, that travellers had been murderedand waylaid there, and even now the host was serving his term in thePozsony prison, where he was a frequent inmate. In his absence, his wifelooked after the inn.

  There was no proper sleeping-rooms, so the guests had to rest on thestraw thrown down for them in the public dining-room, where they forgottheir differences of rank as best they could, while the only light was asingle tallow candle suspended from the ceiling in a hangingtin-candlestick.

  Laying about on the benches, or on the long table, were a crowd ofguests that included peasants and shepherds, pedlars and smugglers,while the air was rank with odours of strong cheese, onions, andtobacco-smoke. The hostess ministered herself to the wants of theguests, and handed round the wine.

  It was among this company that Raby and his companions took theirplaces; as there was no other woman present among the travellers, thehostess expressed some fear that the pretended Serb maiden would find itsomewhat uncomfortable.

  The two men thanked her, but said they would look after their sister,and ordered a stewed fowl and some wine, for which the party paid inadvance. The water was too bad for anyone to depend on, so Raby had todrink wine, which, unaccustomed as he was to it, soon made him feeldrowsy.

  In a few minutes he was fast asleep, with his head pillowed on hisfolded arms on the table.

  His slumbers, however, were soon to be disturbed, for there was a loudnoise heard outside as of the trampling of horses and the clash ofweapons. The hostess said it must be a party of heydukes, and sureenough it was.

  Now Raby had ceased to be fearful of discovery by these pursuers, asfrom the description of him so industriously circulated, they could notrecognise him in his present disguise. Moreover, he had been carefullyshaven every day since his flight, and his face newly painted, thebetter to sustain his role.

  But this time he had cause for anxiety, for the first voice he heardwithout was a hatefully familiar one--that of the castellan, Janosics.How did he come to be here, for they were now in the jurisdiction ofPozsony not of Pesth. He heard the castellan giving orders for one manto come in with him, and the other to remain with the horses.

  Raby stole a glance at the door which was half open. A cold shudderseized him as he caught sight of Janosics wearing the Pesth uniform, andcarrying a carbine in his hand and a sword at his belt.

  Raby pressed his head down lower, so his face might not be seen. The bigsleeves of his bodice helped him to hide his features the more easily.

  "Up all of you fellows, and let me have a look at you!" shouted thecastellan. Those present immediately obeyed, and submitted to theinspection.

  "The man I want is not here," grumbled Janosics, as he rapidly ran overthe assembled faces, but when he came to Kurovics, he laughed aloud.

  "Aha, Master Kurovics, so you are here, are you? What brings you outthis bitter winter weather, pray?"

  "Oh, we must look after our business you know," answered the other,without the least embarrassment.

  "Where's your passport?"

  "What do I want with one? I don't cross the frontier."

  "Well," shouted the other, "what may you be doing here?"

  "Hush! not so loud," retorted Kurovics, with a glance at Raby. "I've gotmy little cousin to look after."

  "Oh, that's the game, is it? Soho, I see; and a nice little baggage itis, I'll be bound. Oh I don't want to wake her if she's tired."

  And the castellan sat down between Raby and Kurovics, and asked thelatter for a bit of his tobacco. Then he smoked, but always keeping aneye on Raby.

  "Pretty, eh?" he asked, and he made as though he would raise thecoloured kerchief that half hid the sleeper's face.

  "Let her rest, Mr. castellan, I beg. She's wearied out with thejourney."

  "Well, well, let her be then, but you, hostess, bring us some wine, andtake some to the heyduke outside."

  "And what may you be doing in this neighbourhood, if I may be so bold?"inquired Kurovics.

  "Oh, an important police-mission. A dangerous felon, the notoriousMathias Raby broke out of Pesth prison last week, and the descriptionscirculated of him are not correct, as I could have told them had theyasked me. The fellow is not bearded as described, but he was shaved theday before he got out, and had a face as smooth as any girl's."

  Raby felt as if the beatings of his heart would burst his bodice, as thenew-comer went on:

  "When I heard of it, I went to the authorities and told them the mistakethey had made, and offered to make it good by riding after the runawaymyself to see if I could identify him. And there are two hundred ducatsfor the man who brings him back alive."

  "A nice round sum! I only wish I could find him," answered Kurovics.

  "I mean to take him myself," said Janosics coolly. "But hark ye,Kurovics, is it possible that you yourself are leading my prisoner awayin a girl's garb? Just let me have another look at her."

  Raby would have swooned, only that the castellan was now smoking soclosely under his nose that he was nearly choked by it. He was on thepoint of springing up and surrendering in sheer desperation; it was withthe greatest difficulty he mastered his feelings, above all hisinclination to cough, for raising his head would betray him directly.And the suspicion too arose in him that perhaps, after all, his guideswere accomplices in a comedy which had for its _denouement_ the arrestof the fugitive just as he was making sure of safety.

  "Now I must see her face," said Janosics, and Raby felt his enemy'sclammy hand laid on his brow.

  "Won't you look at me, little one? I can speak Serb quite well," sneeredhis persecutor. And the castellan forcibly raised Raby's head, andlooked him in the face with a grin of malicious triumph.

  But just then the heyduke, who had been waiting outside, dashed into theroom in hot haste, crying excitedly, "Villam Pista is here!" With thatthe scene was changed, and Janosics had to make way for a mightierrival. The very name of the renowned robber-chief spread consternation,and the carabineers, on hearing it, promptly threw their weapons away,the better to run for their lives, while the whole company scatteredpell-mell, some out of the window, and others up the chimney, in theirhot haste to get off. There was no one finally left in the room but Rabyand his two companions, and the hostess.

  Outside, they heard some shots fired, followed by a feeble groan thatseemed to come from Janosics. Then the door flew open, and Villam Pistahimself entered, accompanied by two comrades, his rifle in his handstill smoking from the recent shot. He was a fine-looking young fellow,with no trace of beard on his smooth, handsome face. His bearing andair showed that he was accustomed to be master of the situation whereverhe was. His dress fitted him admirably, a richly embroidered cloak fellacross his shoulders, on his head was perched a jauntily feathered cap,and a short pipe was in his mouth.

  "They are a cursed lot," he cried, as he th
rew the weapon on to thetable. "But I've paid them out; they won't ride quite so merrily back asthey did in coming, I'll be bound. I'm sorry, however, the shot did notfinish them."

  Then he looked round the room. "Bless me, what a miserable light! Isthat what you call lighting up?" And he whistled to the hostess, whohurried up with a dozen candles, and promptly placed them on the tablein as many sticks.

  Raby's companions had placed themselves before him, so that theirmantles rather screened him from the highwayman. But the latter spiedhim out at once owing to his dress, and seizing Raby by the hand, hedragged him out into the middle of the room. For a moment, they lookedeach other steadily in the face, and Raby recognised in therobber-leader, his wife, Fruzsinka!

  And thus it was that they met. But the supposed highwayman still did notbetray the situation. He drew Raby closer to him, and whispered hastilyin his ear, "Pretend you are frightened, and make your escape by thedoor."

  Raby obeyed, and with a bound across the room, in a trice was outside.Fruzsinka followed him, and grasped his hand in hers.

  "We have no time for talking. A whole gang of heydukes from Pesth is onyour track. Come away immediately; here are the horses of yourpersecutors; up and ride for your life till you have left the frontierbehind you. Do not trust even your companions who will follow you, butdo not wait for them."

  And so saying, she helped Raby to mount, only he was so exhausted hefound it difficult to keep his seat, and was crying like a child.

  "Weep not thus, wretched man," she cried impatiently. "Shame on you foryour weakness! Why do you look at me like that? We have nothing more todo with each other, you and I. But fly, and look not back, and beware ofever setting foot in this accursed country again, for whose sake youhave made both me and yourself so miserable."

  While she spoke, she cast her cloak about him to protect him from thebitter cold of the winter's night.

  Raby would have spoken one last word, but she cut him short by switchinghis horse's flanks with her riding whip, whereat the animal bounded awayover the ground, where the snow already lay a foot deep. And the lastsound Raby heard from the "csarda" was the cracking of Villam Pista'swhip.