were the leader"s parting words, "we will have another interview in the morning."
"Sixteen was the number," Mana.s.seh corrected him.
A bed of hay under the bell was furnished the captive, and he was locked up for the night, after which the company he had left held a council of war.
CHAPTER XVII.
IN PORLIK GROTTO.
Complying with his brother"s instructions, Aaron broke up his quarters at Balyika Cave early the next morning, and, descending with Blanka to the bed of the stream, led her up the valley to Porlik Grotto, one of nature"s wonders known to few and seldom visited. From the top of its high-arched entrance hung cornel-bushes with brown leaves and red berries, while luxuriant wild grape-vines, with pendant cl.u.s.ters of ripe fruit, climbed upward from below to meet them, the whole thus forming an almost perfect screen before the opening. Through the screen, however, an observant eye caught the gleam of the stalact.i.tes within; the sun"s rays, piercing the foliage, lighted them up like so many sparkling chandeliers. But our two travellers" thoughts were not on the beauties of the place.
"If Mana.s.seh should only come out now to meet us!" they both exclaimed at once.
"There!" cried Aaron, "we both wished the same thing, and we have a sort of superst.i.tion here that a wish so uttered by two at the same time is bound to be fulfilled."
But Mana.s.seh did not appear.
"Look there," said Aaron, with forced cheerfulness, pointing out the wonders of the grotto; "see how the limestone pillars grow together from above and below, till they meet and make one solid column." And all the while he was thinking: "What if Mana.s.seh should come back, not alone, but with our two brothers! Yet is it right to ask so much of fate? Will not Heaven be angry with me for cherishing such a wish? Ah, let Mana.s.seh himself come, even if he must come alone and with evil tidings!"
"See there, my dove," he continued aloud to his companion, "how the arches extend back, one behind another, with balconies along the sides, just like a theatre, and high up yonder a perch for the gallery G.o.ds."
Meanwhile he was saying to himself: "Oh, that brother of mine ought to have been here long ago if he was coming at all." Then, aloud to Blanka: "Hear me play on the organ up there,--for theatres have organs sometimes. You notice the pipes, side by side, some longer and some shorter, each for a different note. But you stay here,--the rocks are wet and slippery,--while I go up and play you a pretty tune."
With that he clambered up the side of the cavern to a series of stalact.i.tes that presented somewhat the appearance of organ-pipes, and drew the handle of his hatchet across them, a.s.suring his listener the while that he was playing a beautiful melody. Blanka was expected to laugh at this, and had Mana.s.seh only been there, she could have done so with a light heart.
"Don"t you think this back wall looks like a stage curtain?" Aaron went on. "With a little stretch of the imagination you might take it for the curtain in the Kolozsvar theatre, with Apollo and the muses painted on it. One feels almost like stamping one"s feet, to make it go up and the play begin." But the undercurrent of the speaker"s thoughts was quite different. "What if Mana.s.seh shouldn"t come by noon--by nightfall?" he was asking himself. "Then what is to become of this poor girl?" Aloud once more: "That lad Mana.s.seh must have made a little mistake--just like these young men! He probably took the longer way, instead of following my advice. But just look out toward the entrance, and see how the sun shines in through the leaves and lights up the whole grotto like a fairy palace."
Blanka, however, was feeling so heavy of heart and, in a vague way, so fearful of impending misfortune, that she was in no mood to enjoy the splendours around her. She crossed her hands on her bosom and, in the half-light of this mysterious subterranean cathedral, yielded to the awe-inspiring influence of the place and gave utterance, in a subdued chant, to these words of the psalmist:
"Hear me, O G.o.d, nor hide thy face, But answer, lest I die."
Aaron could control his feelings no longer. Throwing himself down on his face, he began to sob as only a strong man can when he is at last moved to tears, not by any selfish grief, but by the very burden of his love and anxiety for others.
But at that moment the psalm was broken off, and Aaron heard himself called three times by name. He rose to his knees and looked toward the opening of the grotto, where a glad and unexpected sight met his eyes.
Glorified by the flood of light that poured in from without, appeared the forms of three men, the middle one being the tallest and stateliest.
They were Mana.s.seh and his two brothers, David and Simon.
Aaron sprang up and threw himself on them with an inarticulate cry like that of a lioness recovering her lost cubs. Embraces and kisses were not enough: he bore them to the ground and thumped them soundly on the back in the excess of his emotion.
"You rascal, you good-for-nothing, you shameless rogue, to worry me like that!" he exclaimed, accosting now one, now the other of his two lost brothers, after which he embraced them both once more.
"And am I of no account?" asked Mana.s.seh. "Have I no share in all this?"
"You are your brothers" father," Aaron made answer, "before whom they prostrate themselves, even as the sheaves of Joseph"s brethren bowed before his sheaf. We are all your humble slaves." So saying, he threw himself at Mana.s.seh"s feet and embraced his knees. "Torda Gap is, indeed, a place of wonders, but the greatest wonder of all you have wrought in rescuing your brothers."
This unrestrained outburst of joy opened Blanka"s eyes and made her see that there was far more behind the meeting of these brothers than she had at first suspected. She knew now that the vague dread which had oppressed her, and from which she had sought relief in sacred song, had not been unfounded. Thus it was that she felt all the more impelled to take up the psalm where she had broken off, and to pour out her gladness in the concluding lines:
"He hears his saints, he knows their cry, And by mysterious ways Redeems the prisoners doomed to die, And fills their tongues with praise."
Much rejoicing then followed, and the two brothers, whom Mana.s.seh now presented to Blanka, told her all about the preparations made for receiving the bridal party at the Borev Bridge. Then all five sat down and emptied the lunch-basket with which Ciprianu had provided his guests; for thenceforth they would not need to carry their supplies with them. Toward noon they mounted their horses, David and Simon taking Blanka between them, and the other two bringing up the rear.
"Now tell me all about it," began the elder brother, as he rode a little behind with Mana.s.seh. "You must have had the eloquence of Aaron and the magician"s power of Moses, to prevail on Pharaoh to let your people go."
"I have wrought no miracle and used no eloquence," was the reply. "But I showed our foes neither fear nor haughtiness. I joined their circle, but did not spoil their entertainment. They questioned me, and I told them the truth. I asked them for peace, and offered them a price that I thought we were able to pay."
"How high a price?" asked Aaron.
"Sixteen oxen and twenty casks of plum brandy," was the matter-of-fact reply.
"If my arm were only long enough, wouldn"t I box your ears!" exclaimed Aaron, by way of giving vent to his admiration.
"They wished to do something of the sort to me up yonder, too, when they heard my offer," returned the other. "But then they reconsidered the matter, and at last came to see that it was a very fair proposal, and one that needed no lawyer or interpreter to make clear to them. They all understood it, and finally declared themselves satisfied."
"But where did you get the two horses for our brothers?"
"I bought them, and I gave a price, too, such as is paid only for the best English thoroughbreds; but half of the money was what I won from the sellers themselves last night."
"So you have been playing cards with the Amorites, you G.o.dless man!"
"They held me prisoner till morning, while they took counsel together what to do with me and my two brothers. Some of them were for sending our heads, minus our bodies, to Toroczko, with a demand to surrender the town, else they would storm it and not leave one stone on another. But the upshot was that they led me out in the morning and told me my terms of peace were accepted. They abandon their plans against Toroczko, disperse to their homes, and promise henceforth to be our good neighbours, as heretofore."
"Did they swear to this?"
"Before the altar, and a priest administered the oath."
"With two candles on the altar?"
"Yes."
"Then they will keep their word."
"And I, as plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary, gave them a written and sealed pledge to restrain my people from all acts of hostility against them."
"That will cost you a hard fight when you get home."
"But I shall win. The Wallachians will respect the peace, and we shall avoid all contention with them. Their leader, when he handed me our pa.s.sport, said to me: "You now have no further cause for uneasiness so far as we are concerned. My comrades and I will do your countrymen no further harm. As to the supplies offered by you, we accept them as a gift, not as a ransom. One parting word I have to add, however, and I bid you mark it well: we cannot promise you that some day a renegade from your own midst may not plunge your town into war and bloodshed."
With that we shook hands and kissed each other; and I can a.s.sure you positively that from here to the Aranyos our way will be clear."
"But how did you win them over so easily, I should like to know? Surely, the sixteen oxen and a few casks of brandy could not have done it."
"I gained my end simply by telling the truth. I told them about our setting the beech-tree on fire. They had taken it for a signal, and the mistake might have cost them dear."
"And did they believe you?"
"No, they doubted my word and discussed the matter a long time in their council, one party being strongly opposed to any change in their preconcerted arrangements; and this faction pressed urgently for my immediate execution."